Download Battles of the Civil War Part 2

Vicksburg
Mississippi
May 2-July 9, 1863
The lengthy Battle of Vicksburg began
in Warren County on May 13, 1863.
The North and the South considered
Vicksburg an important stronghold.
Union General Ulysses S. Grant
launched massive assaults on
Vicksburg and terrorized the
inhabitants. Confederates achieved a
minimal victory at Milliken’s Bend
against untrained black troops. Federal
troops pushed Confederate forces
back as the size of the Union forces
continued to increase. Confederate
General John Pemberton surrendered
to Grant on July 3, 1863.
Gettysburg
Pennsylvania
July 1-3, 1863
The Battle of Gettysburg began as the
Battle of Vicksburg was ending.
Confederate General Lee forced federal
troops, under General George C. Meade’s
command, to lose ground as the
Confederate forces attempted to take the
city. Lee planned several attacks,
including attacks at Peach Orchard and
Devil’s Den. The Union army fought
back, repelling Confederate attacks and
sending them back to Culp’s Hill. Lee
was relentless and sent his army back into
battle, but to no avail. He eventually
began a retreat toward Williamsport.
The Gettysburg Address
November 19, 1863
Abraham Lincoln delivered this famous
speech on November 19, 1863, to a crowd
gathered at the dedication of Soldier’s
National Cemetery in Gettysburg,
Pennsylvania. The speech contains only two
hundred seventy-two words, but it is
considered one of the greatest speeches in
American history.
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new
nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are
created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation
so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield
of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting
place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether
fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not
hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have
consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little
note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did
here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work
which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to
be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored
dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full
measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have
died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and
that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from
the earth.
Wilderness
May 5-7, 1864
Union General Grant continued his march
to Richmond, Virginia, planning to use
three armies to lay siege to the city. He
wanted to cut Lee’s food and artillery
supply lines and to block a Southern
retreat. Grant’s troops encountered
Confederate General Richard Ewell’s
soldiers. The Union forces outnumbered
the Confederate. Because of gunfire and
the Wilderness’ dry land, forest fires were
sparked. Confederates achieved some
success and inflicted Union casualties.
Grant refused to retreat and continued his
march to Richmond.
Virginia
Cold Harbor
May 31-June 12, 1864
The Battle of Cold Harbor lasted from
May 31 to June 12, 1864, in Hanover
County, Virginia. Union General Philip
Sheridan led a successful attack against
Confederate troops, which lasted until
the Confederacy called reinforcements
to the area. Sheridan followed in similar
fashion, enlisting the help of General
Grant. As in the Battle of Wilderness,
Grant battled on, launching his soldiers
at the Confederacy. The Grant-led army
suffered almost five thousand losses.
Grant’s march to Richmond had been
thrown off, so now he attempted to
regain footing in Petersburg.
Virginia
Sherman’s March to the Sea
November 15-December 20, 1864
As the Union army moved through
the South, they destroyed train tracks
by heating the rails and bending them
into a bow. This became known as
“Sherman’s Neckties”
Union General William T. Sherman
already had captured Atlanta, but he
wanted to leave sixty thousand troops
there while he marched the rest of his
army to the Atlantic Ocean through
Savannah, Georgia. During this time,
Confederate General John Hood had led
troops in a raid on Tennessee, leaving
Sherman’s soldiers to face fewer than
five thousand Confederate soldiers.
Sherman’s troops burned buildings and
infrastructures along the way,
destroying many towns and cities.
Sherman’s troops defeated the depleted
Confederate army and took Savannah
on December 22, 1864.
Surrender at Appomattox
Virginia
April 9, 1865
General Lee surrendered his
Confederate army at Appomattox
Court House, Virginia, on April 9,
1865. Lee’s army had diminished,
which contributed to Union General
Grant’s many victories near the end of
the war. In a sign of respect, Grant
allowed Lee to keep his saber and
horse.
General Joseph Johnston was the last
Confederate general who continued to
fight. He still believed that the South
could win the war. Johnston’s troops
eventually fell to federal troops, and he
surrendered to General Sherman on
April 26, 1865.
Assassination of Lincoln
April 14, 1865
President Abraham Lincoln was
assassinated at the end of the Civil
War. He was killed on April 14, 1865,
while attending a play at Ford’s
Theatre in Washington, D.C., with his
wife and two other people. Lincoln
was watching Our American Cousin
when John Wilkes Booth shot him in
the back of the head.
Booth was a loyal Confederate, and
he thought the Confederacy could
triumph if Lincoln were dead. Booth
jumped off the balcony and broke his
ankle, but managed to escape the
theater. Lincoln died of his fatal
wound the next morning.
The Trial and Execution of the Conspirators
The conspirators in the assassination of
President Lincoln were Mary Surratt,
Lewis Powell, David Herold, George
Atzerdot, Michael O’Laughlen, Samuel
Arnold, Edman Spangler, and Dr. Samuel
Mudd. They were tried in a military
tribunal court because the government
deemed the nature of the case required the
use of this court. A majority vote would
result in a guilty verdict, while a two-thirds
majority would result in a death sentence.
All eight were found guilty. Surratt,
Powell, Herold, and Atzerdot were
sentenced to death by hanging. O’Laughlen
died in prison. President Andrew Johnson
pardoned Arnold, Spangler, and Mudd.
Legacy of the War
The Civil War was the bloodiest war in American history. It has been referred to as
“The War Between the States,” “The Brother’s War,” and the “War of Northern
Aggression.” More than 600,000 Americans lost their lives, and countless others
were wounded severely. The Civil War led to passage of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth ,
and Fifteen Amendments to the United States Constitution. These amendments
outlawed slavery, granted African Americans United States citizenship, and granted
African-American males the right to vote. Although equal treatment under the law
for African Americans would not be enforced until almost a hundred years later, the
Civil War abolished slavery and established the supremacy of the federal
government.