Brother Against Brother

The United States of America• Known as the Union, Yanks, Blues, Billy

Yank and the USA• Army was constantly under the

command of new generals and pushed for fast victories

• Was supplied and equipped vastly more than then the CSA

• Also called the Army of the Potomac• Generals were not very experienced

and the army originally thought of itself as invincible, tries to fight most of the war on southern soil in the hopes of destroying the remaining southern resources

The Confederate States of America• Known as the Rebels, Confederates,

Grays, Johnny Reb and the CSA• Army is known as Army of Northern

Virginia• Army was very consistent in leadership

with only 2 major commanding generals all war (Johnston for a few battles and then Lee for the rest of the war)

• Very poorly supplied and equipped as the South did not have much resources and overseas trading allies

• Very well trained by experienced generals and fought hard on their own soil

• Plan is to outlast the Union and win their independence by attrition

Lincoln’s War• Lincoln runs for president by promising to keep the Union together• Many Americans are confused by his promises to end slavery but not

until the Union is saved• Upon Lincoln’s election, he becomes the 1st president to preside

while a US state left the nation• To establish order in the Union, to honor his promise and to show

future states that they must abide by the Constitution, Lincoln must end this war as fast as humanly possible and in a grand way

Early Troubles• Lincoln originally asks Robert E. Lee to be the new commanding general of

the Union Army but due to his family being in Virginia he declines• Lincoln then considers Ulysses S. Grant for command but Congress refuses

to allow it over fears of his drinking, cursing and bad behavior; Congress goes as far as sending Grant to fight out west away from the Civil War so that he cannot embarrass America in the eyes of the world

• Lincoln is next faced with the large scale defection of USA generals to the newly formed army of the Confederacy

• Lincoln is left with 70 year old Winfield Scott – a veteran and hero of the Mexican American War 20 years prior

Southern Generals

Joseph Johnston• Starts the war as the CSA’s

commanding general• Argues with CSA President

Jefferson Davis over every detail• Davis will tire of Johnston and

after he is severely wounded in battle, will replace him with Robert E. Lee for the rest of the war

• Johnston is continually given less resources throughout the war and forced into almost no win situations in each battle as punishment

Robert E. Lee• Takes over command of the Army of

Northern Virginia and remains the South’s main general the rest of the war

• Has the ability to intuit the battlefield and deeply cares for his troops, so much so that they will do impossible things in battle to show their gratitude

• Makes very few mistakes on the battlefield but when he does they are major mistakes, should have won the war in the 1st two years of the war but losses at Antietam and Gettysburg were too much to overcome along with a failing Southern economy

General Winfield Scott“Old Winnie”

• Commanding general from April 1861 – November 1861

• Failed to stop the attack on Fort Sumter or the 1st Battle of Bull Run

• Almost gave up Washington DC on the 1st battle

• Replaced by George McClellan on Nov 1, 1861

The Anaconda Plan• General Winfield Scott creates his

battle plan called the “Anaconda Plan”

• Older, tired of war, underestimating the CSA, Scott believes if he can surround the south’s sea ports while troops enter from the Mississippi river, he can strangle the CSA into surrender just as an anaconda strangles it’s prey for food

• Lincoln approves the plan in 1861 and orders Scott to end the war as fast as possible by all means possible as long as it does not demoralize the citizens of the CSA

• While General Scott is attempting to finalize all anaconda plans, the CSA not only attacks Fort Sumter but also wins the 1st major battle of the war at Manassas (Bull Run)

General George McClellan

• George McClellan is the commanding general from November 1, 1861 to March 1, 1862

• McClellan was overly cautious and refused to engage the CSA, he believed if he could avoid a battle the South would someday just give up and return to the Union

• Disagreed and argued with Lincoln almost all of the time, even went as far as to call Lincoln names and openly criticize his battle plans to anyone that would listen

• Even though he had been demoted from commanding general, McClellan’s army meets Lee at Antietam

• After his military career is over, he will run for president against Lincoln in 1864 and lose

General Henry Halleck

• Promoted to commanding general of the Western Campaign (fighting past the Mississippi) in March of 1862 and to commanding general of the entire war in November of 1862

• Halleck’s victories out west made him a name in Congress, but the reality was that his 2nd in command was truly the reason the USA won so many battles in the west, it was General Ulysses S. Grant

• Halleck held high standards for his soldiers and behaved ethically, but is quickly exposed as a southern sympathizer and does not push the army to win battles as much as Lincoln would like

• He is replaced in March of 1864 by General Ulysses S. Grant

General Ulysses S. Grant• After extremely successful campaigns at Shiloh Church

and Vicksburg, Lincoln demands Grant be approved as commanding general in March of 1864

• Congress running out of options agrees to let Lincoln promote him with the understanding that if Grant embarrasses the USA, he will be fired and Lincoln will be impeached

• When asked why Grant had to be the commanding general, Lincoln only replied “because he fights”

• Grant tells Lincoln of a new battle plan which will use “total warfare” on the South to end the rebellion

• He agrees to take the job under the condition that he runs the war not Lincoln, his next 2 in command (Sherman and Sheridan) are placed under only his authority and that all 3 are protected for war crimes at the end of the war

• Grant is known as “unconditional surrender” Grant and the “butcher of the South” Grant, while his tactics are brutal and cost many lives, he is the only man that can beat Lee and the CSA

• Grant finally forces Lee to surrender at Appomattox Court House in 1865

Early Union Losses

Fort Sumter• The 1st military action of the war,

the CSA surprisizes the USA by attacking this fort proving that it did have an army and intended to use it against America

Manassas - “1st Bull Run”• 1st major battle of the war, legend of Stonewall Jackson is born• Scott is caught off guard and completely underestimates the strength of the

CSA• He allows residents of DC to sit on the battlefield and watch the CSA get

defeated, in the end the CSA destroys the USA and many of the citizens get killed during the retreat

• Washington DC is almost captured during this battle• Fought on the land owned by Wilmer Mclean

Iron Clads & Antietam

Monitor vs. Merrimack• The first battle between iron clad

ships• Both CSA and USA had been

developing the technology without the other side knowing and the two ships meet each other off the coast of Virginia

• Since both are made of iron, the cannon balls bounce off the ships and both sail home in a tie

Sharpsburg - “Antietam”• Single bloodiest day in American

history• Burnside’s Bridge and the Bloody

Lane• Burnside has Lee’s battle plans

even with a map but McClellan is skeptic and refuses to fully attack Lee while he has the chance

• Lee is allowed to retreat when the war could have been over

Shiloh• Grant’s army is moving through western Tennessee and runs ½ of the

entire CSA army• Fought in a field with a church on it, in that era this was considered the

most devastating and inhuman act of war• Grant’s tactics work but at a cost, Shiloh kills more men in 1 day than any

battle to this point ever in American history• To cross the battlefield soldiers had to walk on the backs of the dead

without touching grass, also known as the “hornets nest”• The wounded laid in the mud for days getting severe infections, some of

which glowed green at night

The CSA Almost Wins the War

Fredericksburg• Considered the CSA’s largest

victory of the entire war• Lee’s 1st major victory of the

war• Burnside is crushed by Lee and

has to retreat all the way back to the North where he is fired as commanding general

2nd Bull Run• Fought on the same farm at 1st

Bull Run • Again the USA does not realize

the strength of the CSA and almost has DC captured with Lincoln inside the White House

• Generals Johnston and Longstreet defeat the USA and the war would be over if not for trouble crossing the creek called “Bull Run”

The Emancipation Proclamation

• On January 1st, 1863 President Lincoln declared that all slaves held in the CSA were now and forever free from slavery

• While the proclamation did not truly effect the slaves since they were not living in a country under Lincoln’s control, it did allow for Black Americans in the North to join the military and help fight to free Southern Slaves

• It also officially states the North’s banning and outlawing of slavery once and for all, while showing Lincoln’s intent to free the Southern Slaves once the war was finished

• Lincoln had intended to free all slaves after the Civil War, but after a series of crushing defeats early in the war (especially at Antietam) he knows this may be his last chance to do

The Emancipation Proclamation

Surprises in the WarChancellorsville

• Huge CSA victory, proves that Lee replacing Johnston was not a fluke

• Fightin’ Joe Hooker is now in command of the Union army and by the end of the battle the north is almost forced to surrender

• Hooker does his best, but he cannot match Lee on the battlefield

• Stonewall Jackson is killed by accident by his own men, on a stormy night in battle he rides through a picket line and does not hear the troops ask for a password, he is shot 3 times – this is important because Lee loses his most trusted military ally and friend, his death could destroy the CSA but his replacement Longstreet takes over just as well as he did

Siege of Vicksburg• Grant’s army is ordered to move

further south and control the Mississippi River

• For 3 months Grant surrounds the city and brings it to their knees

• This city is key to controlling ships on the Mississippi River, if he can control Vicksburg he can cut the south into 2, knocking Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana out of the war

• Vicksburg surrenders 1 day after Gettysburg is over giving the Union 2 major victories in the same week

The Battle of Gettysburg

• Considered the turning point in the war• Single bloodiest battle in US Military

history• Fought in Pennsylvania on July 1st -3rd,

1863• The battle is such a huge union victory

that Lincoln designates the battlefield as America’s 1st military cemetery when he dedicates it with the famous “Gettysburg Address”

• Lee considers Pickett’s Charge his greatest mistake of the entire war

• Small seminary college in south central Pennsylvania but near a shoe and clothing factory, Lee’s troops desperately need uniforms so he decides to invade the North

• Devil’s Den, Seminary Ridge, Cemetery Hill, Big and Little Round Top, Pickett’s Charge

Gettysburg – The Devil’s Den

Gettysburg – Little Round Top

Gettysburg – Pickett’s Charge