The End of the American Civil War Essay -- American History Historical

The End of the American Civil War The purpose of this paper is to show the events surrounding the end of the American Civil War. The two sides which were at war was the union and the confederacy. Which was basically the United States separated into 2 sections going at war with each other. In this document, I will speak about those people who were involved on the battlefield towards the end of the war. The war started in 1861 and was beginning to end by January of 1865. By then, Federal (Federal was another name given to the Union Army) armies were spread throughout the Confederacy and the Confederate Army had lost a lot of men. In the year before, the North had lost an enormous amount of lives, but had more than enough to lose in comparison to the men of the South. General Grant became known as the "Butcher" (Grant, Ulysses S., Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant, New York: Charles L. Webster & Co.,1894) and many wanted to see him removed. But Lincoln stood firm with his General, and the war continued. This paper will follow the events that took place between the winter of 1864-65 and the surrender of The Confederate States of America. All of this will most certainly illustrate that April 9, 1865 was indeed the end of a tragedy. CUTTING OFF THE SOUTH In September of 1864, General William T. Sherman and his army cleared the city of Atlanta of its civilian population. It was from there that General Sherman and his army began its famous "march to the sea". The march covered a distance of 400 miles and was 60 miles wide. For 32 days no news of him reached the North. He had cut himself off from his base of supplies, and his men lived on the land through which they passed. On their route, the army destroyed anything and everything that they could not use but was presumed usable to the enemy. In view of this destruction, it is understandable that Sherman quoted "war is hell" (Sherman, William T.,Memoirs of General William T. Sherman. Westport, Conn.:Greenwood Press, 1972). Finally, on December 20, Sherman's men reached the city of Savannah and captured it. From there Sherman telegraphed to President Lincoln: "I beg to present you as a Christmas gift the city of Savannah, with 150 heavy guns and plenty of ammunition, and also about 25,000 bales of cotton" (Sherman, William T., Memoirs of General William T. Sherman. Westport, Conn.: Greenw... ...n opinion. Yes, slavery was the cause of the Civil War: half of the country thought it was wrong and the other half just couldn't let them go. The Union dead numbered 360,222 and only 110,000 of them died in battle. Confederate dead were estimated at 258,000 including 94,000 who actually died on the field of battle. The Civil War was a great waste in terms of human life and possible accomplishment and should be considered shameful. Before its first centennial, tragedy struck a new country and stained it for eternity. It will never be forgotten but adversity builds strength and the United States of America is now a much stronger nation. Works Cited: 1."The Civil War", Groliers Encyclopedia, 1999 2.Catton, Bruce., A Stillness at Appomattox. New York: Doubleday, 1963 3.Foote, Shelby., The Civil War, Vol. 3. New York: Random, 1974 4.Garraty, John Arthur, The American Nation: A History of the United states to 1877, Vol.1, Eighth Edition. New York: HarperCollins College Publishers, 1995 5.Miers, Earl Schenck, The Last Campaign. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Co., 1972 6.Korn, Jerry, Pursuit to Appomattox, The Last Battles. Virginia: Time-Life Books, 1987