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CHAPTER 7: THE CIVIL WAR AND RECONSTRUCTIONOUTLINE OF U.S. HISTORYate line in Tennessee, thus makingit possible to occupy almost all thewestern part of the state. When theimportant Mississippi River port ofMemphis was taken, Union troopsadvanced some 320 kilometers intothe heart of the Confederacy. Withthe tenacious General Ulysses S.Grant in command, they withstooda sudden Confederate counterattackat Shiloh, on the bluffs overlookingthe Tennessee River. Those killedand wounded at Shiloh numberedmore than 10,000 on each side, a casualtyrate that Americans had neverbefore experienced. But it was onlythe beginning of the carnage.In Virginia, by contrast, Uniontroops continued to meet one defeatafter another in a succession ofbloody attempts to capture Richmond,the Confederate capital. TheConfederates enjoyed strong defensepositions afforded by numerousstreams cutting the road betweenWashington and Richmond. Theirtwo best generals, Robert E. Lee andThomas J. (“Stonewall”) Jackson,both far surpassed in ability theirearly Union counterparts. In 1862Union commander George McClellanmade a slow, excessively cautiousattempt to seize Richmond. But inthe Seven Days’ Battles between June25 and July 1, the Union troops weredriven steadily backward, both sidessuffering terrible losses.After another Confederate victoryat the Second Battle of BullRun (or Second Manassas), Leecrossed the Potomac River and invadedMaryland. McClellan againresponded tentatively, despite learningthat Lee had split his army andwas heavily outnumbered. TheUnion and Confederate Armies metat Antietam Creek, near Sharpsburg,Maryland, on September 17, 1862, inthe bloodiest single day of the war:More than 4,000 died on both sidesand 18,000 were wounded. Despitehis numerical advantage, however,McClellan failed to break Lee’s linesor press the attack, and Lee was ableto retreat across the Potomac withhis army intact. As a result, Lincolnfired McClellan.Although Antietam was inconclusivein military terms, its consequenceswere nonetheless momentous.Great Britain and France,both on the verge of recognizingthe Confederacy, delayed their decision,and the South never receivedthe diplomatic recognition and theeconomic aid from Europe that itdesperately sought.Antietam also gave Lincoln theopening he needed to issue thepreliminary Emancipation Proclamation,which declared that as ofJanuary 1, 1863, all slaves in states rebellingagainst the Union were free.In practical terms, the proclamationhad little immediate impact; it freedslaves only in the Confederate states,while leaving slavery intact in theborder states. Politically, however, itmeant that in addition to preservingthe Union, the abolition of slaverywas now a declared objective of theUnion war effort.The final Emancipation Proclamation,issued January 1, 1863,also authorized the recruitment ofAfrican Americans into the UnionArmy, a move abolitionist leaderssuch as Frederick Douglass had beenurging since the beginning of armedconflict. Union forces already hadbeen sheltering escaped slaves as“contraband of war,” but followingthe Emancipation Proclamation, theUnion Army recruited and trainedregiments of African-Americansoldiers that fought with distinctionin battles from Virginia to theMississippi. About 178,000 AfricanAmericans served in the U.S. ColoredTroops, and 29,500 served inthe Union Navy.Despite the political gains representedby the Emancipation Proclamation,however, the North’s militaryprospects in the East remainedbleak as Lee’s Army of Northern Virginiacontinued to maul the UnionArmy of the Potomac, first at Fredericksburg,Virginia, in December1862 and then at Chancellorsvillein May 1863. But Chancellorsville,although one of Lee’s most brilliantmilitary victories, was also one of hismost costly. His most valued lieutenant,General “Stonewall” Jackson,was mistakenly shot and killed byhis own men.GETTYSBURG TOAPPOMATTOXYet none of the Confederate victorieswas decisive. The Union simplymustered new armies and triedagain. Believing that the North’scrushing defeat at Chancellorsvillegave him his chance, Lee strucknorthward into Pennsylvania at thebeginning of July 1863, almost reachingthe state capital at Harrisburg. Astrong Union force intercepted himat Gettysburg, where, in a titanicthree-day battle — the largest of theCivil War — the Confederates madea valiant effort to break the Unionlines. They failed, and on July 4 Lee’sarmy, after crippling losses, retreatedbehind the Potomac.More than 3,000 Union soldiersand almost 4,000 Confederates diedat Gettysburg; wounded and missingtotaled more than 20,000 oneach side. On November 19, 1863,Lincoln dedicated a new nationalcemetery there with perhaps themost famous address in U.S. history.He concluded his brief remarks withthese words:... we here highly resolve that thesedead shall not have died in vain —that this nation, under God, shallhave a new birth of freedom —and that government of the people,by the people, for the people, shallnot perish from the earth.On the Mississippi, Union controlhad been blocked at Vicksburg,where the Confederates had stronglyfortified themselves on bluffs toohigh for naval attack. In early 1863Grant began to move below andaround Vicksburg, subjecting it toa six-week siege. On July 4, he capturedthe town, together with thestrongest Confederate Army in theWest. The river was now entirely inUnion hands. The Confederacy wasbroken in two, and it became almost144145