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the initial policy or war aim of the the lincoln administration was to restore the union
as it had existed
before the creation of the confederacy
well how do you do that
%uh
do you do that by defeating confederate armies but conciliating the
civilian population
do you do that by leaving slavery alone do you do that by protecting civilian property
including slaves
%uh do you do that by just %uh recapturing %uh the forts that the confederacy has seized
%uh
like fort sumpter
%uh
and then
you know appealing to the kind of latent unionism of the southern people well this was a great
debate within
union strategy and at first union
pursued what you really %uh kind of a
limited war strategy
%uh we'll defeat their armies and then maybe the they'll come back into the union
%uh that didn't work
we'll invade their territory and gain control of some of these seven hundred and fifty thousand
square miles of confederate territory
and that did %uh that actually happened in the early months of eighteen sixty two
capture of new orleans
%uh the capture of nashville the capture of memphis the capture most of tennessee much of the lower
mississippi valley gaining control of the river networks in the western confederacy
gaining control of the coastal areas of the south atlantic coast of the confederacy
but the war goes on
%uh and
the policy of conciliating southern civilians while trying to defeat confederate armies
doesn't seem to be working southern civilians don't want to be conciliated
and so
gradually
the lincoln administrations
national strategy and military strategy grow more thorough going more radical
more destructive
%uh lincoln at first wants to conciliate the border state slave holding unionists
so he doesn't want to touch slavery and when general fremont issues %uh
a military order emancipating the slaves of confederate supporters in missouri lincoln squashes it
when general hunter in may eighteen sixty two issues a military order
%uh
liberating declaring the slaves in the south atlantic states free
lincoln squashes that
but finally lincoln decides that %uh that slavery is not only at the root of this
war but slavery is the basis of the confederate economy
slave labor provides the
the logistical infrastructure of confederate armies
conciliating southern civilians hasn't seemed to work
leaving slave property alone doesn't seem to have
caused southern civilians to be sympathetic to the union
conquering southern territory and occupying occupying cities like new orleans and memphis
and
and nashville doesn't seem to be working
so he moves toward what was called %uh %uh hard war or even total war rather than conciliation
by the policy of emancipation by the policy of
%uh trying to destroy confederate armies and by eighteen sixty-four the policy of %uh
destroying all kinds of confederate economic resources in
campaigns like sheridan's campaign in the shenandoah valley sherman's march through
georgia and then through the carolinas
the only way we're going to win this war is to completely destroy
%uh the ability of the confederate states to wage war
destroy their property destroy any property that can be used to wage war against the united
states and that includes slave property
so
union policy goes from from or union strategy
union policy is always the same
but the national strategy and the military strategy evolved in a far more %uh total
and radical way during the course of the war
so the the bottom line of that is that you've got this kind of progression
in %uh union
strategy
from a limited war to
an almost unlimited war