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Cover Slide
The American
Pageant
Chapter 21
The Furnace of Civil
War, 1861-1865
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A Harvest of Death, Gettysburg, July 1863
A Harvest of Death, Gettysburg, July 1863
(Library of Congress)
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American Flag above Richmond State House, April 1865 by Mathew Brady
American Flag above Richmond State House, April 1865 by Mathew Brady
At the war's end, the U.S. flag flew over the state capitol in Richmond, Virginia,
which bore many marks of destruction. (National Archives )
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Antietam
Antietam
In the photograph of Antietam, dead rebel gunners lie next to the wreckage of their
battery. (Library of Congress)
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Antietam by James Hope
Antietam by James Hope
A painting of the Antietam battlefield by James Hope, a Union soldier of the Second
Vermont Infantry, shows three brigades of Union troops advancing under
Confederate fire. The building in the painting, a Dunker church, was the scene of
furious fighting. (Antietam National Battlefield, Sharpsburg, Maryland)
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Antietam dead, Confederates lined for burial
Antietam dead, Confederates lined for burial
This photograph of corpses awaiting burial was one of ninety-five taken by Mathew
Brady and his assistants of the Antietam battlefield, the bloodiest single day of the
war. It was the first time Americans had seen war depicted so realistically. When
Brady's photographs went on display in New York in 1862, throngs of people waited
in line to see them. (Library of Congress)
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Atlanta's Depot, 1864
Atlanta's Depot, 1864
Atlanta's depot in ruins after Sherman's
siege of the city in 1864. (Library of
Congress)
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Black Troops from Company E
Black Troops from Company E
Company E, 4th U.S. Colored Infantry, photographed at Fort Lincoln, Virginia, in
1864. Nothing so symbolized the new manhood and citizenship among African
Americans in the midst of the war as such young black men in blue. (Chicago
Historical Society)
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Burial Party at Cold Harbor, Virginia
Burial Party at Cold Harbor, Virginia
Burial parties returned to battle fields after the battles to bury the dead. Here those
who didn't survive are buried in Cold Harbor, Virginia. (Library of Congress)
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Carver Hospital, Washington, D.C. by Mathew Brady
Carver Hospital, Washington, D.C. by Mathew Brady
Clean and gaily decorated, this Union hospital was a vast improvement over
unsanitary field hospitals. (National Archives)
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Confederate Dead at the Dunker Church by Mathew Brady
Confederate Dead at the Dunker Church by Mathew Brady
An exhibition of photographs from the Battle of Antietam, taken by Mathew Brady,
opened in October of 1862 in New York City. Although few knew it, Brady's vision
was very poor, and this photograph of Confederate dead was actually made by his
assistants, Alexander Gardner and James F. Gibson. (Library of Congress)
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Contraband slave group
Contraband slave group
A group of "contrabands" (liberated slaves) photographed at Cumberland Landing,
Virginia, May 14, 1862, at a sensitive point in the war when their legal status was
still not fully determined. The faces of the women, men, and children represent the
human drama of emancipation. (Library of Congress)
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Eagle cartoon
Eagle cartoon
"Annihilation to Traitors," screams the American Eagle as it watches various evil and slimy
creatures hatching in its nest enfolded in the American flag. Various southern secession leaders
are named, some being shown as beasts, while a copperhead snake, the popular cartoon image
representing northerners who sympathized with the southern cause, prepares to strike at the
national symbol. The Union states are represented as healthy eggs, holding out promise for the
future. (Library of Congress)
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First Day at Gettysburg by James Walker
First Day at Gettysburg by James Walker
During the summer of 1863, Confederate General Robert E. Lee proposed a daring invasion into
Pennsylvania in hopes that it might force the Union to end the war. It proved to be a turning point, but not the
one Lee anticipated. At Gettysburg, a series of battles like the one shown here--this one on the first day of the
fighting--cost Lee more than half of his entire army and forced him to retreat back into Virginia. President
Lincoln hoped that the Union army would pursue the fleeing Confederates and destroy the remnants of Lee's
force, but he was disappointed when he learned that Lee had escaped. "Our Army held the war in the hollow
of their hand," Lincoln complained, "and they would not close it." (West Point Museum, United States
Military Academy, West Point, New York)
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Five generation slave family, Beaufort, S.C by T.H. O'Sullivan, 1862
Five generation slave family, Beaufort, S.C by T.H. O'Sullivan, 1862
This photograph of five generations of a slave family, taken in Beaufort, South
Carolina, in 1862, is silent but powerful testimony to the importance that enslaved
African Americans placed on their ever-threatened family ties. (Library of Congress)
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Fording the Rappahannock River
Fording the Rappahannock River
When federal troops came close enough those slaves who could do so fled behind
Union lines. These Virginia fugitives, lugging all their possessions, move toward
freedom in the summer of 1862, after the Second Battle of Bull Run. (Library of
Congress)
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Freedom to the Slave, 1863
Freedom to the Slave, 1863
This engraving celebrating the
Emancipation Proclamation first
appeared in 1863. While it places a
white Union soldier in the center, it also
portrays the important role of African
American troops and emphasizes the
importance of education and literacy.
(The Library Company of Philadelphia)
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Injured Confederate Soldiers Captured at Gettysburg, 1863 by Mathew Brady
Injured Confederate Soldiers Captured at Gettysburg, 1863 by Mathew Brady
At the end of the three-day Battle of Gettysburg, Lee's army had suffered over
25,000 casualties. These uninjured Confederate captives, who refused to face the
camera and stare off in different directions, may have spent the rest of the war in
northern prison camps. (Library of Congress)
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Lee with his son after the surrender
Lee with his son after the surrender
After opposing secession, General Robert E. Lee accepted a commission in the Confederate
army and commanded the Army of Northern Virginia for most of the war. Photographer
Mathew Brady took this picture of Lee (center), his son Major General G.W.C. Lee (left), and
his aide Colonel Walter Taylor (right) eight days after Lee's surrender to General Grant. The
forlorn expression on the general's face vividly demonstrates the agony of defeat. (Library of
Congress)
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Robert E. Lee
Robert E. Lee
Both General Grant and General Lee
were West Point graduates and had
served in the U.S. Army during the War
with Mexico. Their bloody battles
against each other in 1864 stirred
northern revulsion to the war even as
they brought its end in sight. (National
Archives)
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Scott's Great Snake
Scott's Great Snake
General Winfield Scott's scheme to surround the South and await a seizure of power
by southern Unionists drew scorn from critics who called it the Anaconda plan. In
this lithograph, the "great snake" prepares to thrust down the Mississippi, seal off the
Confederacy, and crush it. (Library of Congress)
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Sharpshooter's Last Sleep, Devils Den
Sharpshooter's Last Sleep, Devils Den
This is a Civil War photograph of a sharpshooter at Devil's Den on the Gettysburg
battlefield. (Library of Congress)
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Sherman's March to the Sea
Sherman's March to the Sea
Determined to "make Georgia howl," William Tecumseh Sherman and his band of
"bummers" slashed their way through the South during the winter of 1864,
destroying military and civilian property along the way. This painting shows
Sherman astride a white horse looking on while his men rip up a rail line and burn
bridges and homes. (Collection of David H. Sherman)
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Soldiers War--Union infantry camp
Soldiers War--Union infantry camp
Union soldiers in camp, posing for a photograph, with black servants. The drudgery
of camp life never prohibited soldiers from displaying their individuality. (National
Archives)
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Stand Watie
Stand Watie
A successful planter following the "Trail
of Tears," Stand Watie allied with the
Confederacy in 1861, raising a volunteer
regiment called the Cherokee Mounted
Rifles. By war's end, Watie had risen to
the rank of brigadier general in the
Confederate army and was the last field
officer to surrender after the fall of
Richmond. (Special Collections, John
Vaughan Library, Northeastern State
University, Tahlequah, Oklahoma)
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The 17th Illinois Infantry, 1864
The 17th Illinois Infantry, 1864
Veterans of the six-week siege of Vicksburg, the 17th Illinois Infantry remained to
garrison the Mississippi town. Posing for the camera in 1864, these battle-hardened
troops suggest the determination of the Union Army. (National Archives)
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Ulysses S. Grant, 1864 by Mathew Brady
Ulysses S. Grant, 1864 by Mathew Brady
Both General Grant and General Lee were West Point graduates and had served in
the U.S. Army during the War with Mexico. Their bloody battles against each other
in 1864 stirred northern revulsion to the war even as they brought its end in sight.
(National Archives)
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Union Prisoner at Salisbury, NC
Union Prisoner at Salisbury, NC
Civil War prison camps were not all deprivation. This illustration shows Union
prisoners of war playing baseball. (Library of Congress)
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Unionists of East Tennessee swearing by the flag
Unionists of East Tennessee swearing
by the flag
Like the citizens in western Virginia,
people in eastern Tennessee remained
faithful to the Union. Men like those
shown here swore allegiance to the
United States flag and tried to split the
state in two--one rebel and the other
loyal--but Confederate troops put a stop
to their efforts. (Library of Congress)
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War dead, Fredericksburg
War dead, Fredericksburg
Many soldiers entered the Civil War expecting excitement and colorful pageantry, but the
realities of war were harsh and ugly. This photograph by Union cameraman Andrew J. Russell
shows a line of southern soldiers who were killed while defending a position at Fredericksburg,
Virginia. Even after Union soldiers had breached the wall, the Confederates fought on, using
their rifles as clubs until they were all mowed down. Scenes like this became so common that
veterans reported that they became numb to the shock of death. (Library of Congress)
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Wounded at Fredericksburg
Wounded at Fredericksburg
In this photograph, taken outside an army hospital in Fredericksburg, Virginia, one of the many
women who served as nurses during the Civil War sits with some of her wounded charges.
Medical facilities and treatment for the wounded were woefully inadequate; most of those who
were not killed outright by the primitive surgical practices of the day either died from their
wounds or from secondary infections. (Library of Congress)
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Map: Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg
Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg
This map shows the campaigns that took place during the winter of 1862 and spring of 1863, culminating in the Battle of
Gettysburg (July 1863). General Meade's victory at Gettysburg may have been the critical turning point of the war.
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Map: Grant's Campaign Against Lee
Grant's Campaign Against Lee
This map shows the series of battles during the late spring of 1864 in which Grant's army suffered staggering casualties, but
finally drove Lee into retreat. After holding up for months behind heavy fortifications in Petersburg, Lee made a daring
attempt to escape in April 1865 but was headed off by General Philip Sheridan's troops. Grant quickly closed in on the
greatly weakened Confederate army, forcing Lee's surrender.
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Map: McClellan's Campaign
McClellan's Campaign
The water route chosen by McClellan to threaten Richmond during the peninsular campaign.
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Map: Sherman's March to the Sea
Sherman's March to the Sea
The West proved a decisive theater at the end of the war. From Chattanooga, Union forces drove in to Georgia, capturing
Atlanta. Then General Sherman embarked on his march of destruction through Georgia to the coast and then northward
through the Carolinas.
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Map: The Anaconda Plan and the Battle of Antietam
The Anaconda Plan and the Battle of Antietam
This map illustrates the anaconda plan at work. The Union navy closed southern harbors while Grant's troops worked to seal
the northern end of the Mississippi River. The map also shows the Battle of Antietam (September 1862), in which
Confederate troops under Robert E. Lee were finally defeated by the Union army under General George McClellan.
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Map: The Battle of Gettysburg
The Battle of Gettysburg
In the war's greatest battle, fought around a small market town in southern Pennsylvania, Lee's invasion of the North was
repulsed. Union forces had the advantage of high ground, shorter lines, and superior numbers. The casualties for the two
armies--dead, wounded, and missing--exceeded 50,000 men.
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Map: The Sea Islands
The Sea Islands
The island chain was the site of unique wartime experiments in new social policies.
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Map: The War in the East, 1861-1862
The War in the East, 1861-1862
Union advances on Richmond were turned back at Fredericksburg and the Seven Days' Battles, and the Confederacy's
invasion of Union territory was stopped at Antietam.
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Map: The War in the East, 1863
The War in the East, 1863
Victorious at Chancellorsville in May 1863, Lee again invaded Union territory but was decisively stopped at Gettysburg.
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Map: The War in the West, 1863: Vicksburg
The War in the West, 1863: Vicksburg
Grant first moved his army west of Vicksburg to a point on the Mississippi south of the town. Then he marched northeast,
taking Jackson, and finally west to Vicksburg.
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Map: The War in Virginia, 1864-1865
The War in Virginia, 1864-1865
At great cost, Grant hammered away at Lee's army until the weakened southern forces finally surrendered at the Appomattox
Court House.
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Map: Union Offensives into Virginia, 1861-1862
Union Offensives into Virginia, 1861-1862
This map shows two failed Union attempts to invade Virginia: the Battle of Bull Run (July 1861) and the Peninsular
Campaign (August 1862). Confederate victories embarrassed the richer and more populous Union.
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Map: War in the West, 1861-1863
War in the West, 1861-1863
Here is an overview of the Union's successful campaigns in the west and its seizure of key points on the Mississippi River, as
well as along the Atlantic coast in 1862 and 1863. These actions were decisive in paving the way for ultimate northern
victory.
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