Klu Klux Klan

     The Klu Klux Klan was a white supremacies group that arose during the time of the civil war.  They were very extreme and often times lynched black men and women from trees or burned there homes.  It was an extremely popular group in the 1860s and 70s and was estimated to have around 500,000 members at the time.  They often wore long white robes and hoods to look terrifying and to hide there identities.  The group also claims to be very Christian centered although, some of there ceremonies resemble more of a cult style group.  Also the Klan sometimes references themselves as savior nights.

                                              The Klu Klux Klan Emblem

Henry McNeal Turner

     Henry McNeal Turner was the first bishop of The African Methodist Episcopal Church.  He also fought with the United States Colored Troops in the civil war.  After the war, for a time, he served on the Freedman's Bureau.  But soon after that Turner realized that the Freedman's Bureau was not accomplishing everything it promised to do, there was still white hatred for blacks and still many laws in place to harm of hinder black advancement.  Because of this, Turner began to support black migration back to Africa.  His movement grew greatly after WWI.

                                               Henry McNeal Turner

Sharecroping

     Sharecropping is a system of agriculture in which a landowner allows a tenant to use the land in return for a share of the crop produced on the land. Sharecropping became very popular after the war.  When many blacks could not find jobs and owned no land to farm on, the had to resort to sharecropping.  Usually, sharecropping is a bad arrangement for the tenant and they are almost always cheated out of their money.  Although it was not ideal, it was the only job many blacks could find after the war.

 

Freedman's Bureau, Civil War Reconstruction, and the 13th 14th and 15th Amendments

     The Freedman's Bureau was an agency put in place by Abraham Lincoln to aide the transition from slavery to freedom for the liberated slaves.  It was put into place in 1865 and was initially only supposed to last a year after the end of the war.  However, after the first year was up, most of what had been expected to be done had not been.  Because of this, the Freedman's Bureau lasted until 1872 when President Ulysses S. Grant declared it unnecessary.
     The Freedman's Bureau was a vital part of an era after the civil war called reconstruction.  However, it was merely one of the many programs that the Lincoln administration put into place during this period.  Reconstruction was enacted to help rebuild and rehabilitate the war ravaged south.   Reconstruction also helped many newly freed slaves by educating them and finding them jobs.  Reconstruction lasted for 14 years or from 1863 to 1877.
     Another important part of reconstruction was the amendments passed after the war.  Theses were the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments.  The 13th amendment abolished slavery in the United States, it was amended on December 6, 1865.  The 14th amendment granted all former slaves citizenship, it was ratified on June 13, 1866.  Finally, there was the 15th amendment.  This granted all black citizens the right to vote, it was ratified on February 3, 1870.

                                                      A Freedman's Bureau Agent

Andersonville Prison

 

     Andersonville was a prison in Georgia during the civil war. It was opened in February of  1864 by the Confederacy to hold captured Union soldiers.  At total, it held around 45,000 men when it was only originally built for 10,000 men.  The conditions were so poor that 13,000 out of those 45,000 men died.  Some of the big problems with the prison were; polluted water, predatory gangs, malnourishment, and lack of good leadership for the guards.  Another thing that killed many prisoners was the dead line.  The dead line was a line that, if crossed, the guards were instructed to shoot the prisoner who crossed.  This line was put in place by the Georgia infantry, when the prison was passed on to them, as a way of maintaining control over the large population of inhabitants in the prison.  The prison was finally shut down in May of 1865 by liberating Union soldiers.

 

The Atlanta Campaign and Sherman's March

     The Atlanta Campaign was a series of battles fought in and around Atlanta, Georgia.  The campaign began when Union General William T. Sherman invaded Georgia in May of 1864.  Once the campaign began, Sherman's army marched south towards Atlanta, hoping to take over what was most likely the second most important city to the Confederates.  It took five months before Sherman's army reached Atlanta.  He finally took the city on September 2, 1864.
     Sherman's March or otherwise known as the Savannah Campaign was a 300 mile march from Atlanta to Savannah made by General Sherman and his army.  It began on November 16, 1864.  Its purpose was to weaken the south and it would accomplish this by destroying the southern countryside as they passed through it.  Sherman burned farms and houses, killed livestock, stole food and goods, and freed the slaves of many southern civilians.  This weakened the southern economy and also scared southern troops into deserting to protect their families and homes.  Sherman finally arrived in Savannah, Georgia, his final destination, on December 21, 1864.

 

The Union Blockade

     The Union blockade took place when the Union Navy prevented the passage of goods, supplies, and arms to and from the Confederacy. Ships that tried to get passed the blockade, called blockade runners, were mostly high-speed ships operated by the British off duty naval officers and ran between Confederate ports Havana, Cuba, Nassau, Bahamas, and Bermuda, where British suppliers had set up bases.
    Abraham Lincoln announced the blockade on April 19, 1861. His strategy required 3,500 miles of Confederate coastline and twelve major ports, including New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mobile, Alabama to be blockaded. For that, the Union required 500 ships, which destroyed or captured about 1,500 blockade runners during the war.