And the War Ends

Ms. Bolognini

The Confederacy Wears Down

• Two victories cost South badly• Supplies and public support very low• Weak gov’t-no central authority• Lincoln appoints Grant head of army• Grant appoints William Tecumseh

Sherman his right hand man–Belief in TOTAL WAR

War of Attrition

• Wear the South out through a “battle of attrition” by relentlessly attacking Lee and pushing toward Richmond. Grant make Why was this strategy more possible for the North?– William Tecumseh Sherman next in

command• Sherman to move from Tenn. to Atlanta

waging TOTAL WAR (destruction of everything in his path to take public support out of the war)

• Both Sherman and Grant were strong adherents of the total war philosophy

Grant and Lee in Virginia

• Grant chases Lee throughout area of Virginia, the “Wilderness” near Fredericksburg-tough fighting• Grant willing to sacrifice lots of men &

knew that Lee could not• Grant losses 60K men to Lee’s 32K• Loss of public support in North;

Lincoln’s 1864 campaign suffers

Battle of the Wilderness

Sherman’s March to the Sea

• 1864, public support in North falling due to human losses and indecisive battles

• Lincoln/Johnson vs. McClellan• Looks like Lincoln might lose, but tide is turned

with news of Sherman’s march to Atlanta (waging total war)

• Lincoln wins; 212 to 21; 55% of popular vote Sherman reaches Atlanta (September 2, 1864) and

marches North taking Savannah (December 1864) and then heads towards Grant

Sherman’s March to the Sea

The Surrender at Appomattox• Grant and Sherman closing in on Lee• Davis abandons Richmond and burns city

so Union could not take it (900 buildings &100s homes)

• April 9, 1865-Lee met Grant at Appomattox Courthouse in VA to surrender

• Grant allowed Confed. soldiers just to go home without charging them

Lee Surrenders to Grant

Results of the War• Soldier Dead: 360K Union & 260K Confederate • Soldiers Injured: 275K Union & 225K Confederate

(amputees)• $3.3 billion combined spending (budget!)• Lincoln assassinated by John Wilkes Booth on April

14, 1865 at the Ford’s Theatre • Booth escapes to Virginia; large manhunt; nation

grieves• He was shot dead 12 days later • Lincoln dies; Andrew Johnson president