Download Defining Battles of the Civil War

 Hindsight is 20-20. Keep that in mind.
 The Civil War reminded us that we have to make
decisions on the fly and the Civil War was as much of a
war of mistakes as it was about defining our country’s
image.
 Question: If you’re the Union, what is your goal? If
you’re the Confederates, what is your goal in all this?
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Fall of Fort Sumter
Assumption on both sides that it would be a short war.
Small Forces for both sides.
Major Battles
 First Battle of Bull Run – Confederacy wins, shows that war will be
long and drawn out
 Battle of Wilson’s Creek – First major battle west of the Mississippi
River
 Battles concentrated in Virginia, Missouri, Kentucky
 Leaders
 Gen. George B. McClellan – Union
 Confederacy – No formal leader, Jefferson Davis calls shots
 Capture of 2 Confederate Officials by US Navy on Nov. 8.
Another war with Britain?
 Virginia, July 21st
 Early Morning: Union forces chip away at the sides of
the Confederates
 Problems: Waterways, Bridges
 Noon: Jackson’s Stand – Maybe a mistake and
miscommunication BUT inspired the troops and
allowed him to assert control over the main attacking
portion of the Army.
 Major Battles
 Capture of Fort Henry & Fort Donelson – Union cuts off
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key rivers of the Confederacy
Monitor vs. Merrimac – Naval Battle, ironclad ships
Shiloh – More men die here than in all wars combined
up to this point
New Orleans captured by Union
Seven Days Battle – Lee defeats McClellan
Antietam – Bloodiest single day of war, 23,000 die
Fredericksburg – Union loses 2x amount of men, shows
inept Union leaders
 Leaders
 Robert E. Lee – Confederacy – given full command
 Union
 McClellan is fired after Antietam (Sept)
 Replaced by Gen. Ambrose Burnside, Burnside fired after
Fredericksburg
 Replaced by General Joseph Hooker
 Fighting takes place in Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky
 Fighting expands further south but Lee takes war north at
the end of the year
 Emancipation Proclamation
 Frees slaves in non-Union territories
 Makes war about slavery
 Union learns lesson, doesn’t get backed up by
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waterways
Fought more in open field
Lee has the advantage of numbers
Communication will be lost for Union
Concentration vs. Spread
 Non-Battle related issues
 Draft for Military – Get out for $300
 Anti-draft Riots – Murder of Blacks by Poor Whites, Army has
to subdue
 Lincoln meets with Frederick Douglass
 Major Battles
 Chancellorsville – Lee’s genius: splits army twice, Stonewall
Jackson shot by his own men, Lincoln loses faith in Hooker
 Siege of Vicksburg – Cuts off Confederacy’s actions west of
Mississippi, Grant becomes hero, Confederacy loses 7x
amount of men as the Union, splits Confederacy army in two
 Gettysburg – turning point of war, bloodiest battle, ends
Confederacy’s hopes of northern invasion
 Siege of Chattanooga – Union escapes siege, Confederacy fails
to crush Union’s army
 War will primarily be fought in Louisiana, Mississippi,
Tennessee, Virginia
 Gettysburg
 South will fight for survival after failure
 With army split in two (Vicksburg), Union strategy
becomes entrapment
 Meade wins but fails to follow up victory
 Gettysburg Address
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5 different copies/versions exist
Makes war appeal to deepest emotions
Reiterates the values of the Declaration of Independence
Renews optimism in Union for victory
 Lincoln appoints Grant to head Union Army
 5th Commander, Who else was there?
 Last ditch effort for Union
 New tactics
 Overwhelm with men and munitions
 Total War – Not in killing but in destruction
 Sherman – Takes Atlanta, March to Sea
 Fighting takes place in Western Confederacy
 Lee and Grant meet, Lee initially wins opening battles
but is losing men and resources
 Lincoln defeats McClellan for Presidency
 Thirteenth Amendment passed
 Lincoln inauguration
 “With malice towards none…”
 Last offensive of the Confederates
 Only two major forces remaining
 Grant breaks through Lee’s lines
 Final Stroke
 Richmond evacuated
 Richmond burned and later captured by Union
 Surrender at Appomattox Court House
 Leniency towards Confederates
 April 9th, 1865
 April 14th – Lincoln shot, dies a day later
 John Wilkes Booth found, shot dead
 Final surrender of remaining Confederate Forces
 End of War, now what?
 How would you have done things differently?
 How did this shape our image?
 How many mistakes does it take before you get fired?