Georgia's Role in the Civil War (AKS 35b) PDF

Georgia’s Role in the CIVIL WAR AKS 35 b © Brain Wrinkles  Economic and Historical Context: To fight a war and to win each side needs to have certain resources. Historians acknowledge that some...

Georgia’s Role in the CIVIL WAR AKS 35 b © Brain Wrinkles  Economic and Historical Context: To fight a war and to win each side needs to have certain resources. Historians acknowledge that some of the resources needed to fight a war w would be soldiers to fight, money to purchase supplies, food to feed troops, supplies like weapons, clothes, boots, and methods to transport soldiers to areas of battle quickly. Directions: Carefully examine the graph provided below. What determinations can you make. Which side would you expect to be able to easily win the Civil War?  The Civil War The North The South Union The Confederacy Yankees Rebels Billy Yank Johnny Rebs Blue Grey Federals  Confederacy After Abraham Lincoln was elected president in 1860, seven Southern states seceded from the Union. Lincoln was firmly against the spread of slavery, and Southerners were worried that he would eventually destroy their livelihood. The Southern states formed the Confederate States of America and elected Jefferson Davis as president of the Confederacy. © Brain Wrinkles  Lincoln Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated as the16th president of the United States on March 4, 1861. Lincoln’s goal was to “preserve the Union” and he asked the Southern states to consider rejoining. He addressed the slavery issue by stating that he would not “interfere with the institution of slavery in the states where it exists.” It was not enough, though, and the Civil War officially began when Confederate troops opened fire on Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861. © Brain Wrinkles  Fort Sumter Fort Sumter was a Union fort that protected the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina. The Union forces inside Fort Sumter were already low on ammunition and food, so they surrendered the next day. Nobody was killed during the actual battle; however, one person was killed in a 50-gun salute to the flag. © Brain Wrinkles  Fort Sumter (before the Civil War)Click on the image to learn more. 2:22 © Brain Wrinkles  Whitworth Rifles in defense of Charleston. © Brain Wrinkles Fort Sumter - today  Blockade In response, Union leaders quickly set up a blockade of Southern ports in order to cutoff Confederate commerce and weaken the South. This was part of General Winfield Scott’s “Anaconda Plan” to “squeeze the Confederacy to death.” The Confederacy relied on shipping cotton to Europe in return for supplies, the blockade was meant to stop this trade. Union ships lined the southern coast and would not let any Confederate ships in or out. Occasionally, blockade runners snuck through and were able to make it to Europe to trade for supplies. © Brain Wrinkles Anaconda Plan © Brain Wrinkles  Union Battleship off Georgia’s Coast Click on the image to learn more. 6:10 © Brain Wrinkles  Blockade In April 1862, Union soldiers landed on Tybee Island and captured Fort Pulaski, the fort protecting Savannah. Once the brick fort was obliterated, the North was able to blockade the important port of Savannah. Hardly any Confederate ships could make it in or out of Georgia.  Fort Pulaski Bombardment © Brain Wrinkles  Fort Pulaski Bombardment © Brain Wrinkles  The bloodiest single day of the Civil War. The result of the battle ends in a stalemate. However, the Union sees it as a victory as they did not lose and Lee abandons his offensive. Video One week later, President Lincoln will introduce the Emancipation Proclamation, an executive order that freed every slave in the Confederate States.  Video Summary © Brain Wrinkles  Emancipation On September 22, 1862, five days after the Union “victory” in the Battle of Antietam, President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. It would take effect on January 1, 1863. This freed all slaves in states fighting against the Union (which the Confederacy would not listen to). Slavery would not be completely ended until the 13th Amendment (1865). Lincoln’s proclamation shifted the focus of the Civil War from preserving the Union to freeing the slaves. © Brain Wrinkles  Emancipation For Southerners, the Emancipation Proclamation was final proof that the North would destroy the southern way of life. Northern abolitionists saw the emancipation of slaves as a great victory, and now had a valuable reason to fight. This increased northern motivation to keep fighting. With the proclamation, President Lincoln made it clear that the Union’s purpose was now to free the slaves. © Brain Wrinkles  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFCphy1BXkM 2:57 © Brain Wrinkles  Emancipation The Emancipation Proclamation also invited former slaves to join the Union army. About 150,000-200,000 African Americans enlisted and fought bravely, aware that they were fighting for the freedom of their people. As the Union Army freed slaves, an estimated 3,500 Black Georgians joined the Union against the Confederates. © Brain Wrinkles  Many fugitive slaves fled to the Union Army. They were officially freed with the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. Click on the image to learn more. 6:23 © Brain Wrinkles  Battle of Gettysburg The Battle of Gettysburg was a three-day Civil War battle fought in Pennsylvania. Confederate General Robert E. Lee led his troops against the Union forces. Lee had hoped that a successful invasion of the North would convince the U.S. government to give up on the war and allow the South to have its independence. However, in the bloodiest battle of the war, the Union defeated the Confederates and seriously damaged any hopes that Lee and the South had of achieving independence. This was the key turning point in the Civil War.  6:54 Click on the image to learn more. The bloodiest battle of the Civil War Battle of (over 50,000 dead and wounded) dashes Robert E. Lee's hopes for a Gettysburg successful invasion of the North. © Brain Wrinkles  Georgia Georgia was free from major battles during the first two years of the Civil War. The Union soon realized that destroying Atlanta would mean defeat for the Confederacy. In 1863, Georgia became a target for the Union. © Brain Wrinkles  Chickamauga After capturing Chattanooga, Tennessee, an important railroad center for the Confederacy in, 58,000 Union troops marched south into Georgia on September 18, 1863. Their mission was to destroy Atlanta’s railroad lines. For two days, 66,000 Confederates fought against the Union soldiers along Chickamauga Creek near the Georgia-Tennessee border. It was the biggest and bloodiest battle (34,000 casualties-dead and wounded) ever fought in Georgia. © Brain Wrinkles  Click on the image to learn more. 1:44 © Brain Wrinkles Chickamauga After 16,000 men were killed from both sides, the Union army retreated back to Tennessee. The Battle of Chickamauga was a very important Confederate victory, and it became the largest Union defeat in the Western Theatre. It was the second deadliest battle of the Civil War.  Union General William Tecumseh Sherman Click on the image to learn more. 5:49 © Brain Wrinkles  Atlanta Campaign In spring of 1864, General William Tecumseh Sherman moved his Union Army south from Tennessee to Atlanta (population about 20,000 at that time). The goal of capturing and destroying Atlanta was important to the Union because Atlanta was an industrial center and railroad hub of the Confederacy. They fought Confederate soldiers along the way, leaving a path of destruction and chaos. © Brain Wrinkles  General Sherman & His Officers in Atlanta Click on the image to learn more. © Brain Wrinkles  Atlanta Campaign 4 minute overview video of the Atlanta Campaign Battles were fought on the war to Atlanta: Dalton, Resaca, and Kennesaw Mountain. Sherman “outflanked” the Confederates and continued to march toward Atlanta. Battles around Atlanta included Peachtree Creek, Ezra Creek, and Atlanta itself. Capture of Atlanta Video On September 2, 1864, Sherman’s troops captured Atlanta and set the city on fire. Factories and railroads were destroyed. Railroad Video Sherman’s Atlanta Campaign marked the beginning of the end of the Civil War. Lincoln would be re-elected. Reading On the Locomotive Chase © Brain Wrinkles  Atlanta’s Peachtree Street after Sherman © Brain Wrinkles © Brain Wrinkles March to the Sea Within the next month, Sherman split his army in two and continued his “March to the Sea” from Atlanta to Savannah. November of 1864, Sherman instructed his soldiers to destroy any towns and plantations along the way in order to crush the remaining fighting spirit in the South. Sherman waged “total war” and saw his actions as punishment on the South for forming the Confederacy. © Brain Wrinkles  March to the Sea Half of Sherman’s army marched through Decatur, Covington, Eatonton, and Milledgeville, while the other half traveled through Jonesboro and Gordon. Railroads were destroyed, “Sherman’s Neckties”. There was only one major Confederate attempt to stop the march at Griswold. Only 62 Union died and over 650 Confederates (mostly old men and boys). The two groups met in Sandersville and headed on to Savannah. © Brain Wrinkles © Brain Wrinkles  Sherman’s Men Destroying Georgia’s Railroads Click on the image to learn more. 6:58 © Brain Wrinkles © Brain Wrinkles  March to the Sea Sherman’s march cut Confederate supply lines and crushed the spirit of the Confederate army. Union troops captured Savannah on December 21, 1864, and Sherman presented the city of Savannah to Abraham Lincoln as a Christmas gift. © Brain Wrinkles  Sherman Estimated the Property Damage at $100 million Click on the image to learn more. 7:26 © Brain Wrinkles © Brain Wrinkles  The Civil War Ends The Confederacy was wearing down, running low on supplies and troops. Fighting continued, mostly in Virginia, but General Lee (CSA) would surrender to General Grant (USA) at Appomattox Court House in Virginia in April 1865. This ended the Civil War. The Civil War is the deadliest and bloodiest war in American History. Estimates vary, from 620,000-850,000. Union military losses were at least 360,000 and Confederate 258,000. © Brain Wrinkles Andersonville One of the most notorious sites of the Civil War was the Confederate prison camp in Andersonville, Georgia (town of Millen). More than 45,000 captured Union soldiers were sent to the overcrowded camp. © Brain Wrinkles  Andersonville Prison © Brain Wrinkles  Conditions Inside the prison, there was barely any food to eat and the only water source was a filthy stream that flowed through the camp. Prisoners lived outside with few clothes and had to construct their own shelters made from sticks, cloth scraps, and mud. Living conditions were terrible and many suffered from starvation, disease, and insect attacks. © Brain Wrinkles © Brain Wrinkles  Prison Camp The prison was overcrowded (built for 10,000, but reached 30,000 prisoners) and unsanitary, and over 13,000 of the captives died of disease and starvation. Prisoners lacked life’s basic necessities inside Andersonville’s walls. It was a lawless place with “raiders” committing robbery and beatings, and “regulators” trying to stop the raiders. The camp had the highest death rate of any Civil War prison. After the war, the Union executed the prison’s commander, Major Henry Wirz. © Brain Wrinkles  Andersonville Prison Click on the image to learn more. © Brain Wrinkles Andersonville Prison Virtual Field Trip Click on the image to go to the virtual field trip.