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Anaconda plan
The Anaconda plan was a military strategy meant to choke off the south using Union army and naval forces. The union was trying to end the rebellion by blockading in the Southern states from the outside world. One of the main motivations for the strategy was the idea that there would be minimal casualties on either side. The plan was ultimately rejected and never used as people thought it would work too slowly. -
Fort Sumter
The South was trying to get rid of all the Union held forts in the South so they could start their new governments. General Beauregard of the Confederate Army laid siege on the fort and eventually took control of it. The South had defeated all the forts that the Union could have used against them. -
1st Battle of Bull Run
First battle of the civil war when Confederate and Union armies clashed when Union troops marched from federal Washington D.C to strike smaller confederate force along the river of bull run. The confederate army eventually broke through the union army, winning them the first battle and a huge surge of confidence in the south. -
Antietam
General Lee was attempting to make a push into the Union and start to take over the land. This battle was the single bloodiest day in American history. General Lee was unsuccessful in his goals to invade the Union. -
Emancipation Proclamation
President Lincoln was trying to raise the morales of the Union and its soldiers. He also wanted to free all the slaves in the confederacy. Lincoln was able to make the war about slavery now instead of just preserving the Union which people were dissatisfied with. Also England stopped trading with the South because they did not support slavery. -
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Battle of Fredericksburg
The goal of the Union was to invade Richmond by crossing the Potomac river. General Lee was in the path of General Burnside and their battle ensued. The Union army was being beat and eventually retreated back across the Potomac. General Burnside was relieved of his duties later that month. -
Siege of Visckburg
The siege of vicksburg was the end of a campaign pursued by the Union to capture vicksburg which was considered a strategic location during the civil war. In the end, the union was victorious in capturing the land which could have led to their eventual victory in the civil war. -
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Battle of Chancelorsville
Was a Confederate victory when Robert E. Lee made the decision to split his troops, successfully catching Union general Joseph Hooker off guard. Although the battle was a victory for the South, the general lost one of his closest and most trusted generals, Stonewall Jackson. -
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Battle of Gettysburg
Once again General Lee was trying to invade the Union, but through Pennsylvania this time. His army and the Union army of the Potomac met at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The Union was able to defeat the Confederates after multiple charges and this changed the tide of the war. -
Atlanta campaign
A series of battles in northern Georgia in 1864 where William T. Sherman was trying to cut off the south’s vital supply lines. He was successful, which weakened the Confederacy and sped up the path to their demise. -
Shermans march to the sea
His goal was to terrorize the southerners and discourage them from continuing to fight. Also he was trying to ruin the resources that the South had by cutting their railroad lines and burn homes and fields. General William Tecumseh Sherman led his army from Atlanta. Georgia to Savannah, Georgia. The South lost a lot of morale and supplies from their event.