Political Leaders of the Civil War

Political Leaders of the Civil War

Abraham Lincoln• President of the United States during the Civil War

• Against Slavery but was willing to keep it to preserve the “Union.”

• Used the army to arrest many pro-secession politicians in Maryland so he could save Washington D.C. as the U.S. capital.

• President Lincoln’s 4 brother-in-laws were Confederates.

• He was the 1st president to wear a beard.

Jefferson Davis• President of the

Confederacy during the Civil War

• The first Capital of the confederacy was Montgomery, Alabama.

• When Virginia seceded the Capital of the Confederacy was Richmond, Virginia

Robert E. Lee• In 1862 Lee took over the Confederate army.

• Born in Virginia• Fought for the U.S. in the

Mexican American War. • Lee privately ridiculed the

Confederacy in letters in early 1861, denouncing secession as "revolution" and a betrayal of the efforts of the Founding Fathers.

• Resigned from U.S. army to join the Confederacy because Virginia seceded

• Lee was an excellent general and is one of the most celebrated military figures in American History.

• Military historians continue to pay attention to his battlefield tactics and his maneuvering in battle.

Lee mounted on his famous horse Traveller

Civil War Soldiers

Battles of the Civil War

Battle of Bull Run (called Manassas in the south)The first battle of the Civil War

• People on both sides thought this would be a quick war. After one battle they figured it would be over.

• Tourist from Washington D.C. came to watch the battle.

Wilmer McLean’s home

• The battle was bloody.• Union soldiers eventually fled the battlefield giving the Confederacy its first victory.

Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, General in the Civil War, received his nickname at Bull Run.

The Battle was bloody. Just under a combined 1,000 soldiers was killed.

• After the loss at Bull Run the Union realized it needed to properly train its Army to defeat the South.

• Lincoln selected George B. McClellan to train the Union Army and invade Virginia

George B. McClellan

Peninsula Campaign

• McClellan eventually raised a 121,000 man army and invaded the coast of Virginia.

• McClellan stalled his invasion however when Confederate General John B. Magruder tricked him to thinking the Confederates out numbered the Union forces.

Seven Days Battles

• When Robert E. Lee took over the Confederate Army in 1862 he was determined to stop McClellan from taking the Capital Richmond.

Gen. Lee attacked McClellan again and again - at Mechanicsville, Gaines' Mill, Savage's Station, Frayser's Farm, and Malvern Hill. McClellan won four out of the five battles, but proved as fearful in victory as he was in defeat, backing away until he reached Harrison's Landing on the James river. The Seven Days battles ended any hope The Peninsula Campaign could end the war

• In Tennessee near an old church named Shiloh, the Confederate Army attacked the Union army led by Ulysses S. Grant.

The Battle was a bloody and both sides suffered a combined 20,000 casualties. The Union won the battle and invaded south along the Mississippi river.

Battle of Shiloh

Battle of Antietam

• McClellan attacked Lee near Sharpsburg, Maryland.

• Over 25,000 casualties on both sides

• Battle was a draw but gave Lincoln the confidence to announce the Emancipation Proclamation which legally freed the Slaves in the Confederacy

Fredericksburg• After Antietam in Dec 1862,

the North once again tried to drive south to Richmond.

• Fredericksburg was one of the most one-sided battles of the American Civil War. The Union Army lost and suffered terrible casualties in a brutal frontal assault on against Confederate defenders behind a wall in the city.

• Brought to an early end their campaign against the Confederate capital of Richmond.

Union General Carousel• McClellan was fired by Lincoln for not being decisive enough.

After McClellan followed:

Ambrose Burnside-The word for sideburns comes from his name. Lost at Fredericksburg

Joseph Hooker George MeadeBeaten by Lee at the Battle of ChancellorsvilleEven though he outnumberedhim 2 to 1.

Won GettysburgBut didn’t chase Lee which angered Lincoln