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Gettysburg Address, world-famous speech delivered by U.S. President Abraham Lincoln at the dedication (November 19, 1863) of the National Cemetery at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, the site of one of the decisive battles of the American Civil War (July 1-3, 1863). It was preceded by a two-hour speech by…

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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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Photos of Sherman's "Scorched Earth" strategy

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Photos of Sherman's "Scorched Earth" strategy

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General Sherman's march through the south left a wake of death, destruction, and despair behind, helping secure The Union's victory by destroying The South's spirit and resources. His campaign brought the horrors of war to civilian doorsteps, and it was an early advancement towards total warfare in the 20th century.

This is William Tecumseh Sherman.

He's the rugged, stoic, and needs a haircut type.

On November 15, 1864 he set out from Atlanta, Georgia on a 60,000 troop charge through The South.

It ended 37 days and 387 miles later, on December 21st of that year in Savannah, Georgia.

This is what was left of the cities he marched through.

Sherman began his march under orders from Ulysses S. Grant.

Throughout his march Sherman didn't have any Union supply lines, which is usually a terrible idea because no supply lines means no food, clothes, or weapons.

But Sherman had a plan- the Scorched Earth Policy:

The soldiers either ate or burned everything they came across. Sherman forwent supply lines in favor of "foraging" and "living off the land". Which could be roughly translated to stealing and pillaging . The very hungry caterpillar munched onwards, eating everything in sight. Civilian hunger and terror spread through The South, no one remained unaffected. The Very Hungry Shermanpillar chewed through The South's economy right on to the yummy tootsie roll center of victory, stopping to savor the nougaty flavor of Atlanta and Savannah.

How many miles does it take to get to the tootsie roll center of the Confederate pop? 285 miles.

This engraving details some of their more famous acts, like the burning of depots, the destroying of railroads and telegram lines, and the stealing of supplies. They were regarded as an evil force by the South, and refugees such as the ones at the bottom spread accounts of terror.

This was as much a psychological attack as it was physical.

By striking fear into civilians Sherman lowered morale and support for the Confederacy.

Total warfare meant taking the warfront to the civilians. By burning large cities like Atlanta, Savannah, and Columbia they showed the citizens just how terrible the consequences of war could be.

This engraving shows a burning rail depot and many citizens of the South watching it in horror. No longer was the battlefront a far off event, now it was their homes and their cities suffering the effects of war.

Civilians in the path of destruction fled their homes in fear. Nobody wanted to be caught by Sherman's vicious "Blue Bellies" and anybody resisting was sure to have their home set ablaze. Accounts from refugees and newspapers helped spread the news of Sherman's March past the borders of Georgia.

"It is only those who have never fired a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood, for vengeance, for desolation. War is hell." - William Tecumseh Sherman

Note that Sherman did not actively harm the people directly; deaths were usually a result of starvation.
In this engraving, Union soldiers slaughter all the animals of a southern family. They wouldn't eat all the meat; rather, the goal was to eliminate potential supplies and resources for the Confederate Army. Like in Gone with the Wind, families had to start from scratch, completely rebuilding their lives after a visit from Sherman's forces.

This is a rail depot in Atlanta after Sherman sacked Atlanta. Dismantling depots were key to Sherman's plan because it hindered the movement of southern troops and southern supply lines while also demoralizing its citizens.

These harsh tactics by Sherman struck fear into the hearts of the South - and more than that, hatred. The South would not forgive the North easily after such destruction. The anger and feelings of loss carried well over into the Reconstruction Era.It also severely disrupted the South's economy: estimates are around 100 million dollars, or today's 1.4 billion, in loss.

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

-Sherman in a telegram to President Lincoln

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Burn Baby Burn!: Sherman's March to the Sea

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General Sherman's march through the south left a wake of death, destruction, and despair behind, helping secure The Union's victory by destroying The South's spirit and resources. His campaign brought the horrors of war to civilian doorsteps, and it was an early advancement towards total warfare in the 20th century.

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Dead Confederate Soldier and Explanation

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Dead Confederate Soldier and Explanation

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The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Photograph: A Selection of Recent Acquisitions".

The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Photographs from the Museum's Collection," December 4, 1984-March 17, 1985.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Photography and the American Civil War," April 2, 2013-September 2, 2013.

Gibbes Museum of Art. "Photography and the American Civil War," September 27, 2013-January 5, 2014.

New Orleans Museum of Art. "Photography and the American Civil War," January 31, 2014-May 4, 2014.

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Alexander Gardner | Confederate Soldier [on the Battlefield at Antietam] | The Met

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The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Photograph: A Selection of Recent Acquisitions". The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Photographs from the Museum's Collection," December 4, 1984-March 17, 1985. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Photography and the American Civil War," April 2, 2013-September 2, 2013. Gibbes Museum of Art.

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On July 21, 1861, in the first major land battle of the Civil War, a large Union force under General Irvin McDowell is routed by a Confederate army under General Pierre G.T. Beauregard.

Three months after the Civil War erupted at Fort Sumter, Union military command still believed that the Confederacy could be crushed quickly and with little loss of life. In July, this overconfidence led to a premature offensive into northern Virginia by General McDowell. Searching out the Confederate forces, McDowell led 34,000 troops-mostly inexperienced and poorly trained militiamen-toward the railroad junction of Manassas, located just 30 miles from Washington, D.C. Alerted to the Union advance, General Beauregard massed some 20,000 troops there and was soon joined by General Joseph Johnston, who brought some 9,000 more troops by railroad.

On the morning of July 21, hearing of the proximity of the two opposing forces, hundreds of civilians-men, women, and children-turned out to watch the first major battle of the Civil War. The fighting commenced with three Union divisions crossing the Bull Run stream, and the Confederate flank was driven back to Henry House Hill. However, at this strategic location, Beauregard had fashioned a strong defensive line anchored by a brigade of Virginia infantry under General Thomas J. Jackson. Firing from a concealed slope, Jackson's men repulsed a series of Federal charges, winning Jackson his famous nickname " Stonewall."

Meanwhile, Confederate cavalry under J.E.B. Stuart captured the Union artillery, and Beauregard ordered a counterattack on the exposed Union right flank. The rebels came charging down the hill, yelling furiously, and McDowell's line was broken, forcing his troops in a hasty retreat across Bull Run. The retreat soon became an unorganized flight, and supplies littered the road back to Washington. Union forces endured a loss of 3,000 men killed, wounded, or missing in action while the Confederates suffered 2,000 casualties. The scale of this bloodshed horrified not only the frightened spectators at Bull Run but also the U.S. government in Washington, which was faced with an uncertain military strategy in quelling the "Southern insurrection."

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The First Battle of Bull Run | July 21, 1861 | HISTORY

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In the first major land battle of the Civil War, a large Union force under General Irvin McDowell is routed by a Confederate army under General Pierre G.T. Beauregard.

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"Mr. Lincoln Finds a Broom to his Liking" political cartoon

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"Mr. Lincoln Finds a Broom to his Liking" political cartoon

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"Border states" was the term applied to a set of states which fell along the border between North and South during the Civil War. They were distinctive not merely for their geographical placement, but also because they had remained loyal to the Union even though enslavement was legal within their borders.

Another characteristic of a border state would be that a considerable anti- enslavement element was present within the state which meant that, while the economy of the state would not have been heavily tied to the institution, the population of the state could present thorny political problems for the Lincoln administration.

The border states are generally considered to have been Maryland, Delaware, Kentucky, and Missouri. By some reckonings, Virginia was considered to have been a border state although it did eventually secede from the Union to become part of the Confederacy. However, part of Virginia split away during the war to become the new state of West Virginia, which could then be considered a fifth border state.

Political Difficulties and the Border States

The border states posed particular political problems for President Abraham Lincoln as he tried to guide the nation during the Civil War. He often felt the need to move with caution on the issue of enslavement, so as not to offend the citizens of the border states and that tended to annoy Lincoln's own supporters in the North.

The situation greatly feared by Lincoln, of course, was that being too aggressive in dealing with the issue might lead the pro-enslavement elements in the border states to rebel and join the Confederacy, which could be disastrous.

If the border states joined the other states that allowed enslavement in rebelling against the Union, it would have given the rebel army more manpower as well as more industrial capacity. Furthermore, if the state of Maryland joined the Confederacy, the national capital, Washington, D.C., would be put in the untenable position of being surrounded by states in armed rebellion to the government.

Lincoln's political skills managed to keep the border states within the Union, but he was often criticized for actions he took that some in the North interpreted as appeasement of border state enslavers. In the summer of 1862, for instance, he was condemned by many in the North for telling a group of African American visitors to the White House about a plan to send free Black people to colonies in Africa. When prodded by Horace Greeley, the legendary editor of the New York Tribune, to move faster to free enslaved people in 1862, Lincoln responded with a famous and deeply controversial letter.

The most prominent example of Lincoln paying heed to the particular circumstances of the border states would be in the Emancipation Proclamation, which stated that enslaved people in states in rebellion would be freed. It's notable that the enslaved people in the border states, and thereby part of the Union, were not set free by the proclamation. The ostensible reason for Lincoln excluding the enslaved people in the border states from the Emancipation Proclamation was that the proclamation was a wartime executive action and thus only applied to the states that allowed enslavement in rebellion-but it also avoided the issue of freeing enslaved people in border states which could, perhaps, have led some of the states to rebel and join the Confederacy.

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How the Border States Created a Special Set of Problems for Lincoln

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"Border states" was the term applied to a set of states which fell along the border between North and South during the Civil War. They were distinctive not merely for their geographical placement, but also because they had remained loyal to the Union even though enslavement was legal within their borders.

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By mid-February 1862, United States forces had won decisive victories in the West at Mill Springs, Kentucky, and Forts Henry and Donelson in Tennessee. These successes opened the way for invasion up the Tennessee River to sever Confederate rail communications along the important Memphis & Charleston and Mobile & Ohio railroads. Forced to abandon Kentucky and Middle Tennessee, Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston, supreme Confederate commander in the West, moved to protect his rail communications by concentrating his scattered forces around the small town of Corinth in northeast Mississippi-strategic crossroads of the Memphis & Charleston and the Mobile & Ohio.

In March, Maj. Gen. Henry W. Halleck, commanding U.S. forces in the West, advanced armies under Maj. Gens. Ulysses S. Grant and Don Carlos Buell southward to sever the Southern railroads. Grant ascended the Tennessee River by steamboat, disembarking his Army of the Tennessee at Pittsburg Landing, 22 miles northeast of Corinth. There he established a base of operations on a plateau west of the river, with his forward camps posted two miles inland around a log church called Shiloh Meeting House. Halleck had specifically instructed Grant not to engage the Confederates until he had been reinforced by Buell's Army of the Ohio, then marching overland from Nashville. Once combined, the two armies would advance on Corinth and permanently break western Confederate railroad communications.

General Johnston, aware of Federal designs on Corinth, planned to smash Grant's army at Pittsburg Landing before Buell arrived. He placed his troops in motion on April 3, but heavy rain and difficulties encountered by marching large columns of men, artillery, and heavy wagons over muddy roads, delayed the attack. By nightfall, April 5, his Army of the Mississippi, nearly 44,000 men present for duty, was finally deployed for battle four miles southwest of Pittsburg Landing.

At daybreak, Sunday, April 6, the Confederates stormed out of the woods and assailed the forward Federal camps around Shiloh Church. Grant and his nearly 40,000 men present for duty were equally surprised by the onslaught. The Federals soon rallied, however, and bitter fighting consumed "Shiloh Hill." Throughout the morning, Confederate brigades slowly gained ground, forcing Grant's troops to give way, grudgingly, to fight a succession of defensive stands at Shiloh Church, the Peach Orchard, Water Oaks Pond, and within an impenetrable oak thicket battle survivors named the Hornets' Nest.

Despite having achieved surprise, Johnston's troops soon became as disorganized as the Federals. The Southern attack lost coordination as corps, divisions, and brigades became entangled. Then, at mid-afternoon, as he supervised an assault on the Union left, Johnston was struck in the right leg by a stray bullet and bled to death, leaving Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard in command of the Confederate army. Grant's battered divisions retired to a strong position extending west from Pittsburg Landing where massed artillery and rugged ravines protected their front and flanks. Fighting ended at nightfall.

Overnight, reinforcements from Buell's army reached Pittsburg Landing. Beauregard, unaware Buell had arrived, planned to finish the destruction of Grant the next day. At dawn, April 7, however, it was Grant who attacked. Throughout the day, the combined Union armies, numbering over 54,500 men, hammered Beauregard's depleted ranks, now mustering barely 34,000 troops. Despite mounting desperate counterattacks, the exhausted Confederates could not stem the increasingly stronger Federal tide. Forced back to Shiloh Church, Beauregard skillfully withdrew his outnumbered command and returned to Corinth. The battered Federals did not press the pursuit. The battle of Shiloh, or Pittsburg Landing, was over. It had cost both sides a combined total of 23,746 men killed, wounded, or missing, and ultimate control of Corinth's railroad junction remained in doubt.

Halleck, recognizing Corinth's military value, considered its capture more important than the destruction of Confederate armies. Reinforced by another army under Gen. John Pope, he cautiously advanced southward from Tennessee and, by late May, entrenched his three armies within cannon range of Confederate fortifications defending the strategic crossroads. Despite being reinforced by Maj. Gen. Earl Van Dorn's Trans-Mississippi Army, Beauregard withdrew south to Tupelo, abandoning the most viable line of east-west rail communications in the western Confederacy.

Federal efforts to recover the Mississippi Valley stalled in the late summer of 1862, and Confederate leaders launched counteroffensives in every theater. Armies led by Gens. Braxton Bragg and Edmund Kirby Smith invaded Kentucky, while troops under Van Dorn boldly attacked the heavily fortified Union garrison at Corinth, "linchpin" of Federal control in northern Mississippi. In one of the more bitterly contested battles of the war, Van Dorn was decisively repulsed, following two days of carnage (October 3-4) that claimed nearly 7,000 more Confederate and Union casualties.

Although overshadowed by the failure of Robert E. Lee's Confederate invasion in Maryland, Van Dorn's defeat, coupled with Bragg's retreat from Kentucky after the battle of Perryville (October 8), caused discouragement in Richmond and relief in Washington. More significantly, Van Dorn's defeat at Corinth-the last Confederate offensive in Mississippi-seriously weakened the only mobile Southern army defending the Mississippi Valley. This permitted Ulysses S. Grant to launch a relentless nine-month campaign to capture "the fortress city" of Vicksburg and recover the Mississippi River.

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Battle of Shiloh - Shiloh National Military Park (U.S. National Park Service)

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By mid-February 1862, United States forces had won decisive victories in the West at Mill Springs, Kentucky, and Forts Henry and Donelson in Tennessee. These successes opened the way for invasion up the Tennessee River to sever Confederate rail communications along the important Memphis & Charleston and Mobile & Ohio railroads.

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How did the Civil War become a "Total War"?

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How did the Civil War become a "Total War"?

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The Civil War mobilized American resources on a scale only matched in WWII. It brought unparalleled destruction to many people. How did an initially restrained conflict between friends, relatives, and neighbors become so devastating?

The Nature of Total War

The phrase "total war" is a difficult one. Carl von Clausewitz described it as "absolute war" or a war without limits, where no distinctions are drawn between civilians and soldiers. Everyone is a target.

In WWII entire cities and their populations were destroyed. The American Civil War never reached that level, but civilian society was deliberately and heavily hit.

A Limited Start

The war began with restraint. The Confederate President Jefferson Davis said, "all we ask is to be let alone."

Union President Abraham Lincoln looked upon it as putting down a domestic insurrection. A limited force was to be used to reunite the ruptured nations.

Frémont in Missouri

Many in the Union sought a more vigorous approach. It was a chance to eradicate slavery. They believed strong measures were needed to achieve it. However, to some, slaves were regarded as property by their owners and in the laws of the slave states. To free them was to violate their assets.

In 1861 Missouri was the testing ground. It had been caught up in the violence between slave owners and abolitionists before the war and had become brutalized by guerrilla conflict and banditry. John C. Frémont, the Union Army's commander in the West, placed the state under martial law. Confederate guerrillas were executed, their supporters property seized, and their slaves freed.

Lincoln, looking to avoid reprisals, relieved Frémont of his command but a precedent had been set.

1862

1862 was a tipping point. Over the previous winter and spring, the Union had repeated successes. Then came Confederate counter-offensives. Jackson and Lee in Virginia; Bragg and Smith in Tennessee. They threw back the Union forces and marched north.

At Shiloh, the Confederates almost beat General Grant. He became convinced that only complete pursuit of war could defeat them.

Emancipation and Total War

Meanwhile, the Union government had given up on protecting the rights of slave owners. They realized they had to face the controversial issue of emancipation - but only in the rebelling Southern states.

In July 1862, Congress declared that any Confederate-owned slaves joining the Union would be emancipated. In September, Lincoln announced the Emancipation Proclamation declaring that if the Southern states did not cease their fight, then all slaves in the Confederacy would be free with effect from January 1, 1863.

To the Confederates, it was an attack on their property. Also, in placing the rights of slaves above those of owners, they believed the Union was precipitating a slave rebellion. Total war was one step closer.

East Moves West

From early in the war, the fighting in the west had been less restrained. The violence and lawlessness pushed Union generals to retaliate against civilians and their property. Far from Washington, those commanders got away with more.

In the summer of 1862, two of them, Pope and Halleck, were brought east. There they extended the scope of military activities. Among other things, Halleck wrote to Grant telling him to seize the property of Confederate supporters and to "handle that class without gloves."

Sherman and the Heights of Total War

Of the western-influenced Union Generals, Sherman was the harshest in inflicting total war. At the start of the conflict, he had seen brutal fighting by guerrillas in Missouri. He regarded the civilians there as dangerous as the enemy military.

Sherman was not merciless, but he was harsh. Houses suspected of sheltering snipers and guerrillas were burned down. The civilian population of Atlanta was driven out. He promised to "make Georgia howl."

For Sherman, the war was as much about punishing the civilian support base as hitting the military.

Grant and the Vindication of Total War

Grant, the Union's most celebrated commander, also made his name in the West. His experiences there shaped his approach to the war.

As would recur during WWII, Grant attempted to destroy the economics and morale of the enemy. By tearing up railroads, he deprived their forces of supplies and communications. As they marched through the Confederacy, Grant's army took their food from the surrounding farmland. What they could not take, they burned. He aimed to demoralize the civilian population, reducing their willingness to support the war.

Bark Over Bite?

For all the destruction, both sides talked tougher than they walked.

People on both sides called for terrible destruction. A Savannah newspaper said, "Let Yankee cities burn and their fields be laid waste." A Nashville woman prayed to God to let them exterminate the people of the Union. Sherman talked about slaying millions and repopulating Georgia.

There was restraint. Most civilians were protected. Destruction of property depended upon the commander and the circumstances. Even Sherman did not lay everything in sight to waste.

The Staggering Cost

There was more bark than bite, but the bite was still terrible. An estimated two-thirds of the wealth of the Confederacy was destroyed. It was either used in the fighting, ruined by the Union or lost as the monetary value placed on slaves.

A quarter of the white men of military age in the Confederacy were killed, and nearly 4% of the south's total population died in the war.

It was not Clausewitz's absolute war but it was a war in which the boundary of destruction was continually expanding.

In the south at least, it earned the title of "total war."
John Keegan (1987), The Mask of Command James M. McPherson (1996), Drawn With the Sword: Reflections on the American Civil War

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How the American Civil War Became a "Total War"

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The Civil War mobilized American resources on a scale only matched in WWII. It brought unparalleled destruction to many people. How did an initially restrained conflict between friends, relatives, and neighbors become so devastating? The phrase "total war" is a difficult one.

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Men marching toward Gettysburg for the battle

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Men marching toward Gettysburg for the battle

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Nothing But Glory Gained - Account of Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg

by Robert C. Cheeks

Just before 3 o'clock on the morning of July 3, 1863, Robert E. Lee rose by starlight, ate a spartan breakfast with his staff, and mounted his famous gray horse, Traveller, for the ride up Seminary Ridge at Gettysburg. He went in search of his 'Old War Horse,' Lieutenant General James Longstreet, commander of I Corps, Army of Northern Virginia. After two days of fighting in the summer-lush Pennsylvania countryside, the largest battle of the Civil War still hung in the balance. With Longstreet's help, Lee intended to tip the scales.

As Traveller carried the hope of the Confederacy eastward on his broad, strong back, the pre-dawn stillness was shattered by the boom of cannon fire. Lee halted, looked to the northeast, and saw muzzle flashes dance across the horizon. He had no way of knowing if the staff officer he had sent in search of Lt. Gen. Richard Ewell had reached the II Corps commander with Lee's instructions to renew the attack on the Confederate left, or if - instead - the Federal Army was assaulting his lines.

Either way, Lee's carefully worked out plan for a synchronized attack along both flanks had already gone awry. Whatever happened today, the Southern assaults would be 'isolated affairs.' It was not an auspicious start to the most important day of the war.

After two bloody but indecisive days of fighting around the obscure crossroads village of Gettysburg, Robert E. Lee had awakened with the knowledge that, one way or another, the third day of battle would be pivotal. He had made his plans accordingly. Major General George Pickett's division, 4,500 men strong, had arrived late in the afternoon on July 2. Rather than rushing him into battle, Lee had ordered Pickett to stay where he was. His fresh division would spearhead the next day's assault on the Union left, while Ewell stove in the Union right. That at any rate, was Lee's plan.

Now, as fighting flared at the north end of his line, a determined Lee pondered a change in those plans. Meanwhile, across the way on Cemetery Ridge, the men in Union Maj. Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock's II Corps solemnly ate their hardtack and watched as Confederate artillery moved southward in a seemingly unending procession along Seminary Ridge. Whether by prescience or sheer hard experience, the II Corps veterans knew that whatever Lee had in mind for the Army of the Potomac, it would be directed at their position. A purposeful silence filled the air.

Shortly before dawn, Lee found Longstreet encamped west of the hilly mass of rocks known as Devil's Den, which battle-hardened Confederates had wrested from the enemy the day before. The Georgia-born Longstreet again tried to persuade Lee, as he had done two days before, to swing south around the Union left and get between the Yankees and Washington. Then, on ground of Lee's own choosing, they could meet the inevitable enemy counterattack. Again, Lee demurred. 'The enemy is there,' he said, pointing in the direction of Cemetery Hill, 'and I am going to attack him there.' He ignored Longstreet's repeated suggestion and informed him that I Corps would be assaulting the Union left as soon as Pickett's division marched down Seminary Ridge and got into position.

'General,' said Longstreet, 'I have been a soldier all my life. I have been with soldiers engaged in fights by couples, by squads, companies, regiments, divisions, and armies, and should know as well as anyone what soldiers can do. It is my opinion that no 15,000 men ever arrayed for battle can take that position.' Unconvinced, Lee told him to summon Pickett.

Because of a change in the units that were to participate in the planned attack, Lee decided to switch the point of assault northward. The target now was a small clump of trees just under a mile away on Cemetery Ridge. Lee's plan remained simple: a tremendous bombardment by all available Confederate artillery was to sweep the Union line around the trees, while Southern infantry would remain behind Seminary Ridge, out of sight of the enemy. As soon as the artillery was finished, the infantry would march down the hill, across the valley and break the Federal line, splitting the Army of the Potomac in half.

Pickett's division was brought up and placed in line of battle. On his right were brigades commanded by Brig. Gen. Cadmus Wilcox and Colonel David Lang. On Pickett's left, Maj. Gen. Henry Heth's division, now commanded by Brig. Gen. Johnston Pettigrew (Heth had been wounded the first day of the battle), fell into line. To Pettigrew's rear, two brigades from Maj. Gen. Dorsey Pender's division assembled. In all, something less than 15,000 effective now were gathered to deliver the crowning blow for Southern independence. Fifty Confederate battle flags were to be presented to the enemy along a mile-long front. They were tough, proud men, the best their nation had to offer.

Just after noon, two of Pickett's brigade commanders, Brig. Gens. Richard Garnett and Lewis Armistead, made their way to the top of Seminary Ridge and looked across the valley to the heights held by the enemy. Garnett was well aware that this was a perfect opportunity to erase the stigma he believed still marked him as a result of having been relieved of command by Stonewall Jackson after the Battle of Kernstown the previous year. Lee had seen to it that court-martial charges against Garnett were dropped and that he was given a brigade under Pickett. Now, Garnett intended to win back his spurs.

His companion, 'Lo' Armistead, had served in the old army with Union General Hancock, who now was waiting directly across from them in the valley. When the war broke out, Armistead had come east with Albert Sidney Johnston and his wife. The Johnstons had given a going-away party the night before they left. As the party was breaking up, Armistead shook hands with his old friend Hancock, and said, with tears in his eyes, 'Hancock, goodbye. You can never know what this has cost me.' For a moment, Garnett and Armistead stood staring across the valley. Then Garnett turned to Armistead and said, in an even, steady tone, 'This is a desperate thing to attempt.' Armistead agreed. 'Yes it is,' he said. 'But the issue is with the Almighty, and we must leave it in His hands.'

While the two brigadiers were making their solemn reconnaissance of the enemy lines, their commanding general and his staff were riding through the now assembled units in the rear of Seminary Ridge. Lee noticed that very few of the field officers were familiar to him. 'I miss,' he murmured, 'the faces of many dear friends.'

Under orders to maintain strict silence so as not to arouse the suspicions of the enemy, the soldiers would rise to their feet as Lee rode by and remove their caps in silent salute to the general. Lee in turn would touch his hat. He saw, with dismay, that many of the soldiers were sporting bandages. 'Many of these poor boys should go to the rear,' he said. 'They are not able for duty.' But none left; to a man, they stayed with their regiments.

It had now become apparent to Lee what the previous two days of slaughter had done to his command. In the assault column now forming, two division commanders were wounded and unable to take the field; four out of six brigadiers were either dead or wounded, too, and had been replaced by senior regimental commanders, most of whom had no experience at that level. In many instances, the effective fighting strength of the units in question was below 50 percent.

As the time drew near for the planned artillery bombardment, Longstreet sent a hurried message to Colonel E.P. Alexander, the artillery chief: 'If the artillery fire does not have the effect to drive off the enemy or greatly demoralize him so as to make our efforts pretty certain, I would prefer that you should not advise General Pickett to make the charge. I shall rely a great deal on your judgment to determine the matter, and shall expect you to let General Pickett know when the moment offers.'

The 28-year-old Alexander was unsettled by the message. He wrote back to Longstreet: 'General, I will only be able to judge of the effect of our fire on the enemy by his return fire, for his infantry is but little exposed to view and the smoke will obscure the whole field. If, as I infer from your note, there is any alternative to this attack, it should be carefully considered before opening our fire...even if this is entirely successful it can only be so at a very bloody cost.' Additional clarifying messages passed between the two. Finally, Longstreet ordered: 'Let the batteries open. Order great care and precision in firing.' At precisely 1:07 p.m., according to a civilian mathematics professor in Gettysburg, the first Rebel signal gun was fired. For a brief moment, time stood still as the blue-gray puff of smoke rose eerily over the valley. Then the massed batteries, firing by salvos, began raining death and destruction onto their enemy.

Hancock was issuing orders concerning the disbursement of the corps' beef ration when there came from across the valley the familiar 'pop' of a brass 12-pounder. A moment later another cannon fired. Hancock, already looking in the direction of the sound, saw smoke from the cannon rising upward.

'Down, down! Take cover!' came the shouts of the infantrymen as the roar of the Rebel cannonade opened. Shells burst in groups of four and five, cutting down anything standing. 'Nothing above four feet could live,' one survivor later recalled. To add to the hellish roar and whine of the missiles, the smoke from the bombardment soon enveloped the entire valley. The firing continued, from north to south, in a repeated cycle of death. Union artillery chief of staff, Brig. Gen. Henry Hunt, was inspecting the section of guns on Little Round Top when the Rebels opened fire. With a keen professional eye, he reported that the enemy barrage was 'indescribably grand.'

'Murderous iron' and 'pandemonium' were two differing descriptions given by the soldiers on the receiving end of the fire. The largest concentration of artillery in the nation's history tore into its victims with predictable effect. Horses and cannoneers were horribly wounded and killed as the Rebel gunners 'walked' their salvos from the crest of the ridge eastward, toward the area where the ambulance, ordnance trains and reserve artillery were parked. Commanding Maj. Gen. George Meade's headquarters was being hit six times a minute, one observer noted, driving the general and his staff outside - only to find their horses dead and mangled, still hitched to a fence rail.

Hancock's infantry, posted along the crest of Cemetery Ridge, noticed that with the exception of short rounds, the incoming shells were bursting well to their rear. Although the intense heat and humidity, along with the shell smoke and lack of water, made conditions exceedingly uncomfortable, actual casualties caused by the barrage were negligible. In fact, newly commissioned Brig. Gen. Alexander Webb, commanding a brigade in the II Corps, casually sat within the 'little copse of trees' the Rebels had chosen as their main target, lit his pipe, and watched the shelling with a certain disdain.

Hunt ordered the Federal gunners to save their ammunition and not to respond to the enemy fire. Hancock, however, was quick to override Hunt's order. He wanted his infantry to know they were being supported. The counterfire passed over the Rebel batteries and began falling among the infantry staging areas on the west side of Seminary Ridge. The fire was so galling, in fact, that Longstreet, Pickett and Armistead felt compelled to ride among the troops in a show of disdain. Similarly, Hancock rode along the front of his corps, showing the II Corps' distinctive swallow-tailed guidon to the troops.

As Longstreet and Pickett watched the cannonade from the south end of Seminary Ridge, a messenger galloped up from Alexander. 'If you are coming at all you must come immediately or I cannot give you proper support,' Alexander had written. Slowly and carefully, Longstreet read the message. 'General, shall I advance?' Pickett asked.

Longstreet gave no reply; he simply nodded his head and looked away.

'I shall lead my division forward, sir,' Pickett responded. Wordlessly, Longstreet turned away and mounted his horse. 'I do not want to make this charge,' he told Alexander a few minutes later. 'I do not see how it can succeed. I would not make it now but that General Lee has ordered it and expects it.'

For several moments, both men stood in silence, finally broken by the advance of Garnett's brigade down the east side of Seminary Ridge. Brigadier General James Kemper's brigade came up on Garnett's right, followed by Armistead's brigade. Pettigrew's division came up on the left, followed by Pender's division on the right. Wilcox and Lang moved up and halted to the rear of Pickett's men. Then, as if on dress parade, the entire command - three full divisions - dressed its lines. Fifty stands of colors were unfurled to the enemy.

Ahead lay four-fifths of a mile of prime Pennsylvania farmland, interwoven with fences, that rose gradually to the crest of the ridge. Centered on the ridge was the famous clump of trees. Those about to witness the coming charge would have the vision etched in their minds for the rest of their lives.

Armistead turned to the color-bearer of the 53rd Virginia. 'Sergeant,' he asked, 'are you going to put those colors on the enemy's works today?'

'I will try, sir, and if mortal man can do it, it shall be done!'

Kemper called out to Armistead, 'Hurry up, I am going to charge those heights and carry them, and I want you to support me.'

'I'll do it,' Armistead answered. 'Look at my line; it never looked better on dress parade.'

'Up, men, and to your posts!' cried Pickett. 'Don't forget today that you are from old Virginia!'

On the north end of the assault formation, Pettigrew called out to one of his regimental commanders, 'Now, colonel, for the honor of the good old North State, forward!'

Eastward from the base of Seminary Ridge they marched, at the regulated pace of 100 yards a minute. Those Union batteries that still had shells to fire opened as soon as the Confederates started toward them. Hancock's waiting infantry watched in silent admiration. The Rebel alignment was quickly torn apart by the shells, but just as quickly the gaps were filled - the price they had to pay for Southern independence.

Despite Meade's premonition that Lee would attack the center of his line, the Union commander had made no additional troops available to Hancock. Facing the 12,000 Rebels now steadily approaching Emmitsburg Road, midway between the two armies, Hancock had only six brigades - about 6,000 effective. But they were tough, hard men. 'Come on, Johnny. Keep on coming!' they shouted across the line.

At a prearranged signal, Pickett ordered, 'Left oblique,' and the 4,500 men in his division responded. Across the valley, the Federals marveled at the Rebels' coolness. They were a 'damned brave set of fellows,' one Union veteran conceded later. It took Pickett's division two or three minutes to complete the change of direction, and all that time the shells kept falling. An officer in Garnett's command reported seeing as many as 10 men killed or wounded by a single shellburst. When the command to halt was given, the Confederate lines dressed and realigned under fire, much to the astonishment of the Union defenders.

Re-formed, the charge started forward again. Just as the Confederate left reached Emmitsburg Road, the 8th Ohio fired a volley into the unprotected flanks of Colonel Joseph Mayo's 3rd Virginia. No sooner had the Ohioans hit the enemy brigades than a Union battery on Cemetery Hill fired a 29-gun salvo that staggered and demoralized the Confederate left.

Like a fighter hit with a one-two punch, Mayo's men broke and ran, battle flags and all. Four regiments, fully one-fourth of Pettigrew's division, skedaddled. The entire left gave indications of suddenly collapsing. But cool-headed officers settled the troops and the charge continued. The advancing Confederate line, 1 1/2 miles long, veered slightly southwest, still holding formation. It was 400 yards away from the crest of Cemetery Ridge.

Union batteries now punished Pickett's right. Kemper's troops did not break, like those on the other end of the line, but packed into the center, trying to find relief from shot and shell. No relief came, however - the bunched ranks made the cannoneers' job of sighting that much easier. The flanks were being mauled, and the center, now about 500 yards wide and wedge-shaped, began to lose formation as Pickett's and Pettigrew's men became intermingled.

The right wing of the advancing column - the brigades of Kemper, Garnett, Armistead, Colonels Birkett Fry and W. Lee Lowrance - was now within 300 yards of the little copse of trees. In front of the trees was a stone wall that ran due north for 100 yards, turned east for 80 yards, and then traveled north again until it stopped at Ziegler's Grove. Behind the stone wall, at the angle where it turned north, were the 69th and 71st Pennsylvania regiments. A hundred yards to the rear, the 72nd and 106th Pennsylvania formed a second line of defense. A Vermont brigade took up position on the Keystone Staters' left.

Three hundred yards to go. Pickett sent a courier to Longstreet asking for support on his right - it looked like the division would make it to the Union lines. The Pennsylvanians opened fire as Confederate battle flags began to fall. Across the line of attackers the Rebel yell went up, barely heard over the roar of cannon and musketry. Garnett, given permission to ride because of illness, called out: 'Make ready. Take good aim. Fire low. Fire!' Rebel Minie bullets swept the Union line.

Garnett and his horse were struck in return, the general dead before he hit the ground. Kernstown was forgotten, his battle spurs won. Kemper took a groin wound and fell nearly at the same time Garnett went down. Only Armistead, hat placed on the end of his sword, acting as his own brigade guidon, continued forward.

On Pickett's left, Pettigrew's division, minus Mayo's four regiments, kept pace. While crossing Emmitsburg Road, Pettigrew was dismounted by shell fire. He ordered Maj. Gen. Isaac Trimble to bring up his two brigades. Meanwhile, Brig. Gen. Alexander Hays, commanding on Hancock's right, ordered two 12-pounders pulled up to the line, double-shotted and fired by salvo into the mass of humanity not 100 yards away.

The Union infantry on Pettigrew's flank had formed a line four deep. On command, 400 rounds of .58-caliber slugs slammed into the attackers, dropping hundreds. An audible groan arose from the Confederate ranks, loud enough to be heard over the battle noise. Pettigrew's left flinched and responded to the withering fire by packing into the center, much as Pickett's right had done.

Battle smoke totally covered the field. Targets were difficult to make out. Union artillery swept Trimble's command; Trimble himself was struck by shrapnel in the leg and knocked down. Another salvo and the Confederate line began to waver and buckle; well-aimed musketry from a thousand rifles shattered Pettigrew's support.

Pettigrew's left charged just north of the 'Angle.' There, the men had an additional 80 yards farther to cover; they never got there. Union defenders were shouting, 'Fredericksburg!' their taunts delivered between volleys. A Mississippi regiment, the University Greys, took 100 percent casualties and never even reached the Union line. North of the Angle, no Rebel - except the few who were permitted to surrender - penetrated the enemy defense.

The color-bearer and sergeant of one North Carolina regiment kept marching until they reached the stone wall; the Federal defenders did not have the heart to shoot them down. For a moment, Rebel and Yankee stood staring at each other across the stone wall. Finally, a Union soldier called out, 'Come over to this side of the Lord!' The two Confederates surrendered, having discharged their duty to the utmost.

While the charge on the left was breaking up, Pettigrew's right joined the survivors of Pickett's division to overwhelm the front-line Union position at the copse of trees. Armistead was the last brigadier standing and he allowed the command a few brief moments at the stone wall in order to collect their breath.

Hancock came riding down from the right as Armistead, his hat now pushed down to the hilt of his sword, ordered his men forward again. Colonel Arthur Devereux of the 19th Massachusetts ran up to Hancock, shouting: 'They have broken through; the colors are coming over the stone wall! Let me in there!' Hancock did not mince words. 'Go in there pretty quick,' he said.

By the time Devereux got his regiment moving forward, he had been joined by troops from the 42nd New York Volunteers. The fighting grew ever more desperate. The Confederates, with Armistead still leading the way, lurched forward. With his sword held high, Armistead commanded: 'Come on, boys! Give them the cold steel!' He reached out to touch a nearby Union cannon, and a volley of fire cut him down.

Into the sanguinary Angle, Devereux's regiments charged, heads down, bayonets extended. Fighting was frenzied - no control over the troops, on either side, was possible. Individually, in packs of five or 10, Union and Confederate troops wrestled, kicked, butted, bayoneted, knifed and punched each other. It was all primordial reflex now, no cause or politics, not even hatred or revenge. It was simply kill or die.

Hancock watched as the battle moved slowly across the crest of the ridge. A shot struck his saddle and drove into his leg. Cooly and sarcastically, Hancock pulled a saddle nail out of his thigh and wondered 'what kind of ammunition' the Rebs were using. A tourniquet was applied to the general's wound, but he refused all requests to leave the field.

Over the crest of Cemetery Ridge two more Union brigades came on the run. Men from Maine, Massachusetts, New York and Minnesota now entered the fray. The fight became even more fearful. One participant later recalled 'a strange and terrible sound, from the throats of thousands of human beings, echoed across the ridge.' Confederate artillery reopened from across the valley. The shells fell indiscriminately, killing and maiming without regard to army or rank.

The added weight of the two new brigades began to bowl over the Confederate right. Twelve stands of Union colors, scattered irregularly across the Angle, began to move westward. The Rebel charge had been halted.

The Southern survivors hurried to take up defensive positions on the western side of the stone wall. Then, looking around, they became aware for the first time that there was no support. No one was coming to help. Some of the men broke and ran, others stayed and fought until they were cut down. The rest surrendered, sharing the sentiments of a fellow lieutenant who 'felt that after all we were not disgraced.'

Of those Confederate troops who actually seized and held the Angle for a brief time, the casualty rate was 70 percent. In all, 4,900 Southerners had been killed, wounded or captured. A Virginia captain would write, a few days later, 'We gained nothing but glory, and lost our bravest men.'

Across the valley, Robert E. Lee received his beaten soldiers. 'All this will come right in the end,' he consoled them. 'We'll talk it over afterwards. But in the meantime all good men must rally. We want all good and true men just now.' Few of his soldiers, badly mauled as they were, failed to respond to his words.

Just then Pickett rode up. 'General Pickett,' said Lee, 'place your division in the rear of this hill and be ready to repel the advance of the enemy should they follow up their advantage.'

'General Lee,' said Pickett, crying, 'I have no division now. Armistead is down, Garnett is down, and Kemper is mortally wounded - '

'Come, General Pickett,' Lee interrupted. 'This has been my fight, and upon my shoulders rests the blame. The men and officers of your command have written the name of Virginia as high today as it has ever been written before. Your men have done all that men can do. The fault is entirely my own.'

Later, he would tell Longstreet, who had opposed the charge from the first: 'It's all my fault. I thought my men were invincible.' On that summer-hot afternoon at Gettysburg, while the fate of two nations hung in the balance, he had very nearly been right.

This article was written by Robert C. Cheeks and published in America's Civil War magazine.

For more great articles be sure to subscribe to America's Civil War magazine today!

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by Robert C. Cheeks Just before 3 o'clock on the morning of July 3, 1863, Robert E. Lee rose by starlight, ate a spartan breakfast with his staff, and mounted his famous gray horse, Traveller, for the ride up Seminary Ridge at Gettysburg.

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From November 15 until December 21, 1864, Union General William T. Sherman led some 60,000 soldiers on a 285-mile march from Atlanta to Savannah, Georgia. The purpose of Sherman's March to the Sea was to frighten Georgia's civilian population into abandoning the Confederate cause. Sherman's soldiers did not destroy any of the towns in their path, but they stole food and livestock and burned the houses and barns of people who tried to fight back. The Yankees were "not only fighting hostile armies, but a hostile people," Sherman explained; as a result, they needed to "make old and young, rich and poor, feel the hard hand of war."

The Fall of Atlanta

General Sherman's troops captured Atlanta on September 2, 1864. This was an important triumph, because Atlanta was a railroad hub and the industrial center of the Confederacy: It had munitions factories, foundries and warehouses that kept the Confederate army supplied with food, weapons and other goods. It stood between the Union Army and two of its most prized targets: the Gulf of Mexico to the west and Charleston to the East. It was also a symbol of Confederate pride and strength, and its fall made even the most loyal Southerners doubt that they could win the war. ("Since Atlanta," South Carolinian Mary Boykin Chestnut wrote in her diary, "I have felt as if...we are going to be wiped off the earth.")

Did you know? In theyears afterthe Civil War, fighting forces around the world have made use of Sherman's "total war" strategy.

March to the Sea

After they lost Atlanta, the Confederate army headed west into Tennessee and Alabama, attacking Union supply lines as they went. Sherman was reluctant to set off on a wild goose chase across the South, however, and so he split his troops into two groups. Major General George Thomas took some 60,000 men to meet the Confederates in Nashville, while Sherman took the remaining 62,000 on an offensive march through Georgia to Savannah, "smashing things" (he wrote) " to the sea."

"Make Georgia Howl"

Sherman believed that the Confederacy derived its strength not from its fighting forces but from the material and moral support of sympathetic Southern whites. Factories, farms and railroads provided Confederate troops with the things they needed, he reasoned; and if he could destroy those things, the Confederate war effort would collapse. Meanwhile, his troops could undermine Southern morale by making life so unpleasant for Georgia's civilians that they would demand an end to the war.

To that end, Sherman's troops marched south toward Savannah in two wings, about 30 miles apart. On November 22, 3,500 Confederate cavalry started a skirmish with the Union soldiers at Griswoldville, but that ended so badly-650 Confederate soldiers were killed or wounded, compared to 62 Yankee casualties-that Southern troops initiated no more battles. Instead, they fled South ahead of Sherman's troops, wreaking their own havoc as they went: They wrecked bridges, chopped down trees and burned barns filled with provisions before the Union army could reach them.

The Union soldiers were just as unsparing. They raided farms and plantations, stealing and slaughtering cows, chickens, turkeys, sheep and hogs and taking as much other food-especially bread and potatoes-as they could carry. (These groups of foraging soldiers were nicknamed "bummers," and they burned whatever they could not carry.) The marauding Yankees needed the supplies, but they also wanted to teach Georgians a lesson: "it isn't so sweet to secede," one soldier wrote in a letter home, "as [they] thought it would be."

Sherman's troops arrived in Savannah on December 21, 1864, about three weeks after they left Atlanta. The city was undefended when they got there. (The 10,000 Confederates who were supposed to be guarding it had already fled.) Sherman presented the city of Savannah and its 25,000 bales of cotton to President Lincoln as a Christmas gift.Early in 1865, Sherman and his men left Savannah and pillaged and burned their way through South Carolina to Charleston. In April, the Confederacy surrendered and the war was over.

Total War

Sherman's "total war" in Georgia was brutal and destructive, but it did just what it was supposed to do: it hurt Southern morale, made it impossible for the Confederates to fight at full capacity and likely hastened the end of the war. "This Union and its Government must be sustained, at any and every cost," explained one of Sherman's subordinates. "To sustain it, we must war upon and destroy the organized rebel forces,-must cut off their supplies, destroy their communications...and produce among the people of Georgia a thorough conviction of the personal misery which attends war, and the utter helplessness and inability of their 'rulers' to protect them...If that terror and grief and even want shall help to paralyze their husbands and fathers who are fighting us...it is mercy in the end."

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From November 15 until December 21, 1864, Union General William T. Sherman led some 60,000 soldiers on a 285-mile march from Atlanta to Savannah, Georgia. The purpose of Sherman's March to the Sea was to frighten Georgia's civilian population into abandoning the Confederate cause.

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Could You Have Won the Battle of Gettysburg?

How brilliant a military leader are you?

One of the most important battles of the U.S. Civil War -- and indeed of all U.S. history -- was the battle of Gettysburg. During the three days of July 1-3, 1863, the country held its collective breath, as the Confederate Army of North Virginia, commanded by Robert E. Lee, and the Union Army of the Potomac under General George Meade, fought what may have been the most crucial battle of the war.

If the South had won a major victory, some historians believe that it would have caused the Confederacy to gain international recognition and support from England and France, humiliated Abraham Lincoln, and resulted in a negotiated end to the war on the Confederacy's terms.

This simulation of the battle is a test to pit your decisions as Robert E. Lee against what actually happened. Many historians write that this battle was not Lee's best battle and that certain choices could have dramatically improved the fate of his army on these three critical days.

This is not a contest, only a bit of experimental "counterfactual" history to see what might have been, and a test of your own generalship.

Enjoy the simulation - and tell your friends!

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One of the most important battles of the U.S. Civil War -- and indeed of all U.S. history -- was the battle of Gettysburg. During the three days of July 1-3, 1863, the country held its collective breath, as the Confederate Army of North Virginia, commanded by Robert E.

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At the time of the Civil War, the Mississippi River was the single most important economic feature of the continent - the very lifeblood of America. Upon the secession of the southern states, Confederate forces closed the river to navigation, which threatened to strangle northern commercial interests.

President Abraham Lincoln told his civilian and military leaders, "See what a lot of land these fellows hold, of which Vicksburg is the key! The war can never be brought to a close until that key is in our pocket...We can take all the northern ports of the Confederacy, and they can defy us from Vicksburg." Lincoln assured his listeners that "I am acquainted with that region and know what I am talking about, and as valuable as New Orleans will be to us, Vicksburg will be more so."

It was imperative for the administration in Washington to regain control of the lower Mississippi River, thereby opening that important avenue of commerce, and enabling the rich agricultural produce of the Northwest to reach world markets.

It would also split the South in two, sever a vital Confederate supply line, achieve a major objective of the Anaconda Plan, and effectively seal the doom of Richmond. In the spring of 1863, Major General Ulysses S. Grant launched his Union Army of the Tennessee on a campaign to pocket Vicksburg and provide Mr. Lincoln with the key to victory.

The Vicksburg Campaign began in 1862 and finished with the Confederate surrender on July 4th, 1863. For over 18 months, various armies would maneuver throughout the western theater, and occassionally face each other on the battlefield. Both Union and Confederate armies realized the importance of Vicksburg, but it would take over half a year and over 48,000 casualties before the fate of Vicksburg and the Mississippi River would be determined.

Engagements of the Campaign for Vicksburg

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Campaign for Vicksburg - Vicksburg National Military Park (U.S. National Park Service)

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At the time of the Civil War, the Mississippi River was the single most important economic feature of the continent - the very lifeblood of America. Upon the secession of the southern states, Confederate forces closed the river to navigation, which threatened to strangle northern commercial interests.

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Image

Union General Ulysses S. Grant's defeat of Confederate General John C. Pemberton at the battle at Vicksburg, Mississippi, in 1963, gave the Union control of the Mississippi River. Portrayed here is Union Admiral David D. Porter running the heavily defended Confederate blockade.

Painting courtesy of the Niday Picture Library

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Friday, December 20, 2019

The United States Civil War lasted four years and was the bloodiest war in American history. More than 50 major battles were fought on American soil. Below, in chronological order, are five of the most significant battles that took place.

First Bull Run (July 21, 1861)

The first Battle of Bull Run (also called the first Battle of Manassas) was the first major land battle of the Civil War.

Following President Abraham Lincoln's orders, the Union Army under General Irvin McDonnell marched from Washington, D.C., to seize the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia. Approximately 42 kilometers (25 miles) into the march, his path was blocked by the Confederate Army under the command of General P.G.T. Beauregard.

At first, it seemed as if the Union Army would prevail, but as the battle raged throughout the morning, the Confederates held their ground. Once the Confederate Army received reinforcements early that afternoon, their counteroffensive defeated the Union troops.

The retreating Union troops left the route to Washington, D.C., wide open, however, the Confederates were not able to pursue. Even though combined casualties were relatively few (around 4,800) as a result of the battle, the North realized that they were in for a long, bitter war.

Shiloh (April 6-7, 1862)

By February 1862, the Union Army had achieved victories in central Kentucky and Tennessee. The army planned to move south and capture an important Confederate east-west railway hub in northern Mississippi. To defend the hub, Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston fortified the town of Corinth, Mississippi. The Union planned to unite two armies-under Ulysses S. Grant and Don Carlos Buell-and then take Corinth.

Grant's army arrived first and set up a camp in the town of Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee, near the Shiloh Meeting House. Johnston planned to strike Grant's army before Buell arrived, and at dawn on the sixth of April, Johnston's forces attacked. Grant's Union forces were surprised but remained in the field after a day of fierce fighting. Buell's forces finally arrived overnight, and the combined Union force attacked at dawn. Beauregard-the new Confederate general, after Johnston was mortally wounded-withdrew.

The battle resulted in combined casualties of more than 23,000 people.

Antietam (September 17, 1862)

Confederate General Robert E. Lee had decided to take the war to the North. He devised a plan to split his army and take supplies in Maryland, move into Pennsylvania, and threaten Washington, D.C. His plans fell into Union hands, and the Union Army marched to confront the force he commanded at Antietam Creek, in northern Maryland. However, the Union General McClellan, known for his cautious approach to engaging in battle, responded tentatively, waiting 18 hours before moving his troops. This gave the Confederates time to bring in reinforcements.

The day ended in a draw, with 23,000 men killed, but halted Lee's plans to invade the North for the time being. Although Lincoln was furious that McClellan allowed Lee to escape, he used the occasion to announce the Emancipation Proclamation.

Gettysburg (July 1-3, 1863)

Although Antietam was a setback to Lee's plans, the Union failed to capitalize on it. Lincoln replaced McClellan, but his new generals lost decisively at Fredericksburg, Virginia (December 13, 1862), and Chancellorsville, Virginia (April 30-May 4, 1863). These Confederate victories encouraged Lee to renew his plan to invade the North.

Lee moved the Army of Northern Virginia north, and the new Union General, George Meade, shadowed him to protect Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Baltimore, Maryland; and Washington, D.C. The forces met at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, on the morning of the first of July.

Despite early successes, the Confederate forces were not able to drive the Union Army off their position. The following day, as reinforcements arrived for both sides, Lee again failed to dislodge the Union Army.

The third of July saw one last push from the Confederates. Lee ordered what has become known as the Pickett's Charge-an assault of some 15,000 Confederate troops-up Cemetery Ridge. Although the charge broke through Union lines, the Confederates were unable to consolidate their gains and retreated.

Lee prepared for the counterattack he expected the next day, but it never came. He withdrew his forces on the fourth of July, and the Union Army did not pursue. While Meade won the battle and stopped the invasion, he failed to destroy Lee's army and put an end to the rebellion.

Union casualties numbered around 23,000, while Confederate casualties numbered around 28,000.

Lincoln delivered the famous Gettysburg Address at the dedication of the military cemetery later that fall.

Vicksburg (May 22-July 4, 1863)

Vicksburg, Mississippi, lies on the east bank of the Mississippi River, about halfway between Memphis, Tennessee, to the north and New Orleans, Louisiana, to the south. Capturing it would give control of the entirety of the Mississippi to the Union. But the city, located on a bluff overlooking the river, was heavily defended with trenches, gun batteries, and a Confederate Army led by General John C. Pemberton.

In May, Union General Ulysses S. Grant led an army south on the west side of the Mississippi past Vicksburg, then crossed over and led his troops back north to lay siege to the city. By mid-June, the Confederates were running low on supplies. General Pemberton surrendered on the fourth of July.

The victories-a day apart-at Gettysburg and Vicksburg marked the turning point of the Civil War. They also ensured that European powers did not recognize the Confederacy as a sovereign nation, withholding much-needed support.

The Civil War killed hundreds of thousands and scarred the countryside. These are just some of the war's major battles. Today, many battlefield sites have been set aside as national parks.

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National Geographic Society

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Gina Borgia, National Geographic Society
Jeanna Sullivan, National Geographic Society

Program Specialists

Sarah Appleton, National Geographic Society
Margot Willis, National Geographic Society

Producer

Clint Parks

Last Updated

Dec. 20, 2019

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Director

Tyson Brown, National Geographic Society

Author

National Geographic Society

Production Managers

Gina Borgia, National Geographic Society
Jeanna Sullivan, National Geographic Society

Program Specialists

Sarah Appleton, National Geographic Society
Margot Willis, National Geographic Society

Producer

Clint Parks

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The United States Civil War, fought between 1861 and 1865, featured many major and minor engagements, and military actions. Among the most significant were the First Battle of Bull Run, the Battle of Shiloh, the Battle of Antietam, the Battle of Gettysburg, and the Vicksburg Campaign.