The American Civil War: Key Battles and Commanders - Ft. Sumter to Appomattox - Prof. Andr, Study notes of United States History

Download The American Civil War: Key Battles and Commanders - Ft. Sumter to Appomattox - Prof. Andr and more Study notes United States History in PDF only on Docsity! 1 The War ? The South had: § Better military officers, NCO & enlisted men. § Better marksmen, on average, 10 Northern soldiers were shot & killed for every 1 Confederate. § Strong military tradition, code of Honor, dueling history, etc. § Fewer soldiers, the Union Army outnumbered the Confederates on average of 5 to 1. § Fewer naval ships, supplies, factories, etc. § Relied on assistance/aid from England & Europe. § No way to get new recruits. ? The North had: § More men & more new recruits to replaced those that died in combat. § More equipment & ways to re-supply the troops. § More factories within the North, did not have to rely on outside assistance. § Bigger navy with better ships, able to establish a naval blockade in the South effectively cutting off the supplies being sent from England, Europe, Mexico & South America to the South. 2 Attack on Ft. Sumter ? April 11, 1861 ? Confederate General Pierre G.T. Beauregard demanded that Union Maj. Robert Anderson surrender Ft. Sumter. ? Anderson refused, knowing that ships were bringing relief. ? April 12, 1861 – at 4:30am, Gen. Beauregard began shelling Ft. Sumter & continued for a day & a half before Anderson surrendered on April 14, 1861. The Build-Up for War ? April 14, 1861 – Pres. Lincoln calls up 75,000 militiamen from “loyal” states. ? April 19, 1861 – Lincoln ordered a blockade of Southern ports. The US Supreme Court would later rule this as an act of War. ? Before the attack on Ft. Sumter there were only 7 Confederate States. After Lincoln’s Proclamation of War, 4 more states joined the Confederacy. ? The Confederate Congress chose Richmond, VA. as the capital city for the CSA. ? States became divided as to which side to join. Many chose to split on the issue of slavery. But 5 slave-holding stayed with the North, i.e. Missouri, Kentucky, West VA., Maryland & Delaware. ? The old “Mason-Dixon” Line, no longer separated North & South. ? Gen. Winfield Scott, the hero of the Mexican War, was the Commander of Union Forces when the War started. But he was very old. Pres. Lincoln & Gen. Scott called in their most qualified officer to take his place - 5 The Battle of Shiloh ? April 6, 1862 ? Gen. Johnston regrouped his men & took advantage of Grant exposing his 42,000 men without defenses. ? The Confederate troops attacked early that morning, while the Union troops were sleeping & eating breakfast. They were slaughtered. This is the Bloodiest Battle in US History. ? Gen. Johnston was killed in the attack, his XO called off the attack instead of finishing the Union army off. The Battle of 7 Pines ? Stonewall Jackson kept about 40,000 Union troops pinned down in the VA. mountains from March 23-June 9, 1862. ? May 31, 1862 - Gen. Johnston was able to attack Union Gen. George McClellan’s forces at the Chickahominy River. ? The Union was almost wiped out, but reinforcements were able to get across the flooded river & bring it to a draw. ? Both sides took heavy losses & Gen. Johnston was severely wounded. The 7 Days Battles ? June 25 – July 1, 1862 ? Gen. Johnston, still recovering from his wounds, regrouped & set out to help remove the Union troops from the Richmond area. ? The attempt was unsuccessful. The Union forces were able to dig in & build palisades. Also, the Union navy was in the James River using their naval artillery as well as land based artillery. ? Confederates took heavy losses, leaving the Union forces within range of Richmond, VA. 6 The 2nd Battle of Manassas ? Aug. 29-30, 1862 ? Confederate forces captured a Union supply depot & forced the Union troops back into Washington, D.C. ? Union forces thought they only had to deal with Stonewall Jackson’s army. They had no idea that Gen. Lee’s army was there also. ? The Union commander, John Pope, was so severely beaten, that Lincoln removed him from command & returned him out west. The Battle of Sharpsburg ? Sept. 17, 1862 ? The Bloodiest single day of the War. ? Both sides fought to a draw, with heavy losses on both sides. ? The North lost more men, about 13,000 total dead & wounded. ? The South lost a good deal less, but they represented over ¼ of Lee’s entire army. ? Union Gen. George McClellan was removed from command by Lincoln & never allowed to lead troops again. The Battle of Fredericksburg ? Nov. 14, 1862, Burnside, now in command of the Army of the Potomac, sent a corps to occupy the vicinity of Falmouth near Fredericksburg. ? The rest of the army soon followed. ? Gen. Lee reacted by digging in his army on the heights behind the town. ? Dec. 11, Union engineers laid 5 pontoon bridges across the Rappahannock under Rebel fire. ? Dec. 12, the Federal army crossed the river. 7 ? Dec. 13, 1862, Burnside mounted a series of frontal assaults on Prospect Hill and Marye’s Heights that resulted in a blood bath for the Union, causing staggering casualties. ? Meade's division, on the Union left flank, briefly penetrated Gen. Jackson's line but was driven back by a counterattack. ? Union generals C. Feger Jackson and George Bayard, and Confederate generals Thomas R.R. Cobb and Maxey Gregg were killed. ? Dec. 15, Burnside called off the offensive and went back across the river, ending the campaign. ? The Union lost over 12,000 men, & the Rebels barley 6,000. ? Jan. 1863 - Burnside initiated a new offensive, which quickly bogged the Union down in the winter mud. ? The abortive "Mud March" and other failures led to Burnside's replacement by Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker in Jan. 1863. ? A major Confederate victory. The Battle of Chancellorsville ? April 27, 1863 - Union Gen. Hooker crossed the Rappahannock River to attack General Lee's forces. ? Hooker had over 130,000 men & Gen. Lee had less than ½ that. But Lee was the better General. ? May 1-3, 1863 - Gen. Lee split his army, attacking a surprised Union army in 3 places and almost completely defeating them. ? Hooker withdrew across the Rappahannock River, giving the South a victory, but it was the Confederates' most costly victory in terms of casualties. 10 ? Gen. George E. Pickett, in a desperate attempt to recapture the partial success of the preceding day, spearheaded one of the most incredible efforts in military history...a massed infantry assault of 15,000 Confederate troops across the open field toward the Union center on Cemetery Ridge. ? 1 mile they marched, while being pounded by artillery and rifle fire. ? Gen. Pickett's men reached but failed to break the Union line, and the magnificent effort ended in disaster. ? The tide of the Confederacy had "swept to its crest, paused, and receded.“ ? In 50 minutes, 10,000 in the assault had become casualties, and the attack - forever to be known as Pickett's Charge - was now history. ? With the failure of Pickett's Charge, the battle was over - the Union was saved. Lee's retreat began on the afternoon of July 4. ? The battle did not end the war, nor did it attain any major war aim for the North or the South, it remains the great battle of the war. ? Here at Gettysburg on July 1, 2, & 3, 1863, more men actually fought & died than in any other battle before or since on North American soil. The Battle of Chickamauga ? Sept. 19, 1863 ? Union and Confederate forces met at Chickamauga Creek in Tenn. ? After a brief period of fighting, Union forces retreated to Chattanooga, and the Confederacy maintained control of the battlefield. ? After Rosecrans's mishap at Chickamauga, Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg's army occupied the mountains that ring the vital railroad center of Chattanooga. 11 The Battle of Chattanooga ? Nov. 24, 1863 ? Following the defeat at Chickamauga, Grant was brought in to save the situation by steadily building up offensive strength. ? The Union then burst the blockade in a series of brilliantly executed attacks. ? Union forces pushed Confederate troops away from Chattanooga. ? The victory set the stage for General Sherman's Atlanta Campaign. ? This would also give the command of the Union Army to Grant. The Battle of the Wilderness ? May 5-7, 1864 ? May 5, 1864, the Union V Corps attacked Ewell's Corps on the Orange Turnpike, while Hill's corps encountered Getty's Division (VI Corps) and Hancock's II Corps on the Plank Road. ? Fighting was fierce but inconclusive as both sides attempted to maneuver in the dense woods. ? Darkness halted the fighting, and both sides rushed forward reinforcements. ? May 6, Hancock attacked along the Plank Road, driving Hill's Corps back in confusion. ? Longstreet's Corps arrived in time to prevent the collapse of the Confederate right flank & by 12 pm, a devastating Confederate flank attack in Hamilton's Thicket sputtered out when Longstreet was wounded by his own men. ? The IX Corps (Burnside) moved against the Confederate center, but was repulsed. ? Union generals James S. Wadsworth and Alexander Hays were killed, as well as Confederate generals John M. Jones, Micah Jenkins, and Leroy A. Stafford. ? The battle was a tactical draw. But Grant did not retreat as had the other Union generals before him. ? May 7, the Federals advanced by the left flank toward the crossroads of Spotsylvania Courthouse. 12 The Battle of Cold Harbor ? June 1-3, 1864 ? Confederate troops were dug in & well fortified in a defensive entrenchment. ? They had learned their lesson the hard way at Gettysburg about attacking such fortifications. ? Grant, on the other hand, ordered his troops to launch a frontal assault on the Confederate lines. ? The following 20 minutes was a complete massacre of Union troops. ? Over 7,000 Union troops lay dead or dying. ? Grant would call this fiasco his “greatest mistake” & earn him the title of “the Butcher” by his troops. The End of the War ? After the Battle of Chattanooga, the Union forces had a straight shot into Georgia & the heart of the South’s railroad lines. ? With no organized army left in Georgia to stop him, Gen. Sherman killed, burned & pillaged his way through the “Heart of Dixie” ? Grant & Sherman had previously agreed to wage war on the Southern civilian population.