VIII. Turning Point - 1863

A. Vicksburg

Phase 1 - Dec. 1862

• Grant plan to march south overland and link up with Sherman who would be transported by Porter to Chickasaw Bluffs - but disrupted by Van Dorn and Forrest
  
• Grant's order expelling Jews from Dept. of Miss. - to stop cotton black market
  
• but order cancelled by L. - Cesar Kaskel and Jewish Unionists
  

Phase 2 - Dec-Mar. 1863

• Grant tries 5 bypass routes - Yazoo Pass, Steele's bayou exped.
  

Phase 3 - Apr. - "success in the spring"

• McClernand starts south from Milliken Bend Apr. 5
  
• Porter's gunboats run batteries Apr. 16
  
• Ben Grierson starts cavalry raid thru MI Apr. 17 - diversion
  
• Grant's army 35 mi. south at Bruinsburg
  
• Grant "cut loose" from Port Gibson May 7
  
• Grant defeats Pemberton at Champion's Hill May 16, "the most decisive of the campaign"
  
• Sherman to Jackson vs. Joe Johnston's 30,000
  

Phase 4 -siege of Vicksburg May 18 to July 4

• assualts May 19, 22
  
• huge mine exploded June 25
  
• 30,000 surrender and paroled
  
• Jackson, MI evacuated - Johnston abandons central Miss. July 16
  
• Port Hudson - Banks and Farragut close the Miss. R. May 23-July 8
  

B. Lee's Pennsylvania Invasion

1. CD-ROM "12 Roads to Gettysburg"

• simple yet extremely daring - to seek a decisive battle
  
• PA, Army or the Potomac, Phil., Balt., even N.Y.
  
• help Copperheads, overthrow Lincoln, relieve West
  
• Lee's plan a gamble, but "several proven quantities"
  
• 7-step plan begins in June 1863 - 3 corps move
  

2. Prelude to the Decisive Battle

• Stuart vs. Pleasonton at Brandy Station June 9
  
• Winchester taken by Ewell June 14
  
• Lee orders Stuart to pass around Hooker June 23,
  but loses contact & unaware of Union movements
  
• Early reaches Gettysburg without shoes June 26
  
• Ewell takes Carlisle, camps 4 mi. from capital June 27
  
• George Meade replaces Hooker June 28
  
• Buford arrives June 30 - Heth withdraws
  

3. Gettysburg July 1-3

• "most crucial battle in American history"
  
• Day 1 = the north side
  
  • Ewell stops his advance - fears artillery
    
• Day 2 = the south side
  
  • Longstreet stopped by Sickles
    
• Day 3 = the center
  
  • Pickett's Charge stopped by Hancock
    
• war's biggest artillery duel by 343 guns 1-2:30 pm
  
• "the war's most famous charge" by Pickett at 2:30 pm
  
• 13,000 into Hancock's artillery enfilade
  
• Lee retreats to Williamsport - builds bridge by July 13
  
• Lincoln angry at Meade - "We had them in our grasp"
  
• Ted Turner movie Gettysburg based on Michael Sharra novel
  

C. Significance in 1863

1. End of Southern Offensive
   • Lee's "audacity" failed to win the war
   • Meade's caution failed to win the war
2. Copperhead influence declined
   • Clement Valandigham arrested by Burnside May 5, banished by Lincoln
   • National Union Leagues of Republicans and Loyal Leagues of Democrats won spring elections in New England (NH, CT) helped by soldiers furloughed home
   • backlash against Peace Democrats like Gov. Horatio Seymour ("my friends") who were blamed for causing the draft riots in New York
3. Blacks recruited into the military
   • Lincoln's July 30 order threatened retaliation for execution of black captives
   • CSA did not exchange black prisoners, casued overcrowding
   • 58 black regiments by Oct., but only a few commissioned officers,
   • Black soldiers fought at Port Hudson May 27, and Milliken's Bend June 9, but most black soldiers remained on garrison duty, suffered from lack of medical care, disease.
4. Volunteers increased
   • due to threat of conscription after Enrollment Act of march 3
   • Almost 1 million enlisted in two years of the draft, only 46,000 were drafted
   • 24% were foreign-born, 9% were black, 47% were farmers, 41% were laborers
5. Emancipation confirmed
   • Republicans won state elections in OH, PA
   • 92% soliders voted for Republicans
   • growing respect for abolitionist leaders
6. Confederacy divided
   • Davis challenged by Gov. Joseph Brown, Robert Toombs, Alexander Stephens
   • Martial Law proclamation did not work, allowed to expire, courts released deserters and officials unable to enforce conscription
   • South lacked political parties, encouraged factionalism
   • William Holden of NC led growing peace movement
7. Gettysburg Address
   • delivered by Lincoln Nov. 19 to dedicate the National Soldiers Cemetery, from 2:00 to 2:03 pm, in 10 sentences, 272 words
   • two drafts written by Lincoln, not on the back of any envelope
   • crowd of 15,000 clearly heard his voice, were not bored even though Edward Everett had taken almost 2 hours to deliver his "Dedicatory Remarks"
   • Democratic press hostile, but general popular reaction was positive
   • emphasis on the word "Nation" used 4 times, not word "Union" (that had been used 20 times in Lincoln's 1861 First Inaugural Address)
   • emphasis on creation of a new nation, a "new birth of freedom"
8. Images of Reality
   • "Sharpshooter at Devil's Den" wet collodion glass plate by Timothy O'Sullivan July 6
   • ambrotype found of "children of the battlefield" - engravings, poems, sheet music sold - Sgt Amos Humiston of 154th New York - donations and proceeds helped found the Soldiers' Orphans' Home 1866

D. Chattanooga

• Rosy finally moves on Bragg at Tullahoma June 24 - constant rain
  
• led by John Wilder with 7-shot Spencers thru Hoover's Gap
  
• 9-day campaign - Tullahoma taken July 3 - Tennessee liberated
  

2. Chickamauga

• Rosy with 3 corps starts from Tullahoma Aug. 16
  
• Bragg retreats - Longstreet from VA by railroad via Atlanta
  
• Burnside takes Knoxville Sept. 3
  
• Rosy stopped at Chickamauga Sept. 19-20
  
  • "last Confed. victory" - L. said Rosy was "stunned and confused, like a duck hit on the head."
    
  • Longstreet took charge Sept. 20 - "Bull of the Woods" - his greatest achievement
    
  • George Thomas stopped Longstreet and became the "Rock of Chickamauga" but his troops would remember their defeat and seek vengeance
    
• Bragg's mistake - did not pursue - withdrew from Chatt. Sept. 7
  
• Bragg sets trap at McLemore's Cove - "red with blood"
  
• Joe Wheeler cuts Union supply line - 1000 mules
  
• Davis arrives Oct. 9
  
• Longstreet sent to Knoxville
  
• Sherman and Hooker reinforce Rosy in "the most impressive logistic achievement of the war"

3. Grant at Chattanooga

• Grant commands all west Oct. 17
  
• Moccasin Pt. to Browns Ferry to Kellys Ferry to Bridgeport Oct. 23
  
• pontoon bridge at Browns Ferry Oct. 26
  
• Cracker Line opened to bypass Lookout Mt. Oct. 27
  
• Thomas storms Missionary Ridge Nov. 25 in "one of the most remarkable feats of the war"
  
• Hooker wins Battle Above the Clouds Nov. 24
  

Links:

• Gettysburg Address from LC
• Gettysburg and Gods and Generals films
• Gettysburg National Military Park
• Ken Burns' The Civil War