The document discusses key events in the Union's road to victory in the American Civil War, including: 1) General Grant's siege of Vicksburg, Mississippi in 1863, which split the Confederacy in two by giving the Union control of the Mississippi River. 2) The twin defeats of Gettysburg and Vicksburg in 1863, which devastated Confederate morale and fighting power. 3) Grant and Sherman's strategy of "total war" targeting Confederate civilians and infrastructure as well as its armies. 4) Sherman's March through Georgia in 1864, destroying supply lines and cutting a wide path of destruction. 5) General Lee's surrender to Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia in April

1. THE ROAD TO
APPOMATTOX
Essential Questions:
1. Why was the siege of Vicksburg important?
2. How did the battles of Gettysburg and Vicksburg
impact the South
3. Who did Grant and Sherman view war?
4. What was Total War?
5. Why was Sherman’s March important?
6. How did the Civil War end?

2. Vicksburg
 Vicksburg, Mississippi was one of only two
Confederate cities on the Mississippi River
 In the spring of 1863 Grant sent a Calvary
brigade to destroy rail lines in central MS
 Drew attention away from the port city
 Grant landed troops south of
Vicksburg
 Two assaults on Vicksburg failed so Grant
settled on a siege of the city
 On July 3, 1863 the Confederate
commander of Vicksburg surrendered
 Five days later the second port city on the
Mississippi also fell to the Union forces
 The confederacy was split in two

3. Confederate Morale
 Twin defeats at Gettysburg and
Vicksburg cost the South much
of its limited fighting power
 Confederacy was already low on
food, shoes, uniforms, guns, and
ammunition
 It was no longer able to attack
 South could only hope to hold
out long enough to destroy
Northern morale
 They wanted to work toward
an armistice rather then a
surrender

4. Trouble in the South 1863
 Confederate Congress
passed a resolution in
1863 urging planters to
stop planting cash crops
and instead plant food
 They resented the
resolution
 Many soldiers deserted
after receiving letters from
home saying their was a
lack of food
 Growing discord in the
Confederacy made it
impossible for Jefferson
Davis to government
effectively

5. Grant and Sherman March 1864
 March 1864 Lincoln appointed
Ulysses S. Grant to command all
Union armies
 In turn, Grant appointed William
Tecumseh Sherman as
commander of the military
division of the Mississippi region
 These two appointments would
change the course of the war
 Both believed in total war
 Fighting not just the South’s
armies but also its civilian
population
 If they destroyed the
Confederacy’s will to fight they
believed it would eventually

6. Total War
 Grant threw his troops into
battle after battle
 From May 4th to June 18th
1864 Grant lost nearly
60,000 men
 Lee lost nearly 32,000 men
 The difference was the
North could replace these
men, the South could not

7. Sherman’s March September 1864
 By September 1864 Sherman had
occupied a transportation center in
Atlanta
 A Confederate army tried to circle
around him and cut his rail supply
lines
 Sherman decided to abandon his
supply lines and march southeast
through Georgia
 He would cut a wide path of
destruction living off the land as he
went
 He took Savannah, Georgia by
Christmas and then turned to help
Grant “wipe out Lee”
 Finally he reached North Carolina,
the last state to secede from the

8. Surrender at Appomattox April 9,1865
 By March 1865 it was clear the end of the
Confederacy was near
 Grant was approaching Richmond from the
West and Sherman was approaching from
the South
 On April 2 President Davis abandoned the
capital and set it on fire
 Lee and Grant met to arrange a
Confederate surrender on April 9, 1865
 It took place at a small village called
Appomattox
 The terms were generous as per Lincoln’s
request
 Grant allowed Lee’s soldiers to keep their
arms and possessions and simply return
home
 The Civil War was over