14 d -- The Union Victorious 1864-1865
black troops
many northern whites refused to serve with blacks, however once the emancipation proclamation was passed, northerns changed their mind and felt that blacks should join in the fighting.
blacks earned less by fighting than whites
the worst fears of the south acme true, there was a successful slave revolt
Grant's military
General Grant became the head of the Union army -- Lincoln and Grant favored simaltaneous strike on all Confederate armies. Grant was willing to fight to the end
Grant instructed Sherman to take Atlanta
Grant moved north to attack Lee -- Lee was more cautious and had some small victories, but the Union had far more people
enormous casualties almost were about to lose Lincoln the next election
Sherman's Total War
Sherman slowly waited outside of Atlanta for a long time to little success,
the election of 1864
Lincoln was endorsed by the Republicans, who named themselves the Unionist party and was given Andrew Johnson of Tennessee as his VP -- Andrew Johnson was the only Senator from a seceded state that refused to leave the Senate
The democrats nominated George McClellan who was against the continuation of the war and wanted a compromise (after Sherman took Atlanta not before)
the Democrats were split -- War Democrats (wanted to continue fighting) and Peace Democrats (wanted to negotiate peace) -- thus Lincoln was victorious also because McClellan was inconsistent
September 2, 1864 Sherman took Atlanta by forcing the Confederates to think they were going to be surrounded.
Led to the power of the Radical Republicans and the making of the thirteenth ammendment
Sherman thought secession meant anarchy and that the people of the enemy were the enemy
embarked on the 300-mile March to the Sea demolishing everything in his path. he did not hurt most peaceful civilians. but did everything he could to weaken morale
thousands of African-Americans followed him and he granted them land
He captured SC's capital Columbia and burnt much of it down
Confederate collapse
The emancipation proclamation made poor southern whites angry that they were fighting while African-Americans were free -- many deserted
the war was symbolically over when Grant took the railroad and Petersburg forcing Lee to retreat from Richmond
When Lee surrendered some days later, Grant let all of the Confederate soldiers go home