Turning Points of the War

How did the Battles of Vicksburg and Gettysburg change the

course of the Civil War?

Vicksburg

Union Victory at Vicksburg

• In May and June of 1863, Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s armies converged on Vicksburg

• Union victory split the Confederacy in half

• Grant becomes General-in-Chief of the Union armies

• Ended the South’s hopes for victory

Gettysburg – turning point

• Gettysburg is the largest battle in the history of the Western hemisphere.

• Over 100, 000 people died in 3 days.

• It was the last time the South invaded the North.

Battle of Gettysburg

• General Lee hoped to win a victory on Union soil with hopes of strengthening peace movement in North and getting direct foreign support

Battle of Gettysburg

• Day 1 Confederate cavalry had driven the Federals south

• Federals rallied into defensive positions

• Day 2 Major engagements occurred on Union right and left; Lee hoped to flank Feds

• Day 3 Lee ordered Gen. George Pickett’s division to attack the Union center

Battle of Gettysburg

• Lee retreated to Virginia

• Union losses 23,000 men killed or wounded

• Confederacy losses 28,000 men killed or wounded

• South never again fought on Union soil

Gettysburg Address• 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.

» Abe Lincoln

Confederate Dead

Grant Takes Command

• Lincoln understood his chances of reelection in 1864 depended on Union successes in the battle field

• Lincoln appointed Ulysses S. Grant command of all the Union forces

Grant Takes Command

• Appointed William Tecumseh Sherman in charge of the west

Grant Takes Command

• Believed in total war • Attacked military and

civilian targets• Grant’s tactic was to

attack and attack again and confront the enemy

Battle of the Wilderness

• Starting in May 1864 Grant threw his troops into battle after battle

• 1st in wooded area called the Wilderness, near Fredericksburg, Virginia

Sherman’s March

• Sherman moved south toward transportation center at Atlanta

• Occupied Atlanta• Confederate army

tried to circle and cut Sherman off from railroad supply lines

Sherman’s March

• Ignored supply lines, marched southeast through Georgia to the sea

• Created a wide path of destruction

• Lived off the land as he went

Sherman’s March

• Wanted to make Southerners “so sick of war that generations would pass away before they would again appeal to it.”

Sherman’s March

• After reaching Savannah just before Christmas, Sherman turned North to help Grant, “wipe out Lee.”

• 25,000 freed slaves following behind eager for freedom

Sherman’s March

• Sherman wanted to grant each freedman’s family forty acres and a mule

• Both of which would be liberated from the former wealthy plantation owners

Sherman’s March

• Entering North Carolina, last state to secede, stopped burning private homes

• Started handing out food and other supplies to people

The Election of 1864

• Politics as usual in the North

• 1864 Presidential election

• Lincoln opposition from Democrats and within party

The Election of 1864

• In November, with the help of ballots cast by Union soldiers, Lincoln won an easy victory

• Won 212 out of 233 electoral voter

• Lincoln’s ability to unify the bitterly divided North helped the Union win

New Birth of Freedom

• Emancipation Proclamation only freed slaves in Rebel held land

• What to do with slaves in border states?

New Birth of Freedom

• Reintroduced in January 1865 after Lincoln’s reelection

• Amendment passed with 2 votes to spare

• Ratified the 13th Amendment, to end slavery

The End of the War

• April 9, 1865 • Private home in

Virginia village called Appomattox Courthouse

Appomattox

• Lee and Grant met to arrange surrender

• Grant paroled Lee’s soldiers and sent them home with personal possessions, horses, and 3 days worth of rations.

Assassination of Lincoln

• Lincoln shot and killed 5 days after Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox

• Shot at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, DC, while watching

• Our American Cousin with his wife

Lincoln is assassinated

Assassination of Lincoln

• Shot with a pistol in the back of the head by John Wilkes Booth

John Wilkes Booth

• 26 year old actor and Southern sympathizer

• leaped from balcony to the stage

• spur caught on flag draped across box, landed hard on left leg, broke it

Assassination of Lincoln

• Dr. Samuel Mudd, set Booth’s broken leg

• Mudd did not know Booth was an assassin

• Sent to Prison in Florida

Assassination of Lincoln

• Union Cavalry Caught Booth

• 12 days later• Trapped him in a

tobacco shed, lit it on fire

• Booth refused to surrender, Union shot him and dragged body from shed

Assassination of Lincoln

• Lincoln died 7:22 AM next morning, April 15, 1865

• 1st time US president assassinated

• Funeral train carried Lincoln’s body to his hometown of Springfield, Illinois

Punishment of the killers and conspirators