homes.This oftenm adeth emfightwithmo re spirit
than theUmonso ldiers.
Southern er sd eniedth at theywerefight in g mainl y to
preserv e slavery.M o stwerep OOTfarm ers w ho
ownedno sian'sanYWJY.The Southw asfigh ti ng for
irs i n dependen ce fromth eNorth.theysaid.just as
theirgrandfathers hadfough tfo r i n depen dence fro m
Britai nalmost acemuryearlie r.
T hewarwasfo ug htin tw omainareas>-in Virginia
andth eothereast coast staresofth eConfederacy,
and in theMississip pivalley.
In Virgi nia[he Unio narrrucssufferedone defeatafter
anothe rIII[he fi rstyearo f t hewar.Agaman dagain
th eytr ied[0c.apmn'Richmond.th eCon fed erate
capital. Eachrime theywerethro wn backwith heavy
lo sses.TheConfederatefo rcesin Virg in iahadtwo
grearadvantages.Thefirst wasth atm an yriver sCUt
across theroadsleadingsouthtoRichmo nd and so
madethecityeasier todefend.Th e second wasth eir
leaders.T w oConfederategenerals in parti cu lar,
Ro be rtE. LI..'l' andThomas}.(,'Stonew.all") j.ackso n,
showed muchmoreskill thanthegeneralslead ing[he
U monarIllY.a[ this rime. Jack songothis nickname
" Sto newall"becausehe stoo d firmag ainstadvancing
U n io nrro o ps.Afellowofficer,enco ur agingIus
soldiers shoutedout," Look, thereis J ackso n,
standin g like a stonew all!"
T heNort h's t\l rlyd efeats i n Virginia discouragedits
supporters. T he floo dofvolunteersforthearm y
beganto dry up.RecruitmentW;I Snothelped by
lettershome like this o ne, From;1lieutenant i n the
U n io narlllYIIII M62:
" T hebutcher yofthe boys, the suffe rlllp;s o f the
unpaid so ldiers,without rents, poo rrati o n s.a single
blankereach, w ithnobedbutth e h ard dam p
ground-itis theseth i ng sthat killnu-.'
Fortunatelyforthe N or th , U n i o n fo rcesin [he
M ississip pivalleyhad mo reS IKH.'SS.IIIApril 1861 .a
naval officern am edI>avid Farr ag utsailed U n ion
shipsintothemouth otrhcriver and capt ure dN ew
Orlean s , the largestcityintheCcnfcdcrncy.At the
sameti m eo therUnionforceswere fig htin gtheir
waydo wn the Mississip p i fro mtill"n o rth.
By sp ri ng 1863,theUnionar m ieswer eclos ing:ill o n
all im po rtant Confederatestrongho ld o n th e
M ississipp i called Vick sb urg , 011 J ul y4,afier much
12 T HECIVILW.~Rblood yfighting an da siege lastingsix weeks ,
Vicksb ur gsur rende redto a Un ion armyled by
General Ulysses S.Gram. Its fallwasa heav yblowto
th eSo uth .Unio nforcesnowcontrolled th ewhole
lengtho f th e Mississipp i.Theyhad split the
C o n federacyin two .Itbecameim po ssiblefor
westernConfederatestareslike T exasto send any
mo re menandsupp liestoth e east.
limby186 3manynorthernerswere[iredofth e war.
Theywere sickened by its heavycostIIIlivesand
mone y.Gen eralLee. theConfederatecomma nde r,
believedth atifhis armycouldw ina decisivevictory
on no rthernsoil,popularopiniontherem ig htforce
th eUnio ngovernme nt[0makepe.ace.
In the lastweeko fJune186..1.Leem arched his army
northin toPen nsylvani a. Atasl113 11 [Own nam ed
Ccnysb ur g aUnionarlllybloc ked his w.ay.The
battl e w h ichfollowedwasthebiggest [ hathasever
been foug h tinth eUnitedStates.In threedaysof
fierce fig ht in gm o re[hall5O,()(N)m enwerekilledo r
wou nd ed .O n thefourthdayLeebrokeolTthebattl e
and led his men backinto[he South.The
Confederate armyhadsuffereda dcrcar fromwhich ir
wouldnever reco ver.TheEmancipationProclamation
By th e summero f 1862 Pre sid ent Linco ln realized
thatthe North w o uldonlyw inthewarifhe could
arouse more en th us iasm for its cause.OnScprcm-
bcr22 heiss uedth e Emancipation P rocl am ation
with th i s aim. This Proclam ation d eclared th at
fromj an ua ry 1, l R6 3,all slaveswere to be made
free-but onlyifth eylivedin areasthatwere part
ofth eConfe deracy.T he Proclamation cha nge d
the purpo s e of the war, Fro m a str ug gle to
presern' rh cUnion ,it becamea str ugglebothto
preserveth e U n io n and to abolish slavery.
At the time not eVl'ryolll' was impressed b y
Lin coln 's action .ABritish leader. LordPalmer s-
ton, said thnrallLin colnh ad d on e was "toabo lish
slave ry wherehe w aswithout power to doso,
w h ile pro tecting it whereh e h adthepo wer to
d estro y it. " Palm crsron was rig ht. But after the
E m ancipatio nP ro clam atio n everyo lleknewrh arit
was o nl y am arrcroftimenowbeforeslave rywas
endedeverywher ein theUnitedStates,5 1