Author:   Edgar Pearce Date:1862 Annotation: Under the Anaconda Plan, Union forces in the West were to seize control of the Mississippi River while Union forces in the East tried to capture the new Confederate capital in Richmond. In the western theater, the Confederates had built two forts, Fort Donelson along the Cumberland River and…

Author:   Abraham Lincoln Date:1862 Annotation: In August 1862, Lincoln stated: “If I could save the union without freeing any slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would…

Author:   Abraham Lincoln Date:1862 Annotation: Early in the war, Lincoln handled the slavery issue cautiously to avoid losing the support of the border states. He did, however, take a major symbolic step when he became the first President to approve of the execution of an illegal slave trader. Document: Whereas, it appears that at…

Date:1862 Annotation: The California Supreme Court rules that a Chinese witness could not testify against a white man accused of murder. After George Hall was convicted of the murder of Ling Sing, based on the testimony of three Chinese witnesses, Hall’s lawyer argued that a California statute barring testimony by African Americans, mulattoes, and Indians…

Author:   Mansfield Lovell Date:1862 Annotation: In a letter to his son, Confederate Major General Mansfield Lovell (1822-1884) predicts that Lincoln’s emancipation proclamation “will produce dissensions and troubles at the North and…thus indirectly benefit our Cause.” Lovell, a West Point graduate who had served in the Mexican War, had unsuccessfully defended New Orleans against a…

Preamble We, the people of the Confederate States, each State acting in its sovereign and independent character, in order to form a permanent federal government, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity — invoking the favor and guidance of Almighty God — do ordain and establish…

Author:   Abraham Lincoln Date:1861 Annotation: The initial Union strategy involved blockading Confederate ports to cut off cotton exports and prevent the import of manufactured goods; and using ground and naval forces to divide the Confederacy into three distinct theaters. These were the far western theater, west of the Mississippi River; the western theater, between…

Author:   David Hopkins Date:1861 Annotation: In its analysis of the Civil War’s causes, the London Times rejected the notion that this was a war about slavery. It argued that the conflict had the same roots as most wars: territorial aggrandizement, political power, and economic supremacy. But few Northerners or Southerners saw the war in…

Author:   John Jay III Date:1861 Annotation: In July 1861, Congress adopted a resolution by a vote of 117 to 2 in the House and 30 to 5 in the Senate that read: “This war is not waged…for the purpose of overthrowing or interfering with the established institutions of those States, but to maintain the…

Author:   James R. Kelly Date:1861 Annotation: The Civil War was the deadliest war in American history. Altogether, over 600,000 died in the conflict, more than World War I and World War II combined. A soldier was 13 times more likely to die in the Civil War than in the Vietnam war. One reason why…