Turning Points in the American Civil War

Review

• Which state was the first to secede from the Union?• What was the first battle of the Civil War?• What was Pres. Lincoln’s goal at the beginning of the Civil War?• What were the advantages & disadvantages of the North?• What were the advantages & disadvantages of the South?

Turning Point #1—Emancipation Proclamation• Lincoln is a very shrewd politician• Balancing act = Immediate emancipation vs. Appeasement of the South• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUVkXthLz4w• Emancipation Proclamation issued twice• Sept. 22, 1862 and Jan. 1, 1863• No longer a war just to save the Union• Moral purpose = to liberate the slaves • It freed slaves only in the rebelling states• Encouraged slaves to join the U.S. military and become freedom fighters• Kept Br. and Fr. from siding with the CSA

Turning Point #2—Recruitment of Black Men • Frederick Douglass’s “band of scouts”• Douglass was a key advisor to Lincoln• Douglass was asked by Lincoln to organize a

group of black men to go into the “rebelling states” to inform slaves of the Emancipation Proclamation

• They encouraged them to flee their masters, come to the North, and join the Union Army

• By the end of the war nearly 220,000 black men served in the Union Army

• For Douglass, the war was deeply personal• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcC0-

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Turning Point #3--Gettysburg• Battle of Gettysburg (July 1-3, 1863)• Gen. Robert E. Lee leads the Confederate forces into the North• Feels that winning on Union soil will give the South the advantage in the

war• The battle is disastrous for the Confederate troops• Gen. Meade’s Union forces are able to repel the attack & hold their ground• Loss of man power that the Confederacy cannot replace• For Lincoln and the North, it quiets the doubters in his administration and

the public criticism• Gettysburg Address = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4Bojjx_Dew• Lincoln’s focus = Expanding freedom

Turning Point #4--Vicksburg• Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant leads his

men to victory at the Battle of Vicksburg

• Gives the North total control over the Mississippi River

• Splits the Confederacy in ½• Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas were

now isolated from the rest of the CSA

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sE1bYVwH1jM

Turning Point #5—The March to the Sea

• Union Gen. William T. Sherman leads 1,000 mile march from Atlanta, GA to Savannah, GA (late 1864)

• Mass destruction; scorched earth approach• Once capturing Savannah, then heads north to

Charleston, SC (Jan-March 1865) • Sherman’s soldiers wreak havoc in Charleston• Psychological war of destruction• Kill the will of the ordinary southerner to fight• By Spring of 1865, the South is ready to surrender• Appomattox Courthouse (Virginia)—Lee officially

surrenders on April 9, 1865