Civil War Era Issues

The causes of the American Civil War are varied and often disputed.  Central to all issues is that of slavery. After years of debate and compromise over the contentious issue, the country reached an impasse. The institution, which both exploited and dehumanized  millions of African-Americans, polarized the country. Many steadfastly defended the existence of the slavery in a "free" society. They argued that slavery was integral to the economy and culture of southern states, where the institution thrived. Pro-slavery advocates hoped to extend the institution into new states and territories.While the typical southerner did not own slaves, much of the American economy was tied to the free labor source, be it directly or indirectly.

Others believed that the enslavement of African-Americans was immoral and cruel, wholly incompatible the concept of liberty as worded in the United States Constitution. Many free blacks in the north along with others who felt the institution represented injustice argued for its abolition.

In 1860, the newly elected President, Abraham Lincoln, attempted to amalgamate the radical pro and anti-slavery interests.  Below is an excerpt from a letter written by Lincoln and addressed to the future Confederate Vice President, Alexander H. Stephens.  

"You think slavery is right and should be extended; while we think slavery is wrong and ought to be restricted.  That I suppose is the rub.  It certainly is the only substantial difference between us."  December 22, 1860

On December 20, 1860, South Carolina is the first state to secede from the United States.  Excited Savannahians wearing palmetto hats and carrying hot torches, parade in the city squares.  On January 19, 1861, Georgia breaks from the federal government.  Confederate Vice President Alexander H. Stephens visits Savannah in March, 1861, and addresses the ecstatic citizenry.

"But not to be tedious in enumerating the numerous changes for the better, allow me to allude to one other--though last, not least.  The new constitution has put to rest, forever, all the agitating questions relating to our peculiar institution--African slavery as it exists amongst us--the proper status of the Negro in our form of civilization.  This was the immediate cause of the late rupture and present revolution.  Jefferson in his forecast, had anticipated this, as the "rock upon which the old Union would split."  He was right."  Cornerstone Speech; March 21, 1861

Stephen's radical premise and like ideology fueled support for the southern war effort.  Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas all break from the Union in support of South Carolina.  On April 12, 1861, the Civil War starts when Confederates fire shots at the federal garrison inside Fort Sumter.   By June of 1861, the die is cast when Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina and Tennessee secede. 

Civil War in Georgia                                                       

As early as November, 1860, Governor Joseph E. Brown readied Georgians for upcoming hostilities; that is, the American Civil War.   The State rushed cannon and small arm requisitions.   Savannah volunteer regiments such as the Irish Jasper Greens, Savannah Volunteer Guards, and Oglethorpe Light Infantry, hurriedly reorganized to support the State troops.  The groups consolidated to form the First Regiment Georgia Volunteers.  On January 3, 1861, the First Regiment Georgia Volunteers seized Fort Pulaski.   This event occurred seventeen days before Georgia's succession from the Union and eight days after federal troops seized Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina.   Brown hoped to protect Savannah from the same fate as her sister city Charleston.

Union strategy included blockading the southern coast to cut foreign economic aid and all trade.  If  Savannah was blockaded, the Confederacy would lose an important port.  Three railroads delivered cotton and rice to the warehouses and riverside wharves that lined Bay Street.  Businessmen lobbied their English counterparts to buy the bushels of cotton and  rice enslaved Africans had harvested.  Rice was the second labor intensive, staple crop in the Deep South.   Since the 1700's, rice cultivation fueled the Low Country economy.  Africans captured from the western rice growing areas of the continent worked the fields.

Sea-going blockade runners smuggled cotton and rice to England and France.  Rifles, medicine, salt, tea, soap, clothing, and even liquor were hot items of exchange.  The little steamship Ida was the last blockade runner to defy Union batteries.  On February 13, 1862, the Savannah port was bottled up.  Toward the end of the War, General William Sherman would claim Savannah at the end of his March to the Sea.  And yet, from all practical points, the city was already conquered.   

                
           Recruits on Cockspur Island circa 1862-1865                   

The fall of Fort Pulaski and Major General David Hunter's subsequent general orders freeing local slaves did much to undermine slavery in the Low Country. African-Americans throughout the area  fled to Fort Pulaski. Many were recruited into the military forming the core of the 1st and 2nd South Carolina Volunteers. These are among the earliest African-American units of  the Union Army.                                                               

Date of Last Modification:  06/13/00
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