The American Civil War
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The American Civil War
Clockwise, from the upper left image: Rosecrans on Stone River; Confederate prisoners at Gettysburg; Battle of Fort Hindman Date April 12, 1861 May 9, 1865 (the last clashes on land, May 12-13, at sea June 23, 1865)
The place is the territory of the South; in 1863 on the territory of the North
The reason is the secession of the slave owning states of the South
The result is a US victory; Reconstruction; Abolition of slavery
Opponents
USA
(Yankee) KSHA
(Dixie)
Commanders
Abraham Lincoln †
Ulysses Grant
William Sherman
Winfield Scott
George McClellan
Henry Halleck
Jefferson Davis
Robert Lee
Pierre Beauregard
Joseph Johnston
Forces of the parties
2100 thousand people 1064 thousand people
Losses
360 thousand killed,
275,200 wounded 260 thousand killed,
more than 137 thousand wounded
Total losses
620 thousand killed, more than 412 thousand wounded
Audio, photo, video on Wikimedia Commons
American Civil War Naval Blockade East West Southeast Trans Mississippi Pacific Coast
The Civil War in the United States (the War of the North and the South; English American Civil War) was a civil war of 1861-1865 between the union of 20 non slaveholding states and 4 slave owning states of the North with 11 slave owning states of the South.
The fighting began with the shelling of Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861 and ended with the surrender of the remnants of the Southern army under the command of General Stand Watie on June 23, 1865.
During the war, there were about 2 thousand small and large battles.
In this war, more US citizens died than in any other war in which the United States participated.
Content
1 Reasons 2 The collapse of the Union 3 The first period of the war (April 1861 — April 1863) 3.1 The battles of 1861 3.1.1 The Struggle for West Virginia 3.1.2 Actions at sea
3.2 Battles of 1862 3.2.1 Shenandoah Valley Campaign 3.2.2 Peninsula Campaign 3.2.3 North Virginia Campaign 3.2.4 Maryland Campaign 3.2.5 Kentucky Campaign 3.2.6 Fredericksburg 3.2.7 Actions at Sea 3.2.8 Slave Emancipation Proclamation
4 The second period of the war (May 1863 — April 1865) 4.1 The battles of 1863 4.1.1 The Gettysburg Campaign 4.1.2 The Vicksburg Campaign 4.1.3 The Battles in Tennessee 4.1.4 The Bristow Campaign 4.1.5 Actions at sea
4.2 Battles of 1864 4.2.1 Red River Campaign 4.2.2 Overland Campaign 4.2.3 Battle of Atlanta 4.2.4 Siege of Petersberg 4.2.5 Actions at Sea
4.3 The Battles of 1865 4.3.1 Sherman's March to the Sea 4.3.2 The Appomattox Campaign and the end of the War 4.3.3 Actions at Sea 4.3.4 The end of the War
5 Statistics 6 Civil War weapons 6.1 Small arms 6.1.1 Pistols 6.1.2 Single action revolvers 6.1.3 Carbines 6.1.4 Muskets 6.1.5 Rifles 6.1.6 Buckshot and mitrales
6.2 Artillery 6.3 Naval equipment
7 Results 8 In Works of Culture and Art 9 Gallery 10 See also 11 Notes 12 Literature 13 References
Reasons[edit / edit wiki text]
Main article: Prerequisites of the Civil War in the United States
In the first half of the XIX century in the United States, the agrarian slave owning South and the industrial North existed as separate economic regions.
The United States was created as a federation, each state lived its own political and economic life.
Despite the steady growth of the population and the growth of economic development, the integration processes proceeded slowly.
In the North, enterprises of mechanical engineering, metalworking, and light industry were concentrated.
Here, the main labor force was numerous immigrants from various countries who worked in factories, factories and other enterprises.
There were enough workers in the North, the demographic situation here was stable and the standard of living was relatively high.
The situation is different in the South.
During the Mexican American War, the United States received huge territories in the south, where there was a large amount of free land.
Planters settled on these lands, who received huge land plots.
The land in the south is very fertile, the climate is favorable for agriculture, so the South has become an agricultural region.
Crops such as tobacco, sugar cane, cotton and rice were grown here.
However, there were not enough workers in the South.
Most of the immigrants went to the North, so from Africa, since the XVII century, Negro slaves were imported.
By the beginning of the secession, 1/4 of the white population of the South were slave owners.
In the North, a flexible tax policy was implemented, money from state budgets was allocated to charity, the government tried to improve the living conditions of the black population to a certain extent.
Nevertheless, both in the North and in the South, Negroes were considered second class people.
An important role in the politics of the southern states was played by the so — called "elite" - wealthy slave owners who had large land plots in private ownership.
The North needed raw materials from the South, especially cotton, and the South needed the machines of the North.
Therefore, for a long time, two different economic regions coexisted peacefully.
However, gradually contradictions grew between them.
Among the most acute conflict issues are the following: Taxes on imported goods (the North sought to make them as high as possible to protect its industry, the South wanted to trade freely with the whole world).
Problems around slavery (whether fugitive slaves are considered free in free states, whether those who provide them with asylum are punished, whether southern states can ban free blacks on their territory, etc.).
The question of the extension of slavery to new states: The United States annexed new territories, and there were discussions about the constitution of each of the future states, first of all — whether the new state would be free or slave owning.
The coming to power of Lincoln, who announced that henceforth all new states would be free from slavery, meant for the southern states the prospect of remaining in the minority and in the future losing in Congress on all conflicting issues to the North.
The collapse of the Union[edit / edit wiki text]
Southern States
in
Civil War - - - - South Carolina
Mississippi
Florida
Alabama
Georgia
Louisiana
Texas
Virginia
Arkansas
Sev.
Carolina
Tennessee
Border States - - - - Delaware
Maryland
Zap.
Virginia
Kentucky
Missouri
Territories - - - - Indian Territory
Arizona
p·o·r
Political and public organizations that opposed slavery formed the Republican Party in 1854.
The victory in the presidential election of 1860 of the candidate of this party, Abraham Lincoln, was a signal of danger for slaveholders and led to secession, secession from the Union.
Each state elected representatives to the state constitutional Council, who voted for or against secession.
Following the results of the vote, a "Resolution on secession"was issued.
On December 20, 1860, South Carolina was the first to issue such a decree, and on December 24, the "Declaration of the Immediate Causes that led to the Secession of South Carolina from the Federal Union"was published.
South Carolina was followed by:
Mississippi (January 9, 1861), Florida (January 10, 1861), Alabama (January 11, 1861), Georgia (January 19, 1861), Louisiana (January 26, 1861).
The legal justification for such actions was the absence in the US Constitution of a direct ban on the withdrawal of individual states from the United States (although there was also no permission for this).
On February 4, 1861, the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States of America opened, at which 6 states announced the formation of a new state — the Confederation of the States of America.
On March 11, the Congress adopted the Constitution of the Confederate States of America, which replaced the previous Provisional Constitution.
Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America
These 6 states adopted a constitution and elected former Senator from Mississippi Jefferson Davis as their president, who took office on February 18, 1861.
On March 1, Texas declared independence, which joined the Confederacy the very next day, and in April May, after the battle for Fort Sumter and the announcement of mobilization in the north, the example of Texas was followed: Virginia (independence April 17, 1861, joining the KSHA — May 7, 1861), Arkansas (independence May 6, 1861, joining the KSHA — May 18, 1861), Tennessee (independence May 7, 1861, joining the KSHA — July 2, 1861), North Carolina (independence May 20, 1861, joining the KSHA — May 21, 1861).
The capital of the Confederacy became the Alabama city of Montgomery, and after the annexation of Virginia —Richmond.
These states occupied 40 % of the entire territory of the United States with a population of 9.1 million people, including over 3.6 million Negroes.
On October 7, an Indian territory became part of the Confederation, the population of which was not loyal either to the Confederation (most of the Indians were expelled from the territories where slave owning states were formed), or to the US government, which actually authorized the deportation of Indians from Georgia and other southern states.
However, the Indians did not want to give up slavery and became part of the Confederacy.
The Indian Territory consisted of 5 republics according to the number of main Indian tribes: Cherokee (who had the largest number of slaves[1]), Choctaw, Creek, Chickasaw and Seminole.
The CSA Senate was formed by two representatives from each state, as well as one representative from each Indian republic (without the right to vote).
23 states remained in the Union, including the slave owning Delaware, Kentucky, Missouri and Maryland, which, not without a struggle, chose to remain loyal to the federal Union.
Residents of a number of western counties of Virginia refused to obey the decision to secede from the Union, formed their own authorities and in June 1863 were admitted to the United States as a new state.
The population of the Union exceeded 23 million people, almost the entire industry of the country, 70% of railways, 81% of bank deposits, etc. were located on its territory.
Taking advantage of the fact that the Southerners left their seats in the parliament and the House of Representatives, the Republicans were able to push through bills that were previously blocked by the deputies of the South.
Among them were the "Morill Tariff", the "Morill Act", the "Homestead Act", the "National Banks Act" and the "Revenue Act of 1861".
The first period of the war (April 1861 April 1863)[edit / edit wiki text]
Soldier guarding the Arsenal Washington, DC,
1862, Matthew Brady
The battles of 1861[edit / edit wiki text]
The fighting began on April 12, 1861, with the battle for Fort Sumter in Charleston Bay, which was forced to surrender after 34 hours of shelling.
In response, Lincoln declared the southern states in a state of rebellion, proclaimed a naval blockade of their coast and issued a proclamation on the recruitment of 75 thousand volunteers into the army.
The recruitment proclamation influenced the position of the wavering states: Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee voted for secession.
The North and the South called for volunteers in the army and at first there were even more willing than required.
However, the enthusiasm subsided very quickly, which led to the introduction of draft laws.
In April 1862, the South announced the conscription of persons aged 18-35 years, excluding blacks, officials and priests.
In July, a similar law was issued in the North.
In addition, many immigrants joined the army of the North: 177 thousand from Germany and 144 thousand from Ireland[2].
On July 16, the federal army marched from Washington and on July 18 met with the Army of the Potomac of the South at the Bull Run River.
There was a skirmish between two infantry brigades, known as the Battle of Blackburn's Ford.
While the federal commander in chief was considering further steps, the Army of the Potomac was joined by the Army of the Shenandoah and on July 21, 1861, the First Battle of Bull Run took place.
Poorly trained northern troops, crossing Bull Run Creek, attacked the southerners, but were forced to begin a retreat that turned into a flight.
Fearing the transition to the side of the South of three more slave owning states, the US Congress on July 25, 1861, adopted the Crittenden Johnson Resolution declaring the goal of the war to save the Union and requiring the government not to take action against the institution of slavery.
By the fall, the Union had a well armed army in the eastern theater of operations under the command of General George McClellan, who became commander in chief of all armies on November 1.
McClellan turned out to be a mediocre military commander, often avoiding active actions.
On October 21, his units were defeated at Bell's Bluff near the American capital.
The blockade of the Confederate sea coast was carried out much more successfully.
One of its consequences was the capture on November 8, 1861 of the British steamer Trent, on board of which were emissaries of the southerners, which put the United States on the verge of war with Great Britain.
Generals of the Army of the North
George McClellan
Joseph Hooker
Ambrose Burnside
Oliver Howard
John Reynolds
George Mead
The struggle for West Virginia[edit / edit wiki text]
Filippi's West Virginia Campaign • Rich Mountain • Corrick Ford • Cross Lanes • Carnifex Ferry • Cheat Mountain • Greenbrier River • Camp Alegeni
One of the first campaigns of the Civil War was the struggle for West Virginia.
After the secession of Virginia in April 1861, its western districts opposed this step, and the Department of the Ohio was formed to control this territory on May 3, the command of which was entrusted to General McClellan.
He began a campaign to oust the enemy from Virginia: on June 3, the southerners lost a small battle at Philippi, on July 11, McClellan defeated them at Rich Mountain, after which he was called to Washington and appointed commander of the Army of the Potomac.
McClellan's place was taken by William Rosecrans.
In September, the southerners tried to launch a counterattack by forces commanded by General Lee, but they were unsuccessful in the Battle of Cheat Mountain.
By December 1861, West Virginia was almost completely under the control of the federal army.
Actions at sea[edit / edit wiki text]
At the beginning of the Civil War, the main part of the American navy remained loyal to the federal government, and most of the warships were also located on bases controlled by the northerners.
This allowed the federal government to establish a blockade of the Southern coast at the very beginning of the conflict, closing their ports to foreign merchant ships.
The blockade was especially detrimental to the Confederacy, since the southern states had a very poorly developed industry, and could not independently supply and arm their military machine.
The Confederation was extremely dependent on the supply of industrial products from Europe.
With the establishment of the blockade, foreign goods and military equipment could only be smuggled into the south, in small quantities.
High speed blockade breaking steamers operating from European colonies in the Caribbean Sea made their way past the blockade squadrons of the northerners at night, delivering cargo to the ports of the southerners.
The huge demand for scarce European goods and the accompanying price increase made breaking the blockade an extremely profitable business; however, the captains of the blockade breakers, as a rule, preferred to import not military equipment for the confederate government, but more profitable goods and luxury goods sold to private individuals.
In addition to the blockade of the coast, the federal navy also assisted the federal army in combat operations off the coast.
The most significant naval action in 1861 was the capture of the fortified Strait of Port Royal by the squadron of Commodore Samuel Du Pont, 3-7 November 1861.
Having suppressed the resistance of the coastal forts, the ships of the northerners forced the Confederate garrison to retreat without a fight; this operation gave the federal fleet a reliable stronghold on the territory of the southern states.
Unable to fight the federal fleet at sea, the southerners tried to rely on qualitatively new technical solutions and began building several large ironclads in the captured naval arsenals of Norfolk and Pensacola (as well as in New Orleans).
With the help of ironclads, the southerners hoped to achieve superiority over the wooden fleet of the northerners; this plan, however, was not successful, as the northerners also began to build their own ironclads in response.
In addition, the southerners began to actively use such novelties of naval science as mines and ramming ships to protect their coast.
The battles of 1862[edit / edit wiki text]
Federal Invasion of Cumberland Fort Henry Fort Donelson Shiloh Corinth
In 1862, the northerners achieved the greatest success in the western theater of military operations.
In February and April, the army of General W. S. Grant, having captured a number of forts, drove the Southerners out of Kentucky, and after a hard won victory at Shiloh, cleared Tennessee of them.
By the summer, the state of Missouri was liberated, and Grant's troops entered the northern regions of Mississippi and Alabama.
April 12, 1862 went down in the history of the war thanks to the famous episode with the theft of the locomotive "General" by a group of Northerners volunteers, known as the Great Locomotive Race.
Of great importance was the capture of New Orleans on April 25, 1862, carried out by a squadron of northerners under the command of Commodore David Farragut.
As a result of this battle, the southerners lost one of their largest ports and shipbuilding centers, and were forced to destroy the unfinished ironclads in order to avoid capture.
Due to this operation, the Northerners strengthened their presence in the Gulf of Mexico, gained a reliable base for blockading the ports remaining in the hands of the Confederates, and — most importantly — gained access to the lower Mississippi.
This made it possible to organize a successful offensive campaign in 1862-1863, which deprived the southerners of their most important transport artery.
Shenandoah Valley Campaign[edit / edit wiki text]
Shenandoah Valley Campaign (1862) Kernstown (1 • * McDowell • Front Royal • Winchester (1) • Cross Case • Republic Port
In the spring, General McClellan began preparing an attack on Richmond from the Virginia Peninsula, the federal Virginia Army was preparing to launch an offensive from the north, and Nathaniel Banks ' detachment entered the Shenandoah Valley in March.
The defense of the valley was entrusted to the detachment of Thomas Jackson, numbering about 5,000 people.
After the first unsuccessful battle, Jackson retreated south along the valley, then attacked and defeated Fremont's detachment.
For about a month, Jackson accumulated forces, and then again attacked Banks and defeated one of his detachments at the Battle of Front Royal.
Banks began to retreat to the Hard Drive.
Jackson caught up with Banks and defeated him again on May 25 at the Battle of Winchester.
President Lincoln personally sent three armies to encircle Jackson in the valley, but on June 1, Jackson slipped south.
On June 2, two federal armies John Fremont (14,000 men) and James Shields (10,000 people) headed south along the valley, chasing Jackson, who retreated to the Port of Republic.
On June 8, Richard Ewell stopped Fremont's advance at Cross Keys, and on June 9, Jackson attacked and defeated Shields at Port Republic.
This was the end of the campaign: the federal army left for the north, and Jackson left for Richmond on June 18 to join General Lee's army.
Campaign on the Peninsula[edit / edit wiki text]
Main article: The campaign on the peninsula
Hampton Roads Peninsula Campaign • Yorktown • Williamsburg • Elthams Landing • Drewris Bluff • Hanover • Seven Pines • Stewart's Raid • Seven Day Battle • (Oak Grove, Geens Mill, Glendale, Malvern Hill)
In the east, McClellan, nicknamed "the slow one" by Lincoln, was removed from the post of commander in chief and sent at the head of one of the armies to attack Richmond.
The so called "Campaign on the Peninsula" has begun.
McClellan hoped to use numerical superiority and heavy artillery to win the war in one campaign, without harming civilians and without bringing the matter to the liberation of the Negroes.
Gatling machine gun and since the Civil War
More than 100 thousand soldiers of the federal army landed on the Virginia coast, but the southerners, despite the inequality of forces, managed to delay the enemy for a whole month in the battle of Yorktown.
On May 4, 1862, Yorktown was surrendered.
The Southerners were slowly retreating, and Richmond was preparing to evacuate.
General Johnston decided to attack the enemy and break up one of his isolated corps, but this goal could not be achieved in the Battle of Seven Pines - Johnston himself was wounded, and General Robert Lee took over the command.
This battle was also marked by the first experience in the history of military conflicts with the use of Gatling buckshot and mitrallez — remote prototypes of machine guns.
Then, due to the imperfection of the design, they could not somehow significantly affect the course of the battle.
But in the army of both northerners and southerners, buckshot shells of different designers began to appear.[3]
When Robert E. Lee took command of the army, General Jackson had just completed the campaign in the Shenandoah Valley and was ready to march on Washington, but Lee called him to Richmond.
On June 23, the commanders of the Army of the South met and discussed the plan of the upcoming offensive.
It was decided to attack the enemy in positions north of the Chickahominy River.
The series of battles that followed went down in history as the Seven Day Battle.
On June 26, 1862, Lee's army launched an offensive.
The battle as a whole went badly, but the command of the Army of the Potomac was alarmed by the activity of the enemy and decided to withdraw the army closer to the bases.
On June 27, Lee attacked the retreating army and the Battle of Gain's Mill was successful for the South.
Following this, Lee planned to attack McClellan's retreating army scattered on the roads at Glendale, but due to the inconsistency of actions, the Battle of Glendale went unsuccessfully.
This was the only moment in the entire war when Lee had a chance to completely destroy the Army of the Potomac, and this chance was missed.
On July 1, 1862, the Southerners again attacked the enemy at Malvern Hill.
The uncoordinated attack of the enemy's strong positions entailed great casualties, but despite this, the retreat of the federal army became irreversible.
This campaign is interesting for the first ever battle of armored ships, which took place on March 9 off the coast of Virginia.
Severovirzhinskaya campaign[edit / edit wiki text]
Main article: Severovirzhinskaya campaign
North Virginia Campaign Cedar Mountain Manassas Kettle Run Torufair Gap 2nd Bull Run Chantilly
After McClellan's failures on the Virginia Peninsula, President Lincoln appointed General John Pope to command the newly formed Army of Virginia.
The army was supposed to protect Washington and the Shenandoah Valley, as well as distract the enemy from McClellan's army on the peninsula.
General Lee immediately transferred the army of Jackson to the north, who decided to try to break up the Virginia Army in parts, but after the battle of Cedar Mountain, he abandoned this plan.
On August 15, Lee arrived in the combat area.
General Jackson made a detour around Pope's right flank, which forced him to retreat to the north.
He managed to draw Pope into the Second Battle of Bull Run (August 29-30), in which the federal army of Virginia was defeated and retreated north.
The president insisted on a second attack, but Jackson again bypassed Pope's flank in order to cut him off from Washington.
This led to the Battle of Chantilly.
Jackson failed to achieve his goals, however, and Pope was forced to cancel all offensive measures in order to withdraw the army behind the fortifications of Washington.
The Maryland Campaign[edit / edit wiki text]
Maryland Campaign Harpers Ferry South Mountain Antietam Shepardstown
The Battle of Antietam.
The offensive of the Iron Brigade
On September 4, 1862, General Lee's army entered Maryland, intending to cut off the communications of the federal army and isolate Washington during the Maryland campaign.
On September 7, the army entered the city of Frederick, where Lee ventured to divide the army into parts.
By pure chance, the order with the plan of attack ("Special Order 191") fell into the hands of the commander in chief of the federal Army, General McClellan, who immediately threw the Army of the Potomac into an attack on Lee's army scattered across Maryland.
The Southerners began to retreat to Sharpsburg.
In the battle in the Southern Mountains, they managed to delay the enemy for a day.
Meanwhile, on September 15, General Thomas Jackson took Harpers Ferry, capturing its 11 thousandth garrison and significant supplies of equipment.
He immediately began to transfer his divisions to Sharpsburg.
On September 17, at Sharpsburg, Lee's 40,000 strong army was attacked by McClellan's 70,000 strong army.
During this "bloodiest day" of the war (known as the Battle of Antietam), both sides lost 4,808 people killed, 18,578 people were wounded.
The battle ended in a draw, but Lee chose to retreat.
He withdrew the army beyond the Potomac, planning to re invade Maryland.
However, on September 19, Fitzjohn Porter's corps attacked his rearguards at Shepardstown.
Believing the report of General Pleasanton, Lee decided that McClellan had begun a pursuit, and canceled the second invasion of Maryland.
The Washington administration demanded that McClellan launch a decisive counteroffensive, but by the beginning of October, the federal army was still in camps north of the Potomac.
On October 10-12, Southern General Jeb Stewart carried out his second raid around the Army of the Potomac, capturing a lot of food and equipment.
The Federal cavalry could not prevent him.
After this raid, the president finally lost confidence in McClellan — the general was removed, Ambrose Burnside took his place.
The Kentucky Campaign[edit / edit wiki text]
Kentucky Campaign Cumberland Gap Cincinnati Richmond Munfordville Perreville
Meanwhile, in the summer, the Federal armies were successfully advancing in the West.
The Ohio army of Don Carlos Buell began operations to capture the Tennessee city of Chattanooga.
To counter Buell, Braxton Bragg's Mississippi Army was transferred to Tennessee.
Bragg decided to attack Buell with the forces of his army and the army of Edmund Kirby Smith.
However, first of all, it was necessary to eliminate the federal detachment that had captured the Cumberland Gap Gorge.
Kirby Smith decided to enter Kentucky and cut off the federal detachment in the gorge from communications.
This maneuver forced Bragg to invade Kentucky as well, in order to prevent Buell from attacking Smith.
On August 29, Smith's army defeated a federal detachment at the Battle of Richmond and soon entered Lexington.
Bragg's army, crossing the Cumberland Plateau, captured Munfordville, thereby cutting off the communication of the Ohio Army with the bases in Louisville.
But the successful start of the campaign was not developed.
Bragg had nothing to feed the army in Munfordville, so he withdrew to Bardstown, allowing Buell to retreat unhindered to Louisville.
Bragg's hopes for a massive influx of state volunteers also did not materialize.
To solve this problem, Bragg decided to establish a government loyal to the Confederacy in Kentucky, but the inauguration of the new president, scheduled for October 4, was disrupted by the sudden offensive of the Ohio Army.
Bragg managed to concentrate his army at Perryville and deliver a strong blow to the Ohio army at the Battle of Perryville, but even despite this success, Bragg began to doubt the successful outcome of the campaign and decided to retreat to Knoxville.
Like Robert E. Lee's Maryland campaign, Bragg's Kentucky campaign made European intervention highly likely and increased the Confederacy's chances of victory, but Bragg's retreat from Kentucky (and Lee's from Maryland) made such a development impossible.
Frederiksberg[edit / edit wiki text]
The end of the year turned out badly for the northerners.
Burnside launched a new offensive on Richmond, but was stopped by General Lee's army at the Battle of Fredericksburg on December 13.
The superior forces of the federal army were completely defeated, losing twice as many killed and wounded as the enemy.
Burnside conducted another unsuccessful maneuver, known as the "Mud March", after which he was removed from command.
Actions at sea[edit / edit wiki text]
The actions at sea in 1862 were marked by the first naval battle in history involving armored ships.
After capturing Norfolk, the southerners raised the skeleton of the large steam frigate Merrimack sunk by the northerners to avoid capture — and rebuilt it into the battleship CSS Virginia.
On March 8, the battleship attacked the federal squadron on the Hampton Roads, sinking two large sailing sloops without much difficulty.
However, when the Virginia attacked the Northern fleet again the next day, she was met by the federal battleship USS Monitor.
The battle between the battleships lasted for several hours, and ended in a draw in general — both ships were unable to destroy each other.
However, it clearly demonstrated the inability of old wooden ships to resist battleships, and marked the beginning of the era of battleships in military shipbuilding.
In April 1862, a federal squadron under the command of David Glasgow Farragut captured New Orleans, as a result of a successful breakthrough into the mouth of the Mississippi River past Forts Jackson and St. Philip.
Although the Southerners had a fairly good initial position, poor coordination between the Confederate army, navy and state militia made their defense haphazard and ineffective.
With the fall of New Orleans, the southerners lost one of their largest ports and shipbuilding centers, and the northerners gained control of the lower reaches of the Mississippi River an important the highest transport artery of the Confederation.
With the loss of Pensacola, New Orleans, and then Norfolk, the southerners lost all their main shipbuilding centers, and were forced to abandon plans to create a large fleet.
At the same time, they managed (under fictitious pretexts) to order a certain number of high speed screw steamers in Britain and France, which they equipped as raiders for actions against the merchant fleet of the northerners.
Proclamation on the emancipation of slaves[edit / edit wiki text]
On December 30, 1862, Lincoln signed the" Emancipation Proclamation " of slaves from January 1 of the following year.
Slaves in states hostile to the Union were declared free.
The path of slavery to the "free lands" of the West was closed even earlier by the Homestead act adopted in May 1862, which gave every American family the opportunity to receive a land allotment of 160 acres (64 hectares).
In the eyes of Europe, the proclamation on the emancipation of slaves radically changed the nature and purpose of the war: from that moment on, the struggle was not for the unity of the Union, but for the abolition of slavery.
Before the proclamation, some European countries were dissatisfied with the actions of the North, primarily with its blockade of the ports of the southern states, which paralyzed the South's trade with Europe.
For example, in England, due to the cessation of the receipt of American cotton, the textile industry was ruined, hundreds of thousands of people were left without work.
England and France were going to officially recognize the Confederation as independent.
Thanks to the proclamation on the emancipation of slaves, Lincoln won the sympathy of European countries.
Russia, which had liberated its serfs a year earlier, also took a benevolent position towards the Union, the appearance of Russian squadrons in San Francisco and New York in the autumn of 1863 with instructions in case of war with England was an example of the diplomatic use of naval force.
Thanks to the appearance of the squadron of Rear Admiral A. A. Popov in the Pacific Ocean, England abandoned its intention to intervene in the war on the side of the Confederation and thereby allowed the North to continue the blockade of the ports of the South (by the end of the war, the South eventually faced a catastrophic shortage of ammunition).
In response, the northern states supported Russia in the Polish issue.
Generals of the Army of the South
General Lee
Richard Ewell
James Longstreet
Ambrose Hill
Jackson "The Stone Wall"
John Hood
The second period of the war (May 1863 April 1865)[edit / edit wiki text]
The battles of 1863[edit / edit wiki text]
The campaign of 1863 became a turning point during the war, although its beginning was unsuccessful for the northerners.
In January 1863, Joseph Hooker was appointed commander of the federal army.
He resumed the offensive on Richmond, this time choosing a maneuvering tactic.
The beginning of May 1863 was marked by the Battle of Chancellorsville, during which the 130 thousandth army of the northerners was defeated by the 60 thousandth army of General Lee.
In this battle, the southerners for the first time successfully used the tactics of attacking in a loose formation.
The losses of the parties amounted to: the northerners have 17,275, and the southerners have 12,821 people killed and wounded.
In this battle, General T. J. Jackson, one of the best generals of the Confederacy, who received the nickname "Stonewall"for his steadfastness in battle, was mortally wounded.
Gettysburg Campaign[edit / edit wiki text]
Gettysburg Campaign Brandy Station • 2nd Winchester • Eldy • Middleburg • Upperville • Sporting Hill • Stewart Raid • Hanover • Gettysburg • (Kilpatrick Attack • Pickett Attack • Peach Orchard • Little Round Top) • Fairfield) * Carlisle • Hunterstown • Monterey
Having won another brilliant victory, General Lee decided to make a decisive offensive to the north, to defeat the Union Army in a decisive CP
