Alabama in the Civil War
Encyclopedia
The state of Alabama
was a part of the Confederate States of America
during the American Civil War
after seceding
from the United States of America on January 11, 1861. It provided a significant source of troops and leaders, military material
, supplies, food, and, early on, cotton
to be exchanged in England
for munitions (until the port of Mobile
was closed off by the U.S. Navy).
energetically supported the Confederate war effort. Even before hostilities began in April 1861, he seized Federal facilities, sent agents to buy rifles in the Northeast, and scoured the state for weapons. Despite some resistance in the northern part of the state, Alabama joined the Confederate States of America. Congressman Williamson R. W. Cobb
, a Unionist
, pleaded for compromise. He ran for the First Confederate Congress
, but was soundly defeated (he was subsequently elected in 1863 on a wave of anti-war sentiment, with war weariness growing in Alabama). The new nation brushed Cobb aside and set up its temporary capital in Montgomery
and selected Jefferson Davis
as president. In May the Confederate government abandoned Montgomery before the sickly season began and relocated in Richmond
once Virginia
seceded.
Some idea of the severe internal logistics problems the Confederacy faced can be seen by tracing Davis's journey from Mississippi
, the next state over. From his plantation on the river, he took a steamboat down the Mississippi to Vicksburg
, boarded a train to Jackson
, where he took another train north to Grand Junction
, then a third train east to Chattanooga, Tennessee
, and a fourth train to Atlanta, Georgia
. Yet another train took Davis to the Alabama
border, where a final train took him to Montgomery
. As the war proceeded the Federals seized the Mississippi River
, burned trestles and railroad bridges, and tore up track; the frail Confederate railroad system faltered and virtually collapsed for want of repairs and replacement parts.
Uncounted thousands of slaves worked with Confederate troops; they took care of horses and equipment, cooked and did laundry, hauled supplies, and helped in field hospitals. Other slaves built defensive installations, especially those around Mobile
. They graded roads, repaired railroads, drove supply wagons, and labored in iron mines, iron foundries and even in the munitions factories. The service of slaves was involuntary, their unpaid labor was impressed from their unpaid masters. About 10,000 slaves escaped and joined the Union army
, along with 2,700 white men who had remained loyal to the Federal government.
Thirty-nine Alabamians attained the rank of general or admiral, most notably Lieutenant General
James Longstreet
and Admiral
Raphael Semmes
. Josiah Gorgas
, who came to Alabama from Pennsylvania
, was the Chief of Ordnance for the Confederacy. He located new munitions plants in Selma
that employed 10,000 workers until Union raiders in 1865 burned down the factories. The Selma Arsenal made most of the Confederacy's ammunition. The Selma Naval Ordnance Works manufactured artillery
, turning out a cannon
every five days. The Confederate Naval Yard built ships and was noted for launching the CSS Tennessee in 1863 to defend Mobile Bay
. Selma's Confederate Nitre Works procured niter
for gunpowder from limestone caves. When supplies were low, it advertised for housewives to save the contents of their chamber pots—urine was a rich source of organic nitrogen
.
Alabama soldiers fought in hundreds of battles. The state's losses at Gettysburg
were 1,750 dead plus even more captured or wounded—the famed "Alabama Brigade" took 781 casualties. In 1863 Federal forces secured a foothold in northern Alabama in spite of spirited opposition from Confederate cavalry under General Nathan B. Forrest.
shut Mobile Bay, and in 1864 the outer defenses of Mobile were taken by a Federal fleet during the Battle of Mobile Bay
. On April 12, 1865, three days after the surrender of Robert E. Lee
at Appomattox Courthouse
, the city of Mobile surrendered to the Union army to avoid destruction following the Union victories at the Battle of Spanish Fort
and the Battle of Fort Blakely
. The Magee Farm, north of Mobile, was the site of preliminary arrangements for the surrender of the last Confederate States Army
east of the Mississippi River
. Confederate General Richard Taylor
negotiated a ceasefire
with Union General Edward Canby
at the house on April 29, 1865. Taylor's forces, comprising 47,000 Confederate troops serving in Alabama, Mississippi
and Louisiana
, were the last remaining Confederate force east of the Mississippi River
.
After the Tennessee
and Cumberland
rivers were taken, Union forces temporarily occupied Northern Alabama until the fall of Nashville
allowed permanent occupation of counties north and west of the Tennessee River, while the Union blockade
applied pressure in the southern part of the state.
Before the arrival of Federal troops, local Unionist resistance networks were based on underground cells that aided pro-Union Loyalists by means of finances, contacts, supplies, and much needed local intelligence. Recruits from Alabama who had joined Union regiments used their familiarity with the social network and physical geography of the homefront to locate, rescue, and recruit beleaguered Unionists still behind Confederate lines.
Loyalists were given assurance of safety and a job if they were to give the U.S. forces supplies, information, contacts, and money. Some Loyalists were drafted, and some were volunteers. White Unionists used the army as a tool to defeat the forces threatening to destroy the old Union, and their families and neighborhoods along with it. The most well known unit composed entirely of Alabama Unionists was the 1st Alabama Cavalry Regiment (Union)
.
Union partisans
were motivated by a sense of duty and obligation to the Union cause and a need to protect their family and Unionist friends. They were also motivated by a desire for vengeance for all the wrongs they had suffered at Confederate hands throughout the war. Unionist guerrilla bands were typically fairly compact, numbering between twenty and a hundred men. They were independently organized, but were loosely associated and actively supported by occupying Union forces. Their missions included acting as spies, guides, scouts, recruiters behind enemy lines, and anti-guerrilla fighters to protect Union forces and infrastructure.
Confederate guerillas were made up of four types of fighters–the first half of these were under Confederate supervision, being either detached cavalry or enlisted men fighting close to home. The other units either fought disguised as noncombatants or were simply outlaws looking for blood-letting opportunities. These men were not under Confederate control and were as interested in profit as helping the Southern cause.
, Coffee
and Henry
(which included present-day Houston County
and Geneva County
, as well), for instance, guerrillas led by local Unionist John Ward operated virtually at will during the last two years of the war, finding refuge in the vast pine
forests that covered this region. These renegades sometimes worked with regular Union forces based in Pensacola, Florida
, and their depredations led several leading citizens of these counties to petition the governor, T.H. Watts, for military assistance against them. Local citizens, such as Methodist minister Bill Sketoe
of Newton
, were even hanged by Home Guard
elements for alleged acts of collaboration with these guerrillas.
in July 1861 made a preliminary estimate of losses. Nealy all the white men served, some 122,000 he said, of whom 35,000 died in the war and another 30,000 were seriously disabled. The next year Governor Robert M. Patton
estimated that 20,000 veterans had returned home permanently disabled, and there were 20,000 widows and 60,000 orphans. With cotton prices low, the value of farms shrank, from $176 in 1860 million to only $64 million in 1870. The livestock supply shrank too, as the number of horses fell from 127,000 to 80,000, and mules 111,000 to 76.000. The overall population remained the same--the growth that might have been expected neutralized by death and emigration.
. Alabama sent William Parish Chilton, Sr.
, Jabez Lamar Monroe Curry
, Thomas Fearn
(resigned March 16, 1861, after first session; replaced by Nicholas Davis, Jr.
), Stephen Fowler Hale, David Peter Lewis (resigned March 16, 1861, after first session; replaced by Henry Cox Jones
), Colin John McRae
, John Gill Shorter
(resigned November 1861; replaced by Cornelius Robinson
), Robert Hardy Smith
, and Richard Wilde Walker
.
The bicameral First Confederate Congress
(1862–64) included two senators from Alabama—Clement Claiborne Clay
and William Lowndes Yancey
(died July 23, 1863; replaced by Robert Jemison, Jr.
). Representing Alabama in the House of Representatives were Thomas Jefferson Foster
, William Russell Smith
, John Perkins Ralls
, Jabez Lamar Monroe Curry, Francis Strother Lyon
, William Parish Chilton, Sr., David Clopton
, James Lawrence Pugh, Edmund Strother Dargan
Alabama's two senators in the Second Confederate Congress
(1864–65) were Robert Jemison, Jr., and Richard Wilde Walker
. Representatives were Thomas Jefferson Foster, William Russell Smith, Marcus Henderson Cruikshank
, Francis Strother Lyon, William Parish Chilton, Sr., David Clopton, James L. Pugh, and James Shelton Dickinson
. Congress refused to seat Representative-elect W. R. W. Cobb
because he was an avowed Unionist; therefore his district was not represented.
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
was a part of the Confederate States of America
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
during the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
after seceding
Secession
Secession is the act of withdrawing from an organization, union, or especially a political entity. Threats of secession also can be a strategy for achieving more limited goals.-Secession theory:...
from the United States of America on January 11, 1861. It provided a significant source of troops and leaders, military material
Material
Material is anything made of matter, constituted of one or more substances. Wood, cement, hydrogen, air and water are all examples of materials. Sometimes the term "material" is used more narrowly to refer to substances or components with certain physical properties that are used as inputs to...
, supplies, food, and, early on, cotton
Cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....
to be exchanged in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
for munitions (until the port of Mobile
Mobile, Alabama
Mobile is the third most populous city in the Southern US state of Alabama and is the county seat of Mobile County. It is located on the Mobile River and the central Gulf Coast of the United States. The population within the city limits was 195,111 during the 2010 census. It is the largest...
was closed off by the U.S. Navy).
Alabama joins the war effort
Antebellum Governor Andrew B. MooreAndrew B. Moore
Andrew Barry Moore was the 16th Governor of the U.S. state of Alabama from 1857 to 1861, and served as Governor at the outbreak of the American Civil War....
energetically supported the Confederate war effort. Even before hostilities began in April 1861, he seized Federal facilities, sent agents to buy rifles in the Northeast, and scoured the state for weapons. Despite some resistance in the northern part of the state, Alabama joined the Confederate States of America. Congressman Williamson R. W. Cobb
Williamson Robert Winfield Cobb
Williamson Robert Winfield Cobb was an American politician who served the state of Alabama in the U.S. House of Representatives between 1847 and 1861. He was born in Rhea County, Tennessee on June 8, 1807 to David Cobb and Martha Bryant. He moved with his father, David Cobb, in 1809 to Bellefonte,...
, a Unionist
Union (American Civil War)
During the American Civil War, the Union was a name used to refer to the federal government of the United States, which was supported by the twenty free states and five border slave states. It was opposed by 11 southern slave states that had declared a secession to join together to form the...
, pleaded for compromise. He ran for the First Confederate Congress
First Confederate Congress
The First Confederate Congress was the first regular term of the legislature of the Confederate States of America. Members of the First Confederate Congress were chosen in elections mostly held on 6 November 1861.-Sessions:...
, but was soundly defeated (he was subsequently elected in 1863 on a wave of anti-war sentiment, with war weariness growing in Alabama). The new nation brushed Cobb aside and set up its temporary capital in Montgomery
Montgomery, Alabama
Montgomery is the capital of the U.S. state of Alabama, and is the county seat of Montgomery County. It is located on the Alabama River southeast of the center of the state, in the Gulf Coastal Plain. As of the 2010 census, Montgomery had a population of 205,764 making it the second-largest city...
and selected Jefferson Davis
Jefferson Davis
Jefferson Finis Davis , also known as Jeff Davis, was an American statesman and leader of the Confederacy during the American Civil War, serving as President for its entire history. He was born in Kentucky to Samuel and Jane Davis...
as president. In May the Confederate government abandoned Montgomery before the sickly season began and relocated in Richmond
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
once Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
seceded.
Some idea of the severe internal logistics problems the Confederacy faced can be seen by tracing Davis's journey from Mississippi
Mississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
, the next state over. From his plantation on the river, he took a steamboat down the Mississippi to Vicksburg
Vicksburg, Mississippi
Vicksburg is a city in Warren County, Mississippi, United States. It is the only city in Warren County. It is located northwest of New Orleans on the Mississippi and Yazoo rivers, and due west of Jackson, the state capital. In 1900, 14,834 people lived in Vicksburg; in 1910, 20,814; in 1920,...
, boarded a train to Jackson
Jackson, Mississippi
Jackson is the capital and the most populous city of the US state of Mississippi. It is one of two county seats of Hinds County ,. The population of the city declined from 184,256 at the 2000 census to 173,514 at the 2010 census...
, where he took another train north to Grand Junction
Grand Junction, Tennessee
Grand Junction is a city in Fayette and Hardeman counties in the U.S. state of Tennessee. The population was 301 at the 2000 census, and is currently 321. Grand Junction runs along Tennessee State Route 57, and is bordered to the west by Tennessee State Route 18 . Approximately ten miles to the...
, then a third train east to Chattanooga, Tennessee
Chattanooga, Tennessee
Chattanooga is the fourth-largest city in the US state of Tennessee , with a population of 169,887. It is the seat of Hamilton County...
, and a fourth train to Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
. Yet another train took Davis to the Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
border, where a final train took him to Montgomery
Montgomery, Alabama
Montgomery is the capital of the U.S. state of Alabama, and is the county seat of Montgomery County. It is located on the Alabama River southeast of the center of the state, in the Gulf Coastal Plain. As of the 2010 census, Montgomery had a population of 205,764 making it the second-largest city...
. As the war proceeded the Federals seized the Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
, burned trestles and railroad bridges, and tore up track; the frail Confederate railroad system faltered and virtually collapsed for want of repairs and replacement parts.
Military endeavors
Alabama was not the scene of any significant military operations, yet the state contributed about 120,000 men to the Confederate service, practically all her white population capable of bearing arms. Most were recruited locally and served with men they knew, which built esprit and strengthened ties to home. Medical conditions were severe; about 15% died of disease, and 10% from battle. Alabama had few well-equipped hospitals, but it had many women who volunteered to nurse the sick and wounded. Soldiers were poorly equipped, especially after 1863, and often resorted to pillaging the dead for boots, belts, canteens, blankets, hats, shirts and pants.Uncounted thousands of slaves worked with Confederate troops; they took care of horses and equipment, cooked and did laundry, hauled supplies, and helped in field hospitals. Other slaves built defensive installations, especially those around Mobile
Mobile, Alabama
Mobile is the third most populous city in the Southern US state of Alabama and is the county seat of Mobile County. It is located on the Mobile River and the central Gulf Coast of the United States. The population within the city limits was 195,111 during the 2010 census. It is the largest...
. They graded roads, repaired railroads, drove supply wagons, and labored in iron mines, iron foundries and even in the munitions factories. The service of slaves was involuntary, their unpaid labor was impressed from their unpaid masters. About 10,000 slaves escaped and joined the Union army
Union Army
The Union Army was the land force that fought for the Union during the American Civil War. It was also known as the Federal Army, the U.S. Army, the Northern Army and the National Army...
, along with 2,700 white men who had remained loyal to the Federal government.
Thirty-nine Alabamians attained the rank of general or admiral, most notably Lieutenant General
Lieutenant General
Lieutenant General is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages where the title of Lieutenant General was held by the second in command on the battlefield, who was normally subordinate to a Captain General....
James Longstreet
James Longstreet
James Longstreet was one of the foremost Confederate generals of the American Civil War and the principal subordinate to General Robert E. Lee, who called him his "Old War Horse." He served under Lee as a corps commander for many of the famous battles fought by the Army of Northern Virginia in the...
and Admiral
Admiral
Admiral is the rank, or part of the name of the ranks, of the highest naval officers. It is usually considered a full admiral and above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet . It is usually abbreviated to "Adm" or "ADM"...
Raphael Semmes
Raphael Semmes
For other uses, see Semmes .Raphael Semmes was an officer in the United States Navy from 1826 - 1860 and the Confederate States Navy from 1860 - 1865. During the American Civil War he was captain of the famous commerce raider CSS Alabama, taking a record sixty-nine prizes...
. Josiah Gorgas
Josiah Gorgas
Josiah Gorgas was one of the few Northern-born Confederate generals and was later president of the University of Alabama....
, who came to Alabama from Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, was the Chief of Ordnance for the Confederacy. He located new munitions plants in Selma
Selma, Alabama
Selma is a city in and the county seat of Dallas County, Alabama, United States, located on the banks of the Alabama River. The population was 20,512 at the 2000 census....
that employed 10,000 workers until Union raiders in 1865 burned down the factories. The Selma Arsenal made most of the Confederacy's ammunition. The Selma Naval Ordnance Works manufactured artillery
Artillery
Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...
, turning out a cannon
Cannon
A cannon is any piece of artillery that uses gunpowder or other usually explosive-based propellents to launch a projectile. Cannon vary in caliber, range, mobility, rate of fire, angle of fire, and firepower; different forms of cannon combine and balance these attributes in varying degrees,...
every five days. The Confederate Naval Yard built ships and was noted for launching the CSS Tennessee in 1863 to defend Mobile Bay
Mobile Bay
Mobile Bay is an inlet of the Gulf of Mexico, lying within the state of Alabama in the United States. Its mouth is formed by the Fort Morgan Peninsula on the eastern side and Dauphin Island, a barrier island on the western side. The Mobile River and Tensaw River empty into the northern end of the...
. Selma's Confederate Nitre Works procured niter
Niter
Niter or nitre is the mineral form of potassium nitrate, KNO3, also known as saltpeter or saltpetre . Historically, the term "niter" – cognate with "natrium", a Latin word for sodium – has been very vaguely defined, and it has been applied to a variety of other minerals and chemical compounds,...
for gunpowder from limestone caves. When supplies were low, it advertised for housewives to save the contents of their chamber pots—urine was a rich source of organic nitrogen
Nitrogen
Nitrogen is a chemical element that has the symbol N, atomic number of 7 and atomic mass 14.00674 u. Elemental nitrogen is a colorless, odorless, tasteless, and mostly inert diatomic gas at standard conditions, constituting 78.08% by volume of Earth's atmosphere...
.
Alabama soldiers fought in hundreds of battles. The state's losses at Gettysburg
Battle of Gettysburg
The Battle of Gettysburg , was fought July 1–3, 1863, in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The battle with the largest number of casualties in the American Civil War, it is often described as the war's turning point. Union Maj. Gen. George Gordon Meade's Army of the Potomac...
were 1,750 dead plus even more captured or wounded—the famed "Alabama Brigade" took 781 casualties. In 1863 Federal forces secured a foothold in northern Alabama in spite of spirited opposition from Confederate cavalry under General Nathan B. Forrest.
Mobile Bay
From 1861 the Union blockadeUnion blockade
The Union Blockade, or the Blockade of the South, took place between 1861 and 1865, during the American Civil War, when the Union Navy maintained a strenuous effort on the Atlantic and Gulf Coast of the Confederate States of America designed to prevent the passage of trade goods, supplies, and arms...
shut Mobile Bay, and in 1864 the outer defenses of Mobile were taken by a Federal fleet during the Battle of Mobile Bay
Battle of Mobile Bay
The Battle of Mobile Bay of August 5, 1864, was an engagement of the American Civil War in which a Federal fleet commanded by Rear Adm. David G. Farragut, assisted by a contingent of soldiers, attacked a smaller Confederate fleet led by Adm...
. On April 12, 1865, three days after the surrender of Robert E. Lee
Robert E. Lee
Robert Edward Lee was a career military officer who is best known for having commanded the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in the American Civil War....
at Appomattox Courthouse
Battle of Appomattox Courthouse
The Battle of Appomattox Court House, fought on the morning of April 9, 1865, was the final engagement of Confederate States Army General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia before it surrendered to the Union Army under Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, and one of the last battles of the American...
, the city of Mobile surrendered to the Union army to avoid destruction following the Union victories at the Battle of Spanish Fort
Battle of Spanish Fort
The Battle of Spanish Fort took place from March 27 to April 8, 1865 in Baldwin County, Alabama, as part of the Mobile Campaign of the Western Theater of the American Civil War....
and the Battle of Fort Blakely
Battle of Fort Blakely
-Sources:**-External links:*...
. The Magee Farm, north of Mobile, was the site of preliminary arrangements for the surrender of the last Confederate States Army
Confederate States Army
The Confederate States Army was the army of the Confederate States of America while the Confederacy existed during the American Civil War. On February 8, 1861, delegates from the seven Deep South states which had already declared their secession from the United States of America adopted the...
east of the Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
. Confederate General Richard Taylor
Richard Taylor (general)
Richard Taylor was a Confederate general in the American Civil War. He was the son of United States President Zachary Taylor and First Lady Margaret Taylor.-Early life:...
negotiated a ceasefire
Ceasefire
A ceasefire is a temporary stoppage of a war in which each side agrees with the other to suspend aggressive actions. Ceasefires may be declared as part of a formal treaty, but they have also been called as part of an informal understanding between opposing forces...
with Union General Edward Canby
Edward Canby
Edward Richard Sprigg Canby was a career United States Army officer and a Union general in the American Civil War, Reconstruction era, and the Indian Wars...
at the house on April 29, 1865. Taylor's forces, comprising 47,000 Confederate troops serving in Alabama, Mississippi
Mississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
and Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
, were the last remaining Confederate force east of the Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
.
Union occupation of northern Alabama
- See also: History of the University of North Alabama#The Civil War.
After the Tennessee
Tennessee River
The Tennessee River is the largest tributary of the Ohio River. It is approximately 652 miles long and is located in the southeastern United States in the Tennessee Valley. The river was once popularly known as the Cherokee River, among other names...
and Cumberland
Cumberland River
The Cumberland River is a waterway in the Southern United States. It is long. It starts in Harlan County in far southeastern Kentucky between Pine and Cumberland mountains, flows through southern Kentucky, crosses into northern Tennessee, and then curves back up into western Kentucky before...
rivers were taken, Union forces temporarily occupied Northern Alabama until the fall of Nashville
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
allowed permanent occupation of counties north and west of the Tennessee River, while the Union blockade
Union blockade
The Union Blockade, or the Blockade of the South, took place between 1861 and 1865, during the American Civil War, when the Union Navy maintained a strenuous effort on the Atlantic and Gulf Coast of the Confederate States of America designed to prevent the passage of trade goods, supplies, and arms...
applied pressure in the southern part of the state.
Unionists in northern Alabama
On the one hand, with Union troops present, Southern Unionists were finally able to come out of hiding, join the Union Army if desired, and care for their families, who were now protected from Confederate partisans. On the other hand, Union troops doubled the amount of regional foraging compared to the Confederates. Federal foragers in Northern Alabama were, for the most part, an adventurous group that were aided by loyal Unionists, and they took all they needed for their vast forces, often raiding farms and homes previously struck by the Confederates.Before the arrival of Federal troops, local Unionist resistance networks were based on underground cells that aided pro-Union Loyalists by means of finances, contacts, supplies, and much needed local intelligence. Recruits from Alabama who had joined Union regiments used their familiarity with the social network and physical geography of the homefront to locate, rescue, and recruit beleaguered Unionists still behind Confederate lines.
Loyalists were given assurance of safety and a job if they were to give the U.S. forces supplies, information, contacts, and money. Some Loyalists were drafted, and some were volunteers. White Unionists used the army as a tool to defeat the forces threatening to destroy the old Union, and their families and neighborhoods along with it. The most well known unit composed entirely of Alabama Unionists was the 1st Alabama Cavalry Regiment (Union)
1st Alabama Cavalry Regiment (Union)
The 1st Alabama Cavalry Regiment was a cavalry regiment recruited from Southern Unionists that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.-Service:...
.
Union partisans
Partisan (military)
A partisan is a member of an irregular military force formed to oppose control of an area by a foreign power or by an army of occupation by some kind of insurgent activity...
were motivated by a sense of duty and obligation to the Union cause and a need to protect their family and Unionist friends. They were also motivated by a desire for vengeance for all the wrongs they had suffered at Confederate hands throughout the war. Unionist guerrilla bands were typically fairly compact, numbering between twenty and a hundred men. They were independently organized, but were loosely associated and actively supported by occupying Union forces. Their missions included acting as spies, guides, scouts, recruiters behind enemy lines, and anti-guerrilla fighters to protect Union forces and infrastructure.
Women
The women of the Alabama Unionists who joined the Federal military helped with long distance communication networks, and they were able to move freely from town to town because of their gender. When these women lost their husbands, it was often a struggle to survive, and they were completely ostracized by the pro-Southern society.Slaves
"Regardless of the Union's ambivalence toward slaves and slavery, black men and women in Alabama" saw the Union occupation as the surest path to freedom. With regard to Union foraging and the practicing of hard war, while some slaves and free blacks "viewed the loss of goods as negligible in light of the security and opportunities. Federal occupation brought them," for many, "loss of even small property meant increased vulnerability to whatever white people won the war."Confederate partisans
Many of the Confederate guerrillas in northern Alabama were detached cavalry units that were used to great advantage in protecting the home front, as opposed to serving in the main army. The primary mission of the Confederate guerrillas was to attempt to keep intact the Confederate social and political order. They assisted the war effort in their own backyards by hunting down and arresting Unionists, conscripts, and deserters. In addition, they terrorized Unionists by destroying their property and threatening their families.Confederate guerillas were made up of four types of fighters–the first half of these were under Confederate supervision, being either detached cavalry or enlisted men fighting close to home. The other units either fought disguised as noncombatants or were simply outlaws looking for blood-letting opportunities. These men were not under Confederate control and were as interested in profit as helping the Southern cause.
Unionists in southern Alabama
Not all Union partisans were confined to the Union-occupied areas of Alabama. In the southeast Alabama counties of DaleDale County, Alabama
Dale County is a county of the U.S. state of Alabama. Its name is in honor of General Samuel Dale. As of the 2010 census the population was 50,251...
, Coffee
Coffee County, Alabama
Coffee County is a county of the U.S. state of Alabama. Its name is in honor of General John Coffee. As of 2010 the population was 49,948. Its county seats are Elba and Enterprise....
and Henry
Henry County, Alabama
Henry County is a county of the U.S. state of Alabama. Its name is in honor of Patrick Henry, famous orator and Governor of Virginia. As of 2010, its population was 17,302...
(which included present-day Houston County
Houston County, Alabama
Houston County is a county of the U.S. state of Alabama. As of 2010 the population was 101,547. Its county seat is Dothan.Houston County is part of the Dothan Metropolitan Statistical Area.- History :...
and Geneva County
Geneva County, Alabama
-2010:Whereas according to the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau:*86.3% White*9.5% Black*0.8% Native American*0.3% Asian*0.0% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander*1.6% Two or more races*3.4% Hispanic or Latino -2000:...
, as well), for instance, guerrillas led by local Unionist John Ward operated virtually at will during the last two years of the war, finding refuge in the vast pine
Longleaf Pine
Pinus palustris, commonly known as the Longleaf Pine, is a pine native to the southeastern United States, found along the coastal plain from eastern Texas to southeast Virginia extending into northern and central Florida....
forests that covered this region. These renegades sometimes worked with regular Union forces based in Pensacola, Florida
Pensacola, Florida
Pensacola is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle and the county seat of Escambia County, Florida, United States of America. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 56,255 and as of 2009, the estimated population was 53,752...
, and their depredations led several leading citizens of these counties to petition the governor, T.H. Watts, for military assistance against them. Local citizens, such as Methodist minister Bill Sketoe
Bill Sketoe
William "Bill" Sketoe, Sr. was a Methodist minister from the south Alabama town of Newton, whose lynching there on December 3, 1864 gave birth to one of Alabama's best known ghost stories...
of Newton
Newton, Alabama
Newton is a town in Dale County, Alabama, United States. At the 2000 census its population was 1,708. Once the county seat of Dale County, Newton lost this distinction to nearby Ozark in 1870, and is now a small farming community. The city currently forms a part of the Enterprise-Ozark...
, were even hanged by Home Guard
Confederate Home Guard
The Confederate Home Guard was a somewhat loosely organized militia that was under the direction and authority of the Confederate States of America, working in coordination with the Confederate Army, and was tasked with both the defense of the Confederate home front during the American Civil War,...
elements for alleged acts of collaboration with these guerrillas.
Battles in Alabama
- Battle of AthensBattle of Athens (1864)The Battle of Athens was fought in Athens, Alabama , on January 26, 1864, as part of the American Civil War. The Union force was a company under Captain Emil Adams from the 9th Illinois Mounted Infantry regiment. The Confederate force was the 1st Alabama Cavalry, under Lieutenant Colonel Moses W...
- Battle of Day's GapBattle of Day's GapThe Battle of Day's Gap, fought on April 30, 1863, was the first in a series of American Civil War skirmishes in Cullman County, Alabama, that lasted until May 2, known as Streight's Raid. Commanding the Union forces was Col. Abel Streight; Brig. Gen...
- Battle of DecaturBattle of DecaturThe Battle of Decatur was a demonstration conducted from October 26 to October 29, 1864, as part of the Franklin-Nashville Campaign of the American Civil War. Union forces of 3–5,000 men under Brig. Gen. Robert S. Granger prevented the 39,000 men of the Confederate Army of Tennessee under ...
- Battle of Fort BlakelyBattle of Fort Blakely-Sources:**-External links:*...
- Battle of Mobile BayBattle of Mobile BayThe Battle of Mobile Bay of August 5, 1864, was an engagement of the American Civil War in which a Federal fleet commanded by Rear Adm. David G. Farragut, assisted by a contingent of soldiers, attacked a smaller Confederate fleet led by Adm...
- Battle of Newton
- Battle of SelmaBattle of SelmaThe Battle of Selma was a military engagement near the end of the American Civil War. It was fought in Selma, Alabama, on April 2, 1865. Union Army forces under Major General James H...
- Battle of Spanish FortBattle of Spanish FortThe Battle of Spanish Fort took place from March 27 to April 8, 1865 in Baldwin County, Alabama, as part of the Mobile Campaign of the Western Theater of the American Civil War....
Losses
Alabama soldiers fought in hundreds of battles; the state's losses at Gettysburg were 1,750 dead plus even more captured or wounded; the famed "Alabama Brigade" took 781 casualties. Governor Lewis E. ParsonsLewis E. Parsons
Lewis Eliphalet Parsons was the appointed provisional and 19th Governor of Alabama from June to December, 1865, following the American Civil War....
in July 1861 made a preliminary estimate of losses. Nealy all the white men served, some 122,000 he said, of whom 35,000 died in the war and another 30,000 were seriously disabled. The next year Governor Robert M. Patton
Robert M. Patton
Robert Miller Patton was the 20th Governor of the U.S. state of Alabama from 1865 to 1867.Patton was born July 10, 1809, in Russell County, Virginia. His family moved to Huntsville, Alabama, in 1818 where Patton attended Green Academy. Patton apprenticed in the family cotton mill founded by his...
estimated that 20,000 veterans had returned home permanently disabled, and there were 20,000 widows and 60,000 orphans. With cotton prices low, the value of farms shrank, from $176 in 1860 million to only $64 million in 1870. The livestock supply shrank too, as the number of horses fell from 127,000 to 80,000, and mules 111,000 to 76.000. The overall population remained the same--the growth that might have been expected neutralized by death and emigration.
Congressional delegations
Deputies from the first seven states to secede formed the first two sessions of the 1861 Provisional Confederate CongressProvisional Confederate Congress
The Provisional Confederate Congress, for a time the legislative branch of the Confederate States of America, was the body which drafted the Confederate Constitution, elected Jefferson Davis President of the Confederacy, and designed the first Confederate flag...
. Alabama sent William Parish Chilton, Sr.
William Parish Chilton, Sr.
William Parish Chilton was a prominent lawyer, jurist, and politician serving the people of Alabama and eventually the Confederate States of America. Tuesday 10 August 2010 marked the 200th anniversary of his birth....
, Jabez Lamar Monroe Curry
Jabez Lamar Monroe Curry
Jabez Lamar Monroe Curry was a lawyer, soldier, U.S. Congressman, college professor and administrator, diplomat, and officer in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War.-Biography:...
, Thomas Fearn
Thomas Fearn
Thomas Fearn was a prominent Confederate politician. He was born in Pittsylvania County, Virginia and later moved to Alabama. He served in the United States Army in the War of 1812 and as a member of the Alabama state legislature. He was the father-in-law of William Taylor Sullivan Barry...
(resigned March 16, 1861, after first session; replaced by Nicholas Davis, Jr.
Nicholas Davis, Jr.
Nicholas Davis, Jr. was a prominent Confederate politician. He was born in Limestone County, Alabama and served in the legislature in 1851. He represented the state in the second through fifth sessions of the Provisional Confederate Congress from 1861 to 1862....
), Stephen Fowler Hale, David Peter Lewis (resigned March 16, 1861, after first session; replaced by Henry Cox Jones
Henry Cox Jones
Henry Cox Jones was a prominent Alabama politician. He was born in Franklin County, Alabama and later served as a state court judge in 1841, in the state house of representatives in 1842 and in the state senate in 1853...
), Colin John McRae
Colin John McRae
Colin John McRae was a prominent Confederate politician. He was born in Anson County, North Carolina and later moved to Mississippi where he served in the state legislature in 1838. Afterwards he moved to Alabama and was elected to serve the state in the Provisional Confederate Congress from 1861...
, John Gill Shorter
John Gill Shorter
John Gill Shorter was the 17th Governor of the U.S. state of Alabama from 1861 to 1863, during the Civil War.Shorter, an attorney, was born in 1818 in Monticello, Georgia and died in 1872 in Eufaula, Alabama.-References:...
(resigned November 1861; replaced by Cornelius Robinson
Cornelius Robinson
Cornelius Robinson was a politician from Alabama who served in the Provisional Confederate Congress at the beginning of the American Civil War....
), Robert Hardy Smith
Robert Hardy Smith
Robert Hardy Smith was a prominent Alabama politician. He was born in Camden County, North Carolina and later moved to Alabama, where he served in the state House of Representatives in 1849 and the state Senate in 1851. He was elected to represent the state in the Provisional Confederate Congress...
, and Richard Wilde Walker
Richard Wilde Walker
Richard Wilde Walker was a prominent Confederate States of America politician.Walker was born and died in Huntsville, Alabama. He was the son of John Williams Walker, the brother of Percy Walker and LeRoy Pope Walker, and father of Richard Wilde Walker, Jr. Richard Walker, Sr...
.
The bicameral First Confederate Congress
First Confederate Congress
The First Confederate Congress was the first regular term of the legislature of the Confederate States of America. Members of the First Confederate Congress were chosen in elections mostly held on 6 November 1861.-Sessions:...
(1862–64) included two senators from Alabama—Clement Claiborne Clay
Clement Claiborne Clay
Clement Claiborne Clay was a U.S. senator from the state of Alabama from 1853 to 1861, and a C.S.A. senator from the Alabama from 1861 to 1863...
and William Lowndes Yancey
William Lowndes Yancey
William Lowndes Yancey was a journalist, politician, orator, diplomat and an American leader of the Southern secession movement. A member of the group known as the Fire-Eaters, Yancey was one of the most effective agitators for secession and rhetorical defenders of slavery. An early critic of...
(died July 23, 1863; replaced by Robert Jemison, Jr.
Robert Jemison, Jr.
Robert Jemison, Jr. was a Civil War era politician who voted against the secession of Alabama and later became the state's Confederate senator from 1863–1865.He also served in the Alabama General Assembly from 1837 until 1863. He used the Jr...
). Representing Alabama in the House of Representatives were Thomas Jefferson Foster
Thomas Jefferson Foster
Thomas Jefferson Foster was a soldier and prominent politician serving the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War...
, William Russell Smith
William Russell Smith
William Russell Smith was a prominent Alabama politician served in both the United States Congress and the Confederate Congress.-Biography:...
, John Perkins Ralls
John Perkins Ralls
John Perkins Ralls, Sr. was a physician and representative from the state of Alabama to the Congress of the Confederate States during the American Civil War, not to be confused with John Rawls the 20th century American philosopher.Ralls was born in Greensboro, Georgia, on New Years Day, 1812...
, Jabez Lamar Monroe Curry, Francis Strother Lyon
Francis Strother Lyon
Francis Strother Lyon was a prominent Alabama attorney and politician. He served two terms in the Confederate States Congress during the American Civil War after being an antebellum member of the United States Congress.-Early life:Lyon was born in Stokes County, North Carolina...
, William Parish Chilton, Sr., David Clopton
David Clopton
David Clopton was a prominent Alabama politician.-Biography:Clopton was born in Putnam County, Georgia, and moved to Alabama in 1844. He graduated from Randolph-Macon College in 1840 and was admitted to the bar in 1841.Clopton represented Alabama's 3rd district in the United States House of...
, James Lawrence Pugh, Edmund Strother Dargan
Edmund Strother Dargan
Edmund Strother Dargan was a U.S. Representative from Alabama, and then a representative to the Confederate States Congress during the American Civil War....
Alabama's two senators in the Second Confederate Congress
Second Confederate Congress
The Second Confederate Congress was the second and last regular term of the legislature of the Confederate States of America. Members of the Second Confederate Congress were chosen in elections held at various dates in 1863 and 1864...
(1864–65) were Robert Jemison, Jr., and Richard Wilde Walker
Richard Wilde Walker
Richard Wilde Walker was a prominent Confederate States of America politician.Walker was born and died in Huntsville, Alabama. He was the son of John Williams Walker, the brother of Percy Walker and LeRoy Pope Walker, and father of Richard Wilde Walker, Jr. Richard Walker, Sr...
. Representatives were Thomas Jefferson Foster, William Russell Smith, Marcus Henderson Cruikshank
Marcus Henderson Cruikshank
Marcus Henderson Cruikshank was a Confederate States of America politician who served in the Confederate States Congress during the American Civil War....
, Francis Strother Lyon, William Parish Chilton, Sr., David Clopton, James L. Pugh, and James Shelton Dickinson
James Shelton Dickinson
James Shelton Dickinson was a prominent Confederate States of America politician.He was born in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, and later moved to Alabama. He was a member of the Alabama State Senate from 1853 to 1855 and represented the state in the Second Confederate Congress.-References:*...
. Congress refused to seat Representative-elect W. R. W. Cobb
Williamson Robert Winfield Cobb
Williamson Robert Winfield Cobb was an American politician who served the state of Alabama in the U.S. House of Representatives between 1847 and 1861. He was born in Rhea County, Tennessee on June 8, 1807 to David Cobb and Martha Bryant. He moved with his father, David Cobb, in 1809 to Bellefonte,...
because he was an avowed Unionist; therefore his district was not represented.
See also
- Alabama Confederate Soldiers HomeAlabama Confederate Soldiers HomeThe Alabama Confederate Soldiers Home was the official home for former soldiers of the Confederate States of America by the state of Alabama, located in what is now Confederate Memorial Park in Mountain Creek in Chilton County, Alabama....
- Mobile, Alabama, in the American Civil War
- Selma, Alabama, in the American Civil War
- List of Alabama Civil War Confederate UnitsAlabama Civil War Confederate Units-Infantry Units:*1st Alabama Conscripts *Swanson Guards Lockhart's Battalion *1st Mobile Infantry *1st Regiment Alabama Infantry*1st Battalion Alabama Infantry Loomis'...
- List of Alabama Union Civil War regiments