When Abraham Lincoln, a known opponent of slavery, was elected president, the South Carolina legislature perceived a threat. Calling a state convention, the delegates voted to remove the state of South Carolina from the union known as the United States of America. The secession of South Carolina was followed by the secession of six more states -- Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas -- and the threat of secession by four more -- Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina. These eleven states eventually formed the Confederate States of America.
The North faced a demanding and complex political problem, namely to reassert its authority over a vast territorial empire, far too extensive to be completely occupied or thoroughly controlled. Furthermore, President Lincoln recognized that Northern popular resolve might be limited and established rapid victory as a condition as well. Lincoln's original policy of conciliation having failed, the President opted for the unconditional surrender of the South as the only acceptable aim. Lincoln's search for a general who would devise a strategy to attain his aim ended with Grant in March 1864.
By comparison, the South's policy aim was to preserve its newly declared independence. The South's strategic aim was simply to prevent the North from succeeding, to make the endeavor more costly than the North was willing to bear. The South's policy objectives would seem to dictate a military strategy of erosion aimed at prolonging the war as a means to breaking Northern resolve. In fact, this was the strategy preferred by Confederate President Jefferson Davis. Such a strategy would require close coordination of the Southern armies and a careful husbanding of the Confederacy's inferior resources. In practice, however, no Southern general in chief was appointed until Lee's appointment in early 1865. No doubt it was in part because of the Confederacy's basic political philosophy of states' rights that the military resources of the various Southern states were poorly distributed. Campaigns in the various theaters of war were conducted almost independently.
On January 27, 1862 President Lincoln issued a war order authorizing the Union to launch a unified aggressive action against the Confederacy. Modern historians call the Civil War the "first modern war" in American history. During this time, factories in the North produced guns and supplies for the war effort; railroads crisscrossed the country moving supplies and armies; generals used the telegraph to communicate over large distances; and a new ironclad navy driven by steam power blockaded the south. The scope of the struggle increased the power of industry and government in the North and led to the destruction of large areas of the South as the armies marched back and forth.
Some 10,500 armed conflicts occurred during the Civil War ranging from battles to minor skirmishes; 384 conflicts were the principal battles. Some 45 battles had a decisive influence on a campaign and a direct impact on the course of the war; 104 had a direct and decisive influenceon their campaign; 128 had observable influence on the outcome of a campaign; and 107 sites had a limited influence on the outcome of their campaign or operation but achieved or affected important local objectives.
Contents:
I.Backround
II.Confederate Forces
III.Union Forces
IV.Confederate Losses
V.Union Losses
VI.Conclusion
VII.Important Battles
VIII.Pictures
I.Backround
II.Confederate Forces
| Forces | Total Men Mobilized | Artillery | Ships | Confederacy | 1,250,000 | 850 | 130 |
|---|
The Confederate Army & Navy were not as big as the Union Armed
Forces. They did have one advantage, better officers. Because the South could not compete with the North industrially, they relied on help from Europe. Both Great Britain and France supported the Confederacy. France loaned money while Great Britain sent some 700,000 rifles and built some ships. This was achieved even though the North had a blockade over the South. Great Britain would be the last country to lower the Confederate flag.
III.Union Forces |
| Forces | Total Men Mobilized | Artillery | Ships | Union | 2,750,000 | 1,900 | 670 |
|---|
The Union Armed Forces had a big advantage and was expected to put down the rebellion immediately. Even with the huge amount of military industry situated in the North, the Union generals could not win early in the war as Confederate generals proved more brilliant. The Union also had some supporters outside the US, mainly Russia. Russia did not provide weapons or money, but supported the Union against the Confederacy. If France and Great Britain would have decided to enter on the side of the Confederacy then this Civil War could have easily have spread into a World War.
IV.Confederate Losses |
| Forces | Battle Deaths | Other Deaths | Total Deaths | Wounded | Confederacy | 94,000 | 164,000 | 258,000 | 194,026 |
|---|
The Confederacy did have as good a medical field as the Union and because of this they had a higher dead to wounded ratio. The number of casualties were enormous, and the South was destroyed. It would take years to rebuild. President Abraham Lincoln did not want to punish the South, he favored a quick rebuilding program. After he was killed that hope faded away, and the South was blamed for the war and had to suffer.
V.Union Losses |
| Forces | Battle Deaths | Other Deaths | Total Deaths | Wounded | Union | 110,070 | 249,458 | 359,528 | 275,175 |
|---|
The Union was better equipped and had more manpower, yet poor leadership brought a low morale and heavy casualties in the early parts of the war. The new destructive power of modern weapons at the time played a big role in the casualty toll. Both sides were using Napoleonic tactics against repeating rifles and machineguns.
VI.Conclusion |
The Civil War was the most devastating war for the United States. In no war did so many Americans die that in the Civil War, almost 620,000. As the breeding ground for modern warfare, the Civil War has long been known for its "firsts." It has been credited with dozens like these:
A workable machine gun, a steel ship, a successful submarine, aerial reconnaissance, antiaircraft fire,
blackouts and camouflage under aerial observation, electrically exploded bombs and torpedoes, fixed ammunition, field trenches on a grand scale, flame throwers, ironclad navies, land-mine fields, long-range rifles for general use, military telegraph, military railroads, naval torpedoes, photography of battle, railroad artillery, repeating rifles, revolving gun turrets,
the wigwag signal code in battle, the periscope, for trench warfare, telescopic sights for rifles, wire entanglements.
Unfortunately the first so called "concentration camp" was born during the Civil War at Andersonville. Andersonville was a Confederate prison and it was holding Union prisoners of war. Of the 32,000 prisoners some 12,000 died. At the end of the war surviving prisoners were in a very bad shape. Andersonville would be equaled but not surpassed by Nazi camps. It is also believed that the Nazis got the idea from here. The notorious superintendent of the Confederate prison at Andersonville, Capt. Henry Wirz, was tried by a military commission presided over by Gen. Lew Wallace from August 23 to October 24, 1865, and was hanged in the yard of the Old Capitol Prison on November 10.
President Jefferson Davis was caught and spent two years in jail for treason. Gen. Robert E. Lee and many other Confederates lost their citizenship in the United States. John Wilkes Booth, the man who shot Lincoln, was himself killed by a Union soldier. Nine others were tried for collaborating, 4 were executed. The Union was saved from the Southern secessionists but at a terrible cost.
VII.Important Battles
Key Battles:
Bull Run I
Shiloh
Seven Days
Bull Run II
Antietam Creek
Fredericksburg
Chancellorsville
Gettysburg
Vicksburg
Chattanooga
Cold Harbor
Petersburg
Atlanta
Appomattox River
Bull Run I
(July 21, 1861)
The popular view in the North that the Confederate forces could be easily crushed led to a premature offensive in northern Virginia. From Alexandria, Gen. Irvin McDowell marched southwest to Centreville, reaching there on July 18 with almost 35,000 Federal troops. Alert to the Union advance, Gen. Pierre Beauregard concentrated 20,000 Confederate soldiers at Manassas, a key railroad junction. Here he was joined by Gen. Joseph Johnston, who had eluded the Federal commander, Gen. Robert Patterson, in present day West Virginia and brought in 9,000 Confederates by railroad. It was the first strategic use of railroad transportation in military history.
McDowell, whose troops were largely poorly trained militia, spent two precious days closing up to the stream called Bull Run. Then, on the morning of July 21, the Federal commander attacked in a turning movement aimed at the enemy left. Three divisions crossed Bull Run upstream at Sudley Springs, driving the Confederate flank to Henry House Hill. Here the brigade of Col. Thomas Jackson held firm. This led to Gen. Barnard Bee to encourage his own men with the shout: "Look at Jackson's brigade, it stands like a stone wall!" Thus both the commander and his brigade earned the name "Stonewall" for the duration of the war.
While the rest of the 14-mile front remained relatively quiet, both sides hurriedly shifted reserves to the west. By 4:00 PM the Confederates had not only checked the Federal advance but had begun their own counterattack. McDowell ordered his exposed right to withdraw across Bull Run, back to Centreville. The retreat soon became a disorganized flight, with the entire army scurrying all the way back to Washington, D.C. Fortunately for the Union, the victorious Confederates could mount only a hesitant and confused pursuit that was soon called off. In this first major battle of the war the Federals lost 2,896 men killed, wounded, or captured. Total Confederate casualties were 1,982. To rebuild the Federal forces into what would become the Army of Potomac, President Abraham Lincoln called in Gen. George McClellan from West Virginia. McDowell would revert to a division commander.
Shiloh
(Apr. 6-7, 1862)
The Federal offensive in the West became more coordinated on March 11, when President Abraham Lincoln put Gen. Henry Halleck in overall command. Halleck sent Gen. U. S. Grant with 42,000 men to Pittsburg Landing on the west side of the Tennessee River near the border of Mississippi. He then ordered Gen. Don Carlos Buell to move from Nashville, Tenn., to link up with Grant. Meanwhile Gen. Albert Johnston, in charge of Confederate armies in the West, concentrated some 40,000 troops at Corinth, Miss. Seizing the initiative, Johnston marched 25 miles northward to Pittsburg Landing, arriving there on April 5.
Early the following morning the Confederates attacked Grant's six divisions, which were encamped with little thought to defense or security. The corps of the Confederate generals Leonidas Polk (I), Braxton Bragg (II), and William Hardee (III) struck the divisions of Gen. William Sherman and Gen. Benjamin Prentiss in a furious onslaught that drove the Federals back two miles. The attack also engulfed the divisions of the Federal generals John McCernand, Stephen Hurlburt, and William Wallace. Grant hurried forward from Savannah, Tenn., to take charge of the defense of the landing area, but the fiercely fighting Confederates slowly closed toward the river. The action was so intense all along the front that Johnston's corps commanders, including Gen. John Breckinridge of the reserve corps, took charge of whatever units were available, regardless of organization. Johnston himself was killed at about 2:30 PM, Pierre Beauregard succeeded to the command. On the Federal side W. Wallace fell mortally wounded, while at 5:30 PM Prentiss surrendered with 2,200 men after a spirited fight to hold a patch of woods called the Hornets' Nest. About 6:00 PM Beauregard halted the attack, expecting to complete the Confederate victory the following day. However, that night Gen. Lewis Wallace's division tardily came up on the Federal right, while three of Buell's divisions finally began arriving from the east to strengthen Grant's command. They came into line on the left nearest the river.
At dawn the next day Grant launched a counteroffensive that had spread all along the line by 10:00 AM. The fresh Union troops swung the balance against the weary and now outnumbered Confederates. Slowly the Southerners gave ground, fighting as desperately as on the previous day, particularly around Shiloh Church. At 2:30 PM Beauregard ordered a retreat. The Confederates turned and marched back to Corinth. Grant's troops occupied the camps they had held before the battle. On April 8 a belated Federal pursuit was checked by the cavalry of Gen. Nathan Forest.
The narrow Union victory at Shiloh prepared the way for the conquest of the entire length of the Mississippi. Federal casualties were 1,754 killed, 8,408 wounded, and 2,885 missing. Confederate casualties were 1,723 killed, 8,012 wounded, and 959 missing.
Seven Days
(June 25 - July 1, 1862)
Continuing his overcautious deployment east of Richmond, the Federal commander, Gen. George McClellan, moved the bulk of his army of 60,000 men south of the Chickahominy River. Only the V Corps of Gen. Fitz-John Porter was left north of the stream. When the Federal army seemed to be settling down for a siege of the Confederate capital, Gen. Robert E. Lee began planning to attack McClellan. Leaving only 25,000 men to hold off the Federals east of the city, Lee shifted 65,000 troops northward to strike the exposed 30,000 men of Porter across the Chickahominy. On June 25 Gen. Joseph Hooker's division of Gen. Samuel Heintzelman's Federal IV Corps made a probing attack at Oak Grove in the Fair Oaks-Seven Pines region south of the river. It was a minor action, 626 Federal and 441 Confederate casualties, except for opening what was to become the major Seven Days battle. It was also the last Federal offensive in this week long engagement.
By the following day Lee was ready to envelope Porter's separated wing. Gen. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, just arriving from the Shenandoah Valley with 18,000 men, was to strike the Federal right flank from the north, while three other Confederate divisions assaulted from the west. When Jackson failed to come up, Gen. Ambrose Hill attacked alone with his division from Mechanicsville at 3:00 PM. Trying to cross Beaver Dam Creek, Hill was bloodily repulsed. Nightfall ended the fighting, with 1,400 Southern casualties out of the 16,350 actually engaged. Porter, who had fought his corps well, lost only 361 men. Anticipating that Lee would continue the offensive the next day, McClellan ordered the V Corps to fall back southeast of Gaines' Mill.
On June 27 Lee renewed the attack on Porter, with the divisions of generals Daniel Hill, Jackson, Ambrose Hill, and James Longstreet deployed in a semicircle from northeast to southwest. But again Jackson moved slowly, delaying the assault to the afternoon. It was not until evening that Porter's lines southeast of Gaine's Mill broke before the overwhelming numbers of Confederates. That night Porter retreated across the Chickahominy to the south. In this third day of battle Lee's casualties totaled 8,751. Federal casualties were at 6,837.
McClellan now decided to withdraw all five of his corps southward, changing his base from White House, on the Pamunkey tributary of the York, to Harrison's Landing on the James. Most of June 28 was spent marching toward the new base. When Lee became certain of the direction of McClellan's movement, he ordered a pursuit. On June 29 Gen. John Magruder, whose demonstrations had deceived McClellan for three days, attacked eastward against the Federal rear guard at Savage's Station, on the Richmond and York River Railroad. He was to be supported by Jackson's assault from the south. But for the third time in this battle the hero of the Shenandoah Valley campaign procrastinated. This enabled Gen. Edwin Sumner's Federal II Corps to hold off Magruder until the entire rear guard could pull back through White Oak Swamp. The day's fighting cost 1,590 Federal and 625 Confederate casualties.
Lee's plans for a coordinated offensive against the retreating Federals misfired again on June 30. Of the six divisions ordered against McClellan's west flank and rear, only those of Longstreet and Ambrose Hill launched an assault, and then not until late afternoon. Both attacking units struck Gen. George McCall's division of the V Corps at Frayser's Farm, south of Glendale and the White Oak Swamp. The Federal division collapsed and McCall was captured. But neighboring Union troops, aided by early darkness, sealed off the Confederate penetration. Federal casualties were 2,853, while Confederate casualties were 3,615. That night McClellan finally got his entire army atop Malvern Hill, overlooking the James River.
The Federal position on Malvern Hill was the strongest yet occupied in the seven days of combat. Nevertheless, Lee attacked it directly early on July 1, only to call off the assault when Federal artillery fire dominated the battlefield. Late in the afternoon the Confederate commander ordered a new attempt. But the Federal defenders easily beat back the attack, first by Daniel Hill, then by Jackson, and finally by Gen. Benjamin Huger. Ambrose Hill and Longstreet never got into the fight. When darkness ended the battle, the Confederates had lost 5,355 men, and the Federals had lost 3,214.
This action closed the Seven Days battle, which cost a total 36,000 casualties, 20,000 of them Confederate. McClellan continued his retreat to Harrison's Landing the next day. Lee moved his army back to Richmond. In August the Federal army was recalled to the Washington area, ending the unsuccessful Peninsular Campaign. It would be two years before Richmond would again be seriously threatened.
Bull Run II
(Aug. 27 - Sep. 1, 1862)
The Confederate commander, Gen. Robert E. Lee, determined to strike Gen. John Pope's Army of Virginia before it could be reinforced by Gen. George McClellan's much larger Federal force, which was moving up the Potomac River. To do this, Lee divided his army on August 24. From the south side of the Rappahannock River, he sent Gen. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson upriver to circle behind Pope's 75,000 troops deployed along the Orange and Alexandria Railroad, south of Manassas. Two nights later the fast marching Jackson stood at Manassas, across Pope's lines of communications. Meanwhile the Confederate general James Longstreet moved his command to a position at Orleans, 30 miles to the west. On August 27 Jackson seized what Federal stores he could use, destroyed the rest, and beat back a small, fool hardy attack by Gen. George Taylor, who was assigned to guard the Union Mills railroad bridge over Bull Run. After destroying the bridge, Jackson moved up Bull Run to assume a defensive position at Stony Ridge near Sudley Springs. Pope, meanwhile, marched hurriedly northward to attack Jackson before Longstreet could interfere. But confused by the movements of Jackson and his division commanders, generals Ambrose Hill, Richard Ewell, and William Taliaferro, Pope scattered his units over too wide an area to control.
Moving eastward on the Warrenton Turnpike, Gen. Rufus King's division of Pope's command unknowingly crossed the front of Jackson's corps in the late afternoon of August 28. The Confederate division of Ewell and Taliaferro fell on King's men at Groveton. In one of the fiercest small actions of the war both sides suffered heavy casualties before the Federals withdrew at midnight. Both Ewell, who lost a leg, and Taliaferro were wounded.
On August 29 Pope hurled three corps at Jackson on Stony Ridge, from south to north, I Corps under Gen. Franz Sigel, II Corps under Gen. Jesse Reno, and III Corps under Gen. Samuel Heintzelman. Bu the poorly coordinated frontal attacks were repulsed. During this fight Pope paid the penalty of not blocking out Longstreet at Bull Run Mountain. The four division Confederate corps arrived on Jackson's right at noon, in a position to drive between Pope's main force and Gen. Fitz-John Porter's V Corps two miles to the south. But Longstreet missed the opportunity to score a decisive triumph for Lee. Porter, confused by Pope's ambiguous orders, was later court-martialed and dismissed from the army, he was cleared 20 years later.
Still misinterpreting the situation, Pope launched an attack on Jackson again the following day. The Confederate army held and then counterattacked. On the south Longstreet's corps, driving eastward, caved in Pope's left flank. Only a stubborn defense of Henry House Hill prevented a major Federal defeat. That night the Union Army withdrew northward across Bull Run to Centreville. Lee did not pursue. Instead, he sent Jackson northward to circle behind Centreville to Fairfax Court House. On September 1 Pope sent two divisions under Gen. Isaac Stevens and Gen. Philip Kearny to intercept Jackson. The two hostile forces met at Chantilly. In a hard fight Jackson's tired troops failed to break through, despite their superior numbers. Both Stevens and Kearny were killed, among the 1,300 Federal casualties. Confederate casualties were 800. When Longstreet came up that night, Pope retired to Fairfax and the following day withdrew into the fortifications of Washington D.C. Thus Bull Run II ended with the Southern armies on the offensive and the Federal forces beaten and demoralized by poor leadership. The five day battle cost Lee 9,197 casualties, 19% of his strength. Federal losses totaled 16,054, 21% of their strength.
Antietam Creek
(Sep. 17, 1862)
After his victory at Bull Run II, the Confederate general Robert E. Lee turned north, crossing the Potomac River during September 4-6 to invade Maryland. He then divided his army of 65,000 men by sending Gen. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson westward to attack Harpers Ferry. The capture of this Potomac crossing would open up a protected Confederate supply line down the Shenandoah Valley. The remainder of the Southern army moved from Frederick to Hagerstown, Md.
In Washington, D.C., Gen. John Pope's battered Army of Virginia was absorbed into the major Federal striking force, the Army of the Potomac. Gen. George McClellan, restored to top command, began moving slowly northwest toward Frederick with some 84,000 troops. On September 13 McClellan reached Frederick. Here he learned that Lee's army, to his front, was widely scattered. Still, McClellan moved with extreme caution. At daylight on September 14 he sent Gen. Ambrose Burnside, commander of his right wing, with two corps to Turner's Gap in South Mountain. The Federals arrived at noon to find the pass held by Gen. Daniel Hill's division, later supported by Gen. James Longstreet's division. The ensuing battle of South Mountain lasted into the night. Finally the Confederates were beaten back, outflanked on the right by Gen. Joseph Hooker's I Corps and on the left by Gen. Jesse Reno's IX Corps. Although the action was a Federal victory, the Confederate defense had given Lee an extra day to reassemble his army. Among the 1,813 Federal casualties was the mortally wounded Reno. Hill and Longstreet lost 2,685 men.
As Burnside was forcing his way through Turner's Gap, McClellan's left wing under Gen. William Franklin (VI Corps) attacked westward through Crampton's Gap, four miles to the south. West of this height, the Confederate general Lafayette McLaws, who also commanded Gen. Richard Anderson's division, was supporting General Jackson's determined offensive against Harpers Ferry. McLaws turned to confront Franklin. Driven out of the pass, the Confederates fell back southward down Pleasant Valley. Here McLaws bluffed the Federal commander into hesitating. While Franklin, who had only lost 533 men, delayed, Harpers Ferry fell early the following morning. Federal indecision had given the Confederates another tactical advantage.
After losing both mountain passes, Lee planned to withdraw to the south side of the Potomac. But when he learned that Jackson had taken Harpers Ferry and was marching northward to join him at Sharpsburg, Lee took up a defensive position behind Antietam Creek, awaiting McClellan's attack. It was a risky decision. The Confederate army numbered only 20,000 at this time, while the oncoming Federal Army of the Potomac consisted of 75,000 troops. However, McClellan moved up slowly and spent all of September 16 organizing his attack for the following day. Meanwhile Jackson arrived from his victory at Harpers Ferry with 11,000 men, and another 10,000 were on the way.
The Federal attack began at dawn on September 17 on the north end of the line and spread across the front to the center and finally to the extreme southern flank by late afternoon. This piecemeal assault nullified McClellan's marked numerical superiority. On the northern flank, Gen. Joseph Hooker's I Corps drove the Confederate left past Dunkard Church and West Woods, until it was finally checked by the hard fighting troops of generals John Hood and J. E. B. Stuart. Hooker was wounded and Gen. Joseph Mansfield, commander of the supporting XIII Corps, killed.
In the center Gen. Edwin Summer committed his II Corps precipitously only to have Gen. John Sedgwick's division thrown back with 2,200 casualties. However, the divisions of Gen. William French and Gen. Israel Richardson fought their way forward, driving the Confederates of Gen. Daniel Hill out of a sunken road now called Bloody Lane. By noon Lee's center in front of Sharpsburg and his left flank to the north stood in grave danger. Only Federal lethargy prevented a total rout.
At the southern end of the front Gen. Ambrose Burnside launched his attack against the Confederate right flank about noon. During the next four hours the Federals swarmed across Antietam Creek, driving back Gen. James Longstreet's men to the southern edge of Sharpsburg. At this decisive moment the tide of the battle abruptly changed. Gen. Ambrose P. Hill's division arrived from Harpers Ferry to strike Burnside's IX Corps in the flank and send it reeling back to Antietam Creek. This check to the Federal advance saved the Confederate army and ended the battle. Antietam is often called the "bloodiest single day of the war." Lee lost 13,724 including 2,700 killed. McClellan lost 12,140 including 2,108 killed.
Lee remained in position during the day of September 18, then began withdrawing across the Potomac that night. Federal pursuit was negligible. Despite the failure to win a large victory, President Abraham Lincoln used the occasion to announce the Emancipation Proclamation effective January 1, 1863. The character of the conflict now changed from a war to preserve the Union to a crusade to free the slaves.
Fredericksburg
(Dec. 13, 1862)
For more than a month after the battle of Antietam Creek, the Federal general George McClellan remained in place north of the Potomac River. Finally, late in October, he began crossing the river, marching slowly southward. On November 7 President Lincoln, his patience exhausted, replaced McClellan with Gen. Ambrose Burnside. The new commander planned to threaten Richmond by moving to the Rappahannock River at Fredericksburg. He arrived there on November 17 but could not cross because of the lack of a pontoon train. The 400 foot wide river was finally bridged on the night of December 10. Two days later the Army of the Potomac had moved to Fredericksburg, on the south bank of the Rappahannock, ready to attack Gen. Robert E. Lee's army on the hills overlooking the city. The long delay had enabled the Confederates to assemble a strength of 70,000 men. Gen. James Longstreet's I Corps stood on Marye's Heights on the left. Gen. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson's II Corps held the right flank downstream.
On the morning of December 13 Burnside's Army of the Potomac, 120,000 strong, attacked. On the southeast Gen. William Franklin's Left Grand Division (I and VI Corps) drove through Jackson's first and second lines until halted by a vigorous counterattack about 1:30 PM. The Confederates, in turn, were stopped by a storm of Federal artillery fire. Fighting in this sector then died down. Upstream, Gen. Edwin Sumner's Right Grand Division (II and IX Corps) had to advance across an open field against Longstreet's artillery and heavy rifle fire. After more than two hours of cruel losses, the attackers withdrew out of range. Burnside then committed Gen. Joseph Hooker's Center Grand Division (III and V Corps) in a renewed assault on Marye's Heights late in the afternoon. Hooker sent three divisions forward, but they were easily repulsed. The day's fighting cost the Army of the Potomac 12,700 killed or wounded. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, in a strong natural position, suffered 5,300 casualties.
Burnside wanted to launch another offensive the following day but was dissuaded by his Grand Division commanders. On the night of December 14-15 he withdrew across the river. Subsequent efforts to turn Lee's left flank by moving up the Rappahannock failed. On January 25 Burnside was relieved, as were Franklin and Sumner. Hooker became the new commander of the Army of the Potomac.
Chancellorsville
(Apr. 29 - May 4, 1863)
When Gen. Joseph Hooker took command of the Army of the Potomac after the disastrous Federal defeat at Fredericksburg, his forces held the north bank of the Rappahannock. Across the river Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia guarded every possible crossing against Federal attack. On April 27 Hooker began a movement to turn Lee's left flank by sending Gen. Henry Slocum upstream with three corps (V, XI, XII). Crossing the Rappahannock at Kelly's Ford and the Rapidan at Germania Ford, Slocum reached Chancellorsville with 42,000 men on April 29, in the rear of Lee's 53,000 troops, who were facing northeast toward Fredericksburg. Gen. Darius Crouch then crossed the river with 12,000 men to take up a position behind Slocum. On that same day Gen. John Sedwick sent part of the I and VI Corps, total of 40,000 men, across the Rappahannock below Fredericksburg.
The Federal offensive seemed to pin Lee between two strong enemy armies. But on April 30 the Confederate commander left Gen. Jubal Early's reinforced division to hold off Sedgwick on the east, while moving the rest of his army against Hooker's main force to the west. Here the Federals did not begin to advance until almost noon on May 1. In a region of tangled underbrush and second growth timber, appropriately called "the Wilderness," the two armies clashed indecisively. Hooker then unexpectedly called off the attack in favor of fortifying a position around Chancellorsville.
Lee reacted quickly. Early on the following morning he sent Gen. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson with 26,000 men of the II Corps on a 14 mile circuit of the Federal position to strike from the west. The exposed Federal right flank had been detected by Gen. J. E. B. Stuart's cavalry. By 6:00 PM Jackson was in position and attacking the right wing XI Corps of Gen. Oliver Howard. The Confederates had gained some advantages by nightfall. But in the dusk Jackson was mortally wounded accidentally by his own men, he died on May 10. As the second in command, Gen. Ambrose P. Hill, had been wounded, Stuart took over the corps. Hooker continued to surrender the initiative by contracting his perimeter defense, enabling the separated wings of Lee's army on this front to reestablish communications. At daybreak on May 3 Stuart renewed the assault from the west against the III Corps of Gen. Daniel Sickles and the XII of Henry Slocum. By noon Hooker, who had been slightly wounded, pulled his army northward into a prepared position that looked southward from the junction of the Rapidan and Rappahannock rivers.
Also on the morning of May 3, Sedgwick, 12 miles to the east, began to move toward the Chancellorsville battle. Four times he assaulted Marye's Heights, the scene of heavy fighting during the battle of Fredericksburg, before he finally drove off Early's division. Perceiving this new danger, Lee left Stuart with 25,000 men to try contain Hooker's force of 75,000 and marched Gen. Lafayette McLaws eastward with 20,000 troops. McLaws reached Salem Church at 3:00 PM and checked Sedgwick's advance. On the following day Early returned to the fight and occupied Marye's Heights, in the Federal rear. Sedgwick's 19,000 men were now surrounded on three sides by 21,000 Confederates, who, however, attacked unsuccessfully. Under cover of darkness Sedgwick withdrew to the north side of the Rappahannock.
Lee now turned back westward to attack Hooker, who had been strangely inactive during the action of Salem Church. But the Federal commander had lost all his combativeness. On the night of May 5-6 he began withdrawing his entire force across the Rappahannock. Hooker's only battle as commander of the Army of the Potomac had cost 17,278 in killed, wounded, and missing. Lee's casualties were 12,821, but they included the irreplaceable Gen. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson. The Army of Northern Virginia would never again display the military ingenuity it had shown at Chancellorsville.
Gettysburg
(July 1-3, 1863)
The second invasion of the North by Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia passed beyond the Potomac on June 24, closing up behind Richard Ewell's II Corps, which was already in the Cumberland Valley of Pennsylvania. On that day Gen. Joseph Hooker;s Army of the Potomac also began moving northward into Maryland, shielding both Washington and Baltimore. Displeased by Hooker's performance, President Abraham Lincoln replaced him with Gen. George Meade on June 28. Meanwhile Lee began concentrating his scattered forces at Cashtown.
On July 1 the leading elements of Gen. Ambrose Hill's Confederate III Corps bumped into Gen. John Buford's Federal cavalry between Cashtown and Gettysburg. Both sides began building up rapidly. Hill, receiving more and more of his troops, pushed forward to the north-south Seminary Ridge, southwest of Gettysburg. Ewell advanced on the town from the north, driving out the Federal XI Corps of Gen. Oliver Howard. Meade sent Gen. Winfield Hancock forward to organize a Federal position just south of Gettysburg. Hancock hurriedly deployed arriving troops on Culp's Hill and then on Cemetery Ridge to the south as far as, but not including, the terminal hills of Little Round Top and Big Round Top. The first day's fighting at Gettysburg was a Confederate victory. The Federal XI Corps had lost over 4,000 men captured. The I Corps of Gen. Abner Doubleday, who had replaced the slain John Reynolds, had also suffered heavily. But Ewell had stopped short of Culp's Hill, and Lee did not insist that he try to take this northern key to Cemetery Ridge.
On the second day Lee sent the I Corps of Gen. James Longstreet against the Federal left flank. The attack was not started until 4:00 PM. Gen. Daniel Sickles' Federal III Corps, in a westward jutting salient, suffered heavily, but quick Federal dispositions held the vital height of the Little Round Top. Hill's assault to the left of Longstreet and Ewell's attack against Culp's Hill from the northeast proved equally unsuccessful, although the Confederates charged gallantly all along the line.
During the first two days of the great battle, Lee's knowledge of the enemy had been seriously crippled by the absence of his cavalry leader, Gen. J. E. B. Stuart, who was off on an irresponsible raid to the east. Now the Confederate commander determined to make one more attack, against the center of Meade's position. Under the direction of Longstreet, 15,000 troops, the divisions of generals George Pickett, James Pettigrew, and Isaac Trimble, assembled on Seminary Ridge for the assault across the half mile of open ground to Cemetery Ridge. Longstreet massed 159 guns opposite the Federal line held by the II Corps of Gen. John Gibbon. After an hour's brutal artillery duel with Meade's guns, the Confederates marched eastward in one of the most famous charges in history. Ascending Cemetery Ridge, the Southerners made a small penetration of the
Federal position before they were beaten back with heavy losses. Nineteen regimental colors were lost to the defenders. Earlier
that day Ewell's last attempt to take Culp's Hill had been easily
repulsed. Also stopped, by the cavalry of Gen. David Gregg, was Stuart's attack from the north on Meade's communication lines. The battle of Gettysburg was over. During the three days of combat more artillery shells were fired than in all the battles Napoleon fought. Of the 88,000 Federal troops engaged, 3,155 were killed, 14,529 wounded, and 5,365 missing. Confederate casualties among Lee's 75,000 troops were 3,903 dead, 18,735 wounded, and 5,425 missing.
On July 4 Lee reorganized his battered forces against an expected counterattack. But Meade's men were in no shape to continue the battle. On the night of July 5-6 the Confederate army began its retreat to the south in a driving rain. A slow Federal pursuit enabled Lee to recross the swollen Potomac safely on July 13 and 14. Because the battle of Gettysburg marked the beginning of the end of the Confederate States, it must rank as one of the decisive battles of history. While Lee waited on Seminary Ridge on July 4, Vicksburg, far to the west, fell to Gen. U. S. Grant, splitting the Confederacy in two along the line of the Mississippi River.
Vicksburg
(May 7 - July 4, 1863)
In the west the chief objective of the Federal commander, Gen. U. S. Grant, was Vicksburg, Mississippi, a Confederate strong point blocking Union control of the Mississippi River. The first attack on the city, by way of Chickasaw Bluffs, had been repulsed at the end of 1862. During the first three months of 1863, Grant made four other unsuccessful attempts to capture or isolate Vicksburg. Grant then planned a wide envelopment from the south and east. To camouflage his intent, he sent Col. Benjamin Grierson on a cavalry raid from La Grange, Tenn., on April 17. Riding hard, Grierson's 1,200 troopers swept 600 miles southward through Mississippi and northern Louisiana to reach Baton Rouge on May 2.
Under cover of the confusion caused by Grierson, Grant moved his army down the west side of the Mississippi below Vicksburg to Hard Times, La., during April 5-28. Two days later, protected by the gunboats of Adm. David Porter, Grant sent the corps of generals John McClernand (XIII) and James McPherson (XVII) across the river by transport ferry to Bruinsburg. No Confederate opposition was encountered. Distracted by Grant's diversions, the Confederate commander at Vicksburg, Gen. John Pemberton, had posted only 9,000 troops in this area, at Grand Gulf and Port Gibson, both to the north of Bruinsburg. When McClernand began marching inland, Gen. John Bowen tried to block the Federal advance at Port Gibson. McClernand, later supported by McPherson, attacked on May 1. The much larger Federal army turned Bowen's right flank and forced his withdrawal. The Confederates evacuated Grand Gulf the following day. Learning that a Confederate army stood at Jackson, 45 miles east of Vicksburg, Grant marched boldly northeast to put his army between the separated wings of the enemy forces. On May 7 Gen. William Sherman's XV Corps crossed the Mississippi, bringing Grant's strength up to 41,000.
Moving three corps abreast, the Federal army pressed steadily forward. At Raymond the right flank corps of McPherson brushed past the Confederate brigade of Gen. John Gregg on May 12. Leaving McClernand to hold the Raymond-Clinton line against Pemberton's army, which was advancing toward him from Vicksburg Grant turned McPherson and Sherman eastward to Jackson. Here Gen. Joseph Johnston, nominally the Confederate commander in the west, stood with the brigades of Gregg and Gen. William Walker, a total of 6,000 men. Grant's Napoleonic penetration had clearly divided the two Confederate armies.
On May 14 Grant attacked Jackson. Sherman, advancing from the southwest, overwhelmed Gregg's brigade, while McPherson, approaching from the west, routed Walker's men after a sharp struggle. The Federals entered the Mississippi capital at 4:00 PM. Johnston;s defeated army fled to the north.
Leaving Sherman to destroy war supplies in Jackson, Grant promptly turned westward with his other two corps on May 15. Meanwhile Pemberton had been marching cautiously toward Jackson and now stood squarely in the path of the Federal army. The two hostile forces met at Champion's Hill, 20 miles east of Vicksburg, on May 16. McPherson attacked vigorously on the right flank, but McClernand on the other flank moved so slowly as to neutralize Grant's numerical superiority, 29,000 to 22,000. In the hardest fighting of the campaign so far, Champion's Hill changed hands several times before Pemberton ordered a withdrawal. Gen. William Loring's division, charged with covering the retreat, was cut off from the main Confederate army and compelled to escape to the southeast. This force was thus lost to Pemberton for the later defense of Vicksburg. In all, the Confederate army suffered 3,851 casualties, including 381 killed. Grant's losses were 410 killed out of a total 2,441 casualties. Sherman did not arrive from Jackson until after the battle.
Pemberton fell back toward Vicksburg, leaving 5,000 men to hold a small bridgehead east of the Big Black River. But Sherman outflanked this position on the north, and on May 17 the rest of Grant's army overwhelmed the Confederate rear guard in an hour's fight, capturing 1,700 men and 18 guns. Grant pushed on to Vicksburg, where Pemberton had withdrawn with 20,000 men, ignoring Johnston's order to avoid being trapped inside the city. On May 19 the Federals attacked the city but the surprisingly strong defenses resisted capture. On this day Grant was able to reopen communications along the Mississippi, after his 18 day march of 200 miles into enemy territory.
On May 22 Grant launched a larger, better coordinated assault against Vicksburg. Again the Confederates resisted stubbornly, repulsing the day long attack and inflicting 3,200 casualties. Grant then methodically laid siege to the city, completely investing it, digging approaches, and employing mines and countermines. He built up his strength to 71,000 men, half of whom were deployed north and east to guard against a relief column that was being organized by Johnston at Jackson. The besieging force had Sherman's corps on the north, McPherson's on the east, and McClernand's, who was relieved on June 18 by Gen. Edward Ord, on the southeast. Inside Vicksburg the 30,000 man garrison held on grimly despite increasing deprivations. The nine miles of Pemberton's well organized defenses were manned by the divisions of generals Martin Smith, John Forney, and Carter Stevenson, from north to south. Gen. John Bowen's division constituted the reserve.
After May 22 Grant made no more direct assaults on Vicksburg. But constant shelling, disease, and the growing shortage of rations took a steady toll of the defenders. By July 4 one half of Pemberton's command was was dead, wounded, or sick. On that day the Confederates surrendered unconditionally.
As the Federal ring was closing tighter on Vicksburg, Johnston had begun marching to the city's relief with 31,000 men. He had reached the Big Black River on July 4 when he learned of Vicksburg's capitulation. He promptly counter marched to Jackson.
At a cost of 9,362 casualties Grant had achieved one of the great victories in military history. The Mississippi was now a Federal highway. Port Hudson, downstream, fell five days later, and the Confederacy was now split in two. The large Union army assembled by Grant was free to move against other objectives in the South. The capitulation of Vicksburg, coupled with the simultaneous defeat at Gettysburg, ended all hopes for a Confederate victory, although the war dragged on for almost two more years.
Chattanooga
(Oct. 26 - Nov. 25, 1863)
Following the Federal defeat at Chickamauga, Georgia, Gen. William Rosecrans withdrew supinely into Chattanooga. Confederate commander Braxton Bragg likewise disdained to take the initiative and settled down to a siege of the city. The tortuous Federal supply line from Bridgeport, Alabama, down river, threatened Rosecran's army with starvation. In Washington, an exasperated President Abraham Lincoln made Gen. U. S. Grant supreme commander of the Federal armies between the Alleghenies and the Mississippi River. Gen. George Thomas took over command of the Army of the Cumberland at Chattanooga, where Grant arrived on October 23. Gen. William Sherman's Army of Tennessee was moved from Corinth, Mississippi, to Thomas' left, upriver from Chattanooga. A third force, three Federal divisions under Gen. Joseph Hooker, occupied Bridgeport.
The first Federal offensive, during October 26-28, opened a short supply line south of the Tennessee River from Bridgeport into Chattanooga, Hooker, whose troops stood guard over this vital artery, repulsed a night attack at Wauhatchie on October 28-29. With the Federal supply line ensured, Grant organized a limited attack. On November 23 Thomas moved eastward to seize Orchard Knob and Indian Hill, the chief outposts of Bragg's main position on Missionary Ridge. The Confederate corps of Gen. John Breckinridge fell back to the main defensive position. The following day Sherman crossed the river to take up a position against Bragg's right flank, north of Missionary Ridge. That same day Hooker attacked eastward between the Tennessee River and Lookout Mountain. Finding this defile only weakly guarded, the Federals turned to ascend the 1,100 foot height. Again resistance was surprisingly weak. Hooker's men swept the Confederates off Lookout Mountain in an action later called the "Battle above the Clouds."
On November 25 Grant ordered a double envelopment of Bragg's Missionary Ridge position, Sherman to assault the north flank, Hooker the south. By mid afternoon neither attack had made any progress. Grant then sent Thomas' army forward in a frontal attack in an attempt to secure the lowest of the three Confederate defensive lines on Missionary Ridge. The charge carried the entrenchments, but when the Federals found themselves exposed to fire from the upper lines, they continued to ascend the ridge. In a clear case of soldiers taking the initiative away from their commanders, Thomas' army drove the startled defenders off the height. Within an hour and a half Bragg's army was routed with a loss of 2,000 prisoners. The discredited Confederate commander fell back to Dalton, Georgia. His defeat at Chattanooga cut a vital line of lateral communications in the South and opened the way for a Federal drive on Atlanta. Bragg, who had 64,000 men in his command, lost a total of 361 killed, 2,160 wounded, and 4,146 missing at Chattanooga. Grant's among the 56,000 Federal troops employed were 753 killed, 4,722 wounded, and 349 missing.
Cold Harbor
(June 1-11, 1864)
From the North Anna River the Federal commander, Gen. U. S. Grant, again moved the Army of Potomac by its left flank. Its next objective was the road junction of Old Cold Harbor, ten miles northeast of Richmond. For the fourth time Gen. Robert E. Lee shifted his Army of Northern Virginia to keep it between Grant and the Confederate capital. Aggressive as always, Lee hurried the I Corps of Gen. Richard Anderson forward to seize Cold Harbor. Early on June 1 the Confederates attacked toward the crossroads, occupied only by the two slim cavalry divisions of Gen. Philip Sheridan. In a sharp fight the Federals barely held their ground until Gen. Horatio Wright's VI Corps came up at 9:00 AM to repulse the assault. Both armies then moved into position, facing each other on a seven mile front that stretched roughly north-south between Totopotomy Creek and the Chickahominy River. About 6:00 PM Wright and Gen. William Smith (XVIII Corps) counterattacked Anderson but failed to break the Confederate line. The loss of 2,200 Federals in this attack demonstrated the new found effectiveness of defensive troops fighting behind entrenchments.
Grant now resolved to take advantage of his great numerical superiority, 108,000 men against the 59,000 available to Lee. At 4:30 AM on June 3 he ordered three of his corps to effect a massive penetration of the Confederate center and right, held by Anderson Gen. Ambrose Hill (III Corps), respectively. The attacking Federal corps were, from north to south, Smith, Wright, and Gen. Winfield Hancock (II Corps). The blue coated troops charged bravely but ran into a murderous frontal fire. Within an hour the assault had been stopped all along the line with 7,000 Federals dead or wounded. Lee's losses were less than 1,500. Gen. George Meade, in immediate command of the Army of the Potomac, then called off the attack. The bleeding Federals dug in where they halted. For the next eight days the two armies fought from their respective trenches within a hundred yards of each other.
The costly repulse at Cold Harbor caused Grant to change his tactics. In the month long drive on Richmond that started in the Wilderness he had suffered more than 50,000 casualties, in contrast to Lee's losses of 30,000. On the night of June 12-13 he began a southward march to cross the James River, circling east of Richmond to attack Petersburg, 23 miles south of the Confederate capital.
Petersburg
(June 15, 1864 - Apr. 2, 1865)
The Federal commander Gen. U. S. Grant, changed his tactics after the costly failure of his frontal attack at Cold Harbor. In a brilliant maneuver he marched the Army of the Potomac, under Gen. George Meade, east of Richmond, crossed the James River, and closed in on the rail center of Petersburg, 23 miles south of the Confederate capital. The swift Federal move put the XVIII Corps of Gen. William Smith in front of Petersburg on June 15. Smith attacked westward late that afternoon with 13,700 troops. He deployed so cautiously, however, that the 3,000 Confederate defenders of Gen. Pierre Beauregard managed to prevent a breakthrough into the city.
Two more Federal corps arrived the following day, the II under Gen. Winfield Hancock, later succeeded by Gen. David Birney, and the IX commanded by Gen. Ambrose Burnside, to give the attackers a strength of 48,000 men. But again Beauregard, now reinforced to 14,000 men, held off the Federals and continued to do so on June 17. By June 18 Grant had 95,000 troops available. He launched a major assault early that morning. The 20,000 Confederate defenders fought back grimly as Gen. Robert E. Lee hurried the rest of his Army of Northern Virginia into the entrenchments. By the end of the day Lee had 38,000 men in position. Grant's hopes for a quick capture had evaporated. In the three day assault the Federals lost 1,688 killed, 8,513 wounded, and 1,185 missing. Confederate losses were lower.
The Petersburg front now settled down to a prolonged trench warfare. To penetrate the Confederate line, a Federal group of former coal miners under Lt. Col. Henry Pleasants tunneled 511 feet under the enemy entrenchments, planting a mine of 8,000 pounds of powder in the sector commanded by Burnside. The mine was exploded at 4:40 AM on July 30, blowing a crater 170 feet long, 60-80 feet wide, and 30 feet deep. The explosion killed or wounded 278 Confederates and created a 500 yard gap in their lines. Burnside sent in the division of Gen. James Ledlie to exploit the opportunity. But the attack was poorly organized and became worse when Ledlie cowered drunk in a dugout. Finally more that 20,000 joined in the assault. The Confederates, under the direct command of Beauregard, reacted quickly and slaughtered many attacking troops trapped in the crater. Meade called off the operation after suffering 3,798 casualties. Burnside resigned from the army. Total Confederate losses were about 1,500.
The siege of Petersburg dragged on month after month. Grant tested Lee's defenses around Richmond north of the James and extended the siege lines south and southwest of the beleaguered city. But Lee's troops threw back every attempt to break through. Meanwhile, although Gen. Jubal Early's raid had temporarily threatened Washington, D.C., the Confederates had lost the Shenandoah Valley to Gen. Philip Sheridan. They also had suffered through Gen. William Sherman's capture of Atlanta and subsequent march to the sea, as well as the shattering of Gen. John Hood's Army of Tennessee at Nashville. During the winter of 1864-65 rain and mud curtailed operations on both sides. Then on March 25 Lee launched what was to be his last offensive. Gen. John Gordon led his division in a fierce attack against Fort Stedman, at the northern end of the Federal line. But the Federal general John Parke, who had taken over the IX Corps, repulsed the drive, which cost the Confederates more than 4,400 casualties. Federal losses were about 2,000.
Grant, with 125,000 troops at his command, now seized the initiative. South of the city, he pushed the siege lines farther and farther westward until Lee's Petersburg defenses stretched so far they could not be held in strength by the remaining 57,000 Confederates. A defeat at Five Works, 11 miles to the southwest, on April 1, convinced the besieged commander that he must evacuate Petersburg and Richmond. Confirming evidence came the following day, when Gen. Horatio Wright's VI Corps made a decisive penetration of the Confederate position between Petersburg and Five Forks. In this fighting the veteran commander of the Confederate III Corps, Gen. Ambrose P. Hill, was killed. On the night of April 2-3 the 30,000 Confederate defenders abandoned their lines and began retreating westward along the Appomattox River. Federals occupied both Petersburg and Richmond the following day. The ten month siege, which broke the back of Lee's army, cost the Federals 42,000 casualties, the Confederates suffered 28,000 casualties.
Atlanta
(July 20 - Sep. 1, 1864)
Reverting to his campaign of maneuver after the Federal repulse at Kenesaw Mountain, Gen. William Sherman began crossing the Chattahoochee River above the Confederate position of Gen. Joseph Johnston on July 9. Johnston, who had only about half the 100,000 troops available to Sherman, fell back once more. Confederate President Jefferson Davis replaced Johnston with the more aggressive Gen. John Hood on July 17. Sherman pressed on southward toward Atlanta, the South's most important transportation, manufacturing, supply and medical center. On the right, Gen. George Thomas' Army of the Cumberland began crossing Peach Tree Creek, north of the city, while Gen. John Schofield (Army of Ohio) and Gen. James McPherson (Army of the Tennessee) closed in from the northeast and east.
Hood, seeing an opportunity to strike Thomas' force while it was isolated, sent forward the corps of generals Alexander Stewart and William Hardee, from left to right. The Confederate attack along Peach Tree Creek began at about 3:00 PM on July 20. It was fiercely conducted but futile. Three hours later the attack ended with 2,500 killed or wounded, chiefly in Stewart's corps. Federal losses were 1,600. Hood withdrew into the defenses of Atlanta the following day.
Believing Hood was evacuating the city, Sherman sent McPherson on a wide pursuing movement to the southeast. Instead of withdrawing, Hood sent Hardee's corps on an overnight 15 mile march to strike the exposed southern flank of the Federals, on July 22. In one of the most desperate struggles of the war the Confederate attack, later supported by Gen. Benjamin Cheatham's corps was stopped with a loss of 8,000 men. Federal casualties were 3,700, including the slain McPherson. Gen. Oliver Howard took over the Army of Tennessee.
Sherman now shifted Howard's corps from the far left to the extreme right. Here the Federals were moving past Ezra Church, southwest of Atlanta, when they were attacked by Gen. Stephen Lee's corps on July 28. Hood sent part of Stewart's corps to help, but the Federals held their ground for the third time in nine days. On August 5 and 6 Sherman resumed his efforts to turn Hood's left flank and cut the railroads leading into Atlanta from the south. The Confederates held off the attack of Schofield and part of Thomas' army at Utoy Creek. But their situation was hopeless.
On August 26 Sherman began moving his entire force in a deep envelopment of Atlanta from the west, with the armies of Schofield, Thomas, and Howard, from north to south. The Montgomery railroad was cut on August 27, the Macon line four days later. Hardee, the only Confederate corps commander in this area, fell back to Lovejoy's Station, 25 miles to the south. Here he fought, on August 31 and September 1, against the growing Federal concentration at nearby Jonesboro. At 5:00 PM on September 1 Hood abandoned Atlanta to link up with Hardee. The capture of the city, culminating a 140 mile advance from Chattanooga, had cost Sherman 21,656 casualties. Confederate losses totaled 27,565.
On September 11 Hood began moving west and north for an offensive against Sherman's supply and communication lines in Tennessee. Sherman sent Thomas northward to watch Hood and on November 15 cut lose from Atlanta to "march to the sea" at Savannah, where he could be supplied by the Federal navy. Much of Atlanta was set afire.
Appomattox River
(Apr. 9, 1865)
After the defeat of his right flank at Five Forks, Virginia, on April 1, the Confederate commander, Gen. Robert E. Lee, decided to evacuate both Petersburg and Richmond. On the night of April 2-3 the exhausted, near starving Army of Northern Virginia began retreating westward below the Appomattox River. Lee hoped to take his 30,000 men around the Federal left flank to join up with Gen. Joseph Johnston's army, which was falling back in North Carolina before the advance of Gen. William Sherman. However, the Federal commander in chief, Gen. U. S. Grant, who had 125,000 men available, drove his subordinates hard to block Lee's escape. Gen. Philip Sheridan's cavalry corps cut the railroad to the south on April 5, forcing Lee farther westward. The next day the Federal II Corps of Gen. Andrew Humphreys overwhelmed Lee's rear guard at Sayler's Creek, taking about 7,000 prisoners, including Richard Ewell and five other generals. Federal losses were 1,180, including 166 killed.
The tightening pursuit forced Lee to cross to the north side of the Appomattox at Farmville on April 7. He continued the westward retreat the following day, pursued by Humphreys and the VI Corps of Gen. Horatio Wright. But now Sheridan, with Gen. Charles Griffin's V Corps and Gen. Edward Ord's Army of the James, had raced past Lee's southern flank to take a blocking position at Appomattox Station. Early on April 9 the Confederate division of Gen. John Gordon, 1,600 infantry troops, tried to break through to open the route to Lynchburg. The last attack of the Army of Northern Virginia was beaten back. At 4:00 PM that day the encircled Lee surrendered his sword and his army to the victorious Grant at Appomattox Court House, a few miles to the northwest. Grant's vigorous pursuit stands as one of the most successful operations of its kind in history. In North Carolina, Gen. Joseph Johnston surrendered the last major Confederate army in the field on April 18. West of the Mississippi River, Gen. Edmund Kirby-Smith surrendered at Shreveport on May 26. The four year war was over at last.
VIII.Pictures
Map of divided North & South
Federal Artillery batteries
Confederate Artillery
Siege of Petersburg
Infantry Regiment
Federal 13" Mortar
Confederate 15" Gun in Virginia
USS St.Louis ironclad gunboat
Confederate ram Atlanta after being captured
Marines on gunboat Mendota
Atlanta Destroyed
Confederate Defenses at Atlanta
Atlanta Destroyed II
Blodiest Day in US history, Battle of Antietam
"Bloody Lane" Antietam
Confederate Dead at Antietam
Richmond the Confederate capital
Columbia, South Carolina
Battle of Gettysburg
Federal troops march in Washington victory parade
Sources Used
Bull Run I |
The popular view in the North that the Confederate forces could be easily crushed led to a premature offensive in northern Virginia. From Alexandria, Gen. Irvin McDowell marched southwest to Centreville, reaching there on July 18 with almost 35,000 Federal troops. Alert to the Union advance, Gen. Pierre Beauregard concentrated 20,000 Confederate soldiers at Manassas, a key railroad junction. Here he was joined by Gen. Joseph Johnston, who had eluded the Federal commander, Gen. Robert Patterson, in present day West Virginia and brought in 9,000 Confederates by railroad. It was the first strategic use of railroad transportation in military history.
McDowell, whose troops were largely poorly trained militia, spent two precious days closing up to the stream called Bull Run. Then, on the morning of July 21, the Federal commander attacked in a turning movement aimed at the enemy left. Three divisions crossed Bull Run upstream at Sudley Springs, driving the Confederate flank to Henry House Hill. Here the brigade of Col. Thomas Jackson held firm. This led to Gen. Barnard Bee to encourage his own men with the shout: "Look at Jackson's brigade, it stands like a stone wall!" Thus both the commander and his brigade earned the name "Stonewall" for the duration of the war.
While the rest of the 14-mile front remained relatively quiet, both sides hurriedly shifted reserves to the west. By 4:00 PM the Confederates had not only checked the Federal advance but had begun their own counterattack. McDowell ordered his exposed right to withdraw across Bull Run, back to Centreville. The retreat soon became a disorganized flight, with the entire army scurrying all the way back to Washington, D.C. Fortunately for the Union, the victorious Confederates could mount only a hesitant and confused pursuit that was soon called off. In this first major battle of the war the Federals lost 2,896 men killed, wounded, or captured. Total Confederate casualties were 1,982. To rebuild the Federal forces into what would become the Army of Potomac, President Abraham Lincoln called in Gen. George McClellan from West Virginia. McDowell would revert to a division commander.
Shiloh |
The Federal offensive in the West became more coordinated on March 11, when President Abraham Lincoln put Gen. Henry Halleck in overall command. Halleck sent Gen. U. S. Grant with 42,000 men to Pittsburg Landing on the west side of the Tennessee River near the border of Mississippi. He then ordered Gen. Don Carlos Buell to move from Nashville, Tenn., to link up with Grant. Meanwhile Gen. Albert Johnston, in charge of Confederate armies in the West, concentrated some 40,000 troops at Corinth, Miss. Seizing the initiative, Johnston marched 25 miles northward to Pittsburg Landing, arriving there on April 5.
Early the following morning the Confederates attacked Grant's six divisions, which were encamped with little thought to defense or security. The corps of the Confederate generals Leonidas Polk (I), Braxton Bragg (II), and William Hardee (III) struck the divisions of Gen. William Sherman and Gen. Benjamin Prentiss in a furious onslaught that drove the Federals back two miles. The attack also engulfed the divisions of the Federal generals John McCernand, Stephen Hurlburt, and William Wallace. Grant hurried forward from Savannah, Tenn., to take charge of the defense of the landing area, but the fiercely fighting Confederates slowly closed toward the river. The action was so intense all along the front that Johnston's corps commanders, including Gen. John Breckinridge of the reserve corps, took charge of whatever units were available, regardless of organization. Johnston himself was killed at about 2:30 PM, Pierre Beauregard succeeded to the command. On the Federal side W. Wallace fell mortally wounded, while at 5:30 PM Prentiss surrendered with 2,200 men after a spirited fight to hold a patch of woods called the Hornets' Nest. About 6:00 PM Beauregard halted the attack, expecting to complete the Confederate victory the following day. However, that night Gen. Lewis Wallace's division tardily came up on the Federal right, while three of Buell's divisions finally began arriving from the east to strengthen Grant's command. They came into line on the left nearest the river.
At dawn the next day Grant launched a counteroffensive that had spread all along the line by 10:00 AM. The fresh Union troops swung the balance against the weary and now outnumbered Confederates. Slowly the Southerners gave ground, fighting as desperately as on the previous day, particularly around Shiloh Church. At 2:30 PM Beauregard ordered a retreat. The Confederates turned and marched back to Corinth. Grant's troops occupied the camps they had held before the battle. On April 8 a belated Federal pursuit was checked by the cavalry of Gen. Nathan Forest.
The narrow Union victory at Shiloh prepared the way for the conquest of the entire length of the Mississippi. Federal casualties were 1,754 killed, 8,408 wounded, and 2,885 missing. Confederate casualties were 1,723 killed, 8,012 wounded, and 959 missing.
Seven Days |
Continuing his overcautious deployment east of Richmond, the Federal commander, Gen. George McClellan, moved the bulk of his army of 60,000 men south of the Chickahominy River. Only the V Corps of Gen. Fitz-John Porter was left north of the stream. When the Federal army seemed to be settling down for a siege of the Confederate capital, Gen. Robert E. Lee began planning to attack McClellan. Leaving only 25,000 men to hold off the Federals east of the city, Lee shifted 65,000 troops northward to strike the exposed 30,000 men of Porter across the Chickahominy. On June 25 Gen. Joseph Hooker's division of Gen. Samuel Heintzelman's Federal IV Corps made a probing attack at Oak Grove in the Fair Oaks-Seven Pines region south of the river. It was a minor action, 626 Federal and 441 Confederate casualties, except for opening what was to become the major Seven Days battle. It was also the last Federal offensive in this week long engagement.
By the following day Lee was ready to envelope Porter's separated wing. Gen. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, just arriving from the Shenandoah Valley with 18,000 men, was to strike the Federal right flank from the north, while three other Confederate divisions assaulted from the west. When Jackson failed to come up, Gen. Ambrose Hill attacked alone with his division from Mechanicsville at 3:00 PM. Trying to cross Beaver Dam Creek, Hill was bloodily repulsed. Nightfall ended the fighting, with 1,400 Southern casualties out of the 16,350 actually engaged. Porter, who had fought his corps well, lost only 361 men. Anticipating that Lee would continue the offensive the next day, McClellan ordered the V Corps to fall back southeast of Gaines' Mill.
On June 27 Lee renewed the attack on Porter, with the divisions of generals Daniel Hill, Jackson, Ambrose Hill, and James Longstreet deployed in a semicircle from northeast to southwest. But again Jackson moved slowly, delaying the assault to the afternoon. It was not until evening that Porter's lines southeast of Gaine's Mill broke before the overwhelming numbers of Confederates. That night Porter retreated across the Chickahominy to the south. In this third day of battle Lee's casualties totaled 8,751. Federal casualties were at 6,837.
McClellan now decided to withdraw all five of his corps southward, changing his base from White House, on the Pamunkey tributary of the York, to Harrison's Landing on the James. Most of June 28 was spent marching toward the new base. When Lee became certain of the direction of McClellan's movement, he ordered a pursuit. On June 29 Gen. John Magruder, whose demonstrations had deceived McClellan for three days, attacked eastward against the Federal rear guard at Savage's Station, on the Richmond and York River Railroad. He was to be supported by Jackson's assault from the south. But for the third time in this battle the hero of the Shenandoah Valley campaign procrastinated. This enabled Gen. Edwin Sumner's Federal II Corps to hold off Magruder until the entire rear guard could pull back through White Oak Swamp. The day's fighting cost 1,590 Federal and 625 Confederate casualties.
Lee's plans for a coordinated offensive against the retreating Federals misfired again on June 30. Of the six divisions ordered against McClellan's west flank and rear, only those of Longstreet and Ambrose Hill launched an assault, and then not until late afternoon. Both attacking units struck Gen. George McCall's division of the V Corps at Frayser's Farm, south of Glendale and the White Oak Swamp. The Federal division collapsed and McCall was captured. But neighboring Union troops, aided by early darkness, sealed off the Confederate penetration. Federal casualties were 2,853, while Confederate casualties were 3,615. That night McClellan finally got his entire army atop Malvern Hill, overlooking the James River.
The Federal position on Malvern Hill was the strongest yet occupied in the seven days of combat. Nevertheless, Lee attacked it directly early on July 1, only to call off the assault when Federal artillery fire dominated the battlefield. Late in the afternoon the Confederate commander ordered a new attempt. But the Federal defenders easily beat back the attack, first by Daniel Hill, then by Jackson, and finally by Gen. Benjamin Huger. Ambrose Hill and Longstreet never got into the fight. When darkness ended the battle, the Confederates had lost 5,355 men, and the Federals had lost 3,214.
This action closed the Seven Days battle, which cost a total 36,000 casualties, 20,000 of them Confederate. McClellan continued his retreat to Harrison's Landing the next day. Lee moved his army back to Richmond. In August the Federal army was recalled to the Washington area, ending the unsuccessful Peninsular Campaign. It would be two years before Richmond would again be seriously threatened.
Bull Run II |
The Confederate commander, Gen. Robert E. Lee, determined to strike Gen. John Pope's Army of Virginia before it could be reinforced by Gen. George McClellan's much larger Federal force, which was moving up the Potomac River. To do this, Lee divided his army on August 24. From the south side of the Rappahannock River, he sent Gen. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson upriver to circle behind Pope's 75,000 troops deployed along the Orange and Alexandria Railroad, south of Manassas. Two nights later the fast marching Jackson stood at Manassas, across Pope's lines of communications. Meanwhile the Confederate general James Longstreet moved his command to a position at Orleans, 30 miles to the west. On August 27 Jackson seized what Federal stores he could use, destroyed the rest, and beat back a small, fool hardy attack by Gen. George Taylor, who was assigned to guard the Union Mills railroad bridge over Bull Run. After destroying the bridge, Jackson moved up Bull Run to assume a defensive position at Stony Ridge near Sudley Springs. Pope, meanwhile, marched hurriedly northward to attack Jackson before Longstreet could interfere. But confused by the movements of Jackson and his division commanders, generals Ambrose Hill, Richard Ewell, and William Taliaferro, Pope scattered his units over too wide an area to control.
Moving eastward on the Warrenton Turnpike, Gen. Rufus King's division of Pope's command unknowingly crossed the front of Jackson's corps in the late afternoon of August 28. The Confederate division of Ewell and Taliaferro fell on King's men at Groveton. In one of the fiercest small actions of the war both sides suffered heavy casualties before the Federals withdrew at midnight. Both Ewell, who lost a leg, and Taliaferro were wounded.
On August 29 Pope hurled three corps at Jackson on Stony Ridge, from south to north, I Corps under Gen. Franz Sigel, II Corps under Gen. Jesse Reno, and III Corps under Gen. Samuel Heintzelman. Bu the poorly coordinated frontal attacks were repulsed. During this fight Pope paid the penalty of not blocking out Longstreet at Bull Run Mountain. The four division Confederate corps arrived on Jackson's right at noon, in a position to drive between Pope's main force and Gen. Fitz-John Porter's V Corps two miles to the south. But Longstreet missed the opportunity to score a decisive triumph for Lee. Porter, confused by Pope's ambiguous orders, was later court-martialed and dismissed from the army, he was cleared 20 years later.
Still misinterpreting the situation, Pope launched an attack on Jackson again the following day. The Confederate army held and then counterattacked. On the south Longstreet's corps, driving eastward, caved in Pope's left flank. Only a stubborn defense of Henry House Hill prevented a major Federal defeat. That night the Union Army withdrew northward across Bull Run to Centreville. Lee did not pursue. Instead, he sent Jackson northward to circle behind Centreville to Fairfax Court House. On September 1 Pope sent two divisions under Gen. Isaac Stevens and Gen. Philip Kearny to intercept Jackson. The two hostile forces met at Chantilly. In a hard fight Jackson's tired troops failed to break through, despite their superior numbers. Both Stevens and Kearny were killed, among the 1,300 Federal casualties. Confederate casualties were 800. When Longstreet came up that night, Pope retired to Fairfax and the following day withdrew into the fortifications of Washington D.C. Thus Bull Run II ended with the Southern armies on the offensive and the Federal forces beaten and demoralized by poor leadership. The five day battle cost Lee 9,197 casualties, 19% of his strength. Federal losses totaled 16,054, 21% of their strength.
Antietam Creek |
After his victory at Bull Run II, the Confederate general Robert E. Lee turned north, crossing the Potomac River during September 4-6 to invade Maryland. He then divided his army of 65,000 men by sending Gen. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson westward to attack Harpers Ferry. The capture of this Potomac crossing would open up a protected Confederate supply line down the Shenandoah Valley. The remainder of the Southern army moved from Frederick to Hagerstown, Md.
In Washington, D.C., Gen. John Pope's battered Army of Virginia was absorbed into the major Federal striking force, the Army of the Potomac. Gen. George McClellan, restored to top command, began moving slowly northwest toward Frederick with some 84,000 troops. On September 13 McClellan reached Frederick. Here he learned that Lee's army, to his front, was widely scattered. Still, McClellan moved with extreme caution. At daylight on September 14 he sent Gen. Ambrose Burnside, commander of his right wing, with two corps to Turner's Gap in South Mountain. The Federals arrived at noon to find the pass held by Gen. Daniel Hill's division, later supported by Gen. James Longstreet's division. The ensuing battle of South Mountain lasted into the night. Finally the Confederates were beaten back, outflanked on the right by Gen. Joseph Hooker's I Corps and on the left by Gen. Jesse Reno's IX Corps. Although the action was a Federal victory, the Confederate defense had given Lee an extra day to reassemble his army. Among the 1,813 Federal casualties was the mortally wounded Reno. Hill and Longstreet lost 2,685 men.
As Burnside was forcing his way through Turner's Gap, McClellan's left wing under Gen. William Franklin (VI Corps) attacked westward through Crampton's Gap, four miles to the south. West of this height, the Confederate general Lafayette McLaws, who also commanded Gen. Richard Anderson's division, was supporting General Jackson's determined offensive against Harpers Ferry. McLaws turned to confront Franklin. Driven out of the pass, the Confederates fell back southward down Pleasant Valley. Here McLaws bluffed the Federal commander into hesitating. While Franklin, who had only lost 533 men, delayed, Harpers Ferry fell early the following morning. Federal indecision had given the Confederates another tactical advantage.
After losing both mountain passes, Lee planned to withdraw to the south side of the Potomac. But when he learned that Jackson had taken Harpers Ferry and was marching northward to join him at Sharpsburg, Lee took up a defensive position behind Antietam Creek, awaiting McClellan's attack. It was a risky decision. The Confederate army numbered only 20,000 at this time, while the oncoming Federal Army of the Potomac consisted of 75,000 troops. However, McClellan moved up slowly and spent all of September 16 organizing his attack for the following day. Meanwhile Jackson arrived from his victory at Harpers Ferry with 11,000 men, and another 10,000 were on the way.
The Federal attack began at dawn on September 17 on the north end of the line and spread across the front to the center and finally to the extreme southern flank by late afternoon. This piecemeal assault nullified McClellan's marked numerical superiority. On the northern flank, Gen. Joseph Hooker's I Corps drove the Confederate left past Dunkard Church and West Woods, until it was finally checked by the hard fighting troops of generals John Hood and J. E. B. Stuart. Hooker was wounded and Gen. Joseph Mansfield, commander of the supporting XIII Corps, killed.
In the center Gen. Edwin Summer committed his II Corps precipitously only to have Gen. John Sedgwick's division thrown back with 2,200 casualties. However, the divisions of Gen. William French and Gen. Israel Richardson fought their way forward, driving the Confederates of Gen. Daniel Hill out of a sunken road now called Bloody Lane. By noon Lee's center in front of Sharpsburg and his left flank to the north stood in grave danger. Only Federal lethargy prevented a total rout.
At the southern end of the front Gen. Ambrose Burnside launched his attack against the Confederate right flank about noon. During the next four hours the Federals swarmed across Antietam Creek, driving back Gen. James Longstreet's men to the southern edge of Sharpsburg. At this decisive moment the tide of the battle abruptly changed. Gen. Ambrose P. Hill's division arrived from Harpers Ferry to strike Burnside's IX Corps in the flank and send it reeling back to Antietam Creek. This check to the Federal advance saved the Confederate army and ended the battle. Antietam is often called the "bloodiest single day of the war." Lee lost 13,724 including 2,700 killed. McClellan lost 12,140 including 2,108 killed.
Lee remained in position during the day of September 18, then began withdrawing across the Potomac that night. Federal pursuit was negligible. Despite the failure to win a large victory, President Abraham Lincoln used the occasion to announce the Emancipation Proclamation effective January 1, 1863. The character of the conflict now changed from a war to preserve the Union to a crusade to free the slaves.
Fredericksburg |
For more than a month after the battle of Antietam Creek, the Federal general George McClellan remained in place north of the Potomac River. Finally, late in October, he began crossing the river, marching slowly southward. On November 7 President Lincoln, his patience exhausted, replaced McClellan with Gen. Ambrose Burnside. The new commander planned to threaten Richmond by moving to the Rappahannock River at Fredericksburg. He arrived there on November 17 but could not cross because of the lack of a pontoon train. The 400 foot wide river was finally bridged on the night of December 10. Two days later the Army of the Potomac had moved to Fredericksburg, on the south bank of the Rappahannock, ready to attack Gen. Robert E. Lee's army on the hills overlooking the city. The long delay had enabled the Confederates to assemble a strength of 70,000 men. Gen. James Longstreet's I Corps stood on Marye's Heights on the left. Gen. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson's II Corps held the right flank downstream.
On the morning of December 13 Burnside's Army of the Potomac, 120,000 strong, attacked. On the southeast Gen. William Franklin's Left Grand Division (I and VI Corps) drove through Jackson's first and second lines until halted by a vigorous counterattack about 1:30 PM. The Confederates, in turn, were stopped by a storm of Federal artillery fire. Fighting in this sector then died down. Upstream, Gen. Edwin Sumner's Right Grand Division (II and IX Corps) had to advance across an open field against Longstreet's artillery and heavy rifle fire. After more than two hours of cruel losses, the attackers withdrew out of range. Burnside then committed Gen. Joseph Hooker's Center Grand Division (III and V Corps) in a renewed assault on Marye's Heights late in the afternoon. Hooker sent three divisions forward, but they were easily repulsed. The day's fighting cost the Army of the Potomac 12,700 killed or wounded. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, in a strong natural position, suffered 5,300 casualties.
Burnside wanted to launch another offensive the following day but was dissuaded by his Grand Division commanders. On the night of December 14-15 he withdrew across the river. Subsequent efforts to turn Lee's left flank by moving up the Rappahannock failed. On January 25 Burnside was relieved, as were Franklin and Sumner. Hooker became the new commander of the Army of the Potomac.
Chancellorsville |
When Gen. Joseph Hooker took command of the Army of the Potomac after the disastrous Federal defeat at Fredericksburg, his forces held the north bank of the Rappahannock. Across the river Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia guarded every possible crossing against Federal attack. On April 27 Hooker began a movement to turn Lee's left flank by sending Gen. Henry Slocum upstream with three corps (V, XI, XII). Crossing the Rappahannock at Kelly's Ford and the Rapidan at Germania Ford, Slocum reached Chancellorsville with 42,000 men on April 29, in the rear of Lee's 53,000 troops, who were facing northeast toward Fredericksburg. Gen. Darius Crouch then crossed the river with 12,000 men to take up a position behind Slocum. On that same day Gen. John Sedwick sent part of the I and VI Corps, total of 40,000 men, across the Rappahannock below Fredericksburg.
The Federal offensive seemed to pin Lee between two strong enemy armies. But on April 30 the Confederate commander left Gen. Jubal Early's reinforced division to hold off Sedgwick on the east, while moving the rest of his army against Hooker's main force to the west. Here the Federals did not begin to advance until almost noon on May 1. In a region of tangled underbrush and second growth timber, appropriately called "the Wilderness," the two armies clashed indecisively. Hooker then unexpectedly called off the attack in favor of fortifying a position around Chancellorsville.
Lee reacted quickly. Early on the following morning he sent Gen. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson with 26,000 men of the II Corps on a 14 mile circuit of the Federal position to strike from the west. The exposed Federal right flank had been detected by Gen. J. E. B. Stuart's cavalry. By 6:00 PM Jackson was in position and attacking the right wing XI Corps of Gen. Oliver Howard. The Confederates had gained some advantages by nightfall. But in the dusk Jackson was mortally wounded accidentally by his own men, he died on May 10. As the second in command, Gen. Ambrose P. Hill, had been wounded, Stuart took over the corps. Hooker continued to surrender the initiative by contracting his perimeter defense, enabling the separated wings of Lee's army on this front to reestablish communications. At daybreak on May 3 Stuart renewed the assault from the west against the III Corps of Gen. Daniel Sickles and the XII of Henry Slocum. By noon Hooker, who had been slightly wounded, pulled his army northward into a prepared position that looked southward from the junction of the Rapidan and Rappahannock rivers.
Also on the morning of May 3, Sedgwick, 12 miles to the east, began to move toward the Chancellorsville battle. Four times he assaulted Marye's Heights, the scene of heavy fighting during the battle of Fredericksburg, before he finally drove off Early's division. Perceiving this new danger, Lee left Stuart with 25,000 men to try contain Hooker's force of 75,000 and marched Gen. Lafayette McLaws eastward with 20,000 troops. McLaws reached Salem Church at 3:00 PM and checked Sedgwick's advance. On the following day Early returned to the fight and occupied Marye's Heights, in the Federal rear. Sedgwick's 19,000 men were now surrounded on three sides by 21,000 Confederates, who, however, attacked unsuccessfully. Under cover of darkness Sedgwick withdrew to the north side of the Rappahannock.
Lee now turned back westward to attack Hooker, who had been strangely inactive during the action of Salem Church. But the Federal commander had lost all his combativeness. On the night of May 5-6 he began withdrawing his entire force across the Rappahannock. Hooker's only battle as commander of the Army of the Potomac had cost 17,278 in killed, wounded, and missing. Lee's casualties were 12,821, but they included the irreplaceable Gen. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson. The Army of Northern Virginia would never again display the military ingenuity it had shown at Chancellorsville.
Gettysburg
The second invasion of the North by Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia passed beyond the Potomac on June 24, closing up behind Richard Ewell's II Corps, which was already in the Cumberland Valley of Pennsylvania. On that day Gen. Joseph Hooker;s Army of the Potomac also began moving northward into Maryland, shielding both Washington and Baltimore. Displeased by Hooker's performance, President Abraham Lincoln replaced him with Gen. George Meade on June 28. Meanwhile Lee began concentrating his scattered forces at Cashtown.
On July 1 the leading elements of Gen. Ambrose Hill's Confederate III Corps bumped into Gen. John Buford's Federal cavalry between Cashtown and Gettysburg. Both sides began building up rapidly. Hill, receiving more and more of his troops, pushed forward to the north-south Seminary Ridge, southwest of Gettysburg. Ewell advanced on the town from the north, driving out the Federal XI Corps of Gen. Oliver Howard. Meade sent Gen. Winfield Hancock forward to organize a Federal position just south of Gettysburg. Hancock hurriedly deployed arriving troops on Culp's Hill and then on Cemetery Ridge to the south as far as, but not including, the terminal hills of Little Round Top and Big Round Top. The first day's fighting at Gettysburg was a Confederate victory. The Federal XI Corps had lost over 4,000 men captured. The I Corps of Gen. Abner Doubleday, who had replaced the slain John Reynolds, had also suffered heavily. But Ewell had stopped short of Culp's Hill, and Lee did not insist that he try to take this northern key to Cemetery Ridge.
On the second day Lee sent the I Corps of Gen. James Longstreet against the Federal left flank. The attack was not started until 4:00 PM. Gen. Daniel Sickles' Federal III Corps, in a westward jutting salient, suffered heavily, but quick Federal dispositions held the vital height of the Little Round Top. Hill's assault to the left of Longstreet and Ewell's attack against Culp's Hill from the northeast proved equally unsuccessful, although the Confederates charged gallantly all along the line.
During the first two days of the great battle, Lee's knowledge of the enemy had been seriously crippled by the absence of his cavalry leader, Gen. J. E. B. Stuart, who was off on an irresponsible raid to the east. Now the Confederate commander determined to make one more attack, against the center of Meade's position. Under the direction of Longstreet, 15,000 troops, the divisions of generals George Pickett, James Pettigrew, and Isaac Trimble, assembled on Seminary Ridge for the assault across the half mile of open ground to Cemetery Ridge. Longstreet massed 159 guns opposite the Federal line held by the II Corps of Gen. John Gibbon. After an hour's brutal artillery duel with Meade's guns, the Confederates marched eastward in one of the most famous charges in history. Ascending Cemetery Ridge, the Southerners made a small penetration of the
Federal position before they were beaten back with heavy losses. Nineteen regimental colors were lost to the defenders. Earlier
that day Ewell's last attempt to take Culp's Hill had been easily
repulsed. Also stopped, by the cavalry of Gen. David Gregg, was Stuart's attack from the north on Meade's communication lines. The battle of Gettysburg was over. During the three days of combat more artillery shells were fired than in all the battles Napoleon fought. Of the 88,000 Federal troops engaged, 3,155 were killed, 14,529 wounded, and 5,365 missing. Confederate casualties among Lee's 75,000 troops were 3,903 dead, 18,735 wounded, and 5,425 missing.
On July 4 Lee reorganized his battered forces against an expected counterattack. But Meade's men were in no shape to continue the battle. On the night of July 5-6 the Confederate army began its retreat to the south in a driving rain. A slow Federal pursuit enabled Lee to recross the swollen Potomac safely on July 13 and 14. Because the battle of Gettysburg marked the beginning of the end of the Confederate States, it must rank as one of the decisive battles of history. While Lee waited on Seminary Ridge on July 4, Vicksburg, far to the west, fell to Gen. U. S. Grant, splitting the Confederacy in two along the line of the Mississippi River.
Vicksburg |
In the west the chief objective of the Federal commander, Gen. U. S. Grant, was Vicksburg, Mississippi, a Confederate strong point blocking Union control of the Mississippi River. The first attack on the city, by way of Chickasaw Bluffs, had been repulsed at the end of 1862. During the first three months of 1863, Grant made four other unsuccessful attempts to capture or isolate Vicksburg. Grant then planned a wide envelopment from the south and east. To camouflage his intent, he sent Col. Benjamin Grierson on a cavalry raid from La Grange, Tenn., on April 17. Riding hard, Grierson's 1,200 troopers swept 600 miles southward through Mississippi and northern Louisiana to reach Baton Rouge on May 2.
Under cover of the confusion caused by Grierson, Grant moved his army down the west side of the Mississippi below Vicksburg to Hard Times, La., during April 5-28. Two days later, protected by the gunboats of Adm. David Porter, Grant sent the corps of generals John McClernand (XIII) and James McPherson (XVII) across the river by transport ferry to Bruinsburg. No Confederate opposition was encountered. Distracted by Grant's diversions, the Confederate commander at Vicksburg, Gen. John Pemberton, had posted only 9,000 troops in this area, at Grand Gulf and Port Gibson, both to the north of Bruinsburg. When McClernand began marching inland, Gen. John Bowen tried to block the Federal advance at Port Gibson. McClernand, later supported by McPherson, attacked on May 1. The much larger Federal army turned Bowen's right flank and forced his withdrawal. The Confederates evacuated Grand Gulf the following day. Learning that a Confederate army stood at Jackson, 45 miles east of Vicksburg, Grant marched boldly northeast to put his army between the separated wings of the enemy forces. On May 7 Gen. William Sherman's XV Corps crossed the Mississippi, bringing Grant's strength up to 41,000.
Moving three corps abreast, the Federal army pressed steadily forward. At Raymond the right flank corps of McPherson brushed past the Confederate brigade of Gen. John Gregg on May 12. Leaving McClernand to hold the Raymond-Clinton line against Pemberton's army, which was advancing toward him from Vicksburg Grant turned McPherson and Sherman eastward to Jackson. Here Gen. Joseph Johnston, nominally the Confederate commander in the west, stood with the brigades of Gregg and Gen. William Walker, a total of 6,000 men. Grant's Napoleonic penetration had clearly divided the two Confederate armies.
On May 14 Grant attacked Jackson. Sherman, advancing from the southwest, overwhelmed Gregg's brigade, while McPherson, approaching from the west, routed Walker's men after a sharp struggle. The Federals entered the Mississippi capital at 4:00 PM. Johnston;s defeated army fled to the north.
Leaving Sherman to destroy war supplies in Jackson, Grant promptly turned westward with his other two corps on May 15. Meanwhile Pemberton had been marching cautiously toward Jackson and now stood squarely in the path of the Federal army. The two hostile forces met at Champion's Hill, 20 miles east of Vicksburg, on May 16. McPherson attacked vigorously on the right flank, but McClernand on the other flank moved so slowly as to neutralize Grant's numerical superiority, 29,000 to 22,000. In the hardest fighting of the campaign so far, Champion's Hill changed hands several times before Pemberton ordered a withdrawal. Gen. William Loring's division, charged with covering the retreat, was cut off from the main Confederate army and compelled to escape to the southeast. This force was thus lost to Pemberton for the later defense of Vicksburg. In all, the Confederate army suffered 3,851 casualties, including 381 killed. Grant's losses were 410 killed out of a total 2,441 casualties. Sherman did not arrive from Jackson until after the battle.
Pemberton fell back toward Vicksburg, leaving 5,000 men to hold a small bridgehead east of the Big Black River. But Sherman outflanked this position on the north, and on May 17 the rest of Grant's army overwhelmed the Confederate rear guard in an hour's fight, capturing 1,700 men and 18 guns. Grant pushed on to Vicksburg, where Pemberton had withdrawn with 20,000 men, ignoring Johnston's order to avoid being trapped inside the city. On May 19 the Federals attacked the city but the surprisingly strong defenses resisted capture. On this day Grant was able to reopen communications along the Mississippi, after his 18 day march of 200 miles into enemy territory.
On May 22 Grant launched a larger, better coordinated assault against Vicksburg. Again the Confederates resisted stubbornly, repulsing the day long attack and inflicting 3,200 casualties. Grant then methodically laid siege to the city, completely investing it, digging approaches, and employing mines and countermines. He built up his strength to 71,000 men, half of whom were deployed north and east to guard against a relief column that was being organized by Johnston at Jackson. The besieging force had Sherman's corps on the north, McPherson's on the east, and McClernand's, who was relieved on June 18 by Gen. Edward Ord, on the southeast. Inside Vicksburg the 30,000 man garrison held on grimly despite increasing deprivations. The nine miles of Pemberton's well organized defenses were manned by the divisions of generals Martin Smith, John Forney, and Carter Stevenson, from north to south. Gen. John Bowen's division constituted the reserve.
After May 22 Grant made no more direct assaults on Vicksburg. But constant shelling, disease, and the growing shortage of rations took a steady toll of the defenders. By July 4 one half of Pemberton's command was was dead, wounded, or sick. On that day the Confederates surrendered unconditionally.
As the Federal ring was closing tighter on Vicksburg, Johnston had begun marching to the city's relief with 31,000 men. He had reached the Big Black River on July 4 when he learned of Vicksburg's capitulation. He promptly counter marched to Jackson.
At a cost of 9,362 casualties Grant had achieved one of the great victories in military history. The Mississippi was now a Federal highway. Port Hudson, downstream, fell five days later, and the Confederacy was now split in two. The large Union army assembled by Grant was free to move against other objectives in the South. The capitulation of Vicksburg, coupled with the simultaneous defeat at Gettysburg, ended all hopes for a Confederate victory, although the war dragged on for almost two more years.
Chattanooga |
Following the Federal defeat at Chickamauga, Georgia, Gen. William Rosecrans withdrew supinely into Chattanooga. Confederate commander Braxton Bragg likewise disdained to take the initiative and settled down to a siege of the city. The tortuous Federal supply line from Bridgeport, Alabama, down river, threatened Rosecran's army with starvation. In Washington, an exasperated President Abraham Lincoln made Gen. U. S. Grant supreme commander of the Federal armies between the Alleghenies and the Mississippi River. Gen. George Thomas took over command of the Army of the Cumberland at Chattanooga, where Grant arrived on October 23. Gen. William Sherman's Army of Tennessee was moved from Corinth, Mississippi, to Thomas' left, upriver from Chattanooga. A third force, three Federal divisions under Gen. Joseph Hooker, occupied Bridgeport.
The first Federal offensive, during October 26-28, opened a short supply line south of the Tennessee River from Bridgeport into Chattanooga, Hooker, whose troops stood guard over this vital artery, repulsed a night attack at Wauhatchie on October 28-29. With the Federal supply line ensured, Grant organized a limited attack. On November 23 Thomas moved eastward to seize Orchard Knob and Indian Hill, the chief outposts of Bragg's main position on Missionary Ridge. The Confederate corps of Gen. John Breckinridge fell back to the main defensive position. The following day Sherman crossed the river to take up a position against Bragg's right flank, north of Missionary Ridge. That same day Hooker attacked eastward between the Tennessee River and Lookout Mountain. Finding this defile only weakly guarded, the Federals turned to ascend the 1,100 foot height. Again resistance was surprisingly weak. Hooker's men swept the Confederates off Lookout Mountain in an action later called the "Battle above the Clouds."
On November 25 Grant ordered a double envelopment of Bragg's Missionary Ridge position, Sherman to assault the north flank, Hooker the south. By mid afternoon neither attack had made any progress. Grant then sent Thomas' army forward in a frontal attack in an attempt to secure the lowest of the three Confederate defensive lines on Missionary Ridge. The charge carried the entrenchments, but when the Federals found themselves exposed to fire from the upper lines, they continued to ascend the ridge. In a clear case of soldiers taking the initiative away from their commanders, Thomas' army drove the startled defenders off the height. Within an hour and a half Bragg's army was routed with a loss of 2,000 prisoners. The discredited Confederate commander fell back to Dalton, Georgia. His defeat at Chattanooga cut a vital line of lateral communications in the South and opened the way for a Federal drive on Atlanta. Bragg, who had 64,000 men in his command, lost a total of 361 killed, 2,160 wounded, and 4,146 missing at Chattanooga. Grant's among the 56,000 Federal troops employed were 753 killed, 4,722 wounded, and 349 missing.
Cold Harbor |
From the North Anna River the Federal commander, Gen. U. S. Grant, again moved the Army of Potomac by its left flank. Its next objective was the road junction of Old Cold Harbor, ten miles northeast of Richmond. For the fourth time Gen. Robert E. Lee shifted his Army of Northern Virginia to keep it between Grant and the Confederate capital. Aggressive as always, Lee hurried the I Corps of Gen. Richard Anderson forward to seize Cold Harbor. Early on June 1 the Confederates attacked toward the crossroads, occupied only by the two slim cavalry divisions of Gen. Philip Sheridan. In a sharp fight the Federals barely held their ground until Gen. Horatio Wright's VI Corps came up at 9:00 AM to repulse the assault. Both armies then moved into position, facing each other on a seven mile front that stretched roughly north-south between Totopotomy Creek and the Chickahominy River. About 6:00 PM Wright and Gen. William Smith (XVIII Corps) counterattacked Anderson but failed to break the Confederate line. The loss of 2,200 Federals in this attack demonstrated the new found effectiveness of defensive troops fighting behind entrenchments.
Grant now resolved to take advantage of his great numerical superiority, 108,000 men against the 59,000 available to Lee. At 4:30 AM on June 3 he ordered three of his corps to effect a massive penetration of the Confederate center and right, held by Anderson Gen. Ambrose Hill (III Corps), respectively. The attacking Federal corps were, from north to south, Smith, Wright, and Gen. Winfield Hancock (II Corps). The blue coated troops charged bravely but ran into a murderous frontal fire. Within an hour the assault had been stopped all along the line with 7,000 Federals dead or wounded. Lee's losses were less than 1,500. Gen. George Meade, in immediate command of the Army of the Potomac, then called off the attack. The bleeding Federals dug in where they halted. For the next eight days the two armies fought from their respective trenches within a hundred yards of each other.
The costly repulse at Cold Harbor caused Grant to change his tactics. In the month long drive on Richmond that started in the Wilderness he had suffered more than 50,000 casualties, in contrast to Lee's losses of 30,000. On the night of June 12-13 he began a southward march to cross the James River, circling east of Richmond to attack Petersburg, 23 miles south of the Confederate capital.
Petersburg |
The Federal commander Gen. U. S. Grant, changed his tactics after the costly failure of his frontal attack at Cold Harbor. In a brilliant maneuver he marched the Army of the Potomac, under Gen. George Meade, east of Richmond, crossed the James River, and closed in on the rail center of Petersburg, 23 miles south of the Confederate capital. The swift Federal move put the XVIII Corps of Gen. William Smith in front of Petersburg on June 15. Smith attacked westward late that afternoon with 13,700 troops. He deployed so cautiously, however, that the 3,000 Confederate defenders of Gen. Pierre Beauregard managed to prevent a breakthrough into the city.
Two more Federal corps arrived the following day, the II under Gen. Winfield Hancock, later succeeded by Gen. David Birney, and the IX commanded by Gen. Ambrose Burnside, to give the attackers a strength of 48,000 men. But again Beauregard, now reinforced to 14,000 men, held off the Federals and continued to do so on June 17. By June 18 Grant had 95,000 troops available. He launched a major assault early that morning. The 20,000 Confederate defenders fought back grimly as Gen. Robert E. Lee hurried the rest of his Army of Northern Virginia into the entrenchments. By the end of the day Lee had 38,000 men in position. Grant's hopes for a quick capture had evaporated. In the three day assault the Federals lost 1,688 killed, 8,513 wounded, and 1,185 missing. Confederate losses were lower.
The Petersburg front now settled down to a prolonged trench warfare. To penetrate the Confederate line, a Federal group of former coal miners under Lt. Col. Henry Pleasants tunneled 511 feet under the enemy entrenchments, planting a mine of 8,000 pounds of powder in the sector commanded by Burnside. The mine was exploded at 4:40 AM on July 30, blowing a crater 170 feet long, 60-80 feet wide, and 30 feet deep. The explosion killed or wounded 278 Confederates and created a 500 yard gap in their lines. Burnside sent in the division of Gen. James Ledlie to exploit the opportunity. But the attack was poorly organized and became worse when Ledlie cowered drunk in a dugout. Finally more that 20,000 joined in the assault. The Confederates, under the direct command of Beauregard, reacted quickly and slaughtered many attacking troops trapped in the crater. Meade called off the operation after suffering 3,798 casualties. Burnside resigned from the army. Total Confederate losses were about 1,500.
The siege of Petersburg dragged on month after month. Grant tested Lee's defenses around Richmond north of the James and extended the siege lines south and southwest of the beleaguered city. But Lee's troops threw back every attempt to break through. Meanwhile, although Gen. Jubal Early's raid had temporarily threatened Washington, D.C., the Confederates had lost the Shenandoah Valley to Gen. Philip Sheridan. They also had suffered through Gen. William Sherman's capture of Atlanta and subsequent march to the sea, as well as the shattering of Gen. John Hood's Army of Tennessee at Nashville. During the winter of 1864-65 rain and mud curtailed operations on both sides. Then on March 25 Lee launched what was to be his last offensive. Gen. John Gordon led his division in a fierce attack against Fort Stedman, at the northern end of the Federal line. But the Federal general John Parke, who had taken over the IX Corps, repulsed the drive, which cost the Confederates more than 4,400 casualties. Federal losses were about 2,000.
Grant, with 125,000 troops at his command, now seized the initiative. South of the city, he pushed the siege lines farther and farther westward until Lee's Petersburg defenses stretched so far they could not be held in strength by the remaining 57,000 Confederates. A defeat at Five Works, 11 miles to the southwest, on April 1, convinced the besieged commander that he must evacuate Petersburg and Richmond. Confirming evidence came the following day, when Gen. Horatio Wright's VI Corps made a decisive penetration of the Confederate position between Petersburg and Five Forks. In this fighting the veteran commander of the Confederate III Corps, Gen. Ambrose P. Hill, was killed. On the night of April 2-3 the 30,000 Confederate defenders abandoned their lines and began retreating westward along the Appomattox River. Federals occupied both Petersburg and Richmond the following day. The ten month siege, which broke the back of Lee's army, cost the Federals 42,000 casualties, the Confederates suffered 28,000 casualties.
Atlanta |
Reverting to his campaign of maneuver after the Federal repulse at Kenesaw Mountain, Gen. William Sherman began crossing the Chattahoochee River above the Confederate position of Gen. Joseph Johnston on July 9. Johnston, who had only about half the 100,000 troops available to Sherman, fell back once more. Confederate President Jefferson Davis replaced Johnston with the more aggressive Gen. John Hood on July 17. Sherman pressed on southward toward Atlanta, the South's most important transportation, manufacturing, supply and medical center. On the right, Gen. George Thomas' Army of the Cumberland began crossing Peach Tree Creek, north of the city, while Gen. John Schofield (Army of Ohio) and Gen. James McPherson (Army of the Tennessee) closed in from the northeast and east.
Hood, seeing an opportunity to strike Thomas' force while it was isolated, sent forward the corps of generals Alexander Stewart and William Hardee, from left to right. The Confederate attack along Peach Tree Creek began at about 3:00 PM on July 20. It was fiercely conducted but futile. Three hours later the attack ended with 2,500 killed or wounded, chiefly in Stewart's corps. Federal losses were 1,600. Hood withdrew into the defenses of Atlanta the following day.
Believing Hood was evacuating the city, Sherman sent McPherson on a wide pursuing movement to the southeast. Instead of withdrawing, Hood sent Hardee's corps on an overnight 15 mile march to strike the exposed southern flank of the Federals, on July 22. In one of the most desperate struggles of the war the Confederate attack, later supported by Gen. Benjamin Cheatham's corps was stopped with a loss of 8,000 men. Federal casualties were 3,700, including the slain McPherson. Gen. Oliver Howard took over the Army of Tennessee.
Sherman now shifted Howard's corps from the far left to the extreme right. Here the Federals were moving past Ezra Church, southwest of Atlanta, when they were attacked by Gen. Stephen Lee's corps on July 28. Hood sent part of Stewart's corps to help, but the Federals held their ground for the third time in nine days. On August 5 and 6 Sherman resumed his efforts to turn Hood's left flank and cut the railroads leading into Atlanta from the south. The Confederates held off the attack of Schofield and part of Thomas' army at Utoy Creek. But their situation was hopeless.
On August 26 Sherman began moving his entire force in a deep envelopment of Atlanta from the west, with the armies of Schofield, Thomas, and Howard, from north to south. The Montgomery railroad was cut on August 27, the Macon line four days later. Hardee, the only Confederate corps commander in this area, fell back to Lovejoy's Station, 25 miles to the south. Here he fought, on August 31 and September 1, against the growing Federal concentration at nearby Jonesboro. At 5:00 PM on September 1 Hood abandoned Atlanta to link up with Hardee. The capture of the city, culminating a 140 mile advance from Chattanooga, had cost Sherman 21,656 casualties. Confederate losses totaled 27,565.
On September 11 Hood began moving west and north for an offensive against Sherman's supply and communication lines in Tennessee. Sherman sent Thomas northward to watch Hood and on November 15 cut lose from Atlanta to "march to the sea" at Savannah, where he could be supplied by the Federal navy. Much of Atlanta was set afire.
Appomattox River |
After the defeat of his right flank at Five Forks, Virginia, on April 1, the Confederate commander, Gen. Robert E. Lee, decided to evacuate both Petersburg and Richmond. On the night of April 2-3 the exhausted, near starving Army of Northern Virginia began retreating westward below the Appomattox River. Lee hoped to take his 30,000 men around the Federal left flank to join up with Gen. Joseph Johnston's army, which was falling back in North Carolina before the advance of Gen. William Sherman. However, the Federal commander in chief, Gen. U. S. Grant, who had 125,000 men available, drove his subordinates hard to block Lee's escape. Gen. Philip Sheridan's cavalry corps cut the railroad to the south on April 5, forcing Lee farther westward. The next day the Federal II Corps of Gen. Andrew Humphreys overwhelmed Lee's rear guard at Sayler's Creek, taking about 7,000 prisoners, including Richard Ewell and five other generals. Federal losses were 1,180, including 166 killed.
The tightening pursuit forced Lee to cross to the north side of the Appomattox at Farmville on April 7. He continued the westward retreat the following day, pursued by Humphreys and the VI Corps of Gen. Horatio Wright. But now Sheridan, with Gen. Charles Griffin's V Corps and Gen. Edward Ord's Army of the James, had raced past Lee's southern flank to take a blocking position at Appomattox Station. Early on April 9 the Confederate division of Gen. John Gordon, 1,600 infantry troops, tried to break through to open the route to Lynchburg. The last attack of the Army of Northern Virginia was beaten back. At 4:00 PM that day the encircled Lee surrendered his sword and his army to the victorious Grant at Appomattox Court House, a few miles to the northwest. Grant's vigorous pursuit stands as one of the most successful operations of its kind in history. In North Carolina, Gen. Joseph Johnston surrendered the last major Confederate army in the field on April 18. West of the Mississippi River, Gen. Edmund Kirby-Smith surrendered at Shreveport on May 26. The four year war was over at last.
VIII.Pictures
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Map of divided North & South
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Federal Artillery batteries
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Confederate Artillery
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Siege of Petersburg
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Infantry Regiment
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Federal 13" Mortar
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Confederate 15" Gun in Virginia
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USS St.Louis ironclad gunboat
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Confederate ram Atlanta after being captured
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Marines on gunboat Mendota
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Atlanta Destroyed
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Confederate Defenses at Atlanta
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Atlanta Destroyed II
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Blodiest Day in US history, Battle of Antietam
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"Bloody Lane" Antietam
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Confederate Dead at Antietam
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Richmond the Confederate capital
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Columbia, South Carolina
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Battle of Gettysburg
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Federal troops march in Washington victory parade
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