| History of Michigan |
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 Michiganportal |
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| Union states in the American Civil War |
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| Dual governments |
| Territories and D.C. |
Michigan made a substantial contribution to the Union during the American Civil War. While the state itself was far removed from the combat theaters of the war, Michigan supplied many troops and several generals, including George Armstrong Custer. When, at the beginning of the war, Michigan was asked to supply no more than one regiment, Governor Austin Blair sent seven.
Before the Civil War, President James Buchanan took a weak position amid a looming South secession crisis. [1] Secretary of State Lewis Cass of Michigan, a 78-year-old elder statesman who had been Michigan's U.S. senator and governor of Michigan Territory, resigned from Buchanan's cabinet in protest, remarking that "he had seen the Constitution born and now feared he was seeing it die". [1]
In December 1860, South Carolina became the first state to secede from the Union. Outgoing Governor Moses Wisner delivered a speech to a Michigan Legislature in defense of the Union and the Constitution, stating: "This is no time for timid and vacillating councils, when the cry of treason and rebellion is ringing in our ears." [1] On January 2, 1861, Austin Blair was sworn in as governor, vowing strong action to maintain the Union and punish secession. [1] The legislature was also firmly pro-Union; when Virginia invited Michigan to send delegates to the Washington Peace Conference, the Legislature passed a refusal resolution stating that "concessions and compromise are not to be entertained or offered to traitors." [1]
At the beginning of the Civil War, regiments from Michigan were raised to answer Lincoln's call for men. [2] The first volunteers from Michigan were mustered into the Army as the 1st Michigan Infantry on May 1, 1861. [3] On May 16, the regiment arrived in Washington; Lincoln was said to have exclaimed "Thank God for Michigan!" upon the troops' arrival. [3]
Over the course of the war, some 90,000 Michigan men (about 23 percent of the 1860 male population of the state) served in the Union forces. [2] This figure includes some 1,600 black soldiers. [2] Michigan raised a total of 30 infantry regiments, eleven cavalry regiments, one light artillery regiment, two light batteries, two companies of sharpshooters, and the 1st Michigan Engineers. [4] According to Frederick H. Dyer, a total of 14,753 officers and men from Michigan died during the war, but a "Roll of Honor" prepared upon order of the Michigan Legislature in 1869 contains 14,855 names. [4] [5]
Among the more celebrated units was the 24th Michigan Volunteer Infantry, which, as a part of the famed Iron Brigade, suffered considerable losses at the Battle of Gettysburg while defending McPherson's Ridge. George Armstrong Custer's "Michigan Wolverine" Cavalry effectively battled J.E.B. Stuart at Gettysburg on the East Cavalry Field.
Several Union generals hailed from Michigan, including: Custer, Elon J. Farnsworth, Byron Root Pierce, Orlando Metcalfe Poe, Israel Bush Richardson, and Orlando B. Willcox. In a letter to his wife, one Union soldier from Michigan detailed his motivations for fighting for the U.S. in the war, before dying in 1864:
The more I learn of the cursed institution of slavery, the more I feel willing to endure, for its final destruction ... After this war is over, this whole country will undergo a change for the better ... Abolishing slavery will dignify labor; that fact of itself will revolutionize everything ... Let Christians use all their influence to have justice done to the black man. [6]
Ah! yes, many a hand that vigorously grasped these Flagstaffs and led the van, now lies crumbling in the grave; and not color-bearers alone, but nearly 15,000 others who fought beside them—the flower of Michigan—return not to receive your thanks and the plaudits of their grateful countrymen.
— General O. B. Willcox, Presentation of Civil War Flags to the State, July 4, 1866 [7]
14,753 Michigan soldiers died in service, roughly one of every six who served. A total of 4,448 of these deaths were combat deaths while the rest, over 10,000, were from disease, a constant fear in crowded army camps with poor food, sanitation and exposure issues and pre-modern medicine. [8] Michigan suffered the sixth-highest losses among the Union states (the non-state U.S. Colored Troops losses also exceeded Michigan's).
Michigan actively participated in the American Civil War sending thousands of volunteers. [9] A study of the cities of Grand Rapids and Niles shows an overwhelming surge of nationalism in 1861, whipping up enthusiasm for the war in all segments of society, and all political, religious, ethnic, and occupational groups. However, by 1862 the casualties were mounting and the war was increasingly focused on freeing the slaves in addition to preserving the Union. Copperhead Democrats called the war a failure, and although it was attempted to make support for the war more and more a partisan Republican effort, the election of 1864 showed support for the Federal cause remained strong. Michigan voters overwhelmingly supported the Union: 79,149 (53.60%) to 68,513 (46.40%). [10]
In the American Civil War (1861–65), the border states or the Border South were four, later five, slave states in the Upper South that primarily supported the Union. They were Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri, and after 1863, the new state of West Virginia. To their north they bordered free states of the Union, and all but Delaware bordered slave states of the Confederacy to their south.
The Union, colloquially known as the North, refers to the states that remained loyal to the United States after eleven Southern slave states seceded to form the Confederate States of America (CSA), also known as the Confederacy or South, during the American Civil War. The Union was led by Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, and sought to preserve the nation a constitutional federal union.
Camp Curtin was a major Union Army training camp in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, during the American Civil War. It was located north of Pennsylvania's state capitol building on 80 acres of what had previously been land used by the Dauphin County Agricultural Fairgrounds.
The U.S. state of West Virginia was formed out of western Virginia and added to the Union as a direct result of the American Civil War, in which it became the only modern state to have declared its independence from the Confederacy. In the summer of 1861, Union troops, which included a number of newly formed Western Virginia regiments, under General George McClellan drove off Confederate troops under General Robert E. Lee at the Battle of Philippi in Barbour County. This essentially freed Unionists in the northwestern counties of Virginia to form a functioning government of their own as a result of the Wheeling Convention. Before the admission of West Virginia as a state, the government in Wheeling formally claimed jurisdiction over all of Virginia, although from its creation it was firmly committed to the formation of a separate state.
During the American Civil War, the State of Ohio played a key role in providing troops, military officers, and supplies to the Union army. Due to its central location in the Northern United States and burgeoning population, Ohio was both politically and logistically important to the war effort. Despite the state's boasting a number of very powerful Republican politicians, it was divided politically. Portions of Southern Ohio followed the Peace Democrats and openly opposed President Abraham Lincoln's policies. Ohio played an important part in the Underground Railroad prior to the war, and remained a haven for escaped and runaway slaves during the war years.
During the American Civil War, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania played a critical role in the Union, providing a substantial supply of military personnel, equipment, and leadership to the Federal government. The state raised over 360,000 soldiers for the Federal armies. It served as a significant source of artillery guns, small arms, ammunition, armor for the new revolutionary style of ironclad types of gunboats for the rapidly expanding United States Navy, and food supplies. The Phoenixville Iron Company by itself produced well over 1,000 cannons, and the Frankford Arsenal was a major supply depot.
During the American Civil War, the State of Vermont gave strong support to the Union war effort, raising troops and money. According to Rachel Cree Sherman:
By the spring of 1865 Vermont was devastated, having sent one tenth of its entire population to war, with a loss of over 5,000 lives to battle, wounds, and disease. The state had dedicated nearly $10 million to support the conflict, half of that amount offered up by towns with no expectation of recompense.
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts played a significant role in national events prior to and during the American Civil War (1861–1865). Massachusetts dominated the early antislavery movement during the 1830s, motivating activists across the nation. This, in turn, increased sectionalism in the North and South, one of the factors that led to the war. Politicians from Massachusetts, echoing the views of social activists, further increased national tensions. The state was dominated by the Republican Party and was also home to many Radical Republican leaders who promoted harsh treatment of slave owners and, later, the former civilian leaders of the Confederate States of America and the military officers in the Confederate States Army.
Texas declared its secession from the Union on February 1, 1861, and joined the Confederate States on March 2, 1861, after it had replaced its governor, Sam Houston, who had refused to take an oath of allegiance to the Confederacy. As with those of other states, the Declaration of Secession was not recognized by the US government at Washington, DC. Some Texan military units fought in the Civil War east of the Mississippi River, but Texas was more useful for supplying soldiers and horses for the Confederate Army. Texas' supply role lasted until mid-1863, when Union gunboats started to control the Mississippi River, which prevented large transfers of men, horses, or cattle. Some cotton was sold in Mexico, but most of the crop became useless because of the Union's naval blockade of Galveston, Houston, and other ports.
The Colorado Territory was formally created in 1861 shortly before the bombardment of Fort Sumter sparked the American Civil War. Although sentiments were somewhat divided in the early days of the war, Colorado was only marginally a pro-Union territory. Colorado was strategically important to both the Union and Confederacy because of the gold and silver mines there as both sides wanted to use the mineral wealth to help finance the war. The New Mexico Campaign was a military operation conducted by Confederate Brigadier General Henry Sibley to gain control of the Southwest, including the gold fields of Colorado, the mineral-rich territory of Nevada and the ports of California. The campaign was intended as a prelude to an invasion of the Colorado Territory and an attempt to cut the supply lines between California and the rest of the Union. However, the Confederates were defeated at the Battle of Glorieta Pass in New Mexico and were forced to retreat back to Texas, effectively ending the New Mexico Campaign.
The state of Iowa played a significant role during the American Civil War in providing food, supplies, troops and officers for the Union army.
The state of New Jersey in the United States provided a source of troops, equipment and leaders for the Union during the American Civil War. Though no major battles were fought in New Jersey, soldiers and volunteers from New Jersey played an important part in the war, including Philip Kearny and George B. McClellan, who led the Army of the Potomac early in the Civil War and unsuccessfully ran for President of the United States in 1864 against his former commander-in-chief, Abraham Lincoln.
Samuel Johnson Crawford was a Union Army officer during the American Civil War, and the third Governor of Kansas (1865–1868). He also served as one of the first members of the Kansas Legislature.
Indiana, a state in the Midwest, played an important role in supporting the Union during the American Civil War. Despite anti-war activity within the state, and southern Indiana's ancestral ties to the South, Indiana was a strong supporter of the Union. Indiana contributed approximately 210,000 Union soldiers, sailors, and marines. Indiana's soldiers served in 308 military engagements during the war; the majority of them in the western theater, between the Mississippi River and the Appalachian Mountains. Indiana's war-related deaths reached 25,028. Its state government provided funds to purchase equipment, food, and supplies for troops in the field. Indiana, an agriculturally rich state containing the fifth-highest population in the Union, was critical to the North's success due to its geographical location, large population, and agricultural production. Indiana residents, also known as Hoosiers, supplied the Union with manpower for the war effort, a railroad network and access to the Ohio River and the Great Lakes, and agricultural products such as grain and livestock. The state experienced two minor raids by Confederate forces, and one major raid in 1863, which caused a brief panic in southern portions of the state and its capital city, Indianapolis.
New Hampshire was a member of the Union during the American Civil War.
The state of New York during the American Civil War was a major influence in national politics, the Union war effort, and the media coverage of the war. New York was the most populous state in the Union during the Civil War, and provided more troops to the U.S. army than any other state, as well as several significant military commanders and leaders. New York sent 400,000 men to the armed forces during the war. 22,000 soldiers died from combat wounds; 30,000 died from disease or accidents; 36 were executed. The state government spent $38 million on the war effort; counties, cities and towns spent another $111 million, especially for recruiting bonuses.
During the American Civil War, the state of Illinois was a major source of troops for the Union Army, and of military supplies, food, and clothing. Situated near major rivers and railroads, Illinois became a major jumping off place early in the war for Ulysses S. Grant's efforts to seize control of the Mississippi and Tennessee rivers. Statewide, public support for the Union was high despite Copperhead sentiment.
The following list is a Bibliography of American Civil War Union military unit histories. More details on each book are available at WorldCat.
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