 Main Idea: Neither the Union nor the Confederate forces gained a strong advantage during the early years of the war.  Key Terms:  Blockade Runner  Ironclad  Casualty

A. The first major battle of the Civil War was called the First Battle of Bull Run. It was fought in northern Virginia near a river called Bull Run.

 The Confederates were victorious.  Union troops attacked Confederate forces led by General P.G.T. Beauregard.  Rebels rallied under General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson’s reinforcement troops and counterattacked the Yankees.  The Union army retreated back to Washington, D.C., first in an orderly fashion and then in a panic.

 The Confederate victory shocked the North.  Northerners realized that the war could be a long, hard, and costly one.  Abraham Lincoln signed two bills requesting a total of one million army volunteers to serve for three years.  Appointed General B. McClellan to head the Union army of the East called the Army of the Potomac

Lincoln ordered a blockade of Southern ports to prevent the South from exporting its cotton and importing necessary supplies such as guns, ammunition, and food. Did not close off all Southern trade reduce trade by two-thirds Over time the North also built more ships to better enforce the blockade ships.

 A new era in naval warfare began when the North’s Monitor and the South’s Merrimack, renamed Virginia, exchanged fire in March  Both ships were wooden ships covered with thick iron plates, making them sturdy and hard to sink.  The Union was the victor because the Merrimack never again threatened Northern

Main goal of the North was to gain control of the Mississippi and Tennessee Rivers in the west Make it hard for the South to transport goods. The North had early victories in 1862 under the command of Ulysses S. Grant.

 1. Grant captured Fort Henry on the Tennessee River ten days later.

 2. Grant also captured Fort Donelson on the Cumberland River 10 days later.

 3. The control of the lower Tennessee River allowed Union troops to march into Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama.  4. The Union victories also drove the Confederacy out of Kentucky, a state that the South had hoped they would be able to persuade to secede.

Another major battle in the West, the Battle of Shiloh The Union win a narrow victory. A very bloody two-day battle with 20,000 casualities on both sides Ended with Union forces gaining control of Corinth, Mississippi, on May 30, 1862, and Memphis, Tennessee, on June 6.

 The fighting began on April 6 when Confederate forces led a surprise attack on Union troops.  The Confederacy drove Grant and his troops back to the Tennessee River.

 The second day the Union forces defeated the Confederacy with the help of 25,000 troops from Nashville and shelling from gunboats on the river.  The Confederacy withdrew to Corinth.

 The North won important victory on April 25, 1862, captured of New Orleans, Louisiana, under the command of David Farragut’s naval forces.  Capture meant that the Confederacy could no longer use the Mississippi River to carry its crops to sea.

 The war in the East was not as successful for the Union.  The Union’s goal of capturing the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia, was never met.  The Southern strategy of making the North tired of fighting seemed to be working.

 General McClellan did not act promptly on Lincoln’s orders to advance directly to Richmond.  He took his troops on a several weak circular routes by ship known as the Peninsular Campaign  Peninsula between the York and James Rivers southeast of the city.

 When the Union and Confederate forces finally met in June, known as the Seven Days’ Battle, Confederate General Robert E. Lee took command.  He eventually drove the Yankees back to the James River.

Richmond was never captured, and the Confederates were only 20 miles away from Washington, D.C. – McClellan’s army was pushed back, but it was larger than Lee’s and still close to Richmond. – When McClellan did not renew his attack toward Richmond, Lincoln ordered him North to Virginia to join Major General John Pope’s troops.

 Stonewall Jackson’s troops met Lee’s army and were attacked by Pope’s troops on August 29 at Bull Run.  The Second Battle of Bull Run was won by the Confederacy.

Another major battle, the Battle of Antietam occurred on September 17. Both armies suffered severe losses, but neither was destroyed. General Lee withdrew to Virginia, so the Union claimed victory. Additionally Lincoln used the battle to change Northern war aims and take action against slavery.

 1. Lee’s army marched into Maryland in September 1862  McClellan with his 80,000 troops moved slowly after them.  After a McClellan soldier found a copy of Lee’s orders, McClellan knew Lee’s plans, but because he was so cautious and acted so slowly, Lee was able to gather his forces along the Antietam Creek.

 On September 17 the bloodiest day of the war saw close to 6,000 soldiers dead or dying and another 17,000 seriously wounded.

 The next day Lee withdrew.  When McClellan refused to obey Lincoln’s order to pursue Lee, Lincoln replaced McClellan with General Ambrose Burnside as commander of the Army of the Potomac.