Turning Points of the Civil War

1. Capture of New Orleans

Confederacy’s Largest Port

Confederacy’s Largest City

Mouth of the Mississippi River

Experiment in Reconstruction

2. Battle of Antietam

Army of the Potomac’s First “Victory”

Seven Days

Second Manassas

Effect on Great Britain

Opportunity for Lincoln

3. Emancipation Proclamation

Union war aim

Undermined Confederate War Effort

Foreign Policy Ramifications

4. Vicksburg Campaign

Closing of the Mississippi/Splitting Confederacy

Demoralization

Rise of U. S. Grant

5. Rise of Gen. Ulysses S. Grant

Integrated Strategy/Pressure on all points

Sherman’s March

Shenandoah Valley

Red River Campaign

Overland Campaign

Determination

Culmination of Total War

6. Election of 1864

Guarantees War Will Continue

Cements Republicans’ Power

Solidifies Lincoln’s Reputation

7. Sherman’s March

8. Assassination of Abraham Lincoln

Slave Power Conspiracy Continues

Bloody Shirt

Eliminates Alternative Reconstruction

Halts Lincoln’s Evolution on Race

Spring and Summer 1865

Lincoln Views the Future

10 per cent plan

The Second Inaugural

Two Weeks in April

Last Gasp at Appomattox

Assassination, Mourning, and a New World