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11.4 The North Takes Charge
Objectives:
A. What were the key battles of 1863
& 1864?
B. How did the North finally win the
war?
Map: Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg
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Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg: Winter of 1862 and spring of 1863, Gettysburg (July 1863).
Gettysburg: Prelude
• 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 looses 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.
Gettysburg, Day #1
• July 1, 1863
• Union Calvary, John Buford
• Confederate foot soldiers,
A.P. Hill
• 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
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
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armies--dead, wounded, and missing--exceeded 50,000 men.
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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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
– 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
– 20th Maine
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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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
A Harvest of Death, Gettysburg, July 1863
A Harvest of Death, Gettysburg, July 1863
(Library of Congress)
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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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Gettysburg Address
November 1863
• Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, not popular
at time, becomes part of national identity.
• Lincoln speaks for two minutes
• 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 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
Confederates surrender on
July 4, 1863
Day after Gettysburg
• Bombing
– Several hours a day
• Hardships faced by citizens
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,
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taking Jackson, and finally west to Vicksburg.
Vicksburg – War in the West
• Strategic town on Mississippi, high bluffs and
big bend in river
• 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)
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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.
• Lee cannot sustain his losses, Grant can.
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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Telegram from Abraham Lincoln to Lt. Gen. Ulysses Grant at City
Point, Virginia, 08/17/1864
ARC Identifier 301640
Item from Record Group 107: Records of the Office of the Secretary of
War, 1791 - 1947
Map: The War in Virginia, 1864-1865
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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
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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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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 Appomatox 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
11.5 The Legacy of the War
Objectives:
A. What were the economic,
political, military and social
consequences of the war?
B. Why is the Civil War
considered a “turning point”?