the furnace of civil war 1861-1865

The Furnace of Civil War 1861-1865

•At the beginning of the war• Lincoln quick military

action to show the folly to the south of Succession


•Bull Run (First Battle at Manassas) 90 day war•Victory would show the

superiority of the Union


•And the capturing of the confederate capital of Richmond


• Spectators lined the route to the battle•North was confident of a

victory


• Stonewall Jackson held the union at bay• Reinforcement from the south

allowed Jackson and the south drive out the union forces

Stonewall Jackson


• South victory caused volunteers to decline • It also proved to the north

that this was not going to be a short war


• In 1861 General George B McClellan was given command of Army of Potomac


•He planned a waterborne attack (Pensacola Campaign)• In 1862 McClellan captured

Yorktown


•Came within sight of Richmond and attacked Jackson’s army • Lee launched a counter

attack


•Became the Seven Days Battle June 26 to July 2 1862 drove the union forces back to the sea


• Two more factors the resulted from the Peninsula campaign

1. Lincoln began to draft the Emancipation Proclamation


•2. Union turned to a total war strategy


•Union strategy became•1. Slowly suffocated the

South by blockading its coasts


• 2. Liberate the slaves and undermine the economic foundation of the south• 3. Cut the Confederacy in half

by seizing control of the Mississippi River


•4. Dismember the Confederacy by sending troops through Georgia, and Carolinas


•5. Capture Richmond •6. Try everywhere to

engage the enemies strength and grind it inot submission


•Northern Blockade focused on principal ports


• In order to combat blockade ships were built to run blockade


• First were fast ships that out ran blockade•Confederates then built the

Merrimac (Virginia)


•Wooden ship covered with metal plates• The Merrimac became the

biggest threat to the blockade


•Crash through wooden ships•March 9 1862 Monitor

(Union ironclad ship)


•Met and battle became a standstill • However the fear of the

Peninsula campaign the Confederates destroyed the Merrimac


• On land Lee has crushed McClellan's forces at Richmond Lee moved Northward• Second Bull Run August 29-30


• Second Battle of Bull Run August 29-30 1862• Lee defeated General

Popes’ forces


•After the victory at Second Bull Run Lee decided to invade the Union in Maryland


• Lee’s objective was to inspire the border states to rise up against the the north and join the COnfederacy


•As Lee moved into Maryland he met McClellan's forces at Antietam


• September 17, 1862 •McClellan stopped Lee

forces after finding the battle plans of Lee


•McClellan constantly refused to attack was insubordinate to Lincoln was finally dismissed by Lincon


• The victory or stalemate at Antietam gave Lincoln the backing to issue the Emancipation Proclamation


• Lincoln now made an added incentive to win the war a moral cause• It also was the pivotal point

or battle that convinced


• England and France would stay out of the war and strengthen the diplomatic position of the US to Europe


• The Emancipation Proclamation did nothing to free the slaves (it only freed slaves that were in rebellion against the US)• It was not enforced


• Lincoln feared that if enforced border states would secede• It also destroyed any chance of

a negotiated settlement to end war


•Blacks now were able to enlist in the Union Army


• The Confederacy did not enlists slaves until one month before the war ended


• Lee and Gettysburg •New commander of Union

was General Burnside


•Before Gettysburg Confederacy had routed Burnside at Fredericksburg •He was replaced General

Hooker


• Hooker was defeated by Lee forces at Chancellorsville• At Chancellorsville Stonewall

Jackson was shot and mortally wounded


• Tremendous loss to Lee and South•Gettysburg became the

final charge by Lee


• The armies met at Gettysburg July 1-3 • Series of Battles with the

decisive battle on July 3 Pickett’s Charge was repelled


•After defeat of Confederate army at Gettysburg all hope for a Confederate victory were gone


• The War in West•Vicksburg fell July 4 1863•Grant was in charge at

Vicksburg


• The importance of Vicksburg•Opened Mississippi river to

Northern trade


•No foreign help from Europe•Quell peace agitation•Cut off supply of cattle and

other goods


• From Texas and Louisiana


•Grant defeated South at Chattanooga and Tennessee was clear of Confederates


• Sherman's march on South•Captured Atlanta •Main reasons for march

through south


•Destroy supply lines of South by destroying transportation system•Destroy morale of south by

destroying homes


• Captured Savannah Ga.• And South Carolina by end of

1864• Despite the charge and carnage

lives were saved by shortening of war


•Critics of Lincoln in own party• Led by Secretary of

Treasury Salmon Chase


• Congressional Committee on the Conduct of the War• Radical Republicans resented

the expansion of presidential power during war time


•And were pressing Lincoln on quicker emancipation


• Peace Democrats after Stephen Douglas death Democrats were split • Peace democrats were not

supportive of Lincoln and most dangerous to the union


•Copperheads radical peace Democrats•Republicans joined Pro war

democrats and formed union party


• Election of 1864• Fearing defeat Republicans

joined War Democrats to form Union party


•VP Andrew Johnson was chosen as a running mate for Lincoln (War Democrat)•Democrats selected and

Copperheads chose


•George B McClellan • Lincoln’s reelection was

the final blow to the South• They believed that if

Lincoln was defeated


• The south may have had a chance for victory• For Lincolns chances of

winning the capture of Atlanta and Mobile Ala. were critical


•Grant is put in place as commandeer of Union troops to begin final assult on South


•Grant engaged in a series of Battles (Wilderness Campaign)•Grant ordered a frontal

assault on Cold Harbor


•Grant was willing to accept 2 union lives for every Confederate loss•Grant’s had more weapons

at his disposal and held on


•He then went on to capture Richmond •All was lost• Lee surrendered to Grant

at Appomatax


• Effetely ending the Civil War


• Lincoln Assassination•Many enemies •Not only conspiracy to

assassinate President


•But Secretary of War•And Vice President Johnson


• Lincoln went to Ford’s theater Ulysses S Grant was invited but declined•As the play progressed


• John Wilkes Booth snuck up the theater•He had performed there

many times as an actor


• Snuck up behind the president fired a single shot into the president’s head


•At the same time another assassin attacked the Secretary of war stabbed him but the wounds were not fatal


•Andrew Johnson assassin got drunk and chickened out

the furnace of civil war 1861-1865

Documents

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