This Mighty Scourge - America's Civil War [1861-1865] The most cataclysmic military struggle of the late nineteenth century spanned four bloody years of fighting.
From its outbreak in 1861 to its conclusion in 1865 more than 10,000 battles were fought and over 700,000 Americans lives were lost.
Key questions explored in James McPherson’s This Mighty Scourge: Perspectives on the Civil War:
Why did the war come? What were the war aims of each side? What strategies did they employ to achieve these aims? How do we evaluate the leadership of both sides? Did the war’s outcome justify the immense sacrifice of lives? What impact did the experience of war have on the people who lived through it? How did later generations remember and commemorate that experience?
Point of Interest: Union forces frequently named battles for bodies of water that were prominent on or near the battlefield, while Confederates most often used the name of the nearest town.
Gen. McDowell leads 30,000 men against Gen. Johnston's 22,000 Southern troops in an attempt to crush the rebels and go "On to Richmond." South scores victory as Union troops flee back to Washington in disarray. McDowell replaced by Gen. McClellan.
Consequence: The Union army's defeat made it painfully clear that the war would last much longer than 90 days and be harder fought than anyone had expected. It certainly would be no picnic.
Heavily outnumbered, Robert E. Lee's troops face George McClellan in bloody fighting. Over 23,000 casualties (more than all previous American wars combined). Lee retreats to Virginia.
"No single battle decided the outcome of the Civil War. Several turning points brought reversals of an apparently inexorable momentum toward victory by one side and then the other during the war. Two such pivotal moments occurred in the year that preceded Antietam. Union naval and military victories in the early months of 1862 blunted previous Southern triumphs and brought the Confederacy almost to its knees. But Southern counteroffensives in the summer turned the war around. When the Army of Northern Virginia crossed the Potomac River into Maryland in September, 1862, the Confederacy appeared to be on the brink of victory. Antietam shattered that momentum. Never again did Southern armies come so close to conquering a peace for an independent Confederacy as they did in September 1862. Even though the war continued and the Confederacy again approached success on later occasions, Antietam was arguably, as Karl Marx and Walter Taylor believed, the event of the war."
Historian James McPherson Crossroads of Freedom: Antietam (2002)
In October 1862 , Brady displayed Gardner's photographs in his New York City studio. "The Dead of Antietam" both horrified and fascinated people. It was the first time in history that the general public was able to see the true carnage of war. One reporter wrote, "Mr. Brady has done something to bring home to us the terrible reality and earnestness of war. If he has not brought bodies and laid them in our door-yards and along streets, he has done something very like it."
As critics challenge the constitutionality of Emancipation, Lincoln uses war as its legal basis asserting that the Constitution vested the president "with the law of war in time of war"
The Battle of Gettysburg, July 1–3, 1863,PENNSYLVANIA
Over 165,000 soldiers participate in the largest battle in the Western Hemisphere. After three days of fighting, Lee retreats, leaving 4,000 dead Confederates. Total casualties: 23,000 Union, 28,000 Confederates
The Battle of Vicksburg, May 18, 1863 – Jul 4, 1863MISSISSIPPI
From the spring of 1863 until July 1863, during the American Civil War (1861-65), Union forces waged a campaign to take the Confederate stronghold of Vicksburg, Mississippi, which lay on the east bank of the Mississippi River, halfway between Memphis to the north and New Orleans to the south. The capture of Vicksburg divided the Confederacy and proved the military genius of Union General Ulysses S. Grant. After a long siege, Vicksburg surrenders to Grant. All of Mississippi River is now in Union control! Vicksburg Animated Map; Facts about Vicksburg
Sherman’s The March to the Sea (1864-1864) GEORGIA
The March to the Sea was the campaign of total war waged by General William Tecumseh Sherman following the capture and burning of Atlanta. From November 15 to December 21st 1864 Sherman and his forces marched through Georgia, destroying everything in their path to disrupt the southern economy and transportation networks.
Sherman's forces destroyed military targets as well as industry, infrastructure, and civilian property. Military historian David J. Eicher wrote that Sherman "defied military principles by operating deep within enemy territory and without lines of supply or communication. He destroyed much of the South's physical and psychological capacity to wage war.”
After the capture of Savannah, Sherman and his forces rested and then continued their march up the coast through the Carolina's. His march in the Carolina's ended when Sherman accepted the surrender of Confederate General Joseph Johnston on April 26 1865.
Quotable William T. Sherman
“War is cruelty. There is no use trying to reform it. The crueler it is, the sooner it will be over.”
“I would make this war as severe as possible, and show no symptoms of tiring till the South begs for mercy.”
The Atlanta Flames were a professional ice hockey team (NHL) based in Atlanta, Georgia from 1972 until 1980. The franchise was named the Flames in homage to the burning of Atlanta by U.S. Army general William Sherman during the American Civil War.
The Columbus Blue Jackets are a professional ice hockey team based in Columbus, Ohio. The Blue Jackets' name and logos are inspired by Ohio's Civil War history. Ohio raised nearly 320,000 soldiers for the Union army, third behind only New York and Pennsylvania in total manpower contributed to the military and the highest per capita of any Union state. Several leading generals were from Ohio, including Ulysses S. Grant, William T. Sherman, and Philip H. Sheridan. Five Ohio-born Civil War officers would later serve as the President of the United States.
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