10 Major 10 Major Battles of the Battles of the

Civil WarCivil War

Notes to add in the margin

The Civil War was fought on 3 fronts, corresponding to the 3 parts of the Union strategy –– Eastern Front – attempt to capture Richmond

and defend Washington, DC– Western Front – attempt to capture the

Mississippi River to divide the South and western railroads to limit communication and troop/supply movement

– Blockade of southern coast to prevent them from receiving help from overseas

Battle Names

Most battles had 2 names– North named battles after nearest river or

stream (Bull Run, Antietam creek)– South named battles after nearest town

(Manassas, Sharpsburg)

First Bull Run /First Manassas

 State: Virginia Date: July 21, 1861 Southern Leader:

Beauregard Northern Leader:

McDowell Winner: South

Union: Irvin McDowell

Confederate: Pierre G. T. Beauregard

http://www.civilwarhome.com/beaubio.htmhttp://nps-vip.net/history/portraits/mcdowell_irvin.htm

Many people came from Washington, DC to watch this battle for control the railroad at Manassas Junction.

Confederates were losing until reinforcements arrived.

Union troops panicked and retreated toward Washington, DC, along with the sightseers who clogged the roads.

Confederates were too weary and disorganized to follow.

It was at this battle that southern General Thomas Jackson earned the nickname “Stonewall Jackson” because he and his troops refused to retreat even under heavy fire. He would become one of Lee’s most valuable lieutenants.

Results of this battle:

1. Both sides adopted new uniforms.(Confederate: gray; Union: blue )  

2. The Confederacy adopted a new and easily distinguishable flag.  

3. Both sides realized that the war would not soon be over.

Shiloh/Pittsburg Landing

State: Tennessee

Western front Dates: April 6-7, 1862 Winner: North Shiloh Church

Union: Ulysses S. Grant

Confederate: Beauregard

http://www.civilwarhome.com/beaubio.htmhttp://www.cr.nps.gov/logcabin/html/usg.html

In this battle, 80% of the troops were kids who had never heard a gun fired in anger. Many did not even know how to work rifles. One general told his troops, “It’s just like shooting squirrels, except these squirrels have guns.”

After two days of fighting,the Confederates retreated. The victory was costly, however, The Union lost 13,000, and the Confederates lost 10,000.

This battle earned the name, “Bloody Shiloh.”

2nd Bull Run/2nd Manassas

State: Virginia Date: August 30, 1862 Winner: SouthEastern frontgoal – railroad line

Union: John Pope

Confederate: Robert E. Lee

http://www.nps.gov/arho/history.htmhttp://www.civilwarhome.com/popebio.htm

The Union army was once again pushed back to Washington, DC, by the Confederates.

Union casualties: 32,000 missing wounded or dead.

Southern casualties: 9,000. It was a great victory for the

Confederacy and a crushing defeat for the Union.

Antietam (Sharpsburg)

State: Maryland Date: September 17,

1862 Winner: *claimed by

Lincoln for North

Union: George McClellan

Confederate: Robert E. Lee

http://www.nps.gov/arho/history.htmhttp://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/hh/31/hh31b.htm

Lee had good reasons for invading the North. (1) He hoped to bring Maryland into the Confederacy and (2) from there attack Washington, DC, Philadelphia, and (3) the rich farmland that would give his army supplies of food. He brought 50,000 dirty, ragged, and hungry troops into Maryland.

It was doomed from the beginning. The people of the state did not welcome troops as heroes but as invaders.

Another blow happened when a Union private found an envelope containing Lee’s plans.

Because more than 24,000 men had been killed or wounded in the fighting, the battle of Antietam has been called the “the bloodiest single day of the war.”

Even though both sides just stopped fighting, Lincoln claimed this battle as a victory for the North.

He used it as an opportunity to issue the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed slaves only in the seceding states.

However, this changed the nature of the war, to include the goal of abolishing slavery.

Although European intervention remained a threat, it would now be less likely.

Chancellorsville

State: Virginia Dates: May 2-4, 1863 Winner: South

Union: Joseph Hooker “Fighting Joe”

Confederate: Robert E. Lee

http://www.nps.gov/arho/history.htmhttp://www.ehistory.com/world/PeopleView.cfm?PID=42

This battle was fought in the Wilderness area of Virginia. The area was called this because it was so thick and tangled with vines that a soldier could only see a few yards ahead. This resulted in the death of Stonewall Jackson when he was shot by his own men who thought he was part of a Union cavalry charge.

Jackson had to have his left arm amputated and later died of pneumonia

Lee’s comment: “Jackson has lost his left arm, but I have lost my good right arm.”

The loss of Jackson was important because he seemed to be the only general under Lee who could carry out his battle plans.

Vicksburg (siege and battle)

State: Mississippi Surrender Date: July 4,

1863 Winner: North Western frontGoal – Mississippi River

Union: Ulysses S. Grant

Confederate: John C. Pemberton

http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/hh/21/hh21b.htmhttp://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/hh/21/hh21b.htm

The Mississippi River was called the “spinal cord of America” and was very important to both sides during the war.

Vicksburg was in a very strong defensive position. High, fortified bluffs overlooked the Mississippi River. These fortifications could sweep the river with cannon fire.

Grant had his men surround the city on three sides, and the Union navy prevented any ships from approaching the city from the river. For weeks the Union troops laid siege to the city. Finally, on July 4, Pemberton surrendered to Grant.

During the siege, many of the civilians in the city lived in caves because of the constant bombardment. They ate rats, tree bark , etc., to survive.

This battle is considered a turning point because the Union now controlled the Mississippi River.

http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/hh/21/hh21d4.htm

Gettysburg

State: Pennsylvania Dates: July 1-3, 1863

Winner: North *This battle is regarded by

historians as the turning point of the Civil War.*

Union: George Gordon Meade

Confederate: Robert E. Lee

http://www.nps.gov/gett/getttour/main-ms.htm http://www.nps.gov/gett/getttour/main-ms.htm

The Confederate government had committed itself to an attack deep in Union territory. In addition to shocking the Union, it was hoped that this attack might influence England and France to again consider supporting the Confederacy.

It also might affect the 1864 Elections, by shocking enough people into voting for a peace party candidate to oust Lincoln.

General Lee massed his army together and moved on Pennsylvania. It would be a “promised land” for the rebel troops who were running short of food. They disregarded the facts that they would surely be outnumbered and far from their own supply lines.

Pennsylvanians were in a panic. They feared Lee would capture the ammunition stored at Harrisburg, or that he would turn toward Baltimore to cut off Washington, DC from the rest of the Union.

The battle started by accident. On July 1, a small group of rebel soldiers made their way toward Gettysburg in search of boots, which were desperately needed by the troops. They accidentally met a Union Cavalry unit on routine patrol.

On the third day of the battle came the most famous attack: Pickett’s Charge. Pickett and his men made an heroic charge against an impossible bombardment of cannon and bullets up Cemetery Hill. A handful of survivors reached the summit of the hill and planted the Confederate flag before they were killed or captured.

The Union forces at Gettysburg had numbered about 85,000, while the Confederate army had nearly 75,000. Nearly 7,500 men died on the bloody battlefield at Gettysburg, while almost 45,000 were wounded or missing.

The Union had lost about 23,000 men and the South nearly as many. Lee had lost nearly a third of his army. The big problem was that Lee had no men to replace those who were lost.

As Lee retreated southward, Meade followed him slowly but did not attack. The battle had been too costly for him to consider renewing it.

On July 14, Lee was safely across the Potomac River, his own dream of victory in the North dead forever. Never again would the South invade the North.

This is a turning point battle.The defeat at Gettysburg

and the loss of Vicksburg signaled the beginning of the end for the Confederacy.

Chattanooga

State: Tennessee Date: November 24,

1863 Winner: NorthWestern FrontGoal - railroads

http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/hh/25/hh25m.htm

Union: Ulysses S. Grant

Confederate: Braxton Bragg

http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/hh/25/hh25b.htmhttp://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/hh/21/hh21b.htm

Chattanooga was important to the North as a railroad point. If they could control it, they could get supplies very easily to other Union troops in the South.

When the North attacked Chattanooga, it was so strong that Bragg could not withstand it.

In Grant, Lincoln had finally found a Union general to take charge of the war.

In addition, victory here opened the way for Sherman’s march to the sea.

Atlanta to Savannah (Sherman’s March to the Sea)State: Georgia Dates: September 2-

December 22, 1864 Winner: North Eastern FrontGoal – remove civilian

assistance and will

Union: William Tecumseh Sherman

Confederate: John Bell Hood

http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/hh/25/hh25i.htm

http://www.civilwarhome.com/hoodbio.htm

Atlanta was the main industrial city of the South. The fall of Atlanta would be a crippling blow to the South.

On September 2, Sherman took control of Atlanta. After burning the city virtually to the ground, he began to tear through the South to Savannah.

His men burned, looted, and destroyed the major cities of Georgia and lived off the land.

Sherman sent a message to Lincoln by telegraph on Christmas Day. It said, “Merry Christmas, Mr. President: I have you a present and it is Savannah.”

Sherman had inflicted over one hundred million dollars worth of damage in his “March to the Sea.” He was called the “Scourge of the South.”

He was the first American general to use the military tactic of “Total War.”

Surrender at Appomattox

On April 9,1865, Lee had only 30,000 troops. He came near the small town of Appomattox Court House, Virginia, and found that he was surrounded on all sides by Northern troops.

Surrender at AppomattoxUnion: Ulysses S. Grant

Confederate: Robert E. Lee

http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/hh/21/hh21b.htm

http://www.nps.gov/gett/getttour/main-ms.htm

The Union troops waited for the command to attack. The Rebels with their battle flags waving proudly prepared for the final battle. Instead, a single Confederate Cavalryman rode forward, carrying a fluttering white flag.

Both armies stared at the rider in silence. They could not believe what they were seeing! The end had come at last!

“I must go see General Grant,” said Lee, “and I would rather die a thousand deaths.”

Palm Sunday, April 9, 1865: Two generals faced each other in the parlor of a farmhouse owned by Wilmer McLean. General Lee arrived dressed in a new uniform and carrying his ceremonial sword at his side. Grant arrived in his muddy field uniform with no weapon.

http://www.nps.gov/apco/mchs.htm

The two commanders faced each other. Both wanted a good peace. Lee knew that the South was beaten and would have to make the best of whatever happened. Grant wanted only to prove that Northerners and Southerners could be fellow citizens again.

Grant’s terms were very generous. Each rebel soldier was to be allowed to go home undisturbed. Officers were to be allowed to keep their weapons and personal possessions . Any man who had a horse or mule was to be allowed to keep it.

At four o’clock, the two men shook hands, and it was over.

Lee mounted his horse, Traveller, and returned to his men. The Union guns began to fire victory volleys which were halted at once by Grant. “We will not exult over their downfall,” he said.