3-4.5

It Is Essential For Students To Know

• All classes of people suffered as a result of the war.
• Food, cloth and needles and thread to make clothing, and other basic necessities were in short supply because Southerners imported these goods when they exported their cotton crop.
• The Union blockade successfully blocked this trade. However, each group of people was affected in different ways.
• Some elite plantation owners volunteered to serve in the Confederate army. However, they were not required to serve by the Confederate government because they had to supervise their slaves. This led to the charge that it was a “rich man’s war and a poor man’s fight”.
• The elite lost much of their wealth as a result of the war. They were not able to export their cotton because of the blockade. When the advancing Union army freed the slaves, confiscated food and livestock and burned buildings, the elite lost much of their property.
• Many had loaned money to the Confederate government and invested in it by buying bonds using their Confederate currency. Confederate bonds and currency became worthless when the South lost the war. Despite these losses of property, the elite continued to have social status and influence among the white population of South Carolina during and after the war.
• Independent farmers, and middle and lower class men volunteered or were drafted into the Confederate army. They spent days in army camps drilling to prepare for battle. Carrying everything they might need, they marched from battle to battle at the command of their officers. In battle, many lost their lives or were gravely wounded. Others died of disease in crowded camps or prisons. Soldiers suffered from loneliness, weather, hunger and fatigue. Many, however, found camaraderie with their fellow soldiers.
• The middle class also lost money and suffered property damage as a result of the war.
• Women of all classes were left at home to tend to businesses and farms. This became increasingly difficult as food, cloth and other goods were in short supply and as some slaves ran away or were freed by the advancing Union army.
• As supplies fell, rising prices affected poor families more than wealthy ones.
• Women also served as nurses at wayside hospitals. They grieved for sons, brothers and husbands lost in the war. Because of the high number of casualties, many women continued to run farms and businesses in the generation after the war.
• Most African American slaves continued to work on plantations during the war. Some, close to the battle front, fled to Union lines. Eventually some African Americans were allowed to join the Union army and fight for their freedom in segregated units.
• Slaves were also used by the Confederate army to build fortifications.
• African American suffered from lack of food, just as did others throughout South Carolina. They were liberated as the Union army reached their vicinity.
• During the war, racial tensions increased as whites feared that slaves would rise up in rebellion. This led to the “20 slave rule” that exempted owners of 20 or more slaves from serving in the Confederate army.
• As slaves were liberated by the Union army, many left their plantation homes to search for family members who had been sold away or to experience freedom. Destitute, without food or shelter except that provided by the Freedman’s Bureau, most eventually returned to the vicinity of their original plantation homes.
• In the post-war period, whites tried to continue to control the freedmen through the Black Codes.
• African Americans, protected by amendments to the Constitution and by the national government, wanted to exercise the full rights of American citizenship. This led to increased tension between former slaves and former slave owners.

It Is Not Essential For Students to Know:

• It is not essential for students to know the numbers of South Carolina soldiers who were killed or wounded during the Civil War.
• Students do not need to know how many slaves fled during the war years or the circumstances of their lives as camp followers of the Union army.
• Students do not need to know about the Port Royal experiment or the Penn School.
• Students do not need to know details about or all-black regiments that were formed or where and how these units fought.
• Students do not need to know the circumstances of the story of Robert Smalls and how he led his family and crew to freedom by increased racial tension among the classes. surrendering the boat that he piloted to the Union navy. However, this story illustrates the will of African Americans to seek their freedom as well as their skills.