Main Idea Questions:
1. Historians have argued over the causes to which made men fight during the Civil War. There can be no question that the war was ignited over the slavery issue, but for many it was actually fought for completely different motivations. Based on what you have learned and read, along with reading letters from soldiers, what were other motivations for soldiers to fight (choose either from the Union perspective or Southern perspective).
2. Many people believe that Gettysburg and Vicksburg are the most important battles of the Civil War because they are commonly viewed as turning points. Of those two, which do you believe is most or had the most impact on the Civil War?
3. Describe and give examples of guerrilla warfare in Missouri. Why do you think Missouri had such an active guerrilla element during the Civil War?
2. Many people believe that Gettysburg and Vicksburg are the most important battles of the Civil War because they are commonly viewed as turning points. Of those two, which do you believe is most or had the most impact on the Civil War?
3. Describe and give examples of guerrilla warfare in Missouri. Why do you think Missouri had such an active guerrilla element during the Civil War?
Terms:
1. First Bull Run
2. Army of Northern Virginia
3. Army of the Potomac
4. Confederate Strategy
5. Robert E. Lee
6. Western Theater
7. Trans-Mississippi Theater
8. Wilson's Creek
9. Battle of Belmont
10. Battle of Island #10
11. Battle of Shiloh
12. Battle of Antietam
13. USCT
14. Ironclads
15. Battle of Hampton Roads
16. Emancipation Proclamation
17. Gettysburg
18. Vicksburg
19. Ulysses S. Grant
20. Sterling Price
21. John S. Marmaduke
22. Price's Raid
23. William Quantrill
24. Sam Hildebrand
25. Stonewall Jackson
26. Cordelia Harvey
27. Battle of Atlanta
28. Sherman's March to the Sea
29. Appomattox
2. Army of Northern Virginia
3. Army of the Potomac
4. Confederate Strategy
5. Robert E. Lee
6. Western Theater
7. Trans-Mississippi Theater
8. Wilson's Creek
9. Battle of Belmont
10. Battle of Island #10
11. Battle of Shiloh
12. Battle of Antietam
13. USCT
14. Ironclads
15. Battle of Hampton Roads
16. Emancipation Proclamation
17. Gettysburg
18. Vicksburg
19. Ulysses S. Grant
20. Sterling Price
21. John S. Marmaduke
22. Price's Raid
23. William Quantrill
24. Sam Hildebrand
25. Stonewall Jackson
26. Cordelia Harvey
27. Battle of Atlanta
28. Sherman's March to the Sea
29. Appomattox
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After Fort Sumter - Southeast Missouri
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The Governor of Missouri, Claiborne Fox Jackson, called a special session in the state legislature and made a proclamation on April 22, 1861 that authorized the funds to raise a state guard (which ended up being labeled as the Missouri State Guard). This was in direct response to Lincoln's call for 75,000 volunteers to put down the rebellion (what he called the actions of the Southern states after Fort Sumter). "This Republican government which once derived all its just powers from the consent of the governed, was already a tyrannical military despotism." -The Charleston Courier, Charleston, Missouri. May 1861.
On April 27, 1861, the men of Scott County and Mississippi counties held meetings where they supported the actions of the governor and denounced the actions of President Lincoln. During the meeting they also agreed to begin recruiting a company for service in the Missouri State Guard. By May, rumors circulated throughout southeast Missouri that Union troops were forming just across the Mississippi River in Illinois. More rumors spread that those men in Illinois were actively crossing into Missouri and threatening Missourians. On May 3, The Charleston Home Guards formed as a unit to watch the roads in Mississippi County for Union soldiers from Illinois that may have crossed the river. Other counties including Stoddard began recruiting companies for the Missouri State Guard. Scott County begani forming a company on May 4. |
Missouri Governor Claiborne Fox Jackson
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Camp Jackson Massacre
On May 10, 1861 Missouri State Guard troops were drilling west of St. Louis at a place they called Camp Jackson (located within sight of the Fox Theater today). Union commander Nathaniel Lyon, believed these men were not just organizing and drilling, but planned to attack the U.S. army arsenal in St. Louis. He took 6,000 Missouri volunteers and U.S. Army regulars (many of whom were non English speaking Germans) and surrounded the camp capturing 670 state guardsmen. As he marched the prisoners through the city, a riot began to form, someone fired a shot, and 28 civilians were killed by the Union forces under Lyon. This event further inflamed those who sympathized with the South and many Missourians unsure of their loyalties decided to join the state guard.
"The murders at St. Louis speak for themselves." -The Charleston Courier, May 17, 1861
Southeast Missourians were further made angry when they learned that merely organizing the state guard was viewed as an act of secession by the North. To them, the organization of the state guard was completely legal because it was created by the governor of the state who was elected by the people of Missouri. To them, Lyon nor any other member of the U.S. Army had the authority to intervene.
At the same time, other actions seen as offensive to many southeast Missourians occurred. In Butler County, a judge made all of the lawyers there take a sworn oath to support the Constitution of the U.S. or they would be banned from practicing. The judged threatened to arrest anyone who spoke or acted in secession.
Rumors spread that said U.S. forces planned to occupy Bird's Point (located on the Missouri side of the MS River east of Charleston). Southeast Missourians believed they were not presently at a state of war thus there was no reason for any U.S. troops and certainly no reason for troops from other states (raised by Lincoln's call of 75,000 troops) to be in Missouri.
"We hear of companies being raised in St. Luke (south of present day Dexter), St. Francoisville (Leora which is northeast of Puxico), Spring Hill (north of Bloomfield, just north of Aquilla), and Lakeville (Advance), as well as in other portions of our County. On Saturday, a company of infantry, numbering about seventy members, was on parade at St. Luke, and judging from appearances, they would do some good execution in our swamp country. In Bloomfield, we have both cavalry and infantry companies under drill. Whenever circumstances make it necessary, Stoddard county will be represent on the field of battle." - Bloomfield Herald, May 1861.
"The murders at St. Louis speak for themselves." -The Charleston Courier, May 17, 1861
Southeast Missourians were further made angry when they learned that merely organizing the state guard was viewed as an act of secession by the North. To them, the organization of the state guard was completely legal because it was created by the governor of the state who was elected by the people of Missouri. To them, Lyon nor any other member of the U.S. Army had the authority to intervene.
At the same time, other actions seen as offensive to many southeast Missourians occurred. In Butler County, a judge made all of the lawyers there take a sworn oath to support the Constitution of the U.S. or they would be banned from practicing. The judged threatened to arrest anyone who spoke or acted in secession.
Rumors spread that said U.S. forces planned to occupy Bird's Point (located on the Missouri side of the MS River east of Charleston). Southeast Missourians believed they were not presently at a state of war thus there was no reason for any U.S. troops and certainly no reason for troops from other states (raised by Lincoln's call of 75,000 troops) to be in Missouri.
"We hear of companies being raised in St. Luke (south of present day Dexter), St. Francoisville (Leora which is northeast of Puxico), Spring Hill (north of Bloomfield, just north of Aquilla), and Lakeville (Advance), as well as in other portions of our County. On Saturday, a company of infantry, numbering about seventy members, was on parade at St. Luke, and judging from appearances, they would do some good execution in our swamp country. In Bloomfield, we have both cavalry and infantry companies under drill. Whenever circumstances make it necessary, Stoddard county will be represent on the field of battle." - Bloomfield Herald, May 1861.
Bull Run
Similar actions were occurring throughout the South as that in southeast Missouri. In Virginia things were heating up on a larger scale than in Missouri. Troops in Virginia under General Pierre G. T. Beauregard had a force of about 18,000 Confederate troops that had almost no experience fighting, camped at a small railroad junction known as Manassas Junction located along Bull Run Creek. It was situated about 25 miles southwest of Washington D.C. The Union commander, Irvin McDowell, commanded 37,000 Union troops, also green and never seen battle. McDowell advanced from the north side of Bull Run Creek. Both sides fought all day, most of which was won by the overwhelming Union forces, until a Confederate brigade under Thomas J. Jackson managed to stop the advancing Union soldiers. He earned the nickname Stonewall Jackson for his actions there.
The Confederates rallied behind Jackson and counter attacked which broke the Union lines and sent the federal soldiers running back to Washington, giving the Confederates the first victory of the first major land battle of the Civil War. Citizens who thought the battle would be more of spectacle than a blood bath watched from the tops of houses and hills while the men fought. The Union suffered 2,708 killed wounded and missing, while the Confederates suffered 1,982 killed wounded and missing.
The Confederates rallied behind Jackson and counter attacked which broke the Union lines and sent the federal soldiers running back to Washington, giving the Confederates the first victory of the first major land battle of the Civil War. Citizens who thought the battle would be more of spectacle than a blood bath watched from the tops of houses and hills while the men fought. The Union suffered 2,708 killed wounded and missing, while the Confederates suffered 1,982 killed wounded and missing.
Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard
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Confederate General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson
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Union General Irvin McDowell
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The Confederates typically named their armies after physical regions, such as the Army of Tennessee or the Army of Northern Virginia. While Union armies were typically named after bodies of water they operated near such as the Army of the Tennessee or Army of the Potomac. These armies were assigned certain geographical areas they were in charge of, and while they sometimes left those areas to help other armies, they mostly stayed in their region.
The Army of Northern Virginia was formed to protect the Confederate capital from capture and defend the geographical area of Virginia. It was first led by Joseph E. Johnston until he was wounded in the spring of 1862 in which Robert E. Lee then became the commander of the A of N. Va, and remained in command of it the rest of the war. His immediate enemy or army that operated directly against him was the Army of the Potomac whose job was to protect Washington D.C. and capture Richmond or destroy Lee's army. It had numerous commanders which we will discuss later.
The Army of Northern Virginia was formed to protect the Confederate capital from capture and defend the geographical area of Virginia. It was first led by Joseph E. Johnston until he was wounded in the spring of 1862 in which Robert E. Lee then became the commander of the A of N. Va, and remained in command of it the rest of the war. His immediate enemy or army that operated directly against him was the Army of the Potomac whose job was to protect Washington D.C. and capture Richmond or destroy Lee's army. It had numerous commanders which we will discuss later.
Confederate Strategy
The Confederacy understood that it was outnumbered 3 to 1 in population. It also understood that since most of the country's industry was located in the North, it would have to begin manufacturing items used in war such as cannons, muskets, bullets, and etc. Since it was the smaller of the two sides, it chose to use a defensive strategy. In a defensive strategy, not as many soldiers are needed as with an OFFENSIVE strategy. The Confederacy hoped to wear down the North's will to fight which would make them seek peace. It also planned to get recognition and supplies from foreign countries such as Britain and France, and may with a little luck they might even provide sailors or soldiers to help the Confederacy win the war.
Robert E. Lee
Robert E. Lee was a graduate of West Point where he graduated 2nd his class of 1829 without ever having received a demerit for doing something bad or wrong. After graduation he served as an engineer officer and worked on projects across the country. He fought in the Mexican War and was present at Harper's Ferry during John Brown's Raid. When Virginia seceded from the Union, Lee turned down the job of overall commander of U.S. forces and became a Confederate officer where he eventually commanded the Army of Northern Virginia. His home was called Arlington and was located across the Potomac River from Washington D.C. During the war, Union soldiers made a cemetery out of his farm. He is considered one of the greatest generals of the war.
The Theaters of War
The American Civil War was divided into three theaters or sections. The Eastern Theater was composed of Virginia and the coastal states, the main objective there was the Confederate capital. The South needed to protect it, the North needed to take it. The Army of Northern Virginia operated there against the Army of the Potomac. The second theater was the Western Theater, it was basically those Confederate states west of Virginia to the Mississippi River and down to the Gulf of Mexico. The South wanted to protect key cities there such as Nashville, Vicksburg, Atlanta, Chattanooga, etc. The North tried to use the many rivers located in the Western theater to their advantage since they had a large navy. The third theater was the Trans-Mississippi Theater which was everything west of the Mississippi River such as Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana.
Most of the attention and the largest battles occurred in the Eastern Theater.
Most of the attention and the largest battles occurred in the Eastern Theater.
Trans-Mississippi Theater 1861 to the Spring of 1862.
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The second major land battle of the Civil War occurred south of Springfield, Missouri on August 10, 1861 called Wilson's Creek (or Oak Hills by the Confederates). Union General Nathanial Lyon had marched from St. Louis to Jefferson City, then southwest to Springfield. Confederate General Sterling Price and Confederate General Ben McCulloch were camped about ten miles southwest of Springfield on Wilson's Creek. Lyon's forces advanced opposite of Price's, Price attacked with a mix of Confederate and Missouri State Guard troops at a position known as Bloody Hill and advanced against Lyon's forces. Lyon was killed during the battle, becoming the first general to be killed in the war. Upon Lyon's death, the Union forces folded and retreated giving the Confederates their second major victory of the war. Sterling Price then took his Confederate and Missouri troops north all of the way to Lexington, Missouri (east of Kansas City) where he fought another battle and won, then retreated south back to Arkansas.
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Confederate General Sterling Price.
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Throughout the summer of 1861 in southeast Missouri, the 1st Division, Missouri State Guard formed up under M. Jeff Thompson. They patrolled roads and guarded towns in southeast Missouri from any Union forces that might be in the area. In November 1861, Union forces based in Cape Girardeau under General Ulysses. S. Grant went on the offensive and traveled south down the Mississippi River to the town of Belmont (about six miles southeast of present day East Prairie). Meanwhile he sent a brigade to march to Bloomfield to keep M. Jeff Thompson from sending his Missouri State Guard troops to reinforce Confederates at Belmont. They arrived in Bloomfield on November 9 and began a military newspaper called the Stars and Stripes.
Grant's forces that had traveled down the river to Belmont, got off the boats and marched toward a Confederate forced camped a few miles away on November 7. A battle took place, Grant lost 120 dead, 487 wounded, the Confederates lost 105 dead and 536 wounded. Grant retreated back up the river to Cape Girardeau, his first battle in command he lost. |
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Missouri State Guard troops' enlistments ran out at the end of the year in 1861, most of those that were in service in the state troops transferred into actual Missouri Confederate units. The largest post of Confederate troops at the start of 1862 in southeast Missouri was in the river town of New Madrid. Here the Confederates had two forts and an island in the river heavily armed with large caliber cannons.
In order to ever expect to win the war in the Western theater, Grant knew that the Mississippi River would be key and the northern most defended point on the river by the Confederates was at New Madrid. On February 28, 1862 he ordered John Pope (Grant was in Tennessee and had recently captured two Confederate forts on the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers, more on that later) to move south with help from Admiral Andrew H. Foote's brown water navy. The Union troops came from Cape Girardeau and Cairo, Illinois, they traveled mostly down what is today, Highway 61 south out of Sikeston. The federals had 23,000 troops against the Confederates 7,000. Union troops surrounded Confederates at New Madrid. Foote did not want to run past Island #10 thinking it too dangerous. He built a canal that went across Donaldson Point straight to New Madrid therefore bypassing the guns of Island #10. Realizing that further bloodshed was useless, the Confederates retreated from Island #10 into Tennessee but were later trapped and caught. Most of the Confederates in New Madrid also surrendered, ending the siege and battle of Island #10 on April 8, 1862. This Union victory opened up the Mississippi River for their use almost to Memphis, Tennessee. |
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1862 - Western Theater
While plans for the siege of New Madrid were underway, Union General Ulysses S. Grant moved a large Union force from Paducah, Kentucky toward the Confederate Forts Henry and Donelson. On February 6, Grant's forces took Fort Henry with little opposition, then he marched to Fort Donelson where he met stiff resistance. On February 16, 1862, Grant officially captured Fort Donelson which opened up the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers to Union gunboats and transports all of the way to Mississippi and Alabama.
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With forts Henry and Donelson in Union hands, Grant moved his army south and camped at the beginning of April 1862 at a small hamlet on the Tennessee River called Pittsburgh's Landing. His men were camped near a small methodist church called Shiloh. Confederate forces of the Army of Tennessee under Albert Sidney Johnston were camped 20 miles south of Shiloh at Corinth, Mississippi. Grant, thinking that his Army of the Tennessee was safe, was not concerned enough to dig entrenchments for his men to hide behind, he believed the Confederates would not leave the safety of the heavily fortified town of Corinth.
Johnston was an aggressive commander and knew that if he could strike a blow to Grant before Grant could link up with the Army of the Ohio under Don Carlos Buell, he would have a chance to beat him. On the morning of April 6, 1862, General A. S. Johnston managed to get his men within 100 yards of Grant's camps without being detected. Just before daylight he unleashed his men on the totally surprised camps of General William T. Sherman, Grant's number 2 man in command. Johnston's men pushed Sherman and Grant's Union soldiers back toward the Tennessee River. Throughout the day, horrendous fighting unlike never before seen in America erupted in the rolling hills around Shiloh Church. By mid-morning Johnston had nearly all of Grant's men surrounded on a small road where they were determined to make a stand. Confederates attacked and attacked, unable to break the Union line. Then Johnston ordered all of his artillery to concentrate on what became known as the Hornet's Nest. Johnston urging his men forward was struck behind the knee by a bullet. He was unaware that he was wounded until he looked down and saw blood overflowing the top of his boot. He died a short time later. Eventually the Confederates broke the Union line in the Hornet's Nest but darkness fell before they could finish up their victory. During the night Don Carlos Buell's Army of the Ohio arrived and reinforced Grant, now they outnumbered the Confederates by more than two to one. The next day Buell and Grant counterattacked and forced the Confederates to retreat all of the way back to Corinth. The battle of Shiloh was the bloodiest battle up to that point in the war. The Confederates lost 1,728 killed, 8,012 wounded, the Union lost 1,753 killed and 8,402 wounded. The Union victory catapulted Grant into a near celebrity, but showed the American people just how bloody the war would be. |
Confederate General Albert S. Johnston
Union General Ulysses S. Grant
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Union General William T. Sherman
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Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest
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Eastern Theater - 1862
From June 25 to July 1, 1862, Union General George B. McClellan fought a series of battles east of Richmond called the Peninsula Campaign, in an effort to capture Richmond from the Confederates. The Union army had 114,000 men vs. Lee's 92,000 men. After a series of battles, the timid McClellan retreated down the peninsula and got on transports back to Washington. The result was over 20,000 Confederates killed or wounded and 18,000 union casualties. Richmond would not be seriously threatened for two years.
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George B. McClellan
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Antietam
In September of 1862 Lee decided to take the war north into Maryland. McClellan outnumbered Lee 87,164 to Lee's 38,000 men and had a copy of his Lee's battle plans. Lee deployed his men on the west bank of Antietam Creek with his back to Sharpsburg. McClellan deployed on the opposite side of Antietam Creek. McClellan did not utilize his much larger army and attack Lee at different points at the same time which would have over stretched Lee's smaller army, instead he attacked at single points (in the North at the Cornfield early on the morning of September 17, then in the center, and finally at the south end of the battlefield at Burnside's Bridge). This allowed Lee to move troops as he needed them to bolster his lines. By dark, both sides had suffered 23,000 killed and wounded, making the battle of Antietam the bloodiest day in American history. Lee knew that he could not hold Sharpsburg so he decided to retreat during the night and into the next morning and McClellan allowed him to do it.
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Lincoln declared Antietam a Union victory when it was a draw at best for the Union, but he needed positive news in order to announce his newest political move of the war. Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation which freed all slaves in STATES OF REBELLION to take effect on January 1, 1863. This did not free slaves in the border states. Lincoln's move changed the goal of the war for the Union from one just to preserve the Union to one of freedom.
The Emancipation Proclamation allowed the Union to enlist black soldiers (United States Colored Troops) into the army and navy. Most were given jobs such as building fortifications and cooks. They were commanded by white officers and only paid $11 a month instead of $13 like white soldiers. The most famous black regiment of the Civil War was the 54th Massachusetts Infantry commanded by Robert Gould Shaw. They are most well known for their discipline and valor at the battle of Fort Wagner, South Carolina. The first black troops to see combat, however, occurred at Island Mound, Missouri.
Robert Gould Shaw
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54th Massachusetts Infantry at Fort Wagner.
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Ironclads
The Confederates had virtually no navy and needed to come up with a way to have an advantage over the Union navy so they began putting iron on the sides of their ships, called Ironclads.
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Gettysburg
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Dates: July 1 - 3, 1863
Place: Gettysburg, PA Numbers: Union: 93,921. vs. Confederate: 71,699 Number of Killed, Wounded, & Captured: 51,112 Union Commander: Gen. George G. Meade, Army of the Potomac Confederate Commander: Gen. Robert E. Lee Lee was at his peak in numbers of soldiers. He wanted to take the war to the North and threaten Washington, D.C. Never actually planned to fight at Gettysburg.
July 1Confederate forces run into Union cavalry on the outskirts of Gettysburg. A small fight fight erupts and more and more troops get thrown into battle until a large scale battle was taking place northeast of Gettysburg.
Confederate soldiers eventually push the Union troops back in to Gettysburg and beyond. July 2On July 2nd the Union position looks like an upside down fish hook. Lee brought most of his men up to attack. He decided to attack the left flank and right flank of the Union army at the same time.
Lee attacks Culp's Hill northwest of Gettsburg and Little Round Top on southern flank of the Union Army. Both attacks fail. July 3Lee, against the wishes of some of his senior commanders elects to fight a third day. Since he attacked both flanks the day before, he decides to attack the Union center at Cemetery Ridge. He will have to travel over a mile of open ground. Men under Gen. George Pickett attack Cemetery Ridge, momentarily making it to their objective, but unsupported, they must retreat.
July 3
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July 1
July 2
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Southeast Missouri - Spring of 1863
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After the spring of 1862 and throughout most of the rest of the war, Southeast Missouri was occupied by Union soldiers. Confederate cavalry would often come in the area on recruiting missions or to disrupt Union supply lines, but would always return back to the safety of Arkansas. One major foray into Southeast Missouri by Confederates occurred in April/May 1863 when Confederate General John S. Marmaduke led a raid of 5,000 into the region. Marmaduke's overall strategy was two fold: Draw Union troops away from Mississippi to relieve John C. Pemberton's forces around Vicksburg AND to hopefully trap Union forces under Brig. Gen. John McNeil at Bloomfield.
Marmaduke left Arkansas on April 18, 1863, he sent one column directly to Bloomfield to attack McNeil, and sent another column north west to Fredrickton thinking that if McNeil escape his Bloomfield column, McNeil would ride toward Fredricktown and be intercepted by his other column there. McNeil, instead retreated to Cape Girardeau. Marmaduke ordered both columns to converge near Cape, which they did. After fighting a sharp battle where the University sits today, Marmaduke was forced to retreat with the Union army hot on his heels. He fought a delaying action at Castor River, and again at Bloomfield, before retreating into Arkansas at Chalk Bluff on the St. Francis River.
His raid was unsuccessful, failed to pull troops from Mississippi, but it did delay reinforcements that were supposed to come from Southeast Missouri to fight east of the Mississippi River. |
John S. Marmaduke
John McNeil
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Missouri - 1864
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The biggest thing to happen in Missouri in 1864 was General Sterling Price's 1864 Raid into Missouri. Price's original plan was to invade Missouri and attack St. Louis, which was too ambitious. He marched 8,000 men through Southeast Missouri, retook Bloomfield, and then turned northwest toward Pilot Knob. Fort Davidson was a fort located in a valley surrounded by Pilot Knob Mt and Shepard's Mountain. On September 16th Price surrounded and attacked the fort. During the night the Union soldiers escaped out of the fort. From there he marched north and fought battles east of present day Kansas City at Big Blue River Bridge and Westport. After Westport he entered Kansas and retreated south but was caught on the north side of Mine Creek where he lost nearly a third of his army captured. From there he retreated into Arkansas. From that point forward Missouri was occupied by the North without any large opposition from the Confederates.
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Missouri's Guerrilla Warfare
Since Missouri was a border state, it was split with loyalties, some going North and some South. While a lot of Missouri's males fought in actual Union and Confederate armies throughout the South during the Civil War, a small group chose not to leave their homes and fight bushwacking or guerrilla type tactics in order to protect their homes and property. Guerrilla soldiers were always mounted on horses, fought in small groups and rarely fought in pitched battles but preferred hit and run tactics. Many of those who participated in guerrilla warfare had suffered personal tragedies at the hands of the federals at some point in the war.
William C. Quantrill
A former school teacher from Ohio, Quantrill moved to Missouri and then Kansas before the war. He rode with Border Ruffians that "protected" the homes of Missourians from Kansas free state "Jayhawkers." When the war began he raised the largest band of guerrillas in the state. Men like "Bloody" Bill Anderson and Jesse and Frank James rode with him often. He was killed in March of 1865.
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Bloody Bill Anderson
When a Unionist judge killed his father, Bloody Bill joined Quantrill's Raiders. At Centralia Missouri Anderson's men captured a train with Union soldiers on it on leave from Georgia. He killed 24 on board and allowed one to escape to tell local Union soldiers where he was. He set a trap for them and killed over a hundred of them, including the wounded. He was killed a month later.
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Jesse W. James
15 year old member of Quantrill's Raiders who befriended Bloody Bill Anderson and considered him like a father. Survived the war to become the first train robber in history, eventually expanded to robbing banks. His family home was blown up by Union soldiers and his elderly mother nearly killed, his stepdad was killed. He was eventually assassinated by a member of his gang.
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George Maddox, rode with Quantrill, killed for participation at Lawrence.
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Sam Hildebrand, Southeast Missouri Guerrilla.
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Guerrilla Arch Clements (right) rode with Quantrill and later Jesse James. Along with James' cousins the Youngers.
Lawrence Massacre
August 21, 1863, Quantrill attacked the anti-slavery town of Lawrence, Kansas. Weeks before Lawrence, all relatives of known guerrillas were rounded up by Union authorities and placed in a jail in Kansas City. On August 14, it collapsed, killing four young women and seriously injuring others. The collapse killed the sister of Bloody Bill Anderson and crippled another one of his sisters. In retaliation for the jail collapse, the group planned to ride to Lawrence and burn it down, which they did. They killed every male in the town they could find that was old enough to carry a rifle (about 150). Four days later, Union general Thomas Ewing issued General Order 11 which ordered everyone to move out of the counties in Missouri that bordered Kansas. He was doing this to force the guerillas to no longer have support of the local population.
Sam Hildebrand
Sam Hildebrand was actually a Union man at the start of the war, but when his teenage brother was shot in the back by Union militia, he began a life of guerrilla warfare and vowed to kill every person involved in his brother's death which he did. Hildebrand was originally from Flat River Missouri in St. Francis county (about two hours away). He operated in Southeast Missouri doing whatever he could to kill as many federals as he could. Sometimes he would dress as a woman, ride into small Union picket and then draw pistols and shoot each man. He attacked Union wagons and soldiers going to and leaving Bloomfield. He survived the war and was killed after the war by a family member of a Union soldier that he had killed.
Cordelia Harvey
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Her husband was governor of Wisconsin when the war began. In April of 1862, while visiting wounded Wisconsin soldiers after the battle of Shiloh, he fell off a ship and drown in the Tennessee River. Cordelia decided to continue the work of her husband and make sure that soldiers from WI were properly cared for. She visited their field hospitals after battles and saw to the ones who were sick. She convinced Ulysses S. Grant and Abraham Lincoln to let her build the country's first veterans hospital.
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Cordelia Harvey
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1864 - Eastern Theater
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In the Eastern Theater Lincoln moved Ulysses S. Grant there to take charge of all Union forces. His main objective was to take Richmond which he began to do in the summer of 1864 by driving south with his army to Richmond. Lee blocked him at every major place that he could defend. Battles were fought at the Wilderness, Spotsylvania Court House, North Anna River, Yellow Tavern (where Confederate Gen. JEB Stuart was killed in action), and Cold Harbor. Every battle Lee beat Grant on the battle making him pay in lives, but Grant was able to replace them with fresh troops who had thus far spent the war guarding Washington D.C. Lee could not replace his losses.
By June 15, Lee had fought Grant everywhere but Richmond and the two armies stopped at Petersburg, VA south of Richmond. There, Grant surrounded Lee and laid siege to the town. Lee spent the rest of 1864 trapped in Petersburg. |
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Western Theater - 1864
The Atlanta Campaign
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In May 1864, Union General William T. Sherman launched his invasion of Georgia starting at Chattanooga and then driving south. Sherman started the campaign with 98,000 troops and by a month later would have 112,000. To oppose him was Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston and 50,000 Confederates.
Johnston's strategy was a defensive one. He planned to find terrain suitable for digging entrenchments, then wait for Sherman to attack. On May 8, 1864 Johnston was camped on Rocky Face Ridge, Georgia, a high mountain. Sherman knew an attack would be suicide so he sent part of his army to find a way around Johnston, which it did, thus forcing Johnston to abandon his entrenchments and retreat south or risk being cutoff from Atlanta. This situation occurred over and over again, Johnston would entrench on a mountain, Sherman would outflank him and Johnston would be forced to retreat without a major battle. Battles were fought at Resaca, New Hope Church, and Dallas throughout May, with no major results except Johnston was forced to retreat. |
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On June 27, Johnston was entrenched on Kennesaw Mountain, Sherman, frustrated that he couldn't draw Johnston out for a battle, decided to attack him. Sherman's men attacked and fought for several hours, Sherman lost 3,000 men compared to Johnston's 1,000. Sherman then tried to get around Johnston who was forced to retreat.
President Jefferson Davis frustrated with Johnston's lack of aggressiveness fired him and replaced him with General John Bell Hood, a very aggressive commander who attacked Sherman at Peach Tree Creek days after taking command, he was beaten and retreated to Atlanta. From the end of July to September 2, Sherman fought a series of battles north and east of Atlanta finally forcing the Confederates to retreat and abandon Atlanta. |
Joseph E. Johnston
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After Atlanta, General John Bell Hood took his Army of Tennessee and went in to Alabama until November 1864 when he decided to march north and attack Nashville, TN. On November 30, 1864, Hood attacked the Union army at Franklin just south of Nashville. He had to attack over a mile of open ground. The Union list 2,300, while the Confederates lost almost 7,000 killed, wounded, and missing in two hours of fighting.
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After the battle of Franklin, Hood was fired and Joe Johnston put back in command of the Army of Tennessee. It spent most of the winter in East Tennessee. There would be little fighting for them until March 1865 when Johnston opposed Sherman at the battle of Bentonville, NC. After Sherman defeated Johnston, the Army of Tennessee surrendered, ending the war for them.
Sherman's March to the Sea
Starting November 15, 1864, Sherman left Atlanta and headed east toward Savannah. His army burned a ten mile wide patch of ground as it headed to Savannah. Sherman wanted to "take the war to enemy" and make "Georgia howl," he called this total war when his army lived off the land. He reached Savannah on December 21, 1864, he planned to burn it to the ground but was convinced not to. There he decided to travel north through South Carolina and North Carolina (where he fought Johnston in March 1865), then head to Virginia and link up with General Grant where the two would combine and take Richmond.