Embedded Files
WHAT DO YOU STAND FOR?
DAY 1
If you visit the Smithsonian Museum of American History, you will see a new exhibit on the Paradox of American freedom. It is officially called "Slavery at Jefferson's Monticello". On the right side of exhibit facing the entrance (pictures below), you will see a picture of Thomas Jefferson with a bigger than life Declaration of Independence in the background. Over the
course of 15 minutes, I saw 10 or more people stand next to the face of Jefferson and have their picture taken. Not one person, until I asked my granddaughter to do so, stood next to the portrait on the left, the portrait of a slave. There, behind the portrait, was a list of names and dates of acquisitions of all the slaves that Thomas Jefferson owned, Paradox, indeed, Jefferson once said that slavery was like having a wolf by the ears; beautiful to look at, but you do not dare let it go.
Complicated man? You bet! Unlike Washington, who freed all his slaves after his wife's death, Jefferson only included 6 of his 160 slaves to receive independence upon his death. Tragically, although Jefferson was great with words and inspiring people to do great things, he was a financial disaster. He spent on his home, his books, and paid no attention to the debt. When he died, he owed more than $100,000 (several million in today's terms). Jefferson, for all of his wealth and power, lost almost everything. Five of his six children died at an early age as did his wife Martha soon after giving birth to their last child. At the end of his life, he hoped to save Monticello, his beloved home, for his daughter and her family to live after his death as well as all the "fine men and women (slaves)" in his service. His solution was to create a lottery of some sort. How this lottery would work was never explained. It did not work as six months after Jefferson's death (1826), the executors of his will were forced to sell all of his lands, and property (this includes slaves). In the Smithsonian is a copy of the advertisement that tells of the "fine Negroes to be auctioned". The families were split up and separated. The exhibition attempts to trace where the individual slaves went after this event. Two of those set free were light skinned slaves with the last name of Hemming, children of Sally Hemming, his slave and half-sister of his wife Martha. There is still a debate whether or not these were Jefferson's children but the exhibition seems to indicate that they were. Somehow, Jefferson never quite lived up to "all men are created equal" and how "a little revolution every once in a while" is good for the order. He would have never tolerated a slave rebellion over the tyranny that befell them as a race.
Some of the Founding Fathers hoped that slavery would die out soon after it became illegal to import slaves from outside the United States (1808). This, however, did not happen. One word could sum it up and made this impossible; cotton. Cotton was hard on the land. It needed
a lot of land, depleted the land, slaves to tend the fields while it grew and harvest it just at the right moment when it was ready.
In the late 1700's, it took an entire day for an experienced slave to clean the seeds out of one pound of cotton. Then in the late 1790's, a new machine revolutionized this process. The cotton gin by Eli Whitney could clean 50 times that in a day. So the small farms of the South became like the European villa; lavish but filled with workers to support the lifestyle. In the northern states, a young Englishman, Samuel Slater, fled England and had brought a fortunate secret with him...the secret of how to build the weaving machines that one saw in England that had made the English very rich. Cotton could only grow in certain climates, and soils, and America had these conditions. So together, the North with its demand for cotton for the new mills that sat on the raging streams and rivers, and the South who could supply it, began to feed the giant slavery machine. Now, Blacks were bred like livestock to handle the work, and perform whatever task the owners needed. So slavery grew. By 1820, there was close to 700,000 black slaves in the United States. Not every Southerner owned a slave or wanted to, nor was the North slave free. There was, however, a dramatic line that divided the Northerner from the Southerner in so many ways.
Slavery from its very beginning in the 1500's first by the Spanish and then the English in 1610 in Jamestown Virginia was the one issue politically and morally that began to tear America apart. When I was younger, I was taught that the reason there was a Civil War in the United States was that the North wanted to preserve the Union, and the South wanted big government out of their business. This was far from the truth. It was pure and simple economic and slavery. The economy could not survive without it. The North could not indirectly survive without it and used the issue to argue that politically they could not get any issue passed unless they agreed to some type of compromise that would give slave owners more power and more land.
Southerners argued that slaves were their property. The Constitution had guaranteed that Congress could not deprive a man of his property without just cause and due process. At one point, the Supreme Court (Dredd Scott case) agreed.
Religion enters into the picture. Is it moral to own another person? The argument was this; Were Blacks actually human? Were the Whites civilizing them and saving their soul? Could Northerners who had no use for Blacks free or slave survive without the cotton they produced? These were questions asked by many at the time.
Jefferson wrote extensively how the issue of slavery bothered him. He hoped it would die on its own. He could see it as a vampire, slowly destroying America. On the other hand, 160 slaves were sold after his death, families separated. And as recently as 1994, the Hemming family fought the descendants of the Jeffersons to be buried in the graveyard in Monticello. After a long, lengthy court battle, the Hemming family was denied that right once again. I wonder what Jefferson would say!
DAY 2-The Ingredients for a Civil War are there.....
What brings a man to war? Seriously, what would make humans hate each other so much that they felt that the only way to solve the problem was to take up a weapon and fight until only one side is left standing? In 1861, young men from the North and South reported for duty. Both knew it would be a short war. Both knew they were superior and had might, right, and God on their side. Both were sure that they would win.
In 1865, this war finally ended. Nothing had gone the way anyone predicted or expected. Almost 700,000 Americans were dead from battle and disease. Entire cities, once thriving, were burned to the ground.
In that year, two men very sadly traveled the streets of Richmond Virginia, now a beaten down ghost town. One was a tall gangly gentleman with his young son by the hand, walking briskly toward a building that used to be the office of Jefferson Davis, President of the American Confederacy. The man was stopped briefly when an old black gentleman came out into the street and said, "Thank you sir" and a few other words. The tall man, Abraham Lincoln, humbled by the event, spoke briefly with the slave-no-more and he and his son then continued on. They would inspect the office of his rival, Davis, and then move sadly back to his office in Washington DC. Lincoln would only live a few days after this scene.
The other gentleman, General Robert E. Lee, would ride through the streets of
Richmond on his white horse, profoundly sad. Sad that he had lost his homestead, and that it became a cemetery for United States soldiers and sailors (Arlington National Cemetery), sad that he was no longer the supreme commander of the Southern troops, he found within himself a profound sadness that far surpassed the others. He noted in his journal that he had to share the streets with some sense of equality with the poor whites and possibly the free Blacks. ; The South and the Southerner were left stripped of their wealth, power, class structure, and slave system. The South would have to reinvent itself and General Robert E. Lee could not do it. He had till the brink of the war served as a proud officer in the Union Army. He was offered the commander position in the North. He did, however, turn it down for a command in the Confederate Army. He was utterly, completely defeated.
So what brings men to this point, brings men to the point of war and beyond? Over the next several weeks, we will examine what brought the North and South to mass destruction. It begins with slavery. We will look at this process, event building upon the event, human pushing against human toward the edge of destruction. Please pay close attention to this reading. It will match up with your book to some degree. You will be asked to bring your book every day for this reason.
RED BADGE OF COURAGE
This novel about how common man feels about the war.
TO HEAR THE TOTAL BOOK, HEAR THE RED BADGE OF COURAGE, CLICK HERE
PART THREE- WHAT IS THE MEANING OF A UNION?
Every day, one can hear people talk about what they are interested in…. who should be President of the United States, who is taking and who is giving? This is a common theme throughout time. Humans often have “God on their side”, cursing the other side, and talking about an “ideal” in which all problems would no longer exist. Niccolò Machiavelli, a civil servant who had been expelled from the government in Florence Italy in the early 1500’s upon suspicion of being involved in a plot to overthrow the ruler, wrote a little book of rules to educate and shock his former boss. The work was called The Prince, a small rulebook that what you would like the government to be will probably never be because you do not play the game, but this is really how the game is played. Now deal with it. Play the game or get out. Your Utopia (perfect society) will never survive. Both Northern citizens and Southern citizens had their ideas of what a perfect Union should be….There was a major catch. Neither side was realistic in their expectations as Machiavelli claimed. Neither side could maintain power or their way of life if they could not “convert” the other side to believe and accept what they believed. So if the "United" States were to survive, a civil war was inevitable.
One of the major questions asked then and now was is this a union of people or a union of separate states? Southern states argued that if they did not like a federal law or regulation for whatever reason, they had the right to NULLIFY or cancel it. In the 1830’s, Daniel Webster argued that if a state disagreed with the Constitution, then they needed to amend the Constitution or take the point to the Supreme Court. The Union, Webster argued, gave America power against all threats and challenges and if it were only individual states acting on their own, it would be weak.
By 1850, the Union was weak at best. The South felt that TRADITION was important, and that their very existence depended upon it. Even the Southern poor were proud to be Southern. The South valued land, and property. The North valued progress and technology, welcoming immigrants who were willing to work in conditions little better than a slave. Pollution and poor living conditions were the prices of progress. The North claimed that change was the constant in our lives, not tradition, and at least the workers were free to leave if they chose to. The North told stories of the poor boy making it rich through hard work. Both sides cited Bible verses that said that God was on their side, and why their actions were “humanitarian” for the Black man, as well as the immigrant. A wide gulf was beginning between North and South.
The fight carried into Congress where new political parties appeared and disappeared. Each party claimed that they had “the answer. Even the Republican party and Whigs at one point proposed sending Blacks back to Africa. A small colony of ex-slaves settled along the west coast of the African coastline and the country Liberia was born. Few free blacks found the idea appealing who were as American as any white man, or with slave owners who saw the slaves as property.
Then came the abolitionist. They felt that God did not like any human to be enslaved and wanted total freedom for all slaves today. This also did not work. Northerners could not see the Blacks moving North and taking their jobs, and Southerners hated the idea that anyone would tell them how to live or what they could own or not own. So the line was drawn. Who would have more power in Congress? Who would win in the question, would the states be United or not?
HERE IS A TIMELINE OF EVENTS WITH THE BOOK PAGE NUMBER NEXT TO IT THAT TAKE US TO THE NEXT STEP
Event notes
1787-88
Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and Thomas Jefferson got together over dinner to help get the Constitution passed, and make Washington DC the city of the nation- the Capital
1.Great Compromise or Three-Fifths Compromise-
A. Compromise lets the US Constitution become the law of the land.
B. South said that slaves were property, and should be counted in
representation.
C. North said that slaves should not be property but if they were,
they were to be taxed.
D. Instead agreed that slaves would be considered 3/5 of a person
in matters of taxation and representation.
E. 1860, 22 million people living in Northern states and 9
million in the South; 4 million were slaves. Imported Slavesoutlawed in 1807.
2.Customs and Duties or Tariffs- the tax on imported goods to give America the advantage
3.Implied powers- Certain powers not spelled out by the Constitution
1792
4. Fight over National Bank, a plan formed by Alexander Hamilton and whether the government has the power to do that or should states or localities have power. This fight continued through Andrew Jackson.
Early 1800’s
5. SEE CARTOON #. Cotton Gin and King Cotton- The South was agricultural, and got its wealth from the land and what it grew on it. The three crops that made people extremely wealthy were tobacco, rice, and cotton. The North had a lot of farmers but also had more developed cities that soon became industrialized.
The money was in the cloth mills and other “factories” that needed workers by the thousands to make them run.
Here are some of the things that lead to this:
Interchangeable parts
Patents on new inventions
Factory system where everything was built in one place
Capitalism- an economic system where individuals compete to
sell product
Free enterprise- buy, sell and profit what you want South needed more slaves and more land for their products. So when territories began to open up, they wanted as much as they could get.
Early 1800’s
6A Turnpikes and canals (Erie) are built mostly in the North to bring goods to many in the nation. Steamships and early trains begin to move people. They expand trade more and more. In the 1840's, the word "millionaire" is used for the first time ever.
6B Sectionalism, state sovereignty, John C. Calhoun, Henry Clay,
Daniel Webster, Missouri Compromise, American System,
McCullough v. Maryland, Jackson in east Florida –Seminole
Indians, Monroe Doctrine
1816
7. Monroe Doctrine (Europe, stay away) were important to our country. Many European countries were into IMPERIALISM or making countries in parts of Africa, Asia and parts of the Middle East part of their empire. James Monroe said that Europeans should back away, not interfere.
1825
8. Sectionalism becomes intense- Southerners were for slavery and states rights. If states made up the Union, why couldn't they decide for themselves?
SEE CARTOON #2
1825-1861
9. State or Popular Sovereignty backed by John C. Calhoun and South said that states had the right to make up their mind and that new territories should have right to vote SLAVE or FREE. Against tariffs, improvements not in their territory or state, and National Bank.
10. Daniel Webster spoke out for national interests, states second. Spoke for tariffs. Northerners were mostly in favor of tariffs for protection of their products.
1811-1850
11. Henry Clay known as the Great Compromiser put together Missouri Compromise of 1820 and the Compromise of 1850 hoping to keep the nation in one piece.
1824
12. Henry Clay also put together the American System;
1) Protective tariff to help the Northern industry
2) Program of national internal improvements (i.e. canals, turnpikes, bridges, and eventually railroads)
3) National Bank
1820
13. Missouri Compromise of 1820 -which new states would be slave and which free therefore upsetting the balance of power- eventually Missouri is admitted slave and Maine is free. Anything north of the 36 30 parallel in the Louisiana Territory was to be free and anything south was to be slave. SEE CARTOONS#
1819
14. Agreement that USA and Great Britain co-own Oregon Territory and work out border
1829-1837
14B. Andrew Jackson 7th president takes land from Indians, closes National Bank, redefines Presidency.
1837
15. Panic and Depression of 1837 sends people West. In prairie schooners (covered wagons), they walked the Oregon Trail West.
1840
16. John O Sullivan, newspaperman, coins the phrase "Manifest Destiny" - the United States was destined by God to own everything to the Pacific for a special purpose.
17. Other trails and ways of moving people west develop. Western Movement, Oregon Trail, Sante Fe Trail, Mormon Trail and the Railroad,
CARTOON 5
1835-1845
18. READ THIS- PAGE 100 ONLINE FOR TEXAS INDEPENDENCE, Read pages 369-371 in your text
1844-1846
19. Mexican War- California, New Mexico Texas Mexico border and Arizona join union http://youtu.be/uMg1FIh9I6E
1849
20. California Gold Rush (read online below)
1830-1840
21. Joseph Smith and the Mormons (copy notes from 383) Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
1830's
Joseph Smith- W. New York received vision to build new church
Book of Mormon -translation of words written on golden plates --received from an angel. Coming of Jesus
Property held communally
Polygamy- marry more than one wife
Believed that family would be with you for eternity
Forced into Illinois, then to Utah- Brigham Young took over
Largest migration-12000 to Great Salt Lake 1846
1857-58 war with US troops--> Utah did not become state till 1896
1800-1860
22. SOUTHERN POPULATION-classes
Yeomen Farmers who owned land -did not have slaves
Tenant farmers- rented land
Rural poor- owned little or nothing -extremely proud
Plantation owners- had lots of land and slaves
1830-1860
23. Read worksheet on industrialization in packet- North is filled with factories and interchangeable parts, immigrants and large cities as well as rich farmland that grows food. South has little or no industrialization and must appeal and buy from other countries when they begin the Civil War. The South is land rich and dollar poor.
COTTON IN THE SOUTH-FACTORIES IN THE NORTH
1830-1860
24. Slave codes- fugitive slave acts, etc. Blacks forbidden to learn to read and write, could not assemble in large groups, leaving the property without written permission. Could not marry, give children their name. Mostly written to prevent a slave rebellion. Eventually, slave owners were allowed to go to a free territory to retrieve runaways. Sometimes free Blacks were taken.
1831
25. Nat Turner Rebellion -black slave, self-educated, said God wanted him to lead a rebellion. He led slaves on a rampage through Virginia killing 55 whites. Turner hanged and rebellion led to stricter rules.
1840-1865
26. Slavery movements
Harriet Tubman (known as Grandma Moses) escaped and led slaves to freedom Frederick Douglass-taught to read by white mistress and escaped to read and write to help abolition movement-met with Lincoln several times to give advice. Underground Railroad -series of locations and houses that kept runaway slaves safe until they could move to a safer location.
1840-1860
27. Abolitionists-People in both North and South that wanted to end slavery immediately and to punish those that owned slaves.
**William Lloyd Garrison started an abolitionist paper "The Liberator" that stirs up emotions in the north.
**Frederick Douglas was a former black slave who writes articles against slavery.
**Harriet Beecher Stowe writes a fictional novel called "Uncle Tom's Cabin" which gets many Northerners stirred up about slavery. Her brother sends "Kansas bibles (rifles)" to abolitionists. Her family sends all kinds of aid to abolitionists to do God's work.
28.
A. Clashes in North - Afraid Blacks take away jobs
B. Underground railroad-Series of safe houses for runaway slaves. Harriet Tubman was a former slave that escapes the South, but returns numerous times to bring many slaves to freedom in North or Canada
29. Southern reaction-Said slaves were treated better than some factory workers, and that their live was better
30. Free Soil Party - Free Soil, Free Speech, Free Labor, and Free Men to address slavery issue in 1848 election
1850
31. COMPROMISE OF 1850- Henry Clay
A. California free state 1849
B. Southerners wanted fugitive slave law and got with this law
C. Popular (state) sovereignty on remaining territories
1850
32. Fugitive Slave Act-SEE FILM ABOVE
A. Required all citizens North or South help capture runaways
B. Anyone who helped could be imprisoned or fined
C. Bounty hunters carried off runaways and free Blacks- Blacks had no recourse
1854
33. Kansas Nebraska Act - Letting states have popular sovereignty-decide for themselves whether they will be slave or free
1856
34. Bleeding Kansas- Read below also- SEE FILM ABOVE
1. Pro-slavery Missourians crossed the border into Kansas and cast vote for slavery
2. 1856- Rival governments in Kansas- one for slavery and one against
3. May 1856- 800 pro-slavery men attacked Lawrence Kansas
4. John Brown led abolitionists and roving band fought each other
5. IN CONGRESS, SENATOR CHARLES SUMNER was beaten by Southern Senator Preston Brooks with his cane for being against slavery
35. Dred Scott Case slave of a doctor moved to Wisconsin, a free state, decided that
Blacks were not citizens and not equal in any way to whites so had no rights
Scott was property
Congress had no right to ban slavery, so Missouri
Compromise unconstitutional- means slavery legal everywhere
1854
36. Formation of Republican Party -anti-slavery forces joined together to form Republican Party (Whig Party, Democratic, and Free Soilers join together)
1856
37. James Buchanan (Democrat-) elected President- Supports all aspects of slave codes, etc.
1858
38. Harpers Ferry-John Brown and five sons (wanted to lead slave rebellion) captured- eventually hung
A. To South, he was terrorist
B. To North, he was a martyr
1860-1861
39. Lincoln Douglass debate-Election Lincoln in 1860 -
A. Republicans promised not to disturb slavery where it existed- tried to contain it within those territoriesB. Try to compromise but South said no
November 6, 1860- Abraham Lincoln, who had declared "Government cannot endure permanently half slave, half free..." is elected president, the first Republican, receiving 180 of 303 possible electoral votes and 40 percent of the popular vote. If Lincoln was elected, the South declared, they would leave the Union forever.
December 20, 1860- South Carolina secedes from the Union. Followed within two months by Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas.
1861
40. Feb. 1861-->South Carolina secedes, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida and Georgia secede and become CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA WITH JEFFERSON DAVIS AS THEIR PRESIDENT- this is before Lincoln becomes President- argue for states rights
41. READ ARTICLE ON LINCOLN- pink article on radical Lincoln
March 4, 1861
42. Lincoln begins troubled Presidency
A. President Buchanan does not respond to secession
B. Lincoln has to sneak into Washington DC because of assassination attempts
C. Lincoln promises not to disturb slavery in Inaugural Address- South does not trust
C. South does not trust Republicans-- more states join South Carolina
April 1861
43. SEE at the bottom, look at Ken Burn's features
A. South Carolina secedes from the Union
B. Sends supplies to South Carolina
C. Surrounds US fort- especially FORT SUMTER IN CHARLESTON S. C. harbor
D. Lincoln orders 75,000 troops called up to help the fort-South firing on Fort Sumter-Civil War begins- North calls it the Civil War, South calls it the War of Northern Aggression.
1861
February 9, 1861- The Confederate States of America is formed with Jefferson Davis, a West Point graduate, and former U.S. Army officer, as president.
March 4, 1861- Abraham Lincoln is sworn in as 16thPresident of the United States of America.
Wilbur McClean had had enough. Moved to Manassas
APRIL is a wicked month. Much has happened in history that has often brought death and destruction. In the 1860's, this was especially true. The war started in April of 1861 and ended in April of 1865. Lincoln was shot and killed in April 1865, four day
Fort Sumter Attacked
April 12, 1861- The North relied on something that would be the South's undoing. The North relied on technology. From the beginning of the war to the end, the telegraph would let the North what happened where and when. There was a war room set up at the White House where Lincoln followed every move. The commander of Fort Sumter kept in contact with President Lincoln. He was ordered to keep the fort, not to surrender to the South, that there were supplies coming. The commander of Fort Sumter was Major Robert Anderson and the Union fort was in great need of basic supplies. In January 1861, a ship had attempted to deliver supplies but Southern ships fired upon it. On April 10, orders were issued by the Southern government to evacuate the fort. At 4:30 a.m., April 12, Confederates under Gen. Pierre Beauregard opened fire with 50 cannons upon Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina. The Civil War begins. On April 14, soldiers were evacuated to Northern ships in the harbor and taken North where they were greeted as heroes.
April 15, 1861- President Lincoln issues a Proclamation calling for 75,000 militiamen, and summoning a special session of Congress for July 4. Eventually, these "call-ups" become known as the draft.
Robert E. Lee, son of a Revolutionary War hero, and a 25 year distinguished veteran of the United States Army and former Superintendent of West Point is offered command of the Union Army. Lee declines.
April 17, 1861- Virginia secedes from the Union, followed within five weeks by Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina, thus forming an eleven state Confederacy with a population of 9 million, including nearly 4 million slaves. The Union will soon have 21 states and a population of over 20 million.
April 19, 1861- President Lincoln issues a Proclamation of Blockade against Southern ports. For the duration of the war, the blockade limits the ability of the rural South to stay well supplied in its war against the industrialized North.
April 20, 1861- Robert E. Lee resigns his commission in the United States Army. "I cannot raise my hand against my birthplace, my home, my children." Lee then goes to Richmond, Virginia, is offered command of the military and naval forces of Virginia, and accepts.
1861
44. Border states bitterly divided. Missouri, Kentucky, Virginia, and Maryland
45. North had 22 million, South 9 million (4 million slaves)
Both North and South thought that the war would only last 3 months
Aim of North- to bring Union back together
Aim of South- Fight long enough to get the North to give up and leave them alone- recognize them as a separate country
North blockade ports so South be poor- could not trade with Britain or France
South-defensive war- fought mostly in South
North had industry-South had little (2 factories)
North had trains, telegraphs, and technology, South had few
South hoped England and France come to their aid
Wanted to attack Washington DC
46. Read page 477-479
War was called and had
Brother against brother
North blockade Southern ports
North gain control of Mississippi
Not glorious or short
Yankees (North) and Rebels (South)
Many more died of hunger, illness than battle
Summer 1861
47 A. July 4, 1861-
Lincoln, in a speech to Congress, states the war is..."a People's contest...a struggle for maintaining in the world, that form, and substance of government, whose leading object is, to elevate the condition of men..." The Congress authorizes a call for 500,000 men.
First Battle First Bull Run
- Manassas Virginia- men wore wool uniforms- died of heat exhaustion
People from Washington DC brought picnic lunch to watch
Stonewall Jackson (general -South) sent North fleeing to Washington DC--Rebel Yell - Was called the "Great Skedaddle"
July 21, 1861- The Union Army under Gen. Irvin McDowell suffers a defeat at Bull Run 25 miles southwest of Washington. Confederate Gen.Thomas J. Jackson earns the nickname "Stonewall," as his brigade resists Union attacks. Union troops fall back to Washington. President Lincoln realizes the war will be long. "It's damned bad," he comments.
Ruins of the Stone Bridge over which Northern forces retreated until it was blown up by a Rebel shell adding to the panic of the retreat, with the Federals returning to Washington as "a rain-soaked mob."
July 27, 1861- President Lincoln appoints George B. McClellan as Commander of the Department of the Potomac, replacing McDowell.
McClellan did little- over cautious-because he did not follow Lincoln's orders several times or go after fleeing South, the war extended more than an extra year
McClellan tells his wife, "I find myself in a new and strange position here: President, cabinet, Gen. Scott, and all deferring to me. By some strange operation of magic I seem to have become the power of the land."
47B. The rest of the year...
September 11, 1861-President Lincoln revokes Gen. John C. Frémont's unauthorized military proclamation of emancipation in Missouri. Later, the president relieves Gen. Frémont of his command and replaces him with Gen. David Hunter.
November 1, 1861- President Lincoln appoints McClellan as general-in-chief of all Union forces after the resignation of the aged Winfield Scott. Lincoln tells McClellan, "...the supreme command of the Army will entail a vast labor upon you." McClellan responds, "I can do it all."
November 8, 1861- The beginning of an international diplomatic crisis for President Lincoln as two Confederate officials sailing toward England are seized by the U.S. Navy. England, the leading world power, demands their release, threatening war. Lincoln eventually gives in and orders their release in December. "One war at a time," Lincoln remarks.
48. Commander in Chief South after Johnston was killed. The new commander is General Robert E. Lee-defensive strategies- let the North come after us....
1861-1862
January 31, 1862- President Lincoln issues General War Order No. 1 calling for all United States naval and land forces to begin a general advance by February 22, George Washington's birthday.
February 6, 1862- Victory for Gen. Ulysses S. Grant in Tennessee, capturing Fort Henry, and ten days later Fort Donelson. Grant earns the nickname "Unconditional Surrender" Grant.
February 20, 1862- President Lincoln is struck with grief as his beloved eleven-year-old son, Willie, dies from fever, probably caused by polluted drinking water in the White House.
March 8/9, 1862- The Confederate Ironclad 'Merrimac' sinks two wooden Union ships then battles the Union Ironclad 'Monitor' to a draw. Naval warfare is thus changed forever, making wooden ships obsolete.
In March- The Peninsular Campaign begins as McClellan's Army of the Potomac advances from Washington down the Potomac River and the Chesapeake Bay to the peninsular south of the Confederate Capital of Richmond, Virginia then begins an advance toward Richmond. President Lincoln temporarily relieves McClellan as general-in-chief and takes direct command of the Union Armies.
April 24, 1862- 17 Union ships under the command of Flag Officer David Farragut move up the Mississippi River then take New Orleans, the South's greatest seaport. Later in the war, sailing through a Rebel mine field Farragut utters the famous phrase "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!"
May 31, 1862- The Battle of Seven Pines as Gen. Joseph E. Johnston's Army attacks McClellan's troops in front of Richmond and nearly defeats them. But Johnston is badly wounded.
June 1, 1862- Gen. Robert E. Lee assumes command, replacing the wounded Johnston. Lee then renames his forces the Army of Northern Virginia. McClellan is not impressed, saying Lee is "likely to be timid and irresolute in action."
June 25-July 1- The Seven Days Battles as Lee attacks McClellan near Richmond, resulting in very heavy losses for both armies. McClellan then begins a withdrawal back toward Washington.
July 11, 1862- After four months as his own general-in-chief, President Lincoln hands over the task to Gen Henry W. (Old Brains) Halleck.
Second Battle of Bull Run
August 29/30, 1862-
75,000 Federals under Gen. John Pope is defeated by 55,000 Confederates under Gen. Stonewall Jackson and Gen. James Longstreet at the second battle of Bull Run in northern Virginia. Once again the Union Army retreats to Washington. The president then relieves Pope.
September 4-9, 1862-
Lee invades the North with 50,000 Confederates and heads for Harpers Ferry, located 50 miles northwest of Washington.
The Union Army, 90,000 strong, under the command of McClellan, pursue Lee.
September 22, 1862-
Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation freeing slaves issued by President Lincoln.
November 7, 1862-
The president replaces McClellan with Gen.Ambrose E. Burnside as the new Commander of the Army of the Potomac. Lincoln had grown impatient with McClellan's slowness to follow up on the success at Antietam, even telling him, "If you don't want to use the army, I should like to borrow it for a while."
Fredericksburg
December 13, 1862-
Army of the Potomac under Gen. Burnside suffers a costly defeat at Fredericksburg in Virginia with a loss of 12,653 men after 14 frontal assaults on well-entrenched Rebels on Marye's Heights. "We might as well have tried to take hell," a Union soldier remarks. Confederate losses are 5,309.
"It is well that war is so terrible - we should grow too fond of it," states Lee during the fighting.
49. War for Mississippi River -
U.S. Grant (Northern general) Spinal chord of the US- Grant aggressive at capturing all towns along the river. The US in Grant's name stands for Unconditional Surrender- Fort Donelson.
1862
50. Battle of Ironclad ships-Monitor vs. Merrimac ended in stalemate- ended sailing vessels as war ships- armory bounced off both ships
April 6/7, 1862
51. Shiloh- 23000 dies, narrow victory for Union, took Memphis and New Orleans. -Union controlled much of Mississippi- a Confederate surprise attack on Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's unprepared troops at Shiloh on the Tennessee River results in a bitter struggle with 13,000 Union killed and wounded and 10,000 Confederates, more men than in all previous American wars combined. The president is then pressured to relieve Grant but resists. "I can't spare this man; he fights," Lincoln says.
1861-1862
52 A.. War in the East- Southern troops stayed South for the most part and knew the terrain, South won many battles because of outdated techniques
52 B- Battle of Antietam (Maryland)-
September 17, 1862-
The bloodiest day in U.S. military history as Gen. Robert E. Lee and the Confederate Armies are stopped at Antietam in Maryland by McClellan and numerically superior Union forces. By nightfall 26,000 men are dead, wounded, or missing. Lee then withdraws to Virginia. Lee moving North to take Washington- Defeated by McClellan (North) Lincoln encouraged McClellan to follow and attack. McClellan refused-could have destroyed Southern army- this move or lack of movement prolonged the war
September 22, 1862
53. Emancipation Proclamation- proposed July 1862 and released September 22, 1862
Hesitated at first to save the border states
Worried that all foreign support and trade would be cut off because all foreign powers had ended slavery
Slavery moral wrong
Division of North and South
Foreign policy- antislavery/ but supported South for economic reasons
Constitution gave him the power to take property from enemy in war
Freed slaves ONLY in Rebel territories
Most masters never told their slaves and some were shipped to Texas to keep out of hands of North and South
If North won the war, slavery banned forever
1863
54. North defeated at Seven Days battle, Second Battle of Bull Run, and Fredericksburg- General Hood, northern general, led men in head-on charge up a hill- mountains of bodies-
1862-1863
55. Lee tries 2 Northern attacks at Antietam (his battle plans are accidentally found by Northern soldier), and Gettysburg -badly beaten- over 20,000 casualties in each one -
GETTYSBURG- 50000 MEN ARE LOST IN A 3 DAY BATTLE
1860-1865
56. Life during the Civil War
Shortages in the South- no or little manufacturing
Women had to take jobs- Clara Barton first female nurse - FOUNDED the Red Cross. 20000 women volunteered and improved conditions greatly. Cleaned facilities.
Prisoners of war- Andersonville in Georgia had 33000 Northern prisoners and Elmira in New York (Southern prisoners)
Habeas Corpus suspended for war-held without trial or legal rights
Draft law (have to serve in army) and you could pay $300 for substitute
Economic troubles in South because no foreign power would support or recognize, South had little or no industry and blockaded ports by North
1863
57. Read this- Weak union generals- Union generals timid, wanted time to recover and let enemy slip away, or General Hood issued his own Emancipation Proclamation without Lincoln's permission or knowledge. Caused major problems.
1863
58. 54th Massachusetts first all-black unit for North -see film Glory
1863
59. Read Gettysburg- 502-503- the accidental battle
Vicksburg Siege- finally North had control of Mississippi River
1863
60.Gettysburg Address.....Read this on page 504 About one month after the battle, Lincoln delivers this 269-word speech as an afterthought to Edward Everett's 2-hour speech, dedicating the Union Cemetery. It was hot. There were still unburied bodies and bloated horse carcasses that dotted the fields. The battle had been so devastating that it took months to clean up the area. Many of the men were only identified if they had written their name on their uniform or pinned a piece of paper with their name on it. Lincoln had recently lost a son to typhus fever, but made his way to the battlefield all the same and delivered this elegant piece. Notice his piece about the equality of all men which affirms now that all Blacks should be free. This was new and revolutionary.
GETTYSBURG ADDRESS by Abraham Lincoln
"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."
When Lincoln left Gettysburg, he boarded his train for Washington and crawled into bed. He was exhausted and did not feel well. William Johnson, a black friend since Lincoln's Illinois law practice, spent considerable time with the President and was with him in Gettysburg. The date was Nov. 18, 1863. Johnson never left his friends side caring for him at the White House. Lincoln had smallpox. On January 12, 1864, Lincoln was becoming better, but Johnson fell ill. Johnson died on January 28.
Source: Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, edited by Roy P. Basler. The text above is from the so-called "Bliss Copy," one of several versions which Lincoln wrote, and believed to be the final version. For additional versions, you may search The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln through the courtesy of the Abraham Lincoln Association.
1864
61. General William Sherman (north)- Moving troops toward the South, and began to use scorched earth policy to discourage any fight from the South.
1863
62. Ulysses Grant becomes commander of Union army-constant warfare. He uses all out warfare to bring the enemy to submission.
1863
63. Men writing (North) names all over their clothing so someone could tell who they were if dead. There were no dog tags. This is the first time that undertakers began to use complex chemicals to preserve dead body to bring some men home for burial.
1864
64. Sherman's (Northern general) war in Georgia- total war- burned down Atlanta and then the entire 230 miles to Savannah who surrendered- the path was 60 miles wide. Here was scorched earth....no mercy to get people to surrender.
1864
65. Lincoln wins election 1864 because of these victories. Now puts Grant in charge and lets him use all-out war. When others complained that Lincoln had allowed Grant (who won many of his battles) to drink too much whiskey, Lincoln said, "Whatever the man is drinking, send all my generals a barrel."
66. Grant burns out the Shenandoah Valley and then pushes Lee's remaining ragged starving troops into a situation where 1000's were surrendered or deserted because they were starving and without hope.
1865
67. Lee retreats- and Richmond falls- Rebel troops are starving and deserting or surrendering by the thousands....Lee is surrounded....
April 9, 1865
68. Appomattox Court House Virginia- Lee surrendered to Grant
Grant gave rations and soldiers could keep small arms, and officers their horses.
69. FINAL TALLY- 675000 SOLDIERS DIED, 50000 CIVILIANS- much of the South in ruins
April 15, 1865
70. Lincoln decides to do something that he did a lot to relax; takes his wife to the theater. At Ford's Theater, Lincoln was shot in the head by John Wilkes Booth who said in Latin as he jumped from Lincoln's box, "Death to tyrants."
71. LOOK AT LINCOLN'S 2ND INAUGURAL ADDRESS- A little over a month after this speech was delivered, Lincoln was dead.
"With malice toward none...."
Fellow-Countrymen:
AT this second appearing to take the oath of the Presidential office there is less occasion for an extended address than there was at the first. Then a statement somewhat in detail of a course to be pursued seemed fitting and proper. Now, at the expiration of four years, during which public declarations have been constantly called forth on every point and phase of the great contest which still absorbs the attention and engrosses the energies of the nation, little that is new could be presented. The progress of our arms, upon which all else chiefly depends, is as well known to the public as to myself, and it is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory and encouraging to all. With high hope for the future, no prediction in regard to it is ventured.
On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago all thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending civil war. All dreaded it, all sought to avert it. While the inaugural address was being delivered from this place, devoted altogether to saving the Union without war, insurgent agents were in the city seeking to destroy it without war—seeking to dissolve the Union and divide effects by negotiation. Both parties deprecated war, but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive, and the other would accept war rather than let it perish, and the war came.
One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed generally over the Union, but localized in the southern part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that this interest was somehow the cause of the war. To strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object for which the insurgents would rend the Union even by war, while the Government claimed no right to do more than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it. Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with or even before the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes. "Woe unto the world because of offenses; for it must needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh." If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said "the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether."
With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.
CNN "4 Ways We Are Still Fighting the Civil War"
Read "Are We Still Fighting the Civil War?" in Time magazine
READING PACKET 1-EVENTS AND PEOPLE THAT LEAD TO THE CIVIL WAR
BLEEDING KANSAS
THURSDAY JUNE 7- LAST DAY OF SCHOOL
EXTRA CREDIT (50 POINTS) DUE JUNE 3
WAR WITH MEXICO
http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/zinntak8.html
SLAVERY
http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/zinnslaem10.html
WORKING CONDITIONS
http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/zinnother10.html
ROBBER BARONS
http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/zinnbaron11.html
This as well as the Geography, Economic, Spatial, etc can be found http://www.ode.state.oh.us/GD/DocumentManagement/DocumentDownload.aspx?DocumentID=124433
The latest revision of Ohio state standards was on 3/13/12 and I have been checking these off as they are accomplished. Here it is....
1. Original issues-compromises and court cases that shaped America
Westward expansion contributed to the economic and industrial development, debates over sectional issues, war with Mexico and the displacement of American Indians.
Disputes over the nature of federalism, complicated by economic developments in the United States, resulted in sectional issues, including slavery, which led to the American Civil War.
What issues such as American Plan, capitalism, free market economy, factory system and Industrial Revolution push toward civil war.
2. Slavery vs. non-slavery
The extension of slavery into the territories including the Dred Scott Decision and the Kansas-Nebraska Act;
The abolitionist movement and the roles of Frederick Douglass and John Brown;
The addition of new states to the Union and their impact on the balance of power in the Senate, including the Missouri Compromise and the Compromise of 1850;
The emergence of Abraham Lincoln as a national figure in the Lincoln-Douglas debates, the presidential election of 1860, and the South's succession.
3. Explain the course and consequences of the Civil War with emphasis on:
Contributions of key individuals, including Abraham Lincoln, Robert E. Lee, and Ulysses S. Grant;
The Emancipation Proclamation;
The Battle of Gettysburg.
4. Analyze the consequences of Reconstruction with emphasis on:
President Lincoln's assassination and the ensuing struggle for control of Reconstruction
Impeachment of President Andrew Johnson
5. The Reconstruction period resulted in changes to the U.S. Constitution, an affirmation of federal authority and lingering social and political differences
Timelines and death in the Civil War
Jump To:Fort Sumter Attacked-First Bull Run-Shiloh-Second Bull Run-Antietam-Fredericksburg-Chancellorsville-Gettysburg-Chickamauga-Chattanooga-Cold Harbor-March to the Sea-Lee Surrenders-Lincoln Shot
TIMELINE FOR THE CIVIL WAR
from http://www.historyplace.com/civilwar/
1862
January 31, 1862- President Lincoln issues General War Order No. 1 calling for all United States naval and land forces to begin a general advance by February 22, George Washington's birthday.
February 6, 1862- Victory for Gen. Ulysses S. Grant in Tennessee, capturing Fort Henry, and ten days later Fort Donelson. Grant earns the nickname "Unconditional Surrender" Grant.
February 20, 1862- President Lincoln is struck with grief as his beloved eleven-year-old son, Willie, dies from fever, probably caused by polluted drinking water in the White House.
March 8/9, 1862- The Confederate Ironclad 'Merrimac' sinks two wooden Union ships then battles the Union Ironclad 'Monitor' to a draw. Naval warfare is thus changed forever, making wooden ships obsolete.
In March- The Peninsular Campaign begins as McClellan's Army of the Potomac advances from Washington down the Potomac River and the Chesapeake Bay to the peninsula south of the Confederate Capital of Richmond, Virginia then begins an advance toward Richmond.
President Lincoln temporarily relieves McClellan as general-in-chief and takes direct command of the Union Armies.
Shiloh
April 6/7, 1862- a Confederate surprise attack on Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's unprepared troops at Shiloh on the Tennessee River results in a bitter struggle with 13,000 Union killed and wounded and 10,000 Confederates, more men than in all previous American wars combined. The president is then pressured to relieve Grant but resists. "I can't spare this man; he fights," Lincoln says.
April 24, 1862- 17 Union ships under the command of Flag Officer David Farragut move up the Mississippi River then take New Orleans, the South's greatest seaport. Later in the war, sailing through a Rebel minefield Farragut utters the famous phrase "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!"
May 31, 1862- The Battle of Seven Pines as Gen. Joseph E. Johnston's Army attacks McClellan's troops in front of Richmond and nearly defeats them. But Johnston is badly wounded.
June 1, 1862- Gen. Robert E. Lee assumes command, replacing the wounded Johnston. Lee then renames his force the Army of Northern Virginia. McClellan is not impressed, saying Lee is "likely to be timid and irresolute in action."
June 25-July 1- The Seven Days Battles as Lee attacks McClellan near Richmond, resulting in very heavy losses for both armies. McClellan then begins a withdrawal back toward Washington.
July 11, 1862- After four months as his own general-in-chief, President Lincoln hands over the task to Gen Henry W. (Old Brains) Halleck.
Second Battle of Bull Run
August 29/30, 1862- 75,000 Federals under Gen. John Pope are defeated by 55,000 Confederates under Gen. Stonewall Jackson and Gen. James Longstreet at the second battle of Bull Run in northern Virginia. Once again the Union Army retreats to Washington. The president then relieves Pope.
September 4-9, 1862- Lee invades the North with 50,000 Confederates and heads for Harpers Ferry, located 50 miles northwest of Washington.
The Union Army, 90,000 strong, under the command of McClellan, pursues Lee.
Antietam
September 17, 1862- The bloodiest day in U.S. military history as Gen. Robert E. Lee and the Confederate Armies are stopped atAntietam in Maryland by McClellan and numerically superior Union forces. By nightfall 26,000 men are dead, wounded, or missing. Lee then withdraws to Virginia.
September 22, 1862- Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation freeing slaves issued by President Lincoln.
November 7, 1862- The president replaces McClellan with Gen.Ambrose E. Burnside as the new Commander of the Army of the Potomac. Lincoln had grown impatient with McClellan's slowness to follow up on the success at Antietam, even telling him, "If you don't want to use the army, I should like to borrow it for a while."
Fredericksburg
December 13, 1862- Army of the Potomac under Gen. Burnside suffers a costly defeat at Fredericksburg in Virginia with a loss of 12,653 men after 14 frontal assaults on well-entrenched Rebels on Marye's Heights. "We might as well have tried to take hell," a Union soldier remarks. Confederate losses are 5,309.
"It is well that war is so terrible - we should grow too fond of it," states Lee during the fighting.
1863
January 1, 1863- President Lincoln issues the final Emancipation Proclamation freeing all slaves in territories held by Confederates and emphasizes the enlisting of black soldiers in the Union Army. The war to preserve the Union now becomes a revolutionary struggle for the abolition of slavery.
January 25, 1863- The president appoints Gen.Joseph (Fighting Joe) Hooker as Commander of the Army of the Potomac, replacing Burnside.
January 29, 1863- Gen. Grant is placed in command of the Army of the West, with orders to capture Vicksburg.
March 3, 1863- The U.S. Congress enacts a draft, affecting male citizens aged 20 to 45, but also exempts those who pay $300 or provide a substitute. "The blood of a poor man is as precious as that of the wealthy," poor Northerners complain.
Chancellorsville
May 1-4, 1863- The Union Army under Gen. Hooker is decisively defeated by Lee's much smaller forces at the Battle of Chancellorsville in Virginia as a result of Lee's brilliant and daring tactics. Confederate Gen. Stonewall Jackson is mortally wounded by his own soldiers. Hooker retreats. Union losses are 17,000 killed, wounded and missing out of 130,000. The Confederates, 13, 000 out of 60,000.
"I just lost confidence in Joe Hooker," said Hooker later about his own lack of nerve during the battle.
Confederate soldiers at the Sunken Road, killed during the fighting around Chancellorsville.
May 10, 1863- The South suffers a huge blow as Stonewall Jackson dies from his wounds, his last words, "Let us cross over the river and rest under the shade of the trees."
"I have lost my right arm," Lee laments.
June 3, 1863- Gen. Lee with 75,000 Confederates launches his second invasion of the North, heading into Pennsylvania in a campaign that will soon lead to Gettysburg.
June 28, 1863- President Lincoln appoints Gen.George G. Meade as commander of the Army of the Potomac, replacing Hooker. Meade is the 5th man to command the Army in less than a year.
Gettysburg
July 1-3, 1863- The tide of war turns against the South as the Confederates are defeated at the Battle of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania.
July 4, 1863-Vicksburg, the last Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi River, surrenders to Gen. Grant and the Army of the West after a six-week siege. With the Union now in control of the Mississippi, the Confederacy is effectively split in two, cut off from its western allies.
July 13-16,1863- Anti-draft riots in New York City include arson and the murder of blacks by poor immigrant whites. At least 120 persons, including children, are killed and $2 million in damage caused, until Union soldiers returning from Gettysburg restore order.
July 18, 1863-'Negro troops' of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment under Col. Robert G. Shaw assault fortified Rebels at Fort Wagner, South Carolina. Col. Shaw and half of the 600 men in the regiment are killed.
August 10, 1863- The president meets with abolitionist Frederick Douglass who pushes for full equality for Union 'Negro troops.'
August 21, 1863- At Lawrence, Kansas, pro-Confederate William C. Quantrill and 450 pro-slavery followers raid the town and butcher 182 boys and men.
Chickamauga
September 19/20, 1863- A decisive Confederate victory by Gen. Braxton Bragg's Army of Tennessee at Chickamauga leaves Gen.William S. Rosecrans' Union Army of the Cumberland trapped in Chattanooga, Tennessee under Confederate siege.
October 16, 1863- The president appoints Gen. Grant to command all operations in the western theater.
November 19, 1863- President Lincoln delivers a two minute Gettysburg Address at a ceremony dedicating the Battlefield as a National Cemetery.
Lincoln among the crowd at Gettysburg - Nov 19, 1863
Chattanooga
November 23-25, 1863- The Rebel siege of Chattanooga ends as Union forces under Grant defeat the siege army of Gen. Braxton Bragg. During the battle, one of the most dramatic moments of the war occurs. Yelling "Chickamauga! Chickamauga!" Union troops avenge their previous defeat at Chickamauga by storming up the face of Missionary Ridge without orders and sweep the Rebels from what had been though to be an impregnable position. "My God, come and see 'em run!" a Union soldier cries.
1864
March 9, 1864- President Lincoln appoints Gen. Grant to command all of the armies of the United States. Gen.William T. Shermansucceeds Grant as commander in the west.
May 4, 1864- The beginning of a massive, coordinated campaign involving all the Union Armies. In Virginia, Grant with an Army of 120,000 begins advancing toward Richmond to engage Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, now numbering 64,000, beginning a war of attrition that will include major battles at the Wilderness (May 5-6), Spotsylvania (May 8-12), and Cold Harbor (June 1-3).
In the west, Sherman, with 100,000 men begins an advance toward Atlanta to engage Joseph E. Johnston's 60,000 strong Army of Tennessee.
A council of war with Gen. Grant leaning over the shoulder of Gen. Meade looking at a map, planning the Cold Harbor assault.
Cold Harbor
June 3, 1864- A costly mistake by Grant results in 7,000 Union casualties in twenty minutes during an offensive against fortified Rebels at Cold Harbor in Virginia.
Many of the Union soldiers in the failed assault had predicted the outcome, including a dead soldier from Massachusetts whose last entry in his diary was, "June 3, 1864, Cold Harbor, Virginia. I was killed."
June 15, 1864- Union forces miss an opportunity to capture Petersburg and cut off the Confederate rail lines. As a result, a nine month siege of Petersburg begins with Grant's forces surrounding Lee.
The 13-inch Union mortar "Dictator" mounted on a railroad flatcar at Petersburg. Its 200-pound shells had a range of over 2 miles.
July 20, 1864- At Atlanta, Sherman's forces battle the Rebels now under the command of Gen.John B. Hood, who replaced Johnston.
August 29, 1864- Democrats nominate George B. McClellan for president to run against Republican incumbent Abraham Lincoln.
September 2, 1864-Atlanta is captured by Sherman's Army. "Atlanta is ours, and fairly won," Sherman telegraphs Lincoln. The victory greatly helps President Lincoln's bid for re-election.
October 19, 1864- A decisive Union victory by Cavalry Gen .Philip H. Sheridan in the Shenandoah Valley over Jubal Early's troops.
November 8, 1864- Abraham Lincoln is re-elected president, defeating Democrat George B. McClellan. Lincoln carries all but three states with 55 percent of the popular vote and 212 of 233 electoral votes. "I earnestly believe that the consequences of this day's work will be to the lasting advantage, if not the very salvation, of the country," Lincoln tells supporters
March to the Sea
November 15, 1864- After destroying Atlanta's warehouses and railroad facilities, Sherman, with 62,000 men begins a March to the Sea. President Lincoln on advice from Grant approved the idea. "I can make Georgia howl!" Sherman boasts.
December 15/16, 1864- Hood's Rebel Army of 23,000 is crushed at Nashville by 55,000 Federals including Negro troops under Gen.George H. Thomas. The Confederate Army of Tennessee ceases as an effective fighting force.
December 21, 1864- Sherman reaches Savannah in Georgia leaving behind a 300-mile long path of destruction 60 miles wide all the way from Atlanta. Sherman then telegraphs Lincoln, offering him Savannah as a Christmas present.
1865
January 31, 1865- The U.S. Congress approves the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, to abolish slavery. The amendment is then submitted to the states for ratification.
February 3, 1865-A peace conference occurs as President Lincoln meets with Confederate Vice President at Hampton Roads in Virginia, but the meeting ends in failure - the war will continue.
Only Lee's Army at Petersburg and Johnston's forces in North Carolina remain to fight for the South against Northern forces now numbering 280,000 men.
March 4, 1865- Inauguration ceremonies for President Lincoln in Washington. "With malice toward none; with charity for all...let us strive on to finish the work we are in...to do all which may achieve and cherish a just, and a lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations," Lincoln says.
March 25, 1865- The last offensive for Lee's Army of Northern Virginia begins with an attack on the center of Grant's forces at Petersburg. Four hours later the attack is broken.
April 2, 1865- Grant's forces begin a general advance and break through Lee's lines at Petersburg. Confederate Gen. Ambrose P. Hill is killed. Lee evacuates Petersburg. The Confederate Capital, Richmond, is evacuated. Fires and looting break out. The next day, Union troops enter and raise the Stars and Stripes.
April 4, 1865- President Lincoln tours Richmond where he enters the Confederate White House. With "a serious, dreamy expression," he sits at the desk of Jefferson Davis for a few moments.
Lee Surrenders
April 9, 1865- Gen. Robert E. Lee surrenders his Confederate Army to Gen. Ulysses S .Grant at the village of Appomattox Court House in Virginia. Grant allows Rebel officers to keep their sidearms and permits soldiers to keep horses and mules.
"After four years of arduous service marked by unsurpassed courage and fortitude the Army of Northern Virginia has been compelled to yield to overwhelming numbers and resources," Lee tells his troops.
April 10, 1865- Celebrations break out in Washington.
Final portrait of a war weary president - April 10, 1865
Lincoln Shot
April 14, 1865- The Stars and Stripes is ceremoniously raised over Fort Sumter. That night, Lincoln and his wife Mary see the play "Our American Cousin" at Ford's Theater. At 10:13 p.m., during the third act of the play, John Wilkes Booth shoots the president in the head. Doctors attend to the president in the theater then move him to a house across the street. He never regains consciousness.
April 15, 1865- President Abraham Lincoln dies at 7:22 in the morning. Vice President Andrew Johnson assumes the presidency.
April 18, 1865- Confederate Gen. Joseph E. Johnston surrenders to Sherman near Durham in North Carolina.
Funeral Procession on Pennsylvania Ave. - April 19, 1865
April 26, 1865- John Wilkes Booth is shot and killed in a tobacco barn in Virginia.
May 4, 1865- Abraham Lincoln is laid to rest in Oak Ridge Cemetery, outside Springfield, Illinois.
In May- Remaining Confederate forces surrender. The Nation is reunited as the Civil War ends. Over 620,000 Americans died in the war, with disease killing twice as many as those lost in battle. 50,000 survivors return home as amputees.
A victory parade is held in Washington along Pennsylvania Ave. to help boost the Nation's morale - May 23/24, 1865.
December 6, 1865- The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, passed by Congress on January 31, 1865, is finally ratified. Slavery is abolished.
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