Wednesday, April 19, 2023A corporal in the 54th Massachusetts wrote to President Lincoln: “Your Excellency, we have done a Soldier’s Duty. Why can’t we have a

Soldier’s pay?” What does this letter suggest about conditions for black soldiers in the Civil

War?It’s Monday! Let’s get our learn on!

Thought of the Day Info Check p21 Quiz p21**Moving to Tuesday Notes pg 22- The Civil War CW Episode 1

The American Civil War 1861-1865

**dates you MUST remember

Jan 1861: South secedes March 1861: (elected in 1860) Lincoln is

inaugurated April 1861: Attack on Fort Sumter (1st shot of the CW)

June 1861 -- West Virginia Is Born. Residents of the western counties of Virginia did not wish to secede along with the rest of the state. This section of Virginia was admitted into the Union as the state of West Virginia on June 20, 1863.

January 1862: Lincoln issues a war order authorizing the Union to launch a unified aggressive action against the Confederacy. General McClellan ignored the order.

Major Generals to know

General Ulysses S. Grant: led during the later years & his victory at Appomattox Courthouse, effectively ended the civil war.

George McClellan: led the Army Of the Potomac during early years of war

General Ambrose Burnside: was a soldier, an industrialist, railroad executive and an inventor, eventually becoming the governor of Rhode Island as well as US Senator. 

General William Tecumseh Sherman: fought in many battles/best known for taking Atlanta & his brutal by “march to the sea."

General George Custer: was a United States Army officer who served in both the CW & Indian wars, meeting his end at the Battle of Little Bighorn.

General Robert E. Lee: Commander of the Army of Northern Virginia/ considered the most successful confederate general.

General Stonewall Jackson: fought brilliantly from First Bull Run to his death at the battle of Chancellorsville from friendly fire.

General J.E.B. Stuart: a famous cavalry commander known for his reconnaissance (scouting)

Lt Nathan Bedford Forrest: an innovative cavalry commander, and was the only General on either side who began as a private.

General James Longstreet: 1st Corps of the Army Of Northern Virginia/ considered one of the most capable generals on either side

Shots Fired

-war begins at Fort Sumter, S.C., 1861 (1st shots)

-Bull Run – 1st battle @ Manassas, Virginia

-July 1861

-Southern victory – Stonewall Jackson

-proved the Civil War would be a long, serious war

-Lincoln replaces general with McClellan

-did not pursue the retreating Union army

-citizens watched the battle

-had a picnic on the hill

Battle of Richmond-A cautious McClellan waits too long and fails to take Richmond-Beat by Lee-Lincoln fires McClellan

Second Battle of Bull Run-Battle of Manassas-Confederates win -Lincoln reinstates McClellan

Antietam

-Sept. 1862

-Lee leads troops into border state (Maryland) hoping for support

-Lee’s battle plan is found by Union soldiers

-bloodiest single day of the war

-Union victory for McClellan

-Lee retreats to Va.

-21,000 casualties in one day

-Emancipation is declared

Vicksburg

-Nov. 1862

-Ulysses S. Grant (N. General)

-comin’ down the Mississippi

-Taking Vicksburg would be “key”

-Many obstacles

-Grant surrounds city on the Mississippi

-Siege of Vicksburg lasts +40 days

-try to split the south

Confederate Victories

-Confederates greatly outnumbered but Lee still wins

-McClellan fired AGAIN for not pursuing Confederates @ Antietam

- General Burnside leads union

-Dec. 1862

-Fredericksburg – South wins

- Gen. Burnside is fired

-Replaced by Gen. Hooker

-May 1863

-Chancellorsville – S. wins again

-Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson is killed

Gettysburg

-July 1863 – 3 day battle

-Lee invades North

-Little Round Top – Union is forced to higher ground until nightfall

-Cemetery Ridge – one of many hills Union controlled

-Pickett’s Charge - destroyed Confederate forces

-turning point of the war as Lee is defeated

-Gettysburg Address given by Lincoln several months later

South is Split

-July 1863

-Grant captures Vicksburg after long siege

-Grant is called to command Union armies

-relentlessly attacks Richmond

-Begins “Total War”

-demoralizes the South

Sherman’s March

-1864

-”March to the Sea”: 60k troops from Tenn. to Savannah, Ga.

-Total War – looting and destruction of anything valuable

“War is Hell”

-Forced evacuation of Atlanta

-burning of Atlanta

-destroy the will to fight: destroying the Confederacy’s will to fight

"I am tired and sick of war... It is only those who have neither fired a shot nor

heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood, for

vengeance, for desolation. War is hell."

Grant in Pursuit

-1864 – election between McClellan and Lincoln

-Lincoln wins

-Lee in retreat

- running out of troops

-Grant attacks repeatedly at great loss of life

-Siege of Petersburg

-Burning of Richmond

-Lincoln wants speedy end to war

- “with malice towards none”

War’s End

-April 1865

-Grant surrounds Lee outside Richmond

-surrender at Appomattox – Appomattox Courthouse in Virginia

-Surrender took months to reach other generals

-Juneteenth Day!

George B. McClellan (1826-1885)U.S. Army officerrailroad president and politician who served as a major

general during the Civil War (1861-65). Briefly served as general-in-chief of the Union Army.McClellan was well liked by his men, but his reticence

(shyness) to attack the Confederacy with the full force of his army—despite a significant numerical advantage—put him at odds with President Abraham Lincoln.

Failed to defeat Robert E. Lee’s Confederate Army @ Battle of Antietam later that year.

Frustrated by McClellan’s overly cautious tactics, Lincoln removed him from command of the Army of the Potomac in late 1862.

McClellan would go on to mount a failed presidential campaign against Lincoln in 1864, and would later serve as the governor of New Jersey from 1878 to 1881.