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Civil War Dbq

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Civil War causalities as in all wars since then, are usually classified only as those who fought, who were killed, wounded, or missing during the Civil War. What many do not understand or even consider is the sphere of influence a war has on families, communities, and economies and in this case slaves. While we will never have an exact number of casualties, an estimated 600,000 people were killed, wounded, or declared missing during the four years of war. Many of those who died were killed in battle, but many of those who did not fight but the war affected are always unaccounted for. Weapons like the minie ball, canister shot for artillery, and rifled guns increased the number of dead and the severity of wounds. Soldiers who were wounded …show more content…

He sought input from many sources and received conflicting opinions. Lincoln believed he had the Constitutional authority to emancipate slaves in rebellious states, and following the Battle of Antietam, he issued an ultimatum to the Confederacy: stop the rebellion or lose your slaves. They chose the latter. On January 1, 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect, setting free millions of humans in the southern part of the United States. The action was controversial at the time, although the Emancipation Proclamation did not abolish slavery in the United States, it transformed the course of the Civil War. African Americans had a vested interest in the outcome of the Civil War, for they were fighting for their freedom and their human rights. As slaves, they worked to undermine the Confederate war effort even as they were forced to labor for the Confederacy. Many slaves escaped to the Union Army and became contraband of war. African-American men, women, and children lived in contraband camps and provided menial labor for the Union. The U.S. government, in order to legalize and manage their contraband 'employees,' passed the First Confiscation Act in 1861, the Second Confiscation Act in 1862, and the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. The newly-freed slaves, called freedmen, continued to work for the Union, which later assisted them through the Freedmen's …show more content…

Civilians on the home front experienced their own set of struggles in their families and communities and in the realms of the economy and politics. Families struggled through the absence of loved ones and the hardships that went along with the holes in their family circles. They also battled feelings of fear, helplessness, grief and loss. During the Civil War, both in the North and the South, many women assumed new roles at home when their male loved ones went off to war. After they faced the challenge of letting their fathers, sons, husbands and brothers become Soldiers, they worked hard to supply their Soldiers with everything from uniforms and socks to bandages and books. To help them, the North developed the U.S. Sanitary Commission, which was in charge of distributing supplies and improving conditions in camps and hospitals. Women also faced the task of keeping their home fires burning while the men were in the military. They often assumed the role as the head of the household, taking on the responsibilities of farming or working outside the home, as well as caring for their families alone. On top of this, women had to cope with hardships like fear, loss, grief, inflation, shortages, violence, rape and

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