Civil War Battles

Processing Activities

Battles and Events of the Civil War

GETTYSBURG
ANTIETAM
FIRST BULL RUN
APPOMATTOX
COURTHOUSE
FORT SUMTER

BATTLE OF
VICKSBURG

Advantages: North
More People
22 million vs. 9 million

More Money
Railroads
Ability to rapidly transport soldiers and supplies

Factories
Generated $1.5 billion vs $155 million

President/General: North
President
Abraham Lincoln

General
Ulysses S. Grant

Advantages: South
Better Military Leaders
Consisted of war veterans
North was not prepared to fight
Fighting on Home Soil
Forced North to attack by deciding to succeed
Most of the entire war was fought in the
Southern states
Familiar with landscape and terrain

The Confederacy
General
Robert E. Lee

President
Jefferson Davis

December 20, 1860

South Carolina Secedes
February 1861
Texas
Louisiana
Mississippi
Alabama
Florida
Georgia

Formed the
Confederate States of America

Battle: Fort Sumter

April 12, 1861
Federal Troops occupied Fort Sumter in South
Carolina
President Davis ordered Confederate forces to
attack the fort
Union held out for 33 hours before surrendering

Battle of Fort Sumter

April 12, 1861
Who Won? Confederacy
How did this battle/event impact the North?
Beginning of the Civil War
Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers to sign up
How did this battle/event impact the South?
Union forces surrendered the Fort
Led to Virginia, North Carolina, Arkansas, and
Tennessees secession

Processing Activity
You are a student living in 1861. Write
about how you feel upon hearing that the
Civil War has started. Choose which side
you would support and explain your
reason you think the North or South were
justified in their reasons for war.

Battle of Bull Run

First Major Battle of Civil War
Civilians picnicked and watched the battle
General Thomas Stonewall Jackson
forced the Union lines to break
Union forced retreated
Confederate Victory

Battle of Antietam
September 17, 1862
Considered the bloodiest one day battle
in American History
23,000 soldiers killed or wounded
Forced Confederate Army to retreat
President Lincoln issued the Emancipation
Proclamation

Battle of Antietam
September 17, 1862
Who Won? Union
How did this battle/event impact the North?
Union Forces stopped Lees invasion of the North
Encouraged President Lincoln to issue the
Emancipation Proclamation
How did this battle/event impact the South?
First time the South invaded the North
Lost 1 out of 3 men

Processing Activity

Create a ticket tape that would be displayed on a

news channel describing why the Battle of
Antietam is still considered the bloodiest day in
the U.S. History

Emancipation
Proclamation
Issued by Lincoln on January 1, 1863
All enslaved people in the states
controlled by the Confederacy were free
Few enslaved people were actually freed
by the proclamation
Used as a war measure to create a trade
barrier between the South and Europe

Great Britain refused to help the

South as a result of the
Emancipation Proclamation.
The South had claimed that
slavery was not an issue in the
war, but yet refused to give up
the practice.

Battle of Gettysburg
July 1-3, 1863
General Lee invaded the North in
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
South believed victory in Northern Territory
would encourage alliances Britain and
France
Picketts Charge

Battle of Gettysburg
July 1-3, 1863
Who Won? Union
How did this battle/event impact the North?
Considered a turning point of the war
How did this battle/event impact the South?
South forced to retreat
General Lee lost too many men to recover from
this battle

Battle of Gettysburg
July 1-3, 1863
Who Won? Union
How did this battle/event impact the North?
Considered a turning point of the war
How did this battle/event impact the South?
South forced to retreat
General Lee lost too many men to recover from
this battle

Amputation Being Performed in a

Hospital Tent - Gettysburg

Processing Activity
Create a historical marker recognizing the
significance of the Battle of Gettysburg.
Be sure to include when and where the
battle took place.

Gettysburg Address
Speech delivered by Lincoln at the
dedication of the Soldiers National
Cemetery

GETTYSBURG ADDRESS
Lincolns speech dedicating cemetery
"Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought
forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty
and dedicated to the proposition that all men are
created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war,
testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived
and so dedicated can long endure. We are met on a
great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate
a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those
who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is
altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But
in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot
consecrate, we .cannot hallow this ground. The brave
men, living and dead who struggled here have
consecrated it far above our poor power to add or
detract. The world will little note nor long remember
what we say here, but it can never forget what they did
here. It is for us the living rather to be dedicated here to
the unfinished work which they who fought here have
thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here
dedicated to the great task remaining before usthat
from these honored dead we take increased devotion
to that cause for which they gave the last full measure
of devotionthat we here highly resolve that these
dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation under
God shall have a new birth of freedom, and that
government of the people, by the people, for the people
shall not perish from the earth."

Siege of Vicksburg
July 4, 1863
Union needed Vicksburg to control the
Mississippi River
Union Army surrounded the city for three
months and cut off all supplies to city
Caused starvation and forced civilians to
eat rats, cats, dogs, and mules

Battle of Vicksburg
July 4, 1863
Who Won? Union
How did this battle/event impact the North?
Gained control of Mississippi River
Split the South into two sections
How did this battle/event impact the South?
Trade routes are blocked and are not able
to get supplies

Processing Activity
Send a text message to another Northern
soldier discussing the significance of
gaining control of the Mississippi River

Surrender at Appomattox Courthouse

April 9, 1865
Lee realized that continuing to fight the
war would lead to a greater loss of life
Surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant
in the Virginia town of Appomattox
Courthouse
Grant was generous to Lee with his terms
of surrender
Gave Lees Army food and allowed them
to go home

Surrender at Appomattox Courthouse

April 9, 1865
Who Won? Union
How did this battle/event impact the North?
End of the Civil War
How did this battle/event impact the South?
South re-enters the Union
Leads to Reconstruction

Processing Activity
Create a six word sentence describing the
significance of Lees surrender.

Lincolns Assassination
Lincoln was shot on April 14, 1865 by
John Wilkes Booth
Booth believed that killing high officials of
the U.S. Govt would save the
Confederacy
Lincolns death prolonged Reconstruction
and made it more difficult for the South to
be readmitted to the Union