Key Battles and Turning Points

Page history last edited by Bethany 8 mos ago

(Excellent map! Good general run-down of key battles, but make sure you focus on 2 or 3 major Turning points) Also need a video, primary source with translation, short answer questions and grading checklists)

Key Battle and Turning Points

-Bethany Preedom and Damienne Condict

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Presentation:

- Many of the battles were fought in the South Eastern areas of the United States.

- Many battles occured at the sames sites during different years.

- Some of the battles were The Richmond Campaign, The Seige of Vicksburg, Battle of Fredricksburg, Second Battle of Bull Run, Battle of New Orleans, Battle of Harper's Ferry, Battle of Fort Sumter, Battle of Gettysburg, Battle of Bull Run (First Manassas), and General Sherman's March to the Sea.

- One of the best known turning points in the war was the Battle of Gettsyburg.

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The following are the names of the different battles and some brief details about some of them.

Battle of Gettysburg- Almost accidentally, Confederate troops discovered Union calvary in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The Confederates attacked, paving the way for the largest battle of the war, lasting three days. The Union Army won the Battle of Gettysburg, destroying Lee's hopes of carrying the fighting further up North.

Battle of Bull Run (First Manassas)- On sunday July 21, 1861 Union troops gathered around Washington D.C. in hope of seizing Manassas, VA but the Confederate troops lined the creek waiting for forces at Bull Run. This was the first large battle of the war and the Confederates defeated the Union.

Battle of the Monitor and Merrimac

Battle of Shiloh- This battle was the first after the Union dispersed troops into the West and was fought as one of the battles of the "War of the West". General Grant led his army into Tennessee and continued to advance. Confederate forces attacked near Shiloh, resulting in thousands of casualties in a matter of two days. The Union won the bloodiest battle of the war, even though they had a greater number of casualties than the Confederates.

Battle of Antietam- General Lee, commander of the northern Virginia army, moved to strike Union territory in Maryland. A Confederate messenger dropped a copy of the battles plans, which were found by a member of the Union army. The Union learned that the Confederate forces were divided and general Grant attacked. Antietam (Sharpsburg) was a day long battle on September 17, 1862 at Antietam creek in Maryland. This battle was a draw.

Battle of Chancellorsville- The South won the battle of Chancellorsville was part of the rising hope in the South. This was a time for rising hope in the South since the Union was losing troops. Stonwall Jackson was accidentally killed by one of his own men when he was mistaken for a Yankee.

The Penninsula Campaign- General McClellan was in command of the Union army. He decided to approach Richmond from the Atlantic coast. He landed troops in Yorktown between the York and James rivers east of Richmond. Battle were fought there throughout 1862. The Confederates beat the Union in these battles, led by General Joseph E. Johnston and then General Robert E. Lee.

The Fall of Atlanta- General Sherman took command of the Union Army during the Fall of Atlanta. Sherman led troops through Georgia, seizing and burning Atlanta, a vital city and railroad junction, on September 2, 1864.

General Sherman's March to the Sea- General Sherman scorched the towns he marched through on his way towards the Atlantic coast and up to Virginia. His army followed the "scorched earth policy," beginning first with Atlanta. They would burn, tear up railroad tracks, raided and burned homes, and captured livestock; Ruthless destruction. Union Army forces Confederate Army out of the Atlantic port of Savannah, GA on December 22, 1864.

The Richmond Campaign

The Seige of Vicksburg

Battle of Fredricksburg

Second Battle of Bull Run

Battle of New Orleans

Battle of Seven Pines (Fair Oaks)

Battle of Harper's Ferry

Battle of Fort Sumter

Battle of Rich Mountain

Battle of Chickamauga

Battle of Chattanooga

Battle in the Wilderness

Battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse

Battle of Cold Harbor

Seige of Petersburg

Battle of Atlanta

The Gettysburg Address...

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Summary:

Gettysburg is one of the most well-known turning points of the war, because of how many lifes that were lost. In the Gettysburg Address Lincoln addresses a great number of men about the deserved remembrance of the people who died there because of how much they did for the war and how much they sacrificed. Lincoln is saying that this nation was started by liberty and now that there is slavery, the nation has been split and has been turned into the opposite of what it was founded upon. Because of this we must keep on fighting to restore the greatness and wholeness of our great nation. We must fight for freedom once again and be devoted to that result.

Questions:

What was the importance of the Gettysburg Address??

The importance of the Gettysburg Address was to serve as Abraham Lincoln's speech to his country after the Battle of Gettysburg.

What army won the Battle of Gettysburg and what were the hopes of General Lee that were crushed??

The Union army won the Battle of Gettysburg causing General Lee to have his hopes of carrying the fight further north crushed.

Which was more important to the people, the Battle of Gettysburg or the Gettysburg address speech??

The people of the United States came to believe that the speech made by President Lincoln, know as the Gettysburg Address, was more important and inspiring than the battle itself.