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1st Bull Run/Manassas
- 25 miles from Washington D.C
- Press and the public clamoring for action--Picnics--watched the battle
- Lincoln decides to attack - 30,000 Union troops go on the offensive
- In the morning the Union gain the upper hand but confederates held firm under leadership of Gen Thomas Jackson - “Stonewall”
- By afternoon, confederate reinforcements arrive and force Union soldiers to retreat
- Southern victory dispelled illusions of a quick war
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Antietam
- Robert E. Lee broke the back of McClellan’s assault on Richmond
- Lee invaded Maryland--Invades North!
- Union soldiers found a copy of Lee’s battle plans wrapped around a packet of three cigars, dropped by a confederate officer - revealed Lee and Stonewall Jackson’s armies were separated
- McClellan catches up with Lee near Antietam Creek
- Bloodiest single day battle of the war - 24,000-26,000 casualties
- Lee retreats back to Virginia; McClellan fails to pursue and is removed from command
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Vicksburg
- One of the last remaining strongholds on Mississippi River
- Union forces lay siege to the town for six weeks
- City surrendered on July 4th
- Union on way to controlling the Mississippi River and splitting South in half.
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Gettysburg
- Lincoln replaced McClellan with General Ambrose Burnside as commander of the army.
- He proved unfit for the job when he launched a rash frontal attack where there were more than 10,000 killed or wounded at the Battle of Fredericksburg.
- Joseph Hooker took control next but was attacked by Lee’s army that had split into two at the Battle of Chancellorsville
- Stonewall” Jackson was accidentally killed by his own side at Chancellorsville.
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Pickett's Charge
- was the culmination of the Battle of Gettysburg. Taking place on July 3, 1863, the third and final day of battle
- it involved an infantry assault of approximately 15,000 Confederate soldiers against Union Major General George Meade's troops' position along Cemetery Ridge, manned by some 6,500 Federals.
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March to the Sea
The March to the Sea was the campaign of total war waged by General William Tecumseh Sherman following the capture and burning of Atlanta. From November 15 to December 21st 1864 Sherman and his forces marched through Georgia, destroying everything in their path to disrupt the southern economy and transportation networks.
