The Civil War

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The Civil War
1861-1865
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I. Technology and Strategy

• A. Guns-became more accurate and soldiers could
  attack enemy from several hundred yards away.
  This made strategy on the battlefield more
  important.

1860s model Enfield musket rifle widely used
during the war. Civil War Bullet with cap base
and distinct shape
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I. Technology and Strategy

• B. Warships-most were steam powered.
• Ironclads-wooden ships with iron plate armor.
• Monitor vs. Merrimac-two ironclads battles off
  the coast of Virginia. The ships were so
  effective that the
• days of
• wooden
• ships were
• doomed.

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I. Technology and Strategy

• C. Union Strategy-Cut off the South-the
  Anaconda Plan-Winfield Scotts plan

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I. Technology and Strategy

• The Anaconda Plan
• 1. Blockade Southern ports-the North used its
  superior navy to cut off trade with Europe.
  Small blockade runners got through but they were
  unable to make up for lost trade.
• 2. Control Mississippi-Ulysses S. Grant
• captured Forts Henry and Donelson
• on the Tennessee River.
• David Farragut captured New Orleans on
  April 25, 1862. Grant also won at Shiloh on
  April 6, 1862.

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I. Technology and Strategy

• The Anaconda Plan
• 3. Capture Richmond-George McClellan's Peninsula
  Campaign failed as Lee won several battles
  including the 2nd Battle of Bull Run.
• -His failures led to Lincoln searching for a new
  commander. McClellan would eventually run
  against Lincoln in the 1864 election.

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I. Technology and Strategy

• D. Confederate Strategy-Fight a defensive war
  until the North gave up. Preserve their way of
  life.

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II. Major Battles
The Bloody Lane A section of the Antietam
Battlefield littered with dead Confederate
soldiers

• A. Antietam-September 17, 1862-South invaded
  Maryland hoping a major victory would bring
  support
• from Great Britain and France.
• In one day, almost 23,000 men were killed or
  wounded. The bloodiest one day in American
  history.

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II. Major Battles

• B. Fredericksburg (Dec. 1862) and
  Chancellorsville (May 1863)-Both Southern
  victories as Lee and his troops held off Union
  troops trying to capture Richmond.

Robert E. Lee meets with Stonewall Jackson before
the Battle of Chancellorsville. This was their
last meeting. Jackson was killed the night after
the battle.
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II. Major Battles

• C. Vicksburg-July 1863-Ulysses S. Grant
  bombarded this city on the Mississippi River for
  6 weeks. His victory secured control of the
  river.

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II. Major Battles

• D. Gettysburg-July 1-3, 1863-Turning Point of
  the War
• Lee took 75,000 men into the North to capture
  Harrisburg and threaten Washington D.C.
• The two armies met by accident in eastern
  Pennsylvania.
• Results 23,000 Union troops dead or wounded.
  
• 25,000 Confederates.
• Great defeat for Lee. Demoralized the South.

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The Battle of Gettysburg

• In the days leading up to the battle, General Lee
  had not heard from his cavalry commander J.E.B.
  Stuart for almost 2 weeks. He decided to stop
  moving near the town of Gettysburg. The goal had
  been to take the town of Harrisburg, PA to
  threaten Philadelphia, Washington, Boston.

JEB Stuart
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The Battle of Gettysburg-July 1, 1863

• Confederate troops under the command of General
  Henry Heth moved into the small town of
  Gettysburg to acquire shoes from the towns shoe
  factory. They did not know that John Bufords
  Union cavalry had already occupied the town.

Cavalry General John Buford at Gettysburg
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The Battle of Gettysburg-July 1, 1863

• As the two groups began to fight, reinforcements
  poured in from both sides. The Union soldiers
  were driven from the town but settled in on the
  high ground outside of town. There was a
  collection of ridges and hills that provided an
  excellent defensive position Cemetery Hill,
  Culps Hill, Little and Big Round Top, etc.

View from the Union position at the end of Day 1
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The Battle of Gettysburg-July 1, 1863

• Confederate Genaeral James Longstreet the Old
  War Horse pleaded with General Lee to leave
  Gettysburg and go South toward Washington to draw
  Federal troops to more desirable land. Lee
  planned an attack instead. The attack commenced
  the next morning. During the night, Union troops
  fortified their positions

James Longstreet conferring with Robert E. Lee
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The Battle of Gettysburg-July 2, 1863

• Lees plan called for coordinated attacks on both
  sides of the Union lines. The plan was sound,
  but his men were moving uphill at fortified
  positions.

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The Battle of Gettysburg-July 2, 1863

• Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain becomes a hero,
  winning the Congressional Medal of Honor for his
  actions on Little Round Top defending the Union
  flank with a downhill bayonet charge.

Chamberlains Charge
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The Battle of Gettysburg-July 3, 1863

• After the failure of the attacks on the second
  day of battle, Longstreet again begged Lee to
  move South towards Washington, but Lee planned an
  all out frontal assault on the Union lines.
• The attack would begin with a concentrated
  artillery attack on the center of the federal
  lines in the morning and then a full frontal
  assault by General George Pickett and his men.

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The Battle of Gettysburg-July 3, 1863

• George Pickett of Virginia was chosen to lead the
  attack. Forever known as Picketts Charge the
  men were slaughtered. His division of 15,000
  men was basically completely destroyed.

Lewis Armistead and George Pickett
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The Battle of Gettysburg-July 3, 1863

• The charge was almost a success, but when the
  Confederates reached the wall atop Cemetery
  Ridge, they were overwhelmed.

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The Battle of Gettysburg-Aftermath

• General Lee was demoralized. He claimed to his
  men, Its all my fault. He had lost faith in
  his army and would never again threaten the North.

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III. Political Issues

• A. Emancipation Proclamation-Sept. 22, 1862
• Freed all slaves in areas still in rebellion.
  Actually freed no slaves.
• Results -Gave union a morale crusade
• -Convinced Britain and France to withhold
  support from the Confederacy.
• -Encouraged blacks to enlist in Northern
  armies.
• 54th Massachusetts-most famous black regiment.

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III. Political Issues

• B. Republicans Divide
• Radicals insisted on abolition instantly.
  Lincoln ignored many laws passed while they
  controlled Congress.
• C. Draft Begins
• Difficult life caused many soldiers to desert.
  Union lost 1/11 men while the Confederacy lost
  1/8 men. In the North, anyone could pay 300 and
  avoid the draft.
• New York City was the site of the largest draft
  riot in American history.
• D. Election of 1864-Even though there was much
  opposition to him and the war, Lincoln won
  because of several major victories.

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VI. Economic and Social Issues

• A. South-Food shortages and physical destruction
  took a large toll.
• B. North-passed the first income tax to help pay
  for the war. Also printed money, causing
  inflation.
• 1862-Homestead Act-gave 160 acres to any citizen
  who would agree to cultivate it.
• C. Women in the War-Women found
• work in factories and in government
• offices. Dorothea Dix and Clara Barton
• became known as leaders of Civil War nurses.

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VI. Economic and Social Issues

• D. Prisons-Soldiers who were captured faced
  horrible conditions. Many died from dysentery
  and malnutrition. 12,000 men died at
  Andersonville.
• E. Gettysburg Address-Lincoln delivered his
  powerful 2 minute speech at the dedication of the
  battlefield's cemetery.

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VII. Total War and Victory

• A. Ulysses S. Grant-takes command in 1864 and
  plans a "total war" on the South. The objective
  was to destroy the hopes of all Southerners.
  Lincoln has finally found his commander.

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VII. Total War and Victory

• B. Philip Sheridan-Grant ordered him to lay
  waste to the fertile Shenandoah Valley the South
  used for food.

• C. William T. Sherman-Saying "War is
• Hell, he led 60,000 troops through
• Georgia, capturing burning Atlanta. He then
  marched to the sea, destroying everything in a
  60 mile wide path.

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VII. Total War and Victory

• D. Surrender-April 9, 1865
• One week after Richmond was captured, Lee
  surrendered at Appomattox Courthouse.

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VII. Total War and Victory

• E. Results-Over 600,000 soldiers killed
• -Billions of dollars in physical damage
• -Union was saved and strengthened

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VII. Total War and Victory

• F. Assassination-Lincoln shot by John Wilkes
  Booth on April 14, 1865.

John Wilkes Booth
The assassination was part of a bigger plot to
kill Lincoln, Secretary of State William Seward,
and VP Andrew Johnson
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VII. Total War and Victory

• Results of the
• Assassination
• -Booth is killed and his
• co-conspirators are hanged.
• -Andrew Johnson becomes President.
• -The Radical Republicans gain strength in
  Congress, the South will not be treated well.
• -The nation is stunned.