Download Ch. 16, Section 2

CH. 16, SECTION 2: EARLY YEARS OF THE WAR
PG. 466

Main Idea: Neither the
Union nor the
Confederate forces
gained a strong
advantage during the
early years of the war.

Key Terms:



Blockade Runner
Ironclad
Casualty
THE FIRST BATTLE OF BULL RUN
•
A. The first major battle of the
Civil War was called the First
Battle of Bull Run.
•
It was fought in northern
Virginia near a river called
Bull Run.
BULL RUN

The Confederates were victorious.

Union troops attacked
Confederate forces led by General
P.G.T. Beauregard.

Rebels rallied under General
Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson’s
reinforcement troops and
counterattacked the Yankees.

The Union army retreated back to
Washington, D.C., first in an
orderly fashion and then in a
panic.
BULL RUN

The Confederate victory shocked
the North.

Northerners realized that the war
could be a long, hard, and costly
one.

Abraham Lincoln signed two bills
requesting a total of one million
army volunteers to serve for three
years.

Appointed General B. McClellan to
head the Union army of the East
called the Army of the Potomac
WAR AT SEA
•
Lincoln ordered a blockade of
Southern ports to prevent the
South from exporting its cotton
and importing necessary
supplies such as guns,
ammunition, and food.
•
Did not close off all Southern
trade reduce trade by two-thirds
Over time the
•
North also built more ships to
better enforce the blockade
ships.
MONITOR V. MERRIMACK

A new era in naval warfare
began when the North’s
Monitor and the South’s
Merrimack, renamed Virginia,
exchanged fire in March 1862.

Both ships were wooden ships
covered with thick iron plates,
making them sturdy and hard
to sink.

The Union was the victor
because the Merrimack never
again threatened Northern
WAR IN THE WEST
•
Main goal of the North
was to gain control of the
Mississippi and
Tennessee Rivers in the
west
•
Make it hard for the South
to transport goods.
•
The North had early
victories in 1862 under
the command of Ulysses
S. Grant.
WAR IN THE WEST

1. Grant captured Fort Henry on the Tennessee
River ten days later.
WAR IN THE WEST

2. Grant also captured Fort Donelson on the
Cumberland River 10 days later.
WAR IN THE WEST

3. The control of the lower Tennessee River
allowed Union troops to march into Tennessee,
Mississippi, and Alabama.

4. The Union victories also drove the
Confederacy out of Kentucky, a state that the
South had hoped they would be able to
persuade to secede.
BATTLE OF SHILOH
•
•
•
•
Another major battle in the West, the Battle of Shiloh
The Union win a narrow victory.
A very bloody two-day battle with 20,000 casualities on both
sides
Ended with Union forces gaining control of Corinth, Mississippi,
on May 30, 1862, and Memphis, Tennessee, on June 6.
BATTLE OF SHILOH

The fighting began on
April 6 when
Confederate forces led a
surprise attack on Union
troops.

The Confederacy drove
Grant and his troops
back to the Tennessee
River.
BATTLE OF SHILOH

The second day the Union forces defeated the Confederacy with
the help of 25,000 troops from Nashville and shelling from
gunboats on the river.

The Confederacy withdrew to Corinth.
CUTTING OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER

The North won important
victory on April 25, 1862,
captured of New Orleans,
Louisiana, under the
command of David
Farragut’s naval forces.

Capture meant that the
Confederacy could no longer
use the Mississippi River to
carry its crops to sea.
WAR IN THE EAST

The war in the East was not as successful for
the Union.

The Union’s goal of capturing the Confederate
capital of Richmond, Virginia, was never met.

The Southern strategy of making the North
tired of fighting seemed to be working.
PENINSULAR CAMPAIGN

General McClellan did not act
promptly on Lincoln’s orders to
advance directly to Richmond.

He took his troops on a several
weak circular routes by ship
known as the Peninsular
Campaign

Peninsula between the York and
James Rivers southeast of the
city.
WAR IN THE EAST

When the Union and
Confederate forces finally
met in June, known as the
Seven Days’ Battle,
Confederate General Robert
E. Lee took command.

He eventually drove the
Yankees back to the James
River.
WAR IN THE EAST
•
Richmond was never captured, and the
Confederates were only 20 miles away from
Washington, D.C.
–
McClellan’s army was pushed back, but it was
larger than Lee’s and still close to Richmond.
–
When McClellan did not renew his attack toward
Richmond, Lincoln ordered him North to Virginia to
join Major General John Pope’s troops.
SECOND BATTLE OF BULL RUN

Stonewall Jackson’s
troops met Lee’s army
and were attacked by
Pope’s troops on August
29 at Bull Run.

The Second Battle of
Bull Run was won by the
Confederacy.
WAR IN THE EAST
•
Another major battle, the Battle
of Antietam occurred on
September 17.
•
Both armies suffered severe
losses, but neither was
destroyed. General Lee withdrew
to Virginia, so the Union claimed
victory.
•
Additionally Lincoln used the
battle to change Northern war
aims and take action against
slavery.
ANTIETAM
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1. Lee’s army marched into
Maryland in September 1862
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McClellan with his 80,000 troops
moved slowly after them.

After a McClellan soldier found a
copy of Lee’s orders, McClellan
knew Lee’s plans, but because he
was so cautious and acted so
slowly, Lee was able to gather his
forces along the Antietam Creek.
ANTIETAM

On September 17 the bloodiest day of the war
saw close to 6,000 soldiers dead or dying and
another 17,000 seriously wounded.
MCLELLAN IS OUT
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The next day Lee withdrew.

When McClellan refused to obey Lincoln’s order to
pursue Lee, Lincoln replaced McClellan with General
Ambrose Burnside as commander of the Army of the
Potomac.