the road to gettysburg: 1863

The Road to Gettysburg: 1863

Gettysburg Set-Up• Army of Northern VA – Lee

• Key commanders = • Longstreet (Lee’s Key subordinate)• Ewell (replaced Stonewall Jackson)• A.P Hill• Jeb Stuart Cavalry leader

• Army of the Potomac • June 27th Joseph Hooker resigns b/c Lincoln refused to give him additional troops• George G. Meade takes over command • John Buford Cavalry leader

The Road to Gettysburg• Lee crosses the Potomac river above

Harper’s Ferry and moves quickly through MD to PA

• John Buford and cavalry arrive at Gettysburg• Key defensive location• 10 roads converge – key transportation hub• Strategically great location

• Meade is in MD• Prefers to fight a defensive battle• He wants to fight Lee at Pipe Creek• Orders get confused and troops move

towards Gettysburg to help Buford

Gettysburg Day One

Gettysburg Day 2

Gettysburg Day 3

Gettysburg Casualties

Runaway inflation – almost 9,000% Class resentment

Those w/20+ slaves exempt from service

Upper class could afford substitutes 50,000 were purchased

High desertion rates 1/4 of the slaves escaped to Union

lines – the rest were increasingly disobedient

Peace movements spring up

Problems in the South

Northern Society

Decline in sale of products consumed/supplied by South – cotton goods, shoes for slaves, construction

Plentiful jobs but high inflationQuarter master Dept. single largest

U.S. employer w/thousands of manufacturing contracts

Union • Lower paid at first - 54th Massachusetts

refuse pay and their officers join protest• Given menial jobs• Segregated units with white officers• A few came from other places besides the

North – Canada, Africa, France, escaped from South

Violent attacks on black businesses, orphanages, homes

Also attacked homes of upper-class whites who could afford to pay a substitute to avoid the draft• A reflection of the gap between rich and

poor

Changing Roles of Women

South• Clerk jobs• School teachers for the first time

• North• Form the backbone of U.S Sanitary

Commission – nutrition/1st aid• Professionalization of nursing

Extensive Legislation Passed

Without the South in Congress

1861 – Morrill Tariff Act

1862 – Homestead Act -

1862 – Legal Tender Act

1862 – Morrill Land Grant Act

1862 – Emancipation Proclamation

1863 – Pacific Railway Act

1863 – National Bank Act

Emancipation

March 1862 – gradual emancipation - states choice• Wanted to colonize African Americans in

Caribbean/South America• Confiscation act (1862) take property of anyone

supporting the rebellion

• September 1862 – Post-Antietam = threat to Confederacy put down arms or lose slaves

• Jan 1, 1863 – formal Emancipation Proclamation for Confederate States Only

• 1864 Election – Republican Platform contained 13th Amendment proposition

Chickamauga/Chattanooga• September 1863 – November 1863• If Union can capture Chattanooga they can go

down Railroad to Deep South

• Union – Army of the Cumberland = Rosecrans

• Confederate = Army of TN = Bragg

• Initial Confederate victory – Bragg then institutes a siege on Chattanooga where Union has fallen back to

• Part of Army of the Potomac arrive in TN• Grant is now in overall command of West –

fires Rosecrans

Chattanooga

• Another decisive battle for the Union in the West

• Chattanooga was now PERMANENTLY in Union Control• November 26th – coincientally the day

following the end of the Battle of Chattanooga, was declared as a national day of Thanksgiving by President Lincoln

• This date had been set on Oct. 3, 1863 following Gettysburg in the middle of the siege on Chattanooga

Chattanooga & Atlanta

Atlanta Campaign

Atlanta – July1864• Atlanta = 2nd most important Confederate city

left

• Confederacy – Army of TN – Johnston• 60,000 men

• Union – Grand Federal Army – Sherman• 100,000 men• Contained the Armies of THE Cumberland,

TN, & OH• 10 weeks of fighting following the railroad down to Atlanta• Union forced Johnston back across the

Chattahoochie River towards Atlanta

Atlanta Continued

• 3 separate battles around Atlanta• Confederates lose each one

• Part of Union Army goes South around Atlanta to cut off Southern RR in

• Confederates incorrectly believe it’s a diversion

• By September 2, 1864 Atlanta is evacuated and in Union control

Types of WarfareLimited War – Make war on armies not

armies, civilians, and property Total War – Everything (armies, civilians, property) consumed by the war or involved in it

War of Attrition – the side with the greatest resources uses their power to wear down the other side

Sherman’s

Marchthroug

hGeorgiato theSea, 1864

March to the SeaNov. 1864 – Dec. 1864

• Atlanta to Savannah = 300,000 miles

• Tore up the landscape • Property damage emphasized – not harm to

civilians• Took livestock, crops, burned factories,

homes,etc• Goal was to undermine the morale of the

Confederacy and destroy the economy

Sherman’s March Overall• 650,000 Miles

• Under 100 marching days

• Captured 3 state capitals – GA, SC, NC

• Lost less than 600 men

Presidential

Election of 1864

The Progress of War: 1861-1865

The Final Virginia Campaign:1864-1865

South had abandoned Richmond=capital

Not a courthouse Unconditional Surrender

Casualties on Both Sides

Civil War Casualtiesin Comparison to Other

Wars

John Wilkes Booth – Ford’s Theater Confederate Sympathizers

Conspiracy Same day as a ceremony at Fort

Sumter – Lincoln chose to see a play instead of attending