• The Battle of Chancellorsville

• After General Robert E. Lee won a victory at the Battle of Chancellorsville the South received an enormous boostt in confidence from the victory, while Northern morale plunged.

• After achieving an astounding victory with nearly half as many men as the Union, Lee began to think his men were invincible.

• Gettysburg: (390-391)– Following the victory at Chancellorsville,

General Lee decided to invade the North again.

– In June of 1863 Lee crossed into Pennsylvania.

– By the end of June of 1863, some 75,000 Confederate troops had begun to assemble near the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

– When Confederate scouts reported a supply of shoes in the town, the Confederates organized a raiding party

– The troops were unaware that two Union brigades had positioned themselves on high ground northwest of Gettysburg

– As the Confederate raiding party approached the small town on July 1, 1863, it met a blaze of Union fire

• Gettysburg: (390-391)– Robert E. Lee knew that the danger to his

forces would remain as long as the North held the higher ground

– A staggering number of young men lost their lives at Gettysburg. After three days of fighting, Union casualties reached 23,000, and Confederate casualties were more than 28,000.

– In November of 1863, President Lincoln helped dedicate a cemetery at the Gettysburg battlefield.

– Lincoln spoke for only a few minutes, but his Gettysburg address remains a classic statement of democratic ideals

– Although the Union army emerged victorious at Gettysburg, it once again narrowly failed to end the war.

– This battle marked a critical turning point. The Union army had proved that the Confederacy could be beaten

• Lincoln Finds His General: (391-392)– Ulysses S. Grant is Lincoln’s New Top General– VICKSBURG:

• Grant knew that gaining full control of the Mississippi River required the taking of Vicksburg, Mississippi

• In May of 1863, Grant hatched a risky plan to take Vicksburg, Mississippi

• For six weeks General Grant and his men laid siege to the city, preventing any Confederate reinforcements from arriving.

• During the long Siege of Vicksburg, the City’s defenders began eating mules and rats to keep from starving

• On July 3, 1863, General Grant and Confederate General John Pemberton met under an oak tree to discuss the terms of surrender

• VICKSBURG:• The Confederates

surrendered to Grant. • On July 8, the

Confederate forces at Port Hudson, Louisiana, also fell.

• These victories gave the Union total control over the Mississippi River, thereby cutting off Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas from the rest of the Confederacy

• Lincoln Finds His General: (391-392)– Summer of 1864: (392)

• President Lincoln promoted General Grant to general in chief, commander of all Union forces, in the spring of 1864.

• Grant planned a war of attrition – that is, to continue fighting until the South ran out of men, supplies, and the will to fight

• GRANT WILL FIGHT

• SHERMAN’S MARCH TO THE SEA: (393-394)– Union General William Tecumseh Sherman

matched General Grant’s determination.– Because Sherman performed well at

Vicksburg, Grant rewarded Sherman by making him commander of the Tennessee Army

– Sherman took on a campaign to destroy southern railroads and industries

– When Atlanta fell on September 2, 1864, the Confederates lost their last railroad link across the Appalachian Mountains

– After ordering residents of Atlanta to evacuate, Sherman’s men set fire to large portions of the city

– The Fall of Atlanta boosted President Lincoln’s re-election campaign

– Sherman’s success at Atlanta, renewed hope that the conflict would soon end.

– Lincoln won the election of 1864 against Democratic Candidate General George McClellan

• SHERMAN’S MARCH TO THE SEA: (393-394)– After the fall of Atlanta,

Mary Boykin Chestnut, of South Carolina, wrote, “Since Atlanta I have felt as if all were dead within me, forever. We are going to be wiped off the earth.”

– THE BURNING OF ATLANTA

• SHERMAN’S MARCH TO THE SEA: (393-394)

– Although most of the destruction of Atlanta went beyond Sherman’s orders, it stemmed from the general’s strategy of fighting a TOTAL WAR – he believed it was not enough to wage war against enemy troops. Rather, to win the war, the Union must strike at the enemy’s economic resources.

– Sherman believed they “must make old and young, rich and poor, feel the hard hand of war…We cannot change the hearts of those people of the South,” he said, “but we can make war so terrible…that generations would pass away before they would again appeal to it.”

• SHERMAN’S MARCH TO THE SEA: (393-394)

– In early December 1864, Sherman and his men reached Savannah, where they were re-supplied by the Union Navy. On December 22, the general sent President Lincoln a message: “I beg to present you, as a Christmas gift, the city of Savannah.” Savannah, Georgia

– One month later Sherman and his troops turned north in an effort to link up with General Grant’s men.

• Surrender at Appomattox: (394-395)– April 2, 1865, with Grant close on

his heels, General Lee withdrew from Richmond, Virginia, Capital of the Confederate States. Within hours Union troops poured into the Confederate Capital.

– Lee’s army was now only half the size of Grant’s. Knowing his troops could not survive another summer like th one of 1864, Lee attempted to flee westward, hoping to join up with more troops.

– Grant had cut off Lee’s escape. With Lee’s once proud army reduced to less than 30,000 men, many without food, Lee asked for terms of surrender

• Surrender at Appomattox: (394-395)– On April 9, 1865, Grant and Lee

met in a house in the tiny Virginia village of Appomattox Courthouse.

– Lee stood in full dress uniform with a jewel-studded sword at his side.

– Grant wore a private’s shirt, unbuttoned at the neck.

– For a time the two men talked about their Mexican War days.

– Then they turned to the business at hand.

• Surrender at Appomattox: (394-395)– The terms of surrender were

simple.• Confederate officers could keep

their side arms.• All soldiers would be fed and

allowed to keep their horses and mules.

• None would be tried for treason• As General Lee rode off, Union

troops started to celebrate the Union victory, but Grant silenced them. “The war is over,” he said. “The rebels are our countrymen again.”

• On April 26, 1865, General Joseph E. Johnston surrendered to General Sherman under similar terms at Durham Station, North Carolina.

• THE WAR IS OVER