Mobilization of the Confederacy

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Mobilization of the Confederacy

The Battle of Seven Pines. Gen. George McClellan came within six miles of Richmond by the end of May 1862. Relying on inaccurate intelligence reports, McClellan claimed that his Confederate counterpart outnumbered his massive army, and as a result he stopped his advance toward the Confederate capitol in order to await reinforcements from Washington. President Abraham Lincoln denied McClellan’s pleas, stating that he needed a strong military presence along the Potomac River to thwart a possible Confederate counterattack upon the Union capital city. Lincoln also bluntly reminded his general-in-chief that the Army of the Potomac had the advantages of size, manpower, and resources over any enemy army. While McClellan hesitated in the face of his adversary, the Confederate commander guarding Richmond, Joseph E. Johnston, attacked. The Battle of Seven Pines (31 May-1 June 1862) produced no strategic advantage for either side. To McClellan the surprise attack was enough to confirm his suspicions and delay a counterattack. For the Confederates the battle

was a turning point as a wounded Johnston was taken from the field and replaced by Robert E. Lee.

Lee Takes Command. The change in command ended the string of Union victories in 1862. During the first year of the war, Lee served as a military advisor to Confederate president Jefferson Davis. Before secession he was a high-ranking officer in the United States Army, graduating second in his class at West Point and gaining distinction as a field officer in the Mexican War. Recognized as one of the best officers in the U.S. military, Lee turned down an offer to command Union forces in April 1861 and resigned his commission in order to fight for his native Virginia. Unlike McClellan, Lee possessed the qualities of a great general. Throughout the war he boldly took risks in anticipation of Union advances and displayed a fearlessness to attack stronger enemy forces. Lee’s superior leadership skills first became evident a

month following the Seven Pines conflict. While McClellan lobbied Lincoln for reinforcements, Lee attacked McClellan’s right flank on 26 June, engaging “Little Mac” in a series of battles called the Seven Days’ Battles. Lee’s 80,000-man army pressured McClellan’s 100,000 and by 1 July drove them to a point on the James River twenty miles from the capital city. Casualties on both sides were high (the South lost 20,000 to the North’s 16,000). The staggering death rate, coupled with McClellan’s failure to counterattack and take Richmond, swung the momentum of the war back to the Confederacy. In a year when Nashville, Memphis, and New Orleans fell into Union hands and many eagerly anticipated Richmond’s capitulation, Northern morale took a severe blow.

The First Military Draft. Meanwhile, Jefferson Davis and the Confederate government instituted measures designed to intensify Southern commitment to the war. The defeats at Fort Henry and Fort Donelson shook Southern confidence and convinced Davis to move beyond the euphoria following Bull Run and mobilize for a longer struggle. In April 1862 Davis issued a conscription edict, the first military draft in American history. All able-bodied white males between the ages of eighteen and thirty-five were to be inducted into the Confederate army for three years. The draft immediately produced resentment from the yeoman class (small landowning farmers) that later intensified when the government exempted planters holding twenty or more slaves. In addition, those who could afford it were given the option to hire a substitute from the lower classes until the next call for men. Although it drew criticisms from some Southerners, the draft did spark volunteer enlistments as many young men opted to organize units from their local communities and pick their own officers.

Internal Conflicts. Davis also strengthened Confederate commitment by imposing martial law and suspending the writ of habeas corpus (requiring specific charges in order to hold an individual in jail), especially in areas threatened by immediate Union attack such as Richmond. Many Southern leaders rejected these measures as an attempt by Davis to strengthen the central government and encroach upon sovereign rights. The measures revealed the internal conflicts within the Confederate nation as some leaders worked against Davis. For example, Gov. Joseph E. Brown of Georgia fought conscription at every step and refused to fill the state’s manpower quota. Nevertheless, these conflicts in and of themselves would not halt the Southern independence movement as long as Lee and his subordinates continued to master their Union counterparts on the battlefield.

Counteroffensive. By the spring of 1862 Union forces controlled fifty thousand square miles of Confederate territory in the West. At this point in the war, the Union army was not prepared to occupy the confiscated lands with a strong force. Conversely small Northern detachments found themselves deep in enemy territory far from Federal supply trains and the main fighting force; these isolated units were vulnerable to Confederate cavalry raids. During the summer and fall of 1862 Confederate cavalry assaults led by Nathan Bedford Forrest and John Hunt Morgan played havoc with Union occupation troops in Kentucky and Tennessee. They destroyed bridges, tunnels, and railroad tracks while seizing supply bases and capturing Northern garrisons. By August these cavalry raids weakened the Union stranglehold over the

western lands and opened the West to a spirited Confederate counterattack. Southern troops moved northward through east Tennessee and Kentucky before reaching the Ohio River in September. If they crossed the Ohio River and invaded Indiana or Ohio, then a Union advance in the West would be delayed.

Antietam. In the East, Lee’s war machine pressed forward its counteroffensive in Virginia. By the end of August, Lee and Stonewall Jackson moved north to defeat Union forces for a second time at Bull Run Creek. A week later Lee’s men reached the Potomac River and moved into Maryland, just forty miles from Washington, D.C. Lee hoped to split Maryland from Washington in order to weaken Lincoln’s political strength and convince Northerners to sue for peace. France and England watched from the wings, anticipating one more Southern victory as a sign of Confederate military superiority. The foreign powers might then side with the South and support the Confederacy as an independent nation. As with many events during this Civil War, a surprising twist of fate turned the tide at a critical moment in history. A Union infantryman found Lee’s invasion plans wrapped around three cigars that were dropped earlier by a Confederate officer. This time McClellan acted with uncharacteristic speed and blocked Lee’s advance at Antietam Creek near the town of Sharpsburg, Maryland. On 17 September, in the bloodiest day of the war, McClellan forced Lee back into Virginia. In less than seven hours, both sides had six thousand men killed and over seventeen thousand wounded. Claiming that overwhelming enemy reinforcements awaited his advance, McClellan refused to finish Lee and allowed the invading Southerners to escape back to Virginia.

Lee Survives. A month later, in October 1862, the Confederate cavalry raiders in the West were turned back at Perryville, Kentucky. Thus the failed invasions denied the Southern government propaganda material to win coveted European assistance. Despite these setbacks, Lee’s army survived and repulsed two Northern offensives at Fredericksburg in December 1862 and Chancel-lorsville in May 1863. The Battle of Chancellorsville proved costly, however, as Lee’s ablest general, Stonewall Jackson, was mortally wounded by friendly fire. By the end of May, Lee looked northward one more time. In the West, Union armies were moving closer to another victory. Lee planned to invade the Northern states for a second time in an attempt to divert troops from the Mississippi. This time it would be more of a gamble as the Confederate general decided to cut his supply lines and live off the land. Lee would bypass Maryland and move into Pennsylvania in order to frighten civilians and weaken Northern resolve. At the same time, he also wanted to revive European interest and sway foreign powers to intervene on behalf of Southern independence.

A CONFEDERATE DAREDEVIL

Known as the “Thunderbolt of the Confederacy,” Confederate cavalry commander John Hunt Morgan played a prominent role in the Western coun-teroffensive of 1862 by conducting raids into Kentucky. A year later in June 1.863, Morgan again moved toward the Ohio River Valley to raid Union supply lines and simultaneously divert Federal reinforcements from reaching Tennessee, where Confederate General Braxton Bragg and his Army of Tennessee were retreating in the face of a stronger Union force.

Morgan, a veteran of the Mexican War and a businessman by trade, decided to move his two cavalry brigades into Indiana and Ohio. He surmised that a trek across the southern counties of those two states would be more effective in relieving the pressure on Bragg. Morgan planned to raid Cincinnati, move east to the Ohio River, and then ride through Pennsylvania to join Lee’s army. Although Bragg ordered him not to undertake such a risky venture, Morgan disobeyed his superior officer. After several small skirmishes in Kentucky delayed their advance, Morgan’s 2,400 raiders entered Indiana on 8 July 1863. There the invaders battled a local militia unit, scattering them with cannon fire from two rifled Parrott artillery pieces.

As they progressed through enemy territory, Morgan’s men continued to tussle with small militia units. The Confederate cavalrymen decided to make these civilian soldiers “feel the war” and began to live off the land, stealing food, horses, and household goods. In some places, they burned farmsteads used by Ohio militiamen as hiding places. Pressured by Federal cavalry, Morgan decided to race non-stop across Ohio and ford the Ohio River into West Virginia. Morgan did not anticipate, however, the mobilization of 50,000 militiamen who slowed his men with small arms fire. Riding hard for sixteen consecutive days and nights, Morgan reached Ohio’s eastern border on 18 July. Stranded on Buffmgton Island and surrounded by Union river gunboats, half of the Confederates surrendered. Morgan escaped with over a thousand Southern horsemen but finally surrendered at New Lisbon, Ohio, on 26 July after failing to secure safe passage across the river. Although the South lost two cavalry brigades, Morgan’s raid did delay the advancement of the Union Twenty-third Army Corps into Tennessee. More importantly, by bringing the war to civilians, Morgan assisted Lee in scaring unsuspecting civilians and damaging their will to continue supporting the war effort.

Source: Shelby Foote, The Civil War, a Narrative: Fredericksburg to Meridian (New York: Vintage Books, 1986), pp.678-683.