Lesson 17.2 – The War at Home

Lesson 17.2 – The War at Home

Today’s Essential Question: How did the Civil War affect civilians?

Vocabulary • Copperhead – Northerner who wanted peace with

the Confederacy instead of victory in the war• civilian – anyone who is not in the military• conscription – forced service in the military• bounty – cash bonus paid for enlisting• inflation – increase in prices due to a decrease in

the value of money• income tax – a tax on earnings

Check for Understanding• What is today’s Essential Question?• Are your parents civilians?• What happens to prices during a period

of inflation?

What is an income tax?

An income tax is a tax on earnings, first adopted during the Civil War.

What was a greenback?

• A greenback was a form of paper currency issued by the federal government during the Civil War.

What We Already Know

Public opinion remained

divided in the North, where many people

disapproved of Lincoln and

the war.


Most of the fighting of the Civil War, and therefore the worst of the destruction,

would occur on Southern soil.


Thousands of men, North and South, left

their farms and offices to serve in the armed forces.


Before the Civil War, few women worked outside their homes.

Disagreements About the War

By 1863, many Southerners were

growing weary of the war and its constant

sacrifices.


Food riots had broken out in several

Southern cities, including Richmond,

the capital city.


Southern soldiers deserted the army in large numbers.

By 1863, the Confederate army

had shrunk by almost 40% due to

casualties and desertion.


Southerners like Jefferson Davis

believed the Constitution upheld

the individual sovereignty and independence of

states over that of any central government.

Disagreements About the War• The Confederate

states often fell into disagree-ment.

• The same principle of states’ rights that led them to break with the Union kept them from coordinat-ing their war effort.

Disagreements About the War• Disagreements

over the conduct of the war also arose in the North.

• Lincoln’s main opponents were the Copper-heads, Northern Democrats who favored peace with the South.


President Lincoln had protesters

arrested and suspended the writ of habeas corpus, which prevents the

government from holding citizens without a trial.

Get your whiteboards and markers ready!

7. What did Southerners like Jefferson Davis believe the Constitution said about

the rights of states?

A. The constitution upheld the individual sovereignty and independence of states.

B. States can secede from the Union, but only with Congressional approval.

C. The rights of states are based on the Constitution.

D. Under the Constitution, states may not secede from the Union under any circumstances.

8. How did the South’s principle of states’ rights undermine the

Confederate war effort?A. The South had few mines to provide natural

resources that the Confederate war effort required.

B. Each state worked in its own interest, preventing the coordination of efforts.

C. Each state decided for itself how much of its mining wealth should be contributed to the government.

D. Several states seceded from the Confederacy itself.

What is a Copperhead?

Choose all that are true!

What is a Copperhead?

A. Political opponent of Abraham LincolnB. Southerner who favored peace with the

North instead of victory in the war. C. Political opponent of Jefferson DavisD. Northerner who favored peace with the

South instead of victory in the war.E. Person who helped runaway slaves

escape through to the Union lines


9. How did President Lincoln deal with Copperheads and war protests?A. He had many war protestors arrested.B. He tried to win them over to his viewpoint

by using logic and persuasion.C. He suspended habeas corpus, which

prevents the government from holding citizens without a trial.

D. He exiled Copperheads and their families to the Confederacy.

E. He ordered the execution of several leading Copperheads.

The Draft LawsAs the war dragged on and more soldiers were needed, the government passed conscription laws that required men to serve in the military.

The Draft Laws

Both sides allowed wealthy

men to hire substitutes to serve in their

place.

The Draft Laws

• Confederate conscription laws required all men between 18 and 45 to enlist, with few exceptions.

• But planters who owned 20 or more slaves could avoid service in the Confederate army.

• Poor Southerners complained that it was a “rich man’s war but a poor man’s fight.”

The Draft Laws

The Union government could afford to offer bounties to men who volunteered to serve,

and fewer men needed to be drafted.

The Draft Laws• Even so, the draft

was extremely unpopular.

• New York City suffered four days of riots, during which rioters destroyed property, attacked people on the streets, and killed many African Americans.

Conscription is a law that

required men to serve in the

military.

What is conscription?

What is a bounty?A bounty is a cash payment given by a government to volunteers who enlisted.

10. How did the draft laws in the North and South differ?

A. Only the North required all men between 18 and 45 to enlist, with few exceptions.

B. Only the Confederacy allowed draftees to hire substitutes to serve in their place.

C. The North offered volunteers a bounty of $300, which led to more volunteers.

D. The Union allowed very wealthy farmers to be exempt from military service.

Economic Effects of the War• Food shortages were very common in the

South, because so many farmers were away fighting in the army.

• Another reason for the shortages was that farmers insisted on planting cash crops like cotton instead of food crops.

Economic Effects of the War• Southern civilians

rioted over food shortages in several Confederate cities, including Richmond, the capital and broke into shops and stole food and other goods.

• Inflation made life harder for working people, with prices rising 9,000 percent.

Economic Effects of the War

• Overall, war production boosted industry and fueled the Northern economy.

• In the long term, manufacturing would begin to replace farming as the basis of the national economy.


Early in the war, the Union established

the first income tax and began issuing a new paper currency,

known as greenbacks.

Economic Effects of the WarThe income tax helped the Union to pay for the war.


The new currency helped the Northern economy by ensuring that people had

money to spend.

Why did the South experience food shortages?

A. Too many farmers were away fighting in the army.

B. Food was being sent to the front to feed the army.

C. Farmers insisted on planting cash crops like cotton instead of food crops.

D. Slaves that could have produced food were drafted into the Confederate army.


11. How did the war affect the economy in the South and the North?

A. Slave resistance hurt the Southern economy.

B. Food shortages caused by the war were common in the South.

C. Inflation was much higher in the North than it was in the South.

D. War production boosted Southern industry.E. Several Southern cities experienced food

shortages, even riots.


Resistance by Slaves

With so many Southern men off

to war, slaves often resisted by

slowing their pace of work or

stopping altogether.


Acts of sabotage against crops and farm equipment were very common.


A few slaves even rose up in rebellion against their overseers.


More commonly, though, slaves ran away from plantations to join the Union forces as

they pushed farther into Confederate territory.

Resistance by SlavesAfter Lincoln

issued the Emancipation Proclamation,

even more slaves ran away from

plantations, with as many as half a

million having fled to Union

lines by the end of the war.

Why did slave resistance grow as the war progressed?

A. Slaves sometimes found soldiers’ discarded weapons to use.

B. More Southern men were away fighting, and their wives couldn’t control the slaves.

C. As Union troops drew nearer, slaves grew bold enough to resist.

D. Confederate soldiers were removed from patrolling the plantations and sent to the front.

E. As food supplies dwindled, hungry slaves were less willing to submit to their masters.


What was the least common form of slave resistance?

A. Slowing down or stopping workB. Breaking tools and farm equipmentC. Destroying cropsD. Rising up against their mastersE. Running away to the Union army

Read aloud with me!

Women Aid the War Effort

With so many men away at war, women in both the North and the South assumed

increased responsibilities.

Read aloud with me!


Women plowed fields and ran farms and

plantations.


They also took over jobs in offices and factories that had previously

been done only by men.


Other social changes came about because of the thousands of women who served on the front lines as volunteer workers

and nurses.


Relief agencies put women to work washing

clothes, gathering

supplies, and cooking food for soldiers.


Battlefield nursing, which was once done

only by men, became a respectable profession for many women during

the Civil War.

12. What new roles were taken on by women during the Civil War?

A. NursingB. Holding positions in the governmentC. Cooking and laundering for soldiersD. Working on farms and plantationsE. Working in offices and factoriesF. Spying for the government

Choose the one that is NOT true!


Before the Civil War, most military nurses were men,

like the poet Walt Whitman.


By the end of the war, around 3,000 nurses

had worked under the leadership of Dorothea Dix in Union hospitals.

Women Aid the War Effort• Trained as a schoolteacher,

Clara Barton was working for the government when the Civil War began.

• She organized a relief agency to help with the war effort.

• “While our soldiers stand and fight,” she said, “I can stand and feed and nurse them.”

• She also made food for soldiers in camp and tended to the wounded and dying on the battlefield.


• At Antietam, she held a doctor’s operating table steady as cannon shells burst all around them.

• The doctor called her “the angel of the battlefield.” • After the war, Barton founded the American Red

Cross.


• Mary Ann Bickerdyke was a widow who made herbal medicine before the war.

• Her study of natural medicine, which stressed the benefits of clean water and cleanliness, is credited with saving more lives than all the army physicians.

• Bickerdyke volunteered to clean tents, set up field kitchens and operate army laundries. She brewed hot soups and prepared nutritious meals in field kitchens.

• Known simply as “Mother” Bickerdyke, she followed the Union army and established more than 300 field hospitals to assist sick and wounded soldiers.

• During battles, “Mother” Bickerdyke commonly risked her own life by searching for wounded soldiers on the battlefield.


Women Aid the War Effort• Susie King Taylor was an

African-American woman who wrote an account of her experiences as a volunteer with an African-American regiment.

• Married to a Negro soldier, she moved with her husband's regiment, serving as nurse and laundress, and teaching many of the black soldiers to read and write during their off-duty hours.

Read aloud with me!


Like their Northern counterparts,

Southern women were also active as nurses and as volunteers on

the front.

Which of the following women did NOT serve as a Civil War nurse?

A. Clara BartonB. Sarah Rosetta WakemanC. Mary Ann BickerdyceD. Susie King Taylor

What did Clara Barton do after the war?

A. Helped to found the American Red Cross

B. Organized the World Health Organization

C. Became a wealthy businesswoman

D. Was appointed Surgeon General by the president

Read aloud with me!


Women also played a key role as spies in both the North and the South.

Read aloud with me!


Harriet Tubman served as a spy for Union forces

along the coast of South Carolina.


• The most famous Confed–erate spy was Belle Boyd.

• Although she was arrested six times, she continued her work through much of the war.

• After the war, Boyd became an actress in England, but in 1869, she returned to the United States and began touring the country giving dramatic lectures about her life as a Civil War spy.


A popular Washington widow and hostess when the Civil War

began, Rose Greenhow used her feminine

charms to pass along to Confederate officials

information on the defenses of Washington

and Union troop movements.


She is credited with providing General P.G.T.

Beauregard with information resulting in the Union defeat at the First Battle of Bull Run

in July 1861.

Women Aid the War Effort• Both the Union and Confed–

erate armies rejected the enlistment of women.

• Women who wanted to serve in the army disguised themselves as men and assumed masculine names.

• Because many of them successfully passed as men, it is impossible to know with any certainty how many women served in the Civil War.


• But at least 135 women soldiers are known to have fought in the Civil War disguised as men, although estimates believe the figure to be closer to 400.

• Of these brave women fighting on both sides of the line was one named Sarah Rosetta Wakeman.

http://www.legendsofamerica.com/we-soldierlistindex.html


• Wakeman served from April 1862 and fought in the Battle of Pleasant Hill in April 1864.

• She died from dysentery on later that year.

• Her true gender was not known until Wakeman's many letters home were discovered many years later by a relative.

http://www.legendsofamerica.com/we-soldierlistindex.html

Read aloud with me!


In some areas of the country, women formed Home Guards in order to protect the home front while the men and boys were gone.


Some of these groups consisted only of teenagers and young women, who practiced and drilled and

made their own uniforms to look like those worn by male soldiers.

Which of the following women did NOT serve as a Civil War spy?

A. Harriet TubmanB. Belle BoydC. Mary Ann BickerdyceD. Rose Greenhow

Civil War Prison Camps

Women caught spying were thrown into jail, but soldiers captured in battle suffered far

more.

Civil War Prison CampsAt prison camps in both the North and the

South, prisoners of war faced terrible conditions.

Civil War Prison Camps• One of the worst prison camps in the

North was in Elmira, New York. • In just one year, more than 24 percent of

Elmira’s 12,121 prisoners died of sickness and exposure to severe weather.

Civil War Prison Camps• Conditions were also horrible in the South.• The camp with the worst reputation was at Andersonville, Georgia.

• Built to hold 10,000 prisoners, at one point it housed 33,000.

• A staggering 13,700 men died within thirteen months at Andersonville.


• Inmates had little shelter from the weather.• Most slept in holes scratched in the dirt. • Drinking water came from one tiny creek that also served as a sewer.


As many as 100 men per day died at Andersonville from starvation, disease,

and exposure.

Read aloud with me!


People who saw the camps were shocked by the

condition of the soldiers, comparing them to

mummified corpses.


Around 50,000 men died in Civil War prison camps. But this number was dwarfed by the

number of dead on the battlefronts and even more from disease in army camps.

What were two of the nation’s worst Civil War prison camps?

A. Bradenton, MarylandB. Elmira, New YorkC. Andersonville, GeorgiaD. Paducah, KentuckyE. Evansville, Indiana

Be sure to choose TWO!

13. Why did so many soldiers suffer and die behind enemy lines in

places like Andersonville, Georgia and Elmira, New York?

A. They were army headquarters, and as such were targets for spies.

B. They were sites of early battles in which black troops led the attack.

C. They were prisoner–of–war camps, where soldiers suffered disease and starvation.

D. They were part of Lee's second invasion of the North.

Lesson 17.2 – The War at Home

Documents

Transcript of Lesson 17.2 – The War at Home