Peace At Last...Now What?

The South was in ruins, many farms were suffering from neglect. Railroads were useless and about 1/5th of the South's white males were dead.

Then there were 4 million newly freed slaves who had no money or education.

This is what I would refer to as bad news bears.

We are now entering the time in our history called Reconstruction.

Congress went to work trying to figure out how to make things better in the south. One idea was the Freedmen's Bureau. This was created to help blacks and whites who were uprooted by the war.


Reconstruction was argued about a lot. Everyone had different opinions on how it should be done. It was very frustrating.


General Sherman even had a part in Reconstruction. He split up a lot of land in the south into 40 acres. He offered this land to any formerly enslaved family for them to live on and farm.

So, for an apology of years of abuse and torture, they got some land and a mule.



As it would turn out, things were going to get worse.

Lincoln and his wife went to a play at Ford's Theater. They saw "My American Cousin". During the play, a very famous actor named John Wilkes Booth decided it would be a good idea to shoot Lincoln.

Lincoln was dead only 2 weeks after Lees Surrender. His body was taken back to Illinois where he was laid to rest (you can visit Lincoln's tomb in Springfield, while you are there, check out the super awesome Lincoln Library, seriously, its good stuff).

The country was in a state of sadness and uncertainty.

Civil War Comes to a Close

Grant's troops were able to break through Confederate lines and they were headed directly for Richmond, the Confederate capital. With Union forces approaching, the Confederates were getting out of Dodge.



Lee hoped to get away, but the Union caught up with them at Appomattox Court House in Virginia. Lee decided to surrender.

Lee and Grant met and chatted it up a bit and then Grant told him the terms of surrender. The Confederates were to hand over their weapons and leave.

The Civil War was over. The North was pumped, they were doing cartwheels.



People gathered outside the White House, Lincoln decided that a speech would not be needed, but went outside and simply said,



And the band played...

Sherman's March to the Sea

Meanwhile, down south, General William Tecumseh Sherman was marching through with his 100,000 troops, they were on their way to Atlanta.



The Confederates attacked Sherman's troops, but the only thing that accomplished was losing a quarter of the Confederate troops....ouch.

Sherman was easily able to enter Atlanta, and he brought Atlanta a present, he brought fire.



Sherman destroyed the city of Atlanta, as well as the railroad tracks. This was a devastating blow to the South.

Sherman's march also helped Lincoln get reelected in 1864. Along with this, the 13th Amendment was passed. This ended slavery. The war was winding down and Lincoln kept a positive attitude toward the South.



After Sherman burnt Atlanta, he continued his march to the sea to capture Savannah. Sherman's army left behind a destruction path of 300 miles long and up to 60 miles wide. It was a highway to hell.

Sherman's troops reached Savannah by December and had it wrapped up with a bow by Christmas.


After Georgia, they hit up South Carolina and North Carolina. Then Sherman was headed north to meet up with General Grant.

Grant, The Wilderness, and Cold Harbor

Lincoln knew things were going well for the Union, but he still needed a general.



Then he realized, Ulysses S. Grant.

In March of 1864, the new commanding general of the Army of the Potomac was Grant.

Grant was all about constant pressure, instead of periods of rest between battles, Grant preferred to keep on truckin'.



Unfortunately, these next meetings between the Union and Confederate soldiers would be pretty brutal.

Grant and his men crossed into Virginia into an area known as The Wilderness. And in the Wilderness is where General Lee decided to attack.

Most of this battle was close range fighting. Hand to hand combat and shots being fired set the wilderness on fire.



There were wounded soldiers trapped in the burning forest, many begged to be shot so they would not burn to death.

18,000 casualties for the Union and 10,000 for the Confederates. This was not good.

But Grant decided to press on and the Battle of Cold Harbor began.

Grant decided a frontal assault against the Confederates would be the game plan, unfortunately, this game plan was terrible.

Things were so bad that soldiers were sewing their names into their clothing so they could be identified if they died. So far, all the dead were pretty much unrecognizable.

General Lee defeated Grant and in 12 days of fighting the Union had lost 13,000 men. Cold Harbor was bad news bears, and Grant knew it.

Battle of Vicksburg

The Union victory at Gettysburg was big, it showed that the Union could and would defend its own land. Morale was getting a boost, this was a turning point for the Union, but still...Lincoln was a bit upset.


While Lincoln is frustrated in the East, Ulysses S. Grant is still cleaning up house in the West.



Ok, not like that...

Grant was in Vicksburg, Mississippi, this would prove to be a little difficult.

The easiest way in to the town was via the Mississippi River, which the Confederates had heavily guarded.



Grant decides to have his troops ferried in from Louisiana, they would attack from the west, no one expected this.

Grant and his men attacked, because all of the Confederates were concentrating on was the river, they were not prepared. They took all the people along the river to combat the attacking Union.

Because of the Confederates move, Union boats were able to attack from the once impenetrable river.

Vicksburg was cut off completely from the rest of the country, citizens made make shift homes in the hills and resorted to eating rats.



This was a pretty much hopeless situation for the Confederates, so they surrendered.

Other key Union victories in the West were at Chattanooga, the Battle of Pea Ridge, and the Battle of Glorieta Pass.

By fall of 1863, the Union had control of the Mississippi, thousands of slaves left the south and morale was at an all time low in the south. However, it wasn't over yet...

The Battle of Gettysburg

On the first day of battle, the Confederates seemed to have the upper hand in this fight.


*Stick people hands sort of look like various farm implements.

On the second day, the Confederates had a lot of the key positions on the battlefield. Every time the Union would advance, they would be pushed back.

By July 3rd, Lee was feeling pretty good about the situation. He decided that General Meade's line was weak, and an all out assault should be done in order to take out the Union.

Meade, however, sort of had a feeling that Lee would try this, so he was prepared.

The final day of battle in Gettysburg took place on July 4th. The big event of the day was known as Pickett's Charge.

Imagine a huge game of Red Rover, but with guns, cannons, and bayonets....Ok, don't imagine that, its extremely horrifying.




On July 4, at 3 in the afternoon we find the two armies on Cemetery Ridge. An artillery duel was occurring.


All of a sudden, the Union guns went silent. The Confederate General, George Pickett, believed the Union artillery had been knocked out and led his soldiers on a charge.


This, was a terrible idea.

As soon as the Confederates started charging, the Union artillery started firing.

It was sort of like shooting fish in a barrel, which does not sound the least bit fun...



Pickett had lost half of his 13,000 men he led on the charge.

Lee felt absolutely terrible at the decision he made for an all out assault. He took the blame.

Lee told his men to brace for another attack, but it never came. Meade didn't act and the Confederates slipped out of Pennsylvania and went back to Virginia.

When it was all over, the Union suffered 23,000 casualties and the Confederates 28,000.

Shoes...

After Chancellorsville, Lincoln was pretty distraught, so distraught, he threw his hat.



He told Hooker to follow Lee's troops, but Hooker decided to take a page out of Ol' McClellan's book and drag his feet.

While he was wasting time, Confederate troops marched into Pennsylvania.



With Lee and the Confederates in Pennsylvania, Lincoln got rid of Hooker, next in command would be General George Meade.



Remember Cinderella? She had an evil stepmother, horrible step sisters, and animals that made her a dress. Long story short....she went to a ball, had to be back by midnight, or she'd turn into a pumpkin or something. She met the Prince, he was like "Dang girl, you got it going on". The clock was about to turn twelve, she was like "ohh no...I must flee into the night". She runs off the prince follows and she randomly loses a shoe, a glass slipper to be precise. The Prince took the slipper and decided that he would make every girl in the kingdom try on the shoe until he found who owned it, because there would never be any possibility of more than one person having the same shoe size. Anyway.....

So eventually, after some lame shenanigans performed by evil step mother and step sisters, Cinderella tries on the shoe and it fits, they live happily ever after....



So, now that I've rambled about Cinderella, you are probably wondering what is the point? How does this have anything to do with the Civil War?

Well, a pair of shoes changed Cinderella's life and the biggest battle of the Civil war occured, because of Shoes.



The Confederates knew there was a stock pile of shoes in Pennsylvania. They really needed them, so they set out to get them, hoping that when they got there they wouldn't have to deal with the ridiculousness of a Shoe Carnival store.



Luckily, it was not a Shoe Carnival, but, that was as far as their luck went, they didn't realize the entire Army of the Potomac was right behind them..and they would meet...in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.