Second Manassas, Antietam, and the Emancipation

ProclamationLsn 10

End of the Peninsula Campaign• Even though McClellan had been defeated, his army

was still in a strategic location, just 25 miles from Richmond and on a supply line it could keep open (it would be 1864 before the Federals got this close to Richmond again)

• One course would have been for Lincoln to keep the army where it was and remove the commander

• Instead, Lincoln ordered the Army of the Potomac to withdraw from the Peninsula

• Ultimately, most of the Army of the Potomac would come under the command of John Pope as the Army of Virginia

Pope’s General Orders• When Pope assumed command he

issued an abrasive and boastful address on July 14 which served to alienate and insult many in his new command

• Then issued a series of General Orders that certainly enraged the Confederacy and showed he had an aggressive and hostile policy toward civilians and private property

• That Lincoln acquiesced to these orders showed that perhaps he was shifting away from the mild, conciliatory approach to something more authoritarian

Pope’s General Orders• General Order Number 5 stated that the army

should live off the land.• General Order Number 7 outlined how Pope

planned to deal with the local citizenry. • General Order Number 11 called for the

immediate arrest of all disloyal male citizens and compelled them to either take an oath of allegiance to the United States or be deported further south. – Pope appeared naively surprised when he learned

that soldiers had taken his orders as a license to plunder and maraud, and he attempted to correct this situation with General Order Number 19.

Pope’s General Orders

GENERAL POPE: “Well, Sir; who are you, and what do you want?” STRANGER. “I am—aw—Aid-de-Camp to GENERAL STONEWALL JACKSON. The GENERAL sends his—aw—Compliments, and wishes to know if you can let him have a few Bottles of Rose-Water?” GENERAL POPE. “Tell the GENERAL that this Concern has changed hands; and the present Head of the Firm has given up the Rose-Water Branch of Business, as he finds it don't pay!”

Cartoon from Harper’s Weekly Aug 9, 1862 reflecting Pope’s new policies

End of the Peninsula Campaign and Lee’s Offensive

• As soon as Lee ascertained the army was withdrawing from the Peninsula, he went after Pope in northern Virginia

• Lee was able to operate within his enemy’s decision cycle

• Lee ordered his army to move the day of the Federal withdraw and before the first divisions of the Army of the Potomac had landed at Aquia Creek, Lee had raced north and had Pope surrounded just south of Manassas

Lee and the Turning Movement• The Peninsula confirmed Lee’s belief in the

turning movement and was the beginning of his partnership with Jackson– Lee learned during the Seven Days the wisdom of

“not attacking [the Federals] in their strong and chosen positions. They ought always to be turned.”

– He told Jackson, it was “to save you the abundance of hard fighting that I ventured to suggest for your consideration not to attack the enemy’s strong points, but to turn his position… I would rather you have easy fighting and heavy victories.”

• Pope would be the first victim of this wisdom

Second Manassas• Pope had been trying to relieve

pressure on McClellan by operating against Confederate rail communications at Gordonsville and Charlottesville

• His forces were largely in defensive positions along the Rappahannock River

• When Lee realized McClellan was withdrawing, he boldly ordered Jackson to break things open by leading his 24,000 men on a wide swing around Pope’s right to strike his supply lines and cut his communications with Washington

Second Manassas• Jackson marched 51 miles in two days and

struck Manassas Junction with fury, burning Federal supplies

• Then Jackson withdrew to a position north of the Warrenton Turnpike near the First Manassas battlefield and waited for Lee to arrive with the rest of the army

• Pope ordered his scattered forces to concentrate near Centreville to counter Jackson and to be ready to receive McClellan’s reinforcements

Second Manassas

• On Aug 28, 1862 Jackson observed Federals moving eastward toward Centreville

• Jackson had to choose:– Attacking might bring the full weight of Pope’s army

against him before Lee could join him– Waiting might allow Pope and McClellan to unite

before the Confederates could bring about a battle• Jackson chose to attack ordering his division

commanders to “Bring out your men, gentlemen”

Second Manassas• There was a fierce fight and

as darkness closed the Federals slowly withdrew

• By dawn on the 29th Jackson had adjusted his three divisions along a 2 ½ mile section of an unfinished railroad bed

• Pope thought Jackson was retreating and ordered a full scale attack

Second Manassas• Pope launched a series of uncoordinated and

unsuccessful attacks and Jackson’s line held• At around noon, Longstreet arrived with 28,000

men and took positions on Jackson’s right• Pope began receiving reinforcements from the

Peninsula which, instead of massing for one big attack, he continued to commit piecemeal

• Although big gaps were torn in the Confederate line, Jackson was able to shift his forces to meet each threat

Second Manassas• On Aug 30, Pope attacked

with 7,000 men he expected to use to finish off Jackson (who he thought was beaten and withdrawing)

• In reality, Pope was advancing into the jaws of a trap

• Jackson had not retreated at all but was standing fast with 18,000 men

• Concealed at a right angle was Longstreet with 28,000 fresh soldiers

Second Manassas

• Jackson not only held but forced the Federals to fall back

• Lee unleashed Longstreet and the jaws of the Confederate trap closed on Pope

Second Manassas

• The Federals suffered 14,462 casualties (the Confederates 9,474)

• Pope was transferred to Minnesota and the Army of Virginia was disbanded and incorporated into McClellan’s Army of the Potomac

• Lee proceeded to build on this victory to invade Maryland

Second Manassas

• Discuss in terms of maneuver

Antietam

• In desperation, Lincoln restored McClellan to command

• As Lee marched into Maryland he expected the Federals to abandon their 12,000-man garrison at Harper’s Ferry

• When they didn’t, Lee was forced to divide his army in order to deal with this threat to his rear Harper’s Ferry sits at the

confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers

Antietam

• Lee divided his army into four parts– Three of them

under Jackson headed toward Harper’s Ferry

– A fourth under Longstreet headed for Boonsboro

Antietam

• Lee’s army was now scattered and McClellan had time to organize his forces– He was aided by finding a

copy of Lee’s plan• Still McClellan lacked the

killer instinct necessary to take full advantage of the situation The “Lost Order”

Antietam• In the actual battle, McClellan

moved slowly and committed his forces piecemeal which allowed Lee to shift his outnumbered forces from one threatened point to another– Neither the Federal V or VI

Corps, some 22,000 men, would play a significant role in the battle

Antietam• At “Burnside’s Bridge,”

Ambrose Burnside’s IX Corps of some 12,000 was held in check from 9:30 to 1:00 by only 450 Confederates after Burnside launched several attacks

• When he finally crossed the creek, Burnside spent two hours resting and reorganizing on the other side before continuing toward Sharpsburg

Burnside’s Bridge

Antietam• Once Burnside got moving and

started to push the Confederates back, A. P. Hill arrived with his division from Harper’s Ferry and counterattacked into Burnside’s unprotected left flank

• Burnside was driven back to the heights near Burnside’s Bridge

• Longstreet later wrote, “We were so badly crushed that at the close of the day ten thousand fresh troops could have come in and taken Lee's army and everything in it.”– Still McClellan held the V

Corps and VI Corps in reserve

Antietam• Antietam was the bloodiest single

day of the war– The Confederates suffered

13,700 casualties out of 40,000 engaged

– The Federals lost 12,350 out of 87,000

• The battle ended as a tactical draw, but a strategic victory for the Federals because Lee was forced to withdraw back to Virginia

• It was enough of a victory for Lincoln to issue his Emancipation Proclamation

Confederate dead in the Bloody Lane

Antietam

• Discuss in terms of mass

The End of Conciliation• Many Federal generals had sought to wage war

consistent with Winfield Scott’s limited approach in Mexico

• The idea was to practice a conciliatory policy that held that mild treatment of Southerners, their property, and their institutions would ultimately result in their returning their allegiance to the US

• McClellan argued for this practice in a letter he gave Lincoln on July 8 stating “A declaration of radical views, especially upon slavery, will rapidly disintegrate our present armies.”

Moves toward Emancipation

• A few generals such as Ben Butler, John Fremont, and David Hunter however were pushing for emancipation

• Lincoln too was beginning to move in that direction and on July 22, 1862 he showed his cabinet a preliminary draft of the Emancipation Proclamation– But Lincoln needed a battlefield victory to give him an

opportunity to make the Proclamation public– Antietam accomplished that

Emancipation Proclamation

• Issued September 22, 1862• “That on the first day of January,

in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free…”

Emancipation Proclamation• The Emancipation Proclamation changed the

very nature of the war, giving it a completely new objective

• Conciliation was no longer an option• Represented a move toward total war

– The North was now not merely fighting to restore a union it thought was never legitimately separated. It was fighting for freedom of a race.

– The South was no longer fighting merely for independence. It was fighting for survival of its way of life.

Impact of Emancipation Proclamation• Jefferson Davis

– labeled REBELLION on chain. • Defeated

– seated figure with small hammer labeled COMPROMISE.

• Henry W. Halleck– wields mallet labeled SKILL.

• George McClellan– wields mallet labeled STRATEGY.

• Edwin M. Stanton– holds mallet labeled DRAFT.

• Lincoln– shoulders an axe labeled

EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION.

Stanton: Halleck may use his skill and Mac his strategy, but this draft will do the business. Lincoln: You can try him with that, but I'm afraid this axe of mine is the only thing that will fetch him.

Diplomatic Impact

• The South had longed hoped for European recognition and intervention

• The Emancipation Proclamation made that virtually impossible because England had abolished slavery in 1833 and France in 1848

John Slidell represented the Confederacy in France

Impact of Emancipation Proclamation on Confederate Diplomatic Efforts

• “… the feeling against slavery in England is so strong that no public man there dares extend a hand to help us… There is no government in Europe that dares help us in a struggle which can be suspected of having for its result, directly or indirectly, the fortification or perpetuation of slavery. Of that I am certain” – William Yancey, Confederate politician

Emancipation Proclamation

• Discuss in terms of objective

Next Lesson

• Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville