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The Civil War:
The End of A Tragedy on the Road To Appomattox
The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the
events surrounding the end of the American Civil War. This war was a war of epic
proportion. Never before and not since have so many Americans died in battle. The American
Civil War was truly tragic in terms of human life. In this document, I will speak mainly
around those involved on the battlefield in the closing days of the conflict. Also,
reference will be made to the leading men behind the Union and Confederate forces.
The war was beginning to end by January of 1865. By then,
Federal (Federal was another name given to the Union Army) armies were spread throughout
the Confederacy and the Confederate Army had shrunk extremely in size. In the year before,
the North had lost an enormous amount of lives, but had more than enough to lose in
comparison to the South. General Grant became known as the "Butcher" (Grant,
Ulysses S., Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant, New York: Charles L. Webster & Co.,1894)
and many wanted to see him removed. But Lincoln stood firm with his General, and the war
continued. This paper will follow the happenings and events between the winter of 1864-65
and the surrender of The Confederate States of America. All of this will most certainly
illustrate that April 9, 1865 was indeed the end of a tragedy.
CUTTING OFF THE SOUTH
In September of 1864, General William T. Sherman and his
army cleared the city of Atlanta of its civilian population then rested ever so briefly.
It was from there that General Sherman and his army began its famous "march to the
sea". The march covered a distance of 400 miles and was 60 miles wide on the way. For
32 days no news of him reached the North. He had cut himself off from his base of
supplies, and his men lived on what ever they could get from the country through which
they passed. On their route, the army destroyed anything and everything that they could
not use but was presumed usable to the enemy. In view of this destruction, it is
understandable that Sherman quoted "war is hell" (Sherman, William T., Memoirs
of General William T. Sherman. Westport, Conn.:Greenwood Press, 1972). Finally, on
December 20, Sherman's men reached the city of Savannah and from there Sherman telegraphed
to President Lincoln: "I beg to present you as a Christmas gift the city of Savannah,
with 150 heavy guns and plenty of ammunition, and also about 25,000 bales of cotton"
(Sherman, William T., Memoirs of General William T. Sherman. Westport, Conn.:Greenwood
Press, 1972).
Grant had decided that the only way to win and finish the
war would be to crunch with numbers. He knew that the Federal forces held more than a
modest advantage in terms of men and supplies. This in mind, Grant directed Sherman to
turn around now and start heading back toward Virginia. He immediately started making
preparations to provide assistance to Sherman on the journey. General John M. Schofield
and his men were to detach from the Army of the Cumberland, which had just embarrassingly
defeated the Confederates at Nashville, and proceed toward North Carolina. His final
destination was to be Goldsboro, which was roughly half the distance between Savannah and
Richmond. This is where he and his 20,000 troops would meet Sherman and his 50,000 troops.
Sherman began the move north in mid-January of 1865. The
only hope of Confederate resistance would be supplied by General P.G.T. Beauregard. He was
scraping together an army with every resource he could lay his hands on, but at best would
only be able to muster about 30,000 men. This by obvious mathematics would be no challenge
to the combined forces of Schofield and Sherman, let alone Sherman. Sherman's plan was to
march through South Carolina all the while confusing the enemy. His men would march in two
ranks: One would travel northwest to give the impression of a press against Augusta and
the other would march northeast toward Charleston. However the one true objective would be
Columbia.
Sherman's force arrived in Columbia on February 16. The
city was burned to the ground and great controversy was to arise. The Confederates claimed
that Sherman's men set the fires "deliberately, systematically, and
atrociously". However, Sherman claimed that the fires were burning when they arrived.
The fires had been set to cotton bales by Confederate Calvary to prevent the Federal Army
from getting them and the high winds quickly spread the fire. The controversy would be
short lived as no proof would ever be presented. So with Columbia, Charleston, and Augusta
all fallen, Sherman would continue his drive north toward Goldsboro. On the way, his
progress would be stalled not by the Confederate army but by runaway slaves. The slaves
were attaching themselves to the Union columns and by the time the force entered North
Carolina, they numbered in the thousands (Barrett, John G., Sherman's March through the
Carolinas. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1956). But Sherman's force
pushed on and finally met up with Schofield in Goldsboro on March 23rd.
THE END IS PLANNED
Sherman immediately left Goldsboro to travel up to City
Point and meet Grant to discuss plans of attack. When he arrived there, he found not only
Grant, but also Admiral David Porter waiting to meet with President Lincoln. So on the
morning of the March 28th, General Grant, General Sherman, and Admiral Porter all met with
Lincoln on the river boat "River Queen" to discuss a strategy against General
Lee and General Johnston of the Confederate Army. Several times Lincoln asked "can't
this last battle be avoided?" (Angle and Miers, Tragic Years, II) but both Generals
expected the Rebels (Rebs or Rebels were a name given to Confederate soldiers) to put up
at least one more fight. It had to be decided how to handle the Rebels in regard to the
upcoming surrender (all were sure of a surrender). Lincoln made his intentions very clear:
"I am full of the bloodshed. You need to defeat the opposing armies and get the men
composing those armies back to their homes to work on their farms and in their
shops." (Sherman, William T., Memoirs of General William T. Sherman. Westport,
Conn.:Greenwood Press, 1972) The meeting lasted for a number of hours and near its end,
Lincoln made his orders clear: "Let them once surrender and reach their homes, they
won't take up arms again. They will at once be guaranteed all their rights as citizens of
a common country. I want no one punished, treat them liberally all around. We want those
people to return to their allegiance to the Union and submit to the laws." (Porter,
David D., Campaigning with Grant. New York: The Century Co., 1897) Well with all of the
formalities outlined, the Generals and Admiral knew what needed to be done. Sherman
returned to Goldsboro by steamer; Grant and Porter left by train back north. Sherman's
course would be to continue north with Schofield's men and meet Grant in Richmond.
However, this would never happen as Lee would surrender to Grant before Sherman could ever
get there.
THE PUSH FOR THE END
General Grant returned back to his troops who were in the
process of besieging Petersburg and Richmond. These battles had been going on for months.
On March 24, before the meeting with President Lincoln, Grant drew up a new plan for a
flanking movement against the Confederates right below Petersburg. It would be the first
large scale operation to take place this year and would begin five days later. Two days
after Grant made preparations to move again, Lee had already assessed the situation and
informed President Davis that Richmond and Petersburg were doomed. Lee's only chance would
be to move his troops out of Richmond and down a southwestern path toward a meeting with
fellow General Johnston's (Johnston had been dispatched to Virginia after being ordered
not to resist the advance of Sherman's Army) forces. Lee chose a small town to the west
named Amelia Court House as a meeting point. His escape was narrow; they (the soldiers)
could see Richmond burn as they made their way across the James River and to the west.
Grant had finally broke through and Richmond and Petersburg were finished on the second
day of April.
LINCOLN VISITS FALLEN RICHMOND
On April 4th, after visiting Petersburg briefly, President
Lincoln decided to visit the fallen city of Richmond. He arrived by boat with his son,
Tad, and was led ashore by no more than 12 armed sailors. The city had not yet been
secured by Federal forces. Lincoln had no more than taken his first step when former
slaves started forming around him singing praises. Lincoln proceeded to join with General
Godfrey Weitzel who had been place in charge of the occupation of Richmond and taken his
headquarters in Jefferson Davis' old residence. When he arrived there, he and Tad took an
extensive tour of the house after discovering Weitzel was out and some of the soldiers
remarked that Lincoln seemed to have a boyish expression as he did so. No one can be sure
what Lincoln was thinking as he sat in Davis' office. When Weitzel arrived, he asked the
President what to do with the conquered people. Lincoln replied that he no longer gave
direction in military manners but went on to say: "If I were in your place, I'd let
'em up easy, let 'em up easy" (Johnson, Robert Underwood, and Clarence Clough Buel,
eds., Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, Vol 4. New York: The Century Co., 1887).
THE CHASE BEGINS
Lee's forces were pushing west toward Amelia and the
Federals would be hot on their tails. Before leaving Richmond, Lee had asked the
Commissary Department of the Confederacy to store food in Amelia and the troops rushed
there in anticipation. What they found when they got there however was very disappointing.
While there was an abundance of ammunition and ordinance, there was not a single morsel of
food. Lee could not afford to give up his lead over the advancing Federals so he had to
move his nearly starving troops out immediately in search of food. They continued
westward, still hoping to join with Johnston eventually, and headed for Farmville, where
Lee had been informed, there was an abundance of bacon and cornmeal. Several skirmishes
took place along the way as some Federal regiments would catch up and attack, but the
Confederate force reached Farmville. However, the men had no more that started to eat
their bacon and cornmeal when Union General Sheridan arrived and started a fight. Luckily,
it was nearly night, and the Confederate force snuck out under cover of the dark. But not
before General Lee received General Grants first request for surrender.
NOWHERE TO RUN
The Confederates, in their rush to leave Farmville in the
night of April 7th, did not get the rations they so desperately needed, so they were
forced to forage for food. Many chose to desert and leave for home. General Lee saw two
men leaving for home and said "Stop young men, and get together you are
straggling" and one of the soldiers replied "General, we are just going over
here to get some water" and Lee replied "Strike for your home and fireside"
(Freeman, Douglas Southall, R.E. Lee: A Biography, Vol 3. New York: Charles Scribner's
Sons, 1935): they did. Rebel forces reached their objective, Appomattox Court House,
around 3pm on April 8th. Lee received word that to the south, at Appomattox Station,
supplies had arrived by train and were waiting there. However, the pursuing Union forces
knew this also and took a faster southern route to the station. By 8pm that evening the
Federals had taken the supplies and would wait there for the evening, preparing to attack
the Confederates at Appomattox Court House in the morning. Meanwhile, Lee scribbled out a
brave response to Grant's inquiry simply asking for explanation of the terms to be
involved in the surrender.
THE FINAL BATTLE
At daybreak the Confederate battle line was formed to the
west of Appomattox. The Union soldiers were in position in front of the line with cannons.
When the Federal cannons started to fire, the Confederate signal for attack was sounded
and the troops charged. One soldier later remarked: "It was my fortune to witness
several charges during the war, but never one so magnificently executed as this one."
(McCarthy, Carlton, Detailed Minutiae of Soldier Life in the Army of Northern Virginia
1861-1865. Richmond: Carlton McCarthy, 1882) This Confederate advance only lasted from
about 7am to 9am, at which time the Rebels were forced back. The Confederates could no
longer hold their lines and Lee sent word to Grant to meet at 1pm to discuss surrender.
The two men met at the now famous McLean House and a surrender was agreed upon. It was 2pm
on April 9, 1865. Johnston's army surrendered to General Sherman on April 26 in North
Carolina; General Taylor of Mississippi-Alabama and General Smith of the trans
Mississippi-Texas surrendered in May ending the war completely. SUMMARY The Civil War was
a completely tragic event. Just think, a war in which thousands of Americans died in their
home country over nothing more than a difference in opinion. Yes, slavery was the cause of
the Civil War: half of the country thought it was wrong and the other half just couldn't
let them go. The war was fought overall in probably 10,000 different places and the
monetary and property loss cannot be calculated. The Union dead numbered 360,222 and only
110,000 of them died in battle. Confederate dead were estimated at 258,000 including
94,000 who actually died on the field of battle. The Civil War was a great waste in terms
of human life and possible accomplishment and should be considered shameful. Before its
first centennial, tragedy struck a new country and stained it for eternity. It will never
be forgotten but adversity builds strength and the United States of America is now a much
stronger nation.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
"The Civil War", Groliers Encyclopedia, 1995
Catton, Bruce., A Stillness at Appomattox. New York:
Doubleday, 1963
Foote, Shelby., The Civil War, Vol. 3. New York: Random,
1974
Garraty, John Arthur, The American Nation: A History of the
United states to 1877, Vol. 1, Eighth Edition. New
York: HarperCollins College Publishers, 1995
Miers, Earl Schenck, The Last Campaign. Philadelphia: J.B.
Lippincott Co., 1972
Korn, Jerry, Pursuit to Appomattox, The Last Battles.
Virginia: Time-Life Books, 1987
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