The Battle Of The Union Line

On January 26, 1863 General Joseph Hooker was appointed the commander of the Army of the Potomac. General Hooker wanted to attack General Lee’s army while a large portion of his troops were engaged at the town of Fredericksburg. He commanded an army that was almost twice the size of Lee’s forces. Hooker then moved the Union forces toward the town of Chancellorsville and had his men set up in defensive positions just outside the town. When General Lee learned of this he moved a portion of his men to assault Hooker and his army. When he arrived, Lee split his men in order to attack from different locations and General Stonewall Jackson commander of the cavalry moved his men to an exposed section of the Union defense and exploited it. On May 3 the fighting was so fierce that it caused General Hooker to withdraw his men and move them to the other side of the river that was nearby. This is when General Lee learned of federal troops gaining the advantage

     General McDonnell attempted to flank the Confederates by moving north and west, and began several attacks on the Confederates right flank and the center of the Confederate line at Henry House.

The Battle of Chancellorsville started on April 30, 1863 and lasted through May 6, 1863, in Spotsylvania County, Virginia. In this battle General Robert E. Lee led the Army of Northern Virginia (Confederate), while Major General Joseph Hooker led the Army of the Potomac (Union). Before the Battle of Chancellorsville, the Potomac army was led by General Ambrose Burnside, who only commanded in the battle at Fredericksburg which led Lincoln to put Major General Hooker in command. With Hooker in charge the Potomac army was in “tip-top condition, and with more strength than ever before.” With the Potomac being double the size and much stronger than Lee’s army, Hooker made the first move.

According to Document C (Two letters from Robert E. Lee), Robert E. Lee says this, “General Barkside is killed. Generals Garnett and Armistead are missing.” Robert E. Lee also says this, “I therefore, in a sincerity, request your Excellency to take measures to supply my place.” This is a turning point because generals for the confederacy have died or went missing. This helps the Union because they don’t have to face the generals and those generals can’t command soldiers since they are hurt. Also when Lee says he needs to “supply his place” it would be hard because a lot of generals for the Confederacy are gone, so the Confederacy does not have a lot of generals to fill in for Lee. So Lee would have to stay where he is even though he can’t fulfill the expectations of others. This also shows that the Confederacy morale is going down and this is another advantage for the Union because now the Union morale is going up.

The battle was an aggregate disaster for the Union as more than ten thousand Northern officers were either hurt or lost their lives in the experience. This was later named the Battle of Fredericksburg. Taking after another triumphant battle at Chancellorsville, the Confederate general Lee ended up being significantly more certain and orchestrated a strike on Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. General Lee's drive of 76,000 men clashed against General George Meade's oblige of 92,000 men. The battle fumed on for three days in the midst of July 1863 until Meade's men enveloped the Confederate equipped drive. The Battle of Gettysburg was won by the Union and completed the Confederate cause, regardless of the war persevering two more years. This battle would proceed to wind up particularly the inspiration driving Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.

The Union was blinded by its own success up to this point in the Western Theater it did not take reports of confederate advancement seriously even after its own picket lines were engaged by the advancing Confederate force.6 General Sherman even replied to a report of Confederate advancement from one of his regimental commanders with, “Take your damned regiment back to Ohio. There are no rebels closer than Corinth.”.7 This complete disregard to acknowledge reports of engagements with advancing Confederate troops led to the surprise attack on the Union forces encamped on Pittsburg Landing. The Confederate force was able to take Union forces by surprise and push them back to their camps and force some to abandon their camps in entirety as they retreated.8 This allowed advancing Confederate troops to utilize Union camps as their own and as a base camp for supplies to support further engagements. The Confederate success soon was stalled by its own inexperience at the troop level and their lack of moving in larger units effectively over the uneven terrain.9 The stall in the surprise attack allowed for Union forces to regroup and counter the Confederate attack.10 The Battle of Shiloh ended in victory for the Union, but early success, pride, and ego blinded the Union and almost offered the Confederacy the major victory they needed to help turn the momentum of the theater in their

Decisive battlefield defect of his opponent on Northern soil might finally end the battle (Gottlieb pg 49). A major objective of the invasion was the collection of the foodstuffs, forage and livestock, and as soon as the rebels crossed the Pennsylvania line plundering began (Gottlieb pg55). It was probably on the evening of June 30 when Longstreet gave Lee another piece of information Joseph Hooker no longer commanded the army of the potomatic (Gottlieb pg

During that time, Union corp commander Dan Sickles had advanced his line to a position that was a half mile ahead of the rest of the Union left flank. Consequently, what Lee had intended as a flank attack had suddenly become a frontal assault on Sickles' line. To this Mr. Parish states, "Whatever else his faults were that day, Longstreet was surely at fault in stubbornly adhering to the letter of Lee's orders although the situation had drastically changed since they were issued". Longstreet had questioned every order Lee gave on that fateful day up to that point. When it came to the assault, though, he persisted despite the fact that it was obvious that it would no longer be what Lee had intended in the first place. It is thought that, had Lee been aware of the new situation, he may not have been so eager to attack. With Sickles out of position Lee's original set of orders should have been deemed obsolete. However, Longstreet followed them literally and, as a result, some of the bloodiest fighting of the battle took place simply to get Sickles pushed back to where he was supposed to be

Late afternoon on September 16th, McClellan ordered Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker’s I Corps to investigate the enemy across the creek. Brig. Gen. George G. Meade’s troops attacked Brig. Gen. John Bell Hood’s men on the East Woods, causing a minor scuffle. McClellan planned out his attack as artillery fire rang through the night. He decided to focus the strength of his force on East Woods to overwhelm the left flank. Unfortunately, because of his order for Hooker’s probing, it gave Lee a strong indication of his intentions.

First, General Lee was the leader of the Confederate army. He divided the army into three different divisions. By mid June, all of these divisions were on the move North to the North. During their travel up North, they did have a lot of random battles with Northern troops, however they continued on their way almost steamrolling over all the Northern troops. On June 21, however one of the divisions that was led by General Ewell, entered into Chambersburg Pennsylvania. A few days later, the other two divisions arrived in Pennsylvania. They took food and horses from the farms that scattered around the countryside. One of the Confederate soldiers wrote to his wife explaining that they were doing all of this to pay back these people for some of the damage that they have done us even though we are not doing them half as bad as they have done us. The soldier added, “We will have to fight here, and when it comes it will be the biggest on record.” The Southern Confederate troops in Pennsylvania were somewhat scattered, however General Lee was not even worried about this. He felt safe, mainly because he believed that their enemy General Hooker’s Union army had yet to cross over the Potomac River. Lee, however did not realize one key thing and that was that his scouts were so far away that they could not report to him quickly which had then meant that General Lee still did not even know the truth to what was

Lee then decided that it was time to attack the North by coming up with a stealthy mission that would allow him and his troops to be able to have a Northern territory victory which would rally more Confederates and weaken the Union. This plan failed unfortunately due to misplaced dispatch was noticed by Union soldiers. Due to this mistake the Union was able to hold them off from carrying on their attack and at Antietam, both armies facing off at a stalemate. After a bloody day lee and his men escaped in the middle of the night undetected to where they will hold the line and defend Union attacks at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. After the win at Chancellorsville, Lee’s confidence in his army and their ability to capture Northern territory. Lee so then decided that they would go out and get out of the defensive and into the offensive. Him and his army face off against General Meade at Gettysburg and this would be the most popularly known that took place in the Civil War. At Gettysburg Lee had a military officer named George Pickett to lead a charge toward Meade’s high ground position which would be called Pickett’s Charge and would be labeled as a failed attacked and would end with many Confederate soldier dead. Realizing his men were dying rapidly due to his orders he calls his men to retreat. For the reason of all

In day one (July 1, 1863), the Confederates attack first in the west of Gettysburg. The day starts off with General Lee and General Longstreet discussing tactics while riding, Longstreet wants to out flank the Union army and cut off the road to Washington, forcing the Union to attack. Lee prefers that the Confederate army attack the Union army at Gettysburg and defeat them, then take Washington, as Lee believes that defending is not as honorable as attacking. They are interrupted by the sound of cannon fire and Lee decides to ride toward the guns. It is discovered from Buford’s point of view that the rebels have begun to attack, and his line is able to repel the first rebel charge. The rebels attack once again and once again they are held off. It is discovered that General Heth of the Confederacy is leading the charge, and a last large rebel attack is given. Buford knows he cannot hold the lines, but is saved by reinforcements from General Reynolds, who is shot in the open and killed. The Union line does not give in. Later, in Lee’s point of view, we learn that he has established a base of commands and the readers learn of the calamity of the battle, how Heth initially believed he was only attacking militia. The battle continues and Lee is informed that it appears the Union line is falling back. Lee meets Longstreet again to discuss tactics and Lee concludes that he will attack. In Chamberlain’s point of view, it is learned that Twentieth Maine is approaching Gettysburg, and

The following day showed the beginning of the Battle of Mechanicsville. General Lee, attempting to gain the initiative on his enemy, began his offensive by attacking one lone corps under the command of Major General Fitz John Porter. With the remaining four Union corps on the south side of the Chickahominy River, Brigadier General A.P. Hill, who was being reinforced by Major General D.H. Hill, began a chain of assaults on the flank of Porter’s corps. General “Stonewall” Jackson, arriving late from the Shenandoah Valley, finally forced Porter to give up his position and move to an area behind Boatswain Swamp just past Gaines’ Mill.

Perhaps during no period in the American Civil War was Union victory more in doubt than the in the winter of 1862. Patriotic fervor had dissipated, volunteers were scarce, and Union statesman were slowly succumbing to notions of a compromise that could end the war, but at the expense of Lincoln’s political objectives. Standing opposite of Grand Gulf on the western bank of the Mississippi River, General Ulysses S. Grant faced a critical decision; withdraw his army to strengthen supply lines to Memphis, or continue to Vicksburg. Grant’s decision to proceed brought with it significant risk, but the alternative would almost certainly have exacerbated the already tenuous political conditions. Grant later defended his decision in saying a “defeat or backward movement” would cede the initiative to the Pemberton’s Army of Mississippi, thus “a forward movement to a decisive victory was necessary” to both operational success and the continuation of Lincoln’s policy. Grant’s combination of political acumen and prudent tactical decision making in Vicksburg was a fine example of operational art by a man who many consider its greatest practitioner. Grant expertly balanced risk and opportunity by conducting a series of operations in time, space, and purpose using ground and naval forces in pursuit of strategic objectives. The intent of this paper is not to narrate the campaign in its entirety, but rather to examine key points in the campaign where Grant best applied operational art. This

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