Download Lifelong Learning Academy American Civil War Daniel Stephens

 Lifelong Learning Academy American Civil War Daniel Stephens Topics —  Little Mac —  Elisha Hunt Rhodes —  Samuel Watkins —  Jackson in the Valley —  Pea Ridge —  Rail Roads —  Balloons and communications —  Native Americans in the War —  Shiloh —  Death of Albert Sydney Johnson —  Nathan Bedford Forrest —  Spies —  Bragg takes over —  Patrick Cleburne —  Perryville —  Prisoners of War —  Music and the Civil War Li)le Mac’s Grand Army —  In the East, General McClellan has taken — 
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over the Army of the Potomac and command of all Union Armies. McClellan would immediately begin alienating the President and General Scott. He would train the Army of the Potomac to a force of almost 100,000, but refused to do anything except parade them around. Pressured into action McClellan would send a unit to Leesburg and scout the enemy. At Balls Bluff the unit will get ambushed and 900 men were killed, one of them being Col. Edward Baker, a personal friend to Lincoln. The bodies from Ball’s Bluff would float down the Potomac past D.C. McClellan would still take no action as Confederate forces would begin to move within range of the capital. Lincoln Moves Mac to Ac8on —  Lincoln appealed to McClellan several times even issuing an executive order “War Order No.1” to get McClellan to move, but was ignored time and again. —  Finally, in Spring 1862 McClellan would devise a plan to send the Union army on the offensive and win the war in one swoop. —  McClellan's Peninsula campaign would be ambitious, moving the entire Army of the Potomac to Fort Monroe and Hampton Roads and move the army 90 miles north and capture Richmond. —  Lincoln would approve the plan only if McClellan would leave several Corps behind to defend Washington, and a force must be sent to Manassas to force Johnston off the rail junction. Elisha Hunt Rhodes —  Born 1842 in Rhode Island. His father Cpt. — 
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Rhodes would drown at sea when Elisha was 14. Educated at Business School, Elisha would join the army with permission from his mother. Elisha would be enamored with the idea of war until actually facing it. Elisha would rise in the ranks from Private to Colonel by wars end. He would see action in mostly all of the eastern theaters engagements from Malvern Hill, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg and Petersburg. After the War, Rhodes would become a factor in Veterans affairs and commander of Rhode Island’s state guard. After his death his son Robert Rhodes would publish his letters and journal in “All for the Union” Railroads and the War Effort —  Before 1860, Railroads were gradually — 
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replacing canals and waterways as the preferred method of transporting goods. Politicians were jumping on the rails to gain votes, acquire lands in the push to expand the system. The industrial north had laid more track to transport their goods and materials to the factories and ports. In the South, rail was viewed as a reluctant necessity, primarily to ship goods to the coastal ports. On the outset of the war, rail was used to rapidly transport troops near the front lines. Due to its industrialization the North was equipped to lay tracks as their armies moved effectively increasing their reach and supply. The rails would become primary targets for both armies to raid supply depots, disrupt lines of supply and to destroy the enemies capacity to make war. Jackson in the Shenandoah Valley • 
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Throughout the first part of 1862 Thomas Jackson would make history and cement his legend in military history. The Shenandoah valley was a valuable resource to the Confederacy. Known as the breadbasket, the valley supplied most of the food to the Southern War effort. Robert E. Lee who was head of the Sothern War Department tasked Jackson with defending this region. With a small force of 6,000 men would cut his supply lines and make a miraculous defense of the valley. Jackson’s primary task was to keep a Union force of 30,000 under the command of General Nathaniel Banks from joining McClellan’s offensive to take Richmond. Drawing out and attack smaller forces in quick lightning attacks Jackson was able to defeat Fremont, Shield, Banks, and McDowell. With Re-­‐enforcements supplied by Ewell, Jackson was able to tie up Federal troops for months and save Richmond. Jackson’s Legend • 
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Thomas J. Jackson was educated at West Point and served in Mexico. After the war he commanded the Louisiana Militia for awhile then resigned to teach military tactics and artillery at VMI. At the start of the war Jackson is given the rank of Colonel and trains units. Jackson would mercilessly drill many of the units stating that what he was teaching them now would later save them on the battlefield. Jackson was a hypochondriac often riding into battle with one arm raised in the air to help the circulation. Intensely religious and notoriously humorless Jackson would not be well liked by his men, until he began winning battle after battle becoming one of the South most celebrated Generals. th
March 7 Pea Ridge •  The fate of Missouri was still yet to be decided. By • 
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1862 Price’s Army had been driven out of Missouri by Union forces under the command of General Curtis. Price had regrouped and bolstered by units of Pro-­‐
South Indian units he re-­‐entered Missouri . On March 2nd General Van Don assumed command of the Rebel forces and went seeking Glory. Van Dorn would attempt to surprise Curtis’s Army by moving around his right and attempt to attack his rear. Curtis re-­‐positioned and attacked Van Dorn. Van Dorn’s right collapsed when its commander General McCullough was killed. Van Dorn was able to push in and attacks Curtis’s right with the aid of Price’s Division. Van Dorn’s mistake would be believing he had the Federal’s defeated. He keeps his position and waits until morning to continue the attack. The next morning, to Van Dorn’s surprise Curtis had re-­‐
enforced his positions and bombarded Van Dorn’s positions, inflicting great casualties. Van Dorn’s army would break into a route and scatter to the winds, with most of them quitting and going home. Losses : US 1,400 CS 1,500 Na8ve Americans and the Civil War •  Pea Ridge would see several Indian units engaged in combat. •  Using the U.S. treatment of Indians on the Trail of Tears, the Confederacy would approach the Five Civilized Tribes on reservations in Oklahoma and offer them land if they took up arms and fought for the South. •  Many Tribes would send men to fight for both sides. •  The Tribes would view the war as a way for men to continue along the warriors path, but politics would greatly divide most of the tribes during and after the war. Sam R. Watkins —  Born June 1839, in Columbia, — 
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Tennessee Sam Watkins would be educated at Jackson College. Watkins Would enlist in the “Bigsby Greys” of the First Tennessee at the start of the War. He would serve under Albert Sydney Johnston, Braxton Bragg, & Joe Johnston. Watkins would fight at Shiloh, Murfreesboro, Perryville, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, and Atlanta to name a few. Out of 120 Men who enlisted with him Watkins would be one of seven to survive the war. His memoirs “Co. Aytch” is one of the best personal stories of the Civil War. Johnston’s Predicament —  After the taking of Forts Henry and — 
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Donelson the Confederate Army was exposed to attack on two fronts. Johnston would re-­‐align his army and vacate Nashville, giving the Union Army unmolested control of Western Kentucky and the Cumberland, Tennessee, and Upper Mississippi Rivers. General Halleck would move Grant’s Army of the Ohio and Buell’s Army of the Cumberland into Tennessee to take Memphis, and unknowingly within 20 miles of Johnston’s Army of the Tennessee at Corinth. Grant’s Army was sandwiched in between several creeks and the Tennessee River at Pittsburg landing. Johnston would use this opportunity to trap and destroy Grant before Buell could reach him. Shiloh — 
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Grant’s five divisions were scattered around Pittsburg Landing and a quiet crossroad church named Shiloh. Grant’s army had been drilling, but placed no Piquet's, fortifications, or trenches. Sherman discounted all accounts of a massing Confederate army coming straight for them. Johnston’s battle plan was highly complicated using four corps stacked in columns to attack and spread out in a 2-­‐3 mile battle front. The problems mounted when green troops, and commanders began to get lost in the woods, fields, and ravines of the battlefield. By noon the fighting had broken out into large mobs fighting brutally against each other. Grant quickly called for reinforcements and requested Buell to hurry. Place of Peace —  Johnston would rally his troops and — 
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personally lead several units into attack the Union left which was its weakest point. During one attack Johnston would take a bullet behind his knee severing an artery. He would continue to fight until collapse. He would die on the field. Command would turn over to Beauregard. Beauregard would shift and attack the Union center concentrating on an isolated pocket of defenders at a place called the Hornets Nest. General Prentiss’s Division would weather a hail of rifle and artillery fire for six hours, giving Grant time to consolidate his forces and Buell time to arrive.. After the capture of the Hornets Nest, Beauregard would withdraw his forces missing his opportunity to defeat Grant. The Horror of War —  The next day, Grant reinforced by Buell launched — 
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an attack surprising Beauregard and causing the Confederate army to collapse. Nathan Bedford Forrest would lead a valiant rearguard saving the retreating army and lead him into immortality. When the dust settles 24,000 men are dead and dying, one quarter of the forces involved. Shiloh would eclipse the dead of Bull run, Names like the Hornet’s Nest, Bloody Pond and The Peach Orchard would forever burn themselves into American History. Grant was in disgrace and almost quits, except by the urging of Sherman. Lincoln refuses to replace him saying “No I can not spare the man…he fights.” The South lost its commander in charge of the entire Western theater. Davis will replace Johnson with Braxton Bragg, the biggest mistake the Confederacy makes in the war. Losses US 13,000 CS 11,000 Nathaniel Bedford Forrest — 
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Born to a poor family in Tennessee, Forrest’s blacksmith father died when he was 17. Forrest would head the family and educate himself and became a business man and planter owning several plantations. Forrest would make the bulk of his fortune selling slaves. He would then open a chain of general stores throughout the South and give up the Slave trading business. At The start of the Civil War Forrest would enlist as a private but seeing the appalling conditions of the units equipment, he will raise and equipped his own regiment. Forrest would be given the commission of Lt. General and become one of the best Cavalry commanders of the war. Forrest’s tactics would be used and studied and even converted into Army doctrine for tank warfare. Forrest would be known not to give quarter to the enemy and personally kill 35 men throughout the war. Several engagements throughout the war, like his feud with Bragg, Fort Pillow and starting the KKK after the war would mare his reputation and legacy. Spies In the Civil War — 
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Due to the expansive nature of the war and loyalties that lay on both sides of the border, spies would be commonplace. Spying would date back to the revolution and had been a part of American warfare from the beginning. Spies would be tasked from all levels of society and every ethnic background. High society men and women would pass along messages from the highest circles from both governments. Slaves would move messages across lines, either as they escaped or to guarantee freedom of their people. Loreta Velasquez a Latina woman from New Orleans would serve as an Lt. in the Confederate army. When she was taken prisoner after Shiloh she would serve the CSA as a spy. In 1864 She would switch sides and begin working as a Union double agent. In the Union Lincolns primary intelligence agency would be the Pinkertons, a detective agency headed by Alan Pinkerton. They would ferret out CSA spies and plots the most famous of these would be Rose O’Neal Greenhow. Braxton Bragg and the Army of Tennessee —  Braxton Bragg, a personal friend of — 
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Jefferson Davis was put in charge of the Army of Tennessee. Bragg is irritable, with a high opinion of himself, and he has a way of ignoring his subordinate commanders. Bragg trained at West Point and a veteran of Mexico, was never able to understand the Art of War and reading your enemy. He will follow battle plans even when he knows they are doomed to fail. His Generals and soldiers detest him and Nathaniel Bedford Forest at one point will threaten Bragg’s life. In August of 1862, Bragg will have a grand vision to invade Kentucky and take it back for the Confederacy. General Patrick Cleburne —  One of Braggs division commanders — 
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Cleburne will be one of the great unsung generals of the war. Cleburne, born in Ireland, served as a corporal in the British Army. He immigrated to the United States, and at the start of the war joined a militia unit as a private and was elected Captain. Later Cleburne would attain the rank of Brigadier General serving with distinction in many of the engagements of the Western Theater. Cleburne would fight for the Confederacy, not for the continuance of slavery, but for his adopted country who he felt was unjustly ruled by a remote tyrannical government. Don Carlo Buell —  Still leading the Union army in the West was Don Carlos Buell. —  Born 1818 in Ohio, Buell would serve in Florida during the Seminole Wars and with distinction in Mexico being wounded at Churubusco. —  He would advance to the rank of Major General at the start of the war and command divisions of the Army of the Ohio with Grant. —  Buell saved Grant at Shiloh, and replace him after. —  He will now be the major obstacle in Braggs conquest of Kentucky. Bragg Invades Kentucky —  Coordinating with Kirby Smiths — 
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army, Bragg would advance into Kentucky with a force of 70,000. He would overwhelm the Union garrisons and begin cutting off Buell’s interior lines of supply. Bragg would move to Frankfort and install a new pro-­‐south Governor. The new Governor’s speech would be interrupted by cannon fire, Buell’s army had arrived. With mounting pressure from Lincoln, Buell had to attack Bragg’s army or be replaced. Perryville —  Buell would faint towards Frankfort to — 
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draw out Bragg for an attack. The problem is that neither commander knew were the other one was and in what concentration. A division of Braggs army under the command of Bishop Polk would stumble upon part of Buell's army at Perryville. Polk would dig in and wait for reinforcements. Buell would order up his divisions and plan to attack the next morning. Bragg would show up with the rest of the army and press the attack. The fighting would become fierce with the worst hand to hand fighting seen in the war. The Confederate center would break with advance by Union troops under the command of Philip Sheridan. Acous8c Shadow —  Due to a rare occurrence of the — 
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topography of the battlefield neither commander was aware the battle was taking place. Acoustic shadow is were the sound travels up rather than along the ground. Just a few miles away Bragg, or Buell did not hear any of the sounds of battle. Bragg only knew of the attack because he ceased to get reports from Polk and moved forward. Buell unaware of the battle until after nightfall, ordered up the rest of his army to attack at first light. By that time Bragg had withdrawn ending the battle of Perryville, and his invasion of Kentucky. Casualties for Perryville equaled US 4,200 and CS 3,400. Music and the Civil War —  Music would become an integral part of — 
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the Civil War. Used by soldiers to identify themselves to the birthplace, side, and ideology music would accompany the armies and help create their identity. During the war over 1,500 pieces of music was created and sold to both sides. Some of the hits. Battle cry of Freedom, Battle Hymn of the Republic, Dixie, and Bonnie Blue Flag would take on a life of their own and the soldiers would change them to fit their units and their cause. The Civil War would be the first American conflict defined by music and traveling minstrels and performers would be hired to improve the moral of the troops, giving birth in a sense to the USO show.