Dispatches 9-18 Middle War Dispatches

Today’s Objectives Dispatches 9-14 Emancipation Proclamation Video on Antietam If time proceed to Dispatches Play #2

WAR OFFICE DISPATCH #9 March 9, 1862 Headline: Battle between ironclad ships ends in a draw Supporting details: 1. An historic battle between two ironclad ships, the Union’s Monitor and the Confederate’s Merrimac, ended in a draw. 2. These two “gladiators of the sea” fought a two-hour battle off Hampton Roads, Virginia. 3. Tactically, the struggle was won by neither ship, but Northern fears of the Merrimac’s potential to destroy the Union fleet have been put to rest. Result: A new age of naval history has begun; wooden ships are obsolete.

WAR OFFICE DISPATCH # 10 Date: April 7, 1862 Headline: Grant wins decisive battle at Shiloh 1. After earlier victories, Union General U.S. Grant continued his success at the Battle of Shiloh, in central Tennessee. 2. Almost losing his entire army to a Confederate surprise attack, Grant finally beat Confederate armies under the command of General Albert Sidney Johnston. 3. Much of this battle was fought in full-bloom peach orchards near a church named Shiloh. Shiloh was one of the bloodiest battles in U.S. history. Result: Grants reputation grows as a winner

WAR OFFICE DISPATCH # 11 Date: June 1863 Headline: Stonewall in the Shenandoah Valley Jackson was diverting troops from DC so Lee could invade the North. Jackson’s reputation grows, he defeats 3 Union armies Results: Lee will invade the North

WAR OFFICE DISPATCH # 12 Date: August Headline: Confederates win Second Bull Run battle Supporting details: 1. Both armies returned to familiar ground and fought a second battle at Bull Run Creek/Manassas Junction with the same results—a stunning Rebel victory. 2. Led by Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson, Confederate forces overcame an early Union success to defeat Federal troops led by General John Pope. 3. The Southern attack was accompanied by “a rebel yell reverberating across the field.” Result: The decisive victory clears Lee’s way for an invasion of the North.

WAR OFFICE DISPATCH # 13 Date: September 17, 1862 Headline: Bloody Antietam gives Union victory Supporting details: 1. The Union achieved its first major victory at Antietam, or Sharpsburg, when Lee’s Confederates withdrew into Virginia. 2. The Union troops, led by George McClellan, gain a crucial victory— though not a decisive one. 3. Interestingly, only days before the battle, Union cavalry found a copy of Lee’s orders to his commanders near an abandoned Rebel campsite. 4. McClellan followed up, but still waited too long to attack and lost any advantage. Result: Single bloodiest day of the war. Lincoln may use this victory for diplomatic advantages.

WAR OFFICE DISPATCH # 14 Date: January 1, 1863 Headline: President issues proclamation to free slaves Supporting details: 1. Declaring that all slaves in rebellious states are free from bondage, the president signed and issued a final Emancipation Proclamation. 2. The document will probably emancipate very few slaves, since slave states in the South are not about to hand over their “property.” 3. Regions of the Confederacy liberated by Union troops over the coming months will be affected, however. Result: Legally, this action began the movement to end slavery throughout the United States.

WAR OFFICE DISPATCH # 15 Date: March 3, 1896 Headline: Draft Riots erupt in NYC Supporting details: 1. In reaction to the nation’s first draft law (March 1863), protest and outbreaks of violence have occurred in virtually every Northern state. 2. In New York City, where Southern sympathies are amazingly strong and hatred for the president is widespread, riots occurred. 3. The riots were touched off when names of the first draftees were drawn on July The rioting lasted for three days and shows opposition to the war. Result: The Union’s war effort seems hampered by protests against national conscription.

WAR OFFICE DISPATCH # 15 Date: July 1-3 Headline: Gettysburg is crucial Union victory; Lee retreats Supporting Details: 1. Confederate forces have lost a major encounter at Gettysburg in Pennsylvania. 2. This loss to the superior-in-number Union forces comes just two months after General Lee’s triumph at Chancellorsville. 3. Union troops under General George Meade withstood fierce Rebel charges, especially a dramatic, climactic one by 13,000 Confederates under General George Pickett on July 3. Result: Lee’s invasion of the North has been halted again. Turning point of the war.

WAR OFFICE DISPATCH # 16 Date: July 4, 1863 Headline: Mississippi fortress of Vicksburg falls to Grant Supporting details: 1. As the battle at Gettysburg raged hundreds of miles away in Pennsylvania, another pivotal battle was being fought around Vicksburg, Mississippi. 2. After a lengthy one-year siege, Union General U.S. Grant accepted the surrender of Vicksburg on this Independence Day, Lee’s armies retreated from Gettysburg on this same day, July 4th. Result: The dual victories have buoyed the spirits of the president and cast a gloom over Confederate chances for national independence. Also, Vicksburg’s fall has split the Confederacy.

WAR OFFICE DISPATCH # 18 Date: November Headline: Lincoln delivers address at Gettysburg Supporting details: 1. Determined to make the battlefield site “hallowed ground,” President Abraham Lincoln traveled to the small Pennsylvania town to deliver “a few appropriate remarks.” 2. The speech was given to dedicate a military cemetery for those who died in the three-day battle just four months ago. 3. Without much fanfare, the president followed featured speaker Edward Everett. In a two-minute address, he asked for increased