sherman's atlanta campaign and march to sea

http://www.wired.com/thisdayintech/2010/11/1115-sherman-march-to-sea/

The Atlanta campaign was the first out of 2 campaigns that union general William t. Sherman commanded. His principle was to gain and occupy Atlanta, due to Atlanta’s role as a major railroad hub of the south and its industrial capabilities, in which would cause a significant loss for the confederacy. Confederate general Joseph Johnston army was outnumbered 2 to 1 by the union’s army. He then decided to use defensive tactics against Sherman to at the very least try to slow down union soldiers. This defensive work ethic was utilized as a distraction. Similarly, when you’re hiding something from your parents, you do or say things to distract them. While Johnston hoped to lure Sherman into costly head on attacks, Sherman would simply go around, or out flank, the CSA’s position. He then continued to advance to what he really wanted, Atlanta. By the time general Johnston would realize this, it would be too late to attack on the union soldiers to they would have to withdrawal from their defensive strongholds. Because he repeatedly had to withdrawal, allowing Sherman and his men to get closer and closer to Atlanta untouched, he was replaced by a more aggressive general, confederate general john b. hood. Hood was instructed to take on Sherman’s army head on and protect the city of Atlanta, and he did so as commanded. Even thought he put in his best effort to halt and stall the union soldiers, he was unsuccessful, allowing Sherman to get close enough to Atlanta to begin to bombard it with cannon fire. On September 2, 1864, General Hood was forced to withdraw from Atlanta leaving the city open for Union occupation. Sherman held the city for more than two months planning for what was to be called The March to the Sea. On Nov 15, 1864, Sherman’s army left Atlanta. He left Atlanta burning, ruining everything in his path. from 

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/media/8620/Fires-blaze-while-Union-soldiers-destroy-railroad-tracks-in-Atlanta

from November 15 until December 21, 1864, Union General William T. Sherman led some 60,000 soldiers on a 285-mile march from Atlanta to Savannah, Georgia. The purpose of this “March to the Sea” was to frighten Georgia’s civilian population into abandoning the Confederate cause. After conquering Atlanta, Sherman set his mind on the rest of Georgia, and the punishment they deserved for being responsible for starting this war and these were to be the consequences they were to face. From November 15 until December 21, 1864, Union General William T. Sherman led some 60,000 soldiers on a 300-mile long and 60 miles wide march from Atlanta to Savannah, Georgia. Throughout this time, Hood attempted to once again, lure Sherman in their direction towards Tennessee, leaving Sherman and his men a clear, smooth path to savannah. Sherman’s men were instructed to liberally forage on the county during the march. They were also instructed to not disturb citizen unless they resisted and fought back, then they were allowed to set their houses and crops on fire. There were only two battles during Sherman’s March to Sea and the battle of Griswoldville was the most tragic. Sherman’s battle-hardened army was attacked by a force of Georgia militia made up of men too old and boys too young to fight in the regular army.  In this battle over 650 of the Georgians were killed in comparison to 62 Union soldiers.  With no confederates to fight off any longer, they arrived in savannah Georgia December 22, 1864. When they arrived at savannah, they not wanting to be bombarded just like griswoldville was, surrendered to the union almost immediately. He then sent Abraham the good news in a telegram enunciating, “I beg to present you as a Christmas gift the city of Savannah. . . .” This win was imperative for Lincoln to be reelected in 1864. 

http://www.ducksters.com/history/shermans_march_to_the_sea.php

video of shermans march to sea: http://www.history.com/topics/shermans-march/interactives/shermans-march

shermans field orders: http://www.sewanee.edu/faculty/Willis/Civil_War/documents/Sherman120.html

Anaconda plan

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_blockade

The purpose of the union blockade was to prevent the south from trading with England and France for weapons and other necessary supplies for war. The man behind this master plan was General Winfield Scott. This plan was also named the “anaconda plan” meaning that they were going to squeeze the CSA to its “death.” In the beginning of this developing plan, it was unsuccessful for two main reasons.  The Union navy was not able to completely blockade Georgia's coast, it was simply impossible to block everything at once when men and warfare materials were limited. Another problem the union encountered were the Many blockade runners. Blockade runners were Private citizens who took the risk of escaping the union blockade, for the chance of huge profits, and traveling to and, if they were not caught, back from Europe trading supplies.    

chickamauga, the river of death

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Chickamauga

Chickamauga was the first major battle fought in Georgia in a small town of Chickamauga located in Walker County. Not only did it last three days, but it was also the second bloodiest war of the civil war. This battle was part of a larger northern objective. The first step would be to capture Chattanooga, an important rail center, to then use it as a “stepping stone” to capture the most important rail hub; Atlanta. Just like when you first buy an itouch, just to start off, then afterward you purchase an iphone,the true prize. The union general in charge was William s. Rosecrans, in whose army captured Chattanooga. While doing this, they also decided to circle around Braggs (confederate General Braxton Bragg) army and cut their southern supply lines in western Georgia. However, bragg found out about this surprise attack before Rosecrans crew had even arrived and then decided to attack. The battle was so symbolic for 2 specific reasons. One of them being it was the largest union defeat in the western theater of the civil war. Secondly, because the south won this battle, they turned their focus once again to recapturing Chattanooga. Though they were unsuccessful, the union defended and secured Chattanooga. This became the launching point for Sherman’s Atlanta campaign. 

turning point of the war

Historians refer to the battle of Gettysburg as the true “turning point” of the civil war. This battle followed the Battle of Chancellorsville, Virginia, in May 1863.  It all began when Robert E. Lee led his Army of Northern Virginia in its second invasion of the North—the Gettysburg Campaign.   Similarly to what happened at the battle of Antietam, the south had won a series of victories and lee was determined to bring the war to northern territory. The confederates hoped that a victory on northern ground would cause them to give up and realize that they were not going to be able to keep the south in the union. After three days of heavy losses for lees outnumbered army, the southern army retreated back to Virginia. Combined with the U.S victories in the western theater that were occurring at the same time, the south was demoralized. Never again did the south invade the north. Kind of like when your little siblings come into your room and touch your stuff, you scream at them and push them and tell on them, they never do it again. it was this battle that inspired Lincoln to write one of him most famous speeches, the Gettysburg address. the speech displayed a rationale for the war and a purpose for why so many men made the decision to fight on the unions side and sacrifice their lives. 

http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/gettysburg.html?tab=facts

Antietam and its connection to the Emancipation Proclamation

The battle of Antietam took place in September 17, 1862. It was the bloodiest one day battle of all of the United States history wars, with a total of 22,717 estimated casualties. Before Antietam, the confederate states had a string of victories and General Robert e. lee was determined to bring the war to the north. Lee’s army decided to confront General George b. McClellan’s army in Sharpsburg, Maryland.  The reason for this location was that lee hoped to bring Maryland, a slave state, into the CSA. Both armies’s fought until late the last night of September 18, when they both tended their wounded and consolidates their lines, and both withdrew. While the Battle of Antietam is considered a draw from a military point of view, Abraham Lincoln and the Union claimed victory. .  Even though the north and south fought to what can be considered a “draw” with no clear winner, there is one specific reason in which fro this union victory. Special order: number 191, three union soldiers discovered a copy of the strategic plans concerning the movement of lee’s army in an envelope containing three cigars.   Lincoln saw this as the victory he needed to release the emancipation proclamation thus freeing all slaves in rebellious states on January 1, 1863. This laws is often confused  as the document that freed all slaves, when realistically it only freed, as stated previously, only  those slaves who lived in, and were owned by, those living in rebellious states. Think of it as classroom rules, lets say your french teacher does not allow any of his other classes eat during class but only your class because the period you have his class, is your lunch period. back to the actual emancipation itself, all slaves in states that fought with the union were not freed. also meaning that if the southern states would've surrendered before January 1, they too, would have been allowed to keep their slaves. The emancipation proclamation was the one moral issue that kept other European powers out of the conflict. 

photo from http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/EmanProc.html  

election of 1860 and secession in GA

Four men ran for the election of 1860, including john Breckenridge (southern democrat whose goal Was pro slavery), Abraham Lincoln (republican who did not want slavery), john bell (constitutional union party whose main goal was to avoid secession), and Stephen Douglas (northern democrat whose goal was anti slavery).   The final event that led to the civil war was, in fact, the election of presidency in 1860.  Abraham Lincoln was elected president in 1860; he was the president during the civil war. “Honest Abe” won presidency, not by popular vote, but by electoral votes, 180 electoral votes. Lincoln was part of the Republican Party, a party that began in 1854, and whose main goal was to prevent the expansion of slavery.   Following the election, southern states, one by one began to secede from the union thinking that Lincolns primary goal to forever abolish slavery. It took three long days of tough debating and rationing for Georgia to decide to secede. Georgia was part of the confederacy from 1861-1865. Even before Georgia became part of the confederacy, many arguments were to be settled on this topic of secession. During this debate many representatives who opposed the idea of seceding were northern GA counties, small farmers and non-slave holders, and one of the most important reps, Alexander Stephens. Stephens  served as governor of Georgia, U.S congressman, U.S senator, and vice president of the confederacy. He also played a major role in assisting with the passage of the compromise of 1850 and the Kansas-Nebraska act. Even though he fought until the very end against seceding from the union, he was an advocate for slavery. Those who did want to secede consisted of large farmers, slave holders, Georgia governor Joseph e. brown and influential men such as Robert Toombs. During the first round of votes concerning secession, the assembly was split 166 to 130 in favor of secession. At the final round of votes, the general assembly voted 208 to 89 in favor of seceding from the union. the states that did decide to secede, became known as the confederate states. their first and only president was Jefferson Davis.  

photo from http://deedrad123.blogspot.com/2011/12/election-of-1860.html    

dred scott case

Dred Scott was a black slave whose case went to the U.S supreme court, march of 1857. His case pleaded that he was free. It stated so because Scott had lived in the slave state of Missouri but had traveled and lived in the free states of Illinois and Wisconsin; therefore, he should have been considered a free man. The U.S Supreme Court ruled in favor of the owner stating that slaves were property. The ruling also affirmed that blacks, even if freed, were still not citizens, hence, Dred Scott could not sue against a white man. This reigning greatly privileged the southern view of slavery. This lead to even greater ideological divide between the north and the south.  The dred scott case, as well as the judge that led the united states supreme court, declared the 1830 Missouri compromise unconstitutional, like so, permitting slavery in all of the country’s territories. 

http://www.tnhistoryforkids.org/places/dred_scott