The Battle of Gettysburg

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The Battle of Gettysburg
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Unit 11, Journal 3

• Describe in 3-4 sentences what you think life was
  like as a soldier during the Civil War.
• Then, describe what you think life was like for
  those left at home throughout the war in another
  3-4 sentences.
• You may use your carousel notes..

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Before the Battle

• 1863 had begun well for the South
• Confederates inflict bloody defeat on Union at
  Fredericksburg, VA
• Failure to storm Confederate stronghold (Dec. 13,
  1862)
• North defeated again in the Battle of
  Chancellorsville, VA
• Outmaneuvered (April 30-May 6, 1863)
• General Stonewall Jackson is shot by his own men
  in an accident and dies of Pneumonia
• Amputation
• Mistaken for a Yankee (May 1863)
• Lee decides to invade North in Spring-Early
  Summer 63
• To gain supplies
• Force Lincoln to pull Union forces away from
  Vicksburg, MS
• Invasion in North would hurt Lincolns political
  power- tip towards Copperheads

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After the Battle

• More than 23,000 Union casualties and 28,000
  Confederate casualties
• More than 30 of men
• Corpses everywhere, stench unbearable
• Lee gave up hopes of invading the North and
  retreated back to Virginia (through a pelting
  rain)
• Lee turned in his resignation which Jefferson
  Davis did not accept
• Its all my fault Lees reaction to loss at
  Gettysburg
• North is enthusiastic about big victory!
• The North wins the Battle of Vicksburg (May
  18-July 4, 1863)

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Significance of Gettysburg

• Turning point in the war
• Crippled South so badly, Lee never invaded
  Northern state again
• Lincoln gives the Gettysburg Address in November
  1863.
• Gettysburg Address helped
• our crippled nation realize that
• we were not just a collection
• of individual states.

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Gettysburg Address

• Nov. 1863 ceremony to dedicate cemetery in
  Gettysburg.
• Lincoln gave 2 minute speech
• Remade America
• After his address and following the Civil War
  people started to say the United States is
  instead of the United States are

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ACTIVITY

• In just two minutes, Abraham Lincoln gave a
  speech that changed the nation and is revered as
  one of the most important speeches in history
• You will work in groups to analyze the
• Gettysburg Address and its impact on the nation
• The Gettysburg Address

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The War Comes to an End
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Wearing Down of Confederacy

• Defeat at Vicksburg and Gettysburg cost
  Confederate manpower
• Already low on food, shoes, uniforms, guns, and
  ammunition
• Break down
• Desertionsleft because they knew their families
  were suffering
• Left to fight for the Union
• Movements for peace by newspapers, legislatures,
  and individuals in various states

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New UNION Strategy Total War

• General Grant appointed William Tecumseh Sherman
  as commander in Mississippi
• Both men believe in total war
• Total War fight military, government and
  CIVILIANS to destroy all ability for enemy to
  fight
• Reasoning
• Civilians produce the weapons, food, and
  transportation
• Their strength keeps the army going
• IS IT EVER JUSTIFIED TO KILL CIVILIANS IN A
  BATTLE? WHY OR WHY NOT?
• Attack and attack again
• Huge losses for Union, but they could afford it,
  South could not
• Burned towns, killed animals

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About three miles from Sparta we struck the
'Burnt Country,' as it is well named by the
natives, and then I could better understand the
wrath and desperation of these poor people. I
almost felt as if I should like to hang a Yankee
myself. There was hardly a fence left standing
all the way from Sparta to Gordon. The fields
were trampled down and the road was lined with
carcasses of horses, hogs, and cattle that the
invaders, unable either to consume or to carry
away with them, had wantonly shot down to starve
out the people and prevent them from making their
crops. The stench in some places was unbearable
every few hundred yards we had to hold our noses
or stop them with cologne
Source Eliza Frances Andrews, The War-Time
Journal of a Georgia Girl, 1864-1865 (New York
D. Appleton and Co., 1908), pp. 32-33.
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Shermans March

• Sherman moves south to Atlanta
• Occupies September, 1864 huge transportation
  center
• Confederate army tries to circle around him and
  cut his railroad supply lines, but Sherman takes
  the offensive.
• Ex Being aggressive in sports
• Sherman abandons his supply lines and marches to
  the sea
• Creates a path of destruction lives off the land
  as he marches
• Burned most of Atlanta
• Reached the ocean and took Savannah.
• Left to help Grant wipe out Lee
• Followed by 25,000 former slaves
• Inflicted more damage down through SC
• As they got close to the end (NC), stopped
  burning towns and handed out food and supplies

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Election of 1864

• Democrats.How did they feel about Lincoln?
• Joined pro-Southern Copperheads
• Upset over length high casualties of war
• Nominate George McClellan (resentful)
• Radical Republicans
• Nominate John C. Fremont as a 3rd party candidate
• Wanted harsher proposal for post-Civil War
• Lincoln chose a pro-Union Democrat as VP, but
  felt he
• would be badly beaten unless some great
  change
• Retitled themselves the National Union Party
• Andrew Johnson
• Change came
• August 5 major Southern Port closed at Mobile
• September 2 Atlanta was taken
• End of Sept Fremont withdrew nomination
• October 18 Confederates out of Northern VA

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Surrender at Appomattox

• Clear Confederacy was over by March 1865
• Grant and Sherman approached Richmond,
  Confederate Govt. fled and set fire to the city
• April 9, 1865 Lee and Grant met at Appomattox
  Court House in VA to arrange formal surrender
• Very generous terms (Lincolns request)
• WHY? DID THEY DESERVE IT?
• Within 1 month, all resistance ended.