Ambrose Burnside

Reconstruction

* Many southern states in 1865 and 1866 successfully enacted a series of laws known as the “black codes”

* Were designed to restrict freed blacks’ activity and ensure their availability as a labor force

* In early 1866, Congress passed the Freedmen’s Bureau and Civil Rights Bills and sent them to Johnson for his signature.

* The first bill extended the life of the bureau, originally established as a temporary organization charged with assisting refugees and freed slaves

* While the second defined all persons born in the United States as national citizens who were to enjoy equality before the law

* the Civil Rights Act became the first major bill to become law over presidential veto.

Reconstruction

* After northern voters rejected Johnson’s policies in the congressional elections in late 1866, Republicans in Congress took firm hold of Reconstruction in the South.

* In February 1869, Congress approved the 15th Amendment; adopted in 1870, which guaranteed that a citizen’s right to vote would not be denied “on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”

* By 1870, all of the former Confederate states had been admitted to the Union, and the state constitutions during the years of Radical Reconstruction were the most progressive in the region’s history.

* After 1867, an increasing number of southern whites turned to violence in response to the revolutionary changes of Radical Reconstruction.

* At the end of May 1865, President Andrew Johnson announced his plans for Reconstruction, which reflected both his staunch Unionism and his firm belief in states’ rights.

* In Johnson’s view, the southern states had never given up their right to govern themselves, and the federal government had no right to determine voting requirements or other questions at the state level.

* Under Johnson’s Presidential Reconstruction, all land that had been confiscated by the Union Army and distributed to the freed slaves by the army or the Freedmen’s Bureau reverted to its prewar owners.

* Southern state governments were given free reign to rebuild themselves.

Battle of Antietam

* Next came a series of bloody head-on attacks against Lee’s center that finally overran the area afterward called Bloody Lane.

* The last action of the day was against Lee’s right, where Union troops pierced the line but were stopped by late-arriving Confederate reinforcements.

* Lee withdrew across the river on September 18, suffering 10,318 casualties of 38,000 engaged, to McClellan’s 12,401 of 75,000

* The draw that the Union claimed as a victory provided the Lincoln administration enough justification to issue the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation.

* After a string of Union defeats, this tactical victory provided Abraham Lincoln the political cover he needed to issue his Emancipation Proclamation.

* Lee’s complex operational plan divided his outnumbered force

* But disaster loomed when a lost copy of that plan came to the Union commander, Major General George B. McClellan.

* McClellan wasted all the advantages of his lucky discovery and his two-to-one numerical superiority.

* The first four hours of fighting, were indecisive

Topics;

Impacts on the

Civil War

-Ambrose Burnside

-Battle of Antietam

-Reconstruction

Battle of Antietam

* Also known as the Battle of Sharpsburg mainly in the South.

* Was fought on September 17, 1862, near Sharpsburg, Maryland, and Antietam Creek as part of the Maryland Campaign.

* It was the first major battle in the American Civil War to take place on Union soil.

It's also the bloodiest single-day battle in American history.

* After pursuing Confederate General Robert E. Lee into Maryland, Union Army General, George B. McClellan launched attacks against Lee's army.

* Though McClellan failed to utlilize his numerical superiority to crush Lee’s army, he was able to check the Confederate advance into the north.

Ambrose Burnside

* Ambrose Everett Burnside began his military career of varied success after graduating 18th in a class of 47 from the United States Military Academy in 1847.

*At the outbreak of the Civil War, Burnside organized the 1st Rhode Island Infantry.

-which was one of the first units to arrive in Washington and offer the capitol protection.

*At the battle of First Manassas, Burnside commanded a brigade of infantry, and was appointed a brigadier general of volunteers on August 6, 1861 for his actions.

* n September of 1861, Burnside was given command of three brigades known as the North Carolina Expeditionary Force, and launched an attack against the North Carolina coast.

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* Burnside was made commander of the Army of the Potomac on November 10, 1862.

* He decided to attempt a rapid approach to Richmond, leading to a very costly Union defeat on December 13 at the Battle of Fredericksburg.

* In March of 1863, Burnside was given command of the Department of the Ohio.

-During his command, he arrested ex-Congressman Clement L. Vallandigham for making seditious comments, an act which drew Burnside some criticism.

* In autumn of 1863, Burnside successfully commanded his troops against Confederate General James L. Longstreet.

* Burnside was able to outmaneuver Longstreet, and successfully held on to the city of Knoxville until Union reinforcements under William T. Sherman arrived and forced Longstreet to retreat.

* After the war, Burnside briefly served as Senator from the state of Rhode Island.

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* After the war, Burnside briefly served as Senator from the state of Rhode Island.

* The distinctive facial hair he wore throughout most of his life led to the identification of that form of facial hair by the modern name, sideburns, created from his last name.