The Entire History of the American Civil War - ALL EPISODES

Why did the American Civil War happen What drove the 11 southern states to break away form the Confederate States of America and ignite a devastating conflict that tore the whole nation apart to understand the American Civil War its battles politics and the reason why it happened we must travel back to the early 1800s join us to explore the conflict year by year 1819 the newly born United States of America sat in a state of delicate balance 111 11 free states 11 slave states from the outside looking in it appeared to be perfect harmony equal States

equal representation equal influence in federal affairs but this was only from the outside looking in in reality there was no focus on balance for the Americans instead all that mattered now was expansion Manifest Destiny that was the reason why the United States government was hellbent on snagging more and more territory although the phrase wouldn't be coined until the mid 1800s the belief held by by many Americans that it was the nation's Destiny to expand Westward as far as can be done drove the us to do just that Delaware Pennsylvania New Jersey Georgia Connecticut Massachusetts Maryland

South Carolina New Hampshire Virginia New York North Carolina Rhode Island Vermont Kentucky Tennessee Ohio Louisiana Indiana Mississippi Illinois and Alabama that was the whole of the United States thus far as of 1819 but only a year later this would change in 1818 the Missouri territory previously obtained as part of the Louisiana Purchase began its push for Statehood the following year the District of Maine would be allowed to break off from Massachusetts and do the same it didn't take long for this to cause a conundrum for the Contemporary Us however because the addition of two more

States had the potential to upset the numerical balance between slave states and free states on the one hand Northerners and pro- abolitionists in Congress argued that the addition of Missouri which seemed to quickly lean toward wanting to become a slave state would expand slavery and thus bring them further away from their goals the Southerners though were obviously in favor of adding another slave state and Thus argued that any new candidate for Statehood should have the right to decide for themselves just as the first 13 colonies which side on the fence they want to fall on

the debate in both the House of Representatives and the Senate would continue into 1819 at which point Maine was now brought into the mix as Henry Clay the speaker of the house at the time suggested that Missouri should be added to the Union as a slave state but that Maine should also be added contrarily as a free state this proposal was subsequently debated into yet another year when in 1820 the Senate added to the bill requiring that any other territories north of the 36° 30 latitude line that had been agreed upon below Missouri's lower border

could only enter the Union as free states with everyone finally in some level of agreement the Missouri Compromise was signed into law this triggered a tit fortat war of Adding one new slave state for every new free state and vice versa starting with Arkansas in 1836 Michigan the next year and Florida in 1845 and since Florida was a slave state it was assumed that the the next territory to enter the Union and statehood would be another free state but this became complicated when Texas had a demanding request for the United States Annex us now the

history of Texas Has been a roller coaster thus far and yet it was only now preparing for its biggest climb yet Texas up until recently a part of Mexico after being freed from the grip of the Spaniards wanted to join a different Union the USA the Texans pleas were initially ignored by the US government which wasn't in much favor of annexing the nearby territory with growing pressure from Britain for Texas to be an independent nation and America's undeniable thirst For expansion opinions would soon change nevertheless and Texas would in fact join the union on December

29th 1845 here was the issue that Texas wanted to be a slave state which would offset the balance the Northerners had tried so hard to keep furthermore Texas had made claims to territories that put it in direct conflict with its former host of Mexico and with Texas newly a part of the United States those presumptuous claims were now the Responsibility of the US something that Mexico didn't take lightly recently elected President James K pulk however didn't care one bit what the Mexicans thought instead he was an aggressive supporter of manifest destiny and quickly upon his

inauguration hoped to seize the contested territories thus pulk at first attempted to purchase his desired lands he sent American Diplomat John Slidel to offer the administration in Mexico City $30 million in exchange For California New Mexico and disputed territories along the Texas border the Mexicans a gast and unshakeably against such an idea declines to even meet sidel which angered pulk the Manifest Destiny supporter would not be swayed by this rejection and instead decided that if diplomacy wouldn't work he would reel his neighbors into a war he knew the United States would win as a result

in the early weeks of 1846 the president sent American troops to the Texas border To egg the Mexicans on and it worked it only took a few months for Mexican soldiers to fire on the Americans and give pulk the excuse to declare war with the Mexican-American War underway debates continued within the United States pertaining to the slave state versus free state debacle with the free states now outnumbered the Northerners felt that pulk being a southerner himself was actually committing his land grab in order to further bolster the Slave state Advantage which boosted north to south

tensions still the war raged on with now famed generals like ulyses srant and Robert E Lee showing their prowess and adding to their resumés while the Americans inched closer to Mexico's capital the city was eventually taken and War Fair halted leading to the long awaited Treaty of Guadalupe hialgo which now forced Mexico to seed not only the contested territories in California Arizona Oklahoma and New Mexico but also lands of modern-day Nevada Utah Colorado and Wyoming pulk had gotten his way and more but it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows new land meant more to fight over

back home over the next few years Iowa Wisconsin and California would all give their bids for Statehood eventually bringing about the Compromise of 1850 this series of bills would address a multitude of things though mostly focused on the institution of slavery Within the Union in short it determines that California would join the Union as a free state but was required to send one pro-slavery Senator to the senate in order to maintain the readjusted balance from now on however slave or free States from the remaining territories gained from Mexico would be decided as such by popular

sovereignty this went all right at first as with the admission to statehood of Minnesota in 1858 and Oregon in 1859 but predictably there was simultaneously another reason for tensions to rise as part of the new establishment of popular sovereignty Senator Steven Douglas suggested applying the strategy to a proposed newly organized Nebraska territory that would at once repeal the Missouri compromised slave state border and split the Nebraska territory in two now despite a struggle to actually pass the new bill that would become known as The Kansas Nebraska Act the population ations of both territories were left

to vote on whether they wish to permit slavery or not the consequence of this and maybe unpredictably so was that settlers began flooding to both Nebraska and Kansas settlers from both sides of the slavery debate this slippery slope ushered in a tragic era known as Bleeding Kansas which would eventually see Kansas enter the Union in 1861 surpr surprisingly as a free state This would be the final state admitted to the union before the start of the Civil War why did things get to this point how could such a Young Nation have fallen into battle with

itself so fast why were the North and South so opposed to each other the issue of slavery and thus the north versus South contention can be blamed on vastly different cultural aspects of the two halves of America for the north slavery was not really needed as the upper States had Quickly become industrialized and thus didn't have to rely on as much Manpower this gave Northern citizens the opportunity to unbiasedly consider the moral standing of the entire institution of slavery prompting many to call it into question supported by the ideas of European immigrants who had come

from Nations that had already outlawed slavery these Northerners began to turn toward abolitionism this was in total opposition to their fellow Americans Down south of course but this was because the South had failed to industrialize as the North had instead Southerners were more economically dependent on free labor for plantations and the like which meant that their personal finances and way of life could be entirely affected by the Banning of slavery thus making it hard for a southerner to even give the moral aspect a second thought though some did and still supported the institution and with

The invention of the cotton Jin the matter only became more solidified the South needed slavery the problem then arose as the north wondered if southerners wanted to extend slavery even further whereas the latter worried that the former was going to take the slaves they already had both ironically would be right the North and South were miles away from reconciling this difference debatably there was also the issue of federal versus state rights Although this factor is hard to blame entirely not only did the later formed Confederacy have a shockingly large bureaucratic system for a collection of

States who were opposed to overbearing Federal governments but there had also been previous opportunities such as during the Nullification Crisis a few decades prior for the South to go to war with the North or at least raise more of a Ruckus if state rights were the core issue still it is true that many people At the time particularly in the South had more loyalty to their state than country as a whole and State versus Federal disconnect likely played somewhat of a role in tensions even if second fiddle to the slavery argument the Fanning of of

the Flames however came from a string of amplifying events the Fugitive Slave Act for example have been part of the Compromise of 1850 and galvanized abolitionists as it had made the federal government responsible for Finding returning and penalizing escaped slaves and anyone who aided them even if they made it to a free state with the Northerners deeply troubled by this development political active citizens of the upper United States would soon form their own opposition party to the pro-slavery Democrats the Republican party this new entity would also become host to the controversial Abraham Lincoln shortly after

its birth Lincoln had previously served in the US House of Representatives in 1846 before joining the Republicans and running for Senate a decade later although he lost the senate race to St Douglas the series of speeches and debates that preceded the election had both catapulted him to popularity in the north while earning him a fair share of enemies in the South his mere existence as a political entity thus stirred the pot and increased tensions but then so did Bleeding Kansas Guerilla Warfare is one way that this Period from 1855 through 1859 has been described while

Nebraska was somewh whatat hit by the flood of both Pro and anti-slavery settlers hoping to sway the coming vote it was Kansas that was truly beaten pro-slavery residents of neighboring states used legal loopholes to cross the border and vote in Kansas's territorial elections setting off a domino effect that would lead to a split government and allout violence historians estimate that Anywhere from 50 to 200 Americans died as a consequence in the 4-year span something akin to pouring a couple of gallons of gasoline on the growing fire burning towards Civil War Charles Sumner's Congressional speech about

Kansas would further heighten the situation a republican northerner suar had actually memorized every last word in his impassioned speech titled the crime against Kansas in which he lambasted the entire institution of Slavery and even took direct Jabs at proslavery Senators this instance serves as a clear example of the current level of tensions in the union and Congress as South Carolina Representatives Preston Brooks and Lawrence Keat reacted to the damning speech by physically assaulting Charles Summoner with a cane beating him so severely that he would need three full years of leave to recover and this was

only a year before one of the most controversial and anger fueling Incidents of the entire leadup to the Civil War it was The Dread Scott case that soon put the move toward allout military conflict between the North and South into hyperdrive the case revolved around a slave since birth by the name of Dread Scott after the death of his original owner In 1832 Scott had been purchased by a man named John Emerson and upon his death Scott and his family would then be transferred to the ownership of Emerson's wife Irene Previously scottt and his family

have been brought along for travels across multiple free states and territories although at no point had they attempted to run or sue for their freedom instead once Irene took ownership Scott attempted to buy their freedom off her Irene was obstinate and insisted on keeping her slaves around which led dread and his wife Harriet to finally go the route of a lawsuit they each filed on the basis of two Missouri statutes as They were currently living with Irene in St Louis one stated that any slave taken to a free state would thus be free and could

not be returned to enslavement even if they left the Free State while the other allowed for anyone to file a suit for wrongful enslavement the Scott couple was given logistical support from abolitionists fellow churchgoers and ironically the family of their pre previous owner this allowed them to actually take their case to court which Was first shot down in 1847 on a technicality but was given the option of a retrial the next trial would come in January of 1850 and this time the Scots actually won their freedom Irene however quickly appealed the decision to the Missouri

Supreme Court 2 years later the court sided once more with Irene thus rein slaving the Scott family unwilling to give up now Scott filed a federal lawsuit with the United States circuit court for the District of Missouri the Following year before the case could be decided upon again Irene would transfer the Scots over to her brother John Sanford hence the name of the new case Dread Scott versus Sanford in the spring of 1854 the Federal Court ruled in favor of Sanford thus prompting to appeal yet again now to the United States Supreme Court this final

trial would start on February 11th 1856 with a growing list of abolitionist and even politician Supporters in favor of the Scots nevertheless less than a month later a decision was made and once more Dread Scott had lost and not only this but the judge most notably credited for the final ruling as asserted that no African-American even had the right to sue for anything in the federal court because they lacked the ability to be United States citizens while the Scots would already have their freedom by now thanks to Irene's new abolitionist husband and the help of

their Old owner family the case itself was the final straw for many abolitionists John Brown had now gone down in history as one of America's most infamous abolitionists and on October 16th 1859 he would prove exactly why he warned an army Watchman as he and a group of fellow abolitionists launched what would be an ambitious But ultimately failed raid on Harper's Ferry After taking several hostages from the town and capturing the US Armory and Arsenal the Raiders would be stalled by a local militia as General Robert E Lee made his way into the town to

wrap things up Brown and his men had aimed to spark a local slave rebellion but instead many of the Raiders were killed once Lee and his Marines arrived with brown himself being captured and later hanged for his acts of treason against the state of Virginia John Brown had Failed and he had died but his animosity for the South was shared by far too many for the tide to be turned by this point with the election of anti-slavery Northern govern ER Abraham Lincoln in 1860 to the presidency enough was enough immediately after the future emancipator was

elected to office the South Carolina General Assembly called for a convention to consider secession much to the pleasure of the locals South Carolina thus voted unanimously to leave the United States of America days later they issued a document justifying their decision to seced and making one dramatically important point in the process a geographical line has been drawn across the union and it truly had 10 more Southern States would follow suit and join the newly founded Confederate States of America led by their chosen President Jefferson Davis the union President Abraham Lincoln refused to recognize the Confederacy

as Legitimate insisting that he wished to take no one's slaves and simply wanted to keep the Union together this meant nil to the southerners who were rapidly attempting to create a unified Nation out of a handful of States who had all made a big fuss about State autonomy and not just that but the South was at a major disadvantage for the impending War precise numbers are debated but it can be estimated that at the time of the mass secession and formation of the Confederacy the union boasted a population of roughly 22 million million in comparison

to the South's approximate 9 million of those numbers the union would eventually enlist around 2 million soldiers whilst the Confederates would only tally about 900,000 furthermore the Northerners had something close to 20,000 Mi worth of railroads which was double what the Confederate States could claim thus giving the Union a better Advantage for Moving troops and supplies in Wartime and while it's often argued that the Confederate generals such as Robert E Lee Stonewall Jackson James Long Street Nathan Bedford Forest and Patrick curn gave the South a tactical military Edge on their upstairs neighbors the north was

surely ahead in other ways like the fact that they produced around 90% of goods in the former United States at the time but still the union was losing its grip on the south and only had limited Holdings left in Confederates States and it was about to lose another Fort Sumpter was the last Union stronghold in South Carolina and strong is being generous it was outmanned and under supplyed to say the least and with Southerners now cracking down on Union property within their borders it was surrounded the Confederates attempted to force the little remaining Union forces

at the Fort to surrender the latter refused and the Confederates opened fire The Civil War had begun Fort Sumpter failed to be evacuated by the Confederate deadline 6,000 Southerners now had Charleston Harbor surrounded Cannon and mortar stared down the fort at 4:30 a.m. on April 12th 1861 a gunner at Fort Johnson set off a 10in mortar sending the explosive into the early morning skies above Fort Sumpter the detonation lighting up the blue and telling all those around one Thing the Civil War had begun as the men of Fort Sumpter scurried to prepare local citizens clambered

to rooftops in hopes of watching the Monumental battle occur one by one the Confederates began firing upon the union held Fort until every available Cannon and mortar across the har was bombarding Sumpter the scarcely staffed Union Garrison fired back as best they could with a little Manpower and cartridges they had but not much could be done the Confederates were Unrelenting the attack would continue into the following day at one point setting the roof of the fort Ablaze but alas its Defenders refused to come out still so impressed by the stubborn Valor of their foes the

Confederates even began to cheer for each shot fired from the fort but this was far from enough to stop the south in fact the Confederates were becoming increasingly more aggressive in the early afternoon of April 13th the flag pole holding up the Union flag of Fort Sumpter was hit and broken this moment of foreshadowing was followed by a chaotic period of diplomatic negotiations which would finally find success it was agreed that the Union troops would after all evacuate firing a salute to their makeshift tattered flag they were off and the Confederates had won the first

battle of the Civil War as a result of the Battle of Fort Sumpter and the undeniable start of what would be a long And gruesome bloody domestic War President of the Union Abraham Lincoln put out a call on April 15th for 75,000 militia volunteers to stop what he ref referred to as an illegitimate Rebellion this act would trigger the remaining Confederate states to be to officially leave the union and Lincoln would double down by calling for an additional 40,000 men to serve for a three-year span Jefferson Davis leader of the Confederate States countered with a

call For an additional 100,000 militia men of his own proposing a 12-month service at this point in time neither side wanted the war to last long in fact some in the South had actually hoped that the attack on Fort Sumpter would scare the union into diplomacy instead of an armed conflict the Confederates knew they were greatly outnumbered and were smart enough to recognize the obstacles they' need to overcome to beat the north however they weren't the only ones with Concerning weaknesses over in the union many of Lincoln's cabinet and his own generals question questioned his

ability to lead the nation through a war and yet Lincoln's generals themselves were their own problem many had grown old or even unhealthy and nearly incapable altogether leaving the president with some difficulty when it came to choosing who would lead his armies throughout the conflict nevertheless armies needed to be led and plans needed to be made and As for what the North had in store for the South one must only look at the Union's Anaconda Plan Lieutenant General Winfield Scott was the man responsible for providing this strategy while it was only partially used in technicality

by the end of the war it seemed that Scott had rather precisely predicted the approach of his nation's tactics it was his idea that the union should focus on a strong defense of DC an unforgiving blockade of the south from the Atlantic And Gulf coasts and a brutal Land and Sea attack along the Mississippi River to sever the Confederates in two named for its attempt to strangle the South into submission the Anaconda Plan seemed doable but the strategy on paper would be shelv early into the war due to political pressure Lincoln hoped to ease by

the end of May nevertheless the union had already crossed the pomac and took hold of Arlington Heights this set off the start of intermittent skirmishes That would carry on throughout the war between each of the major battles with the first of the latter on Virginia soil coming in early June at the Battle of big bethl the forces of the Confederates and the United States met at the Village of big bethl on June 10th 1861 the North had hoped to create a buffer for themselves around Fort Monroe one of the last Union strongholds in the area

this would ultimately fail however leading to another Confederate Victory And an unexpected direction that this war seemed to be going in the incapacity of Lincoln's military leaders was showing already and the Confederates had starkly the opposite when it came to their Generals in a unique win for the union however the Wheeling conventions around this time resulted in the Northwestern counties of Virginia voting to break free from their current state and begin the process of forming the new state of West Virginia which would Ally With the north with momentums and their saes now the union decided

it was time to begin the main objective take Richmond and end the war once and for all as General Irvin McDow began the march with his 35,000 men the largest field Army yet gathered on the continent cheering civilians began to follow the troops with picnic baskets and unwavering excitement they the Northerners believed that their men were marching into an assured victory that Would collapse the Confederacy and rebuild their Nation what happened instead was the Battle of BU run mcdow's troops were made up almost entirely of men who had responded to the Call to Arms by

President Lincoln following the assault on Fort Sumpter meaning that they lacked experience or even even understanding of what they were about to face nevertheless McDow was leading them to seize a crucial railroad's Junction at Manasses just near the bullrun stream That stood in their way it was here that the Confederate forces sat waiting to defend however which all played into mcdow's plan the goal was to use his three columns to confront the Confederate force in the front and right flank to eventually push them into abandoning the railroad Junction as the Union Army was approaching the

Confederate Army of the pomac under the command of General Pierre GT borgard requested aid from Richmond a request That was intended to be answered with reinforcement by the army of shenendoa under General Joseph E Johnston Johnston though was being stalled by the Union force of 18,000 men under Major General Robert Patterson Patterson was tasked with preventing the army of shenendoa from reaching bullrun meanwhile McDow was getting closer and closer to board's defenses as they inched near McDow sent roughly 5,000 of his men with Brigadier General Theodore runan to guard the rear While another division under

Brigadier General Daniel Tyler was dispatched to try and hit the Confederate right flank this resulted in a smallscale clash between Daniel's force and the Confederate at blackburns Ford where the Northerners were beaten back over with Patterson the union troops weren't doing much better either despite having sent a telegraph to DC saying I have succeeded in accordance with the wishes of the General in Chief And keeping General Johnston's forces at Winchester he hadn't instead when Johnston had received word of Bard's situation he utilized a Cavalry screen to give Patterson the slip and leave Winchester this was

bad news for McDow Who currently outnumbered the Confederate Force he faced by more than 10,000 if Johnston could make it to bull run before the battle was over which the union general soon heard was quite the possibility in spite of Patterson's Confidence otherwise this would change drastically unfortunately for McDow the change did happen The Clash began on the morning of July 21st 1861 McDow sent two divisions from Centerville towards Sudley Springs in hopes of ambushing the Confederate Left Flank at the same time another division was sent as a distraction to the stone bridge intending to

deceive the southerners this plan seemed doable in theory but in reality inexperienced men And poor execution meant the Union soldiers were fumbling the ball Colonel Nathan Evans of the Confederates defending the bridge was able to determine that the attack on his force was only a distraction and swiftly reacted racing with the main fragment of his troops to Matthews Hill to meet up with the real Union attack while he was unable to stop McDow due to his inferior numbers Evans successfully stalled the Northerners while reinforcements came His way although these reinforcements would soon collapse under Union

pressure the Confederate defense was failing and and its men were on the run there stands Jackson like a stone wall rally behinds the virgins General Bernard B shouted to his beaten down and nearly deserting men as Johnston and borgard arrived at Henry house Hill the union troops had hesitated and were reorganizing their Advance giving the southerners time to do the same after an Hour the battle was back on and the tide began to notably change change Confederate forces were able to capture Union artillery guns and the northern offensive was falling apart the Rebel Yell rang

out as the union troops were one by one pushed off of Henry house hill by 400 p.m. the Confederates that won after losing their position the Northerners began what would at first be an organized Retreat within the hour however any form of organization had Gone out the window window the southerners followed the fleeing enemy and turned the respectable defeat for the union into an undeniable route though some of the northern troops would arrive home to Washington by the next day their campaign had been crushed the weight of such a catastrophic and embarrassing loss was violently

damaging for President Lincoln's reputation but there was even more going against him by now hey quick pause do you love what You're seeing so far you can get early access to all this and more plus exclusive content we are building just for our members here on YouTube or on patreon it's like getting a front row seat to everything we create by joining today you will not only unlock these perks but also help us continue to deliver more and better content check out the links below and become a YouTube member or a patron on patreon we'd

love to have you on board as the fighting got Into full swing the union president's wartime decisions began to appear tyrannical to some a Crackdown on dissension wasn't entirely unpredictable but would prove to be an infringement on the First Amendment rights of many Americans nevertheless male telegraphs and the Press became regularly censored and at times even silenced meanwhile anyone openly showing support for the Confederates was at risk of being arrested even a democratic Congress man Clement L Valen digam was arrested in his home state for speaking out against the war while the office of the

non-conformist Sunday Chronicle was destroyed by government officials all of this made many start to think about ideas such as impeachment but as Lincoln built up his defenses around DC both metaphorically and physically opposition was left in the dark meanwhile pressure from abolitionist activists was increasing Thus far Lincoln's main concern was the restoration of the Union but many freed slaves turned activists were cranking up the heat on the president with the goal of pushing him to make the war about abolition and emancipation not just winning back the Confederates Hest AE however wasn't yet ready to change

the focus of the war and instead signed off on the Congress P confiscation act of 1861 this act gave the federal government the authority to seize Property from anyone deemed to be participating in the Rebellion property including but not limited to Slaves these fugitive slaves would be classed as Contraband and were often then utilized to work as laborers on Union infrastructure far from making the war about emancipation 4 days after Congress passed the first confiscation act the battle was back on Brigadier General Nathaniel Leon was about to come fa face to face with Brigadier General

Ben Mccullock and Major General Sterling price of the Confederacy in Springfield Missouri for what would be known as the Battle of Wilson's Creek this would be the first major clash of the Civil War west of the Mississippi and one of the fewer times that the Union forces were actually outnumbered in an almost amusingly ironic twist it turned out that both sides as of August 9th were planning to Ambush one another both of these plans specifically hinging on the Element of surprise with neither knowing what the other was intending General Leon of the Union's tactic was

to send 1,200 men under Colonel Fran SEO wide around the Confederate right to the South while the remaining Force involved would swing North and hit the southerners left the latter however actually had a similar plan but a stroke of luck and rain caused General McCulla to abandon his plans this left the element of surprise fully in the hands Of the Northerners the marching of the Union broke the Silence of the morning calm on August 10th Leon's plan unlike mulla's was still on and it had begun now the Confederate forces were utterly dumbfounded by the Ambush

they had failed to anticipate a surprise offensive from the union troops and this allowed the lad's advance to play out at a swift Pace Lon and his men were able to advance all the way to what would Soon be known as bloody hill before being stalled by the palaski Arkansas batter's defense attack while the palaski battery kept the Northerners from advancing further general price and his men regrouped and headed for the hill where a gruesome battle would subsequently break out for nearly 6 hours the union had begun The Clash with a clear strategic advance AG

but as the Warfare on Bloody Hill carried on the tide began to shift in favor of the Confederates Mulla was eventually pitted against Seagal at sharp Farm where the Northerners thus far triumphant flanking maneuver was crushed by the Counterattack from the southerners so badly the Sigel and his troops abruptly retreated meanwhile Leon's luck was fading even more drastically himself already weakened by wounds he'd obtained in the prior hours of ruthless battle leyon was eventually struck down by the south requiring a hasty transfer of Command to Major Samuel Sturgis the northerner new leader wasn't incompetent but

victory for him by now seemed impossible with scarcely any ammunition left before the clocks even struck noon the union was at a full Retreat back to Springfield a few weeks after the battle of Wilson's Creek the union would finally get a win but this time by sea the Confederates for some time now had been authorizing privateering along the Carolina coast which predictably Triggered a military response from the union this reaction however was poorly anticipated by the southerners at two forts in particular Fort Clark and Fort hatus this resulted in both partially constructed forts falling into

Union hands after a naval bombardment forced the troops Manning Fort Clark to flee for Fort hatus which itself would soon surrender it was a much-needed victory for the north but it was followed by an even worse defeat the Confederates were About to take Lexington general price and his 15,000 men reached Lexington Missouri on September 11th 1861 smallscale battle began the next day as the Union forces attempted to stop the Confederate advance but price was better prepared and surely determined it wouldn't take long for the southerners to pin their opponent down in the college housing the

union fortifications although the remaining Northerners couldn't be beat out or into Surrender by the Confederates a twoh hour artillery battle and delayed supplies caused price to hold off continuing the offensive temporarily it is unnecessary to kill off the boys here patience will give us what we want he explained less than a week later on September 18th however it seemed that price was satisfied with the patience shown thus far despite strong union artillery the Confederates Advanced at long last Bottling up the Defenders once more 1 2 3 4 nine hours of cannon fire ensued meanwhile the

southerners were additionally in the process of capturing the nearby Anderson house which was in use as a union hospital for wounded soldiers this stunning potential War crime at least in the eyes of the Union prompted the Northerners to storm and retake the house but control would then fall back to the Confederates more permanently 2 Days Later the city as a Whole fell into Southern Hands the following month would see yet another embarrassing defeat for the Union as distrust of the president and his abilities were on the rise after some poorly executed reconnaissance across the pomac

river over in Virginia a decision was made to launch another Union attack this time under the command of Abraham Lincoln's dear friend Colonel Edward Baker this Fay would be an utter disaster due to horrendous planning and Execution Baker himself would be slain and his men all positions precariously at the edge of balls Bluff essentially cornered by the Confederates either fled were killed two or leapt to their deaths off the bluff many of those who did Escape furthermore drowned trying to cross the icy River the generals who had been involved in the campaign General Charles Stone

and even General George mlen were heavily scrutinized and stone would eventually be blamed and charged With treason as a result mlen however was dis distant enough from the disaster itself and would eventually be promoted to general-in-chief of all Union armies despite deep mistrust between himself and the president this trust was building between DC and its overseas counterparts now as well particularly the bonds between the union and Great Britain seemed to be dwindling and on November 8th it would appear nearly nonexistent Britain thus far was acting A bit sympath pathetic to the South largely because they

missed the crucial cotton exports from the now Confederate states as a result communication between the two entities led President Jefferson Davis to dispatch two envoys over to the British mail ship the Trent to try and Garner official support and recognition of the Confederacy unbeknownst to Washington on November 8th 1861 the month after the envoys joined the British on their ship us Captain Wils intercepted the Trent the captain then had his Lieutenant board the ship to search it at which point the Confederate envoys were detained and the Brits told that they could leave on their own

this triggered a hail storm from Britain which deems the acts of Captain wils to have been both a violation of British neutrality as well as a blatant violation of the law eventually under the demand of Great Britain and unwillingness to go to war With their former overlords DC agreed to release the prisoners and toiled to resolve the situation diplomatically while this would work for the time being it was only the start of British influence on what the union was willing to do to win the war nearly a year after the outbreak of the Civil War

the fates of the United States of America seemed to hang more in the balance than anyone had anticipated both sides of the conflict had hoped for A Swift and minimally damaging War yet it was clear now that the end was far from near and the union despite its laundry list of advantages was struggling the start of 1862 had scarcely seen any significant Confederate losses thus far however the north was coming into the new year with fresh motivation and determination Brigadier General George Thomas and His 4,000 Union troops were positioned at Logan's Crossroads as rain Poured

through the growing fog the Confederates were only 10 mes away when they heard of the Northerners approach despite the poor weather the southerners decided to launch an offensive with the goal of catching the Union forces off guard before reinforc forc Ms could arrive the problem with this nevertheless was that by the time the Confederate troops arrived at Logan's Crossroads they were wet tired and unmotivated and their Antiquated Napoleonic typee flint lock muskets were horribly suited for such rainy conditions still even as the Northerners now saw the attack coming General Felix zofer LED his Southerners into

the battlefield with high enthus iasm at first the Confederates seemed to have taken the advantage in spite of their poorly working Weaponry the 15th Mississippi infantry and 20th Tennessee managed to push back the fourth Kentucky infantry second Minnesota and 10th Indiana in the midst of the foggy and chaotic Clash however General zofer mistook the union troops for his own and began to approach the fourth Kentucky infantry at which point he was shot dead by the enemy this seemed to turn the tide rather quickly against the southerners who were soon routed by the Union forces and

chased into a disorganized Retreat leaving their dead wounded and weaponry behind in the utter Panic this Victory following another Only 9 days earlier on January 10th at the Battle of Middle Creek finally gave the union something to celebrate and some much needed morale boosters Kentucky 2o was becoming more weak from a Confederate perspective opening up the door for further Northern influence in the state and over in Tennessee the union was making more moves on February 6th 1862 the north took the battle to Fort Henry oddly especially considering the Potential significance of losing the fort the

Confederates failed to put up strong defenses a union Naval bombardment would shortly push the stronghold to surrender however Confederate Brigadier General Lloyd Tillman had already rounded up his troops from Fort Henry and secretly moved them to Fort Donaldson not too far away 10 days later Donaldson would fall to the union the capture of both Fort Henry and Fort Donaldson meant that the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers were no longer accessible for the Confederates which would prove to be a huge victory for the union and allows the north to keep the South cut off from both waterways

for the rest of the war entirely Union efforts to capture Coastal territory continued as well with another Northern General Ambrose Burnside eyeing up the island of Rowan o on January 11th General Burnside had set off with a fleet of 80 ships and 15,000 Men down to their destination at the Outer Banks though the trip would only take a couple of days the actual battle would be delayed by several several weeks due to unideal weather conditions still with 10,000 of his troops Burnside would soon launch his offensive at which point he found himself face to face

with confederate Colonel Henry Shaw and only 2,500 men the Union's previous victories and notable numeric Advantage seemed to foreshadow the results of the clash as The Triumph would be clear and precise with yet another southern surrender after being overwhelmed by Northern forces on February 8th the island fell to the union and the Takeover of the coasts seemed to be in full swing giving the North and Lincoln a long craved swell of optimism with this new Boost of confidence and momentum President Lincoln had his troops hitting the Confederates at any weak points they could Arkansas and

Missouri became Significant targets throughout this period as the north pushed through the border states and into the South with both Union and Confederate forces of Missouri Under New Management it appeared that a nearby struggle was imminent on one side was the Union Army of the Southwest under the command of Brigadier General Samuel Ryan Curtis whereas the Confederate Army of the West took its orders from Major General Earl Van Dorne the latter boasted about 16,000 men while whilst the union this time was outnumbered by over 5,000 predictably then it was the Confederates who were planning an

attack General Van Dorne concocted a plan to meet the Union forces where they were stationed around Little Sugar Creek and Ambush them from the rear an ambitious plan and exhausting Journey the campaign wouldn't be easy but Van Dorne believed it' be worth it thus as the Confederates neared the Northerners the general split his forces in two one force under molik to swing around the west of P Ridge and the other portion under general price would go through the Bentonville detour to Telegraph Road and meets up with mullik as they jointly attacks the union rear near

Elkhorn Tavern in actuality the Union forces got a heads up and instead of waiting for the Ambush Curtis LED his men to meet with Confederates near the tavern shots were soon fired and the Battle ensued with a major hit to Southern morale coming early on when General Mulla was killed in action followed shortly by his second in command James McQueen mckintosh being slain as well nevertheless the Confederates though without their leaders managed to take the tavern and Telegraph Road by the day's end still the following day would see curtis' successful Counterattack pushing the southerners back

and in time handing the Union control of neighboring Missouri and a foothold remaining in Arkansas what had started as a strong war effort for the Confederates was beginning to look like a crumbling defense nonetheless the union had its own challenges at hand one in particular coming in the form of General George B mclen aside from the issue of mlen having a near complete lack of trust in and apparent absence of respect for President Lincoln via contemporary Stories told of the General George's strategy throughout the Civil War could almost be described as timid after the indecisive

results of the history-making battle of iron clads the union was hoping to find new triumph over at Richmond General mlen was put in charge of this new campaign but he had a different idea of how to go about it than the president did while Lincoln wanted to send George South to Richmond the latter was more inclined to head up Via the peninsula by the York and James Rivers opening up his land Army to Naval Aid and utilizing the union held Fort Monroe as a Launchpad although it wasn't his first plan the president agreed to authorize

mlen version and the campaign was ready to begin the problem with this however was that the Confederates had been expecting an incursion from that exact position and thus were readily prepared though lacking in numbers compared to the 100,000 Union troops and Nearly 400 ships the southerners were Keen to defend their city and mlen was willing to do his part but slowly The General eneral though not bad at his job was a detailed planner and hesitant in times he quite likely didn't need to be throughout the campaign upon the outbreak of armed action at Yorktown mlen

had already been under the impression that the enemy forces numbered the same or maybe even more than his own this wasn't entirely true But George nevertheless formed his strategy accordingly reacting overly cautious much to the annoyance of President Lincoln eventually after the month-long Siege he had chosen over an assault on the Southern Line mlen and his troops would take Yorktown though only because the Confederates evacuated this was a planned withdrawal by the south in order to head back to defend Richmond more closely but the slow to acts mlen saw it as his own victory in

Reality all he'd really done was given the Confederates time to regroup and reinforce the real defense with mlen yet again taking a slower paced and possibly poorly calculated approach the southerners led by General Joseph E Johnston made their way back to Fort McGruder to set up their new defensive establishing a rear guard Johnston positioned his men along a series of routs while Major General James Long Street brought his troops to Fort McGruder directly the Union force commanded by Major General Joseph Hooker launched the next step in the Peninsula Campaign an attack on Fort McGruder before

the clock could even strike noon the battle was on the union aggression was met with a powerful Confederate counter offensive launching hooker's line back this was a good start for the South but more Union troops led by Brigadier General Philip Kierney soon arrived to reinforce the offensive line And this time it was the Confederates who were pushed back into their defenses the bloody battle raged on into the dark of night before the Confederates once more carried out an intentional withdrawal back toward Richmond as expected mlen portrayed this as yet another victory for himself but in

reality the southerners saw the entire battle as having only been a means of stalling the union to begin with which they did their real objective was of Course Force to protect Richmond and now having stalled the Peninsula Campaign from its end goal for over a month the Confederates had given themselves ample time to build up the Manpower needed to protect their Capital the war was looking more and more tiring but it was only mid 1862 and there was so much fighting left to do up and cominging star of the Union Civil War effort General ulyses

S Grant Had been leading his own Army over in Tennessee near Shiloh Church when on April 6th General Johnston and his men pounced the Union forces were blindsided by the incursion and the Confederates found early success as they drove the Northerners back in the direction of Pittsburgh Landing this early success on the part of the South came in spite of the fact that many men on both sides had scarcely if ever seen battle before and what seemed to be a swift Confederate Victory was soon becoming more of a challenge as reinforcements commanded by Union general

Don Carlos bule began to arrive as the Confederate effort was suddenly weakened under the union push back General Albert Sydney Johnston would become a Monumental casualty after being shot through an artery in his leg and bleeding to death on the battlefield when command shifted to General board as Knight set in the attack was called off and the rebels retreated the union could Call this a win but some would say it was a peric victory in reality due to the record setting and startling number of casualties the brutal brawl had killed wounded or lost over 13,000

Union men while the Confederates counted more than 10,000 casualties this was the most deadly battle in US history thus far and no one was taking it lightly on a brighter note for the north however a late April campaign ended in The seizure of the vital Confederate City of New Orleans and better control of the Lower Mississippi and in more promising Fortune for the South Stonewall Jackson Was preparing for a new Confederate offensive with the odds seemingly in his favor I do not remember having ever seen such rejoicing the people seemed near frantic with joy our

entrance into Winchester was one of the most stirring scenes of my life Jackson recalled of The event the Confederates had been entangled with Union forces under General Nathaniel banks at Strasburg before the latter began a feverish Retreat toward the town of Winchester Jackson was quick to react to this and gave Chase but he was struggling to determine the intended route of the retreating Northerners and subsequently began dividing up his own men to chase down the Union Soldiers from any angle Some of Jackson's troops would meet up with the Northerners as a result dashing their hopes

of reaching safety for the Yankees at Middletown Valley Pike and New Town General Banks's remaining men would eventually reach Abrams Creek Camp Hill and Bowers Hill where they braced for Jackson's arrival the morning of May 25th was lit up with confederate fire as the f began the first Target of Stonewall Jackson was the union Left Flank which had been Perched at top Camp Hill this initial objective however was proving to be a bit too difficult for the general to see its worth anymore and he soon turned to Bower's Hill and its Defenders it wouldn't take

long in fact only an hour for the Confederates to regain the upper hand and send the Northerners back on the run the citizens of Winchester made Banks's new Retreat even more difficult as in a stunning display of opposition they started shooting at the union men Trying to flee Stonewall and his soldiers contrarily were greeted with cheers and open arms as they attempted to yet again pursue the Northerners the worn out and stalled Confederates eventually fell back enough to let the surviving Union forces slip by and the aftermath of this Southern Victory nearly saw Jackson get

pinched between a fresh sh of Union troops taken from the Richmond campaign with the aim of trapping the Confederate Stonewall Brigade the latter managed to squeeze through the Gap however and the union was out of luck once more General George B mclen despite recent setbacks was still focused on taking Richmond and Confederate General Robert E Lee was just as determined to stop him General Joseph E Johnston was responsible for taking on the inevitable Union attack on Richmond prompting Lee and Confederate President Jefferson Davis to urge the general toward making An updated plan Johnston got to

work and he quickly noted something quite convenient the Union Fourth Corp under the command of General arasmus D Keys was on its own mullen's Force had been first divided into two but the fourth core had separated itself from The Others When Keys moved them to a vill by the name of seven pines to the great pleasure of the Confederates there were only three main roads leading to this town and one sketchy Grapevine Bridge Johnston's plan thus fell into place and his men would encircle seven pines via 9M Road Charles City Road and Williamsburg Road meanwhile

recent rainfall would make the bridge path more or less impossible to cross the battle would then ensue in reality a combination of bad weather and administrative Kur fuff made Johnston's plan look a little more chaotic than had been anticipated as the Confederates stumbled over to seven pines Northern General Silas Casey caught sight of the approaching Army nevertheless when Wy confederate general DH Hill launched his portion of the attack Casey had failed to prepare his own troops for defense and was rapidly pushed back Hills men ever were on their own as he hadn't waited for the

rest of the Confederate Wings to get to their positions and as the union third core began to enter the battlefield Hill was starting to see the consequence of his decision General GW Smith answered the call from Hill to Aid his attack at the same time Union general Edwin V suner was taking his second core across the Great Vine bridge to rescue his own comrades somehow the rickety Bridge managed to hold and allowed the troops to pass through despite the Confederate assumption that it wouldn't be doable this meant that instead of helping Hill beat back the

fourth core the Confederate backup was suddenly face to face with the second Core by the end of the night the battle was growing and the fourth core was no longer surrounded meaning both sides could keep funneling in troops over on the Confederate side the situation wasn't seeming too bad as Johnston began to examine the lines the problem was that he was shot in the arm moments later and then hit in the leg and chest by fragments from a union artillery shell though he was cautioned by one of his men that he rode far too close

to The Flying bullets from the battle he Shrugged off the concern with a confident Colonel there is no use dodging when you hear them they have passed from there the Confederate offensive snowballed although they locked out given the Northerners equal exhaustion and unwillingness to continue The Clash came to an indecisive end and General Lee was subsequently sent to take over the Confederate troops involved in light of Johnston's Incapacity the war was looking more and more tiring but it was only mid 1862 and there was so much fighting left to do over the following months the

union took nearly full control of the Mississippi iipp River with a success at the Battle of Memphis leaving now only Vicksburg in their way this was before Lincoln signed off on the second confiscation act which expanded on the first and supplied more opportunities for confederate slaves to be freed that Was followed by the Battle of Cedar Mountain and the Second Battle of Bull Run which saw a Confederate victory that would soon be overshadowed by Northerners discovering General Lee's plans for the next engagement that next Clash would be the Battle of antium which remains to this

day the bloodiest 24 hours in the history of the entire Civil War the Confederate attempts to launch a large-scale invasion of Union territory had failed around the same Time that the South's hopes of winning over Kentucky through the Heartland campaign still the pressure was increasing from Great Britain as it was on the verge of joining the war diplomatically ly in support of the Confederates willing to do almost anything to prevent such a catastrophe for the north president linkoln finally announced his intention to pass the Emancipation Proclamation by the start of 1863 if the war was

not over by now though the Native Americans had also been picking sides choosing whoever they believed would win and provide them with additional rights by the war's end the final month of 18 62 saw the brutal Battle of Fredericksburg which allegedly got so bad for the union that a Confederate Sergeant Kirkland couldn't help but run onto the battlefield and begin treating the Yankee wounded prompting a temporary ceasefire in the End however the union war department had been too slow to provide supplies for their men and the soldiers were unable to keep up the poorly organized

attack the South had won yet another battle with Northern morale plummeting Lincoln's popularity dropping and Union men deserting president Davis of the Confederacy finally reacted to the proposed Emancipation Proclamation he declared that it was nothing more than an attempt to excite survi war and Furthermore added that any black US soldiers would not be treated by the same standards as white prisoners of War Days Later the Battle of Stones River would finally bring about some Union revenge and a much needed morale boost it also marked the final days of 1862 over a year and a half

of the war had already gone by but it was far from over January 1st 1863 marks the Monumental shift of meaning for the Civil War although not In the way that many today are under the impression at did the Emancipation Proclamation didn't actually free all slaves and in fact was only intended to free slaves in Rebel States though not all of them southern secessionist states that were already occupied by the north were exempt from the proclamation as were all border states furthermore those States who had left the union for the Confederacy and were not exempt

weren't going to just let go of the slaves that They've been fighting all this time to keep this meant that Northern military enforcement would be required for the proclamation to mean anything nevertheless the act itself meant something to so many it also officially allowed black men to join the Union Army and Navy opening the doors for hundreds of thousands of freedom craving men to join the war effort by the end of it all roughly 200,000 black soldiers had Risked their lives to protect their fellow countrymen at the same time the north enacted a draft for

its citizens the Confederacy had done the same a year prior but for the union this was a sign of the times the war wasn't going as smoothly as President Lincoln had hoped thus as conscription went into effect in the north both sides prepared for battle once more the union had two goals at the Moment take down General Lee and Richmond and capture Vicksburg thus fully controlling the Mississippi River the latter objective was highly concerning for the South which had thus far been struggling to maintain their Tennessee Border as as the Mississippi Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers

made it hard to keep the Northerners out furthermore General Grant had already seized control of the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers with a capture of Fort Henry and Fort donalson Union Admiral David faragate had also taken New Orleans cutting the Confederates off from the Gulf of Mexico while the capture of Memphis had nearly wrestled the Mississippi away from the south already still without Vicksburg this couldn't be done Grant was now determined to take the city and the river with it in the summer of 1862 he had made his first attempt Alongside General William T Sherman but

the early attempt ended in a decisive defeat and withdraw at the Battle of the chikasaw Bayou although the Northerners were ready to Try Again by The Following spring up until this point Grant and his men had struggled to even gain access to Vicksburg due to the surrounding swamps bayu and otherwise seemingly impregnable terrain feeling Innovative and quite a bit stubborn Grant put his men to work to change This for weeks they drained bayus built Bridges and formed roads that could actually be utilized to reach the city trekking along their newly constructed path through Louisiana and

across the river Grant and his army marched into battle having been called on by the general to assist rear Admiral David Dixon Porter led a naval Force along the river to back the land troops despite being under heavy fire from Confederate defenses Porter and his men ran the Gauntlet like Champs losing only a single ship in the process and providing necessary support to Grant by April 29th 1863 everyone was in position and ready to launch the attack Grant's plan was as follows Sherman would be sent to feain an attack at Snyder's Bluff Colonel Benjamin Garrison

would leave need a raid further Inland to bring Confederate forces away from Vicksburg Porter would continue to provide reinforcement to the lands Troops and Major General John A mcland and his 13th Army Corps would aim for another landing on the East Bank of grand Gulf this bank was heavily fortified with confederate Defenders at the ready but Grant was confident in his strategy starting off the Fay was Porter and his gunboats which opened fire around 8:00 a.m. targeting Fort Wade followed by Fort cin and their defenses the southerners responded with their own Artillery fire rather immediately

triggering a battle that would last for hours into the afternoon the union Navy eventually overpowered Fort Wade but then began to struggle with the less susceptible Fort cin even with the initial success against the first Fort subsequently Porter and Grant eventually decided to pull back as they saw the second line of defense as impenetrable the battle of the grand Gulf had ended and Grant had once more Hit a brick wall Vicksburg was feeling more and more Untouchable but the general refused to quit while Grant had his sights locked on Berg Union general Joseph Hooker was

tasked with something about the thorn in the north side that thorn was General Lee Hooker also had Ambitions of seizing the Confederate capital city but that couldn't be done without first getting the Slick Virginian out of his way thus Hooker and his army of 115,000 prepared for an attack on Lee's DWI kindled force of only 60,000 the union Commander split his troops into three sending two thirds over to Frederickburg to feain an assault there while hooker took the rest of his men to the real Target Lee knowing what was coming decided to take a strategic

gamble considering his numerical inferiority he first divided out 10,000 Of his 60,000 men which would be Comm commanded by General jubil early these troops would remain in Fredericksburg to defend the city meanwhile Lee would take the left over 50,000 soldiers to face off with hooker's Army of the bomac in a forest just west of Chancellorsville battle erupted for some reason despite the clear advantage in numbers and his prior enthusiasm hooker suddenly ordered his men to fall back in defensive positions Giving Lee a new Edge in yet another bold move the confederate general then split his

troops yet again this time sending his trusty colleague Stonewall Jackson with one portion around the Union's Left Flank Stonewall marched his men straight into battle with the Union 11 Corp Lee on the other hand would soon catch wind of an approaching Union force to the east prompting him to again divide his men so he could Face Off With His attackers near Salem Church the battle overall would result in an unexpected and rather spectacular Confederate Victory but there would be one Casualty that the South would soon suffer heavily from in particular the death of stone wall

Jackson while returning to camp in the dark of night alongside some of his men the 18th North Carolina Infantry Regiment opened fire without waiting for the group to identify themselves as they Believed them to be Union Soldiers Stonewall was shot three times in the process twice in the left arm and once in the right hand over the next few days he would have his left arm amputated and shortly died of pneumonia complications the response from General Lee would indicate what a symbolic blow this was for the South I have lost my right arm I'm bleeding

at the heart after the rebel Victory though at A steep cost the Confederates looked for another win diplomatically responding to the Emancipation Proclamation Jefferson Davis solidified his earlier statements and more through the retaliatory act which went so so far as enabling the execution of Northern black soldiers and their white officers this Hefty political move was followed by another series of armed clashes of course the Battle of Raymond Would see a union Triumph in Mississippi but the Battle of Jackson was a bit more indecisive meanwhile Grant had been busy finally chipping away at the path to

his ultimate Target the roads to Vicksburg is open grants told William T Sherman in a request for reinforcements the Confederate higher ups were currently caught in disputes over their next move opening up the door for the union to take full advantage this would result in the highly Significant Battle of champion Hill and the hill of death as deemed by Alvin P hovi after the fact the result was a Monumental Union victory Tory and a huge step forward for Grant and his Vicksburg campaign another Triumph for the campaign at the Battle of The Big Black River

Bridge would follow putting increasing pressure on Vicksburg as the Yankees were Now set up to besiege the city 15 miles of trenches were in the works as the siege of vickburg Began Grant was confident that this time the city would be his The Siege began on May 18th trapping the 29,000 strong Confederate Force Under General John C pton and the civilians of Vicksburg in the city with no supplies and under constant brain rattling bombardment pton and all those remaining in the city after 47 days surrendered on the 4th of July 1863 Grant's dreams had come

true he had taken Vicksburg and thus the Mississippi but a lot had happened elsewhere in his absence the Battle of Brandy Station in Virginia played out in early June and would set the record as the largest Cavalry clash in the entire War the tussle ended with the Union troops being styed and another battle only days later the Battle of second Winchester cleared the Yankees from the shenon DOA Valley it seems that Grant's luck was better than his comrades although the Union as a whole found a Victory on June 20th when West Virginia officially joined it

as a new state this gave the Northerners something to celebrate but just days later and hours before Grant would seize Vicksburg one of the most tragic events of the war and America's history was to take place the Battle of Gettysburg General Robert E Lee was the man responsible hoping to move the conflict out of War exhausted Virginia Lee looked to take the fighting straight To the north starting in Pennsylvania with a 75,000 strong Army Lee marched into the union state tailed by Union General George Gordon me and his 95,000 men the opposing forces march on

until they reach the town of Gettysburg where Lee stops and begins preparation for the brutal attack that is to come meanwhile Confederate Major General Henry Heth was on his way to wle when his Force stumbles upon that of Union Brigadier General John Buford the latter fires on the former and the battle unexpectedly Begins the Confederates respond well to Union fire and start pushing the Northerners back along Chambersburg Pike though stalled the southerners are not being stopped Major General John F Reynolds Union 1 and 11 cores soon arrive to support Buford but it still wouldn't be

enough Reynolds is fatally Shot in the neck just as the battle is picking up and more Confederate reinforcements are joining the fight General Robert rhs and general juble early clash with the Union troops nearby and together the rebels begin to box the Yankees in at Gettysburg as the union line collapses many soldiers are able to flee along a nearby railroad but others are now stuck in the town the remaining Defenders decide to Regroup on Cemetery Hill to the South holding out in a fish hook formation the union men are still surrounded by Southerners though the

battle is not yet lost Union general Dan sickles acts next taking his three cores up to emmittsburg Road and the peach orchard where they run into Confederate forces under the command of General James Long Street sickle's plan backfires abruptly requiring General Mees to send the entirety of his five core troops to Support him with long street now focusing his attack on the union left General Lee sends Hill to take the center and general Richard uul to go for the right long Street's men hit sickles around Devil's Den and little rounds top but to shockingly no

avail as the union scrambles to bring in more reinforcements over at the peach orchard to the contrary sickle's men Faire quite worse casualties are already t in up in unimaginable numbers as day two of the Battle rages on the Yankees quickly fill the Gap left behind by the reinforcements sent to Aid sickle and managed to knock the rebels back at the center to the right generals uul and early aim to Route the Northerners on and around Cemetery Hill as Darkness rolls in the union holds off at first but the Confederates soon overwhelm The Defenders nor

than reinforcements would shortly renew the fighting on the hill however but Meanwhile another confederate general Edward Johnson launches an attack on the union extreme right at kulps Hill with many of these troops having been sent to assist elsewhere Union General George Green is left with only 1,300 men to fight off the 4,500 Confederates numerical superiority AIDS the southern but Green's men hang in there as day two winds to a close Gettysburg has already Become the bloodiest battle of the Civil War day three will be no better for most as morning comes General Lee sends reinforcements

to his men at culps Hill but so does General me the tables have now turned and it's the rebels who lack proper numbers nevertheless the Confederates engage and a 7-hour fay commences at first the Confederates seemed to be better off but by noon the tide has turned in the Union's favor Lee Instead of calling more troops to the aid of the right orders a fullscale attack on the union left something me had stunningly predicted making him the first to actually outsmart Robert E Lee the center assault would turn into the largest artillery barrage to ever

occur in the Western Hemisphere a spectacular show but to no success for the Confederates as the southerners are forced to March through a mile of open unprotected ground leading across Emmittsburg Road the Northerners open heavy fire ripping apart the rebel attack as Lee pushes for the assault to continue the Confederates attempt a last ditch effort to collapse the union rear with an attack led by General Jeb Stewart but this fails too the entire Southern offensive is collapsing on every side and it soon becomes clear that the Yankees have won the Battle of Gettysburg eventually accepting

that Fact Lee withdraws toward the pomac and back into Virginia it is said that Lee told his men as early as in their Retreat that the entire situation was his fault and he believed this so deeply that he offered his resignation to President Jefferson Davis after the fact and his guilt was not without reason his attempts to take the war to the North had caused casualties so high that the wounded alone outnumbered Citizens of the town 12 to1 more than 50,000 men had been killed wounded or missing by the end of the 3 days homes

and churches had to be transformed into hospitals for the wounded and bullet holes riddle the town part of the battlefield would shortly be turned into a national cemetery for fallen Union Soldiers slain Confederates were not so lucky after the catastrophe that was Gettysburg the Union victory was in many Ways overshadowed by the tragedy itself and the still ongoing War not only that but the excitement for many of the 54th Massachusetts colored infantry becoming the first African-American volunteer regiment to see combat in the war was marred by the draft riots that followed angry New Yorkers who

felt that the conscription system favored the rich began to attack the Dr craft office and black churches and the anger swiftly spread the South was fairing little Better however as the war was radically draining its economy and raising the question of how much longer they could even continue to fight skirmishes and smallscale clashes carried on through July at the end of the month President Lincoln issued general order 252 declaring that for for every black us prisoner of war executed by the south one Confederate prisoner of war would be killed in return tensions were on the

Rise and the rebels didn't react well Laurence Kansas was set to face the South's wrath as the day began on August 21st 1863 Rebel gorillas led by William Clark quantril led a raid on the town that resulted in a massacre much of Lawrence was burnt to the ground and at least 160 men and boys were murdered this wasn't even War it was a mass scale homicide and it represented the extreme anger and Desperation felt by many from the south As the war carried on and the Confederacy struggles to keep up as such the union soon

captured Chattanooga GA Tennessee elsewhere at the Battle of chaga the Confederates found some hope with a victory and general braxon Bragg followed It Up by launching a Siege on Union occupied Chattanooga Lee and me meanwhile clashed in Virginia at the Bristo station campaign Abraham Lincoln gave the Gettysburg address at the dedication of The soldiers National Cemetery and Lee was aiming to hold out the Confederate War efforts just long enough to manipulate low Northern morale into electing a southern sympathizer in Lincoln's upcoming reelection sadly for the rebels however the siege of Chattanooga eventually failed and Bragg

was forced into Georgia while another Confederate Siege on Knoxville also fell short the South had started the war Strong but it seems that all the North's technical advantages were finally paying off both sides wanted the war to end but neither was ready to give in Lee's ultimate plan could still work but Lincoln had another offer to make any Confederate willing swear an oath to the United States and your Rebel acts will be forgiven by now the union was ready to try and truly the Confederacy by launching a campaign aimed at digging Even deeper into important

Southern territories this would be the largest army navy combined campaign to be launched at any point throughout the war the main target was the capital of Louisiana shreport which if captured could potentially give the Northerners an opportunity to next dig into Texas the whole thing however was problematic from the very start for one on the Navy side rear Admiral David Dixon Porter had agreed to join the campaign under the Assumption that Major General William T Sherman would be the land commander and Sherman himself had intended to do so but with General ulyses Grant preoccupied with

other Northern objectives and insisting that Sherman stay and assist him Major General Nathaniel P Banks would instead be the one to take the Reigns something Porter nor Sherman were pleased to hear in fact Sherman even went as far to send a contingent of his own men 10,000 of his Very best torter specifically stating that this favor was in case Banks abandoned the naval forces if his own land troops got into trouble and the problem with General Banks was that he wasn't even much of a military man technically he wasn't one at all he was a

politician more than anything which is exactly why he needed this campaign for the military experience and hopefully success that it would bring him the problem then with Banks's plan was the Fact that he intended to use three entirely separate forces Porter's 19 boat strong Fleet Banks own 20,000 men from the New Orleans area and Major General Frederick steel with another 10,000 coming from Little Rock since none of these groups could communicate with each other easily throughout the campaign the entire plan begs to become an unorganized disaster or as one Union general said one damn blunder

from beginning to end the red River campaign Ended in a Yankee Retreat and a much- needed break for the Rebels the Confederates also managed to seize Fort Pillow in Tennessee around the same time murdering 300 surrendered Union soldiers in the process many of whom were black General Grant shortly after demanded that all prisoner exchange talks be halted until the South agreed to treat black prisoners of war the same as white Grant was also busy preparing for what would be one of the most Horrendous engagements of his entire career the battle of the Wilderness Lee's army

will be your objective where he goes there you will go also and thus the Northerners would this Lee chasing Army consisted of the army of the pomac jointly commanded by Major generals Governor K Warren Winfield s Hancock and John Sedrick alongside Ambrose Burnside and his independent ninth Corp on the Confederate side was General Lee the chased at the helm working with him however was a bit of a rag tag group of commanders as the South was still reeling and struggling to recover from the loss of Stonewall Jackson Lee's right hand nevertheless AP Hill and Richard

s uul though not as skilled as Stonewall were ready to fill the gaps and Lee's close friend at James Long Street was prepared to tag along in the early days of May General Grant had Opted to take his men out of the Wilderness of Spotsylvania and into open ground in their preparations for a face off with the Confederates Lee on the other hand had ordered his men to try and trap tra the union troops in a battle within the Wilderness as the difficult terrain would give the southerners the upper hand these simultaneous strategies eventually led

to the Northerners catching wind of the approaching Rebels General Warren reacted by sending out a division to investigate the situation while the rest of the Union forces attempted to avoid a possible Clash before escaping the wooded terrain the situation however would not end in the Yankees favor the very moment we appeared they gave us a volley at long range but evidently with very deliberate aim and with serious effect a union officer would later Testify the Confederate force that Warren had aimed To Simply investigate was actually the entire core under General Ule and upon being watched

they reacted with rapid hostility the battle began at saund field and evolved into what one described as bushwacking on a grand scale as the thick foresting made for a confusing Battlefield over with General Hill another battle had broken out Along The Plank Road as the Confederates there ran into General sedwick's division in their attempts to cut the Northerners Off from the highly important Brock Road for the first portion of each engagement the favor seems to shift back back and forward with no clear winner but the outnumbered Southerners were surely disadvantaged under Hill General Long Street

was intended to come and assist Hill and his attack as nightfell which caused the ladder to hold off from re-engaging at dawn As Long Street was yet to arrive this meant that the union attacks that morning proved disastrous For Hill that is until long Street's heroic AR Ral hours behind schedule the battle around Plank and Brock roads would thus carry on for a while longer with what seemed to be a growing Confederate favor for some time but would eventually end in eventual though partial Union victory the southerners would complete the Endeavor with the upper hand

however after General John B Gordon routed Yankee troops along the turnpike on May 6th even taking two Union Generals as prisoners in the process the consequence for the north was damning the battle had cost them double the number of casualties as it had the South and the situation became so dire that General Grant wildly uncharacteristically broke down in tears in his tent at word of the situation yet Grant nor the north was ready to give up instead of following the Battle with a full retreat they marched on Deeper South to Richmond throughout May the union

was now daringly carrying out two simultaneous campaigns grants Overland and Sherman's Atlanta the Overland campaign had begun with the battle of the Wilderness and the depressing draw at best couples with the Raging Fire the battle had caused it all seemed like a bad Omen for the newly launched campaign but as Grant told a reporter there is no turning back the Campaign was far from over in fact the next Clash occurred only hours later at the Spotsylvania Courthouse where Lee managed to stall his adversary yet again for 2 weeks straight until Grant finally disengaged after losing

roughly another 18,000 men the union general pushed on for Richmond off and on clashes would follow as Grant and his men trudged towards the Confederate capital and the Battle of Cold Harbor would see the union take another unwanted hit after 6 Weeks the campaign came to a close but not before racking up around 55,000 Northern casualties and seeing the third and fourth bloodiest battles of the entire War still Grant was aiming for a war of attrition now and to this extent with the battle of the South having totaled around 33,000 casualties the union had actually

claimed a strategic victory over with General Sherman he and his men had been ordered to take the key Confederate city of Atlanta and thus beginning in Tennessee they started their March as the campaign carried on a few things were happening elsewhere in the Union on June 8th 1864 for example Abraham Lincoln officially received the nomination for reelection unfortunately for Grant news for him was less positive as many in DC were now calling him the butcher due to his strategy of sacrificing tens of thousands of men now in hopes of saving more later by ending The

war or sooner furthermore other battles were ongoing such as the Battle of Bryce's Crossroads where General Samuel Sturgis was crushed by the highly outnumbered Confederate Force Under General Nathan Bedford Forest Sherman however was Ill concerned about his comrades labors as his campaign would prove triumphant after a string of combat along the way the Confederates under General John Hood would eventually Retreat from the city of Atlanta entirely surrendering it to the incoming Yankees the latter would hold the city until November at which point Sherman had ordered for all military resources in the city to be burned

to the ground which would unintentionally result in an out ofcontrol fire that leveled the city as the heat of the summer beat down on both battle worn and battle ready men of North and South the Confederates too were attempting to make significant Moves confederate general jubil early was hoping to take pressure off of Petersburg and Richmond which had been under siege by the union since the end of the Overland campaign thus he clashed with Northerners at the Battle of Monocacy in Maryland where he would ultimately win but many from the north still claimed it to

be a tactical Victory and stopping the Confederates from reaching DC early would eventually reach the Defenses of Washington nonetheless but he would withdraw from the attack the same day as the war thus raged on through the summer it wasn't just the land forces who saw battle one contest in particular saw a joint effort at the start of August when the north aimed its sights at Mel Alabama the Battle of Mel Bay technically just outside of moel B Alabama was a joint land and Naval effort by the north to capture the Confederate Port that had become

increasingly crucial for the south after the fall of New Orleans Union Admiral David faragut sped his Fleet through the bay behind four ironclads to take on the small Confederate flotilla and two formidable forts standing in the way the battle was well fought by the Confederates But ultimately ended in a I Victory though the city of Mel itself would remain in Confederate hands nevertheless the port Now belonged to the north violence was still at a high around Petersburg as well Jew to the ongoing Siege and the following month a battle broke out at Winchester again for

the third time following his attempted attack on Washington General jubil early had remained in the shenendoa valley which the South had been using for some time now to launch their incursions against the north this eventually led to the Union deciding it was time to free the shin andoa of their adversaries sending General Philip Sheridan to do the deed the battle officially broke out at Winchester when General Sheridan and his army of the shenendoa were attempting to pass through the narrow canyon near Barry rille Pike the Confederates in the form of General Steven D ramer's division

open fire essentially trapping the soldiers and wagon trains within the canyon the goal wasn't necessarily to Defeat the drastically larger Union force but rather to stall its Advance giving General early enough time to race the remainder of his forces to join the defense after having heard of Sheridan's upcoming attack by the time the Northerners finally gathered themselves enough to launch their own assault Major General Robert E rhs and John B Gordon had arrived to Aid Ramer and the fight was on the Yankees slowly but surely beat Down the Confederates under Ramer while his comrades fought

their own battles all around him General Gordon and his men were locked in one of those clashes although they seemed to be fairing in a bit better for the time being the grass and Earth was cut and torn up by a perfect sheet of lead bullets sought the hiding places of the men with fatal accuracy blood was on everything was everywhere was spattered on bushes was gathered in ghastly puddles on the Ground was the description given by one of the Union Soldiers present General rhs was also launching a strong Counterattack nearby as both Ramer and

Gordon were gaining ground even if it was ground they had previously lost as the battles raged on the Northerners began to worry that the whole exertion could end up going in the rebels favor thus General Sheridan decided to call in backup from an old friend I've got crook here with 10,000 Men and I am going to throw them in and whip these fellows in the end Sheridan wasn't entirely wrong the Confederates would face defeat and the city fell to the union and what seems to be a pattern of recent this would prove to be the

bloodiest battle ever fought in the shed andoa Valley with Sheridan losing over 10% of his entire Army in the hard-fought victory the Confederates would lose roughly 4,000 scarcely less Than the much larger Union force they had faced yet Sheridan was wasn't done with jubil early in fact he still wanted him out of the shenendoa entirely after the battle of third Winchester early had worked to withdraw back to Fisher's Hill which he believed would provide safety for his absolutely rattled troops known as the Gibralter of the valley the hill could be a crucial grounds to hold

if properly defended Early however was unable to even set up proper defenses before Sheridan and his army arrived on their heels General crook sent off by Sheridan ambushed jubil early and his men on their Left Flank while the other Union forces served as a distraction the Confederates despite their best efforts were forced to retreat yet again being chased until Woodstock the following months would see the union Ina the burning to downright Destroy the Bread Basket of the Confederacy and eventually wrestle the whole of the shenendoa Valley from the south alt together the union was looking

more and more Grim for the rebels over in the union it appeared that the war was as close as ever to ending in the previous months it had been General Robert E Le's belief that if he and his Confederates could hold off for just long enough the war Exhausted and dissatisfied Northerners would choose to elect a southern sympathizing president in their upcoming election this never came to fruition however the election had come down to a Faceoff between the Republican incumbent President Abraham Lincoln of course and his old wishy-washy General George mclen of the democratic party

President Lincoln and his VP Andrew Johnson would win in an electoral college Landslide though the popular vote wasn't Embarrassingly far off between the two candidates the electoral votes divided up to 212 votes for the commanderin-chief and 21 for his Challenger if Lee had any hopes left of the Union government ending the war favorably for both sides they must have been like a dying Flame rubbing salt into the wound in November General Sherman of the north began his March to the Sea after the fall of Atlanta and the subsequent Confederate Retreat Sherman decided to really Hammer

home his Triumph splitting his army in two Sherman himself took one portion 62,000 strong on a journey through the state of Georgia until they reached Savannah with a sole goal of wreaking havoc the Northerners on one hand began to destroy Confederate infrastructure and Necessities such as Farms railroads and the like at the same time while Sherman ordered his men to refrain from murdering any Southern civilians he also Wanted to make their lives absolutely miserable the thought process was that if the rebels lost Mass amounts of infrastructure and material as well as the support of their

Everyday People people their war effort would collapse and the union would officially win once and for all thus the yanes did just that as they marched towards the Savannah for the most part no one Disturbed their destruction effort though at one point Sherman and his army Skirmished with a wildly outnumbered Confederate Cavalry that ended up having to flee alt together they too ironically took a scorched Earth approach on their March ahead of the Union men Burning Bridges Barns and anything the Northerners could have used to their advantage the latter still reached Savannah as planned and

took the city presenting it to the newly reelected president as an early and grandiose Christmas gift the end of the year also Saw the battle move to Tennessee where the southerners were crushed at the Battle of Nashville and as the holidays passed 1864 wound to a close as the war still failed to be resolved though the South appeared to be losing Steam and the north quite the contrary the Confederates were yet to consider surrender it would be difficult but not impossible to carry on and so they would fittingly as if to come full circle the

focus of the war now lay on The Carolinas where it all began the union brought the battle to North Carolina in the early days of 1865 with a second assault on the crucial Confederate stronghold of Fort fiser a few months prior the North had actually attempted to take the North Carolina Port but It ultimately failed and thus decided to try again in January for before this endeavor to seize the South's only remaining sea Port on the Atlantic Major General Alfred Terry was put in charge of the army of the James portion of the campaign while

rear Admiral David D Porter led a Navy Marine force of roughly five dozen vessels and their troops the land troops would be split into two portions one US colored Troops commanded by Brigadier General Charles J Payne and the other division teaming up with the Marines and sailors under Brigadier General adelbert Ames the Latter would hit the fort itself while the former aims to take out the Confederate Defenders under Major General Robert hul the incursion went remarkably smoothly Hox scarcely put up any real resistance and though fighting over the fort itself proved rough the Yankees found

victory that same evening this was not only a military Triumph but also a major win for Grant's strategy of a war of attrition and it was just the start of the Union's harassment of the Carolinas General Sherman was on his way a month after the hit on North Carolina Sherman invaded its lower neighbor the target was Colombia and the goal was actually an utter Rampage through the already evacuated City a drunken soldier with a musket in one hand and a match in the other is not a pleasant visitor to have about the house on a

dark windy night one Union general remarked of the sack between the destruction dished out by the soldiers Themselves and raging fires that no one quite knows who actually started the city was over half leveled by the end of it all in the words of Sherman himself though I never ordered it and never wished it I have never shed any tears over the event because I believe that it hastened what we all fought for the end of the war back up north only days later the Confederates faced another disaster the union capture of Fort fiser and

the later evacuation of Fort Anderson on the Cape Fear River meant that the Yankees had a pretty easy shot at moving all the way down to seiz Wilmington and rendevu with Sherman and his men General hul on the other hand was aiming to set up a strong defense over Wilmington while waiting for reinforcements under Lieutenant General William J Hardy to arrive Ho's early defense would be impressive even earning him the nickname of the ston wall of Forks Road nevertheless inferior numbers Forc the rebels to tactically withdraw from Sugarloaf and move their defensive lines to Forks

Road Hox sent word to Hardy that he believed they could in fact keep the Union forces out of Wilmington upon his arrival but Hardy would never arrive after all in fact it was General braxon Bragg's authority to the former who ordered Hardy not to go to Wilmington and stunningly despite hoa's continued successful efforts to repel Union attacks at Forks Road mags Then ordered the tenacious General and his thousands of seasoned veterans to abandon Wilmington altogether and so they did back home in the Union as the war raged on down south the second inauguration of Abraham

Lincoln took place on March 4th 1865 as eager Northerners flooded DC in the face of incessant rain and ridiculously muddy roads to witness the historic event one would almost fail to Believe that the general satisfaction in President Lincoln had actually suffered greatly at times throughout the war even among the cheering crowds however there still stood those who refused to see the good in their leader one such man in particular was John wils Booth the president's future assassin although would not act now it is said that he later made remarks about how close he was to

Lincoln and how easily he could have killed him at that Moment furthermore underscoring the state of tensions in the north despite the president's successful reelection famed abolitionist and freed slave Frederick Douglas stated of the inauguration I felt then that there was murder in the air I felt that I might see him fall that day it was a vague presentiment but Abraham Lincoln would not fall that day and the inauguration went on steadily enough as the president gave a powerful speech to eager citizens Hanging on to his every word it marked a day of Celebration and

hope which would days later be starkly contrasted to the mood of the South as General Sherman took yet another one of his cities the paper said Sherman and his army were struggling through the swamps in the Carolinas and it was greatly feared that the Confederates would get together and do them up before they could get to Coast what a lot of faint Hearts they must be down there in New York the words of Theodore Upson demonstrated the Steep irony of the worried Northerners who had no idea of the scorched Earth Rampage Sherman and his men

had been on taking and burning towns to the ground the general and his army were far from struggling and not only were the Confederates failing to get together and defeat the Yankees but the rebels were instead evacuating City by city as Sherman would Near and the next of these towns to fall to the union would be fville as North Carolina continues to be battered by the Northerners finally though Sherman would face significant resistance as he attempted to lead his men out of fville toward Bentonville the southerners in spite of it all still weren't ready to

throw in the towel assume command of the army of Tennessee and all troops in Department of South Carolina Georgia and Florida Concentrate all available forces and drive back Sherman these were General Lee's words to General Joseph E Johnston whom he'd recently convinced President Jefferson Davis to approve as the replacement for General PGT borgard who had thus far failed to impress the Confederate commanderin-chief as Sherman was inching closer and closer to meeting up with General Grant Lee knew that something had to be done and Sherman knew something was Coming on the one hand with the Yankees

divided into two thir 3,000 strong groups under orders to keep a close eye out for incoming Confederates those Rebels they spoke of were not yet United either General Hardy had just arrived at Raleigh after a small Skirmish at fville while the hesitant to participate in what he saw as a lost cause General Johnston was still on his way to join his comrade I can whip Joe Johnston Sherman had confidently asserted as he And his men marched to W Goldsboro under the shadow of the impending attack but as more Confederate troops came near it didn't seem

quite so clear that the Northerners would in fact whip their adversaries when the battle actually began the Confederates did take an early Advantage it wasn't until the union managed to get off their Counterattack that the tidde changed and the Yankee reinforcements pushed Johnston and his troops into a withdrawal I can do no more than annoy him Johnston told Lee of the man who had been all too prepared to win from the start Sherman couldn't be stopped now nor could the union and the South knew it it would only be a matter of weeks before no

one was left in denial the Confederate flame was dying like a match scarcely shielded from a swift gust of icy wind Lee knew it John knew it they all did and yet they weren't ready to give up not yet General Lee and General John B Gordon in particular couldn't let go just yet instead they opted to embark on what would become known as Lee's last offensive as the struggle was closing in on Petersburg Virginia at the end of March Lee and Gordon concocted a daring plan with the aim of seizing Union controlled Fort Stedman with

generals William Wallace James Walker and Robert ransome Gordon awaited the perfect second to launch his ingenious Ambush One of the General's Sharpshooters Oscar Whitaker describes the waiting period thus General Gordon got us to close up around him that night while he stood on a stump and told us how Lee was situated what a long line we were having to keep up in front of us he said was Fort Stedman he told us if we would take it he would have our names in every paper in the south of course we being old Soldiers told him

he would do it he told us for Not a man to load his gun and at a signal from him to rush over to the Fort knock down and drag out and he would have 50,000 troops in behind us the troops next did their best Shakespearean performance sending out a group of armed soldiers to the federal picket line to feain desertion as their Commander convincingly shouted oh boys come back don't go the next sounds to be heard were that Of gunfire at hands toand combat with a three- shot signal from Gordon's revolver the battle was

on daylight was yet to break as the Confederates launched themselves into action in a formation with Pioneer detachments leading Columns of Sharpshooters followed by infantry the southerners moved forward the deception tactic continued as Gordon's commanders had already learned the identity of the fort's officers so they could pass as More Confederate deserters or even fellow Union troops who were simply falling back while the chaos erupted under the early morning Darkness the rebels focused on their targets battery 10 for General General Walker and batteries 11 and 12 for General Evans furthermore a Cavalry Force stayed position to

join the scuffle once the union obstacles were dealt with truly rounding out the southern assault for the union men of the fort Nothing made sense Slumber card games and what it seems to be a typical night on guard were interrupted by gunfire cheering Southerners as batteries were beaten and the unexpected presence of Rebel Sharpshooters right in their faces eventually the fort opened fire with cannons but the Confederates under Captain Carson managed to escape the line of fire unscathed the captain then ordered men to put a bullet through any Yankee in sight and it wouldn't take

Long for northerners to begin to surrender still two entire Union regiments were yet to even realize that the Amber was underway until they themselves were bombarded by the Invaders any chance of the Yankees putting up any relevant defensive seemed nearly non-existent by now and a brave yet insufficient effort to retake what they were losing under brette Brigadier General Napoleon McLaughlin crumbled in an instant as general Gordon waltzed Into the fort to personally relieve McLaughlin of his command claiming at this point that his men's success had thus far exceeded his own expectations if the South needed

a morale booster they were getting it now after taking Fort Stedman the Confederates turned their sights on the nearby Fort Haskell and Fort mcgilvery the first thing the boys knew they were firing down our line from the right to the left of the regiment one northerner Recall to the next Advance the boys were asleep in their bunks at the first volley but grabbed guns and CAU boxes not even stopping to dress some were barefooted some only with shirts and pants on the regiment had been practically cut in two the right took shelter in the rear

in some old rifle pits while C B&G ran into Fort Haskell he continued unfortunately for General Gordon however the Defenders of this fort had actually been alerted of the Approaching Army and the rebels proved unable to push past the subsequent gunfire as they arrived the Confederate forces elsewhere were also meeting some resistance now as the element of surprise no longer aided them but alas the Yankees were still struggling to stay upright the attackers were inches away from a total Victory as day broke and the union men voled to keep them out of additional Forts and

City Point Confederates attempting to Take Fort mcgilvery were captured others were hammered with Union fire General Gordon was growing exacerbated what had happened to his spectacular assault the southerners were now not only grasping to regain the upper hand but they were trapped they still held Fort stemman but Forts mcgilvery and Haskell remained in Union hands as did the land surrounding Fort stman meaning the rebels had nowhere to even go without a surrender Running out of ammunition and opportunity General Gordon made The Reluctant call to attempt a retreat a place of fearful Slaughter the retreat was

called as the Yankees drilled the fleeing Confederates with artillery and gunfire the victims had ceased fighting and were now struggling between imprisonment on the one hand and death or home on the other 2,600 of those victims Southerners wouldn't make it home the utterly heart-shattering loss For the Confederates at Fort stemman would be quickly followed by another defeat at the Battle of Five Forks by this point General Lee was beginning to accept the fate of his efforts seeing no hope left of holding off the North Lee decided it was finally time to abandon Petersburg and Richmond

letting both crucial cities fall to the Union in a monument mental blow to what was left of the Confederate resistance the war was dwindling to a Close but the biggest hit was Yet to Come April 9th would see the worst of it all for the Confederates the next few hours would Mark possibly the biggest Fall From Grace of the entire War as Lee and his men withdrew from the besieged cities of Petersburg and Richmond their journey to toward North Carolina and their fellow troops under Johnston took them in the direction of appam matic's Courthouse with

Yankees hot on their tail many Rebels were simply giving up And deserting while few were left with any eagerness or real hope Lee was becoming increasingly surrounded as the union closed in on the biggest thorn in their side for the past few years armed conflict erupted once more more though stunningly at the Confederate initiative the unshakable and rather ambitious General Gordon wanted to try yet another offensive triggering a battle at aamax Courthouse Gordon's plan Just as at Fort Stedman started with Great Southern favor but the tide eventually turned and the exacerbated Lee knew that there

was no coming back from this point beaten exhausted and and out of options Lee said there is nothing left for me to do but to go and see General Grant and I would rather die a thousand deaths unfortunately for Lee and his wish for death over surrender the ladder was the only plausible option for his Army of Northern Virginia thus Lee sent word to grant that it was time to come to the table at 1:00 in the home of Wilmer McLean the two great generals of the Civil War were now face to face the meeting

began with an odd exchange of small talk between the men who had scarcely known each other prior with their only real interaction having come from during the Mexican American War the interaction quickly evolved into Surrender negotiations during which Grant was quite generous in offering out Pardons and even Union rations for the starving Rebels Lee would soon accept the set out terms and the surrender was concluded Grant had finally bested his Southern counterpart but when his men began to cheer in celebration he silenced all those celebrating in the face of Lee the war is over the

rebels are our countrymen Again the war as granted said was over at least for the most part smallscale battles would continue through April into may but none more than last ditch efforts by rebels in denial General Johnston and his troops would surrender on April 26th General Richard Taylor on May 4th and the last major Army under General Simon bivar Buckner on May 26th after the final battle and Confederate win on the 12th in palmo Ranch Texas When The War ended the United States of America were no longer referred to as a plural unit people went

from saying the United States are to the United States is though reconstruction and healing would take time it would work out but even if in the end there was unity and more strength than ever before there was also a Monumental amount of money and lives that have been lost this bloody war in US history costing $6.7 billion saw the death of 290,000 rebels 365,000 Yankees 50,000 Civilians and 880,000 slaves it was the first modern war in terms of its upgraded weaponry and Technology adjacent to the scale of Destruction and the conflict itself in the end

the side of emancipation unity and industrialization among much more one America survived though hundreds of thousands of its men women and children did Not Looking Back Now the Civil War can Be viewed as a senseless period of violence that could have been solved instead by words and policies for others it's viewed as a moral war between good and bad or Freedom versus slavery the real meaning and necessity of the conflict May forever be up for debate but today if you ask anyone outside the United States every American is a Yankee thank you for watching our

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