The Battle Of The Civil War

The most destructive campaign against a civilian population during the Civil War (1861-65). Began in Atlanta on November 15,1864. Union General William T. Sherman abandoned his supply line and marched across Georgia to the Atlantic Ocean to prove the Confederate population that its government not protect the people from invaders. He believed that by marching an army across the state he would demonstrate to the world that the Union had a power the Confederacy could not resist. After Sherman’s forces captured Atlanta on September 2,1864, Sherman spent several weeks making preparations for a change of base to the cost. Sherman’s March to the

Sherman lead Union forces into battle to take control of the city of Atlanta, Georgia. This was part of a plan known as the Atlanta campaign that was constructed by Sherman under Commander in Chief Ulysses S. Grant. According to Facts on File, Inc. “Plans for the capture of Atlanta, the Confederacy’s largest railroad hub… were first formulated in February and March 1864” (2009). This was about four to five months before Sherman had led the union into Atlanta. Sherman’s plan which was revealed in April, was described to destroy railroads in order to cease the transportation of supplies that confederate troops needed, as well as make Joseph E. Johnston’s army of Confederate soldiers retreat back to Atlanta forcing them to surrender. A month after on May 5, 1864 Union soldiers attacked Confederates at Dalton, Georgia and attacked Resaca four days later. On May 12 Johnston led his soldiers to meet the Union army at Resaca where his army would battle Union soldiers from May 13 to May 15. Although Confederates had driven Union soldiers back on the second day of battle, after Johnston received reports telling him of the Unions success in gaining position he decided not to attack on the following morning and instead retreated his soldiers to Calhoun and Adairsville. Following this evacuation, Confederates were supposed to ambush Union soldiers on Cassville road, they were all positioned by May 19 in the morning, but the army retreated and waited for Union soldiers to attack

U.S. Major Robert Anderson occupied the unfinished fort in December 1860 following South Carolina’s secession from the Union, initiating a standoff with the state militia forces. When President Abraham Lincoln announced plans to resupply the fort, Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard shelled Fort Sumter in April of 1861. After a 34 hour exchange, Anderson and his soldiers surrendered the fort. Confederate troops then would come to occupy fort Sumter for almost four years, before abandoning the fort prior to William Truman’s capture of Charleston in February 1865. (The Civil War: Primary Documents on Events from 1860 to 1865, 79)

After several months of battles between the north and the south in several states, including North Carolina, Virginia, Missouri, Kentucky and Tennessee, the war reached Florida in 1861. The first battle to reach Florida occurred when there was a standoff at Fort Pickens. When Florida seceded from the Union, there were Union soldiers stationed at Fort Pickens that were asked to surrender. A force of almost 1,000 volunteer soldiers landed on Santa Rosa Island with the intent of raiding the outlying defenses and camps near Fort Pickens. General Richard H. Anderson led these soldiers. Mainly the Sixth New York Infantry Regiment defended the forts and camps. Soon after the Confederates burned and ransacked the Union camp, reinforcements were sent from Fort Pickens to assist the confused Union soldiers. The Confederates had 18 killed, 39 wounded, and 30 imprisoned soldiers, while the Union had 14 killed, 29 wounded, and 20 imprisoned. By March 1862, the Confederates completely withdrew from the area. This battle became known as the Battle of Santa Rosa Island because the union troops landed on Santa Rosa Island, four miles east of Fort Pickens.

On April 12-14, 1861, the Battle of Fort Sumter happened. The location of the Battle of Fort Sumter is near Charleston, South Carolina. General P.G.T Beauregard, who was the commander of the Confederate army, ordered for the Union’s surrender of the Fort. However, Major Robert Anderson stood his front and refused to surrender which resulted in the Confederates opening fire on the Fort on April 12. Major Robert Anderson was unable to return the gunfire for the first two hours as the fort lacked ammunition and fuses. Abner DoubleDay, who was captain of the Union army, was the one who fired the first shot to defend the fort. The firing continued all day but lessened as the Union Army had to save their ammunition. On April 13, Major Robert Anderson decided to surrender the fort and it was a victory for the Confederates. There were 580 forces engaged, 80 from the Union and 500 from the Confederates. The important figures in this battle are General P.G.T Beauregard, Major Robert Anderson, Edmund Ruffin, Abner DoubleDay, Louis Wigfall, Private Daniel Hough, and Private Edward Galloway. Surprisingly, there were no casualties in this battle. It has major significance as it was the site of the first

The Battle of Santa Rosa Island began as an attempt by the Confederate Army to seize the peninsula stronghold of Fort Pickens, FL during the infancy of the American Civil War. By most accounts it ended with the hasty retreat of combatant Confederate forces to mainland Florida and the reassurance of Union ground troop supremacy in the region.(Harpers Journal***) Despite the Confederate Army leadership’s attempts to discredit and downplay the Union Army’s decisive victory and dominance on the battlefield at Santa Rosa Island, historic accounts to the contrary have been all but wiped from existence and the accounts of the day’s events have been potrayed as such. Commanding officers reports vary and detailed information concerning both Union and

By 1864, Georgia was the most important state left to sustain the Confederacy’s war effort. Its factories and agriculture supplied Confederate armies throughout the South, and the city of Atlanta was at the center of Georgia’s war production and railroad network. As a junction between four railroads, Atlanta had grown to become a primary Confederate base to transport troops, supplies, and treat injured soldiers during the Civil War. For the Union, capturing Atlanta meant cutting the South’s vital railroad network and supply lines (Still). According to William Sherman, the Union general who led the Atlanta Campaign, “This city [Atlanta] has done more and contributed more to carry on and sustain the war than any other, save perhaps Richmond. We have been fighting Atlanta all the time … and now since they have been doing so much to destroy us and our Government we have to destroy them” (Still). By destroying one of the most important cogs in the

Many may look at war as a negative especially Americans looking at the civil war being the war where the most soldiers were lost from a war in all of America’s history, one city named Fort Myers was saved from being lost in history forever. After the Third Seminole War, Fort Myers was abandoned in 1858. The recommissioning of Fort Myers resulted in the largest military action of the Civil War in southwest

On the 24th of November, 1863 at 9:30 PM Thomas said,” Be in readiness to advance as early as possible in the morning into Chattanooga Valley and seize and hold the Summertown road and co-operate with the Fourteenth Corps by supporting its right.”

“The Battle of Atlanta was fought just southeast of Atlanta Georgia.” ("Battle Of Atlanta")Just the day before, the Confederate Army led by John Hood attacked and lost to the Union. The Union had a steady hold on the city of Atlanta and they were not ready to give it up. The three armies of the Union, lead by William Sherman, were separated, and the Confederates wanted to attack. During this time, two of Sherman’s officers were shot and killed. ("The Battle of Atlanta Summary & Facts") Major General William H.T. Walker got fatally wounded and died shortly past noon, after this event, the Battle of Atlanta Started. ("Atlanta Campaign.,") When he went to check on Blair’s corporals, Commander McPherson who ordered one of Sherman’s armies, was killed at 2:02 p.m. He was only the second union commander to die during the war. ("The Battle of Atlanta Summary & Facts") “After taking the city, Sherman headed south toward Savannah, beginning his Sherman’s March to the Sea.” ("Battle Of Atlanta") After the Confederates launched the final attack and lost the railroad junction, John B. Hood surrendered to Sherman. This was the largest surrender during the Civil War, with 89,270 soldiers involved. Sherman and his armies had won. Though the Union had lost two brave officers during the Battle of Atlanta, their deaths were not in vain. The Union was one step closer to winning the Civil

On September 1, 1864 Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman, Commander of the Military Division of Army of Mississippi with his Union troops, had successfully captured Atlanta from the Confederate Army led by Lt. Gen. John Bell Hood. At that time Atlanta considered as the heart of the South for the Southerns and for the Confederate Army. On the other hand “Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant General in chief of the U.S. Army believed that the Civil War would come to an end only if the Confederacy 's strategic, economic, and psychological capacity for warfare were decisively broken” . So after the south had lost their most important railroad junctions and their important productive manufacturing centers, Sherman would now fight the last battle to make it more difficult for the southern Confederacy.

Before the fall of Atlanta, various battles resulting in Union defeat had left crushed hopes for the Union, General Sherman even having to stand down from his attacks on Kennesaw Mountain and Pigeon Hill when he foresaw their defeat. Despite this, he remained resilient and due to Atlanta’s role as a significant rail and supply hub for the Confederacy, the Union targeted the city and General Sherman consequently cut through Georgia from Atlanta to Savannah in a blaze of flames after evacuating its citizens, crushing the Confederate army’s supplies and morale. His success not only ensured Abraham Lincoln’s reelection but also wreaked havoc across vital Confederate railroads, damaging the Confederacy’s war efforts beyond repair. The reelection of Abraham Lincoln boosted the spirits of the Union and secured Union victory in the nearby

At dawn on December 13, 1864 BG Hazen and his 2D Division of the XV Corps began their approach of Fort McAllister for its eventual assault just before sunset. Fort McAllister is located five miles inland along the southern bank of the Great Ogeechee River which empties into the Ossaba Sound off the Atlantic Ocean. The successful assault and occupation of Fort McAllister by BG Hazen resulted in all Confederate forces garrisoned there being killed (16) wounded (28) or made prisoners (195) One mortar, 11 siege guns, and 12 field artillery pieces along with 60 tons of ammunition were captured. Immediately useful was the stockpile of commissary goods (i.e., 1,000 pound of bacon, 2,200 pounds of bread, 40 gallons of molasses, 50 pounds of candles, and salt.) Most importantly, communication and supply lines were secured with the “gun-boat fleet and fleet of transports… snugly at anchor in Port Royal Harbor, one hundred miles” to the north. Consequently, the capture of Fort McAllister and establishment of Union logistical support at Savannah’s back door spurred LTG William J. Hardee, Commander of the Confederate Army Department of SC, GA, and FL, to order the evacuation of Confederate forces from Savannah by December 21, 1864.

An important series of battles, during the American Civil War, the March to Atlanta, took place in northern Georgia. The Union forces were led by General Sherman with General Johnston commanding the Confederate forces. The Union troops had two objectives, to defeat Johnston’s army and to take the city of Atlanta (Mitchell). The Confederate had three objectives, to defeat the Union armies, to defend Atlanta, and to extend the war for as long as possible (Mitchell). By delaying General Sherman’s arrival in Atlanta, the Confederate armies hoped that the North would believe that the war was too expensive and ultimately blame President Lincoln. The effects of the march to Atlanta would be long term, as the fall of Atlanta unified the Republican

April 10, 1861, knowing that resupplies were on there way from the North to the Federal garrison at fort Sumter in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina ordered the fort to surrender. The fort’s captain, major Robert Anderson, denied on April 12, the confederates opened fire with cannons. At 2:30 pm the next day, major Anderson surrendered (historynet.com).