The Kentucky Campaign, The Battle of Antietam, and the War in Virginia and the West,1862-1863
The strategic situation of the South in 1862 The Confederate states recognized from the outset of the Civil War that they had disadvantages in terms of population and industrial output. Their strategy was to take advantage of their compact geography, with internal lines of communication, their military heritage (Southerners had been disproportionately the officers of the United States Army), and their greater enthusiasm for their cause to wear down the Union will to wage war.
They also believed the Britain, with its heavy dependence on Southern cotton to supply its mills, would be at worst neutral with a bias in their favor, and they dreamed of direct European assistance.their specific strategies included privateering in the Atlantic to harass New England merchants with ships like the Alabama and putting pressure on Washington DC, whose city limits fronted on the Confederate state of Virginia. The South believed that since they did not intend to occupy and hold Northern territory, they would be fighting principally in defense of their homeland and their soldiers would consequently have greater morale and stronger commitment to the cause. In the end, the Southern strategy was to want to win more than the Union did, and this proved to be an illusion. In the end, the Southern strategy was to want to win more than the Union did, and this proved to be an illusion.
The Kentucky Campaign of 1862 ( Battle of Perryville, or Confederate Heartland Offensive) Lasted from June - October 8, 1862. Generals E. Kirby Smith and Braxton Bragg undertook this two-pronged movement. Smith, commander of Confederate forces in East Tennessee, left Knoxville on August 14 and advanced into Kentucky with 10,000 men. He overcame the Union garrison under General William Bull Nelson in the Battle of Richmond on August 29 and 30. Two weeks later, Bragg moved north from Chattanooga with his 30,000-man Army of the Mississippi, roughly paralleling the movements of Smith to the east, forcing the surrender of the Union garrison at Munfordville, Tennessee.
The Union Army of the Ohio, 60,000 strong and under General Don Carlos Buell s command, which had been pushing eastward toward Chattanooga, turned northward to pursue Bragg and Smith into Kentucky reaching Louisville on September 4. On October 1, The Union army advanced southeast in four columns to meet the armies of Bragg and Smith. Believing the Union objective was Frankfort, Bragg detached a division to reinforce Smith. On October 7, Bragg directed his remaining soldiers moving north under General Leonidas Polk, to meet the approaching Federals near Perryville. The Battle of Perryville was a decisive Union victory, and Bragg ultimately retreated with his army to Knoxville.
Significance of the Battle of Antietam (Battle of Sharpsburg) September 17, 1862 A decisive engagement involving during the war that halted Confederate advance on Maryland for the purpose of gaining military supplies. Regarded as one of the greatest threats to Washington D.C. from the Confederates. This was the first battle of the Civil War to be fought on northern soil. Following the Union defeat at the Second Battle of Bull Run, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee advanced into Maryland with some hope of capturing the Federal capital of Washington to the southeast. On September 17, 1862, his forces were met at Antietam by the reorganized Federal army under Gen. George B. McClellan, who blocked Lee s advances but allowed him to retire to Virginia. ( This kept the Confederates from advancing in the north)
Bloody Day of War The South lost 13,724 troops, and the North suffered casualties of 12,410 Most military historians have strongly criticized McClellan s conduct of the battle, which proved to be one of the bloodiest single days of the war. President Abraham Lincoln used the occasion of the Antietam victory to issue his preliminary Emancipation Proclamation (September 22, 1862), announcing that unless the Confederates laid down their arms by January 1, 1863, he would free all slaves not residing in Union-controlled territory.
Advantages of the Win When the Civil War broke out in 1861, shortly after Lincoln s inauguration as America s 16th president, he maintained that the war was about restoring the Union and not about slavery. He avoided issuing an anti-slavery proclamation immediately, despite the urgings of abolitionists and radical Republicans, as well as his personal belief that slavery was morally repugnant. Instead, Lincoln chose to move cautiously until he could gain wide support from the public for such a measure. In July 1862, Lincoln informed his cabinet that he would issue an emancipation proclamation but that it would exempt the so-called border states, which had slaveholders but remained loyal to the Union. His cabinet persuaded him not to make the announcement until after a Union victory. Lincoln s opportunity came following the Union win at the Battle of Antietam in September 1862. On September 22, the president announced that slaves in areas still in rebellion within 100 days would be free.
Lincoln s logic in issuing the Emancipation Proclamation The Proclamation allowed the Union to recruit black soldiers. To this invitation to join the army the blacks responded in considerable numbers, nearly 180,000 of them enlisting during the remainder of the war. By August 26, 1863, Lincoln could report, in a letter to James C. Conkling, that the emancipation policy, and the use of colored troops, constitute the heaviest blow yet dealt to the rebellion. Lincoln issued his proclamation calling on the revolted states to return to their allegiance before the next year, otherwise their slaves would be declared free men. No state returned, and the threatened declaration was issued on January 1, 1863.
OPVL- Emancipation Proclamation This was by Abraham Lincoln, that changed the Civil War. It was given in public of Sep. 22, 1862, the speech was an act to the people, mostly Southerners proving the war was not just from secession, but also because of slavery needing to end. This demonstrates how President Abraham Lincoln was an abolitionist, and this war is now based on the end of slavery. It does not show or state what would happen if the Union lost, or how slavery would end if the Confederates came to rule. http://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/speeches/emancipate.htm "That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom.
Major battles in Western theatre in the winter of 1862-1863 In the west was where the most important fighting took place. This was because the west contained a lot of the rivers the South used for their transportation network. Economically- The South needed the rivers to keep their economy going. They needed to sell their cash crops and get the supplies they needed. They depended on the rivers because there weren t railways, like in the North. The rivers were the focus to fighting because they were the key to the North s win. Battle of Shiloh was on the west bank of the TN river, north of MS state line. The Union was fighting for the river so they could cut off the South. The Union won, was a huge victory for General Ulysses Grant.
This led to the Confederacy to split along MS river, making it much more difficult to fight. This was a very common military tactic. Battle of Vicksburg (Vicksburg Campaign) 1863- Had an important location on the MS river. It was more on the South bend of the river, therefore if you controlled Vicksburg, you controlled the river. The South was very dug in. Were having battles lating 7 months. Conditions got difficult and desperate which led to the confederates surrendering on July 4 1863. This became a key point in the Civil War because it was Independence Day, gained control of Vicksburg (therefore the MS river), and solidified the victory in the Eastern theatre (Gettysburg). The victory was a turning point for the North. The victory came at a high cost, but succeeded in cutting off South s remaining routes in the West. This really weared down the South because of the need for the supplies.
Major battles and their outcomes in Virginia in the winter of 1862-1863 Battle of Fredericksville- December 13,1862. Involved 200,000 troops, which was the largest concentration of troops in the Civil War. Ambrose Burnside, the newly appointed commander of the Army of the Potomac, had ordered his more than 120,000 troops to cross the Rappahannock River, where they made a two-pronged attack on the right and left flanks of Robert E. Lee s 80,000-strong Army of Northern Virginia at Fredericksburg. On both ends, Lee s rebel defenders turned back the Union assault with heavy casualties (nearly 13,000), particularly from their high position atop Marye s Heights. The results of the battle sent Union morale plummeting and lent much-needed new energy to the Confederate cause after the failure of Lee s first invasion of the North at Antietam the previous fall
Ambrose Burnside Ambrose Burnside (1824-1881) was a U.S. military officer, railroad executive and politician best known for serving as a Union general during the Civil War (1861-65). Burnside first saw combat in the Civil War at the First Battle of Bull Run in July 1861. He later led an expeditionary force in North Carolina and then served during the Maryland Campaign at the Battle of Antietam. Although he was reluctant to take the post, in November 1862 Burnside was placed in charge of the Union Army of the Potomac. He was removed from command in January 1863 after the devastating Union defeat at the Battle of Fredericksburg. Burnside next held a departmental command in Ohio and then participated in the defense of Knoxville in the fall of 1863. He would later resign from duty in the wake of his unit s failure during the Battle of the Crater in July 1864. After the Civil War Burnside worked as a railroad director and later served as a U.S. senator and governor of Rhode Island. He died in 1881 at the age of 57.
Battle of Stones River In late December 1862, Union and Confederate forces clashed at the Battle of Stones River, near Murfreesboro, Tennessee, during the American Civil War. On December 31, Confederate General Braxton Bragg s 35,000 troops successfully attacked the 42,000-strong Union force commanded by Major General William Rosecrans. Union troops withstood the assault, but retreated to a defensive position, which they would hold against repeated attacks over the next two days. On January 2, 1863, another Confederate assault was repelled by overwhelming Union artillery fire, forcing Bragg to order a Southern retreat. With approximately 23,000 total casualties, Stones River was one of the deadliest battles of the war. Rosecrans claimed victory and the battle provided a much-needed boost to Union morale following their defeat at Fredericksburg, Virginia.
Although this wasn t in the winter, this was a Major Battle in Virginia Battle of Chancellorsville- April 30 -May 6, 1863. Fought in the wilderness region of VA. Widely considered to be Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee s greatest victory because of outstanding command partnership, and misuse of strategic initiative.facing an enemy force nearly twice the size of his own, Lee daringly split his troops in two, confronting and surprising Union Gen. Joseph Hooker. Though Hooker still held numerical superiority, he did not press this advantage, instead falling back to defensive positions. When Lee once again split his forces and attacked, Hooker was forced to retreat across the Rappahannock River. Lee s victory came at a high cost, however. Thomas Stonewall Jackson, one of his most trusted generals, was mortally wounded by friendly fire during the battle.
Early on May 2, Jackson and 30,000 men followed a circuitous route that brought them against Hooker s weak right flank. Jackson s attack, begun in late afternoon, was a brilliant tactical success that destroyed half of Hooker s line; only nightfall prevented a complete victory. Jackson, scouting in the dark, was mortally wounded by his own pickets. The most intense combat of the battle took place on May 3, with Hooker now defending against Lee s attack. In masterful crisis management, Lee simultaneously parried a thrust against his rear by the 27,000 troops Hooker had left behind. On May 6, Hooker recrossed the Rappahannock, having lost 17,278 casualties to Lee s 12,826, including the irreplaceable Jackson. Lee now possessed the strategic initiative, which in a few weeks would lead him north to Gettysburg.
Citations http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h4283.html CIVIL WAR: PERRYVILLE BATTLE. - Battle of Perryville, Kentucky, on 8 October 1862. Contemporary engraving.. Fine Art. Britannica ImageQuest, Encyclopædia Britannica, 25 May 2016. quest.eb.com/search/140_1672616/1/140_1672616/cite. Accessed 8 Sep 2017. https://www.civilwar.org/learn/civil-war/confederate-heartland-offensive "Battle of Antietam." Britannica LaunchPacks, Encyclopædia Britannica, 21 Jul. 2017. packs.eb.com/social-studies/147767/article/7821. Accessed 29 Aug. 2017. "Emancipation Proclamation." Britannica LaunchPacks, Encyclopædia Britannica, 23 Jun. 2017. packs.eb.com/social-studies/147767/article/32498. Accessed 29 Aug. 2017. http://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/battle-of-antietam Major Events of the War. the Western Theater." American History, ABC-CLIO, 2017, americanhistory.abc-clio.com/topics/display/1879613?cid=140&sid=1877794. Accessed 1 Sept. 2017. McPherson,Stones River (pg 580 par 1, 2 ),Battle of Fredericksville (pg 571 par 2 - pg 574), Battle of Chancellorsville ( pg 638 par 2-646 ending to par 4)
Citations Stonewall Jackson http://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/stonewall-jackson A+E Networks 2009 September 18, 2017 Battle of Chancellorsville http://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/battle-of-chancellorsville A+E Networks 2009 September 18, 2017 Battle of Stones River http://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/battle-of-stones-river A+E Networks 2009 September 18, 2017 Battle of Fredericksburg http://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/battle-of-fredericksburg A+E Networks 2009 September 18, 2017 Battle of Antietam http://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/battle-of-antietam A + E Networks 2009 September 17, 2017 LINCOLN ISSUES EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/lincoln-issues-emancipation-proclamation A+E Networks 2009 September 17, 2017. Ambrose Burnside http://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/ambrose-everett-burnside A+E Networks 2009 September 18,2017