The Capture Of Fort Fisher Analysis

In the Union there were 23,040 casualties, 3,155 of these men were killed, 14,530 men were wounded, During the Battle of Gettysburg 27% of the Union army had casualties. Also in the Battle of Gettysburg the Confederate army had 30% to 34% total casualties(Document B). In addition the Confederacy had 2600 to 4500 deaths, during the battle they also had 12800 wounded, and 5,250 missing men.

It was well believed until Jackson’s forces began unloading rounds on the Union army stopping McDowell’s forces from advancing, holding the line like “a stone wall.” As the new Union recruits witnessed battle for the first time and felt the lack of preparation, they were quick to retreat back to Washington DC. The Southern victory and the tens of thousands of lives lost proved to the Union that this war was not going to be easily won.

The Union army was taken by surprise the first day when the Confederate Army unexpectedly attacked, but after Union reinforcements arrived the fighting virtually ended in a tie. Lasting for two days, April 6 and 7 of 1862, casualties for both sides exceeded 20,000. The Battle of Shiloh was a

Of that total loss, 12,800 were wounded, 5,250 were missing and 2,600 to 4,500 were killed. At the end, both sides lost nearly the same amount of men. The North started with thousands of more troops than the South. Therefore, compared to the North, the South was the size of a pea. This wouldn’t be a problem for the South if they had enough eligible men to serve, but their numbers, once again, were millions of men short from the North. This evidence shows that the numerous losses were a reason that the Battle of Gettysburg was a turning point because the South couldn’t afford to take another major loss of men without knowing they were going to lose and that they would not have enough men to replace.

The second phase of the Battle of Shiloh starts as reinforcements from General Buell’s Army of the Ohio and a unit of Grant’s own reserve division joined the Union Army now positioned at Pittsburg Landing. These reinforcements added over 22,500 men to the Union lines13 bringing the total number of Union forces to over 45,000, which is more than they had on 6 April, the first day of fighting.14 On April 7, General Grant renewed the fighting with an aggressive counteract.15 Greatly outnumbered (Confederate forces now around 25,000) and disorganized the Confederate forces now under General Beauregard fought hard but eventually had to retreat to back Corinth.16 The second phase of the Battle of Shiloh was won by General Grant and his Union forces due to two main reasons. The first, Union troop numbers greatly outnumbered their enemy, over 45,000 to 25,000 respectively. And secondly, the reinforcements received by General Grant had not fought the day before and were fresh and excited to fight, unlike the exhausted remaining Confederate troops.17 This was the bloodiest battle fought on American soil up to that point, with 23,746 casualties (Union: 13,047; Confederate: 10,699).18 The Union lost more men but claimed the victory because the Confederate Army retreated back to Corinth, Mississippi.

and consisted of 16,500 IX Corps Union soldiers and approximately 9,500 Confederate soldiers.1 Ambrose E. Burnside lead the IX Corps soldiers but

The April 12 paper included information on the confederates asking Major Anderson to surrender Fort Sumter and strategies for the defense of the fort. In the Times article “The Forts in Charleston Harbor” there is a sense that the union forces have positioned themselves well and the confederates have waited too long allowing the opportunity for reinforcements to arrive if needed at Fort Sumter. This feeling can be seen in the final sentence where it reads: “But be the motive what it may, there is little doubt that they have lost the golden opportunity, and that the Stars and Stripes will continue to wave over the old fort, unless puerile negotiations should allow the Confederate force to prepare

“Maj. Gen. Benjamin F. Butler sent converging columns from Hampton and Newport News against advanced Confederate outposts at Little and Big Bethel.”(https://www.nps.gov/abpp/battles/va003.htm). The Confederates left Little Bethel and went back to their entrenchments near Big Bethel Church. The Federals, under the command of Brig. Gen. Ebenezer Pierce, attacked and an exchange of fire began. The unit commander of the Federals was killed, leaving the unit without a leader. They quickly became disorganized and the battle ended as a Confederate

The weather on the day of battle was hot, in the mid 80’s to low 90’s, and humid. The heat had a negative effect on Union soldiers. The Union Army set out at 2 a.m. to avoid engaging in battle during the hottest part of the day. Many of these Soldiers were untrained in road marches and lacked discipline. They would break ranks to find water, rest or collect blackberries. For these reasons they reached Bull Run three hours late and consequently ended up fighting well into the day. Both sides went into the battle with high morale. They believed that over the course of a few days they would be victorious and the war would be won in this one battle. The terrain of the Battle was mostly rolling country side. Bull Run River was running through the battlefield, which is what the battle was named after. Soldiers had to

Next, we have the analyzation of the strategies, tactics, and battlefield layout. This battle can be separated into two engagements. Each of these engagements can be identified by the hill they primarily fought by. The first battle is on Matthews Hill. It started with the Col. “Shanks” Evans engaging the Union’s flanking maneuver. Beauregard also attempted to flank in the direction where these Union troops were coming from. Eventually, the small engagement turned into a more sizable battle as each side sent more troops. Unfortunately for the Confederates, they were outnumbered in all aspects and were forced to retreat to Henry Hill.

It was the largest battle of the Civil War totaling around 80,000 deaths, 27,000 men were wounded and more than 16,000 went missing out taken prisoner. On just the 2nd day of the Battle of Gettysburg 3x the amount of American casualties that occurred on D-Day in Normandy. Thousands of more deaths would Galen on the other two days as well. However the casualties favored the Union Army as they withstood a static move by General Lee and clinched victory for the battle.

Sears uses language that most all of us can understand, and clearly it is a very well researched work. He supports his claims in the book with a copious amount of facts and yet still keeps the course of the book moving forward. He draws on a variety of sources including diaries and letters of the participants to produce, arguably, his definitive work. Sears thesis is actually two-fold; one that McClellan missed countless opportunities to defeat Lee and two that McClellan was an incompetent commander who missed several instances to take initiative and win the battle decisively. The young Napoleon, as McClellan was known, often waited an inordinate amount of time before making a movement with his troops. For me, reading the details (with heavy emphasis to the Union story) was captivating. No recon, no communication, egotistical leadership, timidity, and procrastination all combined and helped the Union snatch defeat (or, at the very least, a draw) from the jaws of victory. This battle, like others before and after it, could have really shortened the Civil War.

Around noon, Union and Confederate cavalry troops battled three miles east of Gettysburg but Stuart was eventually repulsed by cannon fire led in part by Gen. George Custer and the Union Cavalry. The diversion attempt failed. Back at the main battle site, just after 1 p.m. about 170 Confederate cannons opened fire on the Union position on Cemetery Ridge to pave the way for the Rebel Charge. This was the heaviest artillery barrage of the war. The Federals returned heavy cannon fire and soon the battlefield was covered in smoke and dust. Around 2:30 p.m. the Federals slowed their rate of fire, then stopped firing, to conserve ammunition and to fool the Rebels into thinking the cannons were knocked out-and that's exactly what the Rebels thought too. But as the Rebels got within range, Federal cannons opened fire using grapeshot which is a shell containing iron balls that flew apart when fired, and they also used deadly waves of rifle fire. Soon the Rebel army was torn apart but they still moved forward. Pickett’s charge was almost more after the once majestic army of 13,000 had its numbers of troops dwindle.. The Rebels still move forward, shooting then charging with bayonets. The battle lasted for about an hour mostly of hand-to-hand combat. Finally what was left of Pickett’s charge (5,500) retreated. Lee admitted this was his mistake and the tide of war now turned in the North’s favor. The Union lost (either dead, wounded, or missing) about 23,000, and the Confederates lost about

This complicated war full of bloodshed and death started merely by an assault of a Confederate left flank. Deemed the single most deadly day in American military history, the Union (who had more men) swept many attacks towards the Confederate army. Even though the South had more spirit and useful tactics the sheer numbers of the Union made this battle one to remember. They fought for many hours in Miller's cornfield to then make a last stand at Antietam Creek. With the only sign of cover being trees and the stone bridge which was worn by bullets and bodies you could tell this fight was going to be bad. The Union captured the bridge and with a final push and counter attack from another Union division the Union were victorious and were another

The total casualties of Union, including killed in action, mortally wounded, battle deaths, other deaths, total deaths, wounds not mortal, were 634,703 and the Confederacy total casualties were 337,934. (Nofi, 373) It is quite clear from the number of causalities on each side that they had large number or army but North had twice as more than south. Also, it can be speculated from the casualty numbers that one of the strategy of North was to fight constantly to wear down the enemy to weaken or destroy.