The American Civil War
Uploaded by Admin on Jan 22, 1999
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...