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Vicksburg Campaign
During the Civil War, Vicksburg, Mississippi had earned the
label "The Gibraltar of the Confederacy" because of its
impregnable situation on the Mississippi River. Union major
general Ulysses S. Grant's successful Vicksburg Campaign came
at a high cost, but it succeeded in cutting off the Confederacy's
only remaining route to its western regions with their
indispensable supplies.
After Grant made several unsuccessful forays to capture the strategic fortress city during the
winter of 1862-1863, he proposed a bold stroke to circumvent Vicksburg's natural obstacles and
Confederate fortifications. In the spring of 1863, Grant ordered his army to march south of
Vicksburg on the west side of the Mississippi and sent Rear Adm. David D. Porter's supporting
flotilla past the citadel's batteries to rendezvous with his forces south of Vicksburg. From April
30 through May 1, Grant hurled 24,000 men from Maj. Gen. John McClernand's XIII Corps and
Maj. Gen. James B. McPherson's XVII Corps across the Mississippi at undefended Bruinsburg in
America's largest amphibious operation up to that time.
Lt. Gen. John C. Pemberton, Confederate commander of Mississippi and Eastern Louisiana,
found himself in a very difficult situation. Lt. Gen. Joseph E. Johnston had reassigned most of
Pemberton's cavalry to the Army of Tennessee, which rendered Pemberton's intelligence slow
and ineffectual.
By May 3, Grant secured his beachhead and continued his overland campaign to capture
Vicksburg. On May 12, near Raymond, 14 miles southwest of Jackson, Grant encountered the
first major Confederate resistance, but McPherson's advance guard forced the Confederate troops
to retreat after a brutal six-hour long battle. Grant then directed McPherson northeast to Clinton
to destroy the railroad and then to move on to Jackson, while Gen. William T. Sherman's XV
Corps moved straight through Raymond toward the Mississippi capital. By May 14, Sherman's
troops had fought their way through the thin Confederate rear guard and occupied Jackson.
Meanwhile, Johnston had arrived in Jackson on May 13 to take command of all Confederate
forces in Mississippi. However, Pemberton ignored his orders to consolidate their forces and
marched southeast in an effort to cut Grant's lines to the Mississippi. On May 16, 18 miles west
of the capital, the two forces collided at Champion's Hill. The Confederate forces were unable to
arrest the Union advance, and portions of Pemberton's line broke, which forced him to withdraw
to prepared positions along the Big Black River.
The next day, Sherman's forces outflanked Pemberton, who ordered a total withdrawal and
rushed back to Vicksburg, with the Union Army in hot pursuit. Johnston again ordered
Pemberton to evacuate Vicksburg and march northeast to join him in a coordinated attack on
Grant. In response to Johnston's message, Pemberton held a council of war, and his officers
unanimously elected to remain within the confines of the city's substantial defenses.
Grant, apprehensive about an extended siege, made two costly frontal assaults on Vicksburg—
one on May 19 and one on May 22—but his forces suffered heavy casualties and were beaten
back both times. Forced into siege warfare, Grant ordered his engineers to dig a series of
trenches along the seven miles of Confederate earthworks. By the end of May, 50,000 Union
soldiers occupied the trenches, and two weeks later, 21,000 more joined the Union Army
surrounding Vicksburg. Grant then concentrated on cutting off Confederate supply lines to the
besieged city.
Although Pemberton had begun stockpiling provisions in March, conditions inside Vicksburg
rapidly deteriorated. On July 3, Pemberton concluded that his beleaguered men could no longer
stand the rigors of sustained combat and starvation. On Independence Day 1863, Pemberton
surrendered 2,166 officers, 27,230 enlisted men, 172 cannon, and 60,000 long arms. The entire
Union force, both soldiers and sailors, celebrated the Fourth of July with the ceremony of
surrender.
The capture of Vicksburg solidified Grant's reputation as a fighting general, prepared to win the
war despite the casualties. Along with his later victories near Chattanooga, Vicksburg guaranteed
his spectacular rise to lieutenant general and commander of all Union armies.
Battle of Antietam
The Battle of Antietam took place during the Civil War on
September 17, 1862 and was fought at Antietam Creek near the
village of Sharpsburg, Maryland.
In early September, Gen. Robert E. Lee, commander of the
Confederate Army, had led his troops into Maryland. His idea was to
invade the North to forage for supplies and to rally Southern sympathizers in Maryland to the
Confederate cause. Lee's plans were betrayed to the Federals when a Union soldier discovered a
piece of paper wrapped around three cigars lying on a road in Maryland. Dropped by a careless
Confederate officer, the paper contained a detailed accounting of Lee's forces and their locations.
After reviewing the paper, Union general George B. McClellan planned an attack against Lee,
but his habitual slowness to engage in battle allowed Lee to marshal his forces and prepare for
the coming fight.
Union troops (comprising approximately 60,000 men) attacked the Confederates (numbering
roughly 30,000 men) at Antietam, and although the Confederates held their lines, they were
ultimately forced to retreat across the Potomac into Virginia on September 19. With some
brigades on each side suffering losses of more than 50%, Antietam was the bloodiest battle of the
entire Civil War. The Confederates' defeat was a serious blow to their morale and diminished the
Confederacy's chances of securing international recognition. The Federals, despite winning the
battle, were criticized for not inflicting a more resounding defeat on the Confederates with their
vastly superior numbers.
Map of Battle of Antietam
Battle of Gettysburg
Considered by many historians to be the turning point of the Civil
War, the Gettysburg campaign began on June 3, 1863 when elements
of Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia began leaving their
positions near Fredericksburg and heading for the Shenandoah Valley.
Lee planned a raid into Pennsylvania to relieve the strained Virginia
countryside, disrupt Union economic security east of the Susquehanna
River, and bring foreign recognition to the Confederacy.
When Lee learned from scouts the whereabouts of Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker's Army of the
Potomac, he canceled his plans and ordered a concentration of the army in the mountains
between Chambersburg and Gettysburg, the latter a Pennsylvania town of some 2,500 people in
Adams County. Union cavalry under Brig. Gen. John Buford entered Gettysburg on June 30 and
sighted Confederate infantry to the west.
A concentrated attack late in the afternoon of July 1 by Lee's men swamped the Union soldiers
positioned on McPherson's Ridge, who reassembled on Cemetery Hill. Union general Winfield
S. Hancock arrived shortly thereafter and sent a favorable report on the terrain to Maj. Gen.
George G. Meade, who ordered the entire army to concentrate at Gettysburg. By midmorning,
Meade's units had formed the now-famous fishhook line of battle. Anchored on the right by the
rugged terrain of Culp's Hill, the line extended westward to Cemetery Hill, then south along
Cemetery Ridge to the Round Tops. Cavalry screened both flanks of the compact line.
Meanwhile, Lee's divisions had failed to follow up their earlier success. That afternoon, as Union
survivors assembled on the high ground south of town, Lee advised Lt. Gen. Richard S. Ewell
that his men should seize Cemetery Hill "if practicable." Ewell and other officers decided that an
attack was not possible and thus failed to drive the enemy from Cemetery Hill.
After attacks on both Union flanks failed, Lee decided to attack the Union center on July 3. That
morning, a terrific battle erupted on the Union right as troops dueled for possession of the works
on Culp's Hill. By late morning, the weight of Union infantry and artillery drove back the Rebels
and solidified the Federal position. Union artillery blasted the attackers, and by the time the
spearhead reached the Union line, the assault had been largely broken up and disorganized. The
failed charge ended the major action at Gettysburg, though a few cavalry skirmishes continued
on the Union flanks.
Both armies remained in position on July 4, which was a day of rain. Lee's army of 75,000
effectives had suffered 28,000 casualties, and thus the general decided to retreat to Virginia. The
retreat began as a wagon train estimated at 19 miles long carried thousands of wounded men
south toward the Potomac.
Meade's army suffered 22,807 casualties, including 3,149 killed, 14,501 wounded, and 5,157
captured or missing. The loss of several high-ranking officers severely disabled the Army of the
Potomac. As a result, Meade directed a cautious pursuit, which was highlighted by a series of
cavalry actions as Yankee cavalry attempted to interdict Lee's wagon trains.
Lee's retreating army entrenched briefly at Williamsport, Maryland before slipping across the
Potomac River, and a brief Union pursuit merely netted some Confederate stragglers and the rear
guard. The campaign ended officially on August 1, when both armies came to a halt in the
Loudoun Valley. Though Meade had kept Lee out of the North, he was later criticized for not
further pursuing and demolishing the Confederate Army.
First Battle of Bull Run
During the Civil War, Union forces were defeated twice by the
Confederates on the banks of a stream called Bull Run in
Manassas Junction, Virginia. Two railroads there, the Manassas
Gap and the Orange & Alexandria, connected 30 miles southwest
of Washington, D.C. The Orange & Alexandria was a natural
line of advance for a Union army marching southward from
Washington, while the Manassas Gap linked Joseph E. Johnston
and Pierre T. Beauregard's Confederate armies.
In July 1861, Union general Irvin McDowell launched the first major offensive of the war, in
Virginia. When he reached Manassas, he found the Confederates had moved behind Bull Run.
McDowell drew up a plan that called for a division under Daniel Tyler to create a diversion
while two other divisions moved to a weakly defended position on the Confederate line to crush
Beauregard's left and rear.
The plan began unraveling when Johnston arrived to reinforce Beauregard. In addition, a late
start and poorly coordinated attacks meant Union forces crossed Bull Run two hours behind
schedule. By then, Nathan G. Evans suspected that Tyler's force was a decoy. Leaving men to
watch Tyler, Evans moved 900 men north to Matthews Hill. By midmorning, reinforcements had
increased the force to 2,800 men. The Confederates tried to slow down the Federal army so
Beauregard and Johnston could shift forces north to save the Confederate flank, but McDowell's
men crushed the Confederate line on Matthews Hill and sent the Rebels fleeing southward.
Henry Hill, south of Matthews Hill and north of Manassas Junction, was the key to the battle.
Had McDowell captured it, he would have won the battle. However, instead of immediately
pushing his men southward to drive the beaten and disorganized remnants of the Confederates
off Henry Hill, McDowell had just two batteries fire at them. Beauregard and Johnston took
advantage of this, moving reinforcements to Henry Hill, including Thomas J. Jackson's brigade.
By the time McDowell decided to go after Henry Hill, Jackson had 13 guns in position. It was
during this engagement that Jackson earned his nickname "Stonewall Jackson."
The Federal effort was fatally compromised by McDowell's failure to fully commit his superior
numbers; although McDowell had 15 regiments at his disposal, no more than two fought at a
time. In the late afternoon, two Confederate regiments pushed the last Union forces off Henry
Hill. When two more brigades of Confederates arrived from the Shenandoah Valley, the Federal
retreat began, and what had been a closely fought battle turned into a decisive Southern victory.
Altogether, nearly 900 men had been killed and over 2,700 wounded, numbers that would pale in
comparison to later battles, but nonetheless shocked a nation that had naively expected a
relatively bloodless war.
Southerners had anticipated that one victory like Bull Run would persuade the North to abandon
the effort to restore the Union. President Abraham Lincoln, however, made it clear that he would
continue the fight, and 13 months later, the Confederates and Federals would meet again at the
Second Battle of Bull Run.
Sherman’s March to the Sea
Near the end of the Civil War, William Tecumseh Sherman led 62,000
Union soldiers on his March to the Sea, a 60-mile-wide path of destruction
that stretched 285 miles across Georgia from Atlanta to Savannah.
Sherman's troops departed for Savannah on November 16, 1864. As one of
the most important seaports in the South, Savannah was key to Confederate
transportation between Gen. Robert E. Lee's troops in Virginia and the Deep
South.
Sherman's forces quickly broke away from the Union supply lines and foraged in the Southern
countryside, utilizing Confederate resources to supply themselves. What the troops did not
consume, they destroyed. The total Confederate losses included more than 13,000 head of cattle,
some 6 million rations of bread and beef, and about 90,000 bales of cotton. Many sawmills,
cotton gins, foundries, and warehouses also fell into Union hands. Sherman himself estimated his
raid had inflicted $100 million worth of damage.
Sherman's strategy of destruction was designed, as his own saying went, to "make Georgia
howl." Sherman's forces burned and looted much of the northern Georgia countryside. Although
he did not condone wanton acts of violence and devastation, he certainly tolerated them.
Drawing from experiences fighting the Seminole in the early 1840s, Sherman believed that
destruction or confiscation of Southern property was necessary to cripple Confederate logistics
and morale.
The only opposition during the five-week campaign came on November 22 at Griswoldville,
where several hundred members of the Georgia militia attacked Sherman's troops. After 523
Georgians had been killed or wounded in action, the remaining militia retreated. In retaliation,
Sherman's seasoned veterans wrecked more than 200 miles of Confederate railroad track,
depriving the Confederate soldiers in Virginia of much-needed rations.
By November 24, Sherman's sacked the state capital at Milledgeville. Union troops then
occupied Sandersville on November 26, Louisville on November 29, and Millen on December 3.
A week later, Sherman's forces took up positions outside Savannah and readied their attack
against the heavily fortified city with its 10,000-man garrison. Rather than fight a losing battle,
Confederate commander William J. Hardee evacuated his troops to South Carolina. On
December 21, Sherman occupied Savannah, effectively isolating the upper South from the lower
South. He offered the city to President Abraham Lincoln as a Christmas present.
Because Sherman demolished Confederate logistics and crushed Southern morale, it has often
been argued that Sherman's raid was an example of modern and total war. A war may be
considered modern if a nation utilizes its industrial capabilities and arouses nationalism among
its citizens to achieve victory. Likewise, a war may be considered total if a nation attempts to
harness all its natural and human resources as effective means to achieve victory.
After Sherman’s March to the Sea was over, Southerners were left with little hope of victory in
the war.
William T. Sherman
The Trent Affair
The most serious diplomatic crisis associated with the Civil War, the Trent affair symbolized the
growing tension in Anglo-American relations produced by the Union blockade of the South.
James Mason and John Slidell had received orders from Confederate president Jefferson Davis to
proceed to Europe and obtain official recognition of the South's independence. On October 12,
1861, Mason and Slidell proceeded to Cuba; on November 7, they left Havana on the British
mail steamer Trent for St. Thomas, where they hoped to catch a British steamer for
Southampton. Evidence suggests that the federal government hoped to intercept the Confederate
envoys. Unable to contact its naval units in the West Indies, however, it would have to rely on
the individual initiative of its officers in the region.
Capt. Charles Wilkes was engaged in an unauthorized hunt for the Confederate raider Sumter in
Cuban waters and found out about the Confederate commissioners' plans to leave Havana aboard
the Trent. He entertained the idea of capturing Mason and Slidell and decided to arrest the
commissioners as the "embodiment of dispatches." Doing so on questionable legal ground,
Wilkes went ahead with his plan and awaited the Trent in the Old Bahama Channel.
On November 8, the San Jacinto stopped the Trent. Wilkes sent Lt. Donald Fairfax to the vessel
with instructions to demand the ship's papers, arrest the Confederate envoys, and seize the Trent
as a prize of war. On the Trent, Mason asked Cmdr. Richard Williams, the British mail agent, to
conceal Confederate dispatches and forward them to London. Once aboard, Fairfax encountered
Capt. James Moir, who refused to permit a search or produce the ship's papers and announced it
would require force to remove Mason and Slidell from the Trent. Nonetheless, Fairfax's men
seized the Confederate envoys, but he disobeyed orders and allowed the Trent to sail. Satisfied
that Fairfax had acted judiciously, Wilkes proceeded to Fortress Monroe, where he put in for
coal on November 15 and informed his superiors of what had transpired. Continuing northward,
Wilkes delivered his charges to Fort Warren in Boston harbor on November 24.
None of the players on either side displayed a good grasp of international law. Both President
Abraham Lincoln and Secretary of State William H. Seward adopted a wait-and-see policy in the
hope that they could hold onto the prisoners without risking war. Although Wilkes had acted on
his own initiative, the federal government could not disavow the popular captain's actions unless
it felt substantial pressure from Great Britain.
News of the seizure reached Britain on November 27 and provoked much hostility toward the
United States. In mid-November, the Cabinet asked Britain's leading jurists what rights the
Americans could exercise against a British vessel carrying the Confederate commissioners. The
first two authorities clashed with the latter three, but Lord Palmerston, the prime minister,
properly sided with the Crown's law officers, whose opinion proved correct.
Earl Russell, the foreign secretary, prepared a dispatch demanding that the United States release
the Confederate envoys and apologize for its breach of international law. Seward was given
seven days to respond, and the British Cabinet prepared for war. It banned the export of saltpeter,
weapons, and ammunition to the United States. More than 11,000 British regulars left for
Canada, which brought the garrison to 18,000 men. In the meantime, British naval units
throughout the world would hunt down American commerce.
After various delays at Seward's request, Lord Lyons, the British minister in Washington, D.C.,
finally made an official presentation of British demands on December 23 and gave the
Americans until noon on December 30 to comply. Having received news of the British public's
reaction to the Trent affair only a few days earlier, the federal government began to appreciate
the seriousness of its predicament. Seward favored releasing the captives, but Lincoln proved
reluctant. However, the federal Cabinet realized the North could not fight both the Confederacy
and Britain at once.
On December 27, Seward presented Lyons with his official response and plan to release the
envoys. Although there was no direct apology, Lyons deemed the American note satisfactory.
Lyons' report reached Earl Russell on January 8, and the British accepted Seward's note. On
January 10, Russell wrote to Lyons that he considered the case closed. On January 1, 1862,
Mason and Slidell were released and arrived in Southampton on January 29. The two
Confederate envoys immediately sought to obtain European recognition of Southern
independence.
Although the crisis passed without bloodshed, it embittered British opinion against the United
States and vindicated Britons who sought to pursue a hard line against the federal government.
Never again, however, would the British come so close to intervening in the Civil War. By
preventing British involvement, the North avoided what would have been a grievous blow to the
Union war effort and thus greatly diminished the Confederacy's chances of survival.
Surrender at Appomattox Court House
The small Virginia town of Appomattox Court House, 90 miles
east of Richmond, was the site of the surrender of the Army of
Northern Virginia to Federal forces on April 9, 1865. The
Confederate surrender was the end of the Civil War in Virginia
and marked the beginning of the end of the war across the
South. The Federal forces that gathered for the spring
campaign in 1865 numbered just over 76,000 and were under
the command of Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant. The Confederate
forces of approximately 57,800 were led by Gen. Robert E. Lee.
The Appomattox campaign began on March 29, 1865. On April 1, a Confederate defeat at Five
Forks left Petersburg and Richmond vulnerable to Federal forces. Lee advised President
Jefferson Davis that the Confederate government should abandon the capital. Petersburg was
also evacuated, and Federal forces quickly occupied both cities. Trying to stay ahead of the
advancing Federal army, Lee's forces began a westward retreat.
Lee's army was rapidly losing its effectiveness. Lack of proper nourishment and hard marching
were taking their toll, and men began to drop from exhaustion. With morale plummeting,
soldiers began to desert in large numbers. On April 9, with his dwindling forces surrounded, Lee
requested a meeting with Grant to discuss terms of surrender. White truce flags went out from
both sides, and by early afternoon, much of the fighting had stopped in Virginia. It is estimated
that at that time, the Confederates had approximately 10,000 effective soldiers in the field; Union
forces numbered more than 60,000.
Wilmer McLean, a resident of Appomattox Court House, offered his home to Lee as a meeting
place. When Grant arrived at the McLean house, he gave Lee the terms of surrender: men and
officers who surrendered were to be paroled and could not take up arms again until properly
exchanged. Their arms and supplies were to be turned over as captured property. Officers would
not have to surrender side arms or horses. Soldiers could go home and would not be disturbed by
U.S. authorities as long as they maintained their parole. There was no discussion of Lee's
surrendering his sword, despite popular myth to the contrary.
Copies of the surrender terms and agreement were made, signed, and distributed. Lee's aide, Col.
Charles Marshall, commented afterward, "There was no theatrical display about it. It was in itself
perhaps the greatest tragedy that ever occurred in the history of the world, but it was the
simplest, plainest, and most thoroughly devoid of any attempt at effect, that you can imagine."
As word of the surrender spread through Federal lines, great rejoicing commenced and
culminated in the firing of artillery salutes. Grant, sensitive to the proximity of his vanquished
foe, quickly ordered the excessive exultation stopped. The formal surrender ceremony took place
on April 12 and was marked by a profound respect on both sides.
Name: ________________________
Date: _________________________
Notes on the Civil War Battles:
Event and Date
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