Slavery played the central role during the American Civil War. The primary catalyst for secession was slavery, especially Southern political leaders' resistance to attempts by Northern antislavery political forces to block the expansion of slavery into the western territories. Slave life went through great changes, as the Southern United States saw Union Armies take control of broad areas of land. During and before the war, enslaved people played an active role in their own emancipation, and thousands of enslaved people escaped from bondage during the war.
Demographics and economics
There have been many different ways to estimate the amount of slaveholding in the South. In 1860, 1.6% of US citizens owned slaves. However, since slaveholders were often heads of households, many more people benefited from the system even if they did not own slaves themselves.
Most of the South's enslaved workers were enslaved by planters (often defined as those who enslaved twenty or more people), although yeomen farmers outnumbered the fewer than 50,000 planters. Southern agriculture was more lucrative than Northern, focusing on crops of rice, cotton, and sugar.Woodward 2014, p32-33 Even before the war, in the rice regions of Georgia and South Carolina and in parts of the Mississippi Delta there were ten or even twenty enslaved black people for every white person. During the war, this disparity grew, leading to fear of insurrection and calls for militia companies to be stationed in agricultural regions to guarantee peace.Woodward 2014, p46
The market for buying and selling enslaved people continued during the war, as did the market for hiring and hiring out enslaved labor.Woodward 2014, p90 Although the price of enslaved workers grew, it did not keep up with inflation, causing the real price of enslaved people to decline during the Civil War. The prices of people held in slavery rose and fell in part with the prospects for Confederate victory.Martinez 2006 In 1860, the average enslaved person sold in Virginia brought $1,500, and a "prime field hand" in New Orleans brought $1,800. In 1863, enslaved people in Richmond sold for $4,000 or $5,000 and in Texas for $2,500 to $3,500, depending on skill sets.Woodward 2014, p96 Before the start of the war, the expansion of slavery was an important political and economic goal for slaveholders. This continued during the war, and there was a large expansion of slavery into Texas, which had been made a state in 1845.Woodward 2014, p97-98 However, late in the war, many slave owners recognized the increasing probability that slavery would be ended, and there is evidence that they increased their attempts to sell the people they held in slavery.Woodward 2014, p100
Culture
African American cultural shifts Opportunities for cultural expression grew as autonomy for slaves increased during the war. Christianity grew among enslaved people and freedmen during and immediately after the civil war. Organizations such as the American Missionary Association and National Freedman's Relief Association sent missionaries into Union-occupied areas where they formed religious congregations and led revivals.Fountain 2010, p99 The African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME) in particular established a large presence among enslaved people and freedmen in and around Union held areas. Along with civilian missionaries, the AME also provided chaplains for black Union regiments. Among the free blacks AME figures especially active in the South during the war were James Walker Hood,Simmons 1887, p133-143 Henry McNeal Turner,Simmons 1887, p336-339 Jabez Pitt Campbell,Simmons 1887, p1032 John M. Brown and William E. Matthews.Simmons 1887, p1113-1118
Music sung by African-Americans changed during the war. The theme of escape from bondage became especially important in spirituals sung by blacks, both by enslaved people singing among themselves on plantations and for free and recently freed blacks singing to white audiences. New versions of songs such as "Hail Mary", "Michael Row the Boat Ashore", and "Go Down Moses" emphasized the message of freedom and the rejection of slavery.McWhirter 2012, p149-150, p157 Many new slave songs were sung as well, the most popular being, "Many Thousands Go", which was frequently sung by enslaved people fleeing plantations to Union Army camps.McWhirter 2012, p151 Several attempts were made to publish slave songs during the war. The first was the publishing of sheet music to "Go Down Moses" by Reverend L. C. Lockwood in December 1861 based on his experience with escaped slaves in Fort Monroe, Virginia in September of that year. In 1863, the Continental Monthly published a sampling of spirituals from South Carolina in an article titled, "Under the Palmetto."McWhirter 2012, p155-156
The white Colonel of the all-black First South Carolina, Thomas Wentworth Higginson noted that when blacks knew that whites were listening, they changed the way they were sung, and historian Christian McWhirter noted that African Americans "used their music to reshape white perceptions and foster a new image of black culture as thriving and ready for freedom.McWhirter 2012, p152 In Port Royal, escaped slaves learned the anthem, "America" in secret, never singing it in front of whites. When the Emancipation Proclamation was passed a celebration was held, and in a surprise to white onlookers, contrabands began singing the anthem, using the song to express their new status.McWhirter 2012, p158-159 The most popular white songs among slaves were "John Brown's Body" and H. C. Work's "Kingdom Coming",McWhirter 2012, p159 and as the war continued, the lyrics African Americans sung changed, with vagueness and coded language dropped and including open expressions of their new roles as soldiers and citizens.McWhirter 2012, p163
Slave owners in the south responded by restricting singing on plantations and imprisoning singers of songs supporting emancipation or the North.McWhirter 2012, p152-153 Confederate supporters also looked to music sung by enslaved people for signs of loyalty. Several Confederate regimental bands included enslaved musicians, and Confederates arranged enslaved people to sing and dance to show how happy they were. Enslaved performer Thomas Greene Bethune, known as Blind Tom, frequently played pro-Confederate songs such as "Maryland, My Maryland" and "Dixie" during this period and dropped, "Yankee Doodle" from his performances.McWhirter 2012, p154
Attitudes of whites
Feelings of whites about slavery during this period has also been the subject of study. Generally, poor, non-slaveholding whites in the south admired planters and sought to own slaves themselves.Woodward 2014, p52 During the war, Confederate soldiers were optimistic about the prospects for the survival of the Confederacy and the institution of slavery well into 1864.Woodward 2014, p74 Confederates feared the Emancipation Proclamation would lead to slave uprisings, an occurrence which even northerners did not desire. Although most people at that time had not been born at the time of the Nat Turner Revolt or the revolution in Haiti, insurrections were greatly feared.Woodward 2014, p113-114 Also, the north was not united against slavery, and many Union troops desired that the United States, win or lose, be a white man's country. However, it was clear to all that Lincoln's party, the Republican Party, was in favor of eventual if not immediate emancipation.Woodward 2014, p114-115
While most historians agree that the war erupted over a debate about slavery, the role of slavery in the motivation of soldiers had been the subject of widespread debate. J. Tracy Power in Lee's Miserables and Stephen Berry in All That Makes a Man argued that Confederate soldiers did not think much about slavery. Others such as Chandra Manning in What This Cruel War Was Over, Jason Phillips in Diehard Rebels, Joseph Glatthaar in The New Civil War History and General Lee's Army, Aaron Sheehan-Deen in Why Confederates Fought, Kenneth Noe in Reluctant Rebels, and James McPherson in For Cause and Comrades argued that slavery was central in the mindset of many Confederate soldiers. The issue in the mind and motivation of Union soldiers has also been debated. Manning's What This Cruel War Was Over is an example discussing the importance of slavery for Union soldiers.Woodward 2014, p4-7
Disaffection Slave uprisings were a constant fear of slaveholders before and during the war. A slave insurrection was planned in Adams County, Mississippi, which was uncovered in the summer of 1861 leading to widespread punishment of enslaved people in the area.Woodward 2014, p17-18 In June 1861, an aborted insurrection occurred in St. Martin's Parish, Louisiana, which resulted in the arrest of forty enslaved black people and the arrest of two white men who led the uprising, one of who was arrested and the other who escaped. In August 1861, a possible uprising in Jefferson County, Alabama involving possibly 400 enslaved people was put down. Slaveholders in mountainous country particular feared uprising as the terrain made it harder for them to monitor the people they enslaved.Woodward 2014, p17-18
Physical punishment had a prominent place in slave society and this extended to enslaved people in the Confederate Army, who were frequently whipped or punished in other ways. Punishments sometimes extended to include maiming, murder, rape, and the selling of loved ones, the last of these being often considered one of the most severe punishments.Woodward 2014, p92-94
Resistance
The resistance of enslaved people was widespread during and before the Civil War. One important outcome of that resistance was the effect it had on Southern troop morale as it undermined the belief that black people were more loyal to the Confederacy than the Union.Woodward 2014, p105 Generally, African Americans cheered for Union victory and the Confederacy made a great effort to keep enslaved people under their control.Woodward 2014, p91 After the war, Confederate veterans downplayed this resistance and professed to believe most of the people who they had enslaved were loyal at heart.Woodward 2014, p105 In reality, resistance among enslaved people was common and widespread. On farms and plantations, enslaved workers broke equipment, feigned illness, slowed or stopped work, stole, plotted revolts, and fled.Woodward 2014, p107 White's and blacks mobilized to help people escaping enslavement, following what was known as the Underground Railroad, and cementing the fame of individuals such as Harriet Tubman.Clinton 2004 Slave-owners were greatly disconcerted by the desire of the enslaved people they held captive to flee to Union armies, many genuinely believed enslaved people were tied by deep feelings and blamed abolitionist propaganda and the ignorance of enslaved people of the costs of freedom for their desire for freedom.Boles 2015, p185 Slaves also recognized that freedom by the sword may not be permanent and preferred to bide their time until an opportunity for freedom was assured, while others feared the uncertainty of a change in their current situation. However, most slaves chose freedom when the opportunity allowed. Where possible, many slave owners fled advancing Union armies and brought their slaves with them. In situations such as along the Atlantic coast and Mississippi river where Union advance was very fast and, such arrangements were not made, fleeing slave owners left their slaves behind, and many slaves escaped to the Union. Fleeing slave-owners from Louisiana and Mississippi often moved to Texas and the roads to Texas were said to be crowded by planters fleeing with their slaves.Boles 2015, p184