Transcript jlenz.file18.1460811221.ures

CHAPTER 16 – THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR
Section Two – The War in the East
BUILDING BACKGROUND – The shots fired at Fort Sumter made the war a reality.
Neither the North nor the South was really prepared. Each side had some advantagesmore industry and railroads in the North, a military tradition in the South. The war in
the East centered in the region around the two capitals: Washington D.C. and
Richmond, Virginia.
WAR IN VIRGINIA
-Impatient politicians in Washington, D.C. wanted a victory in
Northern Virginia and pushed to have Northern troops invade.
**Lincoln ordered General Irvin McDowell to take his 35,000 troops
from Washington, D.C. toward the Confederate capital,
Richmond.
-McDowell, placed in command by General Winfield Scott (now 74
years old), claimed his men weren’t ready for battle and that they
lacked discipline.
** Lincoln agreed with McDowell, but stated, “You are green, it is
true, but they are green also; you are all green alike.”
-His troops first day march on July 16 was extremely hot and they
were only able to cover FIVE miles and McDowell complained his
men couldn’t even stay focused even on that short march.
-Approximately 22,000 Southern troops under the
command of General Pierre G.T. Beauregard were
camped outside the town of Manassas Junction,
Virginia which was an important railroad station.
** Manassas Junction is approximately 25 miles
Southwest from the Union Capital of Washington,
D.C.
-General Beauregard had requested reinforcements
from the commanding Confederate General Joseph
E. Johnston who had been fighting against Union
troops further to the west
-Johnston arrived on July 19 & 20 with 10,000 more
Confederate troops equaling the number of Union’s
troops.
** The actual battle took place on July 21, 1861 next to
Bull Run Creek which was just north of Manassas
Junction.
** During the continued fighting the Union troops crossed
Bull Run Creek and drove back the left side of the
Confederate line, but one Confederate unit stood firm.
-Confederate General Barnard Elliot Bee said to General
Thomas Jackson of Virginia, “They are driving us.”
-General Jackson responded, “Then sir, we will give them the
bayonet!”
** Bee yelled out to his men, “There is Jackson standing like
a STONE WALL! Let us determine to die here, and we will
conquer. Rally behind the Virginians!”
* This is how Jackson got the nickname of ‘STONE WALL”
-Jackson later said to his troops, “Reserve your fire until they
come within 50 yards! Then fire and give them the
bayonet! And when you charge, yell like furies!"
-Around 4:00 p.m., the South received enough reinforcements
and attacked the North while letting out a blood-curdling
scream known as the “REBEL YELL”.
-Union troops started their retreat in an orderly
manner back toward Washington, when they came
across the carriages of the wealthy citizens and
Congressmen who brought their families to picnic
and watch the battle.
-Over crowding on the roads and bridges of both
troops and citizens led to panic and the soldiers ran
back to Washington.
-The Confederate troops under Beauregard and
Johnston probably could have continued north and
taken Washington, D.C, but their troops were very
disorganized.
** This first major battle of the Civil War is called the
First Battle of Bull Run and was won by the
Confederacy.
** It is also known as the First Battle of Manassas
Junction, by the South.
** The reason many of these battles have two names is the
Confederacy named the battles after the nearest settlement,
town, home or church.
**The Union named their battles after the nearest body of water.
-Casualties were quite light compared to later Civil War battles,
the North lost 3,000 (460 dead) men and the South lost about
2,000 (387 dead).
-It was the largest and deadliest battle in American History up to
this point, however.
** A casualty is not just a death…
** It is a combination of the dead, wounded, captured and
missing.
** This victory thrilled the South and shocked the North.
** Many in the South thought the war was over.
** The North, now knew, that Victory was not going to be an easy
task.
MORE BATTLES IN VIRGINIA
** The North now understood it had underestimated the
South and that the war was going to take more time.
Lincoln called for 500,000 volunteers.
** After losing the Battle of Bull Run, Lincoln replaced
General McDowell with General George B. McClellan as
the leader of the Union Army in the East.
-McClellan put together a force of 100,000 and worked to
restore their confidence and organized them through
drill(practice), that he hoped would allow them to defeat
the Confederates.
** In November 1861, when General Winfield Scott retired,
Lincoln made McClellan the General-in-Chief of the entire
Union Army not just the Army of the Potomac.
-Lincoln thought this might be too much responsibility for
one man, but McClellan said, “I can do it all.”
-McClellan’s nicknames were, “Little Mac” and “The Little
Napoleon”
** Lincoln kept encouraging McClellan to attack Richmond,
but McClellan kept saying they needed more drill.
** Lincoln who was very frustrated and said he (McClellan)
“had a case of the slows.”
-Lincoln also stated at a meeting on January 10, "If General
McClellan does not want to use the army, I would like to
borrow it for a time.”
-McClellan did not care much for President Lincoln who he
had known when he was a lawyer for the Illinois Central
Railroad before the war.
-McClellan privately made comments about Lincoln such as,
“The President is nothing more than a well-meaning
baboon.”
-He later wrote in a letter to his wife, "I went to the White
House shortly after tea where I found 'the original gorilla,'
about as intelligent as ever. What a specimen to be at the
head of our affairs now!"
** McClellan finally decided to attack Richmond in the
spring of 1862.
Union General George B. McClellan was born December 23, 1826 in
Philadelphia, PA and died October 29, 1885 after suffering a heart
attack at 58 in Orange, NJ. He graduated West Point, 2nd of 59 in
his class of 1846. He ran for President in 1864 and served as the
Governor of New Jersey from 1878-1881.
-McClellan decided to bring in his army by ocean and then come in on a
strip of land between the James and York Rivers in the Southeast
instead of attacking in a direct manner which would be expected.
** These attacks were part of the “Peninsular Campaign”.
-Battles fought as part of this campaign were Fort Monroe (March 17),
Yorktown (April 5), Williamsburg (May 5), West Point (May 7) and
Seven Pines (May 31).
** One of the last battles of the Peninsular Campaign was the Battle
of Seven Pines or the Battle of Fair Oaks on May 31-June 1,
1862.
** This battle took place just outside of the Confederate Capital of
Richmond, a mere six miles.
-Federal casualties were 5,031 - 790 killed. Confederate casualties
were 6,134 - 980 killed.
-General Joseph E. Johnston was injured in the battle and that gave
Confederate President Jefferson Davis a chance to replace him as
the lead commander.
** His replacement as the leader of the Army of Northern Virginia
(Southern Army) was President Davis’s military adviser General
Robert E. Lee
-Lee, you should remember, served in the Mexican-American War
and led troops at John Brown’s Harper’s Ferry Rebellion.
-Lee was known to take risks and make very unpredictable moves
to keep the Union off balance.
** Lee ordered J.E.B. Stuart to take 1000 members of his cavalry
(soldiers on horseback) to ride around McClellan’s forces and
spy to see how many soldiers he had and to find out their
locations.
-It took about 3 days to complete the ride and Stuart
lost only 1 man.
-Lee decided to attack McClellan’s 100,000 troops
combining his army and Jackson’s reinforcements
(total of the two was about 95,000) who had been
fighting a series of battles in the Shenandoah Valley.
** They fought from June 25 till July 1, 1862, with
Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia suffering heavy
casualties, but McClellan retreated thinking his
forces were way outnumbered.
-The North suffered about 15,800 (1,734 dead)
casualties while the South lost about 20,000 (3,494
dead) soldiers.
** The key of this battle, was that Richmond(just south
of the fighting), the Confederate capital was spared.
** These battles were called the Seven Day’s Battles,
because they lasted for 1 week (Seven Days).
*Manassas
Junction
This shows, just how close(4 miles) the Seven Days’ Battles
were really fought to Richmond, the Confederate capital.
-McClellan asked for reinforcements from Lincoln and the new
General-in-Chief, Henry W. Halleck to be able to try and
take Richmond again, but they weren’t sure he would
actually use them.
-Halleck sent him 20,000 reinforcements, but then decided to
have him pull out, realizing the Peninsular Campaign had
been a failure.
**It is very possible that if McClellan had attacked Richmond
again with reinforcements, the capital could have been taken
and the war would have been over, but it did not occur.
**Lincoln was extremely frustrated and ordered General John
Pope to attack Richmond from Washington.
**On August 25, Lee sent General Jackson to move in behind
General Pope who was commanding Union forces at
Manassas and waiting for McClellan’s troops to arrive so
they could join together and force a fight against the
Confederates.
-Just before daybreak on August 27, Jackson swept in to
Manassas to capture and destroy a large Union supply depot.
** Later that evening Jackson pulled back toward the First
Bull Run battlefield and took up a great defensive position
on Stony Ridge.
** The fighting began on August 28 when Jackson attacked
Pope and the fighting was extremely brutal.
-Both armies stood no further than 80 yards apart and simply
stood and exchanged volleys in the old-fashioned Napoleonic
style with soldiers lined up shoulder-to-shoulder firing at
each other.
** Jackson could not win a decisive battle even though he had
superior numbers, but he did achieve a strategic move which
was to get Pope’s attention and make him focus on Jackson.
-Pope thought that Jackson was retreating the night of the 28th,
but Jackson just retreated back to his spot at Stony Ridge.
-Pope was convinced that Jackson was trapped and attacked
him with a majority of his forces on August 29, sending in
McClellan’s reinforcements as quickly as they trickled in.
** General James Longstreet had now joined Jackson’s troops and took
up on Jackson’s right flank.
-On August 30, General Pope began his attacks around 10:00 am, but
each one was repelled.
-It appeared that Pope did not pay attention to Longstreet being there.
-General Lee and General Longstreet decided to have Longstreet’s
25,000 men attack the left flank of General Pope’s forces at Henry
Hill House.
- The problem was it was about 1½ to 2 mile hike through the bushes,
ridges, streams and heavily wooded areas.
-They divided the men into five separate divisions and relied upon each
division commanders initiative.
**Longstreet’s attack sent the Union forces retreating back to
Washington, D.C. and again they had lost at Bull Run giving the
South a major victory.
**This battle was known as the 2nd Battle of Bull Run or the 2nd Battle
of Manassas Junction.
**The Confederacy had now regained almost all of Virginia and was
closer to Washington, D.C.
-Casualties for the North numbered about 16,000 (1,724 dead) and for
the South about 9,000 (1,481 dead.)
BATTLE OF ANTIETAM
** Lee decided to attack the North, while they were down on their
spirits following their losses.
-He wrote Davis to tell him he was attacking, but did not wait for Davis
to respond about whether or not it was okay to do so.
** He crossed into Maryland with his army of about 40,000 in early
September, 1862.
** He attacked the North for several reasons.
**a) Lee believed if he could win a battle in the North, Lincoln
might decide a war wasn’t worth it and talk peace.
**b) He thought an attack North would let the Southern farmers
have a break during harvest time and they could get food from the
Northern farms.
**c) He believed a Confederate victory in the North would finally
bring Britain and France forward as supporters since they were
ready to recognize the Confederates as their own nation anyhow.
-Lee drew up plans about what he wanted to do while there at a
campsite in Maryland.
** One of the Confederate officers at the meeting, accidentally left a
copy of the battle plans wrapped around the three cigars at the
campsite by mistake.
-The Union forces found them and gave Lee’s plans to McClellan.
**Lee decided to split his men and send about half with Jackson to go and
capture Harpers Ferry, Virginia from Union forces.
**McClellan and his 90,000 men got ready to attack Lee, but as usual he
didn’t attack right away and gave Jackson time to get back and
reinforce Lee.
**On September 17, 1862, McClellan launched a series of attacks at Lee’s
forces at Antietam Creek near Sharpsburg, Maryland.
-Union General Joseph Hooker started to send in his men at 6:30, but he
saw the glimmering of the bayonets from Jackson’s men standing in
Miller’s cornfield and instead called for the artillery unit to shoot its
cannons before sending land troops.
"In the time I am writing," Hooker reported, "every stalk of corn in the
northern and greater part of the field was cut as closely as could have
been done with a knife, and the slain lay in rows precisely as they had
stood in their ranks a few moments before."
**The cornfield exchanged hands between Union and Confederate forces
about 7 times – Lee is said to have called it, “Artillery Hell”
-Fighting at Miller’s Cornfield was brutal, lasting about 4 hours with
General Hooker destroying Stonewall Jackson’s forces during this early
fighting.
**Confederate General A.P. Hill finally arrived with reinforcements for
Lee and saved his army from being destroyed.
** Neither side gained much in this battle except for a lot of
casualties. (From The Official Records of the War of the Rebellion and the Antietam Battlefield Board)
** a) Northern forces suffered about 12,400 lost men and the South
about 10,320.
** b) 2100 Northerners and 1550 Southerners lost their life during
the battle and approximately 3000 more will die from the injuries
they received later.
-Let’s look at these deaths compared Operation Freedom which started
in Iraq in 2003 and stands at 4,409.
** It was the bloodiest single day of the Civil War with more deaths in
this battle than all American deaths in the American Revolution,
War of 1812 and Mexican-American War combined.
** It was called the Battle of Antietam Creek or Sharpsburg
-Six generals died during the battle – three from each side and twelve
generals were injured during the battle – six from each side.
-Most of the black and white photographs we will see coming up were
taken two days after the Battle of Antietam Creek by Alexander
Gardener who was a ** 41 year old photographer that worked for
Matthew Brady.
-Brady owned a photography studio in Washington, D.C.
-This was the first time that photographs had ever been taken at a
battlefield before the dead were buried.
-McClellan and his Union
forces might have been
able to finish off Lee at
this point, but he was
again, being too cautious.
** Lincoln was tired of
McClellan’s leadership at
this point and fired him as
the commander of the
Army of the Potomac in
November of 1862.
** His replacement was
General Ambrose E.
Burnside, who had done
so poorly at Burnside
Bridge.
Equestrian Monument at Burnside Park
in Providence, Rhode Island.
BREAKING THE UNION’S BLOCKADE
-The Union navy had most of the experienced naval
officers, the most ships and the industry to build more
ships.
THE UNION’S NAVAL STRATEGY
** The Union blockade of the Southern ports mostly
prevented the South from selling or receiving goods and
severely damaged the South’s economy.
** This blockade was hard to manage because there were
thousands of miles from Virginia to Texas and the South
used smaller, quicker ships to avoid the large Union
warships.
-These blockade runners made trips to the Bahamas or
Nassau for Confederate supplies, but they came nowhere
close to making up for the lost trade with European
countries.
CLASH OF THE IRONCLADS
** Prior to the Civil War, all ships had been made of wood.
** During this war ships began to be covered with iron
plates.
** These ships were called ironclads as they were heavily
armored with iron.
-The South, began the war with no navy at all, but the goal of
the Confederate Secretary of the Navy, Stephen R.
Mallory, was to have a small navy of the ironclad type.
** They began by placing iron plates on a Union steamship
called the Merrimack, that the Confederates raised from
the bottom of the sea when the Union left the Norfolk
naval base.
** The Merrimack was renamed the CSS Virginia by the
Confederacy.
** To combat the Virginia, the Union built a ship called the
USS Monitor, designed by a Swedish born engineer named
John Ericsson.
-The U.S. Secretary of Navy begged Ericsson to build
some kind of ship to challenge the CSS Virginia and he
agreed.
** It was small, with only two guns on a revolving gun
tower and was covered with a very thick metal plating.
-On March 8, 1862 the CSS Virginia pulled into
Hampton Harbor, VA and sunk the Union’s most
powerful ship, the TWENTY-FOUR-GUN, USS
Cumberland and then ran the USS Minnesota
aground.
-Two hundred and fifty Union sailors had died in these
battles and the Confederate navy ruled the sea for a
day.
** On Sunday, March 9, that will change when the USS
Monitor pulled into the harbor and will meet the CSS
Virginia in a memorable fight.
** The USS Monitor and the CSS Virginia fired on each
other for about four and half hours.
-They fought so close to one another that five times the two
ships collided.
** Neither ship could damage the other and basically
ended in a draw, even though the Virginia retreated
back into the James River.
** This saved the rest of the Union fleet, but it also kept
the Union navy from being able to use the James River
to get to Richmond.
-Believe it or not, these battles were the last time the USS
Virginia was used.
-Two months later as the Confederacy was losing Norfolk,
Virginia and had to retreat, they chose to blow-up the
Virginia to keep her out of Union hands.
**This fight signaled a major change in naval warfare and
a switch from ships powered by wind and sails to a new
kind of warship.
-Europe and the rest of world watched as they realized
that their navies were now obsolete.