1. Major Battles of the Civil War
Learning Objective: We will understand how the major battles impacted the events and results of the Civil War.

2. Bull Run 1ST battle of the Civil War Union:
A Union army of 28,000 men
Confederate army of 33,000, led by General Thomas Jackson
Union:
Attempted to seize Manassas, VA, vital railroad
Confederate troops aligned the creek waiting for Union forces at Bull Run
Confederate forces defeated the Union

3. Monitor versus the Merrimack
Merrimack: An abandoned Union warship used by the South
Salvaged the ship, covered it with thick iron plates, iron-clad.
Renamed it the Virginia
North’s wooden ships could not damage the Confederate ship
Monitor: North’s Iron-clad ship
Ships could not sink each other
North successful in keeping the Merrimack in harbor
Battle marked a new age for Naval warfare
Used ships as models to build more iron-clad ships

5. Battle of Antietam Single bloodiest day of the entire war
Both armies suffered heavy losses, neither was destroyed
Lee, Confederate General, retreated allowing Union to claim victory
Crucial victory for the Union
British government ready to intervene as mediator if General Lee’s invasion had been successful
Impact on War
Lincoln used the battle to take action against slavery
5 days later Lincoln announced his plan to free all enslaved people in the Confederacy

6. Focus Check
Why do you think Lincoln waited until after the victory at Antietam to announce the Emancipation Proclamation?

7. Battle Vicksburg
Vicksburg stood on high bluff above the Mississippi River
Gain control of the Mississippi River was a major war goal
Ulysses S. Grant forced Vicksburg surrendered
Impact on War
The Union had complete control of the Mississippi River
Sealed Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas from the Confederacy
Cut the South in two

8. Gettysburg Largest battle of the war, lasting three days
Union was victorious
General Lee (Confederate): The defeat forced Lee to withdraw his army toward Virginia
Destroying Lee’s hope of carrying the fight further up North
Gettysburg Address:
Lincoln beautifully addressed what the war had come to mean
Helped war-weary Americans look beyond the images of the battlefield and focus on their shared ideals

9. Focus Check
Explain why the battles of Vicksburg and Gettysburg were the turning points in the Civil War.