-- 12 - -
THE CIVIL WAR
OnMarch4,1~61.Abraham Lincol nto okth e oath
ofofficeasPresiden toftheUnitedStates.Lessthana
m o m hhad passedsi ncerhcformatio nofthe
Confed eracy.In h is inaugu raladdressas Pr esident.
Linco ln appealedtoth esouthe rnstatestostayin the
Unio n .H epromisedthathewouldnot interfere with
slaveryin anyofthcm. UU! he warne dth at hewould
notallowthemto breaku ptheU ni tedStaresb y
seced ing.Quotingfromhis oatho f o ffice,h e rold
th em : "Yo u have no oath reg iste red in Heaven(Q
d est ro yth egovernment,w hileI have amost so le m n
o ne( 0'preserve.protectanddefend'it. "
T h esouthernsta restooknonoticeofLin col n 's
ap pea l.OnA pri112Confede rategunso pe nedfireOil
Port Sumte r. afortres sin theharborofChatlcston,
South C aro lina,thatwasoccupiedbyU n i tedSlates
troo ps.T hese shotsm ark edthebeginningo f t he
Amer icanCivil War.
c""rrJtT~1ru>lJitn.
50Lincoln called for75.lKXImentotigh tto savethe
U n ion. J e fferso nDavis. thenewlyelected Pr es id ent
ofthe C o nfederate Slates, madeJsi milarappeal to r
mentofig htfortheConfederacy.Volunteersrushed
fo rwardin tho u sand sonbothsides.
Some peop lefound itd ifficu ltandpainfulto decide
wh ichsidetosupport. The decisio nsometimessp lit
families.TheSOlio f t he commandero f the
Confede rat enavywaskilledfighti ngina Union
ship.Two bro thers becamegene rals-huton
opposite sides .AndthreeofPresidentLincoln 'sown
brothers-in-l aw diedfightingfortheConfederacy.
Fromth e firstmonthsofthewar U n ionwarshi ps
blocka dedtheportsofth eSouth. T heyd idth i s to
pr eventth eConfede racy fro msellingits cotton
abro adand fromobtaiumgforeignsupplies.
In bothmen andm aterialresourcestheN o rthwas
m u ch st ronger thanti lt'South.Ithad apopulationo f
twen ty- two millio n people. TheSouth hadonlymilt'
m illion peo plean d3. 5 millio nofthemw ereslave s.
T he North grt' wm or efoo dcropsthanth eSouth.
Italso had mor e than fiveti m esth e m anu factu ring
capac ity ,including mo st of t hecountry'sweapon
facto ries. So th e North no tonly hadmore fig ht in g
men th an theSouth , it coul d also keep themb ett er
supplied withw eap ons, clo thing , foo d and
every thing elseth eyn eed ed.llo w ev e r, the N o rt hf.1ct,d o ne great d ifficulty.The
only wayit cou ldwin th e warw astoin vadethe
Southand occu pyits land. The So uth hadno such
problem. It did notneed toco nq uer th eNorthto win
ind epen d en ce. All it hadtodoWJStoholdo mu nt il
th e peopleoftill'Northg tt' Wtir edoffigh ting.Most
south ern ers believe d th atthe Co n fed eracycoulddo
th is.It beg an the w ar with a nu m berofadvantages.
M an yofth e bestofficer s in th e pre-war ar my ofthe
U n itedStates were southerners.N o wth eyreturned
[ 0 theConfed eracyto orga nizeitsar m ies.M o st of
th e recruits led b y th eseofficershad g ro wn up on
farms andwereexpert rider s andm ark sm en.M o st
Im port ant of all, thefactthatalmost all the war's
fig h tingw okp laceInth eSouthmeant(hat
C o n fed eratesoldiersweredefendingth eirown