Download an overview of the american civil war in the east, 1861-1865

AN OVERVIEW OF THE
AMERICAN CIVIL WAR IN
THE EAST
1861-1863
The fighting begins…
Fort Sumter, April 12, 1861
 Confederates attack the fort at 4:30 a.m.
 30 hour bombardment
 Bloodless
 Major Anderson, U. S., surrenders
Off to war we go!!
 Each side knew it would win.
 God was on their side!
 One Southerner could lick ten Yanks!
 Onward Christian Soldiers!
On to Richmond!
 Neither side prepared
 Gen. Irvin McDowell,
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U.S., leads troops to
Manassas
Gen. Pierre
Beauregard, C.S.,
defends Manassas
Armies collide on July
21, 1861
Union defeated
Stonewall Jackson
George McClellan to the Rescue
George B. McClellan is appointed to command the
Federal armies.
 Charismatic
 Great organizer
 Democrat
 Little Napoleon
 The “Slows”
New technology helps the war effort
Balloons floated in the
skies…
and ironclads floated
on the seas.
The Shenandoah Valley Campaign
 Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson
outfoxes 3 Union armies
 Classic military campaign
 Shenandoah was the “bread
basket” of the Confederate
Army in Virginia
 Jackson’s victories make
Lincoln fear for Washington,
D.C.
McClellan opens the Peninsula
Campaign
 The Peninsula is formed by the James and York
Rivers
 Union forces land at the base of the Peninsula and
push the Confederates back to Richmond
 May 31, 1862- Battle of Seven Pines (Fair Oaks)
* C.S. Gen. Joe Johnston wounded
* June 1, 1862, Robert E. Lee takes command
 Confederates push McClellan back during the Seven
Days battles
John Pope comes East
 General John Pope is
brought from the Western
Theatre to the East.
 “In the West, I only saw the
backs of the Rebels.”
 “My headquarters will be in
the saddle.”
 Pope creates the Union
Army of Virginia
Second Manassas
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Jackson captures Pope’s supply base at Manassas
Jackson waits for Pope on the previous battlefield
Pope attacks Jackson on August 28 and 29 of 1862
Lee and Longstreet arrive to help rout Pope
Lee Invades Maryland in September
1862
 On September 4, 1862, the Army of Northern Virginia splashed
across the Potomac River into Maryland. The Southern bands
were playing a new song called “Maryland, My Maryland”. The
Southerners were dirty and ragged but very confident.
Confederate forces marched into Frederick, MD and waited for
something to happen. Lee sent much of his army back to
Harper’s Ferry to capture the Federal garrison there.
Little Mac moves to save the nation!
 McClellan moves to Frederick,
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Maryland
Union soldiers find Lee’s lost
Special Orders #191
Union forces capture South
Mountain
Lee retreats to Sharpsburg,
Maryland and orders all of his
men to move there
Jackson comes up from Harpers
Ferry
The Bloodiest Day in American
History
September 17, 1862, The Battle of
Antietam
 35,000 Confederates vs. 85,000
Federals
 Total casualties: 23,500 men
 Three phases of the battle:
1. The Miller farm- East and West
Woods,
The Cornfield, the Dunker
Church
2. The Sunken Road (The Bloody
Lane)
3. Burnside’s Bridge
The Results of Antietam
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The Emancipation Proclamation
No foreign recognition for the
Confederacy
McClellan will be replaced by
Ambrose Burnside
The war returns to Virginia
The bloodiest single day of the
war
Fredericksburg, December 1862
 Burnside gathers a very large army
and attacks the Confederates at
Fredericksburg. Lee has had time to
entrench and has prepared his men.
The Federals attack uphill over a
large open field and are butchered.
The Union loses over 12,500 men
and does not drive the Confederates
from their lines.
 Burnside will try to flank the
Southerners a month later and bogs
down so deeply that horses and
mules are buried in the mud.
Burnside will be replaced by Joe
Hooker.
Joe Hooker attacks at Chancellorsville
 Hooker re-organizes the army and gathers over 100,000 men.
 Hooker surprises Lee and gets around his flank. Lee barely
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stops Hooker at the Chancellorsville Court House crossroads.
Jackson takes the majority of the Southern soldiers on a long
march around the Union army.
Jackson attacks the unsuspecting Federals at supper time and
rolls them up. Two Federal corps are routed before darkness
ends the advance.
Jackson goes out between the lines to scout the Union lines and
is mistakenly shot by his own men. His right arm has to be
amputated and he dies a week later.
The Confederates continue the battle and defeat Hooker. Total
casualties for the two armies was 24,000 men.
Lee Raids Pennsylvania
 In June, 1863, the Confederates
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march north through Maryland and
into Pennsylvania.
Lee wants to relieve the pressure on
Virginia
Lee needs to get food and supplies
for his army
Confederate forces get as far north
as Harrisburg, the capitol of the
state, and as far east as York
Lee needs to gather his forces which
are scattered out over a large area
and he orders them to converge on
the crossroads town of Gettysburg
The Union army chases Lee and
Hooker is replaced by George
Gordon Meade on June 28, 1863
July 1, 1863
 Union cavalry under John Buford wait west of Gettysburg
 Confederate infantry under Harry Heth attack
 Union reinforcements, the First Corps of the Army of the
Potomac, come up and a full scale battle develops
 General Reynolds, U.S., is killed
 By the end of the day the Union forces are driven back through
Gettysburg and onto Cemetery Hill
Gettysburg, July 2, 1863
 The Confederates attack in
the late afternoon on both
flanks of the Yankee army
 Places such as Devil’s Den,
Little Round Top, The
Wheatfield, the Rose Farm,
The Peach Orchard, and
Culp’s Hill become blood
baths
 By dark the Union lines have
held and over 15,000 men
have been shot down
Gettysburg, July 3, 1863
 Robert E. Lee orders a charge to
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break the Union center
Longstreet sends Pickett,
Pettigrew and Trimble with
11,000 to 13,000 men across an
open field to try to break the
Union lines.
“Pickett’s Charge” fails
“We gained nothing but glory and
lost our best men.”
Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock
directs the Union defense of
Cemetery Ridge
The results of Gettysburg
 52,000 casualties in three days
 The Confederate raid is stopped and the Rebels are driven back
to Virginia
 The Confederates capture enough food to feed their army for
four to five months
 This battle, combined with the Union victory at Vicksburg on the
Mississippi River, turns the tide of the war in favor of the Union