Eleanor of Aquitaine

Personal Profile

 

Born: c.1122, Poitiers, France

 

Died: 1 April 1204 (aged 81-82), Poitiers, France

 

Reigns: Duchess of Aquitaine: 9 April 1137 – 1 April 1204; Queen Consort of France: 1 August 1137 – 21 March 1152; Queen Consort of England: 19 December 1154 – 6 July 1189

 

Spouses: Louis VII of France (m. 1137; annulled 1152); Henry II of England (m. 1152; his death 1189)

 

Children: Marie, Countess of Champagne; Alix, Countess of Blois; William IX, Count of Poitiers; Henry the Young King; Matilda, Duchess of Saxony; Richard I, King of England; Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany; Eleanor, Queen of Castile; Joan, Queen of Sicily; John, King of England.

 

House: Poitiers

Introduction

 

One of the most renowned names and formidable queens of the Middle Ages, Eleanor of Aquitaine is often unfortunately overlooked because of the contemporaries who surrounded her: King Louis VII of France, the Crusader; King Henry II of England, the first Plantagenet; King Richard I of England, the Lionheart; and the infamous King John ‘Lackland’ of England. Despite this, without Eleanor, none of these men would have been who they were – married to two kings of different countries, mother to over five kings and queens, Eleanor epitomised the courtly lifestyle of the high Middle Ages: crusading, chivalry and even confinement. She is not just one of the stand-out queens of the Middle Ages, but one of the most powerful, influential and greatest queens of all time.

 

Early Life (c. 1122-37)

As is unfortunately the case with many of the medieval sources we have looked at so far at History in 20, Eleanor’s exact birth date is unknown. In fact, there is even debate about her birth year. But what we do know is that she was born in Poiters, some time around 1122-24. She was of noble birth, born to William X, Duke of Aquitaine and Aénor de Châtellerault, Duchess of Aquitaine.

Eleanor of Aquitaine

Eleanor was well-educated in her upbringing, which was clear to see in her later life. She was thoroughly knowledgeable in a multitude of subjects, ranging from literature and philosophy to languages and the constellations. As part of her upbringing, she was trained in courtly life, and what was expected of a young woman in a twelfth-century French court. Her father died when Eleanor was aged fifteen, and as she was the eldest of his three children, she became his heir, and thus Duchess of Aquitaine (her mother had died when Eleanor was about five). William X had requested in his will that Eleanor be placed under the guardianship of the French king, Louis VI (r. 1108-37); within hours, she had been betrothed to the king’s son, Prince Louis. Louis VI died in August 1137, and his son succeeded him as King Louis VII (r. 1137-80).

 

Queen of France and the Second Crusade (1137-52)

Eleanor married Louis VII of France when she was aged about fifteen in July 1137. They were officially crowned King and Queen of France on Christmas Day 1137. With this marriage, Eleanor almost doubled the land area subject to the Capetian House (the Royal Family of France at the time), bringing with her, her territories in the south and south-west of France.

Louis VII of France (r. 1137-80)

Ironically enough, Louis was not even meant to be king in the first place. His older brother, Philip, had fallen from his horse and died as a result, leaving Louis as the heir to the Capetian Crown. This was evident in Louis’ kingship and his personal life: as a young boy, Louis had been sent to Paris by his father to train for priesthood – and Eleanor famously once commented that she “had married a monk, not a king.” Their marriage was therefore destined to be difficult from the outset: Eleanor’s fiery, politically astute, tempestuous demeanour was unsuited to Louis’ pious, humble nature. Historian Geoffrey Hindley states that she ‘hardly fitted conventional models of domestic docility.’ And he was right.

In the early 1140s, Eleanor moved to Paris where the rulers of France met. It was at this time that Eleanor is credited with being responsible for the introduction of built-in fireplaces in castles. She was shocked by the frigid winters in the north of France, in complete contrast to the warmer, milder winters of the south. This innovation spread quickly, and built in fireplaces became a staple in castles from hereon in!

Arguably the most major event in Louis and Eleanor’s marriage was their involvement in the Second Crusade (1147-50). Under almost direct instruction from Pope Eugene III (r. 1145-53), Eleanor accompanied Louis (or, more likely, Louis accompanied Eleanor) on the way to Jerusalem, to liberate the ‘Christian’ city from the infidel (Muslims) who had taken it over. Eleanor and Louis arrived in Antioch (in modern-day Turkey) on 11 March 1148, and were showered with lavish gifts, pomp and ceremony put on by Raymond of Antioch, who had been Prince of Antioch since 1136, and was also Eleanor’s uncle.

Historian Dan Jones argues that this was ‘likely a source of comfort’ for Eleanor, to visit a close family member so far away from her homeland, and be present in his exotic court which was not only filled with exotic eastern spices, flora and fauna, but also with homely additions, such as Occitan-speaking men and women from the south and southwest of France. Despite only spending ten days as Raymond’s guests in Antioch, it was enough time to create rifts in their marriage.

Notwithstanding Raymond’s generosity and hospitality, Louis announced that he had no intention of deploying his troops to help increase Raymond’s army for the Second Crusade. Raymond was naturally furious upon hearing this, and the chronicler William of Tyre reported that “Raymond began to hate [Louis’] ways; he openly plotted against him and took means to do him injury.” To achieve this, Raymond used his relationship with Eleanor to undermine Louis.

This trick worked on Eleanor. Happy at Raymond’s court, she refused to leave for Jerusalem with her husband, so Louis set off without her. However, the joy was short-lived: as Eleanor remained in Antioch with her uncle, rumours began spreading that they were having an incestuous affair (in fact, it would not actually have been incestuous as Raymond was her blood-aunt’s husband), which blackened Eleanor’s reputation, and essentially cuckolded Louis. William of Tyre wrote that “Contrary to her royal dignity, she disregarded her marriage vows and was unfaithful to her husband.” Yet interpreting this in the twelfth century and the twenty-first century yield very different results. It was almost certain that William was referring to the perceived domestic sin of disobedience, which his straight-edged contemporaries viewed as a sin of equal magnitude to sexual infidelity. Nevertheless, the Crusade went on (and actually culminated in a miserable failure), and marked the beginning end of Louis and Eleanor’s marriage.

The royal couple were briefly reconciled at Easter 1149 and left back home for France – albeit on separate ships. Both ships (and couples) met up at Sicily, before sailing on to Pope Eugene III’s villa in Tusculum (Frascati), around twelve miles south of Rome. The Pope attempted to reconcile the couple, even offering them a marital bed draped with fine fabrics. It failed. Within eighteen months of their return to France in 1149, Eleanor had already remarried: this time to a young English nobleman, called Henry Fitzempress.

 

Queen of England (1152-67)

By Aquitaine’s law, women – unusually – could inherit and administer property in their own right, and Eleanor’s father had specified that the Duchy of Aquitaine should not be integrated into the royal demesne but should instead remain independent and be inherited by Eleanor’s heirs – not Eleanor and Louis’. Therefore, when their marriage was annulled in 1152, Eleanor parted from Louis and her huge inheritance also parted from the French Crown.

Within the space of a few months, Eleanor married Henry, Count of Anjou and Maine and Duke of Normandy. Two years later, he became King of England, and was crowned as the first Plantagenet monarch: Henry II (r. 1154-89). Eleanor’s vast territories in the south and south west of France joined with Henry’s and formed the Plantagenet Empire, from the Scotland to Spain.

The expansion of Henry II's empire upon his marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine in 1152

Eleanor had still not escaped crusading: it was in Henry’s blood. His grandfather was King Fulk of Jerusalem (r. 1131-43), and his uncles were also both Kings of Jerusalem: Baldwin III (r. 1143-63) and Amalric I (r. 1163-74). It seemed like a match made in heaven. But despite their prosperous marriage (they had eight children, five of whom went on to become kings or queens), it was notoriously fractious, too. This was largely a result of Henry’s numerous mistresses, including one affectionately known as Fair Rosamund (whom Eleanor was accused of poisoning to death). Due to Henry’s infidelities, Eleanor moved back to Poitiers in France in 1167.

 

Lifestyle & Culture: The Court of Love (1167-73)

During her time in her homeland, Eleanor founded and established the Court of Love. This was a court where everything we associate with the high medieval period took place: chivalry was encouraged, poetry and music were rife, and folklore and literature were constructed within its walls. Accompanied by her daughter Marie, the court was also focused on courtly love and symbolic ritual that was eagerly lapped up by the writers and musicians of the day. However, despite the brief interlude in Eleanor’s exciting life thus far, it was soon to take a turn for the worse.

 

Rebellion & Imprisonment (1173-99)

Henry II of England (r. 1154-89)

After the crisis between Henry II and Thomas Becket (which you can read about in a previous blog post here), Eleanor had begun to start stirring rebellions against her estranged husband. She initially inspired a rebellion from the English earls Robert of Leicester and Bigod of Norfolk in early 1173 and was actually supported by her ex-husband Louis VII. Initially, Henry had managed to quash these rebellions at the expense of generous pardons and financial aid. However, in mid-1173, there was one rebellion which tipped Henry over the edge.

His eldest son, and heir, ‘Young Henry’, fled to France to be with his mother (Eleanor), apparently to plot to seize the throne from his father. Eleanor, rumoured to be actively supporting her son’s plans against Henry II, was arrested and placed under arrest. She also later encouraged Richard to pay homage to the King of France (Philip II, r. 1190-1223). But, unlike ordinary prisoners (as she was no ordinary prisoner), she was placed under relatively comfortable confinement – essentially house arrest – and shuttled between different English castles for the next sixteen years.

Young Henry died of a disease in 1183, allegedly begging for his mother’s release on his deathbed. Henry II did release Eleanor, on occasion, and she re-joined his household in 1184 for at least a part of each year, and accompanied him on solemn occasions, as well as resuming some of her ceremonial duties as queen.

 

Later Life and Death (1199-1204)

Henry II died in 1189, leaving their next oldest son – and Eleanor’s favourite son – Richard as heir. He succeeded his father as Richard I ‘the Lionheart’ (r. 1189-99) the same year, and one of his first acts was to release Eleanor completely from house arrest. Eleanor went on to rule as regent in Richard’s absence during his leading of the Third Crusade (another crusading relation to Eleanor!). Yet the ageing Eleanor’s duties were far from over: aged 70, she negotiated Richard I’s release from prison. Additionally, one of her granddaughters was Blanche of Castile, and when Eleanor was 78, she brought Blanche from Spain to wed the King of France (Louis VIII, r. 1223-26). And when she turned 80, she directed the defence of a town under siege from a marauding army. Truly iconic!

When Richard died in 1199, Eleanor lived long enough to see her youngest son (and Henry II’s favourite) John become King of England (r. 1199-1216) – she was even employed by John as an envoy to France. She later supported John’s rule against the rebellion of one of her grandsons (Arthur), and finally retired as a nun to the Abbey at Fontevraud.

Eleanor peacefully slipped away on 1 April 1204, aged 81-82, an immense age for the time. She was buried at Fontevraud, next to her favourite son, Richard.

 

Legacy

There are few historians who would disagree with the statement that Eleanor of Aquitaine was the most influential woman of the Middle Ages. There were numerous kings who did twice as little yet have twice as many sources written about them. Despite the fact she was a twelfth-century woman, she arguably had more influence over the people around her than the men did.

Historian Norman Davies states that ‘Eleanor of Aquitane was perhaps the outstanding personality of the age. She made her mark not only as a woman of remarkable spirit, but as a political and cultural patron of immense influence.’ This is true: among her children and grandchildren, she lived to see one emperor, three kings of England, kings of Jerusalem and Castile, a duke of Brittany and another queen of France.      Despite the attempts of chroniclers like William of Tyre to stain her reputation as an incestuous whore, and those others who accused her of poisoning Fair Rosamund, she nevertheless survived all odds and stands as the central figure in the cultural history of a land in which her enemies were intent on destroying.

 

Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed it!

 

Bibliography

Norman Davies, Europe: A History (2012)

Geoffrey Hindley, A Brief History of the Crusades: Islam and Christianity in the Struggle for World Supremacy (2004)

Simon Jenkins, A Short History of England (2011)

Dan Jones, Crusaders: An Epic History of the Wars for the Holy Land (2020)

W.B. Marsh & Bruce Carrick, Great Stories from History: 365 for Every Day of the Year (2005)

https://www.history.com/topics/british-history/eleanor-of-aquitaine

The US Civil War (1861-65)

Overview

Dates: 12 April 1861 – 9 May 1865

Location: USA

Belligerents: United States of America (USA), Confederate States of America (CSA)

Key Figures: Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee (amongst others)

Outcome: Union victory; dissolution of the Confederate States; slavery abolished; beginning of the Reconstruction era; US territorial integrity preserved (amongst others)

Casualties: 828,000+ Union; 864,000+ Confederacy

Deaths: 600,000 – 1,000,000+ dead in total.

Introduction

A people divided. Bitter resentment towards the government. Doesn’t this sound similar to the US today?!

One of the most important things to note is the ‘North vs South’ argument. The US was divided politically, economically and socially: North vs South, Federal vs State government, slave state vs free state and urban vs rural. The North was much more urbanised than the south, and for the most part, had outlawed slavery (hence the free states). In fairness, there had been a huge influx of European migrants coming to the north of the US (like New York) and slavery had been outlawed in Europe for many years. In the South however, their economy was largely agrarian, meaning that slavery was economically viable for them, and part of their way of life. Many viewed slavery as part of the natural pattern of life.

But just what caused such divisions in America that 11 states seceded from the Union, and formed the Confederacy? Multiple reasons can be cited for this, and I have simply chosen the few I believe to be the most important/significant to discuss below.

The (Very) Early Beginnings: 1803-48

The US had doubled in size thanks to the Louisiana Purchase: the American acquisition of French territory on American soil for approximately $15 million – this worked out at about $18 per square mile (828,000 square miles in total). By purchasing this amount of land, the doctrine of ‘Manifest Destiny’ was drilled into the Americans’ mindset: it was their God-given duty to expand westwards, into this new territory.

Thousands of Americans migrated into this territory, but nowhere attracted Americans more than Texas, which was still technically Mexican territory. In 1836, the Texans declared independence from Mexico, and by 1845 the area was annexed and admitted to statehood (i.e., Texas officially became an American state), and this drew resentment from those who passionately resisted the addition of another slave state in America.

The US declared war on Mexico on 13 May 1846. After two years of fighting, the US won, and Mexico ceded all claims to Texas above the Rio Grande boundary, and also surrendered California and New Mexico – two other Mexican provinces.

The issue of slavery had already arisen and led to the next chapter of the US Civil War.

Decade of Turbulence: the 1850s 

The Compromise of 1850

With newly acquired territories from Mexico – California, Arizona and New Mexico – came the argument of slave states vs free states (slave states being states where slavery was legal, free states being where it was not). David Wilmot, a Congressman from Pennsylvania, argued that any territory acquired from Mexico should not permit slavery. On the other hand, Jefferson Davis, a Senator from Mississippi, said that the new territory should be comprised of slave states because they were in the South of the US. Stephen Douglas, a lawyer from Illinois, came up with the idea of Popular Sovereignty: that states should be allowed to decide for themselves. These arguments culminated in what was known as the Compromise of 1850: which gave statehood to California as a free state, allowing the new territories in the south to decide whether or not they wanted to allow slavery: Popular Sovereignty. It also implemented the new and controversial Fugitive Slave Law: whereby anyone in any state – even if it was a free state – had to hand back escaped slaves to their masters. This effectively meant that the northern states – who were largely free states – had a role to play in maintaining slavery, which many vehemently opposed. Therefore, an anti-slavery movement based on abolishing slavery grew throughout the 1850s in the north, called ‘Abolitionism’.

The Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854)

The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 opened up large-scale settlement and migration to states whose position on slavery would be decided as a result of Popular Sovereignty. This culminated in an event known as ‘Bleeding Kansas’, where members of anti-slavery and pro-slavery factions attacked each other.

On the Eve of War: 1856-61

In 1856, the pro-slavery president, James Buchanan of the Democratic Party, ran for re-election and he won. The reason this election is significant is because he ran against a brand-new, newly formed, anti-slavery party: The Republican Party. For the most part, the Republican Party had gained a lot of ground and support in the north.

President Abraham Lincoln, the
16th President of the USA (1861-65)

A year later, in 1857, brought about the Dred Scott case. Dred Scott – a slave – was taken by his master to Illinois (a free state). Scott argued that he was therefore free, but the court ruled against him, essentially citing that black people – whether slaves or not – were not classed as US citizens at all.

Tensions kept arising into 1858, and it was at this point that the Republican Party put forward an unknown Abraham Lincoln against Stephen Douglas. They both took part in a series of debates which made Lincoln well-known around the country.

In the forerunning to the 1860 elections, the Republicans nominated Abraham Lincoln as their presidential candidate, but the Democrats were still divided: in the south they nominated the current Vice-President John Breckinridge, while in the north they chose Stephen Douglas. Lincoln ultimately won the election, and as an outspoken abolitionist, many in the south feared what he would do next. However, Lincoln set out to be moderate, and promised not to interfere with slavery in the existing slave states, but the damage had already been done throughout his staunch abolitionist views. Before he had even taken office, South Carolina seceded from the United States. By February 1861, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas had joined South Carolina in forming the Confederate States of America (CSA), under the presidency of Jefferson Davis.

The Early Years of the War (1861-62)

In April 1861, South Carolina demanded that federal troops stationed in South Carolina evacuate because they were independent. The federal government refused and maintained their garrison at Fort Sumter. In the early hours of 12 April 1861, just after 4:30am, the Confederate States’ navy bombarded the fort and captured it the next day, thereby starting the US Civil War.

The Confederate States are the ones highlighted
with the Confederate flag.

Although nobody was killed at Fort Sumter, Lincoln immediately called for 75,000 troops and northerners rallied to his cause. His appeal for troops caused four more states to secede between April and June: Virginia (17 April); Arkansas (6 May); North Carolina (20 May) and Tennessee (8 June), bringing the Confederacy to a total of eleven states. Within these eleven states, they had a combined population of 9 million, including 3.5 million slaves. The Union consisted of 22 states, with a population of about 22 million people, with about 500,000 whom were slaves. In addition to the north/south divide, there were also four ‘border states’ (these were the states who although they remained in the Union, thousands of men within them fought for the Confederacy). These states were Maryland, Delaware, Kentucky and Missouri. In some cases, brothers in the same family fought on opposite sides, including Senator Crittenden of Kentucky: one of his sons rose to be a General in the Union Army, while the other rose to be a General in the Confederate Army.

Yet both the Union and the Confederacy had more in common than initially appeared: they both referred to the Declaration of Independence (4 July 1776) to justify their causes. For the Union, they referred to the “All men are created equal” section, interpreting this as nobody should be subjected to slavery. On the other hand, the Confederacy referred to the section claiming “The right to alter or abolish unjust government” – in their view, the government intervening in their (now independent) states trying to abolish slavery (their way of life) was reason enough for them to refer to this.

The first fielded battle of the US Civil War was the First Battle of Bull Run (sometimes referred to as First Manassas), and this was on 21 July 1861. 35,000 Confederate soldiers under the command of Thomas ‘Stonewall’ Jackson forced a much larger number of Union forces to retreat back towards Washington DC. The realisation dawned upon the Union that any hope of a quick conflict was soon gone to ground. It even led Lincoln to call for 500,000 more troops – even the Confederates called for more, as they also realised the war would not be over any time soon.

Perhaps the most violent year of the US Civil War was 1862. In the Spring, George B. McClellan (Supreme Commander of the Union Army) led his Army of the Potomac up the peninsula between the York River and the James River, and captured Yorktown (Virginia) on 4 May.

Less than two months later, the combined forces of Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee successfully drove back McClellan’s forces in the Seven Days Battles (25 June – 1 July), and McClellan called for more troops.

In the summer of 1862, Lee moved his Confederate forces northwards and split his men, sending Jackson to meet Union forces near Manassas again. On 29 August, Union troops led by John Pope met with Jackson’s forces in the Second Battle of Bull Run (Second Manassas). The following day, Lee – with the other half of his Confederate forces – hit the Union army on their left flank, and once again succeeded in driving the Union forces back to Washington DC.

This was when Lee began a series of invasions into the Union states: but by 14 September, McClellan had successfully reorganised his army, and struck at Lee’s forces in Maryland, and this time it was the Union’s turn to drive the Confederate forces back to a defensive position, at Antietam.

This ultimately led to the bloodiest day of fighting of the whole Civil War: the Battle of Antietam. The Army of the Potomac hit Lee’s forces (reinforced by Jackson’s) in a huge, pitched battle. There were estimates of 12,410 casualties from the 69,000 Union troops, and 13,724 from the 52,000 Confederate troops.

However, at the cost of over 12,000 lives, the Union victory at Antietam proved decisive: it halted the Confederate advance into Maryland, and also forced Lee to retreat into Virginia. McClellan was relieved of his duties after – in Lincoln’s mind – failing to pursue his advantage, and he was replaced by Ambrose E. Burnside.

Burnside then led an assault on Lee’s troops near Fredericksburg on 13 December, but this ended in heavy casualties and a Confederate victory; he was soon replaced by Joseph ‘Fighting Joe’ Hooker, and both armies then settled into winter quarters on opposite sides of the Rappahannock River.

1863 (and the Emancipation Proclamation)

Lincoln had used the Union victory at Antietam to issue a preliminary Emancipation Proclamation which freed all enslaved people in the rebellious states after 1 January 1863. Lincoln justified this decision as a wartime measure but did not go so far to free the enslaved people in the border states loyal to the Union.

The Emancipation Proclamation deprived the Confederacy of the bulk of its labour forces and pitted international public opinion against them, and in favour of the Union. In fact, around 186,000 black Civil War soldiers joined the Union Army by the time the war ended in 1865.

On 1 May 1863, plans for a Union offensive were spoiled by a surprise attack by the bulk of Lee’s forces, whereupon Hooker pulled his men back to Chancellorsville. The Confederates gained a costly victory in the Battle of Chancellorsville, suffering 13,000 casualties (around 22% of their soldiers), while the Union lost 17,000 men (around 15% of their troops). Lee launched another invasion of the North the following month, which culminated in the Confederates attacking the forces commanded by General George Meade on 1 July, near Gettysburg in southern Pennsylvania.

In the Battle of Gettysburg, the Confederates were unable to push through the Union defence, and suffered casualties of close to 60%. However, once again, the Union failed to take the opportunity to counterattack, and Lee’s remaining forces were able to escape into Virginia, ending the last Confederate invasion of the North. Union forces under Ulysses S. Grant took Vicksburg (Mississippi) in the Siege of Vicksburg, in a victory that would prove to be the turning point of the war in the western theatre.

However, a Confederate victory at Chickamauga Creek (Georgia), just south of Chattanooga (Tennessee) in September 1863 caused Lincoln to expand Grant’s command, and he led a reinforced Federal army – including two corps from the Army of the Potomac – to victory in the Battle of Chattanooga in late November.

On 19 November 1863, Lincoln delivered the famous Gettysburg Address, opening with the line “Four score and seven years ago”, in reference to the Declaration of Independence in 1776, once again referring to the principle that the US was a nation “conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”, adding that the Civil War was a test that would determine whether such a nation could endure. It was a particularly rousing and moving speech, and motivated those who supported him.

The End in Sight: 1864-65

Sights of the some of the battlefields.

In early 1864, it finally seemed as if Lee had met his match in Grant. The Battle of the Wilderness and the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House (May 1864) were bloody but indecisive skirmishes, but the Battle of Cold Harbor in Richmond (June 1864) brought the Union one of its worst defeats: in a single hour, 6000 Union soldiers were killed. In the course of one month, Grant’s campaigns had cost the Union 50,000 soldiers. By September, General Sherman captured the Georgian capital of Atlanta, which foreshadowed the end of the secession of Georgia and created another partition in the Confederacy. Lincoln was re-elected in November – defeating Democratic candidate George McClellan.

At the turn of the year in 1865, it was a Union victory in all but name. Columbia and Charleston (South Carolina) fell to Sherman’s men by mid-February, and Jefferson Davis belatedly handed over the supreme command to Lee.

Lee’s forces made a last attempt to attack and captured the Federal-controlled Fort Stedman on 25 March. An immediate counterattack reversed the victory, and on the night of 2-3 April, Lee’s forces evacuated Richmond. Grant pursued the Confederates along the Appomattox River, finally exhausting their possibilities for escape. Grant accepted Lee’s surrender at Appomattox Court House (Virginia) on 9 April 1865.

However, the Union victory was soon put on a downer when Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by Confederate sympathiser John Wilkes Booth in Ford’s Theatre in Washington DC on 14 April 1865.

After Lee’s surrender, secession was no longer an option in American politics. On 4 May, all the remaining Confederate forces in Alabama and Mississippi had surrendered, and on 9 May 1865 President Andrew Johnson officially declared an end to the US Civil War.

Reconstruction (1865-77)

Approximately 620,000 soldiers lost their lives in the US Civil War. It is to date the bloodiest conflict ever fought on American soil. However, the main question posing problems for the US government was how to recover from four years of civil war? This ushered in what is known as the Reconstruction era: essentially, the rebuilding of the south, as much of it had been destroyed – farms and plantations had been burned down, and many people had also been using Confederate money, which was now rendered worthless. The Reconstruction era lasted from 1865-77. I won’t go into too much detail, just a very brief overview.

Lincoln had planned to be lenient on the south, and make it easy for them to re-join the Union, adding that if 10% of the voters in an ex-Confederate state supported the Union, then the state could be readmitted. Obviously, this meant that slavery had to be made illegal as part of their constitution.

However, because of his assassination at the end of the Civil War, Lincoln’s plans never went through. His successor, Andrew Johnson (a southerner himself, from Raleigh, North Carolina) wanted to be even more lenient to the South, but Congress disagreed and passed harsher laws.

General Robert E. Lee, whose
surrender in 1865 marked the
end of the US Civil War.

To help with Reconstruction, three new amendments were added to the US Constitution (for the first time in 60 years): the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments. These are commonly known as the Civil War Amendments.

The 13th Amendment (1865) outlawed slavery, and gave Congress the power to enforce the article through legislation.

The 14th Amendment (1868) stated that black people were citizens of the United States, thereby overruling the Dred Scott case from 1857.

The 15th Amendment (1870) prohibited governments from denying US citizens the right to vote based on their race or colour. However, poll taxes and literacy tests blocked many black citizens from voting, so the 15th Amendment was not as kosher as it seems from the outside.

Eventually, all 11 Confederate states were readmitted to the Union – Tennessee being the first in 1866, and Georgia being the last in 1870. It was years before the economy in the South fully recovered, but the point was that the United States was united (or as united as it could fathom to be) once more.

The Reconstruction era officially ended under the presidency of Rutherford B. Hayes in 1877. He removed federal troops from the South, and state governments took over. Unfortunately, this meant that the majority of the changes to equal rights were immediately reversed.

In conclusion, the US Civil War was one of the most significant events in US history. From the abolition of slavery to the ‘right’ for black citizens to vote in the space of seven years is an incredible achievement to behold, given the circumstances and attitudes at the time. As the late author Shelby Foote said in his book The Civil War: A Narrative: “The Civil War defined [the US] as what we are and it opened us to being what we became, good and bad things…It was the crossroads of our being, and it was a hell of a crossroads.”

Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it!

Bibliography

Shelby Foote, The Civil War: A Narrative (1958)

Philip Jenkins, A History of the United States (Fourth Edition) (2012)

Louis P. Masur, The U.S. Civil War: A Very Short Introduction (2020) https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-politicalscience/chapter/slavery-and-civil-rights/ https://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/american-civil-war-history https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9v5pY9300MQ