Siege of Vicksburg: July 4, 1863
•
•
•
Last Rebel stronghold
on the Mississippi
River
Grant besieged the city
for 10 months
City surrendered on
July 4
IMPORTANCE
1. Union controlled the
Miss. R.
2. South split in 2
• Gettysburg & Vicksburg
= turning point in favor
of Union
Bell Ringer
What were some problems on the
home front during the Civil
War?
Disagreements on the War
• Desertion, riots (N.Y.
and Richmond)
• Copperheads: Northern
Democrats who
supported the South
• Lincoln suspended the
writ of habeas corpus
and jailed demonstrators
Draft Laws
• North and South pass
conscription laws
• Exceptions:
– Southern planters owning
20 + slaves / no service to
keep economy strong
– Northerners could hire
“subs” for $6000
– Northern Bounties: cash to
volunteers
• N.Y. riots “Gangs of New
York”
Economic Effects of the War
• Inflation in the South
• Industry replacing
Agriculture as main
money maker
• 1861: 1st Income Tax
– Tax on all earnings
• 1862: Green Backs
– Paper Money
Civil War Overview Part II
Battle of Gettysburg: July 1-3 1863
• 90,000 Union
troops under
Gen. George
Meade
vs.
• 75,000 Rebels
under Gen.
Lee
Gettysburg: Turning Point, Day 3
• Pickett’s Charge:
13,000 men
–50 min. / 10,000
Casualties
• Lee retreated to
VA., Meade did
not follow
DEATHS
• North: 23,000
• South: 28,000
Exit Ticket
Now that you have read the
Gettysburg Address, why do
you think this is considered one
of the most famous speeches in
history?
Explain!
Bell Ringer
What was the Gettysburg
Address?
What impact does this speech
have today?
Gettysburg Address
• Lincoln came to Gettysburg to
honor the fallen soldiers with the
dedication of the new memorial
and cemetery.
• It is recognized today as an
enduring statement of Americas
values and goals.
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new
nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created
equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so
conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that
war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those
who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper
that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate—we can not consecrate —we can not
hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have
consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note,
nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is
for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who
fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to
the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased
devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we
here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under
God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the
people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
Grant’s Plan
• Grant given command of
the Union Army in
March 1864 when
Lincoln fired Meade after
Gettysburg
• Grant’s Plan:
1. Pursue Lee in Virginia
2. Sherman would push
through the South to
Atlanta
Grant in Virginia
•His goal was to inflict more losses on the
Confederates than they could withstand.
• Battle of the Wilderness, May ’64
– Grant lost 17,000
• Spotsylvania & Cold Harbor
– Grant lost 7,000
• June ’64, Grant arrived in Petersburg, outside
of Richmond.
Sherman’s Total War
• Total War = war against
the military and the
people
– Destroy way of life in
the South
• Sherman’s success
helped Lincoln’s
re-election.
• Atlanta to Savannah- 300
miles of destruction
Fall of Richmond
• Battle of Petersburg
* Lee vs. Grant = 10
month stand off in the
1st trench warfare battle
• Lee could not hold
– Pulled out and left
Richmond open to
Grant.
• April 1865, Union
Army arrived in the
Confederate capital
Lee Surrenders
• April 9, 1865, Lee met
Grant at Appomattox
Courthouse in VA.
• Grant’s terms:
–Turnover arms
–Keep belongings
–Return to their
farms
–Feed the Rebels
Exit Ticket
• Why was Vicksburg and
Gettysburg the turning
point of the Civil War?
• How does the Union win at
the end?