April 9 1865Conclusion of the American Civil War

Context• 1860 presidential election

o 11 southern slave states secede: the Confederacyo Other 25 states support federal government: the Union

• Conflicts escalate to total civil war• Union quickly captures border states

o Naval blockade

• Land warfare inconclusiveo Confederate beats Union advances towards capital Richmond, Virginia

• Confederate northward advance ended 1863o General Robert E. Lee loses Battle of Gettysburg

Conquest of Virginia• Ulysses S. Grant made commander of Union

forceso After western successes

• Plan:o Total war: destruction of Confederate forces and economic baseo Organized Union armies for attack from all directionso Restructuring of Union army

• Notable Battleso Overland Campaign: Grant battles of attrition against Leeo Siege of Petersburg: Grant destroys Lee’s armyo Union Gen. Sherman captures Atlanta and destroys infrastructure

Confederate Surrender

• Battle of Five Forkso Gen. Grant finishes Lee’s army

• April 9, 1865: Gen. Lee surrendero Other Confederate armies follow suito Marks end of war

• May 9: Official declaration of end of war• June 22: Last shot is fired• June 23: Stand Watie is last general to surrender

Bronnen• John W. Chambers, II, ed. in chief, The Oxford

Companion to American Military History. Oxford University Press, 1999, ISBN 978-0-19-507198-6. P. 849.

• Mark E. Neely Jr.; "Was the Civil War a Total War?" Civil War History, Vol. 50, 2004

• McPherson, Battle Cry• American Civil War: www.wikipedia.org