A Stillness at Appomattox Essay

"When New Orleans fell in the spring of 1862, the triumvirate Vicksburg, Grand Gulf and Port Hudson was destined to become the last obstacle to the total Federal control of the Mississippi." Abraham Lincoln thought Vicksburg was 'the key,' so Vicksburg was the focal point of Union strategy. Obviously, Vicksburg was one of the most important objectives of the Union army. General Ulysses S. Grant was placed in charge of the Vicksburg campaign. He was an exceptional strategist and arguably one of the best generals this country has ever seen.

The American Civil War was extremely important to the time period. The outcome of the war decided what would be America’s foundation – equality or slavery. Robert E. Lee fought for the south, while Ulysses S. Grant fought for the north. Despite his fighting platform being in the defense of slavery, Robert E. Lee’s military genius cannot be ignored. Grant as well had his strengths and weaknesses, but in very different parts of his life than that of Lee. Bill Offer, a history professor at Panola Community College, said, “History may never see two men so different than that of Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant.” Although he lost the war, I believe that Robert E. Lee proved to be the better general because he was more qualified, he followed

No other war seems to hold our focus like the Civil War. Scholars have chosen to make it their life's work, authors have written reams about it, and we all feel some kind of connection to the Civil War. This paper was created to highlight some of the major battles that took place during that conflict. Major battles usually marked a drastic change in the momentum from one side to the other or led to massive losses of troops. These battles and their results all played a huge part in the outcome of the war.

In the text on page 97 it states”He fought so because everything he lived by was tied to growth, expansion, and a constantly widening horizon.” Also on page 97 it states “Who cared hardly anything about the past but had a sharp eye for the future.” Grant wanted to kind of rise after his dissatisfaction with the past and he was not born privileged like Lee was.He had a goal and sharp eye for the future, he had a goal to succeed. Grant wanted to rise and win because of his dissatisfaction and wanted strength and virtue regained. His life was a competition so that is the reason he won the war. To conclude Grants life, Grant's life was a competition and wanted to regain strength back and he did, by winning and had a sharp eye for the future.He was everything Lee was

On the other hand, the Confederates retained control of only Seminary Ridge. This setback for the South was likely the result of General Ewell’s failure to follow Lee’s command (King 15- 17).

However the Confederate forces did not fall for the diversion and launched an attack on Grant. During the winter of 1862-1863, Grant conducted the Bayou Expeditions, or amphibious operations, all to try to reduce Vicksburg. Needless to say-they all failed. After months of frustration and failure, Grant had reached a crossroads in his military career. There was a lot of taking in the northern press to remove him from command. Even members of the U.S. cabinet urged President Lincoln to replace Grant as commander of the western army. The President could not spare this man because he fought. He decided to try him a little longer.

Unfortunately for Lee, he lost his right hand man, Stonewall Jackson, during the Battle of Chancellorsville. After his greatest victory Lee took a turn for the worst. After taking on the determined Ulysses S. Grant, a drained and unwell Lee started declining. Lee gave his best efforts in the Overland Campaign (starting the summer of 1864), but Grant’s troops were larger and stronger. Lee managed to flee to the Richmond area and secure a defense that held back Grant for almost a year.

There were several reasons for the defeat of the Confederacy which included no industrial base, (Donald 1996, p. 99) inadequate transportation net (Donald, 1996, p. 99), and bickering among the generals (McPherson & Hogue, 2009, p. 365) etc., but the overriding factor was that the Confederacy never became a nation (Donald, 1996, p. 100). That is, they seceded because the Southern states believed they had the right as independent States to do so (Donald, 1996, p. 7). The South lost because they never stopped believing this. No state could depend on any other for full support of the war. The Governor of Georgia specifically prohibited his troops from fighting outside the state for many months. Many governors set limits on how many

The Battle of Cold Harbor in spring of 1864 was one of General Ulysses S. Grant’s worst offensive defeats during the Civil War. Grant failed to describe his mission command to his subordinate, direct his units to correct movement, understand his operational environment, and lead his army with a coordinated plan. Grant had a stronger, bigger, and better-equipped army than his enemy, but his failure in the mission command process led to fatal mistakes before and during the battle. Due to failed leadership, the Union preparation for this war was so poor that it suffered nearly 7,000 casualties in under an hour, making it one of the most brutal confrontations of the Civil War.

General Ulysses S. Grant was a brilliant strategist and seemed to be able to plan out movements in advance. The people of the North thought the tremendous casualties to be horrendous. But Grant knew that the South’s casualties to be much more than the North’s. Grant did have the support and trust of the North though and his record did well to deserve that support. His commanders trusted his completely. Grant’s idea of “Total War” was to break down the infrastructure of the South. The Siege of Petersburg which lasted almost years, then the capture of Richmond is among the battles Grant engaged in while south of the James

After the Union’s defeat at Fredericksburg in December of 1862, President Abraham Lincoln once again made a change in the Union Army’s leadership. General Ambrose Burnside was replaced with Major General Joseph Hooker. Hooker and Lincoln both agreed that the key to victory in the war was the destruction of Lee’s Army in a decisive battle (Sears 57-62). Hooker’s plan to accomplish this was to use his 130,000 soldiers and launch a double envelopment of Lee’s 60,000 men still camped at Fredericksburg.

He knew victory required the destruction of the Confederate Army and its source of supplies.

After the loss at Manassas, Lincoln looked for another leader to replace McDowell, and some consideration settled on General McClellan. McClellan was at his best when he was organizing armies, not leading them into battle. Lincoln wanted the army to take over eastern Tennessee for political reasons, and McClellan for fairly sound military reasons wanted the same thing. The task was given to General Buell; it did not matter to McClellan that the area was impossible to take from the north, not to mention holding it.

The Battle of Gettysburg was amongst one the most important turning points during the Civil War. It was a three-day bloody battle between the Union and Confederate forces which would ultimately lead up to the victory of the Union. In The Killer Angels, Michael Shaara shows a depiction of the battle through the eyes of the officers and tries to give the reader a first-hand look into the daily struggles that they had to deal with when it came to distinguishing between what’s best for their men and chances of success in the battle. In the book, we are introduced with two important officers: Colonel Chamberlain of the Union force, and General Lee of the Confederate force. Throughout the book, we witness different leadership strategies and philosophies between both officers which ultimately serve as their road to success or failure in the battle. Focusing on General Lee’s philosophy on leadership, “To be a good soldier, you must love the army. But to be a good officer you must be willing to order the death of the thing you love.”, it reinforces the idea that in order to fully succeed at battle, you must set aside and sacrifice your sense of sympathy towards your soldiers as a way to avoid making emotional decisions.

An interesting turn of events would soon favor the Federal Army as General J.E.B. Stuart and his cavalry were north and east of Gettysburg causing a lot of fear in the North but consequently were not performing adequate reconnaissance, the result was that General Lee did not know where General Meade and the Army of the Potomac were or what their strength was (Freeman, 147). When Confederate General Henry Heth moved into