****I CHAPTER 5 I****

The War of Brothers

'"A house divided against dse!fcannot stand , I
believe this government cannot endure permanent!J­
ha!fslave and ha!ffee.,,
-Abraham Lincoln, June 17, 1858

--------AMERICAN * STORIES--------.

Was Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) really born in

a floorless, one-window log cabin in Kentucky?
Yes. (Though he wasn't the first president to
be born in a log cabin. Do you remember
who was?) Growing up on the frontiers
of Kentucky and Indiana,
Lincoln attended only one
year of school overall. He
taught himself to read
and write and devoured
every book he could get his hands on. He also loved telling jokes
and stories. What he wasn't as fond of was the log splitting,
plowing, and building that frontier living demanded, even though
his tall, powerful body made him good at such things. So when he
was twenty-two, he moved to the town of New Salem, Illinois.
There he would get his start in politics, but only after he worked as
a country store clerk, a postmaster, and a self-taught lawyer. One
day he would �e counted among America's greatest presidents.

What were the Lincoln-Douglas debates?

Lincoln lost several elections for the public offices he ran for
(though he did manage to get elected to the Illinois legislature,
and he also served one term in Congress). His biggest defeat,
the loss of the 1858 election for senator from Illinois, set him
up for his most important victory.

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In 1858 Lincoln was running against Stephen A. Douglas. Since
Lincoln was virtually unknown as a candidate, he challenged
Douglas to a series of debates around the state. The focus of
their talks quickly became slavery. Douglas made Lincoln look
like a fierce abolitionist; Lincoln made Douglas appear to be
staunchly proslavery. In reality their views weren't much
different. Lincoln had never believed in slavery, and though he
didn't think he could end it, he knew it was tearing the nation
apart.

The Lincoln-Douglas debates attracted huge crowds and made

Lincoln famous throughout the country. When Lincoln won
the presidency two years later, he beat Douglas by 10 percent
of the popular vote, as well as defeating two other candidates
in a four-way election.

Abra am Lincoln was plainspoken and witty and often made fun
himself. Here are some things he said:
(After some disappointing elections) "[I feel] somewhat lif<e the boy in
Kentucky who stubbed his toe while running to see his sweetheart. The
boy said he was too big to cry, and far too badly hurt to laugh."
"Nobody has ever expected me to be President. In my poor, lean, 'laff
face nobody has ever seen that any cabbages were sprouting out."
(About newspaper coverage of the Civil War) "I have endured a great ,ffll­
of ridicule without much malice; and have received a reat deal of
kindness, not quite free from ridicule. I am used to it."

What did the Southern states think about Lincoln's

election as president?
They didn't like it one bit. Many Southerners already felt that
they were being pushed around by the North. They also knew
that Lincoln, as a Republican, wanted to keep the Union
together and end the spread of slavery to new states. So rather
than submitting to this "rule," Southern states decided to
secede from, or leave, the Union.

CHAPTER 5 89
Within days of Lincoln's election in 1860, South Carolina
seceded. Before Lincoln took office, five other states (Alabama,
Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and Mississippi) had followed.
Together those six states formed a new government called the
Confederate States of America, or the Confederacy. They
elected Jefferson Davis, a senator from Mississippi, as their
president. Within six months five additional states (Texas,
Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee) left the
Union to join the Confederacy.

Not aU the slave-holdiQg states seceded from the Union. Kentucky,

Missouri, Maryland, and Delaware remained tn the Union but continued to
keep slaves. These "border states" were joined by West Virginia when it
was admitted to the Union in 1863. The new state was formed from the
northwestern part of Virginia because the people there opposed slavery
and did not wish to secede with the rest of the state. Nevada, in the
West, also joined the Onion during the Civil War.

MAJOR MILESTONES IN THE AMERICAN CIVIL

WAR 1B61-1B65

1861
APRIL 12 The Civil War begins when Confederates fire on the
Union-held Fort Sumter, in the harbor of Charleston, South
Carolina. There are no deaths. President Lincoln soon calls
for 75,000 volunteers for three months' service in the U.S.
army. Most people think the war will be over in a few
months.
JULY 21 First Battle of Bull Run, also called First Manassas, in
Virginia. Surprised and humiliated by a Confederate victory
in this first battle of the war, the Union realizes it had
better prepare for a longer war than expected.
1862
MARCH 9 The Union Monitor and Confederate Merrimack,
America's first ironclad ships, fight a key naval battle. Both
sides claim victory. The battle begins a new era of warfare,
doing away with fragile, flammable wooden ships.

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APRIL 6-7 General Ulysses S. Grant wins a hard-fought battle
at Shiloh, Tennessee.

SEPTEMBER 11 In Antietam, Maryland, in the bloodiest single

day of the war, the dead and wounded top 10,000 on each
side.

DECEMBER is Despite being greatly outnumbered, General

Robert E. Lee's army wins a substantial victory at
Fredericksburg, Virginia, lifting the rebels' spirits and
confidence. The Union loses 12,000, compared to the
Confederates' 5,000.
1863
JANUARY 1 President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation
takes effect. (See page 98.)

MAY 1-4 Confederates, under Generals Lee and Stonewall

Jackson, defeat a larger Union army at Chancellorsville,
Virginia. After the battle Jackson is accidentally shot by one
of his own men. He dies of pneumonia a week later.

JULY 1-s In Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, three days of heroic

fighting on both sides
make for one of the
most devastating
battles of the war. With
the loss of a third of
the Confederate army's
strength, the Union
victory marks a turning
point in the war.
Combined losses total
51,000 killed, wounded, Bodies of soldiers at Gettysburg

or m1ssmg.
JULY 4 The Union wins the siege of Vicksburg, Mississippi, led
by General Grant. The Union gains control of the Mississippi
River, splitting the Confederacy in two from east to west.

CHAPTER 5 91
 1864
MARCH 10 Grant is named commander of the Union armies.

MAY s Grant and the Army of the Potomac enter Virginia to

attack Lee and capture Richmond.

SEPTEMBER 2 Union General William T. Sherman occupies

Atlanta, Georgia, and sets much of the city on fire.
NOVEMBER 8 Lincoln is reelected president of the United
States.
NOVEMBER 15 Sherman begins his infamous March to the Sea,
from Atlanta to Savannah, Georgia. He and his men cut a
path forty miles wide, again splitting the South in two, this
time from north to south. Sherman's army wrecks
everything in its way. This "total war" is a new concept, and
its brutality devastates the Confederacy.
1865
FEBRUARY 1 Sherman's army starts through the Carolinas on a
march as destructive as the March to the Sea.
APRIL s Union troops enter Petersburg, Virginia, and the
Confederate capital of Richmond.

APRIL 9 General Lee surrenders to General Grant at the village

of Appomattox Court House, Virginia.

APRIL 14 President Lincoln is assassinated by John Wilkes

Booth at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. He dies the
next morning.
MAY 4 The last Confederate army surrenders.

What's so civil about a civil war?

Civil wars get their name because they are conflicts fought
among citizens of the same country-not because they are
civilized events. In the U.S. Civil War, members of the same
family sometimes ending up fighting one another. Even
President Lincoln had four brothers-in-law who fought for the
Confederacy.
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The Civil War was different from earlier American wars in
other ways. It saw the first wartime use of the telegraph for
communication. For the first time, railroads carried troops and
supplies. Ironclad ships were invented and hot-air balloons
used for scouting. Mines and hand grenades, along with new
kinds of rifles, cannons, and bullets, caused unbelievable,
horrible slaughter. In the Civil War men began to dig trenches
and foxholes to protect themselves in battle. Rules of war also
changed when Union generals began waging all-out war, in
which nothing was spared.
About 620,000 people died in the Civil War from battle wounds
and disease-far more than in any other war in U.S. history
except World War II.

Was the Civil War fought over slavery?

It was, and it wasn't. Most Northerners were not abolitionists,
and most Southerners were not slave owners. Slavery was a
major issue, but more than that it was the symbol of the
economic and lifestyle differences that had long divided the
farming South and the industrial North.
In the North industry had become more and more important.
Many people worked in cities and factories. While factory
workers were usually not rich, they were free. In the South the
people who owned slaves held a great deal of power. They were
fighting to preserve their wealth, way of life, and what they
CHAPTER 5 93
viewed as their property rights. Slave owners' business was
large-scale agriculture, and their profits depended on their
unpaid slave labor.
Perhaps most fundamentally, however, Southerners felt they
were being pushed around by the North, and they didn't want
to be told how to live their lives. Since they believed that states
should have more power than the federal government, they
said states had a right to leave the Union if they wanted to. So
that's exactly what they did. Americans who fought to preserve
the Union, of course, didn't agree.

Why didn't the North just let the South go?

Good question. T hat would have saved a lot of lives. But it also
would have meant the end of the United States. If states could
just pick up and leave the Union whenever they wanted to,
soon there would be just a mess of weak and insignificant
"Disunited States." More importantly, the breakup of the Union
would have meant the end of the American experiment. To
President Lincoln, the war was about holding on to the unique
republic the Founders had worked so hard to create. Since the
United States was the only significant democratic government
in the world, Lincoln believed he was fighting to preserve
freedom and democracy around the globe, not just in America.

Did the United States ever have two presidents at

once?
Not exactly-but during the Civil War the Confederacy did not
regard Abraham Lincoln as its leader, naming instead Jefferson
Davis {1808-1889) as its own president. Davis was born in
Kentucky but raised in Mississippi. Wealthy and well educated,
he attended West Point and was an officer in the U.S. army for
seven years. He later served in the Mexican War, was elected to
the U.S. Senate, and became President Franklin Pierce's
secretary of war. Davis hoped to command the Confederate
army, and was actually disappointed to be named president in
1861. After the war Davis was captured and jailed for two years
on charges of treason.
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What was it like to be a soldier in the Civil War?
At the outbreak of the war, soldiers didn't have much training,
as both the Union and the Confederacy tried to rush them into
battle before the other side could prepare. Many men marched
off to war wearing homemade uniforms that might be of any
color. (Though when possible, most Union troops wore blue
and most Confederates wore gray or butternut, a light brownish
gray.)
At first so many men volunteered to serve in the armies that
neither side knew what to do with them all. But as the conflict
wore on, both the Union and Confederacy had to resort to
drafts, or forcing men to be in the army. Confederates who
were drafted but owned twenty or more slaves could be
excused from service in the army (though many served
anyway). Unionists could pay a substitute to fight for them,
which a good number did.

CHAPTER 5 95
Some men saw going off to war as an adventure. Many had
never traveled much beyond their hometowns. But they soon
learned that army life was no picnic. Pay was low and rations
were scarce, especially in the Confederate army. The usual diet
was hardtack (hard bread), beans, coffee, rice, and bacon. Both
sides resorted to hunting, gathering nuts and berries, and
stealing livestock and food from farmers. Troops often slept on
the ground while at a battle and in makeshift cabins in
between. In their downtime soldiers enjoyed storytelling by the
campfire, playing checkers and horseshoes, writing letters,
singing, and holding races and other contests.
Sickness was common in army camps, and especially in
military prisons. Thrice as many soldiers died of sickness as
died in battle. Medical supplies were short, and doctors,
including surgeons, had little training. Hospitals were often
tents strung out in the open if an abandoned building couldn't
be found. Antisepsis-the practice of cleaning germs from
surgical tools and coverings-had not taken hold in American
medicine at the time of the war. Conditions were so unsanitary
that many soldiers died of infection. Surgeons cut off limbs
with saws and kept patients quiet with doses of whiskey or
brandy to dull the shock and pain. One observer described a
doctor's technique following the battle of Gettsyburg: "The
surgeon snatched his knife from between his teeth, where it
had been while his hands were busy, wiped it rapidly once or
twice across his blood-stained apron, and the cutting began."

Just like in the Revolutionary War (and any war), supporters

working at home were busy. Women made uniforms and rolled bandages,
worked in factories making shells and in hospitals nursing the wounded,
and sponsored more than twenty thousand relief organizations. Girls
helped their mothers while boys took over the chores their soldiering "
fathers had done. Those at home suffered some of the same hardships as
the soldiers. Food was so scarce, especially in the South, that many
civilians starved to death.

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Who served in the armies?
Mostly white men, but they were not alone in battle. About
three hundred women enlisted in the armies disguised as male
soldiers, and an unknown number worked as spies. About
three thousand women also served as nurses, a profession that
had been almost exclusively male until the war.
Children as young as eight or nine joined the armies as
drummer boys. Many Civil War soldiers were not much older.
Some estimates say that 10 to 20 percent of soldiers were
under the age of eighteen. There was no way for recruiters to
prove a person's age, and the armies, especially in the
Confederacy, needed everyone they could get. Some boys wrote
the number 18 on a piece of paper and put it in their shoe so
they could tell the recruiter they were "over 18."
Blacks also helped fill the ranks. In the Confederate army they
didn't serve as soldiers but as servants for their masters who
did. Slaves cooked, washed uniforms, dug trenches, built
fortifications, and did other
unpopular jobs. In the Union AMERICAN ENGLISH
army the first free blacks and
The Civil War gave the country some
runaway slaves to enlist were new sayings, as well as some new
allowed to serve only as practices. Americans say:
cooks and scouts. But that -skedaddle, which became popular
changed after the when Union troops used it to
Emancipation Proclamation describe Confederate forces
became effective on January fleeing from battle
1, 1863. Then, more than two -the grapevine, meaning (usually
hundred thousand blacks unreliable) rumors
enlisted in the Union army -AWOL for absent without leave
and navy. Blacks were paid (from the army)
less than whites and given -pup tents, for small, two-man
the worst jobs, but when they shelters
had a chance to fight, they -sideburns, after the muttonchop
gained respect and changed facial hair worn by Union
Northerners' views about Commander Ambrose Burnside
blacks as soldiers. The 54th
CHAPTER 5 97
Massachusetts, the first black regiment recruited in the North,
led an attack on Fort Wagner, South Carolina, in 1863, fighting
well and bravely. (The regiment's heroism was captured in the
1989 movie Glory.) After that several black regiments played
significant roles in a number of major battles. Turenty-three
blacks from the army and navy eventually received the
Congressional Medal of Honor, the highest military award in
America.

One. of the most famous youths of the war was

Johnny Clem, 'whotan"away to join the Union army
in 1861; when .he was only nine. He tagged along
with the 22nd Massachusetts until that regiment
adopted him .a:s their ·drummer boy. In 1863 he was
atlowed fo'enlisti.n the army. At the· age of eleven
he,shot a Confederate officer who tried to take him
prisoner, then played dead unpl he could escape.
Yotn¾g
� John was prom·oted to lance corporat. After
�
the·war:.he reenli§[Link]'rthearmyand became.a
· .. · ·.
· ··• , ..

career general.

SETTING IT STRAIGHT

Did the Emancipation Proclamation free the slaves?

No, and yes. A proclamation is an official public statement, not

a law. Nevertheless, the government could enforce the
Emancipation Proclamation because of the powers given to
Lincoln as commander in chief in a time of war. The
proclamation didn't free slaves in the border states, because
those states were not at war with the U.S. Slaves in border
states could only be freed by a constitutional amendment or by
the state lawmakers. The Emancipation Proclamation freed
slaves only in rebel territory, small parts of which were
controlled by Union troops. But the basic idea of the
proclamation was to state that if the Union won the war,
slavery would be over. Lincoln had come to realize that he

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could not save the Union as a democracy without abolishing
slavery. He announced the Emancipation Proclamation in
September 1862, and it took effect on January 1, 1863.

The Emancipation Proclamation changed the focus of the war.

In some ways, it made the war less popular in the North.
Soldiers who had been willing to fight for preservation of the
Union were less eager to fight for slaves they feared would
come and take their jobs. But the proclamation was well
received in Europe, where it prevented England and France
from recognizing the independence of the South. More
importantly, it also gave hope to the nearly 4 million slaves
who still lived in bondage.

A West Point graduate, George McClellan (1826-1885) became

general-in-chief of the Union armies in 1861 and was a great organizer
who inspired his men. He had almost all the qualities of a great general.
The,problem was.,that he ,hated,to fight. He !lung back, made excuses,
and dawdled. It got so bad that Lincoln once said, '1f McClellan is not
using the army, I should like to borrow it for a white." McClellan was
replaced as general-in-chief in 1862.

What did Lincoln do in three minutes?

On November 19, 1863, a
ceremony was held to • Lincoln did not write the
dedicate the national Gettysburg Address on the back of
cemetery at Gettysburg,
an envelope while on the train to
Gettysburg, as legend has it. He
Pennsylvania. Edward Everett,
wrote most of it before he got to
a statesman and one of the Pennsylvania and finished it the
greatest speakers of the day, night b�fore he spoke.
delivered a two-and-a-half-
hour speech. President Lincoln spoke for less than three
minutes. Yet the president's words gave a clear, thoughtful,
even poetic statement of what the war was all about. Today the
Gettysburg Address is probably the most famous speech ever
given by a president.

CHAPTER 5 99
AMERICAN VOICES

"FOUR SCORE AND SEVEN YEARS AGO OUR FATHERS BROUGHT

FORTH ON THIS CONTINENT, A NEW NATION, CONCEIVED IN
LIBERTY, AND DEDICATED TO THE PROPOSITION THAT ALL MEN ARE
CREATED EQUAL.

"Now WE ARE ENGAGED IN A GREAT CIVIL WAR, TESTING

WHETHER THAT NATION, OR ANY NATION SO CONCEIVED AND SO
DEDICATED, CAN LONG ENDURE. WE ARE MET ON A GREAT
BATTLEFIELD OF THAT WAR. WE HAVE COME TO DEDICATE A
PORTION OF THAT FIELD AS A FINAL RESTING PLACE FOR THOSE
WHO HERE GAVE THEIR LIVES THAT THE NATION MIGHT LIVE. IT IS
ALTOGETHER FITTING AND PROPER THAT WE SHOULD DO THIS.

"BUT, IN A LARGER SENSE, WE CAN NOT DEDICATE-WE CAN NOT

CONSECRATE-WE CAN NOT HALLOW THIS GROUND. THE BRAVE
MEN, LIVING AND DEAD, WHO STRUGGLED HERE, HAVE
CONSECRATED IT FAR ABOVE OUR POOR POWER TO ADD OR
DETRACT. THE WORLD WILL LITTLE NOTE, NOR LONG REMEMBER
WHAT WE SAY HERE, BUT IT CAN NEVER FORGET WHAT THEY DID
HERE. IT IS FOR US THE LIVING, RATHER, TO BE DEDICATED HERE TO
THE UNFINISHED WORK WHICH THEY WHO FOUGHT HERE HAVE
THUS FAR SO NOBLY ADVANCED. IT IS RATHER FOR US TO BE HERE
DEDICATED TO THE GREAT TASK REMAINING BEFORE US-THAT
FROM THESE HONORED DEAD WE TAKE INCREASED DEVOTION TO
THAT CAUSE FOR WHICH THEY GAVE THE LAST FULL MEASURE OF
DEVOTION-THAT WE HERE HIGHLY RESOLVE THAT THESE DEAD
SHALL NOT HAVE DIED IN VAIN-THAT THIS NATION, UNDER Goo,
SHALL HAVE A NEW BIRTH OF FREEDOM-AND THAT GOVERNMENT
OF THE PEOPLE, BY THE PEOPLE, FOR THE PEOPLE, SHALL NOT PERISH
FROM THE [Link]

- PRESIDENT ABRAHAM LINCOLN, the Cef!ysbur,g Address

Whose nickname was "Unconditional Surrender"?

U.S. Grant (1822-1885), the sixth and final commander of the
Union forces. Ulysses S. Grant was born Hiram Ulysses Grant,
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but when he was registered at West Point as
Ulysses Simpson Grant, he didn't correct
the mistake. From his days as a shy child
in Ohio, Grant loved horses and was an
excellent rider. He hoped to be
assigned to the cavalry (the division of
the army that fought mainly on
horseback) upon graduation from West
Point, but since there were no openings
at the time, he was placed in the infantry
(the division that fought mostly on foot).
Grant fought in the Mexican War and Union general U. S. Grant
remained in the army until 1854. He
failed at several jobs before returning to the military when the
Civil War broke out. Though he was not a model soldier, he
was a determined and brilliant fighter. As the sixth general to
head the Union forces, he was finally what Lincoln had been
searching for. His strategy of finding the enemy and hitting
them with everything he had cost many lives on both sides,
but eventually brought an end to the war. He later served two
terms as president of the United States. His memoirs, which he
finished days before he died in 1885, were an instant best-seller.

Why was the surrender as important as the victory

in the Civil War?
Because the terms of surrender would determine how-or
rather if-the nation would come back together. President
Lincoln worried that when it came time for the Confederate
armies to surrender, small groups of resisters might hold out
in the South for years to come. That would make rebuilding
the nation very difficult, if not impossible. Lincoln's plan for
Reconstruction, or the rebuilding and reunification of the United
States, called for binding up the nation's wounds "with malice
toward none, with charity for all." He would welcome the rebel
states back into the Union as long as they pledged to uphold
the Constitution (which included the Thirteenth Amendment,
abolishing slavery) and the Emancipation Proclamation.
Lincoln felt that if the rebels were treated well they would
CHAPTER 5 101
return their loyalty to the Union more easily and the nation
could move forward.

When the surrender came on April 9, 1865, the generals on

both sides rose to the occasion. Though General Lee said he
would rather die a thousand deaths than surrender to General
Grant, he held his head high and met the fate of his army with
dignity. Grant offered generous terms of peace and made sure
the Confederates, though defeated, were not robbed of their
self-respect.

After the surrender Lee told his men to lay down their
weapons. "Go home now," he said, "and if you make as good
citizens as you have soldiers, you will do well, and I shall
always be proud of you."

-:::-.:.----- -•·- :.[Link].:·:.::�::::::::,-.:::·.':

,.,�,,:.,·.c:,4,

AMERICAN VOICES

''WHAT GENERAL LEE'S FEELINGS WERE I DO NOT KNOW. As HE

WAS A MAN OF MUCH DIGNITY, WITH AN IMPASSIBLE FACE ...HIS

FEELINGS ... WERE ENTIRELY CONCEALED FROM MY OBSERVATION;

BUT MY OWN FEELINGS ... WERE SAD AND DEPRESSED. l FELT LIKE

ANYTHING RATHER THAN REJOICING AT THE DOWNFALL OF A FOE

WHO HAD FOUGHT SO LONG AND VALIANTLY AND HAD SUFFERED

SO MUCH FOR A CAUSE, THOUGH THAT CAUSE WAS, l BELIEVE, ONE

OF THE WORST FOR WHICH PEOPLE EVER FOUGHT....

"GENERAL LEE WAS DRESSED IN A FULL UNIFORM WHICH WAS

ENTIRELY NEW, AND WAS WEARING A SWORD OF CONSIDERABLE

VALUE.... IN MY ROUGH TRAVELING SUIT ... l MUST HAVE

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 CONTRASTED VERY STRANGELY WITH A MAN SO HANDSOMELY

DRESSED, SIX FEET HIGH AND OF FAULTLESS FORM....

"WE SOON FELL INTO A CONVERSATION ABOUT OLD ARMY TIMES ....

OUR CONVERSATION GREW SO PLEASANT THAT I ALMOST FORGOT

THE OBJECT OF OUR [Link]

-GENERAL ULYSSES S. GRANT, remembering the surrender at

Appomattox Court House

In many ways the Civil War gave the United States what President
Lincoln had hoped for in the Gettysburg Address-"a new birth of
freedom." Some historians say that the end of the Civil War was actually
the true birth of the nation. What had been a collection of loosely bound
individual states and an experiment in republican government emerged
from the bloodshed a unified country that was more clearly devoted to
the freecloms put forth during the American Revolution. The Civil War
strengthened the nation, the federal government, and the rights
guaranteed by the Constitution.

Why didn't Reconstruction go as President Lincoln

had planned?
Because he wasn't around to see it through. On April 14, 1865,
just five days after Lee's surrender, President Lincoln was shot
in the back of the head while watching a play at Ford's Theatre
in Washington, D.C. He was taken to a house across the street
and attended by doctors, but there was nothing they could do.
The president died the next morning, the first president in
American history to be assassinated. The nation went into
mourning, dazed and deeply saddened.
The assassin was a twenty-seven-year-old actor named John
Wilkes Booth, who came from the border state of Maryland but
was an ardent supporter of the Confederacy. He and his fellow
conspirators tried to kill not only President Lincoln but also
Vice President Andrew Johnson and Secretary of State William
Seward the same night; Johnson's would-be assassin chickened
out at the last minute, and Seward was attacked but survived.
Booth's goal was to avenge the South, but in killing Lincoln he

CHAPTER 5 103
 hurt the South most of all. Southerners
had had a friend in Lincoln and his
compassionate policies. Sadly much of
his vision for Reconstruction died with
him.

What was reconstructed during

Reconstruction?
Reconstruction was a busy, chaotic
time full of difficult, important
questions and bitter power struggles
between Republicans (who were
mostly Northerners and Southern
,. blacks) and Democrats (who were
mostly white Southerners). Without
Booth and his two conspirators
Lincoln's strength and foresight, many
were wanted for murder. unfortunate things happened that hurt
and divided the nation all over again.

Vice President Andrew Johnson became President Johnson

when Lincoln was killed. So it was he who faced the enormous
questions of Reconstruction: how to rebuild a South that was
in shambles; what to do with nearly 4 million newly freed
slaves; how to reconstruct Southern governments and readmit
states to the Union; and how, if at all, to punish the former
Confederate leaders.

During Lincoln's presidency, Congress established the Freedmen's

Bureau to help former slaves make the transition to freedom. The bureau
built hospitals and provided medical care, created more than four
thousand free schools from elementary grades through college for black
young people, and gave out food and clothing to blacks and whites alike.

What were "Black Codes"?

They were bad news. The former rebel states were readmitted
to the Union after they had ratified the Thirteenth Amendment
to the Constitution, which abolished slavery. Once readmitted,

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the Southern states elected former Confederate leaders and
army officers to Congress and passed laws called "Black Codes"
that got around the Thirteenth Amendment by denying blacks
their rights. Republicans were outraged. A group of Republicans
known as Radicals passed a Civil Rights Act in 1866 to override
the Black Codes. President Johnson, a Southern Democrat
(Lincoln, himself a Republican, had chosen Johnson as a
running mate to win votes in the border states}, vetoed the act,
but the Republicans in Congress had enough votes to override
the veto, for the first time in American history.
The override of the veto showed that the Republican majority
in Congress clearly had more power than the president.
Congress took over Reconstruction and divided the South into
military regions. It sent in soldiers to make sure blacks were
treated fairly and to register them to vote. Congress then
required states to rewrite their state constitutions to allow
blacks to vote and to ratify the Fourteenth Amendment, which
made all former slaves citizens and said states could not deny
any person his or her constitutional rights. With the addition
of the Fifteenth Amendment in 1869, black males (but still not
American Indians or women) gained the right to vote for
president and members of Congress.

What did Congress almost do to President Johnson?

a) hide his lunch money c) rearrange all the furniture
at the White House
b) kick him out of office
The answer is letter b. Andrew Johnson was the first president
in American history to be impeached, or accused of crime while
in office. Impeachment means the president will be removed
from office if found guilty. (Basically, he will be fired.)
President Johnson was accused of violating the Tenure of
Office Act, which said that the president couldn't remove any
government official without the consent of Congress. The act
had just been passed by Congress in 1867 and was designed to
keep allies of the Radical Republicans in office. President
Johnson said it was unconstitutional for Congress to pass such
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an act. To test it, he removed Secretary of War Edwin Stanton
from office. Johnson was promptly impeached by the House of
Representatives.
Johnson had to stand trial before the Senate. By just one vote,
the Senate found him not guilty of the "high crimes and
misdemeanors" necessary to remove a president from office.
(No hard feelings, though-he served out his term and years
later he became the only former president elected to the
Senate.)

Did any blacks get involved in politics during

Reconstruction?
Between 1869 and 1876, seventeen black men were elected to
Congress. More than six hundred blacks also served in their
state legislatures, and hundreds more held other local offices.
Many of these men had been free before the war and had even
gone to college in the North. But others were former slaves,
recruited by Republicans to run for office. Republicans
supported black voting and officeholding because they knew
blacks would vote for their party-the party of Lincoln, who had
freed them. The Republicans wanted to keep the power they
had had during the war, when Democrats were mostly absent.

How did Reconstruction end?

With a close presidential election. After the election in 1876,
Democrats said that their candidate, Samuel Tilden, had won.
Republicans said Democrats had intimidated voters in some
states, and they withheld those states' electoral votes. After
months of bickering over the election results, political leaders
reached a compromise. Democrats would accept Republican
candidate Rutherford B. Hayes as president if all federal troops
would be removed from the South. Hayes agreed.
Reconstruction was over.
By 1877 the troops were gone and whites regained control over
state governments. Without the troops and government to
protect them, blacks lost nearly everything they'd gained.
Planters cheated freedmen and Southern governments passed
106 DON'T KNOW MUCH ABOUT
®
AMERICAN HISTORY
laws that kept poor blacks
working on the planters' land. After Reconstruction hundreds
Other new laws made it of thousands of Southern,blacks
virtually impossible for blacks moved north and west in hopes of
to vote and segregated blacks being treated more fairly than they
had been in the South. The biggest
from whites in schools,
migration of blacks took place
libraries, hotels, rest rooms, between 1878 and 1880, when
trains, parks, hospitals, thousands who called themselves
restaurants, and other places. Exodusters moved to Kansas,
The laws that legalized Oklahoma, Iowa, and Nebraska.
segregation were called "Jim
Crow" laws. They were named after a fictitious character in the
song "Jim Crow," written by a white man named Thomas
Dartmouth "Daddy" Rice. In the song, Jim Crow sang and
danced and didn't give anyone any trouble. There wasn't a lot
blacks could do about Jim Crow's racism and discrimination,
since they couldn't vote. And unfortunately, Jim Crow was
going to be around for a long time.

What sport became more popular

after the Civil War?
Think peanuts and Cracker Jacks and
the seventh-inning stretch. It's
baseball! Though the game, called by
the name "rounders," had been played
for some time in England and
America, the rules were actually
written down by an amateur team
named the New York Knickerbockers
in 1845. The sport grew in popularity
and more teams were organized in
the Northeast until they were
interrupted by the Civil War. Union
soldiers brought interest in the sport
to other parts of the country, and --- · ·�
after the war more people played baseball than ever before.
In 1869 the Cincinnati Red Stockings became America's first
professional baseball team.

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