US History
Fort Burrows
17.5 The War Ends
READ pgs 505 – 511
Main Idea:
Under the leadership of General Ulysses S. Grant, Union armies used their resources and manpower to defeat the Confederacy.
Vocabulary:
siege – military blockade or bombardment of an enemy town or position in order to force it to surrender
Battle of Gettysburg – 1863 Civil War battle in Pennsylvania that left more than 50,000 soldiers dead or wounded; Confederates never invaded the North again
Pickett’s Charge – failed Confederate charge at the Battle of Gettysburg
Gettysburg Address – 1863 speech made by President Lincoln after the
Battle of Gettysburg
total war – all out war that affects civilizations at home as well as soldiers in combat
Appomattox Court House – Virginiatown that was the site of the Confederate surrender in 1865
Setting the Scene:
To general Ulysses S. Grant, every problem had a solution. For example, he needed telegraph lines to coordinate the march of his Union troops into the South. So, he had them strung as his troops advanced. Some of Grant’s operators even learned to receive messages without a telegraph station. Touching the ends of the wires to their tongues, these resourceful men picked up the spark of the Morse code signals.
In 1864, President Lincoln had appointed Ulysses S. Grant Commander in Chief of the Union Army. He said, “The art of war is simple, find out where your enemy is, get at him as soon as you can and strike him as hard as you can, and keep moving on.” It seemed the President had finally found the general who could lead the Union to victory.
Confederate – Battle of Bull Run ( a claimed victory )
Union – Antietam ( a claimed victory )
Confederate – Battle of Fredericksburg
– Battle of Chancellorsville
Union – Fort Henry and Fort Donelson , Memphis, Tennessee
– New Orleans, Louisiana
Union – Control of the Mississippi River
Union – Battle of Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiloh
Confederate – Fort Wagner
Footnote: 54th Massachusetts Regiment, African Americans Unit, attacked
and made it inside the fort before being pushed out ( a near victory )
Gloomy Days for the Union !!!!
The Fall of Vicksburg
≥ Vicksburg, Mississippi (MS) – a port on the Mississippi River
≥ Early in 1863, after many attempts to capture Vicksburg, Gen US Grant showed hisbrilliance
≥ Grant led his troops to a surprise attack on Jackson, MS; then he turned West for a rear attack on Vicksburg
≥ For more than six-weeks, Grants forces lay siege to Vicksburg
≥July 4, 1863, Independence Day for Grant; Confederate troops surrenderedVicksburg
≥ Five days later, the Union captured Port Hudson, MS
≥ # 1 – Complete control of the ‘Mighty Mississip’
≥ # 2 – Confederacy was split into two parts; Texas, Arkansas, and Louisiana on the West and the remainder of the Confederacy to the East
Union Victory at Gettysburg
≥ General Lee had his ideas; he moved his troops into Pennsylvania, (PA) hoping to surprise the Yankees
≥ Success in PA would lead to capturing Washington, D.C.
≥ Union Gen George C Meade had different plans
≥ The two armies met in the small town of Gettysburg, PA
≥ Battle of Gettysburg, 3-days that turned out to be the most important of the
Civil War
≥ Lee’s forces suffered heavy casualties; the Union held strong
‼ Pickett’s Charge
≠ Gen Lee made a desperate attempt; he ordered General George Pickett and his 15,000 men to go straight up the middleof the Union army
≠ Row afterrow of grey-back soldiers were shot by the blue-bellies
≠ The battle noise, one soldier recalled, was “strange and terrible, a sound that came from thousands of human throats…like a vast mournful roar”
≠ A steady barrage of bullets kept the Confederates from ever reaching the Union line
≠ The following day a Union officer was trying to ride over the battlefield, but could not, he said,
“the dead and wounded lay too thick to guide a horse through them”
≠ 50,000 dead or wounded in this battle
≠ Lee took responsibility for the slaughter and retreated his remaining troops
≠ The Confederates would never again invade the North
¿¿ Why was the Battle of Gettysburg a turning point in the war ?
______
______.
The Gettysburg Address
≥ November 19, 1863 a ceremony was held to dedicate a cemetery in memory of the soldiers that died at the Battle of Gettysburg
≥ President Lincoln gave a speech known as the Gettysburg Address
≥ In his speech, Lincoln said the Civil War would test if a democratic nation could survive; he also reminded Americans that their nation was founded on beliefs that “all men are created equal”
“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 battle-field 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.”
Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address, November 19, 1863
≥ Lincoln’s entire speech was only ten sentences long and took three minutes to deliver
≥ It is honored as a profound statement of American ideals
\
¿¿ What principles of government does Lincoln describe in the Gettysburg Address ?
______
______.
Grant’s Plan for Total War
≥ Lincoln had continually been looking for the right military leader
≥ Grant impressed Lincoln; victories at Vicksburg and in the Western theater
≥ 1864, Ulysses S Grant becomes Lincoln’s Commander of the Union forces
≥ Nicknamed – Unconditional Surrender Grant; he would end the war in the Union’s favor, “he fights”
≥ Grant’s plan; destroy the South’s ability to fight; he ordered his generals to wage a total war against the South
≥ The Union Army would destroy food, equipment, and ‘anything’ else they found that might be useful to the enemy
≥ Prior to this total war decision, old fashion war had been restricted to only soldiers; now, Gen Grant would not make any distinctions – civilians in the South would sufferthe same hardships as the soldiers of the South
‼ Sheridan in the Shenandoah
≠ To begin this plan of total war; Grant sent Gen Philip Sheridan and his cavalry into the rich farmland of Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley
≠ He instructed Sheridan:
“Leave nothing to invite the enemy to return. Destroy whatever cannot be consumed. Let the valley be left so that crows flying over it will have to carry their rations along with them.”
Ulysses S Grant, quoted in Bruce Catton, Grant Takes Command
≠ Sheridan obeyed; summer and fall of 1864 his troops destroyed farms and livestock – burned 2,000 barns filled with grain
≠ Nothing was left for Lee’s troops or the Southern people
‼ Sherman’s March to the Sea
≠ Grant ordered General William Tecumseh Sherman to capture Atlanta, GA; then march to the coastline destroying everything as Sheridan had done in Virginia
≠ Sherman captured Atlanta in September 1864; he turned out the people from their homes and burned the majority of the city
≠ “March to the Sea”
≠ As they marched through Georgia; they ripped up railroad tracks – heated and twisted the rail so it could not be used again, killed livestock and tore up fields, burned barns – homes – bridges – factories
It appears that Grant was indeed the man to get the war won.
Explain your position – are you FOR or AGAINST Grant’s total war ?
For ______
______
Against ______
______
Lincoln is Reelected
≥ At first Lincoln thought his chances of defeat were “exceedingly probable”
≥ Democrats nominated Gen George McClellan
≥ McClellan’s platform was a ‘cessation of hostilities’; he was willing to compromise and restore slavery if peace could be restored
≥ The capture of Atlanta, improved Lincoln’s chances; but, the smashing victory at Shenandoah Valley increased his popularity; he now looked like a ‘winner’!
≥ The vote was close, but Lincoln was reelected
≥ In his Second Inaugural Address, Lincoln looked forward to peace;
“With malice toward none, with clarity for all…let us strive…to bind up the nation’s wounds…to do all which may achieve a just and a lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.” Abraham Lincoln, Second Inaugural Address, 1865
The Civil War Ends
≥ Grant drove toward Richmond
≥ Losses of 60,000 men in one month did not stop him; he knew he could replace soldiers and supplies – the Confederates could not
≥ Lee was making, what–would–be, his last stand at Petersburg, near Richmond
≥ Grant kept a siege on Petersburg for nine months
≥ April 2, 1865, Grant captured Petersburg and Richmond fell
≥ Lee escapes with a few men to a small Virginia town called
Appomattox Court House; trapped, Lee surrendered the Confederacy to the Union
≥ Grant offered generous terms of surrender:
1 – Soldiers must turn over their rifles, officers could keep their pistols
2 – Soldiers that rode in on a horse, could keep their horse
(Grant knew the men would need animals for spring-time planting )
3 – Each man would return to his state and not be disturbed by the
United States authorities
≥ As the Confederates surrendered, Union soldiers began to cheer
≥ Grant ordered them to be silent,
“The war is over, the rebels are our countrymen again”
¿¿ What were the terms of surrender at Appomattox Court House ?
1.______2.______
3.______.
A Turning Point in American History
≥ 360,000 Union soldiers dead – 250,000 Confederate soldiers dead
≥ $20 billion dollars of cost; 11x more than the Gov’t spent between 1789 and 1861
≥ Turning Point – the balance of power changed; Democratic party lost power while the Republican party increased power
≥ ‘these’ United States changed to ‘the’ United States
≥ The idea that a state might secede, was dead forever; the power of the federal government grew
≥ This war put an end to slavery in the United States
≥ Both North and South began to think of what it meant to ‘be free’
≥ Not equality, but freedom
≥ Out of a cruel, bitter, often heart-rending war, the United States did indeed emerge a stronger, freer nation
1. Which two Generals encountered each other at Gettysburg in 1863 ?
A. Meade and McClellanB. McClellan and Lee
C. Lee and MeadeD. Monitor and Merrimack
2. Why were the Union victories at Vicksburg and Gettysburg important ?
______
3. What plan did Grant have for the ending of the war with the South?
______
4. After his reelection, what hopes did Lincoln have for the Union ?
______
5. What 3 things does this chart tell you about American Wars ?
Name of Conflict / Estimated Number ofUS Soldiers Involved
Civil War / 3,713,000
Mexican War / 78,718
War of 1812 / 282,730
American Revolution / 217,000
1.______2.______3.______
6. Why was the Civil War a major turning point in American history ?
1.______2.______3.______4.______5.______
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