Bell Ringer

• Have you ever been without electricity for long periods of time? How did you spend your time? What if an enemy were shelling you while you lived in caves?

• How did photography changed the way people saw the war?

American History Chapter 4: The Civil War

III. The Tide of War Turns

A) Setting the Scene

• Drummer boys used to conduct traffic during the war.

• Both sides aimed for them.

B) Victories for General Lee

• Burnside goes after Lee • “Few men have risen so high upon so

slight a foundation as Burnside”

a) The Battle of Fredericksburg• Union 122,000 South 79,000• South across the river on the heights18)Battle of Fredericksburg: 1862,

Virginia, won by the South• Burnside ordered charge after charge• Lee lets him cross• North 13,000 South 5,000• Burnside resigns

b) The Battle of Chancellorsville

• Lincoln promoted Joseph “Fighting Joe” Hooker, “May God have mercy on General Lee, for I will have none” – Thought the US needed a dictator.

• Hooker goes after Lee. Lee had to divide his force. After the 1st day of fighting, he sends Jackson on a 12 mile march around Hooker, attacks and crushes the Union – Hooker – cannonball – Darkness saves the Union army. Jackson goes to scout out the Union – fired on by his own troops. The next day Early attacked and a cannonball almost killed Hooker. Fighting done in the Wilderness - fire

19)Battle of Chancellorsville: Virginia, Union loss

• Lee’s most brilliant victory – costly Jackson died, “I have lost my right arm”

C) The Battle of Gettysburg• Morale low in the North – Lincoln, “If there is a worse place than

Hell, I am in it”• Lee out of supplies and another victory in the

North might end the war. • Union army follows him North• Gettysburg had shoes• Wheel shape• Skirmish starts20)Battle of Gettysburg: greatest battle ever

fought in the US – Union won.• Hooker replaced by Meade

a) July 1st, 1863• The Greatest battle ever fought on the North American Continent

began as a clash over shoes• South invade from the North, the North come from the South.• South push the North out of the town into the

high ground.• Union 2,000 – South 10,000 both sides called for reinforcements• Union had the right guy at the right place, at the right time. General

John Buford was in charge of the Calvary• He had his men dismount and a form a defensive line on Culp’s Hill

and Cemetery Ridge. They had breech rifles (Sharps). They held out the entire day until General Hancock reinforced them.

• 8th Illinois Cavalry

Do not write• South failed to take Cemetery Ridge on the first day. It

would come back to haunt them.• Both armies had gathered. 65,000 South and 85,000 for

the North on the night of July 1st.• Lee had no idea how many men the North had, General

Jeb Stuart of his cavalry was missing.• North had the high ground in the shape of a fishhook. • General James Longstreet (Corps commander) advised

Lee to move towards DC and fight on ground of their choosing. Lee said no. Longstreet later said that, “when fighting got in Lee’s blood, there was no stopping him”

b) July 2, 1863Meade is in command of the North after Hooker asked to be

relieved.Gave orders that any man falling back would be shot on sight.Lee ordered the hills takenGeneral Ewell attacked the Union right and took Culp’s hill.

Longstreet attacked the Union left with orders to take Little Round Top.

Little Round Top• Union General Sickles actually abandoned his position on Little Round Top.

Meade ordered him back but it was to late, Longstreet attacked. Sickles men were destroyed fighting at the Peach Orchard, Wheat Field, and Devils Den.

• Longstreet ordered 15th Alabama to take Little Round Top. If they could take Little Round Top they could fire cannons on the entire Union line.

• Only defense was the 20th Maine under Colonel Joshua Chamberlain and his 386 men.

• Five times they withstood charges. Finally they ran out of ammo.• Retreat????? Charge!!!!! Fighting was hand to hand. 20th Maine won.

Chamberlain was wounded 5 times and lost 1/3 of his men.• Maine soldiers saved the Union army and possible the

Union from defeat

July 3rd, 1863• General JEB Stuart was finally stopped by headlong charge by

Union cavalry by 23 year old General George Armstrong Custer• Lee ordered a direct frontal attack on the center of the Union line.

Started with a cannon barrage.

21) Pickett’s Charge: 14,000 Confederates lead by General Pickett attacked the center of the Union defense. 7,000 died.

• General Armistead actually led 150 men that penetrated the Union line. (angle) (Hancock)

• Lee retreats with 28,000 casualties• North had 23,000 casualties• More casualties in Gettysburg then the entire Vietnam War.• Lee would never again invade the North

D) Vicksburg: July 4th, 1863• Between December 1862 and April 1863

Grant made several attempts to capture Vicksburg

• Sat on a high bluff, surrounded by swamps.

• Vicksburg: City on the Mississippi, it was a stronghold that prevented the Union from taking control of the Mississippi

a) Grant Attacks• William Tecumseh Sherman: Union General that

served under Grant Grant tries 5 times to take Vicksburg1. Attack with Sherman through swamp. 2. Dig a canal to drain swamp. 3. Dig a

canal to bypass Mississippi. 4. Send gunboats. 5. Send gunboats and Sherman at same time.

• Vicksburg knew that a siege was coming, big business was cave building• wants to send the gunboats by Vicksburg at night and link his army up with them

south of Vicksburg. Then, use the boats as a bridge and get on the other side of the river.

• Under the cover of darkness the navy went for it. 4 ships did not make it. Grant crossed the Mississippi.

• First thing Grant does is capture Jackson (supplying Vicksburg) and burn it to the ground.

• 5 battles fought to try and keep Grant from Vicksburg. Biggest was at Champions Hill.

• Grant wins all five battles and lays siege to Vicksburg.

b) The Siege of Vicksburg• Grant tried to take the city by frontal attack. Did not work so he lade siege

to the city

22) siege: when a city or army is surrounded and starved into surrender

• Throughout the siege, the Union fired 2,800 cannon balls a day.• Rats appeared for sale in the city’s butcher shops• Total war: form of war where you attack everything

including civilians and the economy of the enemy• Siege lasted 47 days. For 2 days Grant was so drunk he could not stand.• Pemberton received a letter from his men about

surrender, decided to do it on the Fourth of July – better terms

• Vicksburg did not celebrate the Fourth until 81 years later.

The army is now ripe for mutiny, unless it can be fed. If you can’t feed us, you’d better surrender us, horrible as the idea is, than suffer this noble army to disgrace themselvesby desertion.

Signed,Many soldiers

E) The Importance of 1863

• July 4th, 1863 turning point of the War – advantage Union.

• July 8th Port Hudson surrendered to the Union

• Lincoln, “The Father of Waters again goes unvexed to the sea”

F) The Gettysburg Address• November 19, 1863 – Gettysburg ceremony• Lincoln was not even the main speaker• Main speaker, Edward Everett talked for two hours.• Lincoln spoke for two minutes.• 23) Gettysburg Address: Lincoln’s speech that was

given at Gettysburg• Afterwards crowd did not like it.• Everett said, “I should be glad, if I could flatter myself that I came as near to

the central idea of the occasion, in two hours, as you did in two minutes.”• Lincoln, in 2 min. captured the meaning of the Civil War

and redefined the meaning of the US.• Freedom and equality no longer belongs to a few white

men.

Review• What was the importance of Lee’s victories at

Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville?• How did the Battles of Gettysburg and Vicksburg

turn the tide of war?• Which do you think was a more significant

turning point: Vicksburg or Gettysburg?• Why was 1863 a pivotal year?• What is the message of the Gettysburg

Address?