Emancipation Proclamation and 54th Massachusetts Regiment

Dear Diary,
Yesterday on September 22, 1862, Lincoln announced the Emancipation Proclamation. The proclamation is a military decree that states that all enslaved people in states that are still rebelling after January 1st, 1863 will be considered free. The proclamation does not apply to states that are already under the Union's control. I think Lincoln think that this will force more states to want to rethink joining the confederacy to protect their rights to slaves. If they rejoin the Union then they will be allowed to keep their slaves. This should be a huge turning point in the war. This might give the Union more of an advantage then they already had. I believe this is a great idea and hope that it works as well as I think it will. This is a major turning point in the war because this will cause a lot of the slaves in the South to want to help the North.Here is a photo of the proclamation:

That's all for now Diary,

Rebecca

Emancipation Proclamation. N.d. Web. 12 Feb. 2016. 

       <http://www.librarycompany.org/steptowardfree

       dom/images/section123/1-2-xam1862unistapres

       -5792-f-30b.jpg>.

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Dear Diary,

After President Lincoln announced the Emancipation Proclamation, the Union started to actively recruit black troops. There is now an all black regiment called the 54th Massachusetts Regiment. Even though there are still people who are racist in the military, the blacks have been fighting better then expected. The 54th has earned respect for their bravery and courage. These men have overcome their unequal treatment and found something to fight for. These black men ave served the Union throughout many battles. Almost 70,000 have lost their lives serving this country. I am very happy with the way the 54th is being respected nowadays. Here is a photo of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment:

That's all for now Diary,

Rebecca

54th Massachusetts Regiment. N.d. Web. 12 Feb. 2016. 

         <http://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/wp

         -content/uploads/2014/01/54th-massachusetts-p

         osing.jpg>.

Battle of Antietam

Dear Diary,
I have recently learned about the Battle of Antietam. This is said to be the bloodiest battle yet. According to what I learned from my husband, General Lee was over confident and decided that he should try to get a victory on Union soil to get European powers to recognize the Confederacy. He tried to get the people in Maryland to ally with the South. The people of Maryland were not as interested in allying with the South than Lee had expected. Union soldiers found a copy of General Lee's battle plans at an abandoned rebel campsite. The Union soldiers now had the knowledge to help them with the battle. Union soldiers attacked in three stages. At the end of the battle more than 23,000 soldiers were dead or wounded. Although the Union lost more soldiers then the Confederacy, the Battle of Antietam is considered a Union victory. This was the victory that gave Lincoln what he needed to move forward with the emancipation. Here is a map of the Battle of Antietam:

That's all for now Diary,

Rebecca

Battle of Antietam. N.d. Wikimedia. Web. 10 Feb. 2016. 

      <https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons

      /1/1b/Antietam_Overview.png>.

Battle of Bull Run

Dear Diary,
A lot has been happening lately. Just recently there was a battle at a creek near Manassas, Virginia.  There were more than 30,000 Union troops along with General Scott and General McDowell. At the beginning of the battle, it looked like the Union troops were going to win. Sadly, General Thomas J. Jackson of the Confederate army won. The win earned him the nickname Stonewall Jackson. This battle has made people realize the war will not be over as fast as they thought. Lincoln ended up replacing General McDowell with General McClellan and calling for more troops. This battle makes me worry more about how much the South's mental advantage with trying to protect their lifestyle will affect how they fight. I can no longer think that this war will be over before anything major happens. It now seems as though the war will affect quite a bit more then I originally expected. Here is a map of the Battle of Bull Run:

That's all for now Diary,

Rebecca

Battle of Bull Run. N.d. Wikimedia. Web. 10 Feb. 2016. 

       <https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons

       /b/b1/First_Bull_Run_July21_1600.png>.

Advantages of Both Sides

Dear Diary,
I have been thinking about this war a lot lately. I have been collecting information about it from everyone I can. So I decided I would create a list of advantages of each side. I hope the North wins this. I think the best way to predict who wins would be to see this comparison.

Northern Advantages:

• Bigger population in the North. (2.5 to 1)
• More railroad track (2.4 to 1)
• More wheat (4.2 to 1)
• More merchant ships (9 to 1)
• More naval ships (25 to 1)
• Higher iron production (15 to 1)
• Higher firearm production (32 to 1)

Southern Advantages:

• Robert E Lee to lead them.
• Higher cotton production (1 to 24)
• They are on the defensive side, not offense.
• Fighting on their own land
• Mentally have more to fight for

Based on these statistics, I believe the north has a greater advantage then the south in this war. The north can use their navy to block of supplies from the south like what General Scott wanted in the Amaconda plan. The North has a greater advantage because it has more of what it needs to survive this war then the South does. Here is a picture of cartoon version of the Anaconda plan:

That's all for now Diary,

Rebecca

 Anaconda Plan. N.d. Web. 8 Feb. 2016. <https://upload.wikimedia.org/

           wikipedia/commons/b/bc/Scott-anaconda.jpg>.