Key%20Battles%20of%20the%20Civil%20War

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Battle of Fort Sumter

• April 12, 1861 Confederates bombard Federal fort
• Union forces surrender after 2 days
• Early victory for the South
• Any hope of compromise vanishes
• Virginia passes resolution favoring secession
• West Virginia forms and enters Union
• 4 slave states (MD, DE, KY, and MI) remain in
  Union
• Robert E. Lee resigns from Union Army
• Takes control of Confederate Army
• Both sides begin recruiting armies
• Lack of volunteers will lead to conscription

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Battle of Bull Run

• Lincoln pushes for early attack of the South
• July 21, 1861 Union Army advances on Richmond,
  VA
• General Stonewall Jackson leads Confederates
• Union forces retreat in chaos
• Sign that victory would not be as easy as
  anticipated for North
• Union adopts Anaconda Plan
• Blockade Southern ports
• Control Mississippi River with Union naval forces
• Capture Confederate capital of Richmond, VA

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Battle of Shiloh

• April 16, 1862
• General Ulysses S. Grant allows troops to rest
  near TN church
• Wake of key victories at Ft. Henry and Ft.
  Donelson
• Confederates launch surprise attack
• Grant reorganizes and counterattacks next morning
• Lessons learned
• Needed scouts, trenches, and fortifications
• The war will be bloody (1/4 of the troops here
  died)
• Appears to be a draw, BUT
• Demonstrated inability of Confederacy to hold
  Ohio-Kentucky frontier
• Union can take the Mississippi River

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Battle of Antietam

• September 17, 1862
• Confederates purse Union capital
• General McClellans engages them along Maryland
  creek
• Bloodiest single day battle in American history
• 26,000 casualties
• More than War of 1812 and War with Mexico
  combined
• Union does not attempt to complete wipe out the
  Confederates
• McClellan fired by Lincoln
• Enough of a victory to allow Lincoln to issue
  Emancipation Proclamation
• Goal changes from union to union and freedom

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Battle of Gettysburg

• July 1 July 3, 1863
• General Lee decides to move Confederate army into
  PA
• Failure of Picketts Charge
• General George Meade leads Union Victory
• Bloodiest battle of the war
• 24,000 Northern casualties
• 28,000 Southern casualties
• Confederates unable to launch another attack into
  the North
• Turning point of the war

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Shermans March

• September October, 1864
• Scorched earth policy through Georgia
• Make Southerners sick of war
• Burned most of Atlanta
• Move north to help Grant defeat Lee in North
  Carolina
• News of victory helps Lincoln win Election of
  1864
• Democrats ran George McClellan (former general
  fired by Lincoln)

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Surrender at Appomattox

• April 2 9,1865
• Confederates abandon their capital
• Set it on fire
• General Lee and General Grant meet at a VA
  courthouse
• Lincoln requires generous terms
• Lees soldiers are paroled and sent home with
  possessions and rations
• Within 2 months, all remaining Confederate
  resistance ends

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Ft. Sumter
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Bull Run
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Shiloh
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Antietam
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Gettysburg
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Shermans March
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Appomattox