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Gettysburg: Prelude
 Ambrose Burnside replaces McClellan as Union commander
after Antietam, is destroyed at Fredericksburg, loosing 10,000.
 Hooker replaces Burnside, is destroyed at Chancellorsville,
replaced by Gen. Meade (for Union).
 South loses Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson during
Chancellorsville, accidentally shot by his own men.
Map: Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg
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Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg: Winter of 1862 and spring of 1863, Gettysburg (July 1863).
Gettysburg
 Meade’s 92,000 meet Lee’s 76,000 July1-3, 1863
 Total casualties: 30%
 Union losses, killed and wounded = 23,000
 Confederate losses, killed and wounded = 28,000
 Close victory for Union after Pickett’s charge fails
 Marks furthest northern advance of Confederacy
 Ends discussion in Europe about helping South
 Though South in decline, fighting goes on to 1865
Gettysburg: Day 1, July 1st
 Southern troops, many barefoot, hear that there is a supply of
shoes at Gettysburg.
 Union Gen. Buford recognizes that Gettysburg has excellent
roads and hills to use to fight Lee.
 Buford’s small force of dismounted cavalry holds on long
enough for reinforcements to arrive.
 Stage is set: 90,000 Union troops will face 75,000 Southern
troops the next day.
 IMPORTANT: Union acts quickly, are able to take the
high ground
Gettysburg, Day #1

July 1, 1863

Union Calvary, John Buford

Confederate foot soldiers, A.P. Hill

Both sides attack, and call for
reinforcements, setting up for a large
battle between the two armies.
 **Why were the troops in
Gettysburg in the first place?
 Buford saw how good the land was.
 All roads converge

Confederates had man advantage,
Union positional advantage
 **Lee saw the importance of the high
ground, couldn’t gain it on the 1st day

General Meade
Gettysburg: Day 2, July 2nd
 Lee orders Gen. Longstreet to try to capture Cemetery Ridge.
 Heavy fighting occurs in the Peach Orchard, Devil’s Den, and
the Wheatfield (now natl. landmarks).
 Rebel troops try to capture Little Round Top to position
artillery on it.
 Colonel Chamberlain and men of Maine hold hill and
repulse attack with bayonet charge.
 Day is saved for Union. Lines hold.
Gettysburg, Day #2

July 2, 1863

Reinforcements have arrived
 Union (90,000)
 Confederate (75,000)

Union held the high ground
 “Fish hook”

Longstreet is ordered to attack Cemetery
Ridge
 Misgivings

4:00 pm attack across Wheat field and
Peach orchard
 Union send reinforcements to the
center

Little Round Top


Confederate move to flank the Union
Culp’s Hill

Confederates ran out of sunlight
Gettysburg: Day 3, July 3rd
 Lee tries to break center of Union
line at a point called “the angle.”
Lee concentrates artillery fire on
Union lines on the ridge.
 Gen. Pickett’s men charge Union
lines, covering a mile of open
ground and running up ridge.
 Union artillery and infantry fire
destroy Pickett’s division. Every
officer killed or wounded.
 Lee withdraws. Meade does not
counter-attack.
 Another lost opportunity???
Gettysburg, Day #3

July 3, 1863

Lee was optimistic going into day 3
 Weakened the Union position

Artillery assault on middle of the line
 Cemetery Ridge
 2 hours
 Lee ordered assault on the middle of the
line
 Pickett’s Charge
 Open field
 Union guns had remained
silent
 Poor decision?

Confederates prepared for a
counterattack
 Meade never ordered!
Pickett’s Charge
 12,000 men marching over 1,000 yds!
 Union forces from Cemetery Hill and
Little Round Top immediately
opened fire
 Confederate troops realized no
backup was coming and were stuck at
the “angle”.
 Many began to retreat back to
Seminary Ridge
 Pickett lost nearly 3,000 men.
 When Pickett returned to Lee, he was
ordered to prepare against a possible
Union counterattack.
 Pickett then replied, “General
Lee, I have no division now.”
Pickett’s Charge
A Harvest of Death, Gettysburg, July 1863
A Harvest of Death, Gettysburg, July 1863
(Library of Congress)
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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)
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Gettysburg Address
November 1863
 Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, not popular at time, becomes
part of national identity.
 Lincoln speaks for two minutes
 The United States “is” instead of “are”
 Follows popular speaker Edward Everett, who speaks for two
hours.
 Both men speak at a dedication of a cemetery for the war dead.
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/gadd/images/platform.jpg
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/gadd/images/platform.jpg
Map: War in the West, 1861-1863
Vicksburg
Confederates surrender on
July 4, 1863
Day after Gettysburg

Strategic town on Mississippi, high bluffs
and big bend in river

Confederates controlled of Mississippi

Grant sends his Calvary to distract
Confederates
 Destroy communication and railroad
lines

Lands south of Vicksburg
 April 30, 1863

18 days of fighting
 Traveled east and then back to the west
 Captured Jackson, Miss.

Two Frontal assaults on Vicksburg
 Both failed
 May 19th and 22nd
 Siege
 Bombing
 Several hours a day
First ironclad gunboat built in America. The Saint Louis, ca. 1862
ARC Identifier 533123 / Local Identifier 165-C-630
Item from Record Group 165: Records of the War Department
General and Special Staffs, 1860 - 1952
http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/civil-war-docs/images/ironclad-gunboat.gif
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,
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
taking Jackson, and finally west to Vicksburg.
Vicksburg – War in the West
 Grant’s initial assaults fail – uses siege
 Shells the city, soldiers and civilians each day
 Citizens move into caves and eat horses, rats
 Grant’s siege of Vicksburg succeeds on July 4, one day after
Gettysburg
 Confederacy is cut in half
 Union controls Mississippi & and border states
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)
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Grant’s “Total War” Strategy
 March 1864, Lincoln replaces Meade with Grant
 Grant grinds down Lee’s army with his 100,000 men
 “Blood and guts” battles at Wilderness (50,000 killed) and Cold Harbor (7,000 in 7
minutes)
 Grant’s strategy = WAR OF ATTRITION!!!
 Called a “butcher.” From May 4 to June 18 he loses 65,000 to Lee’s 35,000.
 Why was Lee seen as an effective General?
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)
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Map: The War in Virginia, 1864-1865
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Sherman’s March to the Sea
 Grant appoints William Tecumseh Sherman commander in Mississippi.
Sherman begins “total war” on South
 Targets homes, railways, crops, towns
 Burns everything in his path, burns Atlanta Sept. 1864
 After destroying GA, went into SC
GOAL: destroy supplies destined for Northern front.
Weaken Southern morale and resolve to fight.
WAS IT A SUCCESS?
It did increase desertions and shorten war. Yet, many atrocities occurred and
civilians suffered most.
Map: Sherman's March to the Sea
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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)
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Election of 1864

Democrats split into 3 groups – War Democrats, Peace Democrats and
Copperheads.
 Radical Republicans run on separate ticket.

Republicans and War Democrats form the Union Party.
 McClellan runs on Southern Democratic ticket
 Lincoln wins 55% of vote:
- “bayonet votes”
- recent victories in war help
- opponents factionalism split the vote

Lee surrenders at Appomattox Courthouse, April 9, 1865 (Lincoln assassinated
April 14, 1865).
http://www.nps.gov/archiv
e/liho/1864/1864e.htm
http://teachpol.tcnj.edu/amer_pol_hist/fi/000000c7.htm
TERMS

Gettysburg
 Objectives:
 Chancellorsville

A. Describe the battle and outcome of Gettysburg
 Vicksburg

B. Describe Grant’s siege of Vicksburg
 Gettysburg Address

C. Summarize the key points of the Gettysburg
Address
 William Tecumseh
Sherman

D. Trace the final events of the war, leading to the
surrender at Appomattox.
 Appomattox