Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln would be the catalyst that would unleash a four-year battle that would tear the country apart, pit brother against brother, and leave more than 672,000 dead in its wake. Like General Ulysses S. Grant, Lincoln felt the entire burden of the contest thrust on himself. After tens of thousands of men died during the Battle of Petersburg, Grant lay down on his bed and wept all night. Lincoln used humor to mask his depression over the young boys he was sending to their graves. Each man blamed himself for the death and devastation they left in their wake.

But, in hindsight, we can say no one man or event served as a catalyst for the Civil War. It was not the John Brown Raid, no matter how many historians say it was the pivotal event. It was not the election of Abraham Lincoln, and the war was not about slavery—not in the beginning anyway.

Attack on Fort Sumter

The attack on Fort Sumter marked a point of no return.

In a lecture delivered at the Lyceum in New Bedford, Massachusetts, on April 9, 1861, Wendell Phillips said, "Mr. Jefferson Davis is angry, and Mr. Abraham Lincoln is mad, and they agree to fight. One, two, or three years hence, if the news of the afternoon is correct, we shall have gone through a war, spent millions, required the death of a hundred thousand men, and be exactly where we are now—two nations, a little poorer, and a great deal wiser, and that will be the only difference. We may just as well settle it now as then."

To be sure, Phillips seemed to believe Lincoln's war stance was little more than a ruse. "If the administration provokes bloodshed, it is a trick—nothing else. It is the masterly cunning of that devil of compromises. He is not mad enough to let those States rush into battle."

It would be a foolish mistake. A mistake that Phillips said could provoke New England to form their own country.

First Battle of Bull Run

The Battle of Bull Run served as an eye-opener for both sides. First, and foremost, it dispelled the idea that it would be a short, bloodless contest. Any thoughts the Unionists had that the South would collapse and give in at the first show of force disappeared after Bull Run. The Confederates showed they possessed the men and the backbone to stand up for themselves. Second, the idea the war was a great party that citizens and members of Congress could bring their lawn chairs and picnic baskets to and sit on the sidelines and safely watch the action unfold quickly got kicked aside in the disorganized retreat from Bull Run.

People finally saw the conflict for what it was, a war where soldiers got maimed, and killed, and blown all to bits.

Clearly, this conflict was more than anyone had bargained for.

Once they got over the initial sting of the loss, some people started to look for a silver lining in it.

Anaconda Plan

General Winfield Scott created the Anaconda Plan. Like the slithery South American serpent, it would wrap its coils around the Confederacy and slowly strangle them into submission.

The Anaconda Plan combined a blockade of Southern ports by the navy and a joint army and navy campaign down the Mississippi, and then to control New Orleans and the Mississippi River. Its object was to split the Confederacy in half and squeeze them like an Anaconda snake.

The problem was Scott’s plan was overly ambitious and did not mesh with the administration’s policies for carrying out the war. It required the Union to patrol over 3500 miles of coastal land from Virginia to Mexico, an almost impossible task for a navy with only eighty-two vessels.

No one doubted that Scott’s plan was a good one or that it would get the job done. The problem was that the Anaconda Plan was too much like the old General himself. It was slow and fat and hungry and would take forever to get results.

1862: Civil War Furies

History Bytes

Shot All to Hell

Shot All to Pieces