After four years of bloody fighting, the Union wears down the Confederacy and wins the war.

The North Takes Charge

Southern Victories• December 1862, Fredericksburg; May 1863,

Chancellorsville

Demise of Stonewall Jackson• General Stonewall (confederate) shot in the arm by his

own troops• Arm is amputated, dies from pneumonia• General Lee takes charge for the Confederates and he

decides to invade the North.

The Tide TurnsThe North Takes Charge

The Battle of Gettysburg• Most decisive battle of the war.• North wins decisive three-day battle of Gettysburg, July

1863• Total casualties were more than 30%; 23,000 Union

deaths or injuries; 28,000 Confederate deaths or injuries• Union victory – even though they are driven out of

Gettysburg, they take the higher ground and attack from there.• South demoralized ; Lee gives up hope of ever invading

the north again.

The Tide TurnsThe North Takes Charge

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.

The Tide Turns: Gettysburg AddressThe North Takes Charge

The Tide TurnsThe North Takes Charge

The Gettysburg Address• Nov. 1863, Lincoln gives Gettysburg Address at cemetery

dedication• Speech helps country realize it is a unified nation • Changes the terminology from “United States are” to the

“United States is” – representing a single, unified government.

Grant Wins at Vicksburg/Port Hudson• May-July 1863, Grant sieges Vicksburg after several

unsuccessful attacks• Vicksburg is important because it is a stronghold on

Mississippi River – there were bluffs above the water where guns could control water traffic.• Grant weakened defenses first by destroying rail lines.• He then distracts them by sending troops to another

area.• Eventually , Vicksburg runs out of food supplies.• Surrenders to the Union Soldiers on July 5.• Five days later, Port Hudson on the Mississippi fell.

The Tide Turns

Confederates Seek Peace• Confederacy no longer able to attack; morale is low• Confederacy hoped to hang on until moral in North broke

– Hoping for armistice (agreement to stop the fight, not a surrender)• Southern newspapers, legislators, public call for peace

The Confederacy Wears Down

Continued…

“ Total War” policy• Lincoln appoints Grant commander of all Union Armies

(1864)• Grant appoints William Tecumseh Sherman as Western

commander • Grant, Sherman wage total war to destroy South’s (the

people’s) will to fight• In turn this would completely crash the confederacy.• Grant’s strategy to decimate Lee’s army while Sherman

raids Georgia• Grant knew the casualties would be extremely high, but

he also knew the North could afford more casualties than the South.

The Confederacy Wears Down

Sherman’s March• Spring 1864, Sherman creates a path of destruction

through Georgia• Determined to make the Southern people sick of war.

The Surrender at Appomatox• Union troops take Richmond, Confederate Capitol.• April 1865, Grant and Lee meet – Confederates surrender

at Appomatox Court House• Within a month, all remaining Confederate resistance

collapses

The Confederacy Wears Down

The Election of 1864• Lincoln’s unexpected reelection helped by Sherman’s

victories• Faced heavy opposition from Democrats; Sherman’s

victories helped him win.

Human Cost of the War• Approximately 360,000 Union and 260,000 Confederate

soldiers die

A Revolution in Warfare• Developments in military technology make fighting more

deadly: Rifle, hand grenades, landmines• Ironclad ships change naval warfare

The War Changes the Nation

Political and Economic Changes• Civil War increases power, authority of federal

government (conscription, income tax)• Southern economy shattered: industry, farmlands

destroyed; Northern economy boomed

The Thirteenth Amendment• Thirteenth Amendment bans slavery in all states

The War Changes Lives

Lincoln Is Assassinated• April 14, 1865, Lincoln is shot at Ford’s Theater• Assassin John Wilkes Booth escapes, trapped by Union

cavalry, shot• 7 million people pay respects to Lincoln’s funeral train

The War Changes Lives Presidential Succession

• When a president dies/becomes incapacitated, VP becomes President• Andrew Johnson becomes president, different policies

than Lincoln• Eventually during the era called “Reconstruction,” Johnson

is impeached for Firing his Secretary of War without permission of the Senate.• He is not removed from office by the Senate.• Really, people were just unhappy with his politics and

policies.