Download 17 - Coppell ISD

US History
Fort Burrows
17.2 -- No Easy Victory
Main Idea:
Despite hopes for a quick victory, both northerners and southerners soon
learned that they were in for a long, difficult struggle.
Vocabulary:
Battle of Bull Run – first major battle of the Civil War, fought in Virginia in 1861
Virginia – ironclad warship used by the Confederates to break the Union blockade
Monitor – ironclad Union warships
Battle of Antietam – 1862, battle in Maryland; day-long battle, more than 23,000
soldiers killed or wounded
Battle of Fredericksburg – an 1862 Civil War battle in Virginia; one of the Union’s
worst defeats
Battle of Chancellorsville – an 1863 Civil War battle in Virginia; important victory for
the Confederacy
Battle of Shiloh – 1862, battle in Tennessee, Union victory, also the bloodiest battle of
the Civil War
Gen – Army General
blockade – to have a port obstructed by hostile ships preventing entrance or exit
defensive resisting attack
offensive – the attacking force
rally – to come together for an effort or purpose
retreat – to stop fighting and withdraw to safety
At first the armies of the North and the South marched proudly off to war. Each
side expected a quick and painless victory. The reality of war soon shattered this
expectation. Over and over, soldiers wrote home describing the awful face of battle:
“I never saw so many broken down and exhausted men in all my life. I was sick
as a horse, and as wet with blood and sweat as I could be…. Our tongues were
parched and cracked for water, and our faces blackened with powder and
smoke.”
quoted by Shelby Foote in The Civil War: A Narrative
It soon became clear that there would be no quick end to the struggle. Both sides
began to dig in for a long, difficult war.
Strategies for Victory
 The Union planned an aggressive campaign; attack and move in -- OFFENSIVE
 The South planned to hold tight until the North lost the will to fight: protect what
you already have -- DEFENSIVE
1 of 17.2 Printer Copy
BE MORE ‘BIG’ DOG.
It’s an Attitude to Adjust to!!! Leon
US History
Fort Burrows
 Union Plans
 Blockade Southern ports; cut off the South’s supply of manufactured goods
from Europe
 In the East, seize Richmond, Virginia the Confederate capital; quickly
capture the Confederate government
 In the West, seize control of the Mississippi River; prevent the South from
using the river to supply its troops
 This maneuver would also separate Arkansas, Texas, and Louisiana from
the rest of the Confederacy
 Confederate Plans
 Fight a strictly defensive war until the Northerners tired of fighting
 When the war became unpopular in the North, Lincoln would stop the
fighting and recognize the South’s independence
 The Confederacy counted on aid from Europe
 Cotton was grown in the South; European textile mills needed their cotton
 Europe, in need of this Southern cotton, would recognize the Confederacy as
an independent nation
 Thus, continue to buy the South’s primary resource -- COTTON
Early Encounters
 Forward to Richmond! Forward to Richmond!
 Every day for more than a month, the New York Tribune published this on the
front-page of their newspaper
 Giving into popular public pressure, Lincoln ordered an ATTACK!!!
 Battle of Bull Run
 July 21, 1861, Union troops left Washington, D.C.
 They headed toward Richmond, Virginia, 100 miles away
 Washingtonians, civilians from Washington, D.C., rode along with the
troops to watch the battle
 The two armies met up near a small stream in Virginia know as Bull Run
 The Union began breaking through the Confederate battle lines
 The Yankees yelled, “The war is OVER!”
 Confederate General Thomas Jackson began gathering the Virginian troops
 A Confederate soldier said, “Look! There is Jackson standing like a stone
wall! Rally behind the Virginians!”
 This was how Gen Jackson got his nickname, ‘Stonewall’ Jackson
 The Union troops panicked and retreated back toward Washington, D.C.
 The Battle of Bull Run showed both armies that their men needed training;
also, it would be a long and bloody war!
¿¿ What was the significance of the Battle of Bull Run ?
2 of 17.2 Printer Copy
BE MORE ‘BIG’ DOG.
It’s an Attitude to Adjust to!!! Leon
US History
Fort Burrows
__________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________.
 Caution, Delay, and Retreat
 After the Bull Run disaster, Lincoln appointed General George McClellan as
Commander of the Union Army of the East
 This group was known as the Army of the Potomac
 McClellan transformed the inexperienced Union recruits into a trained
group of soldiers – Ready for Battle!
 He was a cautious leader; newspapers made fun AT him: ‘All quiet along the
Potomac’
 President Lincoln lost his patience; “If Gen McClellan does not want to use
the army, I would like to borrow it.”
 McClellan got the point; in March he sailed with some of his troops down the
Potomac; landing South of Richmond, heading toward the Confederate
capital
 Gen Lee began counterattacks; Gen Jackson headed North to threaten
Washington
 As a result Lincoln was prevented from sending the remainder of troops;
they stayed to protect Washington
 Still cautious, McClellan abandoned the attack and began retreating
 Naval Action
 Union ships blockaded southern ports
 Small fast ships, ‘blockade runners’ slipped through the Union blockade
 These ‘blockade runners’ delivered matches, guns, and other needed
supplies
 The North tightened-up the blockade delivery rate to 1 out of 10 ships;
cutting supplies by 90%
 The Confederates took an abandoned Union warship, covered it with iron
plates and named it the CSS Virginia
 On the Virginia’s maiden voyage, she destroyed two Union ships and ran
three aground
 Union cannonballs bounced harmlessly off the Virginia’s metal skin
 The Union countered with its own ironclad ship the USS Monitor
 The two ships clashed near Hampton Roads, VA; after an exhausting battle
neither vessel was seriously damaged
 Fear of losing the Virginia, Confederates sank the ship after losing Norfolk
 The Union built 50 more ironclads
3 of 17.2 Printer Copy
BE MORE ‘BIG’ DOG.
It’s an Attitude to Adjust to!!! Leon
US History
Fort Burrows
 The South did not have the materials or resources to build ironclad ships
 The Union dominated the seas and tightened the blockade
 Stopped ALL cargo from reaching the Confederate Army
¿¿ How did the battle between the Virginia and the Monitor change warfare at sea ?
1.________________________________________________________________________
2.________________________________________________________________________
3.________________________________________________________________________
4.________________________________________________________________________.
 Antietam
 September 1862, Lee takes offensive and marched his troops North into
Maryland
 A Union officer found a copy of Lee’s battle plan; wrapped around three
cigars, which was carelessly left behind by one of Lee’s officers
 McClellan boasted, “If I cannot whip ‘Bobbie Lee’, I will be willing to go
home”
 McClellan attacked Lee’s main force at Antietam (an TEE tuhm), Sept 17
 After a day long battle, 23,000 Union and Confederate soldiers were dead or
wounded
 At night fall, Lee retreated back to Virginia
 Neither side was a clear winner of the Battle of Antietam even though the
North claimed a victory due to the retreat; a huge morale boost for the
Yankees
 Lincoln was disappointed that McClellan did not follow the retreating
Confederate army to insure a Northern victory
 Lincoln replaced McClellan with General Ambrose Burnside
 Burnside was now the Commander of the Army of the Potomac
Confederate Victories in the East






Two stunning victories for the Confederates
1st – the Battle of Fredericksburg; one of the Union’s worst defeats
Confederate guns mowed down wave after wave of Union soldiers
Burnside’s Union Army lost 13,000 men compared to 5,000 men for the South
2nd – the Battle of Chancellorsville
Lee combined troops with Stonewall; three days of fighting produced another
Southern victory
 This victory came at a high price
 Confederate sentries fired at what they thought was Union soldiers
 The mistaken Union soldiers was actually Stonewall Jackson and his men
4 of 17.2 Printer Copy
BE MORE ‘BIG’ DOG.
It’s an Attitude to Adjust to!!! Leon
US History
Fort Burrows
 Gen Stonewall Jackson was wounded and died several days later
 This mistake was a huge blow against the Confederate Army
Union Victories in the West
 Union strategy for the West was to capture and control the Mississippi River
 General Ulysses S Grant was in charge for the Union
 February 1862, Grant attacked and captured Forts Henry and Donelson in
Tennessee
 These Confederate forts guarded important tributaries of the Mississippi River
 Grant showed his toughness and determination by winning a 3rd battle, the
Battle of Shiloh; one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War
 The Union Navy captured New Orleans and Memphis, Tennessee
 By capturing these two ‘port’ cities, the Union controlled both end of the
Mississippi River; Ole Man River became a Yankee
 The South could no longer use the river as a supply line
1. What strategies did each side adopt to win the war ?
__________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
2. How did early encounters dispel hopes for a quick end to the war ?
__________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
3. What victories did the Confederate achieve ?
1.____________________________________
2.____________________________________
3.____________________________________
4. What victories did the Union achieve ?
1.____________________________________
2.____________________________________
3.____________________________________
5 of 17.2 Printer Copy
BE MORE ‘BIG’ DOG.
It’s an Attitude to Adjust to!!! Leon