Important Battles of the U.S. Civil War

Antietam

Emancipation Proclamation

September 17, 1862

Strategic victory for the Union

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."

Battle of Shiloh

April 6-7, 1862

Union Victory

54th Regiment - Fort Wagner

The Single Bloodiest Day In American History

Black Soldiers Fighting

In The U.S. Civil War

• 65,085 Union Soldiers vs. 44,968 Confederates - 23,746 killed - nearly as much as the total death toll from the American Revolutionary War.

• Confederate soldiers pour out of nearby woods and attack Grant's men.

• Result: Union Victory, Confederates can't stop Union soldiers from going into Mississippi, bloodiest battle up until that point

• September 17, 1862 - Antietam, Maryland
• Special Order 191 - Confederate battle plans are discovered by Union soldiers
• Union victory that Lincoln had been waiting for to give the Emancipation Proclamation

Black Civil War Soldiers

• Following Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, for the first time, black soldiers could serve in the U.S. Army.

• The U.S. Army paid black soldiers $10 a week (minus a clothing allowance, in some cases), while white soldiers got $3 more (plus a clothing allowance, in some cases). Congress passed a bill authorizing equal pay for black and white soldiers in 1864.

• 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, the first black regiment to be raised in the North - led by white officer, Robert Gould Shaw.

• On July 18, 1863, the 54th Massachusetts stormed Fort Wagner, which guarded the Port of Charleston- the first time in the Civil War that black troops led an infantry attack.

• Sixteen black soldiers won the Congressional Medal of Honor for their brave service in the Civil War.

Robert Gould Shaw

Battle of Gettysburg

July 1-3, 1863

Union Victory- Turning Point In The War

Bloodiest Battle of the American Civil War

U.S. Civil War Facts

Gettysburg Address

November 19, 1863

"Fourscore and seven years ago..."

• 93,921 Union soldiers vs. 71,699 Confederate soldiers - 51,112 are killed (28,063 Confederates)
• Confederate Gen. Lee's goal: invade the north, pass through Pennsylvania & Maryland and maybe eventually surround the capital.
• Result: Lee loses 1/3 of his army and is forced to retreat
• The Confederates never attempted to invade the North again after Gettysburg.

• world-famous speech delivered by Pres. 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 Battle of Gettysburg)

Fort Sumter

Battle of Vicksburg

May 18 – July 4, 1863

MAJOR Union Victory

• 77,000 Union Soldiers vs. 33,000 Confederate Soldiers - 37,273 are killed

• Grant leads a 6 week campaign to gain control of the Mississippi River

• Result: Union controlled the entire Mississippi River and the Confederacy was effectively split in half. Grant's victory boosted his reputation, leading ultimately to his appointment as General-in-Chief of the Union armies.

• The Civil War was fought between the Northern and the Southern U.S. states from 1861-1865.

• Union: Against slavery
• President: Abraham Lincoln
• Important Generals: Ulysses S. Grant & William Tecumseh Sherman
• Color/Nickname: Blue/Yankees
• Confederate States: States that seceded and wanted to keep slavery
• President: Jefferson Davis
• Important Generals: Robert E. Lee & Stonewall Jackson
• Color: Gray/Rebels

• 500 Confederate Soldiers vs. 80 Union - 0 killed on either side

• When S.C. seceded, Confederates wanted for all United States property in S.C. to be abandoned and turned over to the Confederate States.

• Lincoln refused to turn over their military forts, including Fort Sumter.

• Negotiations and attempts by the Union to restock forts though had proven unsuccessful - attacked by Confederates

• April 12, 1861, Confederate guns opened fire on Fort Sumter. April 13th, Major Robert Anderson, surrendered the fort and it was evacuated the next day.

1st Battle of Bull Run

April 12 – 14, 1861

South Carolina

Confederate Victory

July 21, 1861 - Manassas

Confederate Victory

Sherman's March To The Sea

• 32,230 Confederates vs. 28,450 Union - 4,878 killed (2,896 Union soldiers)
• Goal: Union wanted to push Confederates away from the capital.
• Result: Union soldiers are forced to retreat & accept that this won't be a quick or easy war
• General "Stonewall" Jackson earns his nickname

Death Toll Facts

• a military campaign of the American Civil War conducted through Georgia from November 15 until December 21, 1864

• Sherman: "War is cruelty. There is no use trying to reform it. The crueler it is, the sooner it will be over."

• During March from Atlanta to Savannah, Sherman's men destroyed bridges, tunnels, made railroads unusable "Sherman's Neckties", burned buildings, and used psychological warfare tactics that are commonly used in modern wars.

Lee's Surrender At Appomattox Courthouse

If one calculates the proportion of the total population who died in the Civil War, and applies this percentage to present-day population figures, the equivalent number of deaths in the 21st century would reach above 7 million.

April 9, 1865-Union Victory

End of the U.S. Civil War

• Lee had been retreating from the Confederate capital (Richmond, VA)
• Was hoping to meet up with supplies near Appomattox - Union soldiers intercepted them
• Lee held out hoping for reinforcements
• Battle: 63,285 Union soldiers vs. 26,000 Confederate - 652 are killed - 500 of them Confederate
• Lee resigns to surrender to Grant at the Appomattox Courthouse
• Lincoln is killed 5 days later

How The Civil War Stalked Wilmer McLean...

Important Battles of the U.S. Civil War