Tides are a 'changing
First African American RegimentHigh Water Mark
Capture the Mississippi
Storming of Fort Wagner (SC)July 18, 1863
• 54th Massachusetts Regiment (African American) led an assault to capture the fort from Confederates
• Initial strike was unsuccessful; however, recruit of African American soldiers increased for the desperate Union Army
• 60 days later the fort was captured
Turning Point (East)
• July 1-3, 1863• Robert E. Lee vs. George
Meade (“old snapping turtle”)
• Attempt to break the Union back (win in the north)
• Confederate loss (~30% casualties)
• Union fails to pursue Lee following his retreat
• Nov. 19 1863 – Gettysburg Address (dedication to lost lives and reasserting why the Union must continue to fight)
Battle of Gettysburg (PA)
Battle of GettysburgDay 1July 1, 1863
• Confederates take over town of Gettysburg (why important? – shelter, supplies, take cover)
• Union pushed back to Cemetery Hill
Battle of GettysburgDay 2 (July 2, 1863)
• Union holds on at Little Round Top and Culp’s Hill– Preventing the Confederates
from surrounding the Union
• 20th Maine under Col. Joshua L. Chamberlain
Battle of GettysburgDay 3July 3, 1863
• George Pickett (C) leads a charge with 12,000 men across an open field
- attempt to break through the Union line
• Confederacy retreats to the South (July 4, 1863) with no pursuit by Meade
Turning Point (West)Battle of Vicksburg (MS)
• May 1863• John C. Pemberton vs. U.S.
Grant
• Grant lay siege (surrounding a city – nothing in, nothing out) on Vicksburg, MS
• “We are utterly cut off from the world, surrounded by a circle of fire.”
• “People do nothing but eat what they can get (horses, dogs, rats), sleep when they can, and dodge the shells.”
Turning Point (West)Battle of Vicksburg (MS)
• Pemberton surrenders July 4, 1863
• Mississippi River is now controlled by the Union– Movement of Union troops
and supplies
• U.S. Grant is commissioned to lead the Army of the Potomac as Lt. General
Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant
• Last Union General for the Army of the Potomac
• Employed a total war strategy– Destroy everything of value
• Houses, farms, livestock, fields, railroads, etc.
• Keep the pressure on Lee– Keep Lee on the move
• Petersburg to Richmond (from the north - Grant)
• Atlanta to Savannah (from the south - Sherman)
William T. Sherman (U)March to Sea
• Nov. 1864 – April 1865
• Ordered by Grant to employ total war– Live off the land and destroy
the rest
• Marched from Atlanta to Savannah (towards the Atlantic Ocean); then north to meet up with Grant in VA
http://www.history.com/topics/william-t-sherman/videos#shermans-terrifying-tactics (movie clip)
http://www.history.com/topics/william-t-sherman/interactives/shermans-march (map)
Ulysses S. Grant
• Trapped the Confederate army in Richmond
• “There is nothing left for me to do but go and see General Grant,” Lee said, “and I would rather die a thousand deaths.”
• April 9, 1865: Lee surrendered to Grant in Appomattox Courthouse, VA –ending the Civil War