Civil War Battles
By: Sam Studer
Fort Sumter
- Was located in the Charleston Harbor
- Union soldiers guarded/were in the fort
- Thursday, April 11, 1861- Confederate soldiers opened fire
- General Robert Anderson surrendered on Saturday, April 13
- No casualties were killed
Antietam
- The dawn of September 17, Maj. General Joseph Hooker’s Union soldiers mounted a powerful assault on the Confederates left flank
- Battle took place in Maryland
- Neither army fought at night; instead they intended their wounded
- The single most bloodiest battle
Vicksburg
- One of the more remarkable campaigns
- Union forces weakened the Confederate forces as they moved in rapidly
- Confederate general John C. Pemberton surrendered on July 4, 1863
Gettysburg
- General Robert E. Lee wanted to threaten the Northern cities
- The 2 armies collided west & north of the town on July 1, 1863
- The Union defeated a fishhook-shaped range of hills & ridges south of Gettysburg with 90,000 soldiers
- July 2, General Robert E. Lee launched a heavy assault on the Union’s left flank
- After 4 months of battle, President Lincoln honored the fallen Union soldiers in the historic Gettysburg Address
Sherman's March to the Sea
- General Sherman led 100,000 men into the southern city of Atlanta
- After establishing control of Atlanta, General Sherman decided to march to Savannah, Georgia and take control of the sea port there
- When Sherman arrived in Savannah, the small Confederate force that was there fled and the mayor of Savannah surrendered with little fight
- After taking Savannah, General Sherman wrote a letter to President Lincoln telling him he had captured Savannah as a Christmas gift to the president
Fort Fisher
- Was located in the Outer Banks of North Carolina
- The Union was supported by a naval force of nearly 60 vessels, to renew operations against the fort
- January 13, Union forces landed and prepared an attack on Maj. Gen. Robert Hoke's infantry line
- Confederate garrison surrendered, opening the way for a Federal thrust against Wilmington, the South's last open seaport on the Atlantic coast
Appomattox Court House
- Approximately 9,000 men under Gordon and Fitzhugh Lee deployed in the fields west of the village before dawn and waited
- General Bryan Grimes of North Carolina launched a attack before 8 a.m., it was initially successful
- Lee ordered his troops to retreat through the village and back across the Appomattox River
- After the war happened, a formal peace treaty was never signed by the combatants
Citations
"Ad Orientem." : September 2012. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Mar. 2015.
"American Civil War." Civil War for Kids: Sherman's March to the Sea. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Mar. 2015.
Council on Foreign Relations. Council on Foreign Relations, n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2015.
"Fort Fisher in Civil War." Fort Fisher in Civil War. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Mar. 2015.
"Fort Sumter Architecture and Armaments 1861." Fort Sumter Architecture and Armaments 1861. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2015.