Sunday, May 27, 2012

Monitor vs Merrimack

  1. Name of Battle: Monitor vs. Merrimack. Also known as the battle of the ironclads.
  2. Dates of Battle: March 8-9, 1862
  3. Geography (location, terrain, weather): Location is at off Sewell's Point, near the mouth of Hampton Roads, Virginia. Terrain is at Hampton Roads and is at sea naval battle. Weather was fine in the beginning, but at 10 ‘o clock there were heavy storms and bad weather.
5.   Objective: The battle was taking place because the Confederacy wanted to break the Union blockade on their trade with the European countries. The south wanted Virginia to continue its international trade with other countries, and the North wanted to continue on its first part of the Anaconda plan.
7. Strategies: How did each side plan to the battle? The south’s strategy was to wreak havoc on the Union warships to shut down the blockade. They used the CSS Virginia, an ironclad warship, to do so. The North found out about the CSS Virginia and decided to ask for permission to create a similar ship (and ironclad ship). In March 9th, one day after the battle had begun, the ship called Monitor approached and CSS Virginia in the end retreated.
8. This was the first battle in which two ironclad ships engaged in combat.  




United States of America/Union


Confederate States of America

Commanders: John L. Wordern
Franklin Buchanan and Catesby R. Jones
Ships: For the Union the ship was the Monitor.
Ship was the captured Merrimack and then converted into an ironclad and was renamed Virginia after being converted from the Merrimack.
Troop Strength: 1 ironclad, 5 wooden frigates.
1 ironclad, 2 wooden warships, 1 gunboat, 2 tenders.
Casualties and losses: 261 killed, 108 wounded, 1 frigate sunk, 1 sloop-of-war sunk, 1 frigate damaged.
77 killed, 17 wounded, 1 ironclad damaged.









Thursday, May 24, 2012

First Battle of Bull Run

Basic Info:
· Date: July 21, 1861
· Location: Manassas, Virginia
Objectives:
·         Union:
o   Capture Richmond
o   Seize Manassas, a railway center
·         Confederacy:
o   Wanted to protect Richmond
o   Wanted to keep Manassas
Commanders:
·         Union:
o   General Irvin Mcdowell
·         Confederacy:
o   General Pierre Beaugard
Geography:
·         Climate: hot and humid
·         Terrain: hills, creek, and forests
Troop Strength:
·         Union: had 28,450 soldiers
·         Confederacy: had 32,230 soldiers
Advantages:
·         Union:
o   Had roads that connected northwest, west, southwest villages
o   Positioned next to a stream
·         Confederacy
o   Able to watch the movements of the Union army; on higher grounds
o   Location was near railroads that connected to supplies and other armies; had better communication
Disadvantages:
·         Union:
o   Confederacy had cannons
o   Plans were already known
·         Confederacy:
o   Losing in the beginning of the war and lost soldiers; around the same amount of soldiers with the Union army
Strategies:
·         Union
o   Attack the Confederate army
§  Face the Confederate Army with main army
§  Flank the left of the enemy’s army
o   Go for Richmond
o   End of war
·         Confederacy
o   Settle down and occupy Henry Hill
o   Protect Richmond
Confederates Won!
·         Keys to winning:
o   Reinforcements
o   Exhausted Union soldiers
o   Strategic location
Unique Info
·         “The Great Skedaddle”
·         Spectators
·         “Stonewall” Jackson
Casualties
·         Union:
o   Deaths: 460
o   Wounded: 1124
o   Missing and captured: 1312
·         Confederacy:
o   Deaths: 387
o   Wounded: 1582
o   Missing and captured: 13
Confederates Victory:
·         Union needs to try harder
·         Increased morale
·         “Poisoned” the Confederates minds

Battle of Atlanta: Presentation Summary

  • Took place on July 22, 1864
  • Confederate General John Hood, Union General William Sherman
  • Hot and Humid day
  • The battle was a Union offense, Atlanta was huge weapons depot and "backdoor" to the south
  • Confederacy had 34,833 troops, Union had 40,438 troops
  • South had home team advantage, weapons closer and more accesible, faster reinforcements, North had commanders with more experience
  • occured just before election of 1864, led to lincoln's re-election.
  • Howard accidentaly found hood's forces, secured union victory.
  • Union deaths:3,641. Confederacy deaths:8,499
THIS IS IRRELEVANT BUT POKEMON ARE AWESOME

    Wednesday, May 23, 2012

    2nd Battle of Bull Run Info Hurrah!

    The 2nd Battle of Bull Run happened about one year after the 1st Battle of Bull Run. The Battle lasted for 3 days, from August 28-30, 1862. The battle was also referred to as the Second Manassas.  

    The battle took place in Prince William County, Virginia, and there weren’t many obstacles since the area where the battle was fought was just a big field. The objective of this battle for the Union was to hopefully protect the Shenandoah Valley and Washington D.C. For the Confederates, their main goal was to destroy Pope. The Union was led by Gen. John Pope, Major General Fitz John Porter, and Major General Irvin McDowell, and the Confederates were led by General Robert E. Lee, Major General James Longstreet, and Major General "Stonewall" Jackson. 

    On the first day of the battle, August 28th, Stonewall Jackson attacked a Union column (a narrow military formation in which units follow behind each other) at Brawner’s Farm. After a lot of fighting, the battle ended on a stalemate and Jackson retreated to Stony Ridge. All the while though, Major General Longstreet from the South was approaching through Thoroughfare Gap with reinforcements. On August 29th, Union General John Pope decided to launch a series of attacks on Jackson’s position at Stony Ridge. Pope thought that Jackson was trapped on one side, and at the end of the day, both sides suffered many casualties. On the last day of the battle, Pope renewed his attempts to attack the Confederates, but he didn't know that on the noon of August 29th, Maj. General Longstreet and the reinforcements reached Jackson and were now on the battlefield. Confederate artillery destroyed Maj. General John Fitz Porter’s attempt at an assault. Then, Longstreet’s 25,000 men counterattacked the Union. This counterattack forced the Union to retreat back to Bull Run.

    TOTAL LOSSES
    Federal:
    Killed – 1,724
    Wounded – 8,372
    Missing – 5,958
    Total – 16,054

    Confederate:
    Killed – 1,481
    Wounded – 7,627
    Missing – 89
    Total – 9,117

    Antietam summary

    So, basically, the battle of Antietam went like this: On September 17, 1862, Robert e. lee's and George b. mcClellan's forces clashed near sharpsburg, Maryland, near Antietam creek. In the morning, the union forces were able to capture a cornfield and the surrounding forests because of the large numbuer of soldiers they had. Later, the confederacy recaptured the west woods, the western section of the forested area. The fight then moved to the sunken road, where the confederate troops were hidden in the depression in the road. The union was only able to take the road because they just kept sending row after row of people when one row of soldiers was killed. The sunken road earned the title, "the bloody lane." later that day, the union 9th corps under general Ambrose burnside was able to capture a rohrbach bridge, now known as burnside's bridge, and pushed far into confederate territory to capture sharpsburg. However, confederate general a.p. hill's division came 17 miles from harpers ferry to rescue the confederates. Ther pushed back burnsides men all the way back to the bridge. This ended the battle of Antietam. A few weeks later, Lincoln came to Antietam to try to get McClellan to move his troops and pursue lee, but McClellan did not and was fired and replaced by Ambrose burnside. The battle of Antietam could have ended the civil war, but only ended Robert e. lee's invasion of the north.

    Sunday, May 20, 2012

    Gettysburg

    I think that the battle of Gettysburg was only significant because the Union won. If the Confederacy had won, I don't think the battle would be much different, compared to other Confederate wins. It would just be another battle. Since Britain and France hadn't rushed to the Confederate's side before, I don't think they would help after this win either.

    However, in the long run, I think this battle would have mattered. The Union had gained morale from their win at Gettysburg - if this didn't happen, I'm pretty sure the rest of the war would have continued to tumble down hill. I think the outcome of previous battles affects the next battles, with both morale and strength.

    I don't know what to say about Lincoln. It's plausible that it COULD'VE happened if the Confederacy won, with Lincoln wanting to give up the war. Or, Lincoln could have remained steadfast and continued to fight the war, hoping for a great comeback. However, I am indifferent to the possibilities of Lincoln making peace if the Confederacy winning Gettysburg.

    Gettysburg.

    I don't think a Confederacy at Gettysburg would change the outcome of the war. They didn't have a shot at getting Britain or France as their allies. If they actually did, it would have caused much controversy and people would start accusing the foreign Britain or France for being hypocritical of supporting slavery when they had already outlawed it a long time ago. They probably did not want that to happen. Both sides suffered major losses at Gettysburg, but the Confederacy suffered a lot more since Lee lost many of his commanding generals as well as men he couldn't replace who died/ were injured in the battle. Lincoln probably still would have still had some hope since at the time the Union won Gettysburg, there was also the surrender of Vicksburg, Mississippi, which was also a major victory which gave the Union complete control of the Mississippi River. Even if the Union did lose the Battle of Gettysburg, they still would have the better chance of winning the war.

    thingy

    If the confederacy won the battle of gettysburg, the Union would greatly lose morale for losing in their own land and would probaly lose battle after battle because the battle of gettysburg was a major turning point in the war and The South would probaly nagotiate a peace treaty.

    The Differences

    The battle of Gettysburg was a huge turning point for the Union and is remember for that turning point. If the Confederacy would have won the war would have ended and there would be two countries. Even though the South wouldn't have probably gotten support from France or Britain the war would have been won by the Confederacy. Lincoln knowing how many battle they had lost and how large of a battle Gettysburg was he would have made peace with the South since they showed that not only can they win on their territory, but on the Union's land too.