Battles and New Technologies
 April 10, 1861, Confederate forces demand
the surrender of the Union garrison of Fort
Sumter in Charleston Harbor.
 Garrison commander Anderson refused. On
April 12, Confederate batteries opened fire
on the fort
 At 2:30 pm, April 13, Major Anderson
surrendered Fort Sumter, evacuating the
garrison on the following day.
 The bombardment of Fort Sumter was the
opening engagement of the American Civil
War.
 Although there were no casualties during
the bombardment, one Union artillerist was
killed and three wounded (one mortally)
when a cannon exploded prematurely while
firing a salute during the evacuation on
April 14.
 The First Battle of Bull Run, also
known as the First Battle of
Manassas was the first major land
battle of the American Civil War,
fought on July 21, 1861, near Manassas,
Virginia.
 Unseasoned Union Army troops
under Brig. Gen. Irvin McDowell
advanced across Bull Run against the
equally unseasoned Confederate
Army under Brig. Gens. Joseph E.
Johnston and P.G.T. Beauregard, and
despite the Union's early successes,
they were routed and forced to retreat
back to Washington, D.C.
 Union casualties were 460 killed, 1,124
wounded, and 1,312 missing or
captured; Confederate casualties were
387 killed, 1,582 wounded, and 13
missing.
 Union forces and civilians
alike feared that
Confederate forces would
advance on Washington,
D.C., with very little
standing in their way.
 On July 24, Confederates
were observed moving in
and about Manassas
Junction and Fairfax and it
was ascertained that there
was no evidence of
massing Rebel forces
 Because of Washington,
D.C.’s location
geographically – it was
vulnerable to attack
 Winfield Scott, the commanding general of the U.S.
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Army, devised the Anaconda His idea was that a
Union blockade of the main ports would weaken the
Confederate economy; then the capture of the
Mississippi River would split the South.
In May 1861, Lincoln enacted the Union blockade of
all Southern ports, ending regular international
shipments to the Confederacy.
When violators' ships and cargoes were seized, they
were sold and the proceeds given to Union sailors,
but the British crews were released.
By late 1861, the blockade stopped most local portto-port traffic. British investors built small, fast
"blockade runners" that traded arms and luxuries
brought in from Bermuda, Cuba and the Bahamas in
return for high-priced cotton and tobacco.
Shortages of food and other goods triggered by the
blockade, foraging by Northern armies, and the
impressment of crops by Confederate armies
combined to cause hyperinflation and bread riots in
the South.
 On March 8, 1862, the
Confederate Navy waged a
fight against the Union Navy
when the ironclad CSS
Virginia (Merrimac) attacked
the blockade; against wooden
ships she seemed unstoppable
 The next day she had to fight
the new Union warship USS
Monitor in the Battle of the
Ironclads. The battle ended in
a draw, which was a strategic
victory for the Union in that
the blockade was sustained.
 The Confederacy lost the
Virginia when the ship was
scuttled to prevent capture,
and the Union built many
copies of Monitor.
The Western Theatre, 1862
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Vicksburg
Location: Mississippi
Dates: May 18-July 4, 1863
Estimated Casualties: 35,825 total (US 4,550; CS
31,275)
Results: Union victory
Shiloh
State: Tennessee
Dates: April 6-7, 1862
Estimated Casualties: 23,746 total (US 13,047;
CS 10,699)
Results: Union victory
Chickamauga
Location:Georgia (1863)
Dates: September 18-20, 1863
Estimated Casualties: 34,624 total (US 16,170;
CS 18,454)
Results: Confederate victory
Atlanta
State: Georgia
Dates: July 22,
Estimated Casualties: 12,140 total (US 3,641; CS
8,499)
Results: Union victory
Sherman’s March to the Sea
Sherman became one
of Lincoln’s most
trusted Generals as a
result of his
performance during
the war in the West
 Guerrilla activity turned much of Missouri into a battleground.
 Missouri had, in total, the third-most battles of any state during the war.
 The other states of the west, though geographically isolated from the
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battles to the east, saw numerous small-scale military actions.
Battles in the region served to secure Missouri, Indian Territory, New
Mexico Territory, and Arizona Territory for the Union.
Confederate incursions into Arizona and New Mexico territories were
repulsed in 1862 and a Union campaign to secure Indian Territory
succeeded in 1863.
Late in the war, the Union's Red River Campaign was a failure.
Texas remained in Confederate hands throughout the war, but was cut off
from the rest of the Confederacy after the capture of Vicksburg in 1863 gave
the Union control of the Mississippi River.
Source: Wikipedia
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Antietam
State: Maryland
Dates: September 16-18, 1862
Forces Engaged: Armies
Estimated Casualties: 23,100 total
Results: Inconclusive (Union strategic victory.)
Fredericksburg
State: Virginia
Dates: December 11-15, 1862
Forces Engaged: 172,504 total (US 100,007; CS
72,497)
Estimated Casualties: 17,929 total (US 13,353; CS
4,576)
Results: Confederate victory
Chancellorsville
State: Virginia
Dates: April 30-May 6, 1863
Forces Engaged: 154,734 total (US 97,382; CS 57,352)
Estimated Casualties: 24,000 total (US 14,000; CS
10,000)
Results: Confederate victory
Gettysburg
State: Pennsylvania
Dates: July 1-3, 1863 Principal
Forces Engaged: 158,300 total (83,289 [US];75,054
[CS])
Estimated Casualties: 51,000 total (US 23,000; CS
28,000)
Results: Union victory
Gettysburg Map
- Overview
 General Buford realized the
importance of the high ground
directly to the south of Gettysburg,
knowing that if the Confederates
could gain control of the heights,
Meade's army would have difficulty
dislodging them.
 He decided to utilize three ridges
west of Gettysburg: Herr Ridge,
McPherson Ridge, and Seminary
Ridge (proceeding west to east
toward the town).
 These were appropriate terrain for a
delaying action by his small division
against superior Confederate
infantry forces, meant to buy time
awaiting the arrival of Union
infantrymen who could occupy the
strong defensive positions south of
town at Cemetery Hill, Cemetery
Ridge, and Culp's Hill.
 Movie: Gettysburg
 Colonel Buford – Scene 9
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Chamberlain and the 20th Maine were sent to
defend the southern slope of Little Round Top the
far left end of the Union line, with the 83rd
Pennsylvania, 44th New York, and 16th Michigan
infantry regiments to their right.
He quickly understood the tactical significance of
Little Round Top, and thus the need for the 20th
Maine to hold the Union left at all cost.
The men from Maine waited until troops from the
15th Alabama regimentcharged up the hill,
attempting to flank the Union position. Time and
time again the Confederates struck, until the 20th
Maine was almost doubled back upon itself.
With many casualties and ammunition running
low, Col. Chamberlain recognized the dire
circumstances and ordered his left wing to initiate
a bayonet charge. From his report of the day: "At
that crisis, I ordered the bayonet. The word was
enough."
The 20th Maine charged down the hill, with the
left wing wheeling continually to make the
charging line swing like a hinge, thus creating a
simultaneous frontal assault and flanking
maneuver, capturing many of the Confederate
soldiers and successfully saving the flank.
 20th Maine 1:49 – 2:18
 Chapter 28
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Lee to attack the Federal II Corps position at the
right center of the Union line on Cemetery Ridge.
Prior to the attack, the artillery of the Confederacy
would bomb Federal positions weakening the
enemy's line.
Around 3 p.m., the cannon fire subsided, and 12,500
Southern soldiers stepped from the ridgeline and
advanced the three-quarters of a mile (1,200 m) to
Cemetery Ridge in what is known to history as
"Pickett's Charge".
As the Confederates approached, there was fierce
flanking artillery fire from Union positions on
Cemetery Hill and north of Little Round Top, and
musket and canister fire from Hancock's II Corps.
Nearly one half of the attackers did not return to
their own lines.
The Federal line wavered and broke temporarily at a
jog called the "Angle" in a low stone fence but
reinforcements rushed in to reinforce the position
and the Confederate attack was repulsed.
The farthest advance of Brig. Gen. Lewis A.
Armistead's brigade of Maj. Gen. George Pickett's
division at the Angle is referred to as the "Highwater mark of the Confederacy", arguably
representing the closest the South ever came to its
goal of achieving independence from the Union via
military victory.
Focal Point of
Pickett’s Charge
 Pickett’s Charge
 Side 2 – 1:06.45 – 1:30.55 – Chapter 18+
1863
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Lincoln makes Grant commander of all Union armies –
beginning of 1864
Grant made his headquarters with the Army of the
Potomac - places Maj. Gen. Sherman in command of
most of the western armies.
Grant takes up total war – must defeat Confederate
forces and destroy their economic base in order to end
the war - destroy homes, farms, and railroads.
Grant devised a coordinated strategy that would strike
at the entire Confederacy from multiple directions:
Richmond; Shenandoah Valley; Atlanta and march to
the sea (the Atlantic Ocean); railroad supply lines in
West Virginia; Mobile, Alabama.
Union forces in the East attempted to maneuver past
Lee and fought several battles
Grant's battles of attrition at the Wilderness,
Spotsylvania, and Cold Harbor resulted in heavy
Union losses, but forced Lee's Confederates to fall back
again and again.
He pinned down the Confederate army in the Siege of
Petersburg, where the two armies engaged in trench
warfare for over nine months.
Source: Wikipedia, Official American Civil War
Website
 Richmond is the Confederate capital
 Lee's army, thinned by desertion and
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casualties, was now much smaller than
Grant's.
Union forces won a decisive victory at the
Battle of Five Forks on April 1, forcing Lee to
evacuate Petersburg and Richmond.
The Confederate capital fell to the Union
XXV Corps, composed of black troops. The
remaining Confederate units fled west and
after a defeat at Sayler's Creek
it became clear to Robert E. Lee that
continued fighting against the United States
was both tactically and logistically
impossible.
Lee surrendered his Army of Northern
Virginia on April 9, 1865
As a sign of Grant's respect and anticipation
of peacefully folding the Confederacy back
into the Union, Lee was permitted to keep
his officer's saber and his horse, Traveller.
 HSTY2056 PowerPoints - Frances Clarke, University of
Sydney
 McPherson, James M., Ed. The American Heritage
New History of the Civil War. NY: American Heritage
Publishing Company, 1996.
 Wikipedia – Maps and Dates