The Campaigns Of 1864 And 1865

ASU HST 200 (Historical Themes) The Civil War, 1860–1865 The Campaigns Of 1864 And 1865 The Union carried on fighting in the Deep South throughout the last years of the conflict, in addition to its efforts on the eastern and western fronts. Union soldiers were fighting a comprehensive war in which they were not telling apart military from civilian objectives. In their quest to overthrow the Confederacy and bring the war to an abrupt end, they demolished anything that stood in their way. The leader of the Vicksburg campaign, General Grant, assumed command of the war effort. He saw the benefit of having a huge army at his disposal and realized that, while the Confederates, with a smaller population, were suffering from the years of conflict, they could not be replaced. Grant continued to advance in this manner while suffering significant casualties. Grant devoted his army to crushing Lee's army in Virginia in 1864. Grant intended to take advantage of his stronger force in the Virginia campaign. However, Confederate soldiers halted Grant's advance at the Battle of the Wilderness, which took place between May 5 and May 7. Instead of turning back, he advanced. During the May 8–12 Battle of Spotsylvania, Grant encountered resolute Confederate resistance once more, and his progress was once more stopped. He revived the Union campaign, like previously. Between 100,000 and 110,000 men were on Grant's side at the Battle of Cold Harbor in early June, while the Confederates had somewhat more than half that amount. Once more, the Union advance was delayed, if only briefly, while Grant waited for further help. After the Union suffered significant casualties in an attack on the Confederate stronghold on June 3, Grant withdrew his force from Cold Harbor and moved it nine days later to Petersburg, Virginia, a rail hub that supplied Richmond. Union morale was seriously damaged by the enormous casualties sustained by Grant's army. Many people in the North started to doubt the war and want peace since it seemed to be going on forever and there had been a significant death toll. Grant, however, besieged Petersburg for nine months, unfazed by the shifting sentiment in the North and intending to destroy the Confederate rail network in the Upper South. Both sides dug in further as the months passed, building kilometers of trenches and artillery emplacements. More successful Union campaigns in 1864 provided President Lincoln with the momentum he needed to win reelection in November. Mobile Bay was taken by the Union fleet in August 1864. Under Johnston's leadership, the Confederates met General Sherman's cautious advance from Tennessee into Georgia as he advanced into the Deep South. General John B. Hood succeeded Johnston after President Davis removed him from office, and the Confederates launched a risky but ultimately expensive direct assault on the Union army that was unable to drive the invaders out. On September 2, 1864, Union soldiers captured Atlanta. The Union, weary of war, saw great significance in the fall of Atlanta, which also served to raise morale in the North. According to the theory of total war, Sherman's army devastated a large portion of Savannah. Despite stringent orders to protect civilian property, the Union army destroyed everything in its path during Sherman's March to the Sea in an effort to demoralize the South. Houses and barns were torched, but communities remained intact. Livestock was slaughtered or taken, homes were plundered, food was stolen, crops were damaged, and orchards were set on fire. On December 21, 1864, Savannah fell; Sherman declared it to be Lincoln's Christmas present. Sherman's army entered South Carolina in 1865 and took Columbia and Charleston. The Union troops razed most of the city and set fire to the mansions of slaveholders in Columbia, the state capital. Sherman's army headed north from South Carolina in an attempt to link up with Grant and decimate Lee's army.