Chronological History of the American Civil War

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Cotton, Slavery and the Civil War A few facts you might not know about the Great American Civil War. The most commonly used phrase describing the growth of the American economy in the1830s and 1840s was "Cotton Is King." Cotton was one of the world's first luxury commodities, after sugar and tobacco, and was also the commodity whose production most dramatically turned millions of black human beings in the United States themselves into commodities. Cotton became the first mass consumer commodity. Cotton not only drove the Southern economy but New England states textile factories and a huge proportion of the economy of Great Britain. Great Britain, the most powerful nation in the world, relied on slave-produced American cotton for over 80 per cent of its essential industrial raw material. English textile mills accounted for 40 percent of Britain's exports. One-fifth of Britain's twenty-two million people were directly or indirectly involved with cotton textiles. Which helps us to understand why it was something of a miracle that slavery was finally abolished in this country at all. Cotton prolonged America's most serious social tragedy, slavery, and slave-produced cotton caused the American Civil War since the South wanted “state rights” to expand this crop westward of the Mississippi River. Therefore it was something of a miracle that even the New England states joined the war to end slavery, since in 1860, New England had 52 percent of the manufacturing establishments and 75% of all textile business in the U.S. Civil War Pay A few facts you might not know about the Great American Civil War. Union privates were paid $13 per month until after the final raise on June 20, 1864, when they got $16. In the infantry and artillery, officers were as follows at the start of the war: colonels, $212; lieutenant colonels, $181; majors, $169; captains, $115.50; first lieutenants, $105.50; and second lieutenants, $105.50. Other line and staff officers drew an average of about $15 per month more. Pay for one, two, and three-star generals were $315, $457, and $758, respectively. The Confederate pay structure was modeled after that of the US Army. Privates continued to be paid at the prewar rate of $11 per month until June 1864, when the pay of all enlisted men was raised $7 per month. Confederate officer's pay was a few dollars lower than that of their Union counterparts. A Southern Brigadier General for example, drew $301 instead of $315 per month; Confederate colonels of the infantry received $195, and those of artillery, engineers, and cavalry got $210. While the inflation of Confederate money reduced the actual value of a Southerner's military pay, this was somewhat counterbalanced by the fact that promotion policies in the South were more liberal. As for the pay of noncommissioned officers, when Southern privates were making $11 per month, corporals were making $13, "buck" sergeants $17, first sergeants $20, and engineer sergeants were drawing $34. About the same ratio existed in the Northern army between the pay of privates and noncommissioned officers. Soldiers were supposed to be paid every two months in the field, but they were fortunate if they got their pay at four-month intervals (in the Union Army) and authentic instances are recorded where they went six and eight months. Payment in the Confederate Army was even slower and less regular. Presidential Election of 1860 A few facts you might not know about the Great American Civil War. Do you know who ran in the presidential election of 1860? The United States presidential election of 1860 was one of the most unusual in American history. The election was held on Tuesday, November 6, 1860 and served as the immediate catalyst for the outbreak of the American Civil War. The United States had been divided during the 1850s on questions surrounding the expansion of slavery and the rights of slave owners. In 1860, these issues broke the Democratic Party into Northern and Southern factions, and a new Constitutional Union Party appeared. In a now four-way race brought on by a split in the Democratic Party, Abraham Lincoln's name did not even appear on the ballot in most Southern states. The electoral college gave, Abe Lincoln of Illinois, Republican Party: 39.8% solidly carried the free states of the Northeast and Northwest. Seventeen states in all. Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois, Northern Democratic Party: 29.5%, though he made a solid showing in the popular vote, only took electoral votes from