The Beginning of the EndThe Last Days of the Civil War

The Battle of Gettysburg

Gettysburg

Why were the Confederates in PA?

Why was the high ground so important?

How did the results of the battle influence each army?

Results of the Battle

CasualtiesNorth: 23,000 of 85,000

South: 28,000 of 75,000

Lee flees back to VANo one to fill the losses

Vicksburg

Importance of 1863

Union VictoriesGettysburg

Weakened Lee

VicksburgControl of the Mississippi River

The Gettysburg Address

November 19, 1863Lincoln’s speech dedicating the national cemetery at Gettysburg

“I wish I could flatter myself that I had come as near to the central idea of the occasion in two hours as you did in two

minutes”

~Edward Everett

Struggles of 1864The Confederate Strategy: HOLD ON!

Lincoln is almost gone!

Lincoln’s Problem: Re-electionDepended on success:

Grant and Sherman

Battle of the Wilderness

May 1864: Grant moves outHeaded toward Richmond

May 5th: The Battle of the WildernessBullets and Blazes

Grant was badly beaten, but. . . He did not return to Washington, he kept going

Grant: “The Butcher”Grant continued to lose large numbers of men

He could always replace his men

Siege of PetersburgCut off Richmond’s food supply.

Waited for surrender and the Presidential elections

Gen. Sherman’s March

Grant sent Gen. Sherman down to threaten Atlanta

Use the tactic of Total War

Sherman laid siege on the city

March to the sea

Sherman vowed “to make Georgia howl”

Cut a 300 mile path of destruction across the stateDec. 21: took the city of Savannah

He gave it to Pres. Lincoln for Christmas

“War is Cruelty,” ~W.T. Sherman, “There is no use trying to reform it. The crueler it is, the sooner it will be over”

The Election of 1864

Lincoln thought he would be beatenNew Running Mate, Andrew Johnson Democrats nominated Gen. George McClellanCapture of Atlanta swayed the vote Lincoln’s way

Lincoln won 212 of the 233 electoral votes• 3 months later, Congress was able to

pass the 13th amendment

The 13th Amendment

• “Neither Slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.”

Lincoln’s 2nd Inauguration

• “Both [North and South] read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare ask a just God’s assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men’s faces; but let us judge not that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes.”

Sherman Moves North

• February, 1865: Sherman moves north to SC– The first state to secede, regarded as

the heart of the rebellion

– Sherman’s two goals:– 1. Destroy the South’s remaining

resources– 2. Crush the remaining will to fight

“Here is where the treason began and, by God, here is where it shall end!” ~Union

Soldier

– SC was treated even more harshly than GA

• Few Houses were spared• Half the city of Columbia was burned to the

ground

Surrender at Appomattox

• April 1865: Lee’s troops had shrunk to fewer than 35,000– Lee tried to slip around Grant and push him

away from Richmond• Discovered by Union• Lee rejects guerilla tactics

– April 9, 1865: Lee met with Grant in a private home, owned by Wilmer McClean

“The War started in my backyard and ended in my front parlor” ~Wilmer

McClean

Surrender• Grant’s generous terms

– Southern soldiers could take their horses or mules (if they had them) and go home• They wouldn’t be punished as traitors

– Grant offered to feed the starving soldiers

• Grant ordered the stop of Union celebrations: “the rebels are our countrymen again”

• April 26th –June 23rd: The rest of the CSA surrenders

Lincoln’s Assassination

• Abraham Lincoln did not live to see the official end of the war– Winter ’64-’65: growing

conspiracy to aid the Confederacy• Led by an actor, John Wilkes

Booth• “Hit List” –Grant, Lincoln,

Johnson and more

• April 14, 1865:– Booth shot Lincoln at Ford’s Theater in

Washington DC

• In the North, citizens mourned for their leader– Lincoln’s funeral train took 14 days to

get from DC to Springfield, IL

Lincoln’s Assassination

CasualtiesKilled and Mortally Wounded

Dead of Disease

POW Dead Wounded Total Casualties

Union 110,100 224,580 30,192 275,175 640,047

Confederacy 94,000 164,000 31,000 194,026 483,026

Total: 204,100 388,580 61,192 469,201 1,123,073

Making Predictions:

• With a partner, suppose that the South succeeded in winning its independence. – Make 3 predictions about what the

consequences of a divided nation would have been for both the US and the CS.

• Think about…– Economics of N, S, and W– Enslaved African Americans– Foreign response

What was gained?

• An Undivided nation

• A Democracy seeking equality

• Fellow Citizens: The African Americans