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The War Comes to an E nd

The War Comes to an E nd. Wearing Down of Confederacy. Defeat at Vicksburg and Gettysburg cost Confederate manpower… Already low on food, shoes, uniforms, guns, and ammunition Looking to hang on long enough to destroy Northern morale and work towards an armistice Break down:

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The War Comes to an E nd

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  1. The War Comes to an End

  2. Wearing Down of Confederacy • Defeat at Vicksburg and Gettysburg cost Confederate manpower… • Already low on food, shoes, uniforms, guns, and ammunition • Looking to hang on long enough to destroy Northern morale and work towards an armistice • Break down: • Desertions—left because they knew their families were suffering • Left to fight for the Union • Movements for peace by newspapers, legislatures, and individuals in various states

  3. New Strategy: Total War • General Grant appointed William Tecumseh Sherman as commander in Mississippi • Both men believe in total war • Total War – fight military, government and CIVILIANS to destroy all ability for enemy to fight • Reasoning: • Civilians produce the weapons, food, and transportation; • Their strength keeps the army going • Attack and attack again • Huge losses for Union, but they could afford it, South could not • Burned towns, killed animals

  4. About three miles from Sparta we struck the 'Burnt Country,' as it is well named by the natives, and then I could better understand the wrath and desperation of these poor people. I almost felt as if I should like to hang a Yankee myself. There was hardly a fence left standing all the way from Sparta to Gordon. The fields were trampled down and the road was lined with carcasses of horses, hogs, and cattle that the invaders, unable either to consume or to carry away with them, had wantonly shot down to starve out the people and prevent them from making their crops. The stench in some places was unbearable; every few hundred yards we had to hold our noses or stop them with the cologne Mrs. Elzey had given us, and it proved a great boon. Source: Eliza Frances Andrews, The War-Time Journal of a Georgia Girl, 1864-1865 (New York: D. Appleton and Co., 1908), pp. 32-33.

  5. Sherman’s March • Sherman moves south to Atlanta • Occupies September, 1864 – huge transportation center • Confederate army tries to circle around him and cut his railroad supply lines, but Sherman takes the offensive. • Ex: Being “aggressive” in sports • Abandons his supply lines and marches “to the sea” • Creates a path of destruction; lives off the land as he marches • Burned most of Atlanta • Reached the ocean and took Savannah. • Left to help Grant “wipe out Lee” • Followed by 25,000 former slaves • Inflicted more damage down through SC • As they got close to the end (NC), stopped burning towns and handed out food and supplies

  6. Election of 1864 • Democrats….How did they feel about Lincoln? • Joined pro-Southern Copperheads • Upset over length & high casualties of war • Nominate George McClellan (resentful) • Radical Republicans • Nominate John C. Fremont as a 3rd party candidate • Wanted harsher proposal for post-Civil War • Lincoln chose a pro-Union Democrat as VP, but felt he would be badly beaten unless some great change • Retitled themselves the National Union Party • Andrew Johnson • Change came… • August 5 – major Southern Port closed at Mobile • September 2 – Atlanta was taken • End of Sept – Fremont withdrew nomination • October 18 – Confederates out of Northern VA • Absentee ballads from soldiers helped Lincoln win

  7. Appomattox • Clear Confederacy was over by March 1865 • Grant and Sherman approached Richmond, Confederate Govt. fled and set fire to the city • April 9, 1865 – Lee and Grant met atAppomattox Court House in VA to arrange formal surrender • Very generous terms (Lincoln’s request) • Within 1 month all resistance ended

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