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James Griffith Professor Amber Brock HUMANITIES II 2230 3 May 2012 American Civil War Battles Throughout history civil wars have come about because of many different reasons, from food to oppression. The American civil war is no deferent. The increased political presser to abolish slavery caused the building tensions between the Souths slave driven agricultural and Norths industrial economy. In 1861 the American civil war started, some of the key events where the First Battle of Bull Run, The Battle of Gettysburg and Sherman's March to the Sea. The First Battle of Bull Run occurred on July 21, 1861. It was the first real major conflict of the American Civil War. (Johnson, Simonson and Webster) This five hour battle was fought by General McDowell of the Union Army with 28,000 men and General Beauregard and
Jackson of the Confederate Army with 33,000 men. At the start of the clash the Union army had the Confederates falling back except for General Jacksons brigade which stood its ground till 9,000 reinforcements arrived. At this point the tides where turned and the Union Army retreated. This one battle showed the North this would not be an easy fight.

The battle of Gettysburg was fought near Gettysburg, PA with 75,000 Confederate and 90,000 Union soldiers. Of his 15,000 men, only 5,000 survived to tell about it. (Johnson, Simonson
and Webster) On the first day of this battle some of the Union soldiers were able to capture Cemetery

Ridge a strategic advantage overlooking the battle field. The losses from this battle were great and only increased each day of the battle. On the second day the Confederate army tried to take Culp's hill and Cemetery Ridge by staying in the wooded area adjacent to the Union forces. Day

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third was the turning point of the war. General Lee strategy of this day was to capture Little Round Top because the Confederate artillery would be able to reach all of the union army. By the end of the third day the losses for the North where around 23,000 whereas the defeated South where around 28,000 men. This battle was extremely costly for the South and gave the North the upper hand.

Another Huge blow to the South was Sherman's March to the Sea. After the Union army captured Atlanta the decision was made to break Sherman's men in to two groups and march from Atlanta to Savannah. The army survived of the land as they destroyed a path across Georgia. Bands of stragglers called "Bummers" consumed or destroyed anything left by the army.(Denton) After only one month Sherman's men reached the coast of Georgia and three days later the city of Savannah fell to Union control.

In the end many men lost their lives in these battles. The South was destroyed but the slaves were freed. This was one of the bloodiest events in American history, fought by Americans against Americans. After all these years there are still hard feeling between the North and South.

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Works Cited Denton, Paul. Civil War Articles (2011). 28 October 2011 <http://ehistory.osu.edu/uscw/features/articles/ArticleView.cfm?AID=35>. eHistory. Gettysburg (1863) (2011). 28 October 2011 <http://ehistory.osu.edu/world/BattleView.cfm?BID=42>. Freeman, Joanne. Time Line of The Civil War, 1861 October 2011 < http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/cwphtml/tl1861.html>. Johnson, Simonson and Webster. The American Civil War (1996). 28 October 2011 <http://library.thinkquest.org/3055/netscape/>.