Fighting the Civil War

Advantages and Weaknesses of the North

• Advantages - Abundant resources: – factories, railroads, population

• Weaknesses – Invading unfamiliar land and conquering a huge area

Advantages and Weaknesses of the South

• Advantages:– Defending their homeland– Skills useful for fighting – horse skills, gun skills

• Weaknesses:– Lack of resources

Lincoln on War

• “In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow country-men, not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war….We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection.”– Abraham Lincoln’s Inaugural Address, March 1861

Fort Sumter

• Civil War Begins– April 12-14, 1861– Commanders: • PGT Beauregard –Confed• Robert Anderson – Union

– Confederates open fire on Union garrison of Fort Sumter

– No casualties – opening of the war

First Bull Run

• July 1861• Union troops set off to capture Richmond• Hundreds of spectators in jubilant mood rode along with

the troops to watch battle.• Early in fight – Union breaks up Confederate lines – “The

war is over!”• TJ Jackson stood ground on top of a nearby hill – rallied the

Confederates– “Look, there is Jackson standing like a stone wall.”

• Union troops panicked and ran back to D.C.• War would be long and bloody

Stonewall Jackson

• Best General in Confederate army• Deeply religious and fearless• Inspired loyalty and pride amongst troops who

would follow him into any battle• Hero of Antietam and Chancellorsville– After battle of Chancellorsville, shot by his own

sentry upon returning from scouting expedition– Died of wound

Gettysburg• July 1863• Commanders

– Maj. General George Meade – Union– General Robert E Lee – Confederate

• 51,000 casualties over 3 days• Day 1 – Lee drove Union out of town to Cemetery Ridge• Day 2 – Lee attacked again, but Union fought back with

reinforcements and retained position• Day 3 – General Pickett (Conf.) led 15,000 men in “Pickett’s Charge”

through open ground to center of Union line – Failure: almost all of Pickett’s men were killed– “The dead and wounded lay too thick to guide a horse through them.”

• Lee retreated – Union Victory

Total War

• Grant given command of Union army• Wage Total War – Destroy food, equipment,

anything useful to enemy• Civilians would be forced to suffer same

hardships as army

William Tecumseh Sherman

• Ordered to capture Atlanta and then march to the Atlantic coast

• Destroy everything useful to the South along the way

• Ripped up railroad tracks (Sherman’s Bowtie)• Destroyed crops, killed livestock, burned barns

homes, bridges, factories

Appomattox Court House

• April, 1865• Commanders:– Ulysses S. Grant– Robert E. Lee

• Lee attempt to escape Union forces who had captured Richmond

• Lee surrounded and forced to surrender • Grant silenced his cheering troops as Confederates

surrendered: “The war is over. The rebels are our countrymen again.”