US Civil War

The US Civil War took place between 1861 and 1865 when 11 Southern States declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America. The ‘South’ was led by Jefferson Davis and they fought against the ‘North’ or ‘Union’. After his election in 1860, Abraham Lincoln had campaigned against slavery. The Union considered the secession of Confederacy as a rebellion. The first action of the war took place on 12th April 1861 when Confederate forces attack Fort Sumner in South Carolina.

Lincoln responded by raising armies from each state and in September 1862, the Emancipation Proclamation made ending slavery in the South, an objection of the war. The US Civil War turned families against each other and after 4 years of bloody fighting, 620,000 soldiers had died. The Union victory saw the end of slavery in the US, the Union was restored and Federal government strengthened.

War Years 1861-1862

The US Civil War started on 12th April 1861 when 50 Confederate cannons opened fire on Fort Sumner in South Carolina. Two days later, the Confederate “Stars and Bars” was flying over the fort. Lincoln responded by issuing a proclamation to raise 75,000 militiamen. Robert E Lee is offered command of the Union Army but declines. Lee states “I cannot raise my hand against my birthplace, my home, my children”. He resigns commission from the US Army and returns to Virginia where he is offer command of military and naval forces in Virginia which he accepted.

Lincoln ordered a blockade of the Southern ports which had the effect of limiting the rural South to keep supplied. In July 1861, the Union suffered another defeat at Bull Run to the south of Washington. Confederate General Thomas Jackson earned the nickname “Stonewall” as his brigade resisted Union attacks.

In February 1862, Confederate Ulysess Grant captured Forts Henry and Donelson in Tennessee. Days later, personal tragedy hits Lincoln when his 11 year old son died from fever. In March, the Confederate Ironclad “Merrimac” sank two wooden hull Union ships. Naval warfare was changed forever as wooden ships became obsolete.

In March 1862 the war began in earnest. The Peninsular Campaign began as McClellan’s Army of the Potomac advanced from Washington towards the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia. The advance was halted at the Battle of Seven Pines. Generals Longstreet and “Stonewall” Jackson defeated McClellan in a series of battles forcing the Union forces to retreat. These battles saw combined casualties of more than 35,000 men. Among the dead was Private Edwin Jemison from Georgia. His photo (left) was taken when he was 16 and became known as “the face of a lost generation.

In August 1862, the Jackson and Longstreets armies defeated a superior Union force at the 2nd Battle of Bull Run. Days later, General Lee invaded the north and moved towards Harpers Ferry, 50 miles North-West of Washington. On 17th September, McClellans Union forces attacked Lee at the Battle of Antietam. It was the first major battle of the war in the Northern States and by the end of the day, there were 23,000 casualties and General Lee withdrew to Virginia from the Maryland battlefield.

Despite, Lee’s withdrawl, Lincoln was less than impressed with McClellans failure to provide a decisive victory by pursuing Lee and replaced him with General Burnside. Lincoln said “If you don’t want to use the army, I should like to borrow it for a while”. In December, the Army of Potomac suffered a heavy defeat at the Battle of Fredericksburg in Virginia.

War Years 1863-1864

On 1st January 1863, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. It freed all slaves in territories held by the Confederates and emphasized the enlistment of black soldiers into the Union Army. The war was now a revolutionary struggle for the abolition of slavery.

The Battle of Chancellorsville (30 April – 6 May) was the first major battle of 1863. Although outnumbered nearly 2:1, General Lee inflicted a significant defeat on the Union. However, the Confederate victory was tempered by the death of “Stonewall” Jackson who was killed by friendly fire.

In July, the most significant battle of the war took place at Gettysburg. General Meade had become the 5th different commander of the Army of the Potomac in a year and at Gettysburg, he defeated attacks by General Lee, effectively ending the invasion of the North. The three day battle saw around 50,000 casualties. Although it didn’t end the war, the effects on the Confederacy were significant. The following day on 4th July 1863, the Siege of Vicksburg came to an end when the Confederates surrendered. It was the last Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi River. As a result of this, the city of Vicksburg would not celebrate Independence Day for around 80 years.

In November, Lincoln gave his Gettysburg address which has become one of the most quoted speeches in US history. The opening line was “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”. The speech paid tribute to the men who died at Gettysburg and pledged “government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

In March 1964, General Grant was given overall command of the Union Army and in May, a coordinated campaign involving all Union Armies began. There aim was engage General Lee’s Army of the Northern Virginia. In June at the assault at Cold Habor in Virginia, Union soldiers suffered 7,000 casualties in just 20 mins. The frontal assaults on the fortified Confederate positions were a costly failure. Many Union soldiers had predicted the outcome. One soldier from Massachussets who died wrote in his diary before the attack “June 3, 1864, Cold Harbor, Virginia. I was killed”.

In November 1864, Lincoln was re-elected President. In Atlanta, General Sherman destroyed warehouses and railroad facilities before beginning his “march to the sea”. In December, Hoods Rebel army was crushed at Nashville by General Thomas and the Army of the Confederates in Tennessee was no longer an effective fighting force. Meanwhile, General Sherman arrived in Savannah, Georgia leaving a long trail of destruction in his wake.

Final Year of the US Civil War

As the US Civil War entered its final months, US Congress approved the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution to abolish slavery. In February, Lincoln met with Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens but the meeting ended in failure and the war continued.

In March 1865, Lee’s last offensive takes place. His army attacks Grant at Petersburg but is beaten back. In April, Grant advanced and broke Lee’s lines. The Confederate capital, Richmond was evacuated and Union troops moved in to raise the “Stars and Stripes”.

On 9th April 1865, General Robert E Lee surrenders his Confederate Army to General Ulysses S Grant at the village Appomattox Court House in Virginia. Rebel officers are allowed to keep their sidearms and soldiers are permitted to keep their horses and mules. On 14th April, President Lincoln and his wife visited Ford’s Theatre in Washington DC to watch a performance of “Our American Cousin”. At 10:15pm, Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth shot the President in the head at close range. It was part of a larger plot where Secretary of State William Seward and Vice President Andrew Johnson were also targeted. The aim of the plot was to throw the Federal Government in to chaos allowing it to be overthrown.

However, the Seward survived an assassination attempt and Johnson’s would be attacker lost his nerve. Booth escaped the theatre but was tracked down and killed by Union soldiers. 8 other conspirators were also tried and 4 were hanged.

Lincoln was laid to rest on 4th May 1865 in Oak Ridge Cemetery, Springfield, Illinois and later that month, the remaining Confederate Forces surrendered.

2010 Tours

We have just one escorted tour available in 2010 to visit the battlefields of the US Civil War. For more information about these special tours, availability and prices, please call on 0208 816 8789 or send us an enquiry via the “Contact Us” form.