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The Confederate State of America attacked the United States military platoon in Fort Sumter, South Carolina. It was a short battle due to the U.S. surrendering and no one died, but this is the battle that started the American Civil War.

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On April 12, 1861, Confederate forces attacked the military garrison at Fort Sumter, South Carolina, starting the United States Civil War.

Subjects

Social Studies, U.S. History

On April 12, 1861, forces from the Confederate States of America attacked the United States military garrison at Fort Sumter, South Carolina. Less than two days later, the fort surrendered. No one was killed. The battle, however, started the Civil War, the bloodiest conflict in American history. Seven states, including South Carolina, had seceded from the U.S. months earlier. Attempts by President James Buchanan to supply U.S. troops at Fort Sumter had failed. When new President Abraham Lincoln (in office just over a month) told South Carolina's governor that he, too, would try to supply U.S. troops at the fort, South Carolina demanded all U.S. troops evacuate Fort Sumter immediately. U.S. troops did not evacuate, but, met with overwhelming force, surrendered on April 13. The Confederate victory at the Battle of Fort Sumter resulted in enormous support for military action from both the North and South. President Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers to put down the rebellion, while four more states joined the Confederacy.

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On April 12, 1861, Confederate forces attacked the military garrison at Fort Sumter, South Carolina, starting the United States Civil War.

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First Battle of Bull Run - July 21, 1861

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First Battle of Bull Run - July 21, 1861

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General Irvin McDowell and his Union army attempted to cross the Bull Run and attack the Confederate army, but they were forced out of Virginia back to Washington, D.C. This ended in a victory for the Confederate army. This battle is known as the first full-scale battle of the Civil War due to thousands of people being killed.

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On a steamy summer day in July 1861, a host of politicians, journalists and curiosity seekers flocked from Washington, D.C to Centreville Heights in northern Virginia. "They came in all manner of ways," a Union army captain observed, "some in stylish carriages, others in city hacks, and still others in buggies, on horseback and even on foot." Many of the travelers carried spyglasses and picnic baskets. There were even a few merchants peddling pies and snacks.

The scene had a carnival atmosphere, but the legions of sightseers had not come for any ordinary entertainment. They were there to witness the first major land battle of the Civil War, which was raging some five miles away along Bull Run creek in the town of Manassas. With each puff of smoke on the horizon, the pro-Union crowd applauded and cheered. "The spectators were all excited," Irish journalist William Howard Russell wrote, "and a lady with an opera glass who was near me was quite beside herself when an unusually heavy discharge roused the current of her blood-'That is splendid, Oh my! Is not that first rate? I guess we will be in Richmond this time Richmond tomorrow.'"

The tourists weren't the only ones predicting a swift end to the Civil War. Just three months had passed since the bombardment of Fort Sumter, and many in the North still believed the conflict would be over the moment the United States won a pitched battle against the Confederacy. Brigadier General Irvin McDowell, a cautious officer from Ohio, had been tasked with striking the decisive blow. On July 16, he had marched his 35,000-strong army out of Washington to begin the war's first major campaign. His target was the railroad junction at Manassas, which Louisiana-born Brigadier General P.G.T. Beauregard held with some 20,000 Confederates.

Following an opening skirmish at Blackburn's Ford on July 18, McDowell finalized a battle plan. It called for General Daniel Tyler's division to stage a diversionary attack near a stone bridge along Bull Run. At the same time, two other divisions under David Hunter and Samuel Heintzelman would steal across the creek at Sudley Ford and execute a turning maneuver against the Confederate left flank. McDowell's aim was to crush the Confederate army and open the road to their capital at Richmond, but his plan hinged on the rebels not receiving reinforcements from General Joseph E. Johnston, whose 11,000-man Army of the Shenandoah was lurking some 60 miles away in Winchester. Union General Robert Patterson had been tasked with bottling up Johnston's forces, yet unbeknownst to McDowell, Johnston had slipped away on July 18 and packed his men into Manassas-bound trains. They would arrive at Bull Run just in time to play a decisive role in the fighting.

The battle began around 5:30 a.m. on July 21, when the first Union artillery shells went screaming across Bull Run. While Tyler distracted the rebel positions near the stone bridge, 10,000 troops under Hunter and Heintzelman lumbered toward the creek. The inexperienced soldiers encountered delays on the march and only succeeded in crossing Bull Run at 9:30 a.m., well behind schedule. By then, Colonel Nathan "Shanks" Evans, who commanded a 1,100-man brigade on the Confederate left, had been tipped off to their location. Though hugely outnumbered, he repositioned his troops and engaged the advancing Yankees near Matthews Hill. Evans was soon joined by reinforcements under General Barnard Bee and Colonel Francis Bartow, but after over an hour of heated fighting, the Confederate lines began to crumble. "It was a whirlwind of bullets," one Southern soldier remembered. "Our men fell constantly. The deadly missives rained like hail among the boughs and trees."

With the fight turning against them, the rebels retreated across the Warrenton Turnpike to Henry Hill, where Brigadier General Thomas Jackson's Virginia brigade was holding a defensive line. Noticing Jackson's coolness under fire, General Bee marshaled his forces by hollering, "Yonder stands Jackson like a stone wall. Rally behind the Virginians!" From then on, the taciturn General Jackson would carry the nickname "Stonewall."

In the confusion of the withdrawal, it briefly seemed that the Confederates were beaten. Spectators at Centreville Heights received reports of a Union triumph, and General McDowell was even seen riding alongside his troops and yelling "Victory! The day is ours!" The battle, however, was far from over. The Union forces had failed to press their advantage, allowing Beauregard and Johnston-whose Shenandoah Valley troops were still arriving on the field-to reposition their men on Henry Hill. When the fighting resumed that afternoon, it devolved into a bloody and often disorganized slugfest. The two sides pounded one another with artillery at close range, and both launched repeated attacks and counterattacks. One Virginian described "stepping over dead men and horses and in direct range of those belching cannons."

The pell-mell nature of the fighting on Henry Hill was only compounded by the inexperience of the combatants. Beauregard had been hindered by communications issues all day, and McDowell repeatedly squandered his numerical advantage by only committing one or two regiments to the fray at a time. Both sides, meanwhile, were struggling to discern friend from foe. The armies wore a confused mass of uniforms-Union troops were often clad in grey and Confederates in blue-and the rebels were still flying a battle flag that closely resembled the Stars and Stripes. At one point, Jackson's 33rd Virginia regiment was mistaken for New Yorkers, allowing them to briefly capture a Union artillery battery.

The battle's turning point finally came around 4 p.m., when a fresh column of troops appeared from the southwest. General Beauregard initially worried the men were Northerners, but as they drew near he realized they were two of Joseph Johnston's Shenandoah Valley brigades. The reinforcements immediately made their presence felt. After moving to the left of the Confederate line, they raised the rebel yell and charged, spearheading an advance that forced the Yankees into a full retreat across Bull Run.

"Utter confusion set in," one of McDowell's staff officers remembered of the rout. "Pleasure-carriages, gun-carriages, and ammunition wagons...were abandoned and blocked the way, and stragglers broke and threw aside their muskets and cut horses from their harness and rode off upon them." As they fled, the panicked Northern troops ran headlong into the throngs of battlefield tourists, who joined in the retreat. One spectator, New York Congressman Alfred Ely, was even captured by the Confederates. He would spend the next five months in Richmond's infamous Libby Prison.

The Confederate forces were too fatigued and disordered to pursue the retreating Federals, who limped back into Washington the next day. It had been a demoralizing defeat for the North. Newspapers labeled Bull Run a national disaster, and one New Yorker lamented being "disgracefully routed, beaten, whipped by secessionists." McDowell was relieved of his command and replaced by General George B. McClellan. In preparation for a long war, President Lincoln called for 500,000 new army recruits with three-year terms of service.

Even in the South, where the mood was otherwise jubilant, many considered Bull Run a preview of the trials to come. "Five men will rise up where one has been killed," a Confederate major predicted, "and in my opinion, the war will have to be continued to the bloody end." The battle's casualty numbers were the grimmest indication of what lay ahead. The number of men killed, wounded, captured or missing eventually totaled some 3,000 for the Union and 2,000 for the Confederacy. In mid-1861, that was enough to make Bull Run the bloodiest battle in American history. It was a record that would be broken time and again before the Civil War finally ended.

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Remembering the First Battle of Bull Run | HISTORY

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Hopes for a quick end to the Civil War were shattered on July 21, 1861, when Union and Confederate forces clashed in northern Virginia at the First Battle of Bull Run.

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Fight Between the Monitor and the Merrimack - March 9, 1862

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Fight Between the Monitor and the Merrimack - March 9, 1862

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The world's first ironclad ship, the CSS Virginia attacked two of the U.S. ships trying to stop the Union blockage of the Southern Ports. Both the North and South claimed that they won the battle, but they also never claimed it as a draw. The battle showed that the ironclad ships were able to work successfully and gave an understanding of how naval warfare would be in the future.

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The Battle of Hampton Roads was the first engagement of ironclad warships during the Civil War and was fought between the USS Monitorand the CSS Virginia. While neither side could claim victory, the battle demonstrated the viability of ironclad technology and provided a glimpse into the future of naval warfare.

How it Ended

Inconclusive. The USS Monitor and CSS Virginia battled for hours before reaching a stalemate-neither carried the kind of armor-piercing shells necessary to pierce an iron hull. However, the Monitor halted Confederate threats to the Union blockade and prevented damage to the Federal fleet.

In Context

In the earliest weeks of the war, President Abraham Lincoln implemented a blockade off the southern coast, preventing Confederate trade, particularly the sale of cotton, with the outside world. Warships were needed to break the blockade, but the Confederates had few resources at hand. Confederate secretary of the Navy, Stephen Mallory, scrambled to find a solution. With no formidable vessels to choose from, Mallory decided instead to challenge the Union navy with the latest technology: warships clad with iron.

To achieve this goal, the Confederates sought to take advantage of what the Yankees left behind. After Virginia seceded in April 1861, many of the ships and repair facilities of the U. S. Navy at the Gosport Naval Yard in Portsmouth were hastily sunk or destroyed by retreating Union forces. The USS Merrimack had been scuttled and her upper works destroyed by fire. The Confederates raised Merrimack from the mud of the Elizabeth River, moved her into an undamaged graving dock, and transformed her into a heavily armed ironclad vessel. They rechristened the ship the CSS Virginia.

News of the Virginia caused panic in Washington. The Union navy quickly had to come up with their own answer to the ironclad warship. And they succeeded. A new and innovative warship silently slipped into Hampton Roads during the night of March 8, 1862. The USS Monitor, a steam-powered ironclad with a revolving gun turret, was the radical invention of John Ericsson. Commanded by Lt. John L. Worden, it was prepared to defend the rest of the Federal fleet from the seemingly invincible Confederate monster. While the battle was inconclusive, the Monitor's action's prevented the destruction of the Union navy.

Before the Battle

The Merrimack's machinery is restored, and her wooden superstructure is replaced with an iron-covered citadel mounting 10 guns. To increase her threat, a 1,500-pound iron ram is attached underwater to her bows. By early March 1862, the renamed CSS Virginia, is ready for battle. Seeking to destroy Union blockading vessels in Hampton Roads, Virginia leaves Portsmouth on the morning of March 8 and steams downriver to attack the Union ships at anchor there.

The innovative Monitor is battle-ready and incorporates 40 patentable inventions. The ship is fitted out with two massive 11-inch Dahlgren guns. Its unique appearance earns it the nickname "cheesebox on a raft." By March 8, the vessel arrives under tow from New York and seeks to engage the Virginia.

During the Battle

March 8. Under the command of Flag Officer Franklin Buchanan, Virginia heads straight for the sloop of war USS Cumberland off Newport News Point. Around 2:00 p.m., Virginia strikes the Cumberland with its ram, smashing a huge hole in Cumberland's wooden hull. Virginia dislodges itself from Cumberland's side, but the lethal iron ram breaks off. Cumberland goes to the bottom with her colors flying, taking 121 Union sailors down with her.

With one opponent vanquished, Virginia turns on the nearby USS Congress. Seeking to avoid the same fate that befell the Cumberland, the Congress runs aground nearby. Virginia pounds the frigate with its powerful broadsides. Unable to maneuver, Congress is quickly wrecked by Confederate gunfire and catches fire. Around 4:00 p.m., Congress lowers her flag. Hoping to accept Congress's formal surrender, Buchanan, who has come out onto his ship's upper deck under a white flag, is wounded by a musket ball fired from Union infantry ashore. With daylight waning and its captain needing medical attention, the Virginia halts its attack and returns to the safety of the Elizabeth River.

March 9. Lt. Catesby Jones, now in command of Virginia, prepares the Rebel ironclad for another assault. Steaming towards the steam frigate USS Minnesota, the Virginia begins to take her new victim under fire. As the Virginia approaches Minnesota, Jones notices a strange raft-like vessel by its side. With the Monitor now bearing down on the Virginia, the Confederate ironclad shifts its fire to this newcomer with the large, two-gun rotating iron turret. The two ironclads settle down to a close-range slug fest. Both ships noisily fire into each other with little effect, their shots glancing off their armored sides. Virginia at one point tries to ram the smaller Monitor, but the nimbler Union vessel turns sharply to avoid the blow.

After several hours of close combat, Worden, standing in the pilot house on the Monitor, is temporarily blinded when a shell from the Virginia explodes close by. The Monitor disengages and heads for the safety of shallow water where the deep-draft Virginia cannot follow. Despite its temporary advantage, the Virginia, short on ammunition and threatened by the outgoing tide, withdraws and heads for the safety of Portsmouth.

Aftermath

The world's first battle between steam-powered, ironclad warships ends in a draw, but the impact on the future of naval warfare is profound. For the next few months, the Monitor remains in Hampton Roads protecting the Union fleet there. Virginia ventures out from Portsmouth occasionally but never confronts the Monitor again. With the threat from the Virginia neutralized, Union blockade operations from Hampton Roads are restored and Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan is free to advance his Army of the Potomac up the Virginia peninsula toward Richmond.

During the two-day battle, the Federal navy suffers 261 killed and 108 wounded in its struggle with the Virginia -more killed and wounded than in any other sea battle in American history at that time. March 8, 1862, would remain the bloodiest day in American naval history until December 7, 1941, when the Japanese navy struck the American fleet at Pearl Harbor.

Hampton Roads: Featured Resources

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Newport News, Norfok, and Portsmouth, VA | March 8, 1862

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The American Battlefield Trust's Battle of Hampton Roads page includes battle maps, history articles, historical facts, recommended books, web links, and more on this 1862 battle of Civil War ironclads in Virginia.

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Farragut captures New Orleans - April 1862

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Farragut captures New Orleans - April 1862

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David G. Farragut and the U.S. Navy entered the city of New Orleans through Mississippi and captured the city with gunboats, motorboats, and 15,000 soldiers. The Confederates resisted and were forced out of the city and the Union prevailed. The capture of New Orleans showed the importance of leadership and gave the Union access to the Mississippi River.

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This article was most recently revised and updated by

Battle of New Orleans, (April 24-25, 1862), naval action by Union forces seeking to capture the city during the American Civil War. A Union naval squadron of 43 ships under Admiral David G. Farragut entered the lower Mississippi near New Orleans and soon breached the heavy chain cables that were stretched across the river as a prime defense. Realizing that resistance was useless, Confederate General Mansfield Lovell withdrew his 3,000 troops northward, and the city fell on April 25. On May 1 General B.F. Butler led 15,000 Union troops into the city to take command for the remainder of the war. The permanent loss of New Orleans was considered one of the worst disasters suffered by the Confederacy in the western theatre of the war.

Amy Tikkanen.

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Battle of New Orleans | Andrew Jackson, British Invasion, Louisiana

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Battle of New Orleans, (April 24-25, 1862), naval action by Union forces seeking to capture the city during the American Civil War. A Union naval squadron of 43 ships under Admiral David G. Farragut entered the lower Mississippi near New Orleans and soon breached the heavy chain cables that were

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The Battle of Shiloh started when the Confederates made an attack on Union forces in Tennessee. The Confederates were then unable to fight back and the Union took over and won. This battle is known as the bloodiest battle in American history. It resulted in more than 23,000 injured or dead. This battle also allowed the Union better access to the Mississippi River Valley.

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On April 7, 1862, the Battle of Shiloh ended with a United States (Union) victory over Confederate forces in Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee.

Subjects

Geography, Physical Geography, Social Studies, U.S. History

On April 7, 1862, the Civil War's Battle of Shiloh ended with a United States (Union) victory over Confederate forces in Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee. The two-day conflict was at that point the bloodiest battle in American history, with more than 23,000 dead and wounded. (This gruesome distinction was surpassed a year later by the Battle of Gettysburg, which resulted in more than 47,000 casualties.) The Battle of Shiloh was a crucial success for the Union Army, led by Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's Army of the Tennessee (named for the river, not the state). It allowed Grant to begin a massive operation in the Mississippi Valley later that year. This culminated in the brutal Vicksburg Campaign, which targeted the "fortress city" of Vicksburg, Mississippi-the last Confederate-controlled area along the Mississippi River. The Battle of Shiloh also robbed the Confederacy of one of her most capable leaders, Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston. Former Confederate President Jefferson Davis later said Johnston's death was "the turning point of our fate."

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Last Updated

October 19, 2023

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On April 7, 1862, the Battle of Shiloh ended with a United States (Union) victory over Confederate forces in Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee.

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Union troops under the authority of General Joseph Hooker attacked Confederate troops which led to the Battle of Antietam. The Confederate troops outnumbered 2:1 led to them not winning the victory because they weren't as prepared as the Union. The Union sent in their entire army while the Confederates sent in only less than 3 quarters. The Battle was the bloodiest day of war in American history and led to 23,000 soldiers killed, wounded, or missing. The Union victory also led President Lincoln to release the Emancipation Proclamation 1862.

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Antietam, the deadliest one-day battle in American military history, showed that the Union could stand against the Confederate army in the Eastern theater. It also gave President Abraham Lincoln the confidence to issue the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation at a moment of strength rather than desperation.

How it ended

Inconclusive. General Robert E. Lee committed his entire force to the battle, while Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan sent in less than three quarters of his. With the full commitment of McClellan's troops, which outnumbered the Confederates two to one, the battle might have had a more definitive outcome. Instead, McClellan's half-hearted approach allowed Lee to hold ground by shifting forces from threat to threat.

In context

Lee invaded Maryland in September 1862 with a full agenda. He wanted to move the focus of fighting away from the South and into Federal territory. Victories there, could lead to the capture of the Federal capital in Washington, D.C. Confederate success could also influence impending Congressional elections in the North and persuade European nations to recognize the Confederate States of America. On the other side, President Abraham Lincoln was counting on McClellan to bring him the victory he needed to keep Republican control of the Congress and issue a preliminary Emancipation Proclamation.

Before the Battle

The first Confederate invasion of Union-held territory is not going as planned. After a Union victory at the Battle of South Mountain and a Confederate victory at the Battle of Harpers Ferry, Confederate general Robert E. Lee opts to make one last stand in the hopes of salvaging his Maryland Campaign.

With Federal forces closing in from the east, Lee selects strategic ground near Antietam Creek and orders his army to converge there. A mile east of the town of Sharpsburg, the creek meanders through the hilly but open countryside, good for long-range artillery and moving infantry. The water is deep, swift, and crossable only at three stone bridges, making it a natural defensible location. On September 15, Lee positions his men behind the creek and waits for McClellan to arrive.

On the afternoon of September 16, Union general George B. McClellan sets his army in motion, sending Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker's First Corps across Antietam Creek to find Lee's left flank. At dusk, Hooker bumps into Confederate general John Bell Hood's division and the two forces skirmish until dark. The following morning, McClellan attacks.

During the Battle

September 17. The Battle of Antietam begins at dawn when Hooker's Union corps mounts a powerful assault on Lee's left flank. Repeated Union attacks and equally vicious Confederate counterattacks sweep back and forth across Miller's cornfield and the West Woods. Hooker sees thousands of his Federals felled in the corn rows, where, "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." Despite the great Union numerical advantage, Lt. Gen. Stonewall Jackson's Confederate forces hold their ground near the Dunker Church.

Meanwhile, towards the center of the battlefield, Union assaults against the Sunken Road pierce the Confederate center after a terrible struggle for this key defensive position. Unfortunately for the Union, this temporal advantage in the center is not followed up with further advances and eventually the Union defenders must abandon their position.

In the afternoon, the third and final major assault by Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside's Ninth Corps pushes over a bullet-strewn stone bridge at Antietam Creek. (Today it's called Burnside Bridge.) Just as Burnside's forces begin to collapse the Confederate right, Maj. Gen. A.P. Hill's division charges into battle after a long march from Harpers Ferry, helping drive back the assault and saving the day for the Army of Northern Virginia.

Aftermath

There are more than 22,000 casualties at the Battle of Antietam. Doctors at the scene are overwhelmed. Badly needed supplies are brought in by nurse Clara Barton, known as the "Angel of the Battlefield." During the night, both armies tend their wounded and consolidate their lines. In spite of his diminished ranks, Lee continues to skirmish with McClellan on September 18, while removing his wounded south of the Potomac River. Late that evening and on September 19, after realizing that no further attacks are coming from McClellan, Lee withdraws from the battlefield and slips back across the Potomac into Virginia. McClellan sends Maj. Gen. Fitz John Porter to mount a cautious pursuit, which is repulsed at the Battle of Shepherdstown.

While the Battle of Antietam is considered a tactical draw, President Lincoln claims a strategic victory. Lincoln has been waiting for a military success to issue his preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. He takes his opportunity on September 22. The Proclamation, which vows to free the slaves of all states still in rebellion as of January 1, 1863, will forever change the course of the war and the nation by marrying the Union cause with an attack on the institution of slavery. Hesitant to support a pro-slavery regime, England and France decline to form an alliance with the Confederate States of America.

After McClellan fails to pursue Lee on his retreat south, Lincoln loses faith in his general. Weeks later, he names Burnside commander of the Army of the Potomac.

Antietam: Featured Resources

Related Battles

Washington County, MD | September 17, 1862

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Battle of Antietam page - battle maps, history articles, photos, and preservation news on this important 1862 Civil War battle in Maryland.

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The Battle of Fredericksburg - December 11, 1862

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The Battle of Fredericksburg - December 11, 1862

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The Battle of Fredericksburg began when the Union army attempted to attack the Confederate army by crossing over from Burnside to Fredericksburg, Virginia. Unfortunately, the Union lost this war by 12,500 losses versus 6,000. The Union failed to capture the capital, Richmond and lost the opportunity to advance into Confederate land. The Battle of Fredericksburg was one of the largest battles during the Civil War.

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Before the Battle

Leaving the Warrenton area on November 15, Burnside moves his 100,000-man army 35 miles to Falmouth on the north bank of the Rappahannock in just two days. Opposite Falmouth is the river port town of Fredericksburg, occupied by only a few hundred Confederates. Located halfway between Richmond and Washington D.C., Fredericksburg has largely escaped the ravages of the war. The bridges across the river there have been destroyed earlier, however, so Burnside orders portable pontoon bridges to be sent forward to his army. Arriving in Falmouth, Burnside discovers that bureaucratic and logistical tie-ups in Washington have delayed the bridges and his carefully devised plan to surprise Lee is in jeopardy.

While Burnside waits for his bridges, Lee gathers his army. Gen. James Longstreet's wing moves east from Culpeper, and Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson 's men hurry toward the Rappahannock from the Shenandoah Valley. Longstreet takes up a position on Marye's Heights, overlooking Fredericksburg from the west. To the south, Jackson's men are entrenched in a line stretching over Prospect Hill and onto Hamilton's Crossing, four miles from the town.

On November 25, Burnside's long-awaited pontoon bridges begin to arrive.

During the Battle

December 11. An engineer regiment begins to assemble the pontoon bridges opposite the town in the foggy pre-dawn hours. Confederate riflemen, hiding in buildings along the riverbank, harass the engineers and slow their work. Senior Union commanders confer as the bridging process grinds to a halt. Burnside approves a plan to shell the town and drive out the Confederate snipers. Late that morning, over 150 Federal guns arrayed on Stafford Heights bombard the Fredericksburg, blasting scores of buildings and terrifying the civilians, many of whom cower in their cellars. After four hours of shelling, the engineers return to their bridgework and the riflemen resume their shooting.

Another option is desperately needed. Burnside meets with his officers and approves a plan to send a landing party across the river to hunt down the Confederate snipers and secure a bridgehead in the town. Colonel Norman Hall, a brigade commander in the nearby Second Corps, volunteers his brigade to row across the river. Under fire, regiments from Michigan and Massachusetts successfully cross the Rappahannock and drive the riflemen from the riverbank. More Union regiments follow across the river, and the Confederates withdraw after a few hours of house-to-house fighting in the street of town.

December 12. The remainder of Burnside's army crosses the river and occupies Fredericksburg. His strategy is to use the nearly 60,000 men in Maj. Gen. William B. Franklin 's Left Grand Division to crush Lee's southern flank held by Jackson, while the rest of his army holds Longstreet in position on Marye's Heights and supports Franklin if needed.

December 13. The Union main assault against Jackson produces initial success. In an area later known as the Slaughter Pen, Maj. Gen. George G. Meade 's division briefly pierces Jackson's line and threatens the Confederate right. However, lack of coordinated reinforcements and Jackson's powerful counterattack stymie the effort. Both sides suffer heavy losses with no gain on either side.

Burnside's "diversion" against Longstreet's veteran Confederate soldiers produce horrific Union casualties. The front of Longstreet's position is a sunken farm lane at the foot of Marye's Heights, full of Confederates three ranks deep. Wave after wave of Federal soldiers advance over open ground to take the road, but each is met with devastating rifle and artillery fire from the nearly impregnable Confederate position. Confederate artillerist Edward Porter Alexander 's claim that "a chicken could not live on that field" proves to be prophetic. Lee, appalled by the carnage, remarks, "It is well that war is so terrible. We should grow too fond of it."

December 14. That evening, as darkness falls on the battlefield strewn with dead and wounded, it is clear that a Confederate victory is at hand.

December 15. Burnside retreats across the Rappahannock, ending the campaign of 1862 in the Eastern Theater.

Aftermath

After the battle, the Federals withdraw across the Rappahannock to avoid being trapped, relinquishing the gains they made. The embarrassing and crushing Union defeat sparks recriminations in Washington, causing a crisis among members of Lincoln's cabinet, which the president deftly remedies. Six weeks after the battle, Lincoln removes Burnside from command and appoints Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker commander of the Army of the Potomac.

For the Confederates, the victory at Fredericksburg boosts morale and reinvigorates Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, which goes on to triumph again at Chancellorsville in May 1863.

The war continues for two-and-a-half more years.

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Our Battle of Fredericksburg page includes history articles, battle maps, expert videos, photos, and recommended web links for this important 1862 Civil War battle in Virginia. Check out our animated battle map for Fredericksburg.

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Emancipation Proclamation Signed - January 1, 1863

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Emancipation Proclamation Signed - January 1, 1863

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President Abraham Lincoln announced the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863. The proclamation stated " "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious areas "are, and henceforward shall be free." This meant that if all the battles did not stop, all slaves would become free citizens. The Emancipation Proclamation added force and strengthened the Union both militarily and politically.

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President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, as the nation approached its third year of bloody civil war. The proclamation declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free."

Despite this expansive wording, the Emancipation Proclamation was limited in many ways. It applied only to states that had seceded from the United States, leaving slavery untouched in the loyal border states. It also expressly exempted parts of the Confederacy (the Southern secessionist states) that had already come under Northern control. Most important, the freedom it promised depended upon Union (United States) military victory.

Although the Emancipation Proclamation did not end slavery in the nation, it captured the hearts and imagination of millions of Americans and fundamentally transformed the character of the war. After January 1, 1863, every advance of federal troops expanded the domain of freedom. Moreover, the Proclamation announced the acceptance of black men into the Union Army and Navy, enabling the liberated to become liberators. By the end of the war, almost 200,000 black soldiers and sailors had fought for the Union and freedom.

From the first days of the Civil War, slaves had acted to secure their own liberty. The Emancipation Proclamation confirmed their insistence that the war for the Union must become a war for freedom. It added moral force to the Union cause and strengthened the Union both militarily and politically. As a milestone along the road to slavery's final destruction, the Emancipation Proclamation has assumed a place among the great documents of human freedom.

The original of the Emancipation Proclamation of January 1, 1863, is in the National Archives in Washington, DC. With the text covering five pages the document was originally tied with narrow red and blue ribbons, which were attached to the signature page by a wafered impression of the seal of the United States. Most of the ribbon remains; parts of the seal are still decipherable, but other parts have worn off.

The document was bound with other proclamations in a large volume preserved for many years by the Department of State. When it was prepared for binding, it was reinforced with strips along the center folds and then mounted on a still larger sheet of heavy paper. Written in red ink on the upper right-hand corner of this large sheet is the number of the Proclamation, 95, given to it by the Department of State long after it was signed. With other records, the volume containing the Emancipation Proclamation was transferred in 1936 from the Department of State to the National Archives of the United States.

The Emancipation Proclamation

Select Resources

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Enlarge The Emancipation Proclamation (page 1) Record Group 11 General Records of the United States View in National Archives Catalog Español President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, as the nation approached its third year of bloody civil war.

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The Battle of Gettysburg started off with the clash of the two armies. The Confederate Army invaded the Union's territory trying to get to Harrisburg, which is the capital of Pennsylvania. The fighting spread from the north and south along the town of Gettysburg. The battle resulted in a Union victory and 51,000 injured or dead. This battle is known as the war's turning point and involved the largest number of deaths/injuries.

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The Battle of Gettysburg, fought in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, from July 1 to July 3, 1863, ended with a victory for Union General George Meade and the Army of the Potomac.

The three-day battle was the bloodiest in the war, with approximately 51,000 casualties. Even with such heavy losses, it proved to be a significant victory for the Union. The Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, under General Robert E. Lee, had invaded Union territory and was moving through southern Pennsylvania with an eye to Harrisburg, the state capital. General Lee hoped that defeating the Union army in a large battle on Northern territory would deliver a great, perhaps final blow to the war-weary United States. But the Union victory effectively ended the Confederate invasion of the North and provided a much-needed boost of morale for US soldiers and civilians alike.

The Battle of Gettysburg was fought not only on the field, but on the streets of Gettysburg as well. On July 1, Confederate soldiers chased retreating Union soldiers through the town, then looted homes and cellars for valuables, clothing, and food. Despite this initial Union retreat, the battle ended on July 3 with Pickett's Charge, in which a force of 15,000 Confederate soldiers charged through open fields at Union lines but failed to break through them.

In this video, take a virtual tour of the battlefield with historian Matthew Pinsker, Associate Professor of History and Pohanka Chair in American Civil War History, Dickinson College, as he provides a guide to the battle's most important locations.

Explore Gettysburg: Insights and Perspectives, a special issue of History Now that features essays by leading historians and Featured Primary Sources from the Gilder Lehrman Collection.

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ended with a victory for union general george meade and the army of the potomac. | the battle of gettysburg

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ended with a victory for union general george meade and the army of the potomac. the three-day battle was the bloodiest in the war

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000 casualties. even with such heavy losses

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it proved to be a significant victory for the union. the confederate army of northern virginia

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had invaded union territory and was moving through southern pennsylvania with an eye to harrisburg

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the state capital. general lee hoped that defeating the union army in a large battle on northern territory would deliver a great

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perhaps final blow to the war-weary united states. but the union victory effectively ended the confederate invasion of the north and provided a much-needed boost of morale for us soldiers and civilians alike. the battle of gettysburg was fought not only on the field

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but on the streets of gettysburg as well. on july 1

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confederate soldiers chased retreating union soldiers through the town

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then looted homes and cellars for valuables

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and food. despite this initial union retreat

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the battle ended on july 3 with pickett’s charge

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000 confederate soldiers charged through open fields at union lines but failed to break through them. in this video

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take a virtual tour of the battlefield with historian matthew pinsker

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associate professor of history and pohanka chair in american civil war history

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a special issue of history now that features essays by leading historians and featured primary sources from the gilder lehrman collection.

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Battle of Gettysburg Ends: On This Day, July 3

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Battle of Gettysburg Ends: On This Day, July 3 | The Battle of Gettysburg, fought in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, from July 1 to July 3, 1863, ended with a victory for Union General George Meade and the Army of the Potomac.

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Siege of Vicksburg - May 18 - July 4, 1863

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Siege of Vicksburg - May 18 - July 4, 1863

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General Grant planned to get control of the Mississippi River and Vicksburg for the Union by planning attacks and assaults on the Confederate land. Both Confederate and Union armies agreed to meet at Champion Hill and fight. The war ended with the Confederates surrendering due to thousands of soldiers suffering from illness and wounds. The Siege of Vicksburg was significant because it captured the Mississippi River, gave the Union complete access to the river, and divided the Confederacy in two.

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Vicksburg's strategic location on the Mississippi River made it a critical win for both the Union and the Confederacy. The Confederate surrender there ensured Union control of the Mississippi River and cleaved the South in two.

How it ended

Union victory. After a 47-day siege, Lt. Gen. John C. Pemberton's Confederate troops surrendered to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant. Together with the Union victory at Gettysburg just a day before, Vicksburg marked a turning point in the fortunes of the Union army.

In context

The Mississippi River was the primary conduit for supplies and communication through the south as well as a vital lifeline for goods going north. To Confederate President Jefferson Davis, Vicksburg was the "nailhead that holds the South's two halves together." President Abraham Lincoln remarked, "Vicksburg is the key! The war can never be brought to a close until that key is in our pocket." The Vicksburg Campaign began in 1862 and ended with the Confederate surrender on July 4, 1863. With the loss of Confederate general John C. Pemberton's army after the siege at Vicksburg and a Union victory at Port Hudson five days later, the Union controlled the entire Mississippi River and the Confederacy was split in half. Grant's victory led to his continued command in eastern Tennessee and his eventual appointment as general-in-chief of the Union armies.

Before the Battle

In the spring of 1863, Grant marches the Army of the Tennessee down the west side of the Mississippi River. The troops must rendezvous with the Union navy, which will provide transport for the river crossing into Confederate territory. On the evening of April 16, Rear Adm. David Dixon Porter sneaks his Union fleet past the Confederate batteries at Vicksburg to meet up with Grant. As the boats round De Soto Point, they are spotted by Confederate lookouts who spread the alarm. Although each vessel is hit by Confederate fire. Porter's fleet successfully fights its way past the Confederate batteries and meets up with Grant.

On April 29, Union troops attempt to cross the Mississippi at Grand Gulf. The Union fleet bombards Confederate defenses for five hours, but Grant's troops are repulsed. Grant moves farther south in search of a more favorable crossing point and eventually finds one in Bruinsburg. In the early morning hours of April 30, infantrymen of the Twenty-fourth and Forty-sixth Indiana Regiments step ashore on Mississippi soil. The two sides clash at Port Gibson and Raymond. By May 14, the state capital of Jackson, Mississippi, is in Union hands. On May 16, Grant encounters Pemberton's army and they exchange fire at Champion Hill. They clash again on May 17 at the Big Black River. Both battles result in Union victories and force the Confederates to retreat to their fortifications at Vicksburg with the Federals in hot pursuit.

During the Battle

May 18. Looking for a quick victory and not wanting to give Pemberton time to settle his garrison, Grant orders an immediate assault. Of his three corps, only Maj. Gen William T. Sherman's Fifteenth Corps, stationed northeast of the city, is in a position to attack.

May 19. Sherman's assault focuses on the Stockade Redan, named for a log stockade wall across the Graveyard Road connecting two gun positions. Here, the Twenty-seventh Louisiana Infantry, reinforced by Col. Francis Cockrell's Missouri Brigade, mans the rifle pits. Sherman's men move forward down the road at 2 p.m. and are immediately slowed by the ravines and obstructions in front of the redan. The combat is fierce and bloody outside the Confederate works. The Thirteenth United States Infantry plants its colors on the redan but can advance no further. Sherman's men pull back. Undaunted by this failure, Grant makes a more thorough reconnaissance of the defenses prior to ordering another assault.

May 22. Early in the morning, Union artillery opens fire and for four hours bombards the city's defenses. At 10 a.m. the guns fall silent and Union infantry advances on a three-mile front. Sherman attacks again down the Graveyard Road, Maj. Gen. James B. McPherson's Corps move against the center along the Jackson Road, and Maj. Gen. John A. McClernand's Corps attack to the south at the Second Texas Lunette and the Railroad Redoubt, where the Southern Railroad crosses the Confederate lines. Surrounded by a ditch 10 feet deep and walls 20 feet high, the redoubt offers enfilading fire for rifles and artillery. After intense hand-to-hand fighting, Federals breach the Railroad Redoubt, capturing a handful of prisoners. The victory, however, is the only Confederate position captured that day.

Grant's unsuccessful attacks give him no choice but to invest Vicksburg in a siege. As weeks go by, Pemberton's defenders suffer from shortened rations, exposure to the elements, and constant bombardment from Grant's army and navy gunboats. Reduced in number by sickness and casualties, the garrison of Vicksburg is spread dangerously thin. Civilians are hard hit, with many forced to live in crudely dug caves due to the heavy shelling.

June 25. Following Grant's orders to dig tunnels and set explosives under the Confederate works, Union sappers detonate a mine with 2,200 pounds of black powder, causing a huge explosion. After more than 20 hours of hand-to-hand fighting in the 12-foot deep crater left by the blast, Union regiments are unable to advance and withdraw back to their lines. The siege continues.

July 3-4. With the situation dire for the Confederates, Grant and Pemberton meet between their lines. Grant insists on an unconditional surrender, but Pemberton refuses. Later that night Grant reconsiders and offers to parole the Confederate defenders. On July 4, the 47-day siege of Vicksburg is over.

Aftermath

At 10:00 a.m. on Independence Day, some 29,000 Confederates march out of their lines, stack their rifles, and furl their flags. With Vicksburg in Union hands and the Mississippi in their control, Lincoln has great cause for optimism. On July 7, 1863, three days after the fall of Vicksburg and four after a victory at Gettysburg, the president writes to his General-in-Chief: "Major Genl Halleck: We have certain information that Vicksburg surrendered to General Grant on the 4th of July. Now, if Gen. Meade can complete his work so gloriously prosecuted thus far, by the litteral(sic) or substantial destruction of Lee's army, the rebellion will be over. Yours truly, A. LINCOLN"

Unfortunately, Lee's army escapes Meade's clutches on July 14 and crosses the Potomac River at Williamsport, Maryland, into Virginia. At a low point, a dispirited Lincoln sits down and writes to Meade "... my dear general, I do not believe you appreciate the magnitude of the misfortune involved in Lee's escape. He was within your easy grasp, and to have closed upon him would, in connection with our other late successes, have ended the war...." Lincoln never sends this angry message to his general, and the Civil War drags on.

Vicksburg: Featured Resources

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Warren County, MS | May 18, 1863

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Our Battle of Vicksburg page includes history articles, battle maps, photos, helpful web links, recommended books, and more on this important 1863 Civil War battle in Mississippi. Learn more about Grant's victorius Vicksburg campaign.

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Gettysburg address given - November 19, 1863

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Gettysburg address given - November 19, 1863

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During President Abraham Lincoln's most famous speech, he announced the Gettysburg Address to dedicate a cemetery for the Union soldiers who died during the Battle of Gettysburg. The cemetery was named Gettysburg Nation Cemetary and it held over 6,000 of the Union soldiers and veterans.

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The Gettysburg Address - Definition, Meaning & Purpose | HISTORY

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President Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address in November 1863, at the official dedication ceremony for…

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General Grant Leads the Union - March 9, 1864

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General Grant Leads the Union - March 9, 1864

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The commanding General Ulysses Grant led the Union armies to victory against the Confederates during the Civil War. He was then later elected as the 18th President of the United States as a Republican.

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In 1865, as commanding general, Ulysses S. Grant led the Union Armies to victory over the Confederacy in the American Civil War. As an American hero, Grant was later elected the 18th President of the United States (1869-1877), working to implement Congressional Reconstruction and to remove the vestiges of slavery.

Late in the administration of Andrew Johnson, Gen. Ulysses S. Grant quarreled with the President and aligned himself with the Radical Republicans. He was, as the symbol of Union victory during the Civil War, their logical candidate for President in 1868.

When he was elected, the American people hoped for an end to turmoil. Grant provided neither vigor nor reform. Looking to Congress for direction, he seemed bewildered. One visitor to the White House noted "a puzzled pathos, as of a man with a problem before him of which he does not understand the terms."

Born in 1822, Grant was the son of an Ohio tanner. He went to West Point rather against his will and graduated in the middle of his class. In the Mexican War he fought under Gen. Zachary Taylor.

At the outbreak of the Civil War, Grant was working in his father's leather store in Galena, Illinois. He was appointed by the Governor to command an unruly volunteer regiment. Grant whipped it into shape and by September 1861 he had risen to the rank of brigadier general of volunteers.

He sought to win control of the Mississippi Valley. In February 1862 he took Fort Henry and attacked Fort Donelson. When the Confederate commander asked for terms, Grant replied, "No terms except an unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted." The Confederates surrendered, and President Lincoln promoted Grant to major general of volunteers.

At Shiloh in April, Grant fought one of the bloodiest battles in the West and came out less well. President Lincoln fended off demands for his removal by saying, "I can't spare this man-he fights."

For his next major objective, Grant maneuvered and fought skillfully to win Vicksburg, the key city on the Mississippi, and thus cut the Confederacy in two. Then he broke the Confederate hold on Chattanooga.

Lincoln appointed him General-in-Chief in March 1864. Grant directed Sherman to drive through the South while he himself, with the Army of the Potomac, pinned down Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia.

Finally, on April 9, 1865, at Appomattox Court House, Lee surrendered. Grant wrote out magnanimous terms of surrender that would prevent treason trials.

As President, Grant presided over the Government much as he had run the Army. Indeed he brought part of his Army staff to the White House.

Although a man of scrupulous honesty, Grant as President accepted handsome presents from admirers. Worse, he allowed himself to be seen with two speculators, Jay Gould and James Fisk. When Grant realized their scheme to corner the market in gold, he authorized the Secretary of the Treasury to sell enough gold to wreck their plans, but the speculation had already wrought havoc with business.

During his campaign for re-election in 1872, Grant was attacked by Liberal Republican reformers. He called them "narrow-headed men," their eyes so close together that "they can look out of the same gimlet hole without winking." The General's friends in the Republican Party came to be known proudly as "the Old Guard."

Grant allowed Radical Reconstruction to run its course in the South, bolstering it at times with military force.

After retiring from the Presidency, Grant became a partner in a financial firm, which went bankrupt. About that time he learned that he had cancer of the throat. He started writing his recollections to pay off his debts and provide for his family, racing against death to produce a memoir that ultimately earned nearly $450,000. Soon after completing the last page, in 1885, he died.

Learn more about Ulysses S. Grant's spouse, Julia Dent Grant.

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In 1865, as commanding general, Ulysses S. Grant led the Union Armies to victory over the Confederacy in the American Civil War. As an American hero, Grant was later elected the 18th President of the United States (1869-1877), working to implement Congressional Reconstruction and to remove the vestiges of slavery.

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The Fort Pillow Massacre started because the South did not like that the North was using Black soldiers during the Civil War. 15,000 Confederate soldiers attacked the Union army and began to fight. The Union refused to surrender and the battle ended with lots of Black soldiers dead. This Battle is important because it encouraged enslaved people to fight for their freedom and hardened the resolve of Black Union soldiers.

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What is the significance of the Fort Pillow Massacre?

What started the Fort Pillow Massacre?

Where did the Fort Pillow Massacre take place?

How many people died in the Fort Pillow Massacre?

What was the result of the Fort Pillow Massacre?

Fort Pillow Massacre, Confederate slaughter of African American Federal troops stationed at Fort Pillow, Tennessee, on April 12, 1864, during the American Civil War. The action stemmed from Southern outrage at the North's use of Black soldiers. From the beginning of hostilities, the Confederate leadership was faced with the question of whether to treat Black soldiers captured in battle as slaves in insurrection or, as the Union insisted, as prisoners of war.

Background

The Battle of Fort Pillow occurred as part of Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest's spring 1864 raid into West Tennessee and Kentucky, areas held by Union troops. By the third year of the war, the Confederacy was facing severe manpower shortages and a dearth of supplies-including the horses necessary to maintain active cavalry campaigning. Consequently, Forrest launched the expedition in an attempt to gain recruits, provisions, and mounts for his command. Furthermore, Union Gen. William T. Sherman was massing forces in Chattanooga, Tennessee, in anticipation of his drive on Atlanta. Forrest and his superiors hoped that his raid would disrupt Sherman's preparations. By this stage in the conflict, Forrest had already earned a reputation as a fierce, temperamental, and violent commander who drove his men relentlessly and often issued "surrender or die" ultimatums to his Union adversaries.

American Civil War Events

Fort Pillow is located at a bend in the Mississippi River roughly 40 miles (65 km) north of Memphis, Tennessee. Built in 1861, the fort was originally a Confederate installation named after Brig. Gen. Gideon J. Pillow. In 1862 the combined might of the Union army and navy seized control of most of the Mississippi River and West Tennessee, rendering untenable the Confederate position at Fort Pillow, which was abandoned. Union forces moved into the vacant fort, using it as a supply depot and recruitment centre. In a tragically ironic prologue to the Fort Pillow story, Sherman, the commander of the District of Tennessee, ordered that the fort be abandoned in January 1864-about four months prior to the massacre. Union Maj. Gen. Stephen A. Hurlbut, in command in West Tennessee, initially obeyed and then disregarded his superior's directive, evacuating the fort in January but then ordering it to be reoccupied in February.

Initial attack

The fort contained a garrison of between 500 and 600 troops (consisting primarily of unionist Southerners, Confederate deserters, and African Americans) when Forrest's troops arrived. The 1,500 to 2,500 Confederate cavalrymen surrounded the fort with relative ease on the morning of April 12. For its defenders, the lay of the land around the fort combined with the poorly constructed entrenchments and fieldworks made the defense of Fort Pillow difficult. While the fort consisted of some 2 miles (3.2 km) of defenses, the Union troops had taken up position in an inner redoubt within the larger fortification. Confederate sharpshooters kept up constant fire throughout the day, wreaking havoc within the garrison. Union Maj. Lionel Booth, the fort's commander, was killed by a sniper's bullet. His second in command, Maj. William Bradford-who would prove to be an inept leader-assumed control. Even the Union gunboat New Era, tasked with aiding the defense of the fort from the river, proved ineffectual against the combined challenges presented by the topography and Forrest's artillerymen. At 3:30 pm, after hours of rifle and artillery fire, Forrest demanded the fort's surrender.

Overestimating the support he would receive from Union ships and wishing to confer with his officers, Bradford requested a one-hour cease-fire. Soon, however, Forrest spied Union boats-possibly carrying reinforcements-approaching Fort Pillow. Preparing for this eventuality, the Confederate commander ordered a detachment of his men to the northeast end of the fort to block the possible landing of Union troops. Convinced that Bradford was deceptively using the cease-fire to strengthen his garrison, Forrest informed him the fort would be stormed in 20 minutes. Further heightening an already tense situation, the troops in and around the fort began exchanging insults during the cease-fire.

Final attack and massacre

After Bradford's allotted 20 minutes had passed, Forrest-from a position roughly 400 yards (360 metres) from the front-ordered his men to assault the fort. The dismounted cavalrymen easily surmounted the ditches and parapets separating them from the Union defenders. The ill-led, outmanned, and outgunned Federals were unable to mount an effective defense from the fort's walls out of fear of the Confederate snipers and could do little to stop the attacking horde.

Forrest's men quickly gained the upper hand. The situation within the fort's walls degenerated into chaos, and command and control on both sides vanished. Some Union soldiers doggedly continued to resist; others threw down their arms in an attempt to surrender; and others-including Major Bradford-fled toward the Mississippi River.

The actual final assault on the fort's walls and the subsequent fighting lasted less than half an hour. By that time Forrest and his staff had arrived in the fort to restore some semblance of order. Both Confederate and Union witnesses claimed that an unknown number of Federal soldiers-most of whom were African American-were gunned down after attempting to surrender. Many more were shot as they fled, while others drowned in the Mississippi River. While it is impossible to determine how many were killed in the battle as opposed to the massacre, between 277 and 295 Union troops-the majority of whom were African American-were killed in total. Only 14 Confederates were killed.

Congressional investigation

Allegations of a massacre were made immediately following the battle. A congressional committee was tasked with ascertaining what in fact had occurred during the melee. The committee, under the leadership of two Republicans-Sen. Benjamin F. Wade, a leading Radical Republican, and Rep. Daniel W. Gooch-deemed what occurred at Fort Pillow a massacre without parallel. Although the committee interviewed numerous witnesses and compiled a detailed case that included much valuable testimony, the biases of Wade and Gooch led to a propagandist slant. Like most Radical Republicans, Wade and Gooch advocated for tougher wartime policies toward the South. Further sensationalizing what was already a brutal episode would bring validity to their desired policies. Despite the propagandistic nature of the report, it permeated Northern public opinion.

Likewise, the South soon had its own equally enduring version of the battle. Most white southerners denied the occurrence of a massacre. Not only did Forrest vehemently deny that his men did anything wrong, but he and his supporters argued that those killed at Fort Pillow were the victims not of violent racism but of the chaos of battle, the ineptitude of their leaders, and their refusal to surrender.

Despite the initial arguments of Confederates-and the continued insistence of Forrest's apologists-proclaiming that no massacre had occurred, evidence to the contrary is simply too overwhelming. While not as overblown as the arguments put forward by Wade and Gooch, the interpretations of the vast majority of modern historians convincingly show that a massacre took place. Twice as many Union soldiers were killed during the battle than were wounded-an inverse ratio for Civil War battles. Moreover, only 20 percent of the Black soldiers present were taken prisoner, while roughly 60 percent of the white troops present were captured.

Legacy

Although in terms of size and strategic importance Fort Pillow pales in comparison with other often-studied Civil War engagements, it did have some significant consequences. Like the Alamo a generation earlier, the Fort Pillow Massacre became a rallying cry for a people fighting for their independence. It served to harden the resolve of African American soldiers, and "Remember Fort Pillow!" became their battle cry.
Robert L. Glaze

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Fort Pillow Massacre | Definition, Significance, & Facts

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Fort Pillow Massacre, Confederate slaughter of African American Federal troops stationed at Fort Pillow, Tennessee, on April 12, 1864, during the American Civil War. The action stemmed from Southern outrage at the North's use of Black soldiers. Learn more about the massacre, including its legacy.

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President Abraham Lincoln ran against General George B. McClellan and defeated him by 212 to 21. The Election is best known because Abraham Lincoln was the first Northern president to ever win re-election.

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United States presidential election of 1864, American presidential election held on Nov. 8, 1864, in which Republican Pres. Abraham Lincoln defeated Democrat George B. McClellan . As the election occurred during the American Civil War , it was contested only by the states that had not seceded from the Union.

Wartime discord

As the 1864 election approached, the prospect that Pres. Abraham Lincoln would gain a second term was very much in doubt. The war between the North and the South had persisted longer than many had anticipated, and the Union army's efforts in early 1864 provided little hope for an expeditious conclusion. Many Northern Democrats who supported the war as a means of preserving the Union had been dismayed by the Emancipation Proclamation (1863), the promulgation of which suggested to them that slaves' rights had also become a principal objective of the conflict. At the same time, a faction within Lincoln's own party-the antislavery Radical Republicans-contended that the actual emancipation of slaves was not being accomplished quickly enough and that the president's proposals for readmitting Confederate states to the Union were too lenient. Both sides, furthermore, were critical of Lincoln's wartime restraints on civil liberties.

Several names were discussed as potential Republican challengers to Lincoln. In early 1864 Secretary of State Salmon P. Chase began a surreptitious campaign for the nomination but hastily ended it after pamphlets intended for private distribution were leaked to the press. A more formidable challenge came from former Republican presidential nominee John C. Frémont , who in May won the nomination of the Radical Democracy Party, formed by a group of disaffected Republicans. The official convention for Republicans was held in Baltimore several weeks later. Despite misgivings among some Republican party leaders, Lincoln won renomination on the first ballot. More committed to their broad strategic policies than to strict partisanship, the Republicans attempted to siphon the support of pro-war Democrats by temporarily renaming themselves the National Union Party and by replacing Vice Pres. Hannibal Hamlin on the ticket with Andrew Johnson , a former Democratic senator from Tennessee.

Although the Democratic Party was generally unified in its opposition to emancipation, in 1864 it found itself divided between those who favoured the continuation of the war and those who sought peace through a negotiated settlement with the South. The former faction found a candidate in Gen. George B. McClellan, who had led the Union army in 1861-62 but was personally contemptuous of Lincoln. The latter faction, centred mainly in the Midwest and popularly known as the Copperheads , gravitated toward New York Gov. Horatio Seymour. At the Democratic convention in August, a compromise was struck whereby McClellan was nominated as the party's presidential candidate and the Copperheads were allowed authority over the party platform; accordingly, they inserted a plank calling for immediate peace negotiations. In addition, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, Ohio Rep. George Pendleton , was an advocate for peace.

Momentum for Lincoln

As late as August 23, Lincoln considered it "exceedingly probable" that he would not be reelected. However, Union Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman's capture of Atlanta in early September significantly boosted Northern morale. In the wake of the victory, Frémont withdrew his candidacy, and newspapers and churches both provided enthusiastic endorsements of Lincoln. Though Lincoln did not shift his policies, he appeased the Radical Republicans somewhat by replacing a member of his cabinet whose conservative views on racial issues had come under criticism. Meanwhile, McClellan's campaign flailed as his repudiation of the peace plank in the Democratic platform provoked further tensions within his party.

On election day, Lincoln prevailed handily, winning 212 of 233 total electoral votes. Contributing to his victory were the predominantly Republican votes of Union soldiers, many of whom had been allowed to cast ballots in the field or else had been furloughed to vote in their home districts. McClellan won only the states of Delaware, New Jersey, and Kentucky. The strategic selection of Johnson as a vice presidential candidate proved unexpectedly consequential when Lincoln's assassination less than two months into his second term elevated Johnson to the presidency.

For the results of the previous election, see United States presidential election of 1860. For the results of the subsequent election, see United States presidential election of 1868.
John M. Cunningham

Results of the 1864 election

The results of the 1864 U.S. presidential election are provided in the table.

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united states presidential election of 1864

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United States presidential election of 1864 | Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson & Reelection

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United States presidential election of 1864, American presidential election held on Nov. 8, 1864, in which Republican Pres. Abraham Lincoln defeated Democrat George B. McClellan . As the election occurred during the American Civil War , it was contested only by the states that had not seceded from

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Sherman’s March to the Sea - November 15, 1864 - December 21, 1864

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Sherman’s March to the Sea - November 15, 1864 - December 21, 1864

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General William Sherman led his Union troops through the Confederate state, of Georgia, destroying their military and civilian property. He did this to prove the Confederacy did not have enough protection from invaders and to make the civilians who lived there go against the Confederacy. The march ended in Savannah after Union forces captured it and presented it to Lincoln as a Christmas gift. This march proved that the Confederacy could not wage a war and was unprepared. Also during the march, 17,000 - 25,000 enslaved Black people were freed.

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Sherman's March to the Sea, (November 15-December 21, 1864) American Civil War campaign that concluded Union operations in the Confederate state of Georgia. After seizing Atlanta, Union Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman embarked on a scorched-earth campaign intended to cripple the South's war-making capacity and wound the Confederate psyche. Sherman's army marched 285 miles (458 km) east from Atlanta to the coastal town of Savannah, which surrendered without a siege. Sherman's 37-day campaign is remembered as one of the most successful examples of " total war," and its psychological effects persisted in the postbellum South.

Context and strategy

In the spring of 1864, Union Lieut. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant conferred with his generals in order to devise a strategy to bring the Confederate war machine to its knees. Sherman was charged with three armies totaling some 100,000 men: the Army of the Cumberland, the Army of the Tennessee, and the Army of the Ohio. His primary objective was to capture and neutralize the city of Atlanta, which was a major railroad centre, supply depot, and manufacturing hub for both Georgia and the Confederacy. The ensuing campaign and siege occupied most of the summer, with Sherman finally forcing a surrender on September 2.

Sherman remained in Atlanta for a little over a month. During this time he ordered the evacuation of some 3,000 civilians and seized their homes for his soldiers' living quarters. Confederate forces were not stationary, however. On September 21, 1864, Confederate Gen. John B. Hood moved his battered Army of Tennessee northwest from their southerly position to Palmetto, Georgia. On September 29 Hood set out again, this time with the goal of cutting off Sherman's supply lines along the Western & Atlantic Railroad in northern Georgia. Sherman moved against Hood on October 5. Union men successfully defended the supply depot northwest of Atlanta at Allatoona Pass, but Hood seized Dalton with little resistance. Sherman pursued the smaller Confederate army west and south until mid-October, when Hood crossed into Alabama. Hood's new strategy was to recoup before striking north at Union-occupied Nashville, Tennessee.

Having anticipated Confederate designs against Nashville, Sherman had already sent two divisions to the Tennessee capital. He now dispatched the IV and XXIII Corps to Chattanooga, located along the railroad to Nashville. Sherman then turned his attention back to the pacification of Georgia. On October 9, while still chasing Hood, he had sent the following in a telegram to Grant:

I propose we break up the railroad from Chattanooga, and strike out with wagons for Milledgeville, Millen, and Savannah. Until we can repopulate Georgia it is useless to occupy it, but the utter destruction of its roads, houses, and people will cripple their military resources. By attempting to hold the roads we will lose a thousand men monthly and will gain no result. I can make the march and make Georgia howl. We have over 8,000 cattle and 3,000,000 pounds of bread but no corn, but we can forage in the interior of the state.

Though he had his reservations about the plan, Grant gave his official approval on November 7. Through this "March to the Sea," Sherman hoped to deny Georgia's resources to the Confederacy. In a November 6 telegram to Grant, he had argued that to every onlooker, the destruction of Georgia's economic and industrial potential would be "proof positive that the North can prevail in this contest, leaving only open the question of its willingness to use that power." Far more than a mere display of brute force, Sherman's wager would prove to be equal parts political and psychological.

On November 10, following Sherman's orders, Union troops began torching buildings that were of military or industrial value in Atlanta. By the following day, soldiers were setting unauthorized fires, and the flames spread to business and residential districts. Within a week, some 40 percent of the city was in ashes. On the morning of November 16, Sherman set out for the coast at the head of roughly 62,000 men. Atlanta smoldered in his rear.

The march

Although clearly headed eastward, Sherman was determined to conceal his movements from Confederate eyes. For this reason, he divided his expeditionary force into two infantry groups. The Army of the Tennessee, headed by Maj. Gen. Oliver O. Howard, comprised the right wing. On the left, Maj. Gen. Henry W. Slocum commanded the Army of Georgia. Brig. Gen. Judson Kilpatrick led the force's single cavalry division. With Kilpatrick as a mobile screen, Howard took the right wing southeast of Atlanta in the direction of Macon, while Slocum's left wing marched east toward Augusta.

Sherman gave explicit instructions to his troops regarding their conduct while on the march. In Special Field Order No. 120 he encouraged foraging and the confiscation of livestock but forbade home invasions. However, if antagonized by Confederate soldiers, Union officers could destroy private and industrial property. The field order also permitted able-bodied Black labourers to join the march, but commanding officers were instructed to remain cognizant of supplies intended for their army group.

Most Union soldiers complied with Sherman's orders. However, some men, called "bummers," roamed the countryside to intentionally terrorize and loot Confederate civilians. Although bummers engaged in prohibited activity, the overall psychological impact on the local population was precisely the purpose of the march. This effect was likely compounded by the army's continued railroad destruction. Railroads doubled as a conduit for industrial growth and transportation for the military. By ripping up and melting down tracks, Union soldiers slowly crippled the state's industrial and military potential in full view of its civilians.

Confederate leadership was unable to discern the final destination of the two-pronged Union force. Observing the movements of Howard's right wing, Confederate Lieut. Gen. William J. Hardee initially assumed that its goal was to capture Macon. However, a turn eastward convinced him that Augusta was the target. Accordingly, on November 19, he dispatched Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheeler 's cavalry corps and some local militiamen to slow the Union's right flank. Sherman's true objective, hidden from even his own rank and file, was to seize the state capital of Milledgeville.

Just before pivoting east past Macon, Howard's right wing came upon the industrial town of Griswoldville. Union troops burned it to the ground. On November 22 three Confederate militia brigades (comprising some 4,500 men) from Macon discovered the carnage before chancing upon 1,500 Union soldiers. The Union defensive position was strong and Howard's men were equipped with repeating rifles. Despite an overwhelming numerical advantage, the Confederate militiamen were thoroughly squashed, suffering more than 1,000 casualties to fewer than 100 for the Union. To the north of this action, Sherman advanced with the left wing into Milledgeville on November 23. His force faced little resistance. With the Georgia state legislature having quit the capital, Union troops held a mock legislative session and voted to repeal Georgia's ordinance of secession.

On November 24 several Union prisoners of war caught up with the left wing, having escaped a Confederate camp at Andersonville. Many troops who heard of their arrival retaliated by burning civilian barns and slaughtering their livestock. Some bummers escalated their attacks on the local population. Wheeler's Confederate cavalry responded by killing Union prisoners. The violence abated only after Sherman threatened to shoot an equal number of his own captives. However, news of brutal prisoner treatment at Camp Lawton would later prompt Sherman to order the destruction of several miles of track along the Augusta & Savannah Railroad.

Slocum's left wing encountered some trouble once they broke camp to continue their eastward march. Wheeler's horsemen descended on the Federal column at Sandersonville on November 25-26, and on November 28 they sprang an attack on Kilpatrick's Union cavalry at Buckhead Creek. The Confederacy suffered only 70 losses to the Union's 100, with Kilpatrick himself narrowly escaping capture. The two cavalry units clashed again at nearby Waynesboro on December 4. The intense battle that ensued saw 250 Confederate casualties and 190 Union losses.

Despite these impediments, the two wings of Sherman's army began to converge on Savannah in early December. On December 9, however, tragedy struck Brig. Gen. Jefferson C. Davis's XIV Corps. Davis's men lagged behind the rest of the left wing, and Wheeler's cavalry was hot on their heels. Field Order No. 120 had permitted Black labourers to accompany the column, despite being a potential drain on resources and slowing the army's pace. Just 25 miles (40 km) north of Savannah, Davis's men were crossing a bloated Ebenezer Creek when they were ordered to destroy their bridge. This would prevent the formerly enslaved people from crossing to safety. With Wheeler close behind, many of them attempted to swim the distance. Dozens drowned, and Wheeler captured many of those who lived. Their fates remain largely unknown. Sherman would later defend Davis's actions at Ebenezer Creek as a necessary reality of war.

By December 12 Sherman's force had neared Savannah's outer defenses. Hardee had long since retreated to the coastal city and toiled away at its fortifications, which were effective at supplementing Savannah's natural marsh and river defenses. Determined not to lay a siege unless absolutely necessary, Sherman ordered 4,000 men from the XV Corps to seize Fort McCallister, a crucial element of the city's southern defense. Union troops arrived outside the fort on December 13. It boasted a garrison of 230 Confederates and more than 20 pieces of artillery. Federal troops sprinted the 600-yard stretch to the fort's walls, and within 15 minutes they had captured the structure. The Union lost 130 men in this assault and the Confederacy 40.

Savannah was now surrounded on land. Sherman demanded a surrender on December 17, but his request was promptly rejected. Nevertheless, Hardee knew that his position was untenable. On the night of December 20-21 his Confederate garrison prepared to evacuate. They quietly abandoned their trenches and crossed the Savannah River into Confederate-held South Carolina. On December 21 Savannah's mayor formally surrendered the city to the Union. For Sherman's part, he made immediate contact with the U.S. Navy before sending the following telegram to Pres. Abraham Lincoln:

"I beg to present you as a Christmas gift the city of Savannah, with one hundred and fifty heavy guns and plenty of ammunition, also about twenty-five thousand bales of cotton."

Casualties and aftermath

Sherman's March to the Sea spanned some 285 miles (459 km) over 37 days. His armies sustained more than 1,300 casualties, with the Confederacy suffering roughly 2,300. Between 17,000 and 25,000 enslaved Black people were freed while on the march, including more than 7,500 in and around Savannah.

The economic impact of the march was staggering. Sherman estimated a total Confederate economic loss of $100 million (more than $1.5 billion in the 21st century) in his official campaign report. In 1870, five years after the war's end, the South's overall agricultural output was 28 percent of the nation's total output, some 10 percent below prewar levels. Some economists have measured residual agricultural effects lasting through 1920.

Together with Sherman's Atlanta Campaign, the March to the Sea may have tipped the scales of victory toward the Union. The pacification of Georgia cut the Confederacy in half and denied the insurgent states much of their former industrial and agricultural capacity. This had significant ramifications across their remaining military operations. Desertions soared as news of Georgia's devastation began to reach the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, which was engaged in some of the war's most intense combat. In South Carolina Sherman waged a new scorched-earth campaign with a vengeance reserved for the first state to have seceded from the Union. Less than six months later Gen. Robert E. Lee would surrender to the Union at Appomattox Court House and bring a formal end to the American Civil War.

Apart from its economic and military payoff, the march's impact may have lingered longest in the Southern psyche. The destruction of Georgia displayed the unfettered might of the Union war machine. Confederate morale reached new lows as Sherman burned his way east. Civilian accounts describe the terror of encountering Sherman's foraging parties and the unauthorized bands of bummers. Locals experienced a sense of growing dread as they anticipated the main columns advancing through their property and seizing everything of value. In the hearts of Georgians, Sherman left behind a smoldering resentment of the North that persisted well into the 20th century.

In addition to its effects on Georgia and the South, Sherman's March to the Sea revolutionized the military tactics of his time. Many scholars of military history contend that his psychological warfare was one of the first modern examples of total war. His focus on crushing civilian morale presaged the bloody World Wars of the 20th century. Like the morale-focused campaigns of future generals, Sherman's march squeezed out a victory with ruthless precision.

Myles Hudson

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Sherman's March to the Sea | Significance, Map, Casualties, & The Civil War

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Sherman's March to the Sea (November 15-December 21, 1864), American Civil War campaign that concluded Union operations in Georgia and crippled the South's war-making capacity. After seizing Atlanta, Union Major General William Tecumseh Sherman embarked on a scorched-earth campaign to the coastal town of Savannah.

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At the Battle of Appomattox Court House, General Robert E. Lee gave up his position as commander of all Confederate forces to General Ulysses. S. Grant. The Appomattox Court House also marks the beginning of the transition to peace after 4 years of fighting long deadly battles. This is important because it led to the end of the bloodiest conflict in American history.

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Trapped by the Federals near Appomattox Court House, Confederate general Robert E. Lee surrendered his army to Union general Ulysses S. Grant, precipitating the capitulation of other Confederate forces and leading to the end of the bloodiest conflict in American history.

How it ended

Union victory. Lee's formal surrender to Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865, brought the war in Virginia to an end. While this event is considered the most significant surrender of the Civil War, several other Confederate commanders had to capitulate and negotiate paroles and amnesty for Southern combatants before President Andrew Johnson could officially proclaim an end to the Civil War. That formal declaration occurred sixteen months after Appomattox, on August 20, 1866.

In context

General Lee's final campaign began on March 25, 1865, with a Confederate attack on Fort Stedman, near Petersburg. General Grant's forces counterattacked a week later on April 1 at Five Forks, forcing Lee to abandon Richmond and Petersburg the following day. The Confederate Army's retreat moved southwest along the Richmond & Danville Railroad. Heavily outnumbered by the enemy and low on supplies, Lee was in dire trouble. Nevertheless, he led a series of grueling night marches, hoping to reach supply trains in Farmville, Virginia, and eventually join Maj. Gen. Joseph E. Johnston's army in North Carolina. Union troops captured the valuable supplies at Farmville on April 7.

On April 8, the Confederates discovered that their army was blocked by Federal cavalry. Confederate commanders tried to break through the cavalry screen, hoping that the horsemen were unsupported by other troops. But Grant had anticipated Lee's attempt to escape and ordered two corps (Twenty-fourth and Fifth), under the commands of Maj. Gen. John Gibbon and Bvt. Maj. Gen. Charles Griffin, to march all night to reinforce the Union cavalry and trap Lee. On April 9, those corps drove back the Confederates.

Rather than destroy his army and sacrifice the lives of his soldiers to no purpose, Lee decided to surrender the Army of Northern Virginia. Three days later, a formal ceremony marked the disbanding of Lee's army and the parole of his men, ending the war in Virginia. The Grant-Lee agreement served not only as a signal that the South had lost the war but also as a model for the rest of the surrenders that followed.

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The Battle of Appomattox Court House page includes history articles, photo galleries, maps, and other recommended links for this 1865 Civil War battle in Virginia.