THE FURNACE OF CIVIL WARChapter 21

The North

Union Strategy1. Suffocate the south = Blockade2. Liberate the slaves3. Cut the confederacy in ½ = Mississippi

River4. Chop Confederacy to piece by sending

troops through Georgia and Carolinas5. Capture Richmond6. Grind into submission

Bull Run

July 21, 1861 First bloodshed

30 miles from Washington D.C. Confederates

General Thomas J. Jackson “Stonewall Jackson”

First Southern Victory Many thought the war was over

Deserted

McClellan / North

Lincoln stepped up enlistments

General George McClellan = lead forces Began fight for Mississippi River Overcautious

Peninsula Campaign - 1862 Inched toward Confederate Capital Lincoln – Chased Jackson Lee launches counter attacks

7 Day Battles June 26 – July 2 Drove McClellan back

Union abandoned Peninsula Campaign McClellan removed

War for Capitals

• Confederacy▫Robert E. Lee

Went beyond military textbooks in tactics Wanted to save Confederate capital

Richmond Moved his troops against Washington

• McClellan found a copy of Lee’s orders▫Wrapped around some cigars

Showed that Lee and Stonewall Jackson’s armies were separated for some time

2nd Battle of Bull Run = Aug. 1862

Battle at Antietam

September 17, 1862 McClellan orders his men to pursue Lee Battle broke out at Creek = Antietam

Bloodiest single day battle in American history Casualties = 26,000

Instead of pursuing the battered Confederate army --- McClellan did nothing Lincoln removed him from command

Emancipation

Emancipation

January 1, 1863 = Emancipation Proclamation Moral cause

“Where he could he would not, and where he would not he could”

Desertion increased

Blacks Battle Bondage

180,000 African Americans fought for the Union 10% of the Union army Suffered discrimination 38,000 died

Confederacy Did not enlist until end of war Thousand used for labor battalions

“Stomach of the Confederacy” Revolts

Lee’s last Lunge 1862

Lee Defeated Union Army (Burnside, Hooker) =

Fredericksburg (VA) and then again in Chancellorsville (VA)

May 2 Stonewall Jackson accidentally shot

Left arm amputated Caught pneumonia

Died on May 10

Lee = “He has lost his left arm but I have lost my right”

Gettysburg

July 1 = Lee pushes North

Gettysburg – Southern Pennsylvania 90,000 Union troops = General George Meade 75,000 Confederates = General Lee / Pickett

2nd day = Confederates drove Union troops from Gettysburg Union troops held high ground on Cemetery

Ridge Lee attacked Union held their ground

Gettysburg July 3

Lee ordered an artillery barrage 2 hours = fired at one another

Lee thought he had silenced the Union guns Ordered troops to charge the lines

North then renewed its barrage South staggered back

Lee gave up any hope of invading the North Led army back to Virginia

Huge losses 23,000 Union men 28,000 Confederate men Total casualties more than 30%

Gettysburg Address

November 19, 1863 Dedicate a cemetery in Gettysburg 2 minute speech “Remade America”

“Not just a collection of individual states – it was a unified nation”

Union Cont.

1862

David G. FarragutCommander of a Union

fleet 40 ships

Seized New OrleansConfederacy’s largest city /

busiest portTook control of much of the

lower Mississippi

Vicksburg

Ulysses S. Grant Took northern Tennessee

Captured Fort Henry and Fort Donelson Kentucky Opened gateway = Georgia

Fought to take Vicksburg Confederate strongholds on the Mississippi Rested on the bluffs above the river

Guns could control all water traffic

1862 – 1863 Tried several approaches - nothing worked

Grant Spring 1863

Needed to weaken Confederates

Sent a Calvary through the heart of Mississippi Destroying all rail lines Distracted Confederates

Grant moves troops South of Vicksburg Sent his men in search of Confederate

troops

In 18 days Union troops sacked Jackson Mississippi

Grant Grant rushed his troops to Vicksburg

Ordered 2 frontal attacks Neither worked

May 1863 Set up a barrage of artillery

From both the river and the land = Several hours a day Food supplies ran low for

Eating dogs and mules

City fell on July 4 Port Hudson, Louisiana – Last confederate holdout

Union had now cut the Confederacy in two

Confederacy Weakens

Confederacy Gettysburg and Vicksburg cost the South

much of its manpower Low on food, shoes, uniforms, funds, and

ammunition Moral was weakening Many soldiers had deserted Many southerners began to call openly

for peace

Grant / Sherman

March 1864

Lincoln appoints Grant commander of Union armiesGrant appoints = William Tecumseh Sherman

Division of the Mississippi

These 2 appointments changed the course of the war

Both believed in waging = Total warGrant wanted to decimate Lee’s army in VirginiaSherman raided Georgia

Sherman’s March

Spring - 1864 March southeast Created path of destruction

Burned houses, destroyed livestock

Wanted to make southerners “so sick of war that generations would pass away before they would again appeal to it”

By November = burned most of Atlanta Sherman turned north to help Grant = “Wipe out Lee”

Election of 1864 Lincoln faced heavy opposition from Democrats

Copperheads = Against Lincoln McClellan

Congressional Committee on the Conduct of War

Many Northerners were not happy at the length of the war Union Party = joined with Northern War Democrats

Support Lincoln / Johnson Republican party fades during election

Lincoln did not think he would win “I am going to be beaten and unless some great change takes

place, badly beaten” News of Sherman’s victories inspired the North Helped Lincoln win re-election

Grant Outlast Lee

Wilderness Campaign May – June 1864 Casualties high “Grant the Butcher” Trench warfare

North could afford casualties = South could not

Surrender at Appomattox

April 3, 1865 Union troops conquered Richmond --- the

Confederate capital Southerners had abandoned the city the

day before

April 9, 1865 Appomattox Court House – Virginia Lee and Grant met at a private home to

arrange a Confederate surrender

Cont.

Lincoln very generous Paroled Lee’s soldiers Sent them home with their possessions

3 days rations Officers could keep side arms

Within 1 month resistance collapses

4 years ------Civil War was over

Nation Changes

360,000 Union solders died

260,000 Confederates died

Increased federal governments power and authority Income tax Conscription Gave more control over individual citizens

No state ever threatened secession again $15 Billion = Total cost of war

Revolution in Warfare

Rifle Mini ball

Soft lead bullet Hand grenades Land mines Ironclad ships --- replace wooden

ships Ramming wooden ships Resist cannon fire and burning

War Changes Lives

13 Amendment Ratified at the end of 1865 Abolishing Slavery

Lincolns Assassinated April 14, 1865 5 days after surrender Lincoln and his wife = Ford’s theatre John Wilkes Booth

Shot the president in the back of his head Lincoln never regained consciousness

Died April 15

Lincoln

Booth caught 12 days later Shot to death

Lincoln taken from Washington to Springfield Illinois 14 days

7 million Americans turned out to mourn. 1/3 of the Unions population