Download Major Battles of the Civil War

Major Battles of the
Civil War
Fort Sumter
Fort Sumter
• A Fort in Charleston Harbor, SC
• Bombarded April 12-13, 1861 by
Confederate troops
• South forces Union troops to surrender
• Signaled the start of the American Civil
War
First Manassas/Bull Run
1st Bull Run/Manassas
• July 21, 1861 near Manassas, VA
• Union Army tries to march south to capture
Richmond, VA (capital of the Confederacy)
• Both armies have about 30,000 men
1st Bull Run/Manassas
• Initially, the Northern troops are winning.
• A stand by Thomas Jackson’s Virginia
brigade allows the Confederates to
organize and push the Federals back and
turn the tide of the battle
1st Bull Run/Manassas
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RESULTS
3,000 Union Casualties
2,000 Confederate Casualties
Confederate Victory
Shows that the war will last much longer
than people thought
1st Bull Run/Manassas
• Confusion in Battle
– Inexperienced and poorly trained troops and
officers
– No standardized uniforms or flags.
• Union troops wearing gray and Confederate troops
wearing blue
• Confederate battle flag looked like Union flag when
the wind wasn’t blowing
Early Battles (1861-1863)
• Confederates clean up in battles, such as
2nd Bull Run/Manassas (Aug. 1862),
Fredericksburg (December 1862) and
Chancelorsville (May 1863)
• Confederate armies are outnumbered but
inflict more damage on Union forces
– Largely because of poor Union, and good
Confederate leadership
Antietam
• September 17th, 1862
• Robert E. Lee wants to follow up victories
in the South by invading the north
• Wants to capture Washington DC and get
Maryland to join the Southern cause
Antietam
• Lee’s secret orders for troop locations are
found by Federal troops but the Union
general George McClellan is very slow to
act.
– Lee is given time to organize his army and
fight off Union attacks, even though he is
outnumbered 2 to 1
Antietam
Antietam
• Battle is a draw
• Bloodiest single day in American warfare
– Federal losses were 12,410,
– Confederate losses 10,700.
• Gives Lincoln the “victory” he needs to
pass the Emancipation Proclamation
– Keeps European nations from recognizing the
Confederacy
War Sept 1862-Summer 1863
• War goes well for the Confederacy in the
East.
• Winning combination of Lee and Jackson
score two big victories at Fredericksburg
and Chancelorsville.
– Both Union armies are led by bad
commanders
– Stonewall Jackson killed at Chancelorsville,
however
General Ambrose Burnside
• Cracks under the
pressure of army
leadership.
• Battle at
Fredericksburg is
poorly managed.
– 15,000 Union
casualties
• Last name is
rearranged to make
the word “sideburns”
General Joseph Hooker
• Cracks under
pressure of army
leadership
• His army is defeated
at Chancelorsville,
even though he
outnumbered his
enemy 2 to 1
• Some success later in
lower levels of
command
Gettysburg
• July 1-3, 1863
• After several more successful battles, Lee
decides to invade the north again.
Gettysburg
• Confederates win day one of the battle
• They fail to gain the high ground or flank
Union positions on Day Two
• Disastrous decision to attack the Union
center on Day Three (Pickett’s Charge)
High Tide of the Confederacy
Gettysburg
• RESULTS
• Union Victory/Turning point of the war
• Confederate army never goes on the
offensive again
• Bloodiest battle of the war
– 23,000 Union Casualties
– 28,000 Confederate Casualties
Vicksburg
• Seige from May-July 1863
• Surrender of Confederates on July 4th
Vicksburg
• Port of Vicksburg on Mississippi River
• General Ulysses S. Grant tries to gain
control on Mississippi River
– Part of Anaconda Plan
• Grant tries head on attacks and fails
– Forces Confederates into a siege
Vicksburg
• Union Victory
• Cuts Confederacy in Half
• 25,000 Confederates captured
Wilderness Campaign
• May-July 1864
• Grant takes over command of the Union
Army
• Immediate goal is to capture Richmond
• His strategy is called “Total War”
– Fight/destroy whatever you need to in order to
win
Wilderness Campaign
• Union army relies on manpower and
industry to win
• Confederates on the defensive
– They don’t have the troops or weapons to
replace their losses
– Forced to rely on trenches and terrain to
make up for their smaller army
Wilderness
• Even though Grant suffered 20,000
casualties at the Wilderness (compared to
Lee’s 10,000), he kept his army moving
south.
– Defied military convention
– He wanted to keep Lee on the run and
disorganized
• Begins a two month series of battles that
wears down Lee’s army
Sherman’s March to the Sea
• May-December 1864
• William Tecumseh Sherman leads Union
army in Tennessee and Georgia.
• Initial focus is Atlanta Georgia
• Campaign is scheduled at the same time
as Grant’s Wilderness campaign.
– Designed to keep one Confederate army from
helping the other
Atlanta
• Major railroad and
production center for the
South.
• After a 2 month
campaign, very similar to
that in Virginia, Sherman
captures Atlanta.
• As Union troops occupy
the city, fires mysteriously
break out.
– Both sides blame the other
Atlanta Post-Sherman
March to the Sea
• Not Content with his victory at Atlanta,
Sherman decides to gut the Confederacy
and eliminate their ability to make war.
• Georgia was the heartland of the South,
providing many troops and supplies.
• Sherman marched his army to the sea,
ordering them to live off the land and
destroy everything they didn’t use.
Impact of “Total War”
• Confederate Armies put on defensive and
lose many experienced troops and
commanders.
• Confederate war production destroyed.
• Confederate civilians want war to end.
• The Anaconda Plan is working!
Appomattox
• April 9th, 1865
• Grant captures Richmond on April 4th,
1865 and Lee retreats towards the
Shenandoah Mountains.
• He is surrounded and decides to
surrender, in order to save what is left of
his army.
• War is basically over.