The battle of Winchester is actually three different battles for the same place, but at different times. Each fight was important for different reasons but all of them happened near or at Winchester. The first battle happened on May 25th, 1862. The second battle was on June 13th, 1863, and lasted two days. The third and final battle happened on September 19th, 1864. These battles were interesting because there was three of them. In the first battle of Winchester the Confederates won. The confederate soldiers were led by famous general, Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson. The Union troops were commanded by Nathaniel Banks. Stonewall Jackson had just defeated General John C. Fremont in May, 1862. He then set his sights on Banks. The battle was extremely …show more content…
one-sided. Jackson had around 17,000 troops where Banks only had 10,000 soldiers, and to add on top of that Thomas Jackson was a much better general than Nathaniel Banks. It seemed an impossible feat for Banks to take on Jackson. This battle was a major victory for the Confederates. In the very beginning of the war one major advantage for the Union was their large amount of supplies, but once the Union lost this battle the amount of supplies the Union had dropped drastically, but the Confederates gained supplies. The battle was fought in Shenanadoah Valley.
The battle started with the Union troops holding amazingly well, but then Stonewall brought in troops that attacked the Union’s flanks. The Confederates then easily routed the Union soldiers and they retreated. Jackson continued to rampage through Winchester and kill any troops that stayed. He then left Winchester to fight other battles. The Union’s casualties included 62 killed, 243 wounded, and 1,700 captured. Where the Confederates only lost 68 men and 329 were wounded. The second battle of Winchester happened on June 13th, 1863. The Confederate soldiers were led by newly appointed general Richard Stoddert Ewell, and the Union troops were led by Major General Robert Milroy. During the battle the weather was fairly bad and this may or may not of affected the outcome of the battle. The second battle of Winchester would help Ewell’s career greatly. Ewell was once a great commander but he was horribly injured in an earlier battle and his leg had to be cut off. Ewell had to take command after the famous general Stonewall Jackson was accidently shot by his own man during a scouting mission. Jackson did not die but later he caught pneumonia and died few days later. Ewell also had the advanage of troops. He had 22,000 troops which were divided into three divisions, but the Union only had 9,000 troops, but they had the advantage of controlling the
town. The battle started with the Confederates marching towards Winchester. Milroy sent troops to stop the march, but Ewell countered with his calvary and destroyed the Union line and forced them to retreat. This allowed Ewell to march his troops closer and closer to the city. Milroy’s main force stayed in the city and Milroy knew he was badly outnumbered and their was a route to escape from the city with his unit intact, but he wanted to fight. Milroy only advantage was that Ewell was nervous. Ewell was pressured to perform well like like the general before him Stonewall Jackson. The reason the Confederates wanted to capture Winchester was because the commander of the Confederates army wanted to take the fight to the North, and the one town standing in his way was Winchester. Ewell slowly surrounded the town and waited. Milroy saw that the enemy was waiting and tried to telegraph his reinforcements, but the message never went through. Ewell’s plan was to send his artillery to the top of a nearby hill and shoot down onto the town and destroy the Union’s artillery, then he would simply flood the town with infantry. The plan was carried with even better results than expected and Ewell was able to defeat the Union troops easily. The Union casualities included 3,358 captured, 95 killed, and 348 wounded. The Confederates casualities included 47 killed, 219 wounded and 3 missing. The third battle of Winchester, (also called the battle of Qqequon) took place in the city of Winchester on September 19, 1863.general Phil Sheridan and an army of about 39k would try to take the city of Winchester from General Jubal A. Early with a force of about 15k. Both sides would have a couple thousand each. The union having 5,020 and the confederates having 3,610. With the union having double the troops of the confederates, the battle was largely in the Union’s favor. The union would also catch the confederates by surprise because most of the army stationed in Winchester would be out attacking the B&O railroad. At about 3am, the union would take Berryville canyon from the confederates which was important because it was the only way into the town and for the city to be taken, the returning confederate forces would have to be held at the canyon. At11:40am, the real attack of Winchester began the sixth and nineteenth corps were sent to battle the remaining forces in Winchester. The union broke the confederate line butt was driven back by cavalry fire to the middle field which would become the bloodiest battlefield of the day. The confederates tried to counterattack but the Union sixth corps would drive the confederates back into the city. Later in the afternoon, the union eighth corps and cavalry forces would be released to form a powerful attack which would ultimately crush the left flank of the confederates forcing them to retreat to the south towards fisher’s hill. An account says that General early didn’t count the battle as a defeat because the confederates escaped with over half their army. The three battles of Winchester were very important to the civil war in many ways. The first battle was a confederate victory. The Union had a major supply advantage but the confederates stole lots of supplies. The second battle was significant because it was another Confederate victory. Even though General Stonewall Jackson had been shot by his own men and died of pneumonia, the Confederates still held the Union from taking the city from them
The Valley Campaign of the Shenandoah Valley of 23 March to 9 June 1862 saw the rise of the Confederate Major General (MG) Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson. The Shenandoah Valley campaign allowed for MG Jackson to incorporate the principles of maneuver, offensive and surprise operations (US Army Center of Military History, 2012) through the use of his cavalry and foot soldiers.
As a General in the war, Grant won multiple battles including: Vicksburg, Shiloh, Chattanooga, and Petersburg. Vicksburg was one of his best battles. Although he was outnumbered, Grant still managed to lead his men to victory. Vicksburg was one of the main battles that turned the war around, giving the Union Army the upper hand. All of these major battles lead to the defeat and surrender of Robert E. Lee at the Appomattox Court House in 1865.
The first major battle of the Civil War was fought in Virginia, near the Manassas, Virginia railway junction, after which the battle is called (or First Bull Run, named after the flowing stream on the battlefield, if of the Union persuasion). The armies in this first battle were not very large by later Civil War standards. The Federal forces under Brigadier General Irvin McDowell were organized into four divisions (five, if one includes Runyan's division), of about 30,000 men. These divisions were commanded by Tyler, Hunter, Heintzelman, (Runyan), and Miles. The Confederate command structure was somewhat more unwieldy, including two "armies", with no division structure and thirteen independent brigades under Bonham, Ewell, Jones, Longstreet, Cocke, Early, Holmes, Kershaw, Evans, Jackson, Bartow, Bee, Smith, and a cavalry brigade under Stuart. The Confederate Army of the Potomac was under the command of Brigadier General Pierre G. T. Beauregard, and the Army of the Shenandoah was commanded by Brigadier General Joseph E. Johnston. These two forces would equal McDowell's strength.
One of the best commanders in the Confederate army was Lee still; the Union stood at a better standpoint during the battle. “Perhaps the most significant lesson from July 3, 1863, concerns the method of decision-making. Though he may not have seen it as such, Lee’s decision to attack was at best a close call.” (Gompert 2006, pg.7). The battle of Gettysburg did not happen intentionally, planned however Lee did an astounding job and his best to defeat the Union army. Ultimately Robert E. Lee was responsible for the South’s loss
...the most horrifying part of the surgeries was the absence of anesthesia and antiseptics. Each hurt man would have to be held down as he experienced excruciating pain, but many passed out and later died of infection. Finally, I realized how much suffering two opposing forces can bring upon one country: dying soldiers, devastated country, and unbearable sadness. For example, Foote describes the mile-long lines of men from the South and North opposing each other. Each side would test the cannon's range, and, after a while, would be destroying huge groups of men and creating gaping holes in the earth. As a northern infantryman said as he watched the mini balls cut down his friends, "they died for nothing" (p.191). The front line would also shoot grapeshot that would burst into thousands of tiny pieces and destroy the other army's front line. All of Shiloh was about two sides of America fighting over slaver! y and secession. About 26, 000 men died without respect, a prayer, or a marked grave. Shiloh is a historically accurate book that would interest anyone who likes to read about the Civil War and wants to understand the pain and suffering our country went through on April 6-7, 1862.
Fort Donelson, Tennessee, guarding the Cumberland River, became the site of the first major Confederate defeat in the Civil War. Victory at Donelson started Brigadier General Ulysses S. Grant on his road to Appomattox and the White House. His cool judgment under pressure saved the day after the Confederates threatened to break his troop lines, yet errors by his opponents handed him a victory that he did not fully earn on his own.
Thomas Jonathan Jackson otherwise known as Stonewall Jackson was a Confederate General during the American Civil War. He was born January 21st, 1824 in Clarksburg, Virginia and shortly died 39 years later on May 10th, 1863. He was one of the most commonly known Confederate commanders after General Lee. On May 2nd, 1863 at the Battle of Chancellorsville, a soldier from the Confederate side accidentally shot him leaving Jackson wounded with the loss of his arm. He died eight days later due to pneumonia. His death was a major setback to the Confederacy because not only was he courageous, he was brilliant, and religious too.
At the outbreak of the American Civil War, Grant was appointed colonel, and soon afterward brigadier general, of the Illinois Volunteers, and in September 1861 he seized Paducah, Kentucky. After an indecisive raid on Belmont, Missouri, he gained fame when in February 1862, in conjunction with the navy; he succeeded in reducing Forts Henry and Donelson, Tennessee, forcing General Simon B. Buckner to accept unconditional surrender. The Confederates surprised Grant at Shiloh, but he held his ground and then moved on to Corinth. In 1863 he established his reputation as a strategist in the brilliant campaign against Vicksburg, Mississippi, which took place on July 4. After being appointed commander in the West, he defeated Braxton Bragg at Chattanooga. Grant's victories made him so prominent that he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general and in February 1864 was given command of all Union armies.
The American Civil War was fought between the North (The Union) and the South (The Confederates), because of the South wanting to secede from the North. Lincoln's election as president in 1860, triggered southerners' decision to secede believing Lincoln would restrict their rights to own slaves. Lincoln stated that secession was "legally void" and had no intentions of invading the Southern states, but would use force to maintain possession of federal property. Despite his pleas for the restorations of the bonds of union, the South fired upon the federal troops stationed at Fort Sumter, in Charlestown, Virginia. This was the event that decided the eventual beginning of the Civil War. Despite the advantages of Northerners, their victory in the ...
The Small Will to Fight With Very Little Might The cold was the most overwhelming it had ever been, and the men inside were dying from dying from illnesses and starvation. All of the problems, it’s just… too much, it’s hard to handle. The American soldiers just arrived at Valley Forge at were attempting to set up. They had very minimal food and were living poorly, they were all cold, discouraged, and about half were sick. All of these men from the Continental Army were at Valley Forge, some on the verge of death.
The Confederate assault of six infantry divisions containing eighteen brigades with 100 regiments numbering almost 20,000 men, sometimes called the "Pickett's Charge of the West", resulted in devastating losses to the men and the leadership of the Army of Tennessee—fourteen Confederate generals and 55 regimental commanders were casualties. After its defeat against Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas in the subsequent Battle of Nashville, the Army of Tennessee retreated with barely half the men with which it had begun the short offensive, and was effectively destroyed as a fighting force for the remainder of the war. The 1864 Battle of Franklin was the second military action in the vicinity. The Battle of Franklin was a minor action associated with a reconnaissance in force by Confederate cavalry leader Maj. Gen. Earl Van Dorn on April 10.
September 16-18, 1862, outside of the town of Sharpsburg, Maryland, between the Potomac River and Antietam Creek, was the location of the bloodiest battle in American history. Confederate Colonel Stephen D. Lee described it as “Artillery Hell” because of the frightful toll on his gunners and horses from Federal counter battery and infantry fire. (AotW, 2014) The battle of Antietam, or the Battle of Sharpsburg, would collect an estimated 23,100 total casualties (Luvaas and Nelson, 1987). The body count far exceeded any of the other three battles waged in the Maryland Campaign (Harpers Ferry, South Mountain, and Shepherdstown). This battle was a contributing factor in the outcome of our country and the rest of the world. The Union Army desperately needed a victory at Antietam; however, a victory for the Confederate rebels may have very well gained them international recognition as a sovereign country in the eyes of the rest of the world. The Federal Army, which belonged to the Union States, consisted of an all-volunteer army and was a larger army than the Confederate States. Even though the Battle of Antietam was inconclusive, President Lincoln went on to read the Emancipation Proclamation to the country, effectively ending slavery, and ensuring that no foreign nation would intervene on the Confederates behave.
...vancing enemies with artillery and rifle fire. The British casualties exceeded two thousand Jackson ended up only loosing thirteen to death with fifty-eight wounded or missing. With both sides not aware of the treaty of Ghent ending the war had been signed two weeks earlier, so the battle had no effect on the outcome. Still, this victory with it’s tremendous casualty ratio. The idea of untrained and volunteer soldiers against veteran British soldiers was astonishing. Jackson was then seen as a hero next to George Washington.
...y 10, 1864; draw), and the Battle of Cold Harbor (June 3, 1864; draw). In these battles, Grant did lose more men than Lee but Grant can obtain replacements and Lee cannot. After the Battle of Cold Harbor, Grant attacks Petersburg and then decides to siege Petersburg, with General Lee inside, for 9 months. The siege of Petersburg effectively destroyed the rebel army, leading to the fall of Richmond and Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House ending the Civil War.
This battle was the turning point of the Civil War, it also proved that Robert E. Lee was not invincible as most northerners thought.The battle lasted three days and there were 46,000-51,000 deaths.The death tolls were pretty much even which was remarkable due to the South having two armies to the Norths one. The South retreated on July 4th, 1863. This battle was important because if the South would have won the battle they would have won the war. The North eventually won the war because this battle turned the tides. Abraham Lincoln 's Gettysburg address was the most famous speech of all time. Astonishingly it only lasted two minutes. It showed the new birth of our freedom, which was huge to our country. It was about how the North could win the war, and how they would win the war. The war ended on April 9th, 1865. Blacks soon got the same rights as all other human beings. Abraham Lincoln decided to let Louisiana back into the nation. This was the first state back into the Union after they had seceded. Five days after the war Abraham Lincoln was shot and killed. His killer was John Wilkes Booth, an actor in the Forbes Theatre. His motive to kill was that the south had lost the war. after shooting the president, Mr. Booth jumped off the balcony and out the back entrance onto a horse. He went missing for 12 days. Few people helped Mr. Booth but one did and let him stay in