Chapter 9, Section 5 THE WAR ENDS

Grant in the East  Grant’s goals to end war  Attack Lee’s forces relentlessly using resource & numbers advantage  Overland Campaign  Engage in “Total War” to destroy South’s will to keep fighting  War against civilians & resources  Placed William T. Sherman in command of western army

The Wilderness  Date: May 5–7, 1864 (Virginia)  Union Command: Ulysses S. Grant (101,895)  Confederate Command: Robert E. Lee (61,025)  What  Fierce fighting in the dense woods near Chancellorsville; Woods caught fire during battle  blinded & choked combatants  Result– inconclusive  heavy losses for both sides  Grant chased after Lee instead of waiting to regroup after high casualties  Casualties=Union 17,666 (2,246); CSA 11,125(1,495)

Spotsylvania Courthouse  Date: May 8-21, 1864 (Virginia)  Union Command: Ulysses S. Grant (100,000)  Confederate Command: Robert E. Lee (52,000)  What: Union almost captured entire Rebel division at the Bloody Angle  would have cut Lee’s army in half; Confederates counterattacked to plug hole in line  led to 20 hours of continual hand-to-hand combat  Result– fiercest fighting of the war; INCONCLUSIVE winner; HEAVY casualties for both sides  Casualties=Union 18,399 (2,725) CSA 13,421(1,427)

Cold Harbor  Date: May 31-June 12, 1864 (Virginia)  Union Command: Ulysses S. Grant (108,000)  Confederate Command: Robert E. Lee (59,000)  Why: Grant is convinced the Rebels were weakened & demoralized  orders full frontal assault on fortified Confederate positions  Rest of battle characterized by trench warfare & snipers  Result– Rebel Victory  One of the most lopsided battles in American history; HEAVY casualties for Union; Grant continued to Petersburg  Casualties=Union 12,737 (1,844); CSA 4,595 (83)

Siege of Petersburg  Petersburg  only railroad line to Richmond  Grant used strategy similar to Vicksburg  Ordered Gen. Philip Sheridan to lead cavalry raid around Richmond  Allowed Grant to attack Petersburg from the east  City defenses too strong to attack  Grant ordered siege of the city (June 1864-April 1865)  Not traditional siege  supply lines were not cut  Numerous skirmishes fought & raids conducted  Sheridan cut last railroad line into city at Battle of Five Forks  April 2  Lee finally surrendered Petersburg & Richmond

Battle of Mobile Bay  Date: August 2-23, 1864 (Alabama)  Union Command: David G. Farragut  Confederate Command: Franklin Buchanan  Why  Union wanted to seal off last major port in Gulf of Mexico; stop Confederate blockade runners from using Gulf to smuggle goods  What: Farragut took 18 ships to Mobile Bay; underwater mine blew up one of the ships  halted Union fleet in front of Rebel guns at Fort Morgan; Farragut led fleet thru minefield & besieged the forts and Confederate fleet  Result– Farragut seals off port but failed to capture city

Sherman in the West  August 1864  Sherman left Tennessee & followed the Confederate army to Atlanta  Destroyed all railroad lines leading into the city  “Sherman Neckties”  twisting of the rail-lines  Sept. 1, 1864  Confederates evacuate Atlanta  Total War  destroyed everything of military value  Factories, railroads, warehouses, etc.  Ordered all citizens to leave city or “feel the hard hand of war”  Sherman’s men then burned the city of Atlanta

“March to the Sea”  Nov. 15 – Dec. 21, 1864  Sherman marched from Atlanta to Savannah, GA  Scorched Earth Policy  Burned all unused crops  Ransacked Southern homes  Slaughtered livestock  Killed anyone who resisted 60 mile wide path of destruction  Reported he had destroyed $100 million in property

 After reaching the coast  Sherman marched north into South Carolina  Wanted to wreak vengeance on the 1 st state to secede  Pillaged & burned everything in his path  12 towns set on fire  Including Columbia, the state’s capital  Southerners demoralized  April 18, 1865  forced Confederate Gen. Joseph E. Johnston to surrender at Raleigh, NC  Many Southerners still despise Sherman for his actions during the “March”

Election of 1864  Republican party re-nominated Lincoln (duh)  Changed name to Union party for election  Democrats nominated General George McClellan  Still popular despite being replaced early in war  Platform  called war a failure & promised to open negotiations w/ South to end hostilities  Lincoln easily won reelection  electoral votes  Sherman captured Atlanta just before the election  War was almost over

The 13 th Amendment  Lincoln believed voters wanted to permanently end slavery by amending the Constitution  For 9 months House of Reps. failed to get two-thirds vote to pass amendment  Lincoln promised anti-slavery Democrats certain gov’t positions if they supported the bill  January 31, 1865  13 th Amendment narrowly passed the House of Reps. by vote of  Banned slavery in the US

Surrender  Lee tried to escape Grant’s forces after abandoning Petersburg  Gen. Sheridan’s cavalry blocked Lee’s retreat at Appomattox Courthouse  Lee attempted to break through but failed  April 9, 1865  Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Courthouse

The Terms of Surrender  Lincoln had ordered all generals to give lenient terms of surrender to Confederates  Grant guaranteed US would not prosecute Rebel soldiers for treason  Pledged they would not fight again  Officers able to keep their pistols  Soldiers allowed to keep their horses to help plant crops thru next winter  Union armies saluted Confederates in silence as they laid down their rifles  Against Davis’ orders, all other Confederate generals also surrendered by June

Lincoln’s Assassination  John Wilkes Booth  Famous stage actor & Confederate sympathizer  designed plot to kill Lincoln  April 14, 1865  Lincoln attends the play, Our American Cousin, at Ford’s Theatre  President’s advisers warned him to not appear in public w/o bodyguards  Booth snuck into President’s viewing box during the 3 rd act  shot Lincoln in back of head  Booth then jumped from balcony onto stage  “Sic semper tyrannis”  Thus always to tyrants

 Booth fled but is finally found in a barn on a Maryland farm on April 26 th  Refused to surrender  Soldiers set fire to barn to smoke him out  Union soldier Boston Corbett shoots Booth in neck  A paralyzed Booth died two hours later  Two weeks earlier  Lincoln had a dream about “the President” being “killed by an assassin” in the White House.

Aftermath of the Civil War  North’s victory strengthened Federal gov’t power over the states  Ended slavery in America  South  socially & economically devastated  BIG question  how would the Southern states be allowed back into the Union?  Lincoln would have been best man to reunite country  Era after the Civil War  Reconstruction