2. THE BATTLES AND PLACES YOU NEED TO KNOW Fort Sumter Bull Run Ironclads Shiloh Antietam Fredericksburg Chancellorsville Gettysburg Vicksburg Chickamauga Virginia Campaign Sherman’s March Petersburg/Richmond Appomattox DATES
3. THE BATTLES AND PLACES YOU NEED TO KNOW DATES APRIL 12 1861 Fort Sumter Bull Run Ironclads Shiloh Antietam Fredericksburg Chancellorsville Gettysburg Vicksburg Chickamauga Sherman’s March Petersburg/Richmond Appomattox
12. FORT SUMTER IMPACT Lincoln calls for 75,000 volunteers North responds quickly Virginia and 3 other states secede Military conflict begins –it’s on
13. THE BATTLES AND PLACES YOU NEED TO KNOW DATES July 21, 1861 Fort Sumter Bull Run Ironclads Shiloh Antietam Fredericksburg Chancellorsville Gettysburg Vicksburg Chickamauga Sherman’s March Petersburg/Richmond Appomattox
19. BULL RUN IMPACT Confederacy wins first major battle War will not be short Both sides ask for more recruits Change in Union Generals The Legend of Stonewall
22. THE BATTLES AND PLACES YOU NEED TO KNOW MARCH 1862 Fort Sumter Bull Run Ironclads Shiloh Antietam Fredericksburg Chancellorsville Gettysburg Vicksburg Chickamauga Sherman’s March Petersburg/Richmond Appomattox
34. THE BATTLES AND PLACES YOU NEED TO KNOW DATES APRIL 12 1861 April 6 and 7 1862 APRIL 6 and 7, 1862 Fort Sumter Bull Run Ironclads Shiloh Antietam Fredericksburg Chancellorsville Gettysburg Vicksburg Chickamauga Sherman’s March Petersburg/Richmond Appomattox
41. SHILOH Incredibly bloody – 24,000+ casualties – foreshadows rest of war Grant begins to make a name for himself – but is almost fired
42. THE BATTLES AND PLACES YOU NEED TO KNOW DATES APRIL 12 1861 April 6 and 7 1862 SEPTEMBER 17 1862 Fort Sumter Bull Run Ironclads Shiloh Antietam Fredericksburg Chancellorsville Gettysburg Vicksburg Chickamauga Sherman’s March Petersburg/Richmond Appomattox
50. ANTIETAM Lee leads rebels north to strike a blow in Union and win foreign support Lee's plans fall into Union hands McClellan hesitates Bloody battle leads to a Union “victory”
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52. ANTIETAM IMPACT Union gains first major “victory” in east South hurt in gaining foreign allies Lincoln was waiting for “victory” to make a big move Change in Union Generals
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54. THE BATTLES AND PLACES YOU NEED TO KNOW DATES APRIL 12 1861 DECEMBER 1862 Fort Sumter Bull Run Ironclads Shiloh Antietam Fredericksburg Chancellorsville Gettysburg Vicksburg Chickamauga Sherman’s March Petersburg/Richmond Appomattox
61. FREDERICKSBURG IMPACT Union is turned back again Confederate morale increases Lee may look to the North again Change in Union generals
62. A MERRY GO ROUND OF GENERALS Scott McClellan Halleck Pope McClellan Burnsides Hooker
Notas do Editor
With Virginia having cast its lot with the South, the Confederate capital was soon moved from Montgomery, Alabama to Richmond, Virginia. This put the two opposing capitals, Washington, D.C., and Richmond, only 100 miles apart. This small area in Maryland and Virginia between the two capitals would see some of the bloodiest fighting during the war. In the spring of 1861, Lincoln, seeing that his ninety-day volunteers' terms of enlistments would soon be expiring, placed Brigadier General Irvin McDowell at the head of the 30,000 men then in Washington and ordered an advance toward the Confederate capital. Although McDowell was unhappy with the untrained state of his troops, he proposed moving against Beauregard's concentration of about 22,000 Confederate troops near Manassas, Virginia. Delays in beginning the advance allowed Beauregard time to reinforce his position with some 9,000 troops under Brigadier General Joseph E. Johnston who had succeeded in giving a Federal "holding force" the slip, and moved his command by rail from the Shenandoah Valley to Manassas. On July 21, 1861, a hot, dusty, Sunday afternoon, these two amateur armies clashed across Bull Run Creek. Although McDowell's attack plan was initially successful, a stubborn stand by Thomas J. ("Stonewall") Jackson's brigade allowed Johnston's late arriving reinforcements to turn the tide for the Confederates. McDowell ordered a retreat, which soon became a rout. The inexperienced Confederates however, were in no shape to pursue the beaten Federals, and the Federal army, now more a disorganized mob, retreated back to Washington.
President Lincoln viewed the March 8, 1862, sinking of the Congress and Cumberland as the greatest Union calamity since Bull Run. Secretary of War Edwin W. Stanton feared that the Virginia "would soon come up the Potomac and disperse Congress, destroy the Capitol and public buildings…" Stanton believed that "McClellan’s mistaken purpose to advance by the Peninsula must be abandoned." As the burning Congress set an eerie glow across the harbor the evening of March 8, the USS Monitor arrived in Hampton Roads. It had almost sunk enroute from New York. The Monitor was a completely new concept of naval design created by Swedish inventor John Ericsson. Its revolving turret housed two 11–inch Dahlgrens and the ironclad’s decks were virtually awash with the sea. On the morning of March 9, 1862, Lieutenant Jones was surprised to see this "cheesebox on a raft" approach the Virginia. For the next two hours the Monitor and Virginia dueled, but neither ship was able to inflict serious damage on the other. The Monitor briefly broke off the engagement to resupply ammunition and the Virginia tried to move against the Minnesota , but ran aground. The Virginia somehow was able to free herself. The fight continued until a shell struck the Monitor’s pilothouse, blinding her commander, Lieutenant John Lorimer Worden, causing the Monitor to temporarily break off action. Believing that the Union ironclad had had enough and suffering from several leaks, Jones ordered the Virginia back to Norfolk with the receding tide. Both sides claimed victory. The Monitor was successful in stopping the Confederate ironclad from destroying the Federal fleet. The Virginia , however, blocked the James River and closed this approach to Richmond to Union use. The two ironclads never fought each other again.
The Merrimac - Originally a wooden steam frigate, the Merrimac was sunk and abandoned by Union forces in the Elizabeth River off Norfolk, Virginia, in the spring of 1861. It was raised by Confederate forces a few months later and rebuilt as an ironclad vessel. The Merrimac was renamed the Virginia but continued to be known by the original name. On March 8, 1862, the Merrimac attacked and destroyed several Union vessels, trying to break up the Union blockade
The Monitor - On March 9, 1862, the Monitor engaged the Merrimac at Hampton Roads, off the Virginia coast. The Monitor was designed by the Swedish-American engineer John Ericsson (1803-89). It was a much lighter vessel than the Merrimac and had a revolving turret with two heavy guns. This engagement was the first conflict between ironclad warships. Exchanges of fire did not produce substantial damage, but after a few hours of battle the Confederate ship was forced to withdraw to Norfolk because of sinking tides.
The Monitor - On March 9, 1862, the Monitor engaged the Merrimac at Hampton Roads, off the Virginia coast. The Monitor was designed by the Swedish-American engineer John Ericsson (1803-89). It was a much lighter vessel than the Merrimac and had a revolving turret with two heavy guns. This engagement was the first conflict between ironclad warships. Exchanges of fire did not produce substantial damage, but after a few hours of battle the Confederate ship was forced to withdraw to Norfolk because of sinking tides.
The First Day April 6, 1862 With the loss of Forts Henry and Donelson in February, General Johnston withdrew his disheartened Confederate forces into west Tennessee, northern Mississippi and Alabama to reorganize. In early March, General Halleck responded by ordering General Grant to advance his Union Army of West Tennessee on an invasion up the Tennessee River. Occupying Pittsburg Landing, Grant entertained no thought of a Confederate attack. Halleck's instructions were that following the arrival of General Buell's Army of the Ohio from Nashville, Grant would advance south in a joint offensive to seize the Memphis & Charleston Railroad, the Confederacy's only east-west all weather supply route that linked the lower Mississippi Valley to cities on the Confederacy's east coast. Assisted by his second-in-command, General Beauregard, Johnston shifted his scattered forces and concentrated almost 55,000 men around Corinth. Strategically located where the Memphis & Charleston crossed the Mobile & Ohio Railroad, Corinth was the western Confederacy's most important rail junction. On April 3, realizing Buell would soon reinforce Grant, Johnston launched an offensive with his newly christened Army of the Mississippi. Advancing upon Pittsburg Landing with 43,938 men, Johnston planned to surprise Grant, cut his army off from retreat to the Tennessee River, and drive the Federals west into the swamps of Owl Creek. In the gray light of dawn, April 6, a small Federal reconnaissance discovered Johnston's army deployed for battle astride the Corinth road, just a mile beyond the forward Federal camps. Storming forward, the Confederates found the Federal position unfortified. Johnston had achieved almost total surprise. By mid-morning, the Confederates seemed within easy reach of victory, overrunning one frontline Union division and capturing its camp. However, stiff resistance on the Federal right entangled Johnston's brigades in a savage fight around Shiloh Church. Throughout the day, Johnston's army hammered the Federal right, which gave ground but did not break. Casualties upon this brutal killing ground were immense. Meanwhile, Johnston's flanking attack stalled in front of Sarah Bell's peach orchard and the dense oak thicket labeled the "hornet's nest" by the Confederates. Grant's left flank withstood Confederate assaults for seven crucial hours before being forced to yield ground in the late afternoon. Despite inflicting heavy casualties and seizing ground, the Confederates only drove Grant towards the river, instead of away from it. The Federal survivors established a solid front before Pittsburg Landing and repulsed the last Confederate charge as dusk ended the first day of fighting. The Second Day April 7, 1862 Shiloh's first day of slaughter also witnessed the death of the Confederate leader, General Johnston, who fell at mid-afternoon, struck down by a stray bullet while directing the action on the Confederate right. At dusk, the advance division of General Buell's Federal Army of the Ohio reached Pittsburg Landing, and crossed the river to file into line on the Union left during the night. Buell's arrival, plus the timely appearance of a reserve division from Grant's army, led by Major General Lewis Wallace, fed over 22,500 reinforcements into the Union lines. On April 7, Grant renewed the fighting with an aggressive counterattack. Taken by surprise, General Beauregard managed to rally 30,000 of his badly disorganized Confederates, and mounted a tenacious defense. Inflicting heavy casualties on the Federals, Beauregard's troops temporarily halted the determined Union advance. However, strength in numbers provided Grant with a decisive advantage. By midafternoon, as waves of fresh Federal troops swept forward, pressing the exhausted Confederates back to Shiloh Church, Beauregard realized his armies' peril and ordered a retreat. During the night, the Confederates withdrew, greatly disorganized, to their fortified stronghold at Corinth. Possession of the grisly battlefield passed to the victorious Federal's, who were satisfied to simply reclaim Grant's camps and make an exhausted bivouac among the dead. General Johnston's massive and rapid concentration at Corinth, and surprise attack on Grant at Pittsburg Landing, had presented the Confederacy with an opportunity to reverse the course of the war. The aftermath, however, left the invading Union forces still poised to carry out the capture of the Corinth rail junction. Shiloh's awesome toll of 23,746 men killed, wounded, or missing brought a shocking realization to both sides that the war would not end quickly. Source: "The Atlas of the Civil War" by James M. McPherson
The Battle of Antietam (or Sharpsburg) on September 17, 1862, climaxed the first of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's two attempts to carry the war into the North. About 40,000 Southerners were pitted against the 87,000-man Federal Army of the Potomac under Gen. George B. McClellan. And when the fighting ended, the course of the American Civil War had been greatly altered. After his great victory at Manassas in August, Lee had marched his Army of Northern Virginia into Maryland, hoping to find vitally needed men and supplies. McClellan followed, first to Frederick (where through rare good fortune a copy of the Confederate battle plan, Lee's Special Order No. 191, fell into his hands), then westward 12 miles to the passes of South Mountain. There on September 14, at Turner's, Fox's, and Crampton's gaps, Lee tried to block the Federals. But because he had split his army to send troops under Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson to capture Harpers Ferry, Lee could only hope to delay the Northerners. McClellan forced his way through, and by the afternoon of September 15 both armies had established new battielines west and east of Antietam Creek near the town of Sharpsburg. When Jackson's troops reached Sharpsburg on the 16th, Harpers Ferry having surrendered the day before, Lee consolidated his position along the low ridge that runs north and south of the town. The battle opened at dawn on the 17th when Union Gen. Joseph Hooker's artillery began a murderous fire on Jackson's men in the Miller cornfield north of town. "In the time I am writing," Hooker reported, "every stalk of corn in the northern and greater part of the field was cut as closely as could have been done with a knife, and the slain lay in rows precisely as they had stood in their ranks a few moments before." Hooker's troops advanced, driving the Confederates before them, and Jackson reported that his men were "exposed for near an hour to a terrific storm of shell, canister, and musketry." About 7 a.m. Jackson was reinforced and succeeded in driving the Federals back. An hour later Union troops under Gen. Joseph Mansfield counterattacked and by 9 o'clock had regained some of the lost ground. Then, in an effort to extricate some of Mansfield's men from their isolated position near the Dunker Church, Gen. John Sedgwick's division of Edwin V. Sumner's corps advanced into the West Woods. There Confederate troops struck Sedgwick's men on both flanks, inflicting appalling casualties. Meanwhile, Gen. William H. French's division of Sumner's corps moved up to support Sedgwick but veered south into Confederates under Gen. D. H. Hill posted along an old sunken road separating the Roulette and Piper farms. For nearly 4 hours, from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., bitter fighting raged along this road (afterwards known as Bloody Lane) as French, supported by Gen. Israel B. Richardson's division, also of Sumner's corps, sought to drive the Southerners back. Confusion and sheer exhaustion finally ended the battle here and in the northern part of the field generally. Southeast of town, Union Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside's troops had been trying to cross a bridge over Antietam Creek since 9:30 a.m. Some 400 Georgians had driven them back each time. At 1 p.m. the Federals finally crossed the bridge (now known as Burnside Bridge) and, after a 2-hour delay to reform their lines, advanced up the slope beyond. By late afternoon they had driven the Georgians back almost to Sharpsburg, threatening to cut off the line of retreat for Lee's decimated Confederates. Then about 4 p.m. Gen. A. P. Hill's division, left behind by Jackson at Harpers Ferry to salvage the captured Federal property, arrived on the field and immediately entered the fight. Burnside's troops were driven back to the heights near the bridge they had earlier taken. The Battle of Antietam was over. The next day Lee began withdrawing his army across the Potomac River. More men were killed or wounded at Antietam on September 17, 1862, than on any other single day of the Civil War. Federal losses were 12,410, Confederate losses 10,700. Although neither side gained a decisive victory, Lee's failure to carry the war effort effectively into the North caused Great Britain to postpone recognition of the Confederate government. The battle also gave President Abraham Lincoln the opportunity to issue the Emancipation Proclamation, which, on January 1, 1863, declared free all slaves in States still in rebellion against the United States. Now the war had a dual purpose: to preserve the Union and end slavery.
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Embarrassed by General McClellan's repeated defeats and apparent lack of commitment in prosecuting the war, Lincoln replaced him on November 7 with General Ambrose Burnside. Burnside launched a winter campaign against the Confederate capital, Richmond, by way of Fredericksburg, a strategically important town on the Rappahannock River. The Federal Army of the Potomac, 115,000-strong, raced to Fredericksburg, arriving on November 17. There were only a few thousand Confederates on hand to challenge them, yet the Federal advance ground to a halt on the eastern bank of the Rappahannock, opposite the city. Burnside's campaign was delayed for over a week when material he had ordered for pontoon bridges failed to arrive. Disappointed by the delay, Burnside marked time for a further two weeks. Meanwhile, Lee took advantage of the stalled Federal drive to concentrate and entrench his Army of Northern Virginia, some 78,000-strong, on the high ground behind Fredericksburg. With the arrival of the pontoons, Burnside crossed the river on December 11, despite fierce fire from Confederate snipers concealed in buildings along the city's river front. When the Confederates withdrew, Federal soldiers looted the town, from which the inhabitants had been evacuated. By December 13, Burnside was prepared to launch a two-pronged attack to drive Lee's forces from an imposing set of hills just outside Fredericksburg. The main assault struck south of the city. Misunderstandings and bungled leadership on the part of the commander of the Federal left, Major General William B. Franklin, limited the attacking force to two small divisions - Major General George G. Meade to lead; Major General John Gibbon in support. Meade's troops broke through an unguarded gap in the Confederate lines, but Jackson's men expelled the unsupported Federals, inflicting heavy losses. Burnside launched his second attack from Fredericksburg against the Confederate left on Marye's Heights. Wave after wave of Federal attackers were mown down by Confederate troops firing from an unassailable position in a sunken road protected by a stone wall. Over the course of the afternoon, no fewer than fourteen successive Federal brigades charged the wall of Confederate fire. Not a single Federal soldier reached Longstreet's line. On December 15, Burnside ordered his beaten army back across the Rappahannock.The Union had lost 13,000 soldiers in a battle in which the dreadful carnage was matched only by its futility. Federal morale plummeted, and Burnside was swiftly relieved of his command. By contrast, the morale of the Confederacy reached a peak. Their casualties had been considerably lighter than the Union's, totaling only 5,000. Lee's substantial victory at Fredericksburg, won with relative ease, increased the already buoyant confidence of the Army of Northern Virginia, which led subsequently to the invasion of the North the following summer. Source: "The Atlas of the Civil War" by James M. McPherson