LEGISLATIVE RESOLUTION commemorating the observance of the Sesquicenten-
nial of the American Civil War in the State of New York

WHEREAS, It is the sense of this Legislative Body to commemorate signif-
icant events which represent turning points in our unique history and
which are indelibly etched in the saga of our great Nation; and
WHEREAS, Attendant to such duty and fully in accord with its long-
standing traditions, it is the intent of this Legislative Body to
commemorate the observance of the Sesquicentennial of the American Civil
War in the State of New York; and
WHEREAS, New York State played a major role throughout the American
Civil War and greatly influenced national politics, the Union war
effort, and the media coverage of the war; and
WHEREAS, The most populous state in the Union during the American
Civil War, New York provided more troops to the Union Army than any
other state, including several significant military commanders and lead-
ers; today, New York State is home to the largest collection of Civil
War battle flags; and
WHEREAS, The American Civil War, also known as the War Between the
States, took place April 12, 1861 - April 9, 1865; 11 Southern slave
states declared their secession from the United States and formed the
Confederate States of America, also known as "the Confederacy"; and
WHEREAS, Led by Jefferson Davis, the Confederacy fought against the
United States (the Union), which was supported by New York and all of
the other free states (where Slavery had been abolished) and by five
slave states that became known as the border states; and
WHEREAS, In the presidential election of 1860, the Republican Party,
led by Abraham Lincoln, had campaigned against the expansion of slavery
beyond the states in which it already existed; in response to the Repub-
lican victory in that election, seven states declared their secession
from the Union before Lincoln took office on March 4, 1861; and
WHEREAS, Both the outgoing administration of President James Buchanan
and Lincoln's incoming administration rejected the legality of seces-
sion, considering it rebellion; several other slave states rejected
calls for secession at this point; and
WHEREAS, Hostilities began on April 12, 1861, when Confederate forces
attacked a United States military installation at Fort Sumter in South
Carolina; Lincoln responded by calling for a volunteer army from each
state to recapture federal property; this led to declarations of seces-
sion by four more slave states; and
WHEREAS, Both sides raised armies as the Union assumed control of the
border states early in the war and established a naval blockade; in
September 1862, Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation made ending slavery
in the South a war goal and dissuaded the British from intervening; and
WHEREAS, Confederate commander Robert E. Lee won battles in the east,
but in 1863 his northward advance was turned back with heavy casualties
after the Battle of Gettysburg; to the west, the Union gained control of
the Mississippi River after their capture of Vicksburg, Mississippi,
thereby splitting the Confederacy in two; and
WHEREAS, The Union was able to capitalize on its long-term advantages
in men and material by 1864 when Ulysses S. Grant fought battles of
attrition against Lee, while Union general William Tecumseh Sherman
captured Atlanta and marched to the sea; Confederate resistance ended
after Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 9,
1865; and
WHEREAS, The American Civil War was one of the earliest true indus-
trial wars; railroads, the telegraph, steamships, and mass-produced

weapons were employed extensively; the practices of total war, developed
by Sherman in Georgia, and of trench warfare around Petersburg foreshad-
owed World War I in Europe; it remains the deadliest war in American
history, resulting in the deaths of 620,000 soldiers and an undetermined
number of civilian casualties; and
WHEREAS, Victory for the North meant the end of the Confederacy and of
slavery in the United States, and strengthened the role of the federal
government; the social, political, economic and racial issues of the war
decisively shaped the reconstruction era that lasted to 1877; and
WHEREAS, We, the duly elected members of this Legislative Body, can
mark this solemn occasion with no greater remembrance than the words of
the 16th President, Abraham Lincoln, when he dedicated the National
Cemetery at Gettysburg on November 19, 1863: "We ... have come to dedi-
cate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who
here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether
fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we
can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we cannot hallow -- this
ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have
consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world
will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never
forget what they did here. It is for, us the living, rather, to be dedi-
cated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus
far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the
great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take
increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full meas-
ure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not
have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth
of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the
people, shall not perish from the earth."; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That this Legislative Body pause in its deliberations to
commemorate the observance of the Sesquicentennial of the American Civil
War in the State of New York.