11.4
 Explain what the Union gained by capturing
Vicksburg.
 Describe the importance of the Battle of Gettysburg.
 Analyze how the Union pressed its military advantage
after 1863.
 Union Victory at Vicksburg
 A Turning Point in the East
 The Union Presses the Advantage
 Read Section 11.4
 Answer Questions 5 and 6 on page 387.
 The Union still focused on Lincoln’s Anaconda Plan at
this time. After two years of fighting he still had not
gained control of the Mississippi River.
 Lincoln knew the key to their success was to defeat the
Confederates at Vicksburg.
 There had be two attempts to take Vicksburg already,
one by land and the other via the river. Both failed
miserably, and Grant was becoming dismayed.
 In the spring of 1863 Grant divided a new plan to take
the Confederate stronghold of Vicksburg. This was his
last chance to achieve this.
 Grant sent his men south of Vicksburg to stage their,
in the meantime he sent his Calvary to take control of
the rail lines that fed Vicksburg to turn southern
attention toward them. Then he headed toward
Jackson to capture it and did successfully.
 Now Vicksburg was completely cut off
 Grant launched two frontal assaults against the
Confederates but failed both times. So he decided to
place Vicksburg under siege.
 After a month of constant shelling and the cutting off
of supplies the Confederates inside Vicksburg were
forced to surrender.
 This caused the other two strongholds on the
Mississippi to surrender thus splitting the south east
and west.
 While Union troops advanced in the West the
situation was different in the East.
 Despite claiming victory at Antietam, Lincoln replaced
General McClellan with General Ambrose Burnside.
 Lee met Burnsides men at Fredericksburg Virginia in
December of 1862. Burnside had 120,000 troops and
Lee had fewer than 80,000.
 Lee, Stonewall Jackson, and Longstreet soundly
defeated the Union Commander. Union casualties
more than doubled that of the South.
 Lincoln then replaced Burnside with General Joseph
Hooker. Who launched his own offensive against Lee.
 The two armies clashed at Chancellorsville and once
again the Confederates overwhelmed the Union army
with ease.
 How ever during this battle Lee had a major loss.
Stonewall Jackson was accidentally shot by his own
men during the battle and died.
 Stonewall Jackson was considered to be Lee’s right
arm. Lee was upset by the loss but felt this was his
opportunity to win international support for the
Confederacy due to his success in the east.
 Lee’s men headed toward Gettysburg hoping to seize
footwear from the shoe factory there because most of
his men didn’t have shoes.
 When they arrived Lee ran into several brigades of
Union cavalry commanded by General Buford.
 July 1, 1863,Lee’s men win the first day of the battle.
They pushed the Union troops out of the town.
 However this actually put the Union army in a better
strategic position because they had the high ground
along cemetery ridge, and Little and Big round top.
 As the second day of battle dawned Lee’s men
prepared to assault both ends of the Union line.
 Lee’s men would attack the northern part of Meade’s
defenses while Longstreet attacked the southern end
of Cemetery Ridge.
 The battle between Longstreet and the southern part
of the defenses was the fiercest fighting of the war.
 The rebels however could not breach the Union line
because they were to heavily outnumbered and out
positioned.
 On July 3, Lee commenced an artillery barrage aimed
at the center of the Union Line. This lasted for eight
hours.
 Lee thought that this weakened the Union line heavily.
What he didn’t know was that all the rounds were
landing just behind the Union line so it virtually didn’t
harm any of the Union Troops.
 Lee teams up with General George Pickett and march
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toward Cemetery Ridge.
Union troops and cannons fill the ridgeline and open
fire on the exposed confederates.
The Confederate Troops were mowed down by the
thousands.
This ended the Battle of Gettysburg.
Even though the casualties were about equal the Union
Army took Victory that day.
50,000 Union and Confederate Soldiers lay dead.
 In November 1863 Lincoln came to the Gettysburg
battlefield to dedicate a cemetery for the fallen
soldiers.
 There he delivered his Gettysburg Address.
 He describe the Civil was as a struggle to fulfill the
Declaration of Independence and to preserve a nation
dedicated to the equal treatment of men.
 Lincoln puts Grant in charge of the entire Union war
effort and gives him the luxury of total war.
 This means he had the freedom of an all out war.
Anything was fair game and this included the civilian
population.
 The goal was not only to weaken the army but also the
economy that supports it and break the will of the
people.
 Grant’s goal wasn’t to win battles at this point. He just
wanted to inflict as many casualties as possible on the
Confederate Army to a point to where they could not
replenish them fast enough.
 Union General Tecumseh Sherman used the total war
tactic in the deep south. In May 1864 he set out with
60,000 troops on a 250 mile march to destroy
everything in their path.
 This tactic was proving very successful.
 During this time Lincoln won the election of 1864 due
to his soldiers finally wining victories.
 With Lincoln re-elected this ended any possibility of
the north trying to seek peace with the south.