2. The Emancipation
Proclamation
• Came into effect on
January 1st, 1863
• Declared all slaves
held in rebel states
to be free
• The war was now a
struggle to destroy
slavery and free the
slaves
3. Setting free the slaves
The
proclamation had no practical effect
on slaves in the Confederacy, the
importance was more symbolic
Making the war about slavery ensured
that no European country would aid the
Confederacy
Lincoln knew the slavery issue had to
be addressed as it lay at the heart of
the war
4. Contrasting Reactions
• In the South it caused outrage. Jefferson Davis
accused Lincoln of trying to start a slave revolt
• In the North it was widely welcomed and it meant that
freed slaves could now join the Union army to fight
against the South and slavery
5. Beginning of a process
The
Emancipation Proclamation began
the process of freeing slaves
It gave the Union cause in the war a
moral force
It also ensured the Confederacy would
get no European support
The true end of slavery didn’t come until
the passage of the 13th Amendment in
December 1865
6. Battle of Chancellorsville
• Confederate commander Robert E. Lee has a
reputation as one of the outstanding generals
of the Civil War. At Chancellorsville his
tactics allowed him to defeat a Union army
twice his size.
7. The Union army was still
trying to capture Richmond
• Lincoln appointed
General Joseph Hooker
to go on the offensive
against Robert E. Lee
• His nickname was
“Fighting Joe”
• He reorganized the
Army of the Potomac
and grew it to strike at
Robert E. Lee’s army
8. Hooker divided his army
• He left half his troops at Fredricksburg to hold
the Confederates in position
• He then led 75,000 men upstream to attack
Lee’s army from behind
9. By April 30th, 1863 Hooker’s troops
had forded the Rappahannock River
• They were in an
area of tangled
woodland known as
the Wilderness
• The center of their
position lay on a
crossroads at
Chancellorsville,
Virginia
10. Robert E. Lee was preparing
his defenses
• Realizing Hooker was
trying a flanking march
he sent two spies to
determine their location
• Lee then went on the
attack, also dividing his
forces against Hooker
and to keep protecting
Fredricksburg
11. The attack took Hooker
completely by surprise
• Despite his reputation as “Fighting Joe” he lost his
nerve
• He halted his advance and ordered his forces to take
up defensive positions back at Chancellorsville
12. A bold maneuver
Lee
had the advantage and he pushed hard
He sent Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson and his
28,000 men on a march to strike Hooker’s
right flank
Lee and his remaining troops faced three
Union corps
Lee had now divided his army not once, but
twice. It was one of the boldest moves of the
whole war
13. Jackson’s army succeeded in
breaking Hooker’s forces
• However, that night
“Stonewall” Jackson
was returning from a
patrol and was
accidentally shot
and fatally wounded
by his own man
14. J.E.B. Stuart took over for
Stonewall Jackson
• Stuart reopened the
attack the next day
• At the same tome
Lee’s army was
striking from the
south
• The Confederates
pushed the Union
line back toward the
river
15. Union General Hooker faced
total defeat
• Hooker withdrew across the river on May 5th
• Defeat had cost him more than 17,000 men
• Lee’s 12,800 casualties included “Stonewall”
Jackson, who died a few days later
16. Lee’s Masterpiece
• This was a battle so brilliantly planned that historian’s
have dubbed it “Lee’s Masterpiece”
• Morale for the Union army was at an all-time low, The
Confederates were winning
