And the War Ends
Ms. Bolognini
The Confederacy Wears Down
• Two victories cost South badly• Supplies and public support very low• Weak gov’t-no central authority• Lincoln appoints Grant head of army• Grant appoints William Tecumseh
Sherman his right hand man–Belief in TOTAL WAR
War of Attrition
• Wear the South out through a “battle of attrition” by relentlessly attacking Lee and pushing toward Richmond. Grant make Why was this strategy more possible for the North?– William Tecumseh Sherman next in
command• Sherman to move from Tenn. to Atlanta
waging TOTAL WAR (destruction of everything in his path to take public support out of the war)
• Both Sherman and Grant were strong adherents of the total war philosophy
Grant and Lee in Virginia
• Grant chases Lee throughout area of Virginia, the “Wilderness” near Fredericksburg-tough fighting• Grant willing to sacrifice lots of men &
knew that Lee could not• Grant losses 60K men to Lee’s 32K• Loss of public support in North;
Lincoln’s 1864 campaign suffers
Battle of the Wilderness
Sherman’s March to the Sea
• 1864, public support in North falling due to human losses and indecisive battles
• Lincoln/Johnson vs. McClellan• Looks like Lincoln might lose, but tide is turned
with news of Sherman’s march to Atlanta (waging total war)
• Lincoln wins; 212 to 21; 55% of popular vote Sherman reaches Atlanta (September 2, 1864) and
marches North taking Savannah (December 1864) and then heads towards Grant
Sherman’s March to the Sea
The Surrender at Appomattox• Grant and Sherman closing in on Lee• Davis abandons Richmond and burns city
so Union could not take it (900 buildings &100s homes)
• April 9, 1865-Lee met Grant at Appomattox Courthouse in VA to surrender
• Grant allowed Confed. soldiers just to go home without charging them
Lee Surrenders to Grant
Results of the War• Soldier Dead: 360K Union & 260K Confederate • Soldiers Injured: 275K Union & 225K Confederate
(amputees)• $3.3 billion combined spending (budget!)• Lincoln assassinated by John Wilkes Booth on April
14, 1865 at the Ford’s Theatre • Booth escapes to Virginia; large manhunt; nation
grieves• He was shot dead 12 days later • Lincoln dies; Andrew Johnson president