Battles and Echoes - The US Civil War

Nearly 30 years have passed since I first came across the topic of the US Civil War, and until this summer, I did not dive into the topic to understand its scale and complexity.

Interest in the Civil War

Civil War carving on Stone Mountain

The first time I came across the topic was when I was in Atlanta for a conference in the mid-1980s.  I was afforded the opportunity to visit Stone Mountain nearby.  There I saw a Civil War Re-enactment. I asked a fellow conference attendee what this was, and when he explained, I had no idea what he was referring to. Moreover, with no internet or Google search, I did not have immediate access to the term.  And with the conference continuing and my studies, I did not pursue the question.

Ove the years, I have been reading about Lincoln.  Gore Vidal's historical fiction, Ronald White's amazing analysis of Lincoln's eloquence and Raymond Massey and Daniel Day Lewis' portrayals all standout as testaments.  However, through all the reading, I would keep skipping over the Civil War.  ''Fought war and ended slavery'' was the shorthand, while I enjoyed the rest of the vast and gripping account of Lincoln's life.

This summer, I was finally inspired to fill in the gaps by reading about the Civil War and also Reconstruction.  While I had some knowledge of the former, I knew nothing about the latter and reading about it was quite the aha!

Span

The Civil War spanned the years 1861 - 1865.  11 states seceded from a total of 34.  620,000 to 720,000 lives are estimated to be lost in this war.  Reconstruction succeeded the period of the Civil War and lasted until 1877.

To cut through this vast topic, I have summarized the 10 biggest battles.  The American Battlefield Protection Program estimates 8,000 occasions in which hostilities occurred in the American Civil War, and has classified 384 battles. Of these ~40 received 'A' ratings, meaning that these were strategic and decisive battles.

In my reading, I have further reduced these to 10 major battles that defined the course of the war, dividing them between Union victories and Confederate victories.

Top 10 Battles

1. Fort Sumter

Siege of Fort Sumter

President Lincoln was inaugurated in March 1861.  Within a month, the opening shots fired here in April 1861 started the Civil War.  Lincoln sent in provisions to restock Fort Sumter that was being held by Union forces.  The fort was besieged and the Union forces surrendered.

Win:  Confederate

Strategic highlight:   Lincoln maneuvered so that the Confederate forces fired the first shots.

Factoid: Confederate General Beauregard started the Louisiana Lottery after the Civil War.

2. Battle of Bull Run

Stonewall Jackson

Stung by the lost at Fort Sumter, and hoping for a quick end to the rebellion, the northern public wanted a push into Virginia in July 1861, to take over the Confederate Capital Richmond.  The Confederates stood their ground and pushed the Union forces back.

Win:  Confederate

Strategic highlight:  Both sides realized that this was going to be a drawn out war.

Factoid:  The general who withstood the Union charge, earned the nickname Stonewall Jackson, and rose throughout the war to be Robert E. Lee's #2 in command.

3. Antietam

After many battles, the next major full scale battle was in September 1862 at Antietam.  Nearly 23,000 lives were lost.  This was General McClellan's chance to put the army he was building to use. Although he repelled the confederate forces, he refused to pursue them.  As a result, Lincoln removed McClellan from office.

Win:  Union (a moral victory, rather than a decisive military victory)

Strategic Highlight:  Lincoln used this opportunity to issue the Emancipation Proclamation.

Factoid:  McClellan ran against Lincoln as a Democrat in 1864 and served as Governor of New Jersey in 1878.

4. Forts Henry and Donelson

These two battles played significant roles in the 'Western Theatre' of the war in February 1862.  This is where Ulysses Grant rose to prominence.  The capture of the Tennessee river where these two forts were located allowed Union forces to move into the south and destroy ships and bridges.

Win:  Union

Strategic Highlight:  Ulysses Grant came to prominence with his first victory.

Factoid:  Earns the moniker Unconditional Surrender Grant.

5. Shiloh

John Wayne depicting Battle of Shiloh

The war continued in the Western Theatre with Grant continuing to press deep into the south along the Tennessee river.  However, he faced fierce resistance at the Battle of Shiloh in April 1862.  It was the bloodiest battle of the war up to that point.

Win:  Union

Strategic Highlight:  Grant realized that 'one great' battle would not end the war

Factoid:  The battle is depicted in the movie How the west was won and the sequence was specially directed by John Ford.

6.  Battle of Fredericksburg

Unmitigated loss for the Union in December 1862 in this battle to race for and capture the Confederate capital of Richmond.  Bureaucratic delays and unexpected urban combat led to the Union army being outnumbered and 'butchered' as described to Lincoln.

Win:  Confederate

Strategic Highlight:  A low point in Lincoln's presidency with criticism from all quarters.

Factoid:  General Meade was the most successful of the Union forces even in defeat, and would experience a big victory later in Gettysburg.

7.  Battle of Chancellorvsille

This was the big battle in May 1863, before Gettysburg.  It was another decisive victory that gave General Robert E Lee, the commanding general of the Confederate Army the confidence to next make an advance into Union territory.  This battle is depicted in detail in the TV movie Gods and Generals with Robert Duvall.

Win:  Confederate

Strategic Highlight:  Lee implemented the divide his own army against the Union's superior numbers (a risky move) and won.

Factoid:  Came to be known as 'Lee's perfect battle.'

8.  Gettysburg

Chamberlain's bayonet charge

As a layperson if we were asked to name one battle of the Civil War, Gettysburg fought in July 1863 is perhaps the one that would be most referred to.  Made immortal by Lincoln's address.  But it was almost not a victory, but for the incomparable bravery of Joshua Chamberlain at Little Round Top.  Chamberlain's regiment’s sudden, desperate bayonet charge blunted the Confederate assault on Little Round Top and has been credited with saving General Meade’s Army, winning the Battle of Gettysburg and setting the South on a long, irreversible path to defeat.

Win:  Union

Strategic Highlight:  The last failed attempt to make a charge up the hill against the Union and symbolically the "high watermark of the Confederacy."

Factoid:  Everett an orator from Massachusetts spoke for over 2-hours just before Lincoln's  2-minute Gettysburg address.

9.  Sherman's March

Gone With The Wind

Dramatically captured in Gone With The Wind, Sherman's march is considered the first modern military tactic of involving the civilian population in war.  Sherman's view was that if the civilian population understood the horror of war, it would end.  He cut and burned a wide swath from Atlanta to the sea in Savannah in November 1864.


Win:  Union

Strategic Highlight:  Going deep into enemy territory without supply lines.

Factoid:  The strategy of destroying food and water supply of civilian populations has been banned by the Geneva convention.

10.  Appomattox

Lee surrenders at Appomattox

General Lee surrendered to General Grant at the Appomattox Courthouse at the end of this battle in April 1865.  In a very remarkable turn, General Grant provides amnesty to the Confederate soldiers and allows them to keep their arms.

Win:  Union

Strategic Highlight: Signalled the end of the Civil War.

Factoid:  Appomattox Courthouse was owned by Wilmer McLean, who moved here when the very first armaments at the civil war destroyed the kitchen of his earlier home.

Reconstruction

President Lincoln initiated 'reconstruction' to help rebuild the south.  Upon his assassination in April 1865, Andrew Johnson continued his program.  Reconstruction continued through 1877.  The south did not fully implement the spirit of the 13th Amendment.  Indeed, two more amendments had to be passed - the 14th and the 15th Amendments to clarify the language and be specific about the rights of African Americans.  Nevertheless, by historical consensus reconstruction is considered a failure.

100 years after the 13th amendment was passed in 1865, President Johnson's Civil Rights act in 1965 finally gave African Americans the right to vote.  Indeed 150 years after the Civil War and 50 years after the passage of the Civil Rights Act, talk of Voter ID requirements and allegations of voter fraud  in the current election cycle, creates echoes of the debates during Reconstruction.


References:

Civil War - John Keegan
My absolute favorite military historian

Khan Academy
The place to start!

Killer Angels - Michael Shaara
Made into the movie Gettysburg by Ted Turner

Gods and General - Jeff Shaara
Also made into a TV movie by Ted Turner

Gore Vidal's Lincoln
Masterpiece of historical fiction

Lincoln
Stephen Speilberg's Oscar winner on the passage of the 13th amendment

Team of Rivals - Doris Kearns Goodwin
Terrific read

Stories of Reconstruction
Learn about Carpetbaggers and Scalawags

Memoirs of Ulysses Grant
The original and still the best

How the west was won
John Ford depicts battle of Shiloh

The Good, the bad and the ugly
The New Mexico campaign is the backdrop for the movie

Gone with the wind
"I'll never be hungry again"