The Emancipation Proclamation

The Emancipation Proclamation

And the Battle of

Chancellorsville

And the Battle of

Chancellorsville

The Emancipation Proclamation

• Came into effect on January 1st, 1863

• Declared all slaves held in rebel states to be free

• The war was now a struggle to destroy slavery and free the slaves

Setting free the slaves

The proclamation had no practical effect on slaves in the Confederacy, the importance was more symbolic

Making the war about slavery ensured that no European country would aid the Confederacy

Lincoln knew the slavery issue had to be addressed as it lay at the heart of the war

Contrasting Reactions

• In the South it caused outrage. Jefferson Davis accused Lincoln of trying to start a slave revolt

• In the North it was widely welcomed and it meant that freed slaves could now join the Union army to fight against the South and slavery

Beginning of a process

The Emancipation Proclamation began the process of freeing slaves

It gave the Union cause in the war a moral force

It also ensured the Confederacy would get no European support

The true end of slavery didn’t come until the passage of the 13th Amendment in December 1865

Battle of Chancellorsville• Confederate commander Robert E. Lee has a

reputation as one of the outstanding generals of the Civil War. At Chancellorsville his tactics allowed him to defeat a Union army twice his size.

The Union army was still trying to capture Richmond

• Lincoln appointed General Joseph Hooker to go on the offensive against Robert E. Lee

• His nickname was “Fighting Joe”

• He reorganized the Army of the Potomac and grew it to strike at Robert E. Lee’s army

Hooker divided his army

• He left half his troops at Fredricksburg to hold the Confederates in position

• He then led 75,000 men upstream to attack Lee’s army from behind

By April 30th, 1863 Hooker’s troops had forded the Rappahannock River

• They were in an area of tangled woodland known as the Wilderness

• The center of their position lay on a crossroads at Chancellorsville, Virginia

Robert E. Lee was preparing his defenses

• Realizing Hooker was trying a flanking march he sent two spies to determine their location

• Lee then went on the attack, also dividing his forces against Hooker and to keep protecting Fredricksburg

The attack took Hookercompletely by surprise

• Despite his reputation as “Fighting Joe” he lost his nerve

• He halted his advance and ordered his forces to take up defensive positions back at Chancellorsville

A bold maneuver

Lee had the advantage and he pushed hard He sent Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson and his

28,000 men on a march to strike Hooker’s right flank

Lee and his remaining troops faced three Union corps

Lee had now divided his army not once, but twice. It was one of the boldest moves of the whole war

Jackson’s army succeeded in breaking Hooker’s forces

• However, that night “Stonewall” Jackson was returning from a patrol and was accidentally shot and fatally wounded by his own man

J.E.B. Stuart took over forStonewall Jackson

• Stuart reopened the attack the next day

• At the same tome Lee’s army was striking from the south

• The Confederates pushed the Union line back toward the river

Union General Hooker faced total defeat

• Hooker withdrew across the river on May 5th• Defeat had cost him more than 17,000 men• Lee’s 12,800 casualties included “Stonewall”

Jackson, who died a few days later

Lee’s Masterpiece

• This was a battle so brilliantly planned that historian’s have dubbed it “Lee’s Masterpiece”

• Morale for the Union army was at an all-time low, The Confederates were winning