A JOURNEY THROUGH THE CIVIL WAR

PART 2

Presented byGreg Caggiano, Instructor

Brookdale Community College

A BRIEF LOOK AT THE WESTERN THEATER

ULYSSES S. GRANT

• Was a depressed alcoholic before the war• Quickly became one of the most dependent generals in the entire army• Won many great victories out west• Known for his very basic uniform• “Unconditional Surrender”

BATTLE OF SHILOH

• April 6-7, 1862• Bloodiest battle of war up until that point

• USA: 13,000 casualties• CSA: 11,000 casualties

• Establishes the “wild” western theater• “The Hornet’s Nest”

• Hardly any photographs• Ulysses S. Grant• Albert Sydney Johnston

NATHAN BEDFORD FORREST (CSA)

• “The Wizard of the Saddle”• Greatest cavalry commander in military history?• Historian Shelby Foote called him one of the war’s “two authentic geniuses”

BATTLE OF STONE’S RIVER

• Dec. 31, 1862- Jan. 2, 1863• Murfreesboro, Tennessee• The Human Element of War• William S. Rosecrans vs. Leonidas K. Polk• 25,000 total casualties (out of 75,000 total soldiers present)

BATTLE OF ANTIETAMSEPT. 17, 1862

SITUATION REPORT: SEPTEMBER 1862

• Union Army: Ready to go into disaster-mode in the north because of poor leadership, while out west, they are experiencing success under General Grant

• Confederate Army: One victory away from seeming invincible.

• To everyone’s surprise, the war last longer than a month

LEADER PROFILES: ROBERT E. LEE

• Brilliant defensive strategist• Loved by his men• Thought he was too old to fight

• “I’ve heard of Jesus Christ,

but I’ve seen Robert E. Lee.”-Mary Chestnut

LEE’S INVASION OF MARYLAND• Lee persuades Jefferson Davis to let him invade the border state of Maryland • “The army is not properly equipped for an invasion of an enemy's country…”• Wants to incite rebellion in the already divided state• Feels that if he can win a battle on Northern soil, they will surrender• Would be the CSA’s first offensive of the war• Lee’s proclamation to the people:

• "....This, citizens of Maryland, is our mission, so far as you are concerned. No constraint upon your free will is intended; no intimidation will be allowed within the limits of this army at least. Marylanders shall once more enjoy their ancient freedom of thought and speech. We know no enemies among you, and will protect all, of every opinion. It is for you to decide your destiny freely and without constraint. This army will respect your choice, whatever it may be; and while the Southern people will rejoice to welcome you to your natural position among them, they will only welcome you when you come of your own free will."

THE MYSTERY OF SPECIAL ORDER 191

• Lee’s secret plan of invasion, given only to Generals Longstreet, Jackson, and Hill

• They are all told to essentially burn after reading• Somehow, one of the copies ended up in Union hands

MCCLELLAN’S LETTER TO LINCOLN

• "I have the whole rebel force in front of me, but am confident, and no time shall be lost. I have a difficult task to perform, but with God's blessing will accomplish it. I think Lee has made a gross mistake, and that he will be severely punished for it. The army is in motion as rapidly as possible. I hope for a great success if the plans of the rebels remain unchanged. I have all the plans of the rebels, and will catch them in their own trap if my men are equal to the emergency. I now feel that I can count on them as of old. All forces of Pennsylvania should be placed to co-operate at Chambersburg. My respects to Mrs. Lincoln. Received most enthusiastically by the ladies. Will send you trophies. All well, and with God's blessing will accomplish it.” (Sept. 13, 1862)

MCCLELLAN’S PLAN

• With the two armies converging near Sharpsburg, McClellan orders his generals to attack Confederate positions simultaneously

• The order is botched, and the attacks are delayed and separate• Joseph Hooker’s I corps are to attack from the north• Edwin Sumner’s II corps are to move west• Fitz John Porter’s V corps and William Franklin’s VI corps are to remain in reserve

THE BATTLE BEGINS

• All forces now converge on Sharpsburg• McClellan poises himself on the eastern side of Antietam Creek• Lee has only 18,000 men (another 20,000 on the way), with McClellan having

more than 100,000 but he does not attack, fearing a trap

CONT.

• Major fighting begins with Hooker’s advance near the Dunker Church• He marches his men across the Miller Cornfield and towards the church• Confederates, under Longstreet, lose 1,500 men in the first half hour• Hooker’s men are pushed back into the cornfield, where both sides began

shelling with artillery

THE ARTILLERY DUEL• Union and Confederate 20-pounders exchange barrages near the church• “…artillery hell.”- Col. Stephen Lee• Over the course of the next three hours, 8,000 men would be killed or

wounded in the 40 acre cornfield• There would be fifteen combined charges between the two sides• He fighting was back and forth, pointless, and bloody• It was said after the battle that a person could not walk from one end of the

field to the other without stepping on a dead body

QUOTABLES

• “Every stalk of corn in the northern and greater part of the field was cut as closely as could have been done with a knife, and the Confederates slain lay in rows precisely as they had stood in their ranks a few moments before.”- Union General Joseph Hooker

• “...the most deadly fire of the war. Rifles are shot to pieces in the hands of the soldiers, canteens and haversacks are riddled with bullets, the dead and wounded go down in scores.”- Capt. Benjamin Cook

THE “BLOODY LANE”

• With the first two attacks failing, McClellan sends the III corps to take a sunken farm road

• Lee moves his men to meet them and arrives first• The Confederates are hidden behind the road and the Union is easily picked

off as they have to march through it uphill • Soon both sides were trying to push each other up and down the road

CONT.

• The 69th New York infantry, otherwise known as the Irish Brigade, led by Gen. Thomas Meagher, soon joins the fight, along with a German regiment

• However, the fighting at the sunken road would soon end because the soldiers could no longer advance due to how many bodies there were in the road

• It was said that the men left standing were ankle deep in blood, which was causing them to slip

THE FIGHTING IRISH

• Used “Buck and Ball” Ammunition• During the fighting, Irish brigade Chaplin Father William Corby was seen

riding up and down the lines of men, blessing them• At the end of the day, an Irish soldier was found dead, sitting up against a

tree, holding his regiment’s flag in his hands up against his chest. The cloth was shredded to tatters while the wooden staff was cracked in half.

• Commander: General Thomas Meagher (pronounced ‘Mah-her’)

THE ROHRBACH BRIDGE

• Union general Ambrose Burnside is ordered to cross Antietam Creek at the Rohrbach Bridge

• The bridge is too narrow and the creek is too deep, so he delays• Confederate sharpshooters position themselves on the hill overlooking the

bridge• Soldiers that attempt to cross are picked off one by one• The bridge begins to fill with the bodies of dead and dying soldiers

BROOKLYN COMES TO THE RESCUE

• Concerned that the men are too afraid to cross, a sergeant from Brooklyn gives free rum to any man that will volunteer to cross with him

• Within minutes, 500 men volunteer and they make a charge that finally breaks through

QUOTABLE

• “I do not know the name of the creek, but I have named it the creek of death. Such a slaughter I hope to never witness again.”- a Union soldier

THE BATTLE COMES TO A CLOSE

• With the Confederates running out of ammo, Longstreet orders them to forage off dead soldiers

• When evening came, McClellan still had 70,000 fresh soldiers available but did not use them• The Confederates were waiting in position with nothing but bayonets on their

rifles, expecting an attack• Had the Union attacked, the war could have been over• McClellan fired once and for all

CONT.

• At the end of the day, the Union was given credit for the victory, because they held the field and forced Lee to withdraw

• In a mere twelve hours of fighting, the casualty figures were enormous:• USA: ~13,000 (25% of fighting force)• CSA: ~10,000 (31%)

ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHS

A CAUSE FOR EMANCIPATION

• After being pressured to free the slaves, Lincoln says he will only do so after a victory

• Although Antietam was not what he had hoped for, he announces his Emancipation Proclamation to be effective January 1, 1863

• The document is still misunderstood to this day, because it did not free all the slaves

CIVIL WAR PHOTOGRAPHY

Published in the New York Times, in 1862:“The dead of the battlefield come up to us very rarely, even in dreams. We see the list [of dead] in the morning paper at breakfast, but dismiss it’s recollection with the coffee. Mr. Brady has done something to bring us the terrible reality and earnestness of the War. If he has not brought us bodies and laid them at our doorstep and along streets, he has done something very like it.”

SHAKESPEARE AND THE CIVIL WAR• On the night of Sept. 17, 1862, John Wilkes Booth was performing Hamlet at

McVicker’s Theater in Chicago:• “Exposing what is mortal and unsure

To all that fortune, death and danger dare,Even for an egg-shell. Rightly to be greatIs not to stir without great argument,But greatly to find quarrel in a strawWhen honor's at the stake. How stand I then,That have a father kill'd, a mother stain'd,Excitements of my reason and my blood,And let all sleep? while, to my shame, I see

The imminent death of twenty thousand men,That, for a fantasy and trick of fame,

Go to their graves like beds, fight for a plotWhereon the numbers cannot try the cause,Which is not tomb enough and continentTo hide the slain? O, from this time forth,

My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth!”

BATTLE OF FREDERICKSBURGDEC. 11-15, 1862

SITUATION REPORT: DEC. 1862

• Union given credit for victory at Antietam even though it was really a tie• McClellan fired for the second and final time• People up north growing anxious over how long the war is• Photographs of Antietam battlefield begin to change people’s views of war

THE COPPERHEAD MOVEMENT

• A political group of people nicknamed “Copperheads” began to protest the war and write pamphlets and books speaking out against Lincoln and the army

• Wanted the war to end quickly no matter what the result because Union victory seemed out of the question

• Supported a truce between north and south or total Confederate victory• Were attacked for not being patriotic

UNION COMMAND• General Ambrose Burnside

-Unlucky throughout his life-Did not want command-Knew himself that he was a poor general

BURNSIDE’S PLAN

• Because of rising tension in Washington, Lincoln pressured Burnside into attacking and capturing the high ground of Marye’s Heights beyond Fredericksburg. Rather than attack Confederate positions from the side, Burnside chose to attack them dead-on.

• His strategy is approved by Lincoln and is more complicated than it seems.• Two of Burnside’s top division commanders, Generals Winfield Scott Hancock and

Oliver Howard heavily disagreed with his plan of attack, but they could not persuade him. • “No General, we’ll meet them head on, and it will be a bloody mess.”- Gen. Hancock, on

December 12. • General Darius Couch, “This is not warfare, it is murder.”

NO CHANCE FOR SUCCESS

• After laying the pontoons (under fire) the Union Army would then have to cross the river (under fire). Then they had to march through the town (under fire), before crossing a small field (under fire), wading across a canal (under fire), and then make a charge against a stone wall (under fire).

A TERRIFYING CHARGE

• The Union would send sixteen waves of men to attack the Confederate entrenchments at Marye’s Heights.

• General Hancock watched hopelessly as he ordered top brigade commanders Samuel Zook, St. Clair Mulholland, John Caldwell, Adelbert Ames, and others into battle.

• Each wave was cut down, with casualties mounting up, they kept on attacking.

BROTHER AGAINST BROTHER

• For the first time in the Civil War, the Irish Brigade of the Union met that of the Confederates.

• The Union’s, under the command of General Thomas Meagher and Colonel St. Clair Augustine Mulholland attacked the stonewall and were nearly destroyed by their own countrymen fighting on the other side, under the command of Colonel Thomas Cobb.

In their attack, which lasted about a half an hour, they lost 545 out of 1,300 men. They would make it closer to the wall than any other brigade at Fredericksburg. The next day, only 400 were available to fight.

JOSHUA LAWRENCE CHAMBERLAIN

• 20th Maine 2nd in command• Professor of rhetoric• First taste of battle• Was held is reserve at Antietam

Lawrence

THE PLIGHT OF THE 20TH MAINE

• The 20th Maine Volunteer Infantry would lead one of the final charges. They would be trapped on the field the night of December 14. Many men would die after freezing to death in the cold weather. Those still alive were forced to hide behind dead bodies piled up as a barricade, and fight laying down.

QUOTE ON THE BATTLE

• "I can truthfully say that in that moment, I gave my life up. I do not expect ever again to face death more certainly than I thought I did then...I said to myself, ‘This is duty. I'll trust in God and do it. If I fall, I cannot die better.’ ...The nervous strain was simply awful. It can be appreciated only by those who have experienced it. The atmosphere seemed surcharged with the most startling and frightful things. Death, wounds, and appalling destruction everywhere.“- Lt. Frederick Hitchcock.

DECEMBER 14

• When the sun rose over the battlefield on December 14, it was revealed that 8,000 Union men were either dead, wounded, or still trapped on the battlefield, because they laid down during the end of their assault, rather than get shot as they retreated.

• The 20th Maine under Adelbert Ames and Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain remained on the field briefly, exchanging fire, before retreating.

• The mysterious northern lights

THE “ANGEL OF MARYE’S HEIGHTS”

• Unable to stand the screams of doomed Union soldiers, Richard Kirkland of a South Carolina regiment, approached his commanding officer, General Joseph Kershaw, and asked if he could deliver water to the enemy. He was denied at first, but eventually he was allowed.

• At the risk of losing his own life, he climbed over the wall with filled canteens and gave water to Union soldiers. Both armies watched in silence as he made several trips back and forth. Not a single shot was fired.

CONT.

• Later that day, Burnside knew his army was too devastated to continue his attack, and he asked for a truce from Lee, who allowed him to remove his dead and wounded from the field.

• By the next day, December 15, the battle was over, and both armies began to retreat.

• A month later, Burnside would be relieved of his command and replaced by General Joseph Hooker.

CASUALTIES

• Union: ~13,000• Confederate: ~5,000

• Most lopsided ratio of the war so far