Union (American Civil War)
During the American Civil War, the United States was referred to as simply the Union, also known colloquially as the North, after eleven Southern slave states seceded to form the Confederate States of America (CSA), which was called the Confederacy, also known as the South. The name the "Union" arose from the declared goal of the United States, led by President Abraham Lincoln, of preserving the United States as a constitutional federal union.
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- United States of America
- Union
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- United States of America
- Union
Recognized government of the United States
1860–1861
March 4, 1861
April 12–13, 1861
January 1, 1863
1864
July 13–16, 1863
March 29, 1865
April 14, 1865
April 9 – November 6, 1865
In the context of the Civil War, "Union" is also often used as a synonym for "the northern states loyal to the United States government".[1] In this meaning, the Union included 20 free states and four southern border slave states—Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri, though Missouri and Kentucky both had dual competing Confederate and Unionist governments with the Confederate government of Kentucky and the Confederate government of Missouri.[2]
The Union Army was a new formation comprising mostly state units, together with units from the regular U.S. Army. Keeping the southern border states in the Union was considered essential to its winning the war.[3][4]
The Northeast and Midwest provided the industrial resources for a mechanized war producing large quantities of munitions and supplies and financing the war. They provided soldiers, food, horses, financial support, and training camps. Army hospitals were also set up across the Union. Most Northern states had Republican governors who energetically supported the war effort and suppressed anti-war subversion, particularly that that arose in 1863–64.[5] The Democratic Party strongly supported the war at the beginning in 1861, but by 1862, was split between the War Democrats and the anti-war element known as Peace Democrats, led by the extremist "Copperheads".[6] The Democrats made major electoral gains in 1862 in state elections, most notably in New York. They lost ground in 1863, especially in Ohio. In 1864, the Republicans campaigned under the National Union Party banner, which attracted many War Democrats and soldiers[7] and scored a landslide victory for Lincoln and his entire ticket against Democratic candidate George B. McClellan.
The war years were quite prosperous except where serious fighting and guerrilla warfare ravaged the countryside. Prosperity was stimulated by heavy government spending and the creation of an entirely new national banking system. The Union states invested a great deal of money and effort in organizing psychological and social support for soldiers' wives, widows, and orphans, and for the soldiers themselves. Most soldiers were volunteers, although after 1862 many volunteered in order to escape the draft and to take advantage of generous cash bounties on offer from states and localities. Draft resistance was notable in some larger cities, especially in parts of New York City, with its massive anti-draft riots of July 1863 and in some remote districts such as the Coal Region of Northeastern Pennsylvania.
Society[edit]
Religion[edit]
The Protestant religion was quite strong in the North in the 1860s. The United States Christian Commission sent agents into the Army camps to provide psychological support as well as books, newspapers, food and clothing. Through prayer, sermons and welfare operations, the agents ministered to soldiers' spiritual as well as temporal needs as they sought to bring the men to a Christian way of life.[50] Most churches made an effort to support their soldiers in the field and especially their families back home. Much of the political rhetoric of the era had a distinct religious tone.[85]
The Protestant clergy in America took a variety of positions. In general, the pietistic denominations such as the Methodists, Northern Baptists and Congregationalists strongly supported the war effort. Catholics, Episcopalians, Lutherans and conservative Presbyterians generally avoided any discussion of the war, so it would not bitterly divide their membership. The Quakers, while giving strong support to the abolitionist movement on a personal level, refused to take a denominational position. Some clergymen who supported the Confederacy were denounced as Copperheads, especially in the border regions.[86][87]