Second Manassas, Antietam, and the Emancipation Proclamation

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Second Manassas, Antietam, and the Emancipation
Proclamation

• Lsn 10

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End of the Peninsula Campaign

• Even though McClellan had been defeated, his army
  was still in a strategic location, just 25 miles
  from Richmond and on a supply line it could keep
  open (it would be 1864 before the Federals got
  this close to Richmond again)
• One course would have been for Lincoln to keep
  the army where it was and remove the commander
• Instead, Lincoln ordered the Army of the Potomac
  to withdraw from the Peninsula
• Ultimately, most of the Army of the Potomac would
  come under the command of John Pope as the Army
  of Virginia

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Popes General Orders

• When Pope assumed command he issued an abrasive
  and boastful address on July 14 which served to
  alienate and insult many in his new command
• Then issued a series of General Orders that
  certainly enraged the Confederacy and showed he
  had an aggressive and hostile policy toward
  civilians and private property
• That Lincoln acquiesced to these orders showed
  that perhaps he was shifting away from the mild,
  conciliatory approach to something more
  authoritarian

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Popes General Orders

• General Order Number 5 stated that the army
  should live off the land.
• General Order Number 7 outlined how Pope planned
  to deal with the local citizenry.
• General Order Number 11 called for the immediate
  arrest of all disloyal male citizens and
  compelled them to either take an oath of
  allegiance to the United States or be deported
  further south.
• Pope appeared naively surprised when he learned
  that soldiers had taken his orders as a license
  to plunder and maraud, and he attempted to
  correct this situation with General Order Number
  19.

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Popes General Orders
GENERAL POPE Well, Sir who are you, and what
do you want? STRANGER. I amawAid-de-Camp to
GENERAL STONEWALL JACKSON. The GENERAL sends
hisawCompliments, and wishes to know if you can
let him have a few Bottles of Rose-Water?
GENERAL POPE. Tell the GENERAL that this
Concern has changed hands and the present Head
of the Firm has given up the Rose-Water Branch of
Business, as he finds it don't pay!
Cartoon from Harpers Weekly Aug 9, 1862
reflecting Popes new policies
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End of the Peninsula Campaign and Lees Offensive

• As soon as Lee ascertained the army was
  withdrawing from the Peninsula, he went after
  Pope in northern Virginia
• Lee was able to operate within his enemys
  decision cycle
• Lee ordered his army to move the day of the
  Federal withdraw and before the first divisions
  of the Army of the Potomac had landed at Aquia
  Creek, Lee had raced north and had Pope
  surrounded just south of Manassas

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Lee and the Turning Movement

• The Peninsula confirmed Lees belief in the
  turning movement and was the beginning of his
  partnership with Jackson
• Lee learned during the Seven Days the wisdom of
  not attacking the Federals in their strong and
  chosen positions. They ought always to be
  turned.
• He told Jackson, it was to save you the
  abundance of hard fighting that I ventured to
  suggest for your consideration not to attack the
  enemys strong points, but to turn his position
  I would rather you have easy fighting and heavy
  victories.
• Pope would be the first victim of this wisdom

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Second Manassas

• Pope had been trying to relieve pressure on
  McClellan by operating against Confederate rail
  communications at Gordonsville and
  Charlottesville
• His forces were largely in defensive positions
  along the Rappahannock River
• When Lee realized McClellan was withdrawing, he
  boldly ordered Jackson to break things open by
  leading his 24,000 men on a wide swing around
  Popes right to strike his supply lines and cut
  his communications with Washington

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Second Manassas

• Jackson marched 51 miles in two days and struck
  Manassas Junction with fury, burning Federal
  supplies
• Then Jackson withdrew to a position north of the
  Warrenton Turnpike near the First Manassas
  battlefield and waited for Lee to arrive with the
  rest of the army
• Pope ordered his scattered forces to concentrate
  near Centreville to counter Jackson and to be
  ready to receive McClellans reinforcements

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Second Manassas

• On Aug 28, 1862 Jackson observed Federals moving
  eastward toward Centreville
• Jackson had to choose
• Attacking might bring the full weight of Popes
  army against him before Lee could join him
• Waiting might allow Pope and McClellan to unite
  before the Confederates could bring about a
  battle
• Jackson chose to attack ordering his division
  commanders to Bring out your men, gentlemen

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Second Manassas

• There was a fierce fight and as darkness closed
  the Federals slowly withdrew
• By dawn on the 29th Jackson had adjusted his
  three divisions along a 2 ½ mile section of an
  unfinished railroad bed
• Pope thought Jackson was retreating and ordered a
  full scale attack

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Second Manassas

• Pope launched a series of uncoordinated and
  unsuccessful attacks and Jacksons line held
• At around noon, Longstreet arrived with 28,000
  men and took positions on Jacksons right
• Pope began receiving reinforcements from the
  Peninsula which, instead of massing for one big
  attack, he continued to commit piecemeal
• Although big gaps were torn in the Confederate
  line, Jackson was able to shift his forces to
  meet each threat

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Second Manassas

• On Aug 30, Pope attacked with 7,000 men he
  expected to use to finish off Jackson (who he
  thought was beaten and withdrawing)
• In reality, Pope was advancing into the jaws of a
  trap
• Jackson had not retreated at all but was standing
  fast with 18,000 men
• Concealed at a right angle was Longstreet with
  28,000 fresh soldiers

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Second Manassas

• Jackson not only held but forced the Federals to
  fall back
• Lee unleashed Longstreet and the jaws of the
  Confederate trap closed on Pope

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Second Manassas

• The Federals suffered 14,462 casualties (the
  Confederates 9,474)
• Pope was transferred to Minnesota and the Army of
  Virginia was disbanded and incorporated into
  McClellans Army of the Potomac
• Lee proceeded to build on this victory to invade
  Maryland

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Second Manassas

• Discuss in terms of maneuver

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Antietam

• In desperation, Lincoln restored McClellan to
  command
• As Lee marched into Maryland he expected the
  Federals to abandon their 12,000-man garrison at
  Harpers Ferry
• When they didnt, Lee was forced to divide his
  army in order to deal with this threat to his rear

Harpers Ferry sits at the confluence of the
Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers
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Antietam

• Lee divided his army into four parts
• Three of them under Jackson headed toward
  Harpers Ferry
• A fourth under Longstreet headed for Boonsboro

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Antietam

• Lees army was now scattered and McClellan had
  time to organize his forces
• Hes aided by finding a copy of Lees plan
• Still McClellan lacked the killer instinct
  necessary to take full advantage of the situation

The Lost Order
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Antietam

• In the actual battle, McClellan moved slowly and
  committed his forces piecemeal which allowed Lee
  to shift his outnumbered forces from one
  threatened point to another
• Neither the Federal V or VI Corps, some 22,000
  men, would play a significant role in the battle

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Antietam

• At Burnsides Bridge, Ambrose Burnsides IX
  Corps of some 12,000 was held in check from 930
  to 100 by only 450 Confederates after Burnside
  launched several attacks
• When he finally crossed the creek, Burnside spent
  two hours resting and reorganizing on the other
  side before continuing toward Sharpsburg

Burnsides Bridge
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Antietam

• Once Burnside got moving and started to push the
  Confederates back, A. P. Hill arrived with his
  division from Harpers Ferry and counterattacked
  into Burnsides unprotected left flank
• Burnside was driven back to the heights near
  Burnsides Bridge
• Longstreet later wrote, We were so badly crushed
  that at the close of the day ten thousand fresh
  troops could have come in and taken Lee's army
  and everything in it.
• Still McClellan held the V Corps and VI Corps in
  reserve

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Antietam

• Antietam was the bloodiest single day of the war
• The Confederates suffered 13,700 casualties out
  of 40,000 engaged
• The Federals lost 12,350 out of 87,000
• The battle ended as a tactical draw, but a
  strategic victory for the Federals because Lee
  was forced to withdraw back to Virginia
• It was enough of a victory for Lincoln to issue
  his Emancipation Proclamation

Confederate dead in the Bloody Lane
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Antietam

• Discuss in terms of mass

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The End of Conciliation

• Many Federal generals had sought to wage war
  consistent with Winfield Scotts limited approach
  in Mexico
• The idea was to practice a conciliatory policy
  that held that mild treatment of Southerners,
  their property, and their institutions would
  ultimately result in their returning their
  allegiance to the US
• McClellan argued for this practice in a letter he
  gave Lincoln on July 8 stating A declaration of
  radical views, especially upon slavery, will
  rapidly disintegrate our present armies.

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Moves toward Emancipation

• A few generals such as Ben Butler, John Fremont,
  and David Hunter however were pushing for
  emancipation
• Lincoln too was beginning to move in that
  direction and on July 22, 1862 he showed his
  cabinet a preliminary draft of the Emancipation
  Proclamation
• But Lincoln needed a battlefield victory to give
  him an opportunity to make the Proclamation
  public
• Antietam accomplished that

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Emancipation Proclamation

• Issued September 22, 1862
• That on the first day of January, in the year of
  our Lord one thousand eight hundred and
  sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within
  any State or designated part of a State, the
  people whereof shall then be in rebellion against
  the United States, shall be then, thenceforward,
  and forever free

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Emancipation Proclamation

• The Emancipation Proclamation changed the very
  nature of the war, giving it a completely new
  objective
• Conciliation was no longer an option
• Represented a move toward total war
• The North was now not merely fighting to restore
  a union it thought was never legitimately
  separated. It was fighting for freedom of a
  race.
• The South was no longer fighting merely for
  independence. It was fighting for survival of
  its way of life.

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Impact of Emancipation Proclamation

• Jefferson Davis
• labeled REBELLION on chain.
• Defeated
• seated figure with small hammer labeled
  COMPROMISE.
• Henry W. Halleck
• wields mallet labeled SKILL.
• George McClellan
• wields mallet labeled STRATEGY.
• Edwin M. Stanton
• holds mallet labeled DRAFT.
• Lincoln
• shoulders an axe labeled EMANCIPATION
  PROCLAMATION.

Stanton Halleck may use his skill and Mac his
strategy, but this draft will do the business.
Lincoln You can try him with that, but I'm
afraid this axe of mine is the only thing that
will fetch him.
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Diplomatic Impact

• The South had longed hoped for European
  recognition and intervention
• The Emancipation Proclamation made that virtually
  impossible because England had abolished slavery
  in 1833 and France in 1848

John Slidell represented the Confederacy in France
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Impact of Emancipation Proclamation on
Confederate Diplomatic Efforts

• the feeling against slavery in England is so
  strong that no public man there dares extend a
  hand to help us There is no government in Europe
  that dares help us in a struggle which can be
  suspected of having for its result, directly or
  indirectly, the fortification or perpetuation of
  slavery. Of that I am certain
• William Yancey, Confederate politician

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Emancipation Proclamation

• Discuss in terms of objective

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Next Lesson

• Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville