Transcript Civil War Strategies

Civil War Strategies
Standard Indicator 8-4.5
Military Strategy for the North
• Blockade southern ports to cut off supplies
from Europe
• Break the Confederacy into two at the
Mississippi River
• Destroy their communication system
• Attack the Confederate capital in Richmond,
VA
Military Strategies for the South
• Fight a defensive war, using supplies from
Europe and funds from the sale of cotton until
the North tired out
American Civil War Tactics
(7:38)
• Most of the fighting took place in northern
Virginia & along the Mississippi River
• The first shots of the war happened at Fort
Sumter, SC
• 1st major Confederate setback-Union captured
areas surrounding Port Royal around the
(2:42)
coast of Hilton Head, SC
Union Strategy in SC
• Prevent ships from importing & exporting from
SC ports
• Union blockades hurt SC by forcing Europeans to
find new international cotton markets
• Emancipation Proclamation (what it meant to
plantation owners)
• Union captured Charleston & laid siege to the
area for over a year
• 45th Massachusetts unit of African American
soldiers led the charge on Fort Wagner at the
mouth of Charleston Harbor
Robert Smalls
• 23 yr. old slave piloting a Confederate ship
• Wife & children escaped to a Union ship at a
blockade
• While the white crew was ashore, Smalls
navigated the ship towards the Union
blockade, giving the appropriate signals to the
Confederate forts he passed, where he
surrendered it
Robert Small Cont…..
• He provided the Union w/information on the
Confederate fortification surrounding
Charleston
• After the Civil War: served as an officer in the
SC militia & state legislature, also helped draft
the constitution of SC & served 5 terms as a
Congressman from SC
Sherman’s March
• Sherman marched to SC after he captured
Atlanta in his “March-to-the-Sea” campaign
• Goal: make total war & bring the war home to
the civilians to convince the south to
surrender
• Direct impact on SC: destroyed homes,
plantations, railroads, & towns along the way
Sherman’s March Cont…..
• He even shelled the current state house under
construction at the time
• Capital city of Columbia burned