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Anaconda Plan
Goal: Like an anaconda that would strangle somebody to death, the North believed that they could slowly strangle the South into submission. The Union Army set about doing so with the Anaconda Plan in late 1863 and into 1864.
Leader: Union General Winfield Scott
Results: Although about 90 percent of Confederate ships were able to break through the blockade in 1861, this figure was cut to less than 15 percent a year later. -
Ft. Sumter
Date: April, 1861
Goal: The South Carolina government deciding that they wanted to retake Fort Sumter, a federal fort, for themselves.
Leader: Gen. Pierre G.T. Beauregard
Results: When Lincoln tried to resupply the fort and hold the fort, the South was successful in taking the fort. Ultimately, the Union had to withdraw the troops they had stationed there. -
1st Battle of Bull Run
Date: July 21, 1861
Goal: The Confederacy tries to get to Washington DC. while the Union tries to get Richmond (Capital of Confederacy).
Leaders:
Irvin McDowell
Pierre G.T. Beauregard
Results: Confederate Victory. The Union suffered a surprising defeat, and they were forced to retreat and rethink how they wanted to run things. That set the stage for two years of fighting in Virginia. -
Antietam
Date: September 22, 1862
Goal: Robert E. Lee was leading his army of Virginia through Maryland, towards the Northern capital at Washington, D.C to invade the north
Leader: George McClellan
Results: the South was forced to retreat from Antietam Creek, but the Union general in charge, George McClellan, was not aggressive enough. He did not pursue. This was a major setback for the North, that they didn't take advantage of this key moment when they had finally defeated the South -
Battle of Fredericksburg
Date: December 11-15 1862
Goal: The Union wanted to get to Richmond.
Leader: Robert E. Lee and Ambrose Burnside
Results: Union failure, they suffered 3 times as many casualties as the Confederacy. -
Battle of Chancellorsville
Date: May 1863
Goal: The Union wanted to attack Lee’s supply lines.
Leader: Joseph Hooker for the Union, and Lee and Jackson for the Confederacy
Results: Stonewall Jackson Died, and there was significant confederate victory. -
Emancipation Proclamation
Date: January 1, 1863
Goal: Free all of the slaves in the states that were under rebellion, or the 11 states that made up the South.
Leader: Abraham Lincoln
Results: This showed that the war was about ending the institution of slavery as well as letting those slaves know that ultimately, they would be freed when the North won the war. -
Siege of Vicksburg
Date: May 18 – July 4, 1863
Goal: The Union wanted to control Vicksburg in order to gain control of the Mississippi River.
Leader: Ulysses S. Grant and John C. Pemberton
Results: Conditions got very difficult and desperate in the city of Vicksburg before they finally surrendered to the Union army on July 4, 1863. That date becomes a resonating or a key point in the Civil War -
Battle of Gettysburg
Date: July 1-3 1863
Goal: Robert Lee takes his army of Virginia and swings north—this time through Pennsylvania, not through Maryland. Lee was trying to curl up through Pennsylvania and then back down on top of Washington, D.C., in an effort to capture the capital from the North
Leader: George Meade
Results: After 3 days of fighting and several different attacks by Lee's army of Virginia, Meade's army held. It was a major win for the Union, the first clear-cut victory in the Eastern Theater. -
Atlanta Campaign
Date: May 7 – September 2, 1864
Goal: To destroy Atlanta, a key manufacturing and transportation hub for the South.
Leader: Gen. William tecumseh Sherman
Results: They captured Atlanta and burned it to the ground, leading to Sherman’s March to the Sea. -
Sherman’s March to the Sea
Date: November 15 to December 21, 1864
Goal: The idea was that the Union soldiers would destroy everything in their path in an effort to force the South to surrender, whether that meant burning crops, destroying railroad lines, or destroying factories/manufacturing.
Leader: Gen. William tecumseh Sherman
Results: Sherman had not only captured Atlanta but also captured Savannah, which was a key port as the South tried to ship goods up and down its eastern seaboard.