The War Continues

The Main Idea

Important fighting occurred in all sections of the country as well as at sea.

Reading Focus

• In what ways was the war at sea an important part of the Civil War?

• What were each side’s goals in the West and how were events there influenced by the rest of the war?

• What three major battles took place in 1863, and why was each important?

• Why was the fighting around Chattanooga, Tennessee, important to the outcome of the war?

The Civil War at Sea

• Confederates hoped to destroy the Union blockade with a captured Union ironclad ship, the Merrimack, rebuilt and renamed the Virginia.

• Union attacked with new vessel, the Monitor. The first battle between ironclads had no winner, but it changed naval warfare.

Blockade Runners

• Boats built for speed that brought cotton out and silk, soap, pepper, and other goods into the Confederacy

The Monitor and the Merrimac

• Confederates used unconventional tactics to combat stronger Union navy.

• Had 29 commerce raider ships roaming the oceans, successfully attacking Union merchant ships and disrupting the North’s foreign trade

Confederate Raiders

The War in the West

• California and the territories

– Kansas was admitted as a free state in 1861, and six more western territories were added. Lincoln appointed pro-Union officials to head the governments.

– The draft was not enforced in the West, but California supplied volunteers and territorial mines provided vast amounts of gold and silver.

– The Battle of Glorieta Pass secured the west for the Union. • Native Americans and the war

– War divided the Cherokee and the other nations over the issues of loyalty and slavery, and they fought on both sides.

– Cherokee leader Stand Watie was the last Confederate general to surrender at war’s end.

Three Major Battles

Battle of Chancellorsville• General Joseph Hooker was in

command of Union army.

• Lee sent Stonewall Jackson in a surprise attack, nearly destroying the Union army on the first day.

• Battle was General Lee’s greatest victory, defeating a force twice its size. Lee determined to invade the North again, hoping a victory there would end the war.

• Lee marched north, and Lincoln replaced Hooker with General George Meade.

• Confederates on the lookout for a rumored shoe supply skirmished with Union cavalry.

The Battle of Gettysburg• July 1, 1863-

• both sides rushed troops to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

• Overconfident after his great victory, Lee pushed his troops into battle here against the advice of James Longstreet.

Three Major Battles

The Battle of Gettysburg• July 2, 1863

– Some of the bloodiest fighting of the entire war

The Battle of Gettysburg• July 3, 1863

– Union at Cemetery Ridge

– Confederates on Seminary Ridge

– Open field in between

– Half the men in Pickett’s Charge perished, and Lee finally gave up the fight and retreated back to Virginia.

Three Major Battles

The Gettysburg Address

• Given by President Lincoln at the dedication of the Union cemetery.

• Reminded America why we were fighting and was a profound statement of American ideals

• P. 386

The Siege of Vicksburg• General Grant began the Union

siege of Vicksburg in May 1863.

• With constant shelling of the city, citizens were forced to dig into hillsides to try to escape the barrage.

• After forty-eight days, the city surrendered. Four days later the last Confederate fort on the Mississippi surrendered as well.

The Chattanooga Campaign

The string of Confederate losses ended with Braxton Bragg’s victory at the Battle of Chickamauga. But the retreating Union army discovered the road to Chattanooga had been left unprotected, and they fled to the city.

Bragg pursued, but the Union soldiers were ready to defend the city. Confederate troops prepared to starve them out.

Grant arrived and opened a supply line to feed the trapped Union troops. The siege ended, and the Union won the two battles that followed. This gave the Union control of the railroad center at Chattanooga and would allow Grant access to Georgia, the heart of the Lower South.