Important Battles of The Civil War

Fort Sumter (1861)

• A Confederate victory!• Considered the 1st battle of the Civil War • Confederates attack a Federal Fort in South

Carolina• Union troops surrender due to lack of supplies

1st Battle of Bull Run (1861)

• A Confederate victory!• Also called “First Battle of Manassas”• Both sides expect a short war• Citizens picnicked at this battle• Confederates stood firm, led by

Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson (C)

Confederate soldiers in Richmond, VA (1861)

Shiloh (1862)

• A Confederate victory!

• The 1st day is a HUGE defeat for Grant (U)

• Union reinforcements come, but Confederates still win

Confederate soldiers at the Battle of Shiloh

Robert E. LeeUlysses S. Grant

Commanding Generals of the Civil War

Antietam (1862)

• A Union victory! • Union finds Lee’s (C) plans but, McClellan

(U) fails to react quickly & Lincoln fires him• Lincoln uses this victory to announce his

Emancipation Proclamation• Highest number of American deaths in 1 day

President Lincoln at Antietam

•Freed slaves could now join the Union Army & Navy • Their bravery helped to convince whites that black men would make good soldiers• Officers of the 54th were wealthy, white abolitionists

Fredericksburg (1863)

• A Confederate victory!

• Burnside (U) begins with a much larger army, but . . .

• After the Union army charges the Rebels 6 TIMES, it becomes one of the Union’s worst defeats

Chancellorsville (1863)

• A Confederate victory!

• The good news: Lee’s (C) skill as a general produces a big win for the South

• The bad news: Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson (C) is shot & killed by his own men

After the Battle of Chancellorsville, VA

Gettysburg (1863)

• A Union victory!

• Lasting 3 days, the most memorable battle in North

• The South had 3 Goals: 1. Get supplies 2. Cut off Northern railroad transport 3. Gain a win in the North

Perhaps the biggest mistake of Lee’s career:

Lee (C) sends Pickett (C) on a suicide mission to the center of the Union troops - known as “Pickett’s Charge”

Gettysburg (Cont.)

Union survivors of the Battle of Gettysburg(From Ohio’s 23rd Regiment) of the Battle of Gettysburg

The Gettysburg Address

• Lincoln’s most famous speech • Its purpose: to honor the dead soldiers of both North & South

William Tecumseh Sherman

•Attack both military & civilian resources in the South •Ruin Southern economy by destroying railroads & industries•Union army’s “March to the Sea” left a path of destruction 250 miles long.

“Total War” strategy:

Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse April 9, 1865

Union Soldiers

Confederate Soldiers

Women Improve Medical Care for Soldiers

Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell

• First woman to earn a medical license• Formed U.S. Sanitary Commission to provide bandages, medicine & food

• Volunteer leader of over 3,000 paid nurses • Provided health care in Union army hospitals

Dorothea Dix

Andersonville Prison

• Georgia camp for Union prisoners of war• Worst conditions of any military prison• 100-150 Soldiers died daily of starvation & disease