The War to Save the UnionThe War to Save the Union 14

CONTENTS

■The Aftermath at Bloody Laneshows the road that anchored Lee’s defenses

at Antietam, filled with 5,000 dead and dying soldiers from both sides. This

painting is by Captain James Hope of the 2nd Vermont Infantry, who served

at Antietam.

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But no civil war makes much sense, as Americans

learned in 1861. Then, brother fought brother; men

intent on destroying each other prayed to the same God.

The horrors of the war eclipsed any good that might

attend victory, or so it seemed.

The U.S. Civil War moved forward, impelled by its

own terrible momentum. The first inconclusive battle

led to others. More men were called to arms, often

against their will. Farms and factories were diverted to

the war effort. Lincoln emancipated some slaves as a

measure to weaken the South. The strains of the war

fractured the political consensus. When the guns at last

fell silent, a half million men lay dead, and millions

more were casualties. While touring a hospital ward

after another gruesome battle, President Lincoln

despaired at the horror of it all. “If there is a place

worse than hell, I am in it.” ■

Lincoln’s Cabinet

The nomination of Lincoln had succeeded brilliantly

for the Republicans, but was his election a good thing

for the country? As the inauguration approached,

many Americans had doubts. Honest Abe was a clever

politician who had spoken well about the central issue

■Lincoln’s Cabinet

■Fort Sumter: The First Shot

■The Blue and the Gray

■The Test of Battle: Bull Run

■Paying for the War

■Politics as Usual

■Behind Confederate Lines

■War in the West: Shiloh

■McClellan: The Reluctant

Warrior

■Lee Counterattacks: Antietam

■The Emancipation

Proclamation

■The Draft Riots

■The Emancipated People

■African American Soldiers

■Antietam to Gettysburg

■Lincoln Finds His General:

Grant at Vicksburg

■Economic and Social Effects,

North and South

■Women in Wartime

■Grant in the Wilderness

■Sherman in Georgia

■To Appomattox Court House

■Winners, Losers, and the Future

■Debating the Past:

Why Did the South Lose the

Civil War?

■Re-Viewing the Past: Glory

HeartheAudio Chapter 14 at http://www.myhistorylab.com