No Easy Victory

1. No Easy Victory Lesson 2

2. “I never saw so many broken down and exhausted men in all my life. I was sick as a horse, and as wet with blood and sweat as I could be…. Our tongues were parched and cracked for water, and our faces blackened with powder and smoke.” -Shelby Foote in The Civil War: A Narrative

3. Strategies for Victory Union Plans Confederate Plans • Use its navy and blockade southern ports. • This would cut off the South’s supply of manufactured goods from Europe. • Seize Richmond, Virginia- the Confederate Capital. • They thought this could end the war quickly by taking over the Confederate government. • Seize control of the Mississippi River. • This would prevent the South from using the river to supply its troops. It would also separate Arkansas, Texas, and Louisiana from the rest of the Confederacy. • Fight a defensive war until the Northerners were tired of fighting. • If the northerners lost interest in the war, Lincoln would have to stop the war and recognize the South’s independence. • Counted on European money and supplies to help fight the war. • The southerners sold cotton crops to Europe, so they were confident the Europeans saw them as an independent nation.

4. Battle of Bull Run • Union troops were sent from Washington D.C. to Richmond, Virginia on July 21, 1861. The Union troops did not travel far until they met with Confederate soldiers. They had a battle near a small Virginia stream called Bull Run. • Union forces successfully broke up Confederate battle lines. However, General Thomas Jackson had Virginia troops on a nearby hill. They stood on the hill like a stone wall. General Thomas earned the nickname of “Stonewall Jackson”.

5. Battle of Bull Run • The Union troops panicked and ran away from the Confederate troops. • The Battle of Bull Run proved that both the Union troops and Confederate troops needed to train their soldiers. • It also showed that the war would be long and bloody.

6. Caution, Delay, and Retreat • President Lincoln appointed General George McClellan as commander of the Union army in the East. • McClellan was very cautious. He delayed leading his troops into battle. • In March 1862, McClellan and his troops left Washington and sailed down the Potomac River heading towards Confederate troops. • Confederate general Lee launched a series of counterattacks and sent Stonewall Jackson to Washington to threaten the Union. • Lincoln kept the rest of the Union army in Washington to watch for Stonewall, and did not send them to help McClellan. McClellan abandoned the attack on the Confederate troops and retreated.

7. Naval Action • Union ships blockaded southern ports. At first it had a few flaws and small ships snuck through, but eventually is became more effective. Trade through the southern ports dropped 90%. • Confederates took over an abandoned Union ship, the US Merrimack. They covered it with iron plates and named it Virginia. • Virginia went out in March 1862 and destroyed two Union ships and drove three more to the ground. Union’s cannonballs bounced off Virginia’s iron walls.

8. Naval Action • The Union troops created its own ironclad, the Monitor. • The Monitor and Virginia battled in Hampton Roads, Virginia- neither ship was seriously damaged. Both sides withdrew. • The Virginia was sunk two months later when the Union captured Norfolk. The Union built more than 50 ironclads. • Ironclads changed naval warfare.

9. Antietam • General Lee took his troops north to Maryland in September of 1862. He thought it would be a great blow to northern morale if they won on North’s grounds. • A Union officer found Lee’s battle plan at an abandoned Confederate campsite, allowing them to attack the Confederates. • McClellan was excited and had his troops attack Lee’s army at Antietam on September 17.

10. Antietam • Lee had his troops go back to Virginia on September 18. • Neither troop was a winner at the Battle of Antietam. The North was able to claim victory because Lee had ordered his troops to withdraw. • This did the opposite of what Lee had hoped for- it caused northern morale to increase. • McClellan did not follow up with Lee’s troops. Because of this, Lincoln appointed General Ambrose Burnside to replace McClellan as the commander of the East Army.

11. Confederate Victories in the East Battle of Fredericksburg Battle of Chancellorsville • Lee’s forces dug into the crest of a hill, creating a strong defensive position for when Burnside’s army would arrive. This was one of the Union’s worsts defeats. • December 1862 • Lee and Stonewall Jackson outsmarted Union forces. They hid in thickly wooded grounds and defeated the Union troops in three days. Confederates aimed at what they thought was a “Union soldier”. It was actually Stonewall Jackson. He died as a result. • May 1863

12. Union Victories in the West Fort Henry & Donelson Battle of Shiloh • Grant was to seize control of the Mississippi River and moved toward that goal. He attacked & captured Fort Henry and Fort Donelson in Tennessee. These forts guarded two important tributaries of the Mississippi. • February 1862. • Grant moved towards Shiloh and unexpectedly ran into Confederate forces. They drove the Union back toward the river. With the aide of reinforcements, Grant beat back and won the battle. While doing so, the Union navy won control of the Mississippi river, New Orleans, and Memphis. The Union now controlled both ends of the river.