Battles+of+the+Civil+War

=Civil War Battles: The Tactics and Warfare during the Civil War=

**__Signifigance of the Civil War relative to American History__**
The Civil War is a predominantly awful part of American history. This war boasts the most American casualties in the history of any war at roughly 618,222 deaths including loss due to disease as well as battle wounds and wounds regarding any type of warfare. __**The First Battle of Bull Run **__ ﻿ The first Battle of Bull Run was a shocking victory for the Confederacy, it sent the chaotic Federals toward Washington in retreat and gave the South an urge of confidence. It occured on July 21, 1861 where the Union and Confederate forces met near Mass Junction, Virginia. It was the first major land battle of the Civil War, where the Confederate army of 20,000 soldiers was outnumbered by the massive 35,000 Union soldiers.

They engaged into warfare along a meager river, known as "//Bull Run."// It was primarily a defensive battle, until the Confederate forces pushed through the Union's right flank. Only to send Union soldiers scurrying back to Washington. The North realized the war would not be easily won. media type="custom" key="9469112" width="60" height="60"

Most of the soldiers fighting at Manasas were amateur soldiers, and poorly organized. The morning of the battle dawned on two generals planning to outflank their oppenent's left. The success of the Confederate plan contained several communication errors, and a general lack of coordination between soldiers. Late in the afternoon, Confederate reinforcements arrived and succeded to break the Union's right flank. This was the consequence of a stunning Confederate victory. The Battle of Bull Run convinced the Lincoln administration that the war would be a long and difficult affair. They had formerly underestimated their oppenents. __**Battle of Antiem**__ Following the second Manassas General Robert E. Lee pushed into Maryland. The first hours of fighting were over farmland, and soon a series of head-on attacks came on against Lee’s center army. The last action was a right flank into Lee’s army, although they were stopped by late Confederate reinforcements. Lee withdrew across the river on September 18, suffering about 10,000 casualties. This victory for the North allowed enough justification for the Lincoln administration to issue the Emancipation Proclamation. Thirteen out of sixteen historians agree, that this battle was important, allowing the North’s justification, after a string of Union defeats. media type="custom" key="9527558" align="left"The Battle of Antiem is dated as the bloodiest day of American history. It posed nearly 23,000 American casulaties.

__**Battle of Gettysburg **__
The Battle of Gettysburg was a three day battle from July 1, 1863, to July 2, 1863. It is considered the most significant engagement in the Civil War.

Robert E. Lee marched his army into Northern Virginia, his confederate force made victory over the Army of Potomac in Chancellorsville. Lee decided to take the aggressive route and to invade the Union a second time.

On the other side Abraham Lincoln lost confidence in the Potomac’s commander Joseph Hooker, who seemed reluctant to face Lee’s army a second time. So, Lincoln named Major General George Gordon Meade to succeed Joseph. Meade quickly ordered the pursuit of Lee’s army and marched into southern Pennsylvania.

Lee planned his army to assemble in Gettysburg 35 miles west of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The confederate forces met with the Union and were able to push there army down to Cemetery Hill half a mile south. To press their advantage Lee gave orders to attack Cemetery Hill, they declined the attack considering the Federal position was too strong. By dusk Winfield Scott Hancock had arrived and extended the defensive line among Cemetery Hill to the hill known as “Little Round Top”; three more Union corps arrived to strengthen the Union force overnight.

In June 2, the Confederates opened fire on the Union Corps commanded by Daniel Sickles. Over several hours over the bloody rage in along Sickle’s line, stretched from the nest of boulders known as Devil’s Den into an orchard, and on the hills of Little Round Top. Soon the Confederates advanced on the Union on the eastern Cemetery Hill line. Both armies suffered extremely with 9,000 or more casualties for each side.

On June 3, the Union forces had a seven hour firefight and pushed the Confederates back to Culp’s Hill. Lee felt confident and send three divisions to attack the Union at the center of Cemetery Ridge. Lee was determined to attack and it was known as “Pickett’s Charge”. The Union infantry opened fire on the rebels, and they hit both of the enemy’s flanks. Pickett’s division lost two-thirds of its men, and soon Lee and Longstreet scrambled to shore, up to their defensive line. Their assault failed. That night the Confederate General withdrew his army toward Virginia.

The battle of Gettysburg was a crushing defeat for the Confederacy; the Union casualties were about 23,000 while the Confederate casualties were about 28,000. General Lee was so demoralized by the defeat he offered his resignation to Jefferson Davis, but he did refuse. The Battle of Gettysburg, along with the victory at Vicksburg turned the tide of the Civil War in Union favor. One of the most crucial aftermath aspects of the Battle of Gettysburg was Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. Where he spoke of the National Cemetery, where the Union was a cause of liberty and dedication, it was only 272 words.

“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. “ – Abraham Lincoln. A day after the win of the Battle of Gettysburg the long awaited battle of Vicksburg was concluded. **__What You Need To Know__**
 * The Battle of Gettysburg was considered a major turning point in the war due to its swelling of the Union army through slaves, and its major win through contribution of the slaves and Emancipation Proclamation.
 * The difference between Union and Confederate casualties is somewhere around 5,000 "Favoring the Confederates."
 * General George Mead Led the Union.

media type="custom" key="9542098" Lincoln wanted to establish the Emancipation proclamation much sooner than it was. His staff advised him to hold out, be patient, and wait for a major Union victory because if Lincoln had established it any earlier than he had the Union would appear desperate for soldiers. Lincoln listened to this advice he waited angrily for a victory until finally Anitem. The Battle of Antiem was the victory they had been waiting for. Lincoln, after a few weeks, purposed the Emancipation Proclamation in order to promote slaves to aid the north in the war. The initial swelling of the Union army caused Lincoln to attack Gettysburg marking a turning point in the war. When the American Civil War began, President Abraham Lincoln framed the conflict as the preservation of the Union rather than the abolition of slavery. Although he personally found the practice of slave morally incorrect, he knew that neither Northerners nor the residents of the border slave states would support abolition as a war action But by mid-1862, as thousands of slaves fled to join the invading Northern armies, Lincoln was convinced that abolition had become a sound military strategy, as well as the morally correct path. On September 22, soon after the Union victory at Antietam, he issued a preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, declaring that as of January 1, 1863, all slaves in the rebellious states "shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free." While the Emancipation Proclamation did not free a single slave, it was an important turning point in the war, transforming the fight to preserve the nation into a struggle to preserve equality among man.
 * __<span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">﻿Emancipation Proclamation __**

**__What You Need To Know__**
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">__** Chancellorsville **__ In late April 1963 Joseph Hooker led the Army of the Potomac across the Rappahannock into the thick forestation of Chancellorsville. On the opposing side Robert E. Lee marched most of his Army of Northern V irginia against the federals. While Hooker stayed back on defense, Lee pressed for an attack. Stonewall Jackson's line struck the Union right flank on May 2, 1863. He was accidently shot and wounded by his own men on that same night. The Confederates attacked with force on May 3, 1863. Hooker withdrew. Lee defeated an army that was twice his size. This gave the Confederates a huge win and an advantage for the Confederates. The North continued to underestimate the Confederate force. But soon later the battle, the long strung Battle of Vicksburg would conclude with a Union victory. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**__ Battle of Vicksburg __** From mid-Oct. 1862, Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant made several attempts to take Vicksburg. Following failures in the first attempts, the Battle of Chickasaw Bluffs, the Yazoo Pass Expedition, and Steele's Bayou Expedition, in the spring of 1863 he prepared to cross his troops from the west bank of the Mississippi River to a point south of Vicksburg and drive against the city from the south and east. Commanding Confederate batteries at Port Hudson, La., farther south prevented the transportation of waterborne supply and any communication from Union forces in Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Naval support for his campaign would have to come from Rear Adm. David D. Porter's fleet north of Vicksburg. Running past the powerful Vicksburg batteries, Porter's vessels, once south of the city, could ferry Federals to the east bank. There infantry would face 2 Confederate forces, one under Lt. Gen. John C. Pemberton at Vicksburg and another around Jackson, Miss., soon to be commanded by Gen. Joseph E. Johnston. In Jan. 1863 Grant organized his forces and prepared to seige Vicksburg. Little did the Confederates know the Union forces would eventually take Vicksburg. Althought the Battle of Vicksburg pertained for such a long time it concluded days after the Battle of Gettysburg.
 * Lincoln's desire to contribute the Emancipation Proclamation much sooner than it was.
 * His staff advised him to wait for a large Union win. "Battle of Antiem."
 * The Emancipation Proclamation did not free a single slave, but it helped to transform the aim of the war.

**__What You Need To Know__**

 * The initial failures of the Union to take Vicksburg
 * The Battle of Vicksburg concluded soon after the Battle of Gettysburg
 * The initial siege was in mid-Oct. 1862.

<span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">**__The Spotsylvanian__** After the Wilderness, Grant’s and Meade’s advance on Richmond by the left flank was stalled at Spotsylvania Court House on May 8. This two-week battle was a series of combats along the Spotsylvania front. The Union attack against the Bloody Angle at dawn, May 12-13, captured nearly a division of Lee’s army and came near to cutting the Confederate army in half. Confederate counterattacks were plugging all routes, the fighting continued for 20 hours without any sign of a cease fire. Lee new he wouldn't win if he stayed put, so he had his troops march southeast on May 21, forcing him to go between the enemy and the heavy populated town of Richmond, Virginia. This battle proved another win for the Union, but gave the Confederates a jumpstart for revenge. The death toll ranges from 18,000 Union to 11,000 Confederate. **__<span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Appomattox Courthouse __** On the evening of April 8, 1865 General Robert E. Lee and the remnants of his once-proud Army of Northern Virginia arrived in Appomattox Courthouse one step of pursuing Federal Army.

The Confederate advance lasted from 7AM to 9PM, at which the troops were forced into the village. The Confederate line had retreated, at which Lee was informed that they could no longer hold their line. General Lee realized that no one could continue on, and he decided to send a flag of truce to Sheridan.

Negotiations began between General Robert E Lee and General Ulysses S Grant in the McLean House near Appomattox Court House, and the terms of surrender were agreed upon. The papers were signed, at which time Lee left for his headquarters in the court house. As he passed his men with tears streaming down his face, he said, "Men, we have fought through the war together. I have done the best that I could for you."

The signing of the surrender documents occurred in the parlor of the house owned by Wilmer McLean on the afternoon of April 9. On April 12, a formal ceremony marked the disbandment of the Army of Northern Virginia and the parole of its officers and men, effectively ending the war in Virginia.

There were several small battles after the act, and they were regarded as the final military acts of the Confederacy. Lee never forgot Grant's magnanimity during the surrender, and for the rest of his life would not tolerate an unkind word about Grant in his presence. media type="custom" key="9565042"

<span style="color: #404040; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">__**Conclusion**__
In conclusion, I wish to again refer to the outstanding bravery and significance of the Civil War. It was, along with being the cause of hundreds of thousands of deaths, the end and abolition of a cruel and useless campaign "//Slavery."// Although over 600,000 Americans died throughout this war I am sure none regret dying for their country and the honor of an entire race of people.

__**Cited Sources**__
(1.)http://www.history.com/interactives/civil-war-150 (2.)http://www.sonofthesouth.net/leefoundation/siege-vicksburg.htm (3.)http://americancivilwar.com/getty.html In addition to these cites we would like to reference any and all Civil War guides that may have been forgotten. Civil War 150 was used the most diligently and most prudently.