1. The End of the War

2. General Of the Armies of the United States
Grant’s offensive
Sherman’s March to the sea, 1864
Cavalry General William T. Sherman was ordered to capture the city of Atlanta, and destroy everything in his path on his way to Savannah Georgia
Total War – Make war on everything and everybody; indirect targeting of civilians
Met with little resistance
Psychological Warfare
Sherman’s Neckties
Total destruction of the countryside and infrastructure
General Of the Armies of the United States
William T. Sherman

3. Petersburg
Petersburg was a main supply line for the people of Richmond, and the soldiers garrisoned there.
General Grant, now in command of the entire Union Army, Sought to capture Petersburg and starve Richmond into surrender
Know what the loss of Petersburg would mean, Lee had no choice but to spread his already thin force out to protect both cities

4. Sherman’s March to the Sea

5. The creation of Sherman’s Neckties

6. The Battles in Petersburg
Grant is now fighting a war of attrition
He is able to reform and resupply, as well as recruit more troops
Lee has no way to reinforce his army, and no more supplies, so he must protect his men and munitions at all cost
Lee sends General Beauregard to defend Petersburg against a much larger Union force

7. Campaign troubles Union leadership is terrible
Many Generals are political rather than meritorious appointments
Many individual battles of the campaign are lost by the Union Army
Grant has Generals that are fighting with each other
Grant himself, while irritated at the ineffectiveness of his generals, is convinced that a Confederate defeat is only a matter of time

8. Petersburg and Richmond are lost
The Confederates continue to repel the Union army in several different battles
The Battle of the Crater
Union forces dug mine shafts under the Confederate camp and filled them with gunpowder and dynamite
After exploding the ground underneath the Confederates, the Union Army was to move to the edge of the crater and finish off the remaining Confederates
Having not been appropriately trained by their commander the troops climbed down into the crater, which was then surrounded by Confederate.
A second corps of Union soldiers, under flanking fire, also climbed into the crater for protection…
Each confrontation is wearing Lee’s army down more and more
They are hungry
They are sick
They are very tired
Desertions are rampant

9. Battle Map of the Crater

10. The entrance to the mine shaft

11. The Crater in 2004

12. The Crater from the Air

13. Lee runs, Grant pursues

14. Futility
Lee resorts to different tactics to try to preserve his meager army
Trench warfare – Digging long trenches to live in and fight from; wet, muddy, disease-filled
“The Beefsteak Raid” – raiding northern cattle farms
After a number of these battles, Lee realized that Richmond and Petersburg will fall, and he attempts an escape
He attempts to meet up with General Johnston to form one larger army, but is repeatedly prevented from doing so by Grant, who is in hot pursuit.

15. Civil War Trenches

17. Appomattox The Battle of Sayler’s Creek
A quarter of the remaining Confederate army was cut off by Major General Phillip Sheridan at Sayler’s Creek
They were forced to surrender, and also lost Lee’s remaining supply trains
Lee arrives at the small town of Appomattox, where his army is surrounded by that of General Grant
Things are very bleak
Some of Lee’s officers suggest that they employ guerilla tactics to continue the war; Lee refuses

18. Lee Lee sees no possible way out of their predicament
He rejects the idea of guerrilla warfare
He cannot escape
They can no longer sustain themselves
Lee agrees to surrender the Army of Northern Virginia to Grant on April 9, 1865
This ends the Civil War

19. “There is nothing left for me to do but to go and see General Grant, and I would rather die a thousand deaths…” -

20. The War is Over…
President Abraham Lincoln is happy and optimistic for the first time since taking office in 1861
He will be dead in less than a week