What Were the Advantages?

What Were the Advantages?

The Civil War

1861-1865

What were the advantages?

North South Individuals & Terms

Robert E. Lee

Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson

Jeb Stuart

James Longstreet

Jefferson Davis

Alexander H. Stephens

Winfield Scott

Anaconda Plan

Joe Johnston

What were the key obstacles?

North South

1861 Campaigns + Strategy

Northern Strategy:

July 1961: Battle of Bull Run (Manassas Junction)

Irwin McDowell vs. P.T. Beauregard

Significance: 1. Moral victory for the Confederacy

2. Elevates the stature of Stonewall Jackson

3. Portended a long and protracted war

1862 Campaigns

West

Union Strategy: Control of the Mississippi River

April 1862: Battle of Shiloh

Ulysses S. Grant vs. Albert Sydney Johnston

William Tecumseh Sherman

Casualties: Union 13,000 Confederates 10,000

Significance: 1. Secure the upper Mississippi River

2. U.S. Grant is elevated as a key leader of the Union army

April 1862: New Orleans falls to the Union

Commodore Farragut

Significance: 1. Secure lower Mississippi River

2. Tightens the blockade of Confederate trade with Europe

December 1862: Grant moves on Vicksburg, the last stronghold of the Confederacy along the Mississippi

River

1862 Campaigns

East

June 1862: Peninsula Campaign

George McClellan vs. Robert E. Lee

Joe Johnston

May-June 1862: Jackson’s Valley Campaign

Shenandoah Valley (Virginia)

17,000 Union troops

Strategy: Advance on Harper’s Ferry and feint advance across the Potomac River

toward Washington D.C.

Two Union armies converge on Jackson (John C. Fremon33,000 troops + James

Shields 30,000 troops), and fail to defeat Jackson

June 1862: McClellan advances with 130,000 troops toward Richmond and is stymied by Lee with 75,000

troops. McClellan retreats north.

July 1862: Lincoln informs his Cabinet that he wants to declare an Emancipation Proclamation. The

Cabinet is split in their support.

August 1862: McClellan is replaced by General John Pope.

The Committee on Conduct of the War declared that the army was now in the saddle.

Newspaper editor Horace Greeley noted that “the headquarters was in the saddle, to be

sure, and Pope had been sitting on his brains.”

August 1862: Second Battle of Bull Run

Union 62,000 troops Confederates 52,000 troops

Pope is defeated by Lee

Significance: A confidant Robert E. Lee moves North into Maryland

George McClellan replaces John Pope

Southern strategy: Convince Great Britain that the Confederacy can win the war

Induce Europe to recognize the Confederacy

September 1862: Battle of Antietam

Union forces: 75,000 Confederate forces: 50,000

Lee sends Jackson with 15,000 troops on a read at Harper’s Ferry

What should McClellan do???

Significance: 1. Allows Lincoln to claim a victory

2. Political leverage needed to issue the Emancipation Proclamation

3. Spoils Confederate bid for international recognition

1863 Campaigns + Events

January 1863: Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation

Significance: Consolidated Republican support

Created disharmony in the South

Gained international recognition

Provided a moral cause for the North

Highlighted the theme of “equality” in the American idea of freedom

July 1863: Vicksburg siege ends. Confederates surrender.

Arkansas and Texas are cutoff from the Confederacy.

The Mississippi River comes under the control of the Union.

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

Robert E. Lee: 65,000 troops George Meade 85,000 troops

Confederates: 22,000 casualties

Union: 27,000 casualties

Significance: Forces the Confederacy to fight a defensive campaign

Union strategy shifts from a plan of attrition to a plan of exhaustion

1864 Campaigns + Events

February 1864: Congress passes the 13th Amendment which abolishes slavery

Key leaders: Thaddeus Stevens, Charles Sumner, Benjamin Wade

Lincoln elevates Ulysses S. Grant to lead all Union troops.

Grant places William Tecumseh Sherman in command of Western armies.

Grant’s Strategy:

Sherman is to move on Atlanta, then Savannah, and then up into South and North Carolina.

Eventually, Sherman is to unite with Grant and defeat Lee’s Virginia forces.

Meanwhile, Grant moves toward Richmond and attempts to outflank Lee with superior forces.

May-September 1864: Lee slowly retreats toward Richmond and is held under siege at Petersburg,

Virginia.

September 1864: Atlanta falls to Sherman. Lincoln’s reelection is secure.

November 1864: Lincoln defeats George McClellan and the Copperheads.