A SIGN OF HOW

TECHNOLOGY CHANGED

THE WAY WARS WERE

FOUGHT, FOR THE FIRST TIME

IN AMERICAN WARS, THE

TELEGRAPH PROVED VITAL IN

HELPING SOLDIERS

COMMUNICATE TACTICAL

INFORMATION TO EACH

OTHER. MESSAGES THAT

ONCE HAD TO BE DELIVERED

BY HAND, TAKING PRECIOUS

MINUTES, HOURS, OR DAYS,

COULD NOW BE SENT BACK

AND FORTH WITHIN

SECONDS.

Photo: Telegraph Signal Tower at Cobb’s Hill, Near New Market, VA 1864

ULYSSES GRANT HAD STRUGGLED TO BE SUCCESSFUL IN THE YEARS BEFORE THE WAR.

HE GRADUATED NEAR THE BOTTOM OF HIS CLASS AT THE U.S. MILITARY ACADEMY, HAD

GONE BANKRUPT IN BUSINESS, AND HAD TO BORROW MONEY FROM A FRIEND TO

RETURN HOME WHEN THE WAR STARTED.

Photo: Union General and future President Ulysses S. Grant

DESPITE THIS, HIS

DETERMINATION AND

UNWILLINGNESS TO

GIVE UP LED TO HIM

BEING NAMED GENERAL

OF ENTIRE UNION ARMY

DURING THE CIVIL WAR.

A LEGITIMATE WAR

HERO, HE WOULD LATER

BECOME THE 18TH

PRESIDENT OF THE

UNITED STATES.

ROBERT E. LEE WAS THE MOST

QUALIFIED GENERAL OF THE

TIME. LEE WON FAME FOR HIS

VICTORIES IN THE MEXICAN-

AMERICAN WAR AND ABRAHAM

LINCOLN WOULD ASK HIM TO

LEAD THE U. S. ARMY IN THE

CIVIL WAR.

LEE, WHOSE FAMILY CALLED

VIRGINIA HOME FOR

GENERATIONS, HAD TO REFUSE

AND WOULD INSTEAD LEAD THE

CONFEDERATE ARMY DURING

THE CIVIL WAR. FOR HIM, HE

COULD NOT POSSIBLY THINK OF

FIGHTING AGAINST HIS FAMILY

AND FRIENDS.

Photo: Confederate General Robert E. Lee

JEFFERSON DAVIS WAS THE PRESIDENT OF

THE CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA

FROM 1861-1865. BEFORE THE WAR, HE

SERVED AS A CONGRESSMAN FROM

MISSISSIPPI AND HAD EVEN BEEN

SECRETARY OF WAR FOR THE UNITED

STATES. AFTER THE CIVIL WAR, HE WAS

CHARGED WITH, BUT NOT CONVICTED

OF, TREASON.

Photo: Confederate President Jefferson Davis

THE UNITED STATES

COLORED TROOPS (USCT)

WERE MADE UP OF

AFRICAN AMERICAN

SOLDIERS WHO WERE

FREED SLAVES.

APPROXIMATELY 175

REGIMENTS OF OVER

178,000 FREE BLACKS

AND FREED SLAVES

SERVED DURING THE LAST

TWO YEARS OF THE WAR.

BY WAR’S END, THE USCT

WERE APPROXIMATELY

1/10 OF ALL UNION

TROOPS. THERE WERE

2,751 USCT COMBAT

CASUALTIES DURING THE

WAR.

Photo: The 26th U.S. Colored Volunteer Infantry on Parade – PA, 1865

BEFORE THE AGE OF RADIO, TELEVISION,

AND SOCIAL MEDIA, NEWS WAS

WRITTEN AND READ IN PAPERS AND

MAGAZINES, SOMETIMES WITH

ILLUSTRATIONS. THE WAY PEOPLE

LEARNED OF EVENTS CHANGED WITH

THE USE OF THE NEW TECHNOLOGY -

PHOTOGRAPHY.

MATTHEW BRADY WAS PERHAPS THE

MOST WELL-KNOWN CIVIL WAR

PHOTOGRAPHER. HE IS CONSIDERED

TO BE THE “FATHER OF

PHOTOJOURNALISM” WHERE PICTURES

ARE USED TO TELL A STORY.

Photo: Matthew Brady, the Photographer returned from Bull Run, July 22, 1861

THE RAILROADS GAVE THE

NORTH A SIGNIFICANT

ADVANTAGE DURING THE

CIVIL WAR IN TERMS OF

TRANSPORTING TROOPS

AND SUPPLIES.

ITS WIDESPREAD USE

THROUGHOUT THE

INDUSTRIAL NORTH

PROVED INCREDIBLY

HELPFUL TO THE UNION

CAUSE.

Photo: Depot of the U.S. Military Railroads, Showing the Engine President – City Point, VA 1864

AN IRONCLAD WAS A STEAM-

PROPELLED WARSHIP THAT

WAS PROTECTED BY IRON OR

STEEL ARMOR PLATE. THE

BATTLE BETWEEN THE SHIPS

WAS THE FIRST BATTLE

BETWEEN IRONCLADS. THIS

NEW TYPE OF SHIP WOULD

CHANGE NAVAL WARFARE

OVERNIGHT.

THE USS MONITOR WAS THE

FIRST IRONCLAD WARSHIP OF

THE UNITED STATES NAVY. THE

CSS VIRGINIA WAS AN

IRONCLAD WARSHIP OF THE

CONFEDERATE STATES NAVY. IT

WAS BLOWN UP BY THE

CONFEDERATES IN ORDER TO

KEEP FROM GETTING

CAPTURED IN MAY 1862.

Photo: Battle Between the CSS Virginia and the USS Monitor – Hampton Roads, VA, March 9 1862.

MEDICAL KNOWLEDGE AT THE TIME

OF THE CIVIL WAR WAS EXTREMELY

PRIMITIVE. DOCTORS DID NOT

UNDERSTAND INFECTION, AND DID

LITTLE TO PREVENT IT. IT WAS A

TIME BEFORE ANTISEPTICS.

NO ANTIBIOTICS WERE AVAILABLE;

MINOR WOUNDS COULD EASILY

BECOME INFECTED AND FATAL.

TWICE AS MANY MEN DIED OF

DISEASE THAN OF GUNSHOT

WOUNDS.

DYSENTERY, MEASLES, SMALL POX,

PNEUMONIA, AND MALARIA WERE

THE SOLDIER’S GREATEST ENEMY.

THE LACK OF SHELTER AND SUITABLE

CLOTHING, THE POOR QUALITY OF

FOOD AND WATER, AND CROWDED

CONDITION OF CAMPS MADE THE

TYPICAL CAMP A LITERAL; BREEDING

GROUND FOR DISEASE.

Photo: Field Hospital after Battle of June 27 –Savage Station, VA, June 30, 1862

IMPROVED WEAPONS AND AMMUNITION,

SUCH AS THE REPEATING RIFLE AND THE

MINIE BALL, LED TO HORRIFIC WOUNDS ON

THE BATTLEFIELD AND AN ENORMOUS

NUMBER OF CASUALTIES.

Photos: Amputee; Amputation kit

IF A SOLDIER WAS SHOT IN THE TORSO, THERE WAS LITTLE ANYONE COULD DO.

HOWEVER, IF HE WAS SHOT IN AN APPENDAGE, AMPUTATION WAS COMMON IN ORDER

TO PREVENT GANGRENE AND OTHER DISEASES.

THE BATTLE OF ANTIETAM IN

MARYLAND WAS THE

BLOODIEST DAY IN AMERICAN

HISTORY. AT LEAST 23,000 MEN

DIED AND ANOTHER 30,000 OR

MORE WERE WOUNDED

DURING THE BATTLE.

IT WAS ALSO THE FIRST MAJOR

BATTLE TO TAKE PLACE ON

NORTHERN SOIL, AS

CONFEDERATE GENERAL

ROBERT. E. LEE ATTEMPTED TO

GO ON THE OFFENSIVE.

LINCOLN REPLACED GENERAL

MCCLELLAN AND PREPARED TO

MAKE A MAJOR

ANNOUNCEMENT THAT WOULD

FOREVER CHANGE THE UNITED

STATES.

Photo: Confederate dead by the fence bordering Farmer Miller’s 40 acre Cornfield at Antietam where the intense rifle and artillery fire cut every corn stalk to the ground “as closely as could have been done with a knife.”

THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG

LASTED FROM JULY 1-3, 1863.

MORE THAN 25,000 SOLDIERS

DIED IN WHAT BECAME THE

DEADLIEST BATTLE OF THE CIVIL

WAR.

SOME OF THE FIERCEST

FIGHTING TOOK PLACE OVER

THREE DAYS AND GETTYSBURG

IS CONSIDERED THE “HIGH

POINT” OF THE CONFEDERACY.

AFTER THIS BATTLE, THE

CONFEDERATE ARMY UNDER

THE COMMAND OF ROBERT E.

LEE WOULD NEVER AGAIN BE

AS STRONG AND ABLE TO

FIGHT AS THEY WERE FOR

GETTYSBURG.

Photo: Dead Confederate Soldiers in “The Devi’s Den” –Gettysburg, PA, July 1863

FORT SUMTER WAS A UNITED STATES FORT BUILT TO PROTECT THE CITY OF CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA. AS

TENSIONS BETWEEN NORTH AND SOUTH ROSE, THE U.S. SOLDIERS STATIONED THERE FOUND THEMSELVES

TRAPPED BY CONFEDERATE FORCES. WHILE ABRAHAM LINCOLN ATTEMPTED TO EVACUATE THE U.S. TROOPS, THE

CONFEDERATE FORCES DECIDED TO BOMBARD THE FORT. TWENTY-FOUR HOURS LATER, THE U.S. TROOPS

SURRENDERED AND THE CONFEDERATE VICTORY OVER THE UNION TROOPS AT FORT SUMTER IS CONSIDERED THE

BEGINNING OF THE CIVIL WAR..

Photo: Interior of Fort Sumter

ONE OF GENERAL GRANT’S MOST

TRUSTED FRIENDS AND GENERALS,

WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN CARRIED

OUT THE WAR IN THE SOUTH.

HIS EPIC “MARCH TO THE SEA” WAS

DEVASTATING TO THE CONFEDERACY.

UNION TROOPS INFLICTED $100

MILLION IN DESTRUCTION AND

WRECKED 300 MILES OF RAILROAD,

TELEGRAPH LINES, AND BRIDGES.

HIS “TOTAL WAR” POLICY SEIZED TENS

OF THOUSANDS OF HORSES, MULES,

AND CATTLE. IT CONFISCATED

MILLIONS OF POUNDS OF CORN, AND

DESTROYED UNCOUNTED COTTON

GINS AND MILLS. WHATEVER HIS

ARMY DID NOT NEED WAS BURNT TO

THE GROUND.

Photo: Union General William T. Sherman (with arm on rear of

cannon), Atlanta, GA, 1864

INFORMATION: THE FIRST BATTLE OF BULL RUN IS ALSO KNOWN AS THE FIRST BATTLE OF

MANASSAS. IT WAS THE FIRST MAJOR LAND BATTLE OF THE CIVIL WAR AND RESULTED IN THE

UNION TROOPS WITHDRAWING. UNION CASUALTIES WERE 460 KILLED, 1,124 WOUNDED, AND

1,312 MISSING OR CAPTURED; CONFEDERATE CASUALTIES WERE 387 KILLED, 1,582 WOUNDED,

AND 13 MISSING.

THE BATTLE OF COLD

HARBOR WAS PART OF

THE UNION’S

“WILDERNESS

CAMPAIGN.” EVEN

THOUGH THE UNION

WOULD END UP

WINNING THE WHOLE

CAMPAIGN COLD

HARBOR WAS A

DECISIVE DEFEAT AS

THOUSANDS OF

TROOPS WERE

SLAUGHTERED.

Photo: African Americans Collecting Bones of Soldiers Killed in the Battle – Cold Harbor, VA, April 1865

GRANT LATER STATED THAT: “I HAVE ALWAYS REGRETTED THAT THE LAST ASSAULT AT COLD HARBOR

WAS EVER MADE…AT COLD HARBOR NO ADVANTAGE WHATEVER WAS GAINED TO COMPENSATE

FOR THE HEAVY LOSS WE SUSTAINED.”

ABRAHAM LINCOLN WAS SHOT

AND KILLED BY JOHN WILKES

BOOTH ON APRIL 14, 1865 WHILE

ATTENDING A PERFORMANCE AT

FORD’S THEATER.

HIS MURDER OCCURRED LESS

THAN A WEEK AFTER LEE’S

SURRENDER AT APPOMATTOX AND

THE END OF THE WAR.

HIS DEATH SPARKED OUTRAGE

THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY,

INCLUDING THE SOUTHERN STATES

OF THE CONFEDERACY WHICH

NOW WORRIED WHAT WOULD

HAPPEN TO THE EFFORTS TO

RECONSTRUCT THE NATION.

Photo: Box in Ford’s Theater where Lincoln was Assassinated – 1865

JOHN WILKES BOOTH’S ASSASSINATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN WAS PART OF A MUCH-LARGER CONSPIRACY. IN

ADDITION TO LINCOLN, THE CONSPIRATORS PLANNED TO ATTACK THE VICE-PRESIDENT, THE SECRETARY OF STATE

AND GENERAL GRANT. EVEN THOUGH BOOTH WAS THE ONLY ONE TO SUCCEED IN HIS MISSION, THE OTHERS

LISTED BELOW WERE SENTENCED TO THEIR DEATHS FOR THEIR ROLES IN THE ASSASSINATION PLOT. MARY

SURRATT’S ONLY “CRIME” WAS BECAUSE SHE WAS THE OWNER OF THE BOARDING HOUSE IN WHICH THE SECRET

MEETINGS WERE HELD.

Photo: Execution of the Four Persons Condemned as Conspirators (Mary E. Surratt, Lewis T. Powell, David E. Herold, and George A. Atzerodt), July 7, 1865

IT WAS ALSO ONE OF THE FIRST BATTLES OF THE CIVIL WAR TO HAVE SEVERAL THOUSAND CASUALTIES.

NEWS OF THE HIGH NUMBER OF DEATHS AND INJURIES SHOCKED THE NATION. MANY CALLED GRANT

A DRUNK AND A BUTCHER AND CALLED FOR HIS REPLACEMENT.

THE BATTLE OF SHILOH, WAS A MAJOR BATTLE FOUGHT ON APRIL 6 AND 7, 1862, IN TENNESSEE.

CONFEDERATE FORCES LAUNCHED A SURPRISE ATTACK ON GRANT AND THE US ARMY, WHICH WAS CAMPED BY PITTSBURG LANDING.

DESPITE WINNING THE FIRST DAY, THE CONFEDERATES WAS DEFEATED THE SECOND DAY AND LOST THE BATTLE.

THE BATTLE WAS A VERY IMPORTANT UNION VICTORY.

THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION WAS AN EXECUTIVE ORDER ISSUED BY PRESIDENT ABRAHAM

LINCOLN ON JANUARY 1, 1863. IT PROCLAIMED THE FREEDOM OF ALMOST 3 MILLION SLAVES IN THE

CONFEDERATE STATES THAT WERE STILL IN REBELLION AGAINST THE US. IT ALSO CHANGED, OR AT LEAST,

ADDED, TO THE WAR GOALS OF THE UNION. WHAT WAS ONCE A WAR BEING FOUGHT TO RESTORE

THE UNION, NOW BECAME A WAR TO FREE SLAVES EVERYWHERE.

THE CONFEDERATE SURRENDER FOLLOWING THE SIEGE AT VICKSBURG IS SOMETIMES CONSIDERED,

WHEN COMBINED WITH GEN. ROBERT E. LEE'S DEFEAT AT GETTYSBURG THE PREVIOUS DAY, THE

TURNING POINT OF THE WAR.

THE SIEGE OF VICKSBURG (MAY 18 – JULY 4, 1863) WAS A SERIES OF MANEUVERS BY UNION MAJ. GEN. ULYSSES S. GRANT AND HIS ARMY OF THE TENNESSEE.

FOR ALMOST SIX WEEKS, GRANT’S ARMY DID NOT ALLOW ANYTHING TO ENTER OR LEAVE THE CITY AND THE CONFEDERATE FORCES AND THE CITIZENS OF THE CITY SLOWLY STARVED.

THE VICTORY BROUGHT THE ENTIRE MISSISSIPPI RIVER UNDER UNION CONTROL.

IN JUST OVER TWO MINUTES, LINCOLN RESTATED THE PRINCIPLES OF HUMAN EQUALITY FIRST

NOTED BY THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE AND PROCLAIMED THE CIVIL WAR AS A

STRUGGLE TO PRESERVE THE UNION. LINCOLN ALSO REDEFINED THE CIVIL WAR AS A STRUGGLE

NOT JUST FOR THE UNION, BUT FOR THE FREEDOM OF ALL MEN, FREE AND ENSLAVED.

THE GETTYSBURG ADDRESS IS A

SPEECH BY ABRAHAM LINCOLN

AND IS ONE OF THE BEST-

KNOWN IN AMERICAN HISTORY.

IT WAS DELIVERED BY LINCOLN

AT THE DEDICATION OF THE

SOLDIERS' NATIONAL CEMETERY

IN GETTYSBURG,

PENNSYLVANIA, FOUR AND A

HALF MONTHS AFTER THE

BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S

CAREFULLY CRAFTED ADDRESS

CAME TO BE REGARDED AS ONE

OF THE GREATEST SPEECHES IN

AMERICAN HISTORY.

SHERMAN'S MARCH TO THE WAS CONDUCTED THROUGH GEORGIA FROM NOVEMBER

THROUGH DECEMBER 1864. HIS FORCES DESTROYED MILITARY TARGETS AS WELL AS INDUSTRIAL

AND CIVILIAN PROPERTY AND DISRUPTED THE SOUTH'S ECONOMY AND ITS TRANSPORTATION.

SHERMAN'S BOLD MOVE OF OPERATING DEEP WITHIN ENEMY TERRITORY AND WITHOUT SUPPLY

LINES IS CONSIDERED TO BE REVOLUTIONARY IN THE HISTORY OF WAR.

LINCOLN COULD NOT KNOW THAT JOHN WILKES BOOTH, THE MAN WHO WOULD MURDER HIM WEEKS LATER,

WAS PRESENT IN THE CROWD AT THE INAUGURATION. THE ADDRESS IS INSCRIBED, ALONG WITH THE

GETTYSBURG ADDRESS, IN THE LINCOLN MEMORIAL.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN DELIVERED

HIS SECOND INAUGURAL

ADDRESS AT A TIME WHEN

VICTORY OVER THE

CONFEDERACY IN THE CIVIL WAR

WAS WITHIN DAYS AND SLAVERY

WAS NEAR AN END.

SOME SEE THIS SPEECH AS A

“ROUGH DRAFT” FOR

RECONSTRUCTION, IN WHICH HE

SOUGHT TO AVOID HARSH

TREATMENT OF THE DEFEATED

SOUTH.

HE REMINDED HIS LISTENERS OF

HOW WRONG BOTH SIDES HAD

BEEN IN IMAGINING WHAT LAY

BEFORE THEM WHEN THE WAR

BEGAN FOUR YEARS EARLIER.

THE SIGNING OF THE SURRENDER DOCUMENTS OCCURRED IN THE PARLOR OF THE HOUSE OWNED

BY WILMER MCLEAN ON THE AFTERNOON OF APRIL 9. FIGHTING WOULD CONTINUE IN OTHER

PARTS OF THE COUNTRY AS NEWS HAD YET TO SPREAD OF LEE’S SURRENDER. THIS EVENT,

HOWEVER, TRIGGERED A SERIES OF SURRENDERS ACROSS THE SOUTH, SIGNALING THE END OF THE

WAR.

THE BATTLE OF APPOMATTOX

COURT HOUSE WAS THE

FINAL ENGAGEMENT OF THE

CONFEDERATE ARMY BEFORE

IT SURRENDERED TO THE

UNION.

IT WAS ONE OF THE LAST

BATTLES OF THE AMERICAN

CIVIL WAR. UNION FORCES

CUT OFF THE CONFEDERATES

AT APPOMATTOX COURT

HOUSE. WHEN LEE REALIZED

THIS, HE HAD NO CHOICE

BUT TO SURRENDER.