A SIGN OF HOW TECHNOLOGY CHANGED THE WAY WARS WERE FOUGHT, FOR THE FIRST TIME IN AMERICAN WARS, THE TELEGRAPH PROVED VITAL IN HELPING SOLDIERS COMMUNICATE TACTICAL INFORMATION TO EACH OTHER. MESSAGES THAT ONCE HAD TO BE DELIVERED BY HAND, TAKING PRECIOUS MINUTES, HOURS, OR DAYS, COULD NOW BE SENT BACK AND FORTH WITHIN SECONDS. Photo: Telegraph Signal Tower at Cobb s Hill, Near New Market, VA 1864
ULYSSES GRANT HAD STRUGGLED TO BE SUCCESSFUL IN THE YEARS BEFORE THE WAR. HE GRADUATED NEAR THE BOTTOM OF HIS CLASS AT THE U.S. MILITARY ACADEMY, HAD GONE BANKRUPT IN BUSINESS, AND HAD TO BORROW MONEY FROM A FRIEND TO RETURN HOME WHEN THE WAR STARTED. DESPITE THIS, HIS DETERMINATION AND UNWILLINGNESS TO GIVE UP LED TO HIM BEING NAMED GENERAL OF ENTIRE UNION ARMY DURING THE CIVIL WAR. A LEGITIMATE WAR HERO, HE WOULD LATER BECOME THE 18 TH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. Photo: Union General and future President Ulysses S. Grant
ROBERT E. LEE WAS THE MOST QUALIFIED GENERAL OF THE TIME. LEE WON FAME FOR HIS VICTORIES IN THE MEXICAN- AMERICAN WAR AND ABRAHAM LINCOLN WOULD ASK HIM TO LEAD THE U. S. ARMY IN THE CIVIL WAR. LEE, WHOSE FAMILY CALLED VIRGINIA HOME FOR GENERATIONS, HAD TO REFUSE AND WOULD INSTEAD LEAD THE CONFEDERATE ARMY DURING THE CIVIL WAR. FOR HIM, HE COULD NOT POSSIBLY THINK OF FIGHTING AGAINST HIS FAMILY AND FRIENDS. Photo: Confederate General Robert E. Lee
JEFFERSON DAVIS WAS THE PRESIDENT OF THE CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA FROM 1861-1865. BEFORE THE WAR, HE SERVED AS A CONGRESSMAN FROM MISSISSIPPI AND HAD EVEN BEEN SECRETARY OF WAR FOR THE UNITED STATES. AFTER THE CIVIL WAR, HE WAS CHARGED WITH, BUT NOT CONVICTED OF, TREASON. Photo: Confederate President Jefferson Davis
THE UNITED STATES COLORED TROOPS (USCT) WERE MADE UP OF AFRICAN AMERICAN SOLDIERS WHO WERE FREED SLAVES. APPROXIMATELY 175 REGIMENTS OF OVER 178,000 FREE BLACKS AND FREED SLAVES SERVED DURING THE LAST TWO YEARS OF THE WAR. BY WAR S END, THE USCT WERE APPROXIMATELY 1/10 OF ALL UNION TROOPS. THERE WERE 2,751 USCT COMBAT CASUALTIES DURING THE WAR. Photo: The 26 th U.S. Colored Volunteer Infantry on Parade PA, 1865
BEFORE THE AGE OF RADIO, TELEVISION, AND SOCIAL MEDIA, NEWS WAS WRITTEN AND READ IN PAPERS AND MAGAZINES, SOMETIMES WITH ILLUSTRATIONS. THE WAY PEOPLE LEARNED OF EVENTS CHANGED WITH THE USE OF THE NEW TECHNOLOGY - PHOTOGRAPHY. MATTHEW BRADY WAS PERHAPS THE MOST WELL-KNOWN CIVIL WAR PHOTOGRAPHER. HE IS CONSIDERED TO BE THE FATHER OF PHOTOJOURNALISM WHERE PICTURES ARE USED TO TELL A STORY. Photo: Matthew Brady, the Photographer returned from Bull Run, July 22, 1861
THE RAILROADS GAVE THE NORTH A SIGNIFICANT ADVANTAGE DURING THE CIVIL WAR IN TERMS OF TRANSPORTING TROOPS AND SUPPLIES. ITS WIDESPREAD USE THROUGHOUT THE INDUSTRIAL NORTH PROVED INCREDIBLY HELPFUL TO THE UNION CAUSE. Photo: Depot of the U.S. Military Railroads, Showing the Engine President City Point, VA 1864
AN IRONCLAD WAS A STEAM- PROPELLED WARSHIP THAT WAS PROTECTED BY IRON OR STEEL ARMOR PLATE. THE BATTLE BETWEEN THE SHIPS WAS THE FIRST BATTLE BETWEEN IRONCLADS. THIS NEW TYPE OF SHIP WOULD CHANGE NAVAL WARFARE OVERNIGHT. THE USS MONITOR WAS THE FIRST IRONCLAD WARSHIP OF THE UNITED STATES NAVY. THE CSS VIRGINIA WAS AN IRONCLAD WARSHIP OF THE CONFEDERATE STATES NAVY. IT WAS BLOWN UP BY THE CONFEDERATES IN ORDER TO KEEP FROM GETTING CAPTURED IN MAY 1862. Photo: Battle Between the CSS Virginia and the USS Monitor Hampton Roads, VA, March 9 1862.
MEDICAL KNOWLEDGE AT THE TIME OF THE CIVIL WAR WAS EXTREMELY PRIMITIVE. DOCTORS DID NOT UNDERSTAND INFECTION, AND DID LITTLE TO PREVENT IT. IT WAS A TIME BEFORE ANTISEPTICS. NO ANTIBIOTICS WERE AVAILABLE; MINOR WOUNDS COULD EASILY BECOME INFECTED AND FATAL. TWICE AS MANY MEN DIED OF DISEASE THAN OF GUNSHOT WOUNDS. DYSENTERY, MEASLES, SMALL POX, PNEUMONIA, AND MALARIA WERE THE SOLDIER S GREATEST ENEMY. THE LACK OF SHELTER AND SUITABLE CLOTHING, THE POOR QUALITY OF FOOD AND WATER, AND CROWDED CONDITION OF CAMPS MADE THE TYPICAL CAMP A LITERAL; BREEDING GROUND FOR DISEASE. Photo: Field Hospital after Battle of June 27 Savage Station, VA, June 30, 1862
IMPROVED WEAPONS AND AMMUNITION, SUCH AS THE REPEATING RIFLE AND THE MINIE BALL, LED TO HORRIFIC WOUNDS ON THE BATTLEFIELD AND AN ENORMOUS NUMBER OF CASUALTIES. IF A SOLDIER WAS SHOT IN THE TORSO, THERE WAS LITTLE ANYONE COULD DO. HOWEVER, IF HE WAS SHOT IN AN APPENDAGE, AMPUTATION WAS COMMON IN ORDER TO PREVENT GANGRENE AND OTHER DISEASES. Photos: Amputee; Amputation kit
THE BATTLE OF ANTIETAM IN MARYLAND WAS THE BLOODIEST DAY IN AMERICAN HISTORY. AT LEAST 23,000 MEN DIED AND ANOTHER 30,000 OR MORE WERE WOUNDED DURING THE BATTLE. IT WAS ALSO THE FIRST MAJOR BATTLE TO TAKE PLACE ON NORTHERN SOIL, AS CONFEDERATE GENERAL ROBERT. E. LEE ATTEMPTED TO GO ON THE OFFENSIVE. LINCOLN REPLACED GENERAL MCCLELLAN AND PREPARED TO MAKE A MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT THAT WOULD FOREVER CHANGE THE UNITED STATES. Photo: Confederate dead by the fence bordering Farmer Miller s 40 acre Cornfield at Antietam where the intense rifle and artillery fire cut every corn stalk to the ground as closely as could have been done with a knife.
THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG LASTED FROM JULY 1-3, 1863. MORE THAN 25,000 SOLDIERS DIED IN WHAT BECAME THE DEADLIEST BATTLE OF THE CIVIL WAR. SOME OF THE FIERCEST FIGHTING TOOK PLACE OVER THREE DAYS AND GETTYSBURG IS CONSIDERED THE HIGH POINT OF THE CONFEDERACY. AFTER THIS BATTLE, THE CONFEDERATE ARMY UNDER THE COMMAND OF ROBERT E. LEE WOULD NEVER AGAIN BE AS STRONG AND ABLE TO FIGHT AS THEY WERE FOR GETTYSBURG. Photo: Dead Confederate Soldiers in The Devi s Den Gettysburg, PA, July 1863
FORT SUMTER WAS A UNITED STATES FORT BUILT TO PROTECT THE CITY OF CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA. AS TENSIONS BETWEEN NORTH AND SOUTH ROSE, THE U.S. SOLDIERS STATIONED THERE FOUND THEMSELVES TRAPPED BY CONFEDERATE FORCES. WHILE ABRAHAM LINCOLN ATTEMPTED TO EVACUATE THE U.S. TROOPS, THE CONFEDERATE FORCES DECIDED TO BOMBARD THE FORT. TWENTY-FOUR HOURS LATER, THE U.S. TROOPS SURRENDERED AND THE CONFEDERATE VICTORY OVER THE UNION TROOPS AT FORT SUMTER IS CONSIDERED THE BEGINNING OF THE CIVIL WAR.. Photo: Interior of Fort Sumter
ONE OF GENERAL GRANT S MOST TRUSTED FRIENDS AND GENERALS, WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN CARRIED OUT THE WAR IN THE SOUTH. HIS EPIC MARCH TO THE SEA WAS DEVASTATING TO THE CONFEDERACY. UNION TROOPS INFLICTED $100 MILLION IN DESTRUCTION AND WRECKED 300 MILES OF RAILROAD, TELEGRAPH LINES, AND BRIDGES. HIS TOTAL WAR POLICY SEIZED TENS OF THOUSANDS OF HORSES, MULES, AND CATTLE. IT CONFISCATED MILLIONS OF POUNDS OF CORN, AND DESTROYED UNCOUNTED COTTON GINS AND MILLS. WHATEVER HIS ARMY DID NOT NEED WAS BURNT TO THE GROUND. Photo: Union General William T. Sherman (with arm on rear of cannon), Atlanta, GA, 1864
INFORMATION: THE FIRST BATTLE OF BULL RUN IS ALSO KNOWN AS THE FIRST BATTLE OF MANASSAS. IT WAS THE FIRST MAJOR LAND BATTLE OF THE CIVIL WAR AND RESULTED IN THE UNION TROOPS WITHDRAWING. UNION CASUALTIES WERE 460 KILLED, 1,124 WOUNDED, AND 1,312 MISSING OR CAPTURED; CONFEDERATE CASUALTIES WERE 387 KILLED, 1,582 WOUNDED, AND 13 MISSING.
THE BATTLE OF COLD HARBOR WAS PART OF THE UNION S WILDERNESS CAMPAIGN. EVEN THOUGH THE UNION WOULD END UP WINNING THE WHOLE CAMPAIGN COLD HARBOR WAS A DECISIVE DEFEAT AS THOUSANDS OF TROOPS WERE SLAUGHTERED. GRANT LATER STATED THAT: I HAVE ALWAYS REGRETTED THAT THE LAST ASSAULT AT COLD HARBOR WAS EVER MADE AT COLD HARBOR NO ADVANTAGE WHATEVER WAS GAINED TO COMPENSATE FOR THE HEAVY LOSS WE SUSTAINED. Photo: African Americans Collecting Bones of Soldiers Killed in the Battle Cold Harbor, VA, April 1865
ABRAHAM LINCOLN WAS SHOT AND KILLED BY JOHN WILKES BOOTH ON APRIL 14, 1865 WHILE ATTENDING A PERFORMANCE AT FORD S THEATER. HIS MURDER OCCURRED LESS THAN A WEEK AFTER LEE S SURRENDER AT APPOMATTOX AND THE END OF THE WAR. HIS DEATH SPARKED OUTRAGE THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY, INCLUDING THE SOUTHERN STATES OF THE CONFEDERACY WHICH NOW WORRIED WHAT WOULD HAPPEN TO THE EFFORTS TO RECONSTRUCT THE NATION. Photo: Box in Ford s Theater where Lincoln was Assassinated 1865
JOHN WILKES BOOTH S ASSASSINATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN WAS PART OF A MUCH-LARGER CONSPIRACY. IN ADDITION TO LINCOLN, THE CONSPIRATORS PLANNED TO ATTACK THE VICE-PRESIDENT, THE SECRETARY OF STATE AND GENERAL GRANT. EVEN THOUGH BOOTH WAS THE ONLY ONE TO SUCCEED IN HIS MISSION, THE OTHERS LISTED BELOW WERE SENTENCED TO THEIR DEATHS FOR THEIR ROLES IN THE ASSASSINATION PLOT. MARY SURRATT S ONLY CRIME WAS BECAUSE SHE WAS THE OWNER OF THE BOARDING HOUSE IN WHICH THE SECRET MEETINGS WERE HELD. Photo: Execution of the Four Persons Condemned as Conspirators (Mary E. Surratt, Lewis T. Powell, David E. Herold, and George A. Atzerodt), July 7, 1865
THE BATTLE OF SHILOH, WAS A MAJOR BATTLE FOUGHT ON APRIL 6 AND 7, 1862, IN TENNESSEE. CONFEDERATE FORCES LAUNCHED A SURPRISE ATTACK ON GRANT AND THE US ARMY, WHICH WAS CAMPED BY PITTSBURG LANDING. DESPITE WINNING THE FIRST DAY, THE CONFEDERATES WAS DEFEATED THE SECOND DAY AND LOST THE BATTLE. THE BATTLE WAS A VERY IMPORTANT UNION VICTORY. IT WAS ALSO ONE OF THE FIRST BATTLES OF THE CIVIL WAR TO HAVE SEVERAL THOUSAND CASUALTIES. NEWS OF THE HIGH NUMBER OF DEATHS AND INJURIES SHOCKED THE NATION. MANY CALLED GRANT A DRUNK AND A BUTCHER AND CALLED FOR HIS REPLACEMENT.
THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION WAS AN EXECUTIVE ORDER ISSUED BY PRESIDENT ABRAHAM LINCOLN ON JANUARY 1, 1863. IT PROCLAIMED THE FREEDOM OF ALMOST 3 MILLION SLAVES IN THE CONFEDERATE STATES THAT WERE STILL IN REBELLION AGAINST THE US. IT ALSO CHANGED, OR AT LEAST, ADDED, TO THE WAR GOALS OF THE UNION. WHAT WAS ONCE A WAR BEING FOUGHT TO RESTORE THE UNION, NOW BECAME A WAR TO FREE SLAVES EVERYWHERE.
THE SIEGE OF VICKSBURG (MAY 18 JULY 4, 1863) WAS A SERIES OF MANEUVERS BY UNION MAJ. GEN. ULYSSES S. GRANT AND HIS ARMY OF THE TENNESSEE. FOR ALMOST SIX WEEKS, GRANT S ARMY DID NOT ALLOW ANYTHING TO ENTER OR LEAVE THE CITY AND THE CONFEDERATE FORCES AND THE CITIZENS OF THE CITY SLOWLY STARVED. THE VICTORY BROUGHT THE ENTIRE MISSISSIPPI RIVER UNDER UNION CONTROL. THE CONFEDERATE SURRENDER FOLLOWING THE SIEGE AT VICKSBURG IS SOMETIMES CONSIDERED, WHEN COMBINED WITH GEN. ROBERT E. LEE'S DEFEAT AT GETTYSBURG THE PREVIOUS DAY, THE TURNING POINT OF THE WAR.
THE GETTYSBURG ADDRESS IS A SPEECH BY ABRAHAM LINCOLN AND IS ONE OF THE BEST- KNOWN IN AMERICAN HISTORY. IT WAS DELIVERED BY LINCOLN AT THE DEDICATION OF THE SOLDIERS' NATIONAL CEMETERY IN GETTYSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA, FOUR AND A HALF MONTHS AFTER THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG. ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S CAREFULLY CRAFTED ADDRESS CAME TO BE REGARDED AS ONE OF THE GREATEST SPEECHES IN AMERICAN HISTORY. IN JUST OVER TWO MINUTES, LINCOLN RESTATED THE PRINCIPLES OF HUMAN EQUALITY FIRST NOTED BY THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE AND PROCLAIMED THE CIVIL WAR AS A STRUGGLE TO PRESERVE THE UNION. LINCOLN ALSO REDEFINED THE CIVIL WAR AS A STRUGGLE NOT JUST FOR THE UNION, BUT FOR THE FREEDOM OF ALL MEN, FREE AND ENSLAVED.
SHERMAN'S MARCH TO THE WAS CONDUCTED THROUGH GEORGIA FROM NOVEMBER THROUGH DECEMBER 1864. HIS FORCES DESTROYED MILITARY TARGETS AS WELL AS INDUSTRIAL AND CIVILIAN PROPERTY AND DISRUPTED THE SOUTH'S ECONOMY AND ITS TRANSPORTATION. SHERMAN'S BOLD MOVE OF OPERATING DEEP WITHIN ENEMY TERRITORY AND WITHOUT SUPPLY LINES IS CONSIDERED TO BE REVOLUTIONARY IN THE HISTORY OF WAR.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN DELIVERED HIS SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS AT A TIME WHEN VICTORY OVER THE CONFEDERACY IN THE CIVIL WAR WAS WITHIN DAYS AND SLAVERY WAS NEAR AN END. SOME SEE THIS SPEECH AS A ROUGH DRAFT FOR RECONSTRUCTION, IN WHICH HE SOUGHT TO AVOID HARSH TREATMENT OF THE DEFEATED SOUTH. HE REMINDED HIS LISTENERS OF HOW WRONG BOTH SIDES HAD BEEN IN IMAGINING WHAT LAY BEFORE THEM WHEN THE WAR BEGAN FOUR YEARS EARLIER. LINCOLN COULD NOT KNOW THAT JOHN WILKES BOOTH, THE MAN WHO WOULD MURDER HIM WEEKS LATER, WAS PRESENT IN THE CROWD AT THE INAUGURATION. THE ADDRESS IS INSCRIBED, ALONG WITH THE GETTYSBURG ADDRESS, IN THE LINCOLN MEMORIAL.
THE BATTLE OF APPOMATTOX COURT HOUSE WAS THE FINAL ENGAGEMENT OF THE CONFEDERATE ARMY BEFORE IT SURRENDERED TO THE UNION. IT WAS ONE OF THE LAST BATTLES OF THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR. UNION FORCES CUT OFF THE CONFEDERATES AT APPOMATTOX COURT HOUSE. WHEN LEE REALIZED THIS, HE HAD NO CHOICE BUT TO SURRENDER. THE SIGNING OF THE SURRENDER DOCUMENTS OCCURRED IN THE PARLOR OF THE HOUSE OWNED BY WILMER MCLEAN ON THE AFTERNOON OF APRIL 9. FIGHTING WOULD CONTINUE IN OTHER PARTS OF THE COUNTRY AS NEWS HAD YET TO SPREAD OF LEE S SURRENDER. THIS EVENT, HOWEVER, TRIGGERED A SERIES OF SURRENDERS ACROSS THE SOUTH, SIGNALING THE END OF THE WAR.