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Home , Battle of Antietam, IX Corps (Union Army), Maryland campaign, Seven Days Battles, Siege of Petersburg

Week 5: Waging War: The Eastern Theater to Antietam/Citizen-Soldiers of the Civil War

Building the Armies Questions

1. An historian wrote that We shall meet but we shall miss him. “An examination of the... There will be one vacant chair. Ieading... generals can yield We shall linger to caress him, an appreciation of the way While we breathe our ev’ning prayer. each side fought the Civil When a year ago we gathered, War.’’ How is that assertion Joy was in his mild blue eye. reflected in the careers of But a golden cord is severed. both Maj. Gen. George B. And our hopes in ruin lie. McClellan and Gen. Robert E. Lee? At our fireside, sad and lonely, Often will the bosom swell, At remembrance of the story, 2. Historian James McPher- How our noble Willie fell. son says this: “The Civil War was pre-eminently a po- How he strove to bear our banner, litical war, a war of peoples Thro’ the thickest of the fight, rather than of professional And uphold our country’s honor armies.” Think about his In the strength of manhood’s might. statement in light of one Sleep today O’ early fallen or two of the following: In thy green and narrow bed. war aims and strategies, the Dirges from the pine and cypress recruitment and enlistment Mingle with the tears we shed. of soldiers (both enlisted men and officers), the slav- Recruitment posters appealed to men’s sense of adventure and - “The Vacant Chair,” popular song about the home front, ery issue, the First Battle of patriotism. Of course, recruiters did not hesitate to highlight the written November 1861 Bull Run, The Seven Days’ practical benefits of military service, like enlistment bounties. Battles, and the . The First Year in the Eastern Theater

3. Historian Reid Mitchell contends that the “cause of the Union or of the South was bound up with one’s community, one’s home and family, and one’s God... that was why the Civil War vol- unteer not only submitted to his transformation into a soldier, but took pride in it.” How did the Civil War volunteer become a “sol- dier”? Key Terms

• Robert E. Lee • Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson • George B. McClellan • • Sallie Putnam • The Campaign • Emancipation Proclamation • Citizen-Soldier The had upper hand in the Western theater early in the Civil War, while the Confederates • Volunteer Army generally had the advantage in the East. This included the Seven Days’ Battles, a series of six major en- gagements from June 25 to , 1862, in which Robert E. Lee soundly defeated George B. McClellan. Before the Battle of Antietam

Typically, Gen. Robert E. Lee (near left) remained on the defensive, well- aware that this made it easier for him to conserve his limited manpower and resources. However, Confederate grand strategy called for him to take the war to the Northern public whenever he felt he had a strong ad- vantage in momentum. In view of his army’s successes in the Seven Days’ Battles and the Second Battle of Bull Run (Second Manassas) on August 28–30, as well as the timidity of Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan (far left), Lee decided the time was right.

Lee began his in early September of 1862 with a series of small victories (top). This set the stage for the climactic Battle of Antietam, where Lee decided to take a daring gamble, dividing his army into two so that they might approach the enemy from multiple directions. Unbeknownst to Lee, a copy of his written orders—the “Lost Orders, as they became known—found their way into McClellan’s hands. Antietam: , 1862 Timeline

6:00 a.m.: We are in the midst of the most terrible Hooker’s Federal battle of the war—perhaps of history...it will begins the attack but his left either be a great defeat or a most glorious bogs down under artillery victory. I think and hope that God will give fire from Nicodemus Hill us a glorious victory. 7:00 a.m.: - George B. McClellan, Sep. 17, 1862 Hood’s Confederates coun- terattack and stop ’ advance at Miller cornfield With virtually every advantage on his side—larger army, better armaments, 7:30-9:00 a.m.: fighting a defensive battle, foreknowl- Mansfield’s XII Corps attacks edge of the enemy’s plans—George to the Dunker Church but McClellan still struggled (top left). Par- fresh Confederate reinforce- ticularly notorious were a series of as- ments drive them back saults he ordered Maj. Gen. to make against a bridge 10:00 a.m.: located on the Southern portion of Sedgwick’s of the battlefield (center). Burnside could Sumner’s II Corps attacks not hold the bridge—which would into the West Woods but is forever after bear his name—despite a flanked and repulsed with frightful loss of life. heavy losses Ultimately, Lee was forced to retreat 10:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m.: and to end his Maryland Campaign. Burnside’s IX Corps seize the This was enough of a victory to allow bridge across the Antietam President Lincoln to issue the Pre- after repeated attempts to liminary Emancipation Proclamation cross five days later. It was also enough of 1:00 p.m.: a draw that McClellan was removed Richardson’s and French’s from his command, never to be given division of Sumner’s II Corps another. capture Bloody lane and The Battle of Antietam remains the breach Lee’s center single bloodiest day in American 1:00 p.m.: history, with 12,401 casualties on Rodman’s division of IX the Northern side and 10,316 on Corps wades through the Southern side. This horrified the Snavely’s Ford and flanks Northern public, particularly given Toombs’ Confederates above that it was the first battle in which the bridge photographs of the carnage were cap- tured, among them the image of Con- 3:00 p.m.: federate dead awaiting burial (bottom). Burnside launches a general The most destructive battles prior to assault pushing Longstreet’s Antietam—Shiloh, for example—took Confederates back to the place too far away from Northern outskirts of Sharpsburg photographers and their equipment to be practical as a subject. 4:00 p.m.: A.P. Hill’s Confederate divi- sion arrives from Harper’s To see thousands lying upon the field, some Ferry just in time to cripple dead and others wounded, and to hear the Burnside’s advance with a cries of the wounded for help...some with an counterattack against the arm, led, and even their nose or under jaw Federal left flank shot off, oh it is revolting to humanity. Oh, my God, can’t this cruel strife be brought to 5:00 p.m.: an end? Lee retreats, McClellan does not pursue - Lt. Thomas Taylor, Sep. 18, 1862 Major Movements of the Eastern Theater, 1861-1865

JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC

1861

First Bull Run

1862

ANTIETAM PENINSULAR CAMPAIGN CAMPAIGN FREDERICKSBURG CAMPAIGN

Siege of Seven Seven Days’ Antietam Fredericksburg Yorktown Pines Battles

JACKSON’S VALLEY CAMPAIGN SECOND BULL RUN CAMPAIGN

First Front Royal Port Republic Cedar Mountain Second Bull Run Kernstown First Winchester Cross Keys

1863

CHANCELLORSVILLE GETTYSBURG BRISTOE MINE RUN CAMPAIGN CAMPAIGN CAMPAIGN CAMPAIGN

Chancellorsville Gettysburg Bristoe Mine Station Run

1864

GRANT’S THE OF PETERSBURG

Wilderness Cold Harbor The Crater Spotsylvania Crossing of the

EARLY’S AND SHERIDAN’S OPERATIONS IN THE

New Market Lynchburg Monocacy Second Third Cedar Kernstown Winchester Creek

1865

APPOMATTOX THE CAMPAIGN

Five Appomattox Court House Forks Lee Surrenders April 9, 1865 SHERIDAN MOVES SOUTH Sheridan joins with