The Anaconda plan was completed to perfection by the Union troops, it brought the North to victory. The North’s most aggressive battlefield tactic took place during Sherman’s march to the sea. General Sherman believed that the only way to win the war would be to crush the Confederacy’s will to fight. He used a tactic called total war. Total war is when no mercy is given to anyone. Sherman completed this by burning everything in his path from the North to Savannah Georgia. As the Union used their offensive plan to attack in the South, Confederate troops stuck with a more defensive plan. Southern president Jefferson Davis, knew that the South lacked the factories and spending money for the war that the North had. So, he decided that the Confederacy …show more content…
The most famous Southern General was Robert E. Lee. Lee had worked as an engineer in the Mexican War, to find alternative routes around Mexican strong points. This helped him find ways to move his troops in the Civil war. After the Mexican War Lee worked as the superintendent at West Point. Lee’s experience helped him know how to command in the war. He became one of the most powerful commanders, but ended up losing to Union general Ulysses S. Grant. Grant served as a suitable opponent to Lee in the Civil War. Grant had a very similar background to Lee. He graduated wesdtpoint in the class of 1843, and then moved on to work as a regimental quartermaster in the Mexican War. Grant then was posted to the west coast with the rank of captain, but quickly resigned. General Grant’s similar background to Lee made them evenly matched competitors. But, Grant had an advantage because of his larger number of troops and supplies. The last battle that took place between the two was the Battle of Appomattox Courthouse in 1865. This battle was what is now known as the last battle in the Civil War. At that point, Lee had very few men left, so he desperately tried to merge together his troops and find more supplies. Then General Lee made a crucial mistake, when he saw Grant’s men at Appomattox he attacked. “To get the supply, he went to Appomattox Station. He had to surrender after …show more content…
Because the war, “... produced unique circumstances that required unique solutions…” (McNeese, Mountjoy, p. 14, 2009). The need for new inventions made the Civil War an important time for new inventions and creations. One of the most important inventions during the Civil War was the telegraph. Most people underestimated the importance of the new technology. But in 1862, Lincoln used the telegraph to communicate with his troops in the second battle of bull run. This was very important because it allowed Lincoln to command and advise troops from the White House. Tom Wheeler wrote a statement about Lincoln where he said, “The telegraph became a tool of his leadership and, thus, helped to win the Civil War” (historynewsnetwork.org). During the Civil War there were also improvements in the technology of weapons. One common new weapon was the Henry Repeating Rifle. The gun could fire sixteen shots in under one minute. Kyle Mizokami wrote, “The result was a single man with the firepower of an entire squad of musketmen” (Mizokami, 2016). The United States lost nearly two percent of its population during the time due to the powerful weapons that were used. One weapon that was turned down and not used in the War, but invented during the war was the Gatling Gun. Also recognized as the world's first machine gun. It could fire 190 bullets per minute (Wheeler, 2006). Another new technology that shaped the
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Show MoreFirst of all the geography forced the Confederates to switch from offense to defense. The Battle of Gettysburg was the first and last battle fought in the North. All the other battles were fought in the South so the Confederate’s people and towns were constantly in danger. Document A illustrates that the General Lee were tired of being on the defense and wanted to be on the offense for a change. Document A states that even though the Confederates tried their hardest they were pushed back onto the defensive and ultimately lost the war (273).
The total war strategy that was used by the North to defeat the south was known as the Anaconda Plan, by General Scott. The total war was an agenda that goes beyond pitched battles between armies, it attacks a whole national infrastructure, including towns, and villages. It started with a complete blockade of the Confederate coast, with the objective of preventing the export of cotton, and the import of munitions and other supplies. It was closed out by forces waging a burnt earth policy towards the south, destroying railroads, burning towns and crops in an attempt to cripple the south economically.
The next time Grant and Lee’s forces met in combat was at the Battle of Five Forks. This was said to be a very big victory for the Union and they almost had General Lee, but he managed to escape just barely again. After this victory, General Grant sends word to Lincoln requesting a meeting at the Amelia
Grant was a very prominent figure of the time period and led the Union to victory and helped heal the fractured United States afterward. General Grant began his military career at West Point when he was just sixteen. He was top of his class and when he graduated, he began his four years of service and went into combat in the Mexican-American War. He was promoted to captain as a result of his bravery during the war. After this, his four-year commitment to the army was up, he left and did not expect to come back.
William T Sherman was an American soldier, educator and businessman. Sherman served during the American Civil War as a General in the Union Army. He received criticism for his hostility towards the "scorched earth" policies that he carried out while conducting total war against the Confederate States along with gaining recognition for his excellent command of military strategy. He led around 60,000 soldiers on a 285-mile march from Atlanta to Savannah, Georgia for the purpose of frightening Georgia’s citizens so that they would abandon their confederate cause. Sherman’s soldiers stole food, livestock, burned the houses, and barns of people who tried to fight back but did not destroy any of the towns in their path.
“Robert E. Lee (1807-70) served as a military officer in the U.S. Army, a West Point commandant and the amazing general of the Confederate Army during the American Civil War 1861-1865. In June 1861, Lee gained command of the Army of Northern Virginia, which he would lead for the rest of the war. Lee and his army achieved great success during the Peninsula Campaign and at Second Bull Run and Fredericksburg, with his greatest victory coming in the bloody Battle of Chancellorsville. In the spring of 1863 Lee invaded the North only to be defeated at the Battle of Gettysburg. With Confederate defeat a near blowout, Lee continued on, battling Union General Ulysses S. Grant in a series of battles in Virginia in 1864-1865 before he finally surrendered
A Civil War General: Ulysses S. Grant joined the Civil war in 1861. Before the Civil war he served in the Mexican- American War as a quartermaster (A
General Lee was a great strategic war general. He won many great battles for the Confederacy. The biggest battle he won was the Battle of Chancellorsville, which was against a larger Union army. Lee was brave and never lost faith in his
However, in the Civil War, Lincoln saw an entirely different weapon for information. The telegraph was now seen as a war weapon. Lincoln used the telegraph in many ways. The telegraph allowed him to stay involved with the battles while they were happening. Lincoln found himself becoming more involved in the war after the first year (McNamara).
The Overland Campaign was a decisive moment in the Civil War: it was a strategic victory for the Union, but consisted of heavy losses on both sides. In just 40 days, the Union lost 55,000 men. The Confederates lost 36,000 men, but with an army roughly half of the Union’s to begin with, their losses were proportionally much greater. The final battle of the campaign, Cold Harbor, led to extremely high losses on both sides, but was a defensive victory for Lee. Anti-war sentiments grew in the North and Grant was labeled “the butcher.”
Lee was so fearless he determined to invade the North reiteratively. Robert E. Lee strategy was to drift the fighting away from Virginia and into the Union Territory. He wanted to move the fighting, because the Confederate were under siege in Virginia. Lee hoped to gain recognition from Britain and France for the Confederacy. Joesph Hooker,the Union commander, was exposed to the worst defeat of the Army of Potomac in the Battle of Chancellorsville.
Despite the tensions that the telegraphic communication brought about, the resulting system gave Lincoln the power to make decisions about his generals’ activities, thus maximizing the performance of his army. Furthermore, Lincoln used the telegraph to gather information about his generals and gauge their performance in
General Ulysses S. Grant was a very powerful man. He was the son of a tanner on the Western frontier. He wasn’t born with a silver spoon in his mouth. He was very modern, and thought you had to work hard no matter what. Grant was a man that did not live in the past.
Lincoln’s plan was to bring the nation together and stop the fighting. Along with Lincoln there were other great commanders by his side. General McDowell led the second battle of the Civil War making the North realize this wasn’t going to be an easy battle to win. General Grant led the Union to a victory and the capture of the first Confederate capital. General Sherman led the Union to another victory and ended the Confederacy control on the Mississippi Valley.
Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee. According to Bruce Catton, they were two powerful men who survived from the civil war in 1856. Lee was from Virginia, he was of an old age of chivalry. He believed there should be an “inequality within Americas social Structure;” he had a sense of entitlement obligation to community, he was an aristocratic south, he believed in what the culture and tradition of his country; The other General, Ulysses S. Grant, aspired for America that were the opposite