Download Chapter 15 Section 1

“Decisive Battles”
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Focus Question: How did Lincoln and his generals
turn the tide of the war?
*By 1865, four years of Civil War had produced
hundreds of thousands of deaths.
The Tide Turns
*After the Union victory at Antietam (1862), the
war again began to go badly for the North. When
McClellan failed to pursue Lee’s beaten army,
Lincoln replaced him with General Ambrose
Burnside.
Confederate Victories
*Burnside knew McClellan was replaced by being
too cautious, so Burnside decided to do the
opposite.
*Dec. 1862 – Burnside marches 120,000 Union
men toward Richmond. Lee gathered 75,000 men
at Fredericksburg, VA, to block their path.
Burnside ordered repeated attacks and the Union
suffered 13,000 casualties to the Confederacy’s
5,000 casualties.
*Lincoln then used General Joseph “Fighting Joe”
Hooker who declared he would have no mercy on
Lee as he marched to Richmond.
*May 1863 – Hooker’s army badly beaten at
Chancellorsville by a much smaller army, but
Stonewall Jackson was shot and died a few days
later.
The Battle of Gettysburg
*Lee was convinced that a major victory on Union
soil would convince northerners to end the war.
*June 1863 – Lee’s troops marched in PA. The
Union army, now commanded by General George
Meade, pursued them.
*July 1, 1863 – Confederate soldiers approached
Gettysburg looking for shoes since they were
difficult to get in the South due to the Union
blockade. They encountered part of Meade’s army
and shots were fired. By evening, southerners had
pushed the Union forces back through
Gettysburg.
*Next day - 85,000 Union faced 75,000
Confederates. The Union army was on Cemetery
Ridge and the Confederate army was on Seminary
Ridge (1 mi. away). The Confederates attacked
each end of the Union line.
*On July 3 (3rd day of fighting) – Lee ordered an
all-out attack on the center of the Union line.
General George Pickett led 15,000 Confederates
across an open field toward Cemetery Ridge.
Union artillery rained down on them.
Only a few hundred Confederates reached the
Union line but were driven back. About 7,500
Confederates were killed or wounded in “Pickett’s
Charge”.
*Battle of Gettysburg – more than 28,000
Confederates casualties. Union losses were more
than 23,000. Lee again lost nearly a third of his
army and took the blame on himself.
The Fall of Vicksburg
*July 4, 1863 – Vicksburg surrendered to General
Grant. It was one of the last cities on the
Mississippi River under Confederate control.
Unable to take Vicksburg by force, Grant began a
siege of the city. A siege is an attempt to capture a
place by surrounding it with military forces and
cutting it off until the people inside surrender.
*During the siege, residents took shelter in cellars
and caves they dug. They ate mules and rats. After
6 weeks, the 30,000 Confederate troops at
Vicksburg gave up.
*A few days later, Port Hudson (last Confederate
stronghold on the Mississippi River) gave up. The
Mississippi River was not controlled by the Union.
*These events, with Lee’s defeat at Gettysburg,
make July 1863 the major point of the Civil War.
The Gettysburg Address
*Nov. 19, 1863 – 15,000 people gathered at the
battlefield at Gettysburg to honor those who had
died. Lincoln looked ahead to a Union victory and
gave the Gettysburg Address…
“…these dead shall not have died in vain –
that this nation, under God, shall have a
new birth of freedom – and that gov’t of the
people, by the people, for the people, shall
not perish from the earth.”
Closing in on the Confederacy
*1864 – Lincoln gave Grant command of all Union
forces. Grant decided to attack Richmond (no
matter how many Union losses of life).
Grant Versus Lee
*Spring 1864 - Grant’s army repeatedly attacked
Lee in northern VA. Although Grant could not
break through Lee’s troops, Grant did not retreat.
*After 7 weeks of fighting, Union deaths: 55,000;
Confederate deaths: 35,000. Grant realized that
he had adequate supplies of men and supplies but
Lee did not.
*June 1864 – two armies clashed at Petersburg
(railroad center) and Grant began a siege (like
Vicksburg).
*At the same time, General William Tecumseh
Sherman marched to Atlanta. Sherman believed
in total war – all-out attacks aimed at destroying an
enemy’s army, its resources, and its people’s will to
fight.
March to the Sea
*The Confederates could not stop Sherman’s
advance and the Union marched into Atlanta on
Sept. 2, 1864.
*The capture of Atlanta gave Lincoln’s reelection
campaign a boost. Support for Lincoln had
declined as people grew tired of war, but the
capture of Atlanta gave Lincoln a huge victory
over George (“the slows”) McClellan, the
Democrat’s candidate.
*Nov. 1864 – Sherman orders Atlanta to be
burned. His army then marches to the Atlantic
Ocean and destroys everything in its path (60
miles wide!). They burned buildings, seized crops
and livestock, and lifted up railroad tracks.
Peace at Last
*March 1865 – Grant’s army had been extending
their battle lines east and west of Petersburg. Lee
knew that soon Grant would capture the city.
*Seeing the end of the war was near, in his Second
Inaugural Address, Lincoln asked Americans to
forgive and forget “to bind up the nation’s
wounds.”
Murder at Appomattox
*April 2, 1865 – Grant’s troops broke through
Confederate lines. By evening, Richmond was
under Union control. Lee’s army retreated to the
town of Appomattox Court House. With any
hopes of retreat cut off, Lee surrendered on
April 9, 1865.
*Grant offered Lee generous surrender terms.
The Confederates only had to give up their
weapons and leave in peace. As Lee rode off,
Union troops cheered but Grant silenced them,
saying “The war is over. The rebels are our
countrymen again.”
The War’s Terrible Toll
*Civil War = bloodiest conflict the US has EVER
fought.
*Deaths: Confederate – 260,000; Union > 360,000
(including 37,000 African Americans)
*About ½ million men were wounded (Many
returned disfigured for life).
*TWO RESULTS:
1.) Reunited the nation
2.) Put an end to slavery