unit 11 - civil war battles

Fort Sumpter

• first shots fired in civil war, Lincoln calls militia decides war for UNION

• 4 upper south states leave

• Robert Anderson (Union), PGT Beaureguard (Confed)

First Bull Run

• Confed victory

• Irvin McDowell v. Stonewall Jackson

  • McDowell gets fired afterwards

• N wanted head start to Richmond asap -> Lincoln pressured to rush end of war

• Confed ↑ #s & expected attack -> won 

• U initially win, McDowell stops counteratk; Stonewall comes @ noon -> stands ground & forces U back

  • “Yonder stands Jackson like a stonewall”

  • Families that came to watch ran alongside U 

• Shows that war won’t be quick, might have to go w/Anaconda plan & ↑ S motiv. 

Shiloh

• Union vicotry

• Ulysses Grant v Albert Sidney Johnson 

• Grant wants Corinth, MI -> go through rural TE (learns he needs more scouts)

• Confed want surprise atk but weather delay

  • Bulle gets Grant reinforcements in the meantime → union counterattacks & wins hooray 

• Greatest casualties in war (so far, mostly on Union)

  • Grant criticized

  • Johnson dies, ↓S morale

• Union gets normal ass railroad, prevents Confeds from moving S easily 

  • Ppl shocked by carnage in battle w/no significance -> gonna be costly war

Hampton Roads

• indesicive

• John L. Worden v. Franklin Buchanan

• Merrimac: US's only ironclad, snatched by Confed & renamed CSS VA 

• Monitor: Union ship, speedbuilt after Confed took their best ship 

• Confed want to break blockade of Richmond 

  • Thought Monitor was a water ship, oh shit it's shooting at us 

• Blockade of Richmond preserved, first ironclad fight, last navy battle (no?)

  • Technically Union victory despite both withdrawing 

Richmond (7 Days Battle) 

• Confederate victory

• George B. McClellan v. Robert E. Lee 

• U rushing to capture Richmond & end war (launched Peninsula campaign, coming from E slowly) → Lee sees him 

• Lee wants to defend capital & raise morale → digs a bunch of trenches 

  • Richmond protect by trenches, drive Union away but w/heavy losses

• McClellan gets fired ("I'd like to borrow your army if you're not going to use it - Lincoln”)

  • Scott: omg pls you guys we need to wait 

Second Bull Run

• Confed vicotry

• John Pope v. Lee, Jackson (def), James Longstreet (c-atk)

  • Pope opp of McClellan, brash & arrogant, kinda replacement 

• Both trying to secure supply lines & control N. VA (near both capitals)

• Lee becomes more offensive, pushing N 

  • Big boost to Confed morale

  • Prove to N they deserve an alliance (albeit this is the farthest they get)

• Pope fired -> back to McClellan

• Low point for Lincoln (constant loss on E)

  • Recruitment ↓, N morale ↓, war bond sales ↓

Antietam

• Indecisive

• George B. McClellan v. Robert E. Lee

• Lee want to capture MD then DC 

  • Captures battle plans around cigars "special order 191”, dropped

  • Union soldier gives them to McC who does NOTHING with them 

• Union didn't lose →Lincoln issues Emancipation Proclamation 

  • William Seward (besties after L prez, SoS): may come off as weak/desperate since ppl are depressed 

  • L waits for E victory (controls public opinion)

  • Freed slaves in rebel states (Confederacy)

    • Border states kept theirs, Confed too bc not listening to US gov

  • Made war abt slavery & not just protecting the Union

    • Ended chance of foreign aid, Brit alr ended slavery, public opinion won't stand for fighting for slave nation

  • Allows for enlistment of black troops (54th MA regiment )

    • ~200k black soldiers (inc 19k in navy), huge boost for the N 

• Deadliest single day of war to date

• McClellan fired again -> Burnside replacement

Fredericksburg

• Confed

• Ambrose Burnside v. Robert E. Lee

• Rush Richmond from Fredericksburg across Rappahannock River

  • Delayed in building pontoon boats/bridges

• Union push Confed out of city & pillage it 

  • Lee preps & takes high ground, shooting on bridge engineers 

• "Frontal atks” (rush Confed up hill behind wall) -> mostly Union losses no shit

• One of the most one-sided Union defeats

  • Burnside fired -> "fighting Joe” (Joseph) Hooker replaces

  • S morale, N morale (another E loss)

  • Lincoln realizes they can sustain losses like this #s-wise 

chancellorsville

• jackson dies shot by his own men

• Joseph Hooker loses nerve & sets up def positon on way towards Fredericksburg

  • Lee has hafl the men but divides forces & wins

Gettysburg

• Union

• Geroge G. Meade, Winfield Scott Hancock v. Lee, Longstreet, George Pickett

• Chance encounter turned battle

  • Buford saw Hill's men milling around town

  • Confed going N to find food/leverage/shoes

• Buford jumps Hill, takes the high ground 

• Chamberlain defends Little Round Top (end of fishhook defensive line)

  • Pickett's Charge: last attempt to break U lines, lost a bunch of troops

    • Longstreet: hey guys…the road to DC is right there…

• Shifted momentum to Union & ended Lee's invasions N (morale boost yay)

  • First time Union won in the East

• So many bodies, made Soldier's National Cemetery right there 

  • Edward Everett (main speaker, MA gov)

    • Good public speaker, speaks for 2 hrs

  • Lincoln speaks 2 mins & overshadows him → Gettysburg Address

    • Connects Const to DoI 

Vicksburg

• Union victory

• Ulysses Grant v. John C. Pemberton 

• Vicks = last major Confed point on MS river, 40-day siege 

• Grant wins; completes W part of Anaconda Plan

  • Union gets full control of MS river (Fort Henry, Donelson & Port Hudson)

  • "Turning point” of war + Gettysburg (day before)

  • Lincoln can finally bring Grant East 

Richmond (Petersburg siege)

• Union

• Grant, George Meade, Benjamin Butler v. Lee, P.G.T Beauregard 

• Petersburg had Confed supply lines (railroad) -> Grant wants to sever

• Cut off supplies to Confed

• Longest siege in US history (10 months) -> L gave up Petersburg & Richmond 

  • Confed gov goes on train & tries to operate from there

  • Retreating Confeds burn cotton warehouse, spread to entire business district.

• Lee surrenders @ Potomac a week later 

New Orleans

• U & C both want control of MS river (1862)

• David Farragut heads up through Gulf of Mex & captures city (defenseless bc they expected attack in opp direc)

• First major Union victory & turning pt in war -> N of MS closed to Confed trade & S’s largest city/bank center in U hands 

Fort Henry & Fort Donelson

• Albert Sidney Johnston Confed defending them 

• Grant attacked Henry -> surrender bc of ironclads

• Stronger fight @ Donelson but secures it -> gains control of river comms, forces Confeds out of KY & half of TE

Chattanooga

• Third important turning pt 

• Grant rescues Union like big buff CEO core, drives Confeds to GA

• Union controls TE river (& E TE) -> cut off 4/11 Confed states 

Sherman’s March to the Sea

• Won @ Atlanta -> burns rest of GA, gets to Savannah then moves into Carolinas

• Travelled lightly, take what he can, freed enslaved ppl to fight w/them

  • Promise them “40 acres & a mule” after the war 

• Believes in total war

  • “Leave the people nothing but their eyes to weep with” -> destroy everything

• Meets w/Phillip Sheridan (U commander), whose told by Grant to do the same