Chapter 9, Section 5THE WAR ENDS

Grant in the EastGrant’s goals to end war

Attack Lee’s forces relentlessly using resource & numbers advantageOverland Campaign

Engage in “Total War” to destroy South’s will to keep fightingWar against civilians & resources

Placed William T. Sherman in command of western army

The Wilderness Date: May 5–7, 1864 (Virginia)

Union Command: Ulysses S. Grant (101,895)

Confederate Command: Robert E. Lee (61,025)

What Fierce fighting in the dense woods near Chancellorsville; Woods caught fire during battle blinded & choked combatants

Result– inconclusive heavy losses for both sides Grant chased after Lee instead of waiting to regroup after

high casualties

Casualties=Union 17,666 (2,246); CSA 11,125(1,495)

Spotsylvania Courthouse Date: May 8-21, 1864 (Virginia)

Union Command: Ulysses S. Grant (100,000)

Confederate Command: Robert E. Lee (52,000)

What: Union almost captured entire Rebel division at the Bloody Angle would have cut Lee’s army in half; Confederates counterattacked to plug hole in line led to 20 hours of continual hand-to-hand combat

Result– fiercest fighting of the war; INCONCLUSIVE winner; HEAVY casualties for both sides

Casualties=Union 18,399 (2,725) CSA 13,421(1,427)

Cold Harbor Date: May 31-June 12, 1864 (Virginia)

Union Command: Ulysses S. Grant (108,000)

Confederate Command: Robert E. Lee (59,000)

Why: Grant is convinced the Rebels were weakened & demoralized orders full frontal assault on fortified Confederate positions Rest of battle characterized by trench warfare & snipers

Result– Rebel Victory One of the most lopsided battles in American history; HEAVY casualties for Union; Grant continued to Petersburg

Casualties=Union 12,737 (1,844); CSA 4,595 (83)

Siege of Petersburg Petersburg only railroad line to Richmond

Grant used strategy similar to Vicksburg Ordered Gen. Philip Sheridan to lead cavalry raid around Richmond

Allowed Grant to attack Petersburg from the east

City defenses too strong to attack

Grant ordered siege of the city (June 1864-April 1865) Not traditional siege supply lines were not cut

Numerous skirmishes fought & raids conducted

Sheridan cut last railroad line into city at Battle of Five Forks

April 2 Lee finally surrendered Petersburg & Richmond

Battle of Mobile Bay Date: August 2-23, 1864 (Alabama)

Union Command: David G. Farragut

Confederate Command: Franklin Buchanan

Why Union wanted to seal off last major port in Gulf of Mexico; stop Confederate blockade runners from using Gulf to smuggle goods

What: Farragut took 18 ships to Mobile Bay; underwater mine blew up one of the ships halted Union fleet in front of Rebel guns at Fort Morgan; Farragut led fleet thru minefield & besieged the forts and Confederate fleet

Result– Farragut seals off port but failed to capture city

Sherman in the West August 1864 Sherman left Tennessee & followed the

Confederate army to Atlanta Destroyed all railroad lines leading into the city

“Sherman Neckties” twisting of the rail-lines

Sept. 1, 1864Confederates evacuate Atlanta Total War destroyed everything of military value

Factories, railroads, warehouses, etc.

Ordered all citizens to leave city or “feel the hard hand of war”

Sherman’s men then burned the city of Atlanta

“March to the Sea” Nov. 15 – Dec. 21, 1864

Sherman marched from Atlanta to Savannah, GA Scorched Earth Policy Burned all unused crops

Ransacked Southern homes

Slaughtered livestock

Killed anyone who resisted

• 60 mile wide path of destruction

Reported he had destroyed $100 million in property

After reaching the coast Sherman marched north into South Carolina Wanted to wreak vengeance on the 1st state to secede

Pillaged & burned everything in his path 12 towns set on fire

Including Columbia, the state’s capital

Southerners demoralized

April 18, 1865 forced Confederate Gen. Joseph E. Johnston to surrender at Raleigh, NC

Many Southerners still despise Sherman for his actions during the “March”

Election of 1864 Republican party re-nominated Lincoln (duh)

Changed name to Union party for election

Democrats nominated General George McClellan Still popular despite being replaced early in war

Platform called war a failure & promised to open negotiations w/ South to end hostilities

Lincoln easily won reelection 212- 21 electoral votes Sherman captured Atlanta just before the election

War was almost over

The 13th Amendment Lincoln believed voters wanted to permanently end slavery by

amending the Constitution

For 9 months House of Reps. failed to get two-thirds vote to pass amendment Lincoln promised anti-slavery Democrats certain gov’t positions if

they supported the bill

January 31, 1865 13th Amendment narrowly passed the House of Reps. by vote of 119-56 Banned slavery in the US

Surrender Lee tried to escape Grant’s forces after abandoning Petersburg

Gen. Sheridan’s cavalry blocked Lee’s retreat at Appomattox Courthouse Lee attempted to break through but failed

April 9, 1865 Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Courthouse

The Terms of Surrender Lincoln had ordered all generals to give lenient terms of

surrender to Confederates Grant guaranteed US would not prosecute Rebel soldiers for treason

Pledged they would not fight again

Officers able to keep their pistols

Soldiers allowed to keep their horses to help plant crops thru next winter

Union armies saluted Confederates in silence as they laid down their rifles

Against Davis’ orders, all other Confederate generals also surrendered by June

Lincoln’s Assassination John Wilkes Booth Famous stage actor & Confederate

sympathizer designed plot to kill Lincoln

April 14, 1865 Lincoln attends the play, Our American Cousin, at Ford’s Theatre President’s advisers warned him to not appear in public w/o

bodyguards

Booth snuck into President’s viewing box during the 3rd act shot Lincoln in back of head Booth then jumped from balcony onto stage

“Sic semper tyrannis” Thus always to tyrants

Booth fled but is finally found in a barn on a Maryland farm on April 26th Refused to surrender

Soldiers set fire to barn to smoke him out

Union soldier Boston Corbett shoots Booth in neck

A paralyzed Booth died two hours later

Two weeks earlier Lincoln had a dream about “the President” being “killed by an assassin” in the White House.

Aftermath of the Civil War North’s victory strengthened Federal gov’t power over the

states

Ended slavery in America

South socially & economically devastated

BIG question how would the Southern states be allowed back into the Union? Lincoln would have been best man to reunite country

Era after the Civil War Reconstruction