Chapter 9: Facing Both Ways: The Upper South's Dilemma

Chapter 9: Facing Both Ways: The Upper South's Dilemma

The beginning of the war at Fort Sumter posed a problem for the upper South states. WHat they chose would decide the fate of the Confederacy since they had most of the South's resources for waging war: they had half of the southern population, two-thirds of its white population, three-quarters of its industrial capacity, three-fifths of its livestock and food crops. Also, many military leaders were also born there, like Robert E. Lee, Nathan Bedford Forrest, etc.

The upper South responded in the Confederacy's favor at first, when they said they would defend their rights and their Southern brothers' rights if need be. Interestingly enough, the claim that Lincoln's call for troops as the reason as to why the Upper South seceded is wrong. Demonstrations in those areas that they join the other seceded states happened before Lincoln ever called for troops. However, the majority of the white men in Missouri and Maryland fought for the Union; in Kentucky, there was a more even divide.

The upper South states' decision had an important effect on the outcome of the war; if they had all seceded, the Confederacy may have won its independence, bit of all of them had stayed in the Union, the war would have finished earlier. These border states were important as they gave many soldiers to the Union and had a strategic location, surrounded by rivers and railroads. Because the upper South states were so divided, they complicated ways in which both sides could form a strategy.

Key Terms:

• border states: Maryland, Delaware, Kentucky, and Missouri; these slave states stayed in the Union and were important in Lincoln's strategy; he feared that alienating them with emancipation of slaves and adding them to the Confederate cause.
• Robert E. Lee: general of the Confederate troops; defeated at Antietam in 1862 and this justified the Emancipation Proclamation; he was defeated at Gettysburg by General Mead's Union troops and surrendered to General Grant at Appomattox Court House on Apr. 9, 1865
• Winfield Scott: General-in-Chief of the Union Army; had 3 part strategy for winning the war: 1) US navy used to blockade Southern ports and cut off essential supplies from reaching South (Anaconda Plan); 2) Divide the Confederacy in two by taking control of the Mississippi River; 3) Raise and train an army to take Richmond
• Sixth Massachusetts Regiment: because Maryland was divided, the 6th Massachusetts Regiment marched into Baltimore and fired into crowd of secession supporters.
• Ex parte Merryman: Maryland secessionist John Merryman was arrested by the military for destruction of railroad bridges. He petitioned Chief Justice Taney for a writ of habeas corpus, and Taney told the Union army to turn him over to the courts; General Cadwalader, Merryman's custodian, refused to comply b/c Lincoln had suspended habeas corpus
• habeas corpus: a citizen's right to be brought to a judge and be told why he has been arrested; Lincoln suspended this Constitutional right during the Civil War.
• William Tecumseh Sherman: pioneered concept of total war; he went through Georgia and destroyed everything in his path; he took Atlanta in 1864, later set fire to Columbia, South Carolina (the capital); he broke the will of the Confederacy
• martial law: military rule in an area of unrest during times of war (happened in east Tennessee, in which Confederate troops declared martial law and imprisoned many Unionists.)

Questions:

• At the time, were Republicans okay with the suspension of habeus corpus?
• In what ways did the Republicans and Democrats react to this?
• Since the military manpower in the border states could have helped the South, what prompted them to side with the Union?

Citations

• McPherson, James M. "9: Facing Both Ways: The Upper South's Dilemma." In Battle Cry of Freedom, 276-307. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988.
• Accessed March 11, 2015. http://users.humboldt.edu/ogayle/Hist%20110%20Images/LincolnAshcroftCartoon.png.
• Accessed March 11, 2015. http://images.flatworldknowledge.com/berglee/berglee-fig04_016.jpg