The Battle of Chancellorsville
May 1-6 1863
• Northern General = Joseph “Fighting Joe”
Hooker
• Troop Strength – 134,000
• Southern General = Robert E. Lee
• Troop Strength – 58,900
• After Fredericksburg, Lincoln fires Burnside
and replaces him with Hooker
• Lee decides to divide his army in two to
confuse Hooker and surprise him
Joseph Hooker
“My plans are perfect, and when
I start to carry them out, may
God have mercy on General Lee,
for I will have none,”
Robert E. Lee
Lee’s Masterpiece
• Hooker thinks his army is safely
positioned
• Stonewall Jackson’s men surprise the
Union troops
• Hooker is then hit with fragments from
a porch and knocked unconscious
• He lost control of the army and ordered
a withdrawal
Friendly Fire
• On May 2nd 1863, Jackson
left camp to scout the enemy
position at night
• As he returned around 9pm,
he was accidentally shot by
his own men
• He was shot in left arm
twice and once in the right
hand
Death of a General
• Jackson’s left arm is amputated and
he is close to death
• Stonewall Jackson dies on May 10th
1863 from pneumonia
• General Lee says, “Jackson has lost
his left arm and I my right.”
“Let us cross over the river, and rest
under the shade of the trees.”
Rebel Victory
• Lee’s army again defeats the Union
• Hookers comment was, “I just plain
lost faith in Joe Hooker.”
• Northern Casualties = 17,278
• Southern Casualties = 12,821
• Lincoln quote, “My God, what will
the country say?”
Sherman’s March to the Sea
December to November 1864
• Northern General = William Tecumseh
Sherman
• Troop Strength - 75,000
• There was no Confederate army large
enough to stop Sherman
• Sherman orders all people to leave
Atlanta in 5 days
• Sherman says, “I will make Georgia
howl.”
William Tecumseh Sherman
Bad News for the South
• Sherman’s war strategy was to take
the war to the Southern civilian
• Sherman proceeds to burn Atlanta
to the ground
• Sherman’s army will then march
toward Savannah, Georgia on the
coast
Devastation !!!!
• Sherman’s army will kill, burn and
destroy everything in its path
• This path is 25-60 miles wide and
275 miles long
Total War
• Confederates left only with Wheeler’s
cavalry (14,000) … no match for
Sherman’s veteran army of 62,000
• Two large columns under Howard and
Slocum would reach Savannah on
December 10, 1864
• Christmas Present to Lincoln
Total War
• After Sherman’s army destroys Savannah
he then turns north to South & North
Carolina
• South Carolina was to be dealt with
particularly harshly
• Federal troops had particular hatred for
South Carolina … they started it!
U. S. Grant
The “S” is for SUPER
Lieutenant General
• March 9, 1864 - Lincoln promoted Grant to
Lt. general and General in Chief of the
Armies
• General Halleck was made Chief of Staff
(administrative, logistic, paperwork)to free
up Grant to strategize overall strategy.
• Grant’s plan
– Grant v. Lee in East (VA)
– Sherman in West to sea then North
The Forty Days
• Grant along same routes as Hooker and Meade
through Wilderness around Chancellorsville
• General Butler up Yorktown peninsula toward
Richmond from South
• Lee met Grant in Wilderness
• May 5-7, 1864 slugfest Grant v. Lee
– Lee wins decisively
– 17,666 Union casualties
– 7,800 Confederate casualties
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•
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•
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Both Grant’s flanks had been turned
Lee right in front of him ready to attack
Grant was NOT Pope, Hooker, etc.
He did NOT retreat
Pulled out and moved toward Spotsylvania to
flank Lee
• Lee anticipated and moved
• Grant “killer arithmetician”
• War of attrition … North could replace losses /
South could not