Covers the second year of the American Civil War, focusing on the Battle of Hampton Roads, the Peninsula Campaign, the Battle of Shiloh, the capture of New Orleans, the Battle of Seven Pines, the Second Battle of Bull Run, the Battle of Antietam, the rise of Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee, and the Emancipation Proclamation.

1. A SURVEY OF
AMERICAN HISTORY
Unit 2: Westward Expansion and Civil War
Part 18: The Civil War (II)

2. THE MONITOR AND
THE MERRIMACK
• In March 1862, the Confederate
States Navy made an effort to
break the Union blockade of
ports in the South.
• Two port cities in Virginia,
Norfolk and Richmond, had
suffered economic hardships as
a result of the blockade. The
Confederates sent out an
ironclad vessel to attack the
Union ships that were blocking
the entry to Chesapeake Bay.
• The vessel, CSS Virginia, was
made from the remnants of the
USS Merrimack.

3. THE MONITOR AND
THE MERRIMACK
• After the Virginia sank two
Union ships, the United States
Navy responded by sending its
own ironclad into combat.
• The USS Monitor attacked the
Virginia in what is now known
as the Battle of the Monitor and
the Merrimack, or the Battle of
Hampton Roads.
• Neither side won the battle.
• Both of the ironclads retreated
to their ports and the blockade
remained in force.

4. THE PENINSULA
CAMPAIGN
• George McClellan, Commander
of the Army of the Potomac, led
the first major land offensive of
the war in April 1862.
• McClellan’s objective was to
capture Richmond, Virginia.
• He planned to lead his men out
of Washington, DC, and onto
the Chesapeake Bay. Then he
planned to traverse the Virginia
Peninsula to reach Richmond.
• The Confederate forces
opposing McClellan’s campaign
were led by Joseph Johnston.

5. ULYSSES S. GRANT
• While McClellan led Union
forces against the Confederate
States in the East, a separate
offensive was made in the West.
• Ulysses S. Grant was a colonel
placed in command of troops
near Cairo, Illinois, in 1861.
• Cairo is strategically located at
the intersection of the Ohio
River and the Mississippi River.
• Grant’s objective was to
advance down the Mississippi
towards New Orleans.

6. THE BATTLE OF
SHILOH
• By early April 1862, Grant and
50,000 soldiers had moved into
southwestern Tennessee.
• On April 6, Confederate forces
launched a surprise attack
against them near a church called
Shiloh, at the hamlet of Pittsburg
Landing on the Tennessee River.
• The Confederates dominated the
battle at first, but Grant received
reinforcements on April 7 and the
Union forces won.
• More than 23,000 men were killed
or wounded during the battle,
making it the bloodiest battle ever
fought on American soil until then.

7. THE CAPTURE OF
NEW ORLEANS
At the end of April, 1862, the Union
captured the city of New Orleans.
New Orleans was the largest slave
trading port in the South and also
lay at the mouth of the Mississippi
River. The capture of the city
allowed Winfield Scott’s Anaconda
plan to be put in action at last.

8. THE BATTLE OF
SEVEN PINES
• Meanwhile, in the East,
McClellan managed to overcome
Confederate opposition and
move his men along the Virginia
Peninsula towards Richmond.
• On May 31, however, Johnston
launched a surprise attack just
as McClellan’s men reached the
outskirts of Richmond.
• The outcome of the battle was
inconclusive, with heavy losses
on both sides and a total of
11,000 men dead or wounded.
• Johnston himself was among
those wounded in action.

9. ROBERT E. LEE
• After Joseph Johnston was
wounded, he was replaced by
Robert E. Lee of Virginia.
• A year earlier, Winfield Scott
had asked Lee to serve in the
Union Army but Lee refused to
fight against his own state.
• Lee was much more aggressive
than Johnston and forced
McClellan’s men to retreat.
• McClellan’s men lost control of
the Virginia Peninsula. In the
course of the retreat, more than
35,000 men on both sides were
either killed or wounded.

10. THE SECOND BATTLE
OF BULL RUN
• Lee was emboldened by his
success in defeating McClellan.
• With morale rising in the
Confederacy, he led 55,000
men through northern Virginia
towards Washington, DC.
• The Union had established a
supply depot on the railway line
at Manassas Junction, the site
of the First Battle of Bull Run.
• Lee’s men captured the depot
in August 1862, with more than
18,000 soldiers on both sides
either killed or wounded.

11. THE BATTLE OF
ANTIETAM
• After his victory at Manassas
Junction, Lee developed an
ambitious strategy.
• He was determined to launch an
attack on Union soil, and he
needed to resupply his men.
• To launch an attack on the
Union, he moved 55,000 men
northwards through the
Shenandoah Valley.
• At the same time, to secure
resupplies, he sent Thomas
‘Stonewall’ Jackson to attack
and capture the federal armory
at Harpers Ferry, Virginia.

12. THE BATTLE OF
ANTIETAM
• George McClellan accidentally
found a copy of Lee’s orders to
his subordinate commanders.
• McClellan moved his own
75,000 men to intercept Lee’s
men while Stonewall Jackson
was on his separate mission.
• On September 17, McClellan
and Lee met at Antietam Creek
in Maryland. That day remains
the bloodiest single day in
American history, with almost
23,000 men killed or wounded
in less than twenty-four hours.

13. THE EMANCIPATION
PROCLAMATION
• The Union victory at Antietam
was slight, but it was enough
for Abraham Lincoln to justify
what he did next.
• On September 22, Lincoln
issued a proclamation that
promised freedom to all slaves
who lived in the Confederate
States and were willing to join
the war efforts of the Union.
• The proclamation did not apply
to slaves in the Border States,
and would come into effect on
January 1, 1863.

14. A SURVEY OF
AMERICAN HISTORY
Unit 2: Westward Expansion and Civil War
Part 18: The Civil War (II)