GETTYSBURG, VICKSBURG, AND CHATTANOOGA By Shannon de la Garza History of the Americas Mr. Beck 6th Hour Gettysburg Key Players General Robert E. Lee • Confederate • Led the Army of Northern Virginia • Took the offensive at Gettysburg • Offered to Resign after Gettysburg • President Davis declined Major General George Meade • Yankee • Took command from General Joseph Hooker three days before the battle • Provided a strong front which held off confederate troops for the first two days of the battle. • Criticized for letting the Confederates retreat after the battle. Major General John Buford • Yankee • Set the stage for the battle • His Calvary healed off confederate troops before the battle. • On the front lines chasing the Confederates back to Virginia. John Burns • Yankee • "The Old Hero of Gettysburg" • Union army told the 67 year old that he was too old to fight in the army • When the fight broke out he took his musket and fought in the battle Major General George Pickett • Confederate • Commanded a small force • Let Pickett's charge • Took the most ground for the confederates during the battle • Heavy losses made the charge a failure. David Kendlehart • Yankee • Refused Confederate demands to send $5,000 or large quantities of supplies to troops. • Snuck to Mead's camp to tell of Confederate retreat. Jeanie Wade • Only civilian casualty of the battle • She and her family prepared bread for the Union troops during the battle Brig. Gen. Joshua Chamberlain • Led the 20th Maine Infantry • Medal of Honor recipient General James Longstreet • Confederate • First served in Mexican American War • Skeptical about the battle • Troops from his corps charged across an open field • Suffered extreme casualties • Spent rest of his life asserting his opposing Gettysburg The Gettysburg Campaign • After the Confederate victory at Chancellorsville, Virginia, Robert E. Lee led his army to a second invasion in the north. • Goals: • Collect supplies • Take fighting away from Virginia • Threaten Northern cities • Weaken the North's resolve • Strengthen the peace movement in the North The Battle Day One: July 1, 1863 • Parts of the armies collide west and north of Gettysburg • Brig. Gen. John Buford's cavalry slow confederate advances • Confederate reinforcements arrive and defeat the Yankees Day Two: July 2, 1863 • Union soldiers defend hills and ridges south of Gettysburg • Confederates wrap around Union troops • Lee launches a heavy assault on Union rear • Fighting at • Devil's Den • Little Round Top • Wheatfield • Peach Orchard • Cemetery Ridge Day Two Continued • Assaults on • Culp's Hill • East Cemetery Hill • Confederates gained ground • Yankees still hold strong positions at the end of the day Day Three: July 3, 1863 • Fighting continues on Culp's Hill • Calvary battles to the East and South • Pickett's Charge: 12,000 Confederates charge the center of Union Blaine on Cemetery Ridge • The charge failed • Lee's arm retreated to Virginia Aftermath • 51,000 soldiers from both armies were killed, wounded, or captured • Lincoln was angry that the army did mor pursue the confederate troops • Northern morale was low after the heavy losses • Gettysburg Cemetery and Address Pickett's Charge • Turning point of the battle • Attack the center of the Union line • 18,000 men • Confederate loss Gettysburg Address "Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." -President Abraham Lincoln, The Gettysburg Address Primary Source Analysis • Origin: President Lincoln, Gettysburg National Cemetery on Nov. 19, 1863 • Purpose: To honor the men who died in the battle of Gettysburg and also to take advantage of the emotion of his audience and use it to further their support of the war cause. • Value: It is a show of how much raw emotion the nation was feeling at the time and the tragedy of the war. • Limitation: the speech was written not to inform, but to inspire the audience. It therefore has little informational value and tells more of the personal feelings of the nation. Vicksburg Why Vicksburg? • Major river stronghold • Potential to cut the confederacy in half Key Players Ulysses S. Grant • Yankee • West Point Graduate • Fought in Mexican-American war • Gifted commander and military strategist • General in Chief of the Armies of the U.S Joseph E. Johnston • Confederate • West Point Graduate • Original commander of the army of northern Virginia John C. Pemberton • West Point Graduate • Branded a traitor Pre Battle • For about a month Grant tried unsuccessfully to take Vicksburg. • Previous attempts were blocked. • After union victory at Bruinsburg, Grant one again moves inland to Vicksburg • Pemberton is forced to retreat to Vicksburg. The Battle • A strategic masterpiece • Grant's army crossed the river at the battle of port Gibson • Sent part of his army to capture the Jackson • Union army was forced to lay siege • After 46 days Pemiberton surrendered in July 4, 1863 Aftereffects • Mississippi River under Union control • Grant gains respect • 37,402 total casualties Chattanooga Before the Battle • Union army defeated at Chickamauga • Retreated to Chattanooga • Lookout mountain is 2000 ft above the Tennessee River valley and was controlled by confederate troops • Allowed cannon fire into Chattanooga and especially on supply boats and trains • Union army supplies effectively cut off • General U.S. Grant ordered construction of a pontoon bridge west of town • Bridge gave Union Army access to food and ammunition supplies again • Maj. General Joseph Hooker brought 20,000 additional Union troops to area • General William T. Sherman brought in 17,000 additional union troops in mid-November • Union Army now ready to fight The Battle • Actually two battles: • Lookout Mountain • Missionary Ridge • Nov. 23, 1863 • Strategic Union victory • Confederates driven back The Battle Cont. • Nov. 23: • Union takes Orchard Knob • Nov. 24: • Victory at Lookout Mountain • Bloody fighting at Craven's house • Nov. 25: • Union breaks Confederate lines • Confederated retreat back to Georgia Aftereffects • Union gained control of the railroad and steamboat ports • Eventually allowed for Sherman's "March to the Sea" • Union: 5,800 casualties • Confederate: 6,600 casualties Key Players • Union: • Major General George Thomas • Major General Joseph Hooker • General Ulysses S. Grant • General William T. Sherman • Confederate • General Braxton Bragg • General Patrick Cleburne Bibliography • "Fighting Commenced in the Battle of Chattanooga." Fighting Commenced in the Battle of Chattanooga. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Nov. 2013. <http://www.americaslibrary.gov/jb/civil/jb_civil_chattano_1.html>. • "Battle of Chattanooga." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 5 Nov. 2013. <http://www.history.com/topics/battle-of-chattanooga> • State. "The Battle of Gettysburg Summary & Facts | Civilwar.org." Civil War Trust: Saving America's Civil War Battlefields. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Oct. 2013. <http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/gettysburg.html?tab=facts> • "The Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln." Abraham Lincoln Online -- Your Source for Lincoln News and Information. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Oct. 2013. <http://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/tours/gettytour.htm> • "The key players in the Battle of Gettysburg - History - Frederick News-Post." The Frederick News-Post : Frederick County Maryland Daily Newspaper. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Oct. 2013. <http://www.fredericknewspost.com/arts_and_entertainment/arts_and_entertainment_topics/history/ article_c81777f8-9bc0-5998-91d8-19e0d47c0d2a.html?mode=jqm>. • "James Longstreet." Civil War Trust: Saving America's Civil War Battlefields. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Oct. 2013. <http://www.civilwar.org/education/history/biographies/james-longstreet.html>. • "Why Were Flags Enormously Important in the Civil War?." About.com 19th Century History. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Oct. 2013. <http://history1800s.about.com/od/civilwar/f/Civil-War-Battle-Flags.htm>. • "Pickett's Charge." Council on Foreign Relations. Council on Foreign Relations, n.d. Web. 30 Oct. 2013. <http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/gettysburg/gettysburg-history-articles/picketts-charge.html>. • "Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain." Council on Foreign Relations. Council on Foreign Relations, n.d. Web. 30 Oct. 2013. <http://www.civilwar.org/education/history/biographies/joshua-lawrence-chamberlain.html>. • "Maps of Vicksburg, Mississippi (1863) BATTLE AND SIEGE OF VICKSBURG." Council on Foreign Relations. Council on Foreign Relations, n.d. Web. 4 Nov. 2013. <http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/vicksburg/maps/vicksburgmap.html>. • "Vicksburg." Council on Foreign Relations. Council on Foreign Relations, n.d. Web. 4 Nov. 2013. <http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/vicksburg.html?tab=facts>.