Surrender and immediate aftermath

   

http://www.rampartsofcivilization.com/?__&paged=19

                 By the end of 1863, rebel forces, civilians, and traders had had enough with the war. The southern plantations were failing because they had no foreign customers to sell to with the blockade. The armies were destroyed by sicknesses and lack of supplies. Many rebels deserted because of poor standards. Many confederate leaders over generated money and so the people's money was worth less with inflation. The war officially ended when on September 20, 1864 with Johnson's surrender, but most knew it was over when Lee surrendered earlier in April. The union let just about all southern rebels go free except for a couple generals that were in charge, like Jefferson Davis and Alexander Stephens.

Andersonville

                Andersonville was one of the South's biggest prisons, if not the biggest. The rebel officers would issue small rations for the men, but only once a day. The prisoners had little to look forward to but this. The prisoners also couldn't have much firewood, just some small twigs to heat up and boil food. The prison camp's standards were terrible, and the mortality rate showed this. About to 30-50 northern prisoners died a day. There was very low morality and most men felt deserted because the northerners just left them there. Many died and few survived to be eventually freed at the end of the war.

https://www.advrider.com/andersonville/now

Sherman's Atlanta campaign and march to the sea

              General Grant, now with a foothold and supply line in Georgia, decided to send in his friend General Sherman to ravage all of Georgia and South Carolina. This new battle tactic was to burn and destroy cities, towns, and houses in in order to demoralize southerners, and want for the war to stop. Not only this, but it would take away one of the South's crown jewels, Atlanta. They would tear up the confederate rail lines in Atlanta, and effectively ruin the South’s rail road complexes. This campaign would also secure Lincoln's reelection coming up in 1864. After General Sherman secured Atlanta, he burned 30% of it to stop it from being reused for military purposes, and went away. He continued this tactic, now called total war, throughout his long march to Savanna. He claimed Savanna peacefully, only because it immediately surrendered. After taking Savanna, he continued north into South Carolina, where his men were even more brutal in his new total warfare tactic.

http://people.cohums.ohio-state.edu/grimsley1/dialogue/long_shadow.htm

Chickamauga and Chattanooga and the Union blockade

 After confederate forces retreated to Chickamauga, the union seized control of Chattanooga. The union decided to confront the rebels at Chickamauga, the first real battle of the civil war in Georgia. The union was repelled, but at a steep price of about 20,000 casualties, a high number for the less populous southern army. The confederate general decided to rest up his exhausted and demoralized troops before pouncing on the union. The union retreated to Chattanooga where it was blockaded until Grant was able to open up a supply line. After this, Chattanooga became a foothold and a supply line for union armies in Georgia. The union also decided to blockade Georgia's, and the rest of the confederacy's, coast line. This was so the southern armies couldn't receive much needed supplies for the war.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Chickamauga

Gettysburg

              By 1863, the Confederacy was slowing down. Farms in the south were failing because of the increasing amount of escaping slaves and the fact that it was impossible to export products of high demand with the Union's blockade of southern ports. Because of this, they also couldn't receive any, now exhausted, supplies, and because of this soldier’s morale went down and increasingly deserted the army. Lee hoped that a win in the north could gain foreign recognition to aid the needy south. On July 1, 1863 the two major forces met at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. This proved to be the bloodiest battle of the war with over 50,000 casualties and deaths. Lee's army was repelled and retreated to Virginia. It was a major win for the north and it devastated Lee's already battered army. It was the turning point of the war, and the union gained the upper hand after that.

http://froggyradio.com/content/polly-woggs-pond/post/150th-anniversary-battle-gettysburg

Antietam and the Emancipation Proclomation

             

               After Lee's major victory at the second battle of Bull Run, he decided to invade the north and get another big victory. If he got this huge victory, Brittan and France would've recognized the Confederacy as its own country. And if this happened, than the countries could send extra troops, supplies, and more to help the south. It would also send a crushing blow to the North’s morale and war efforts. Unfortunately for him, one of his commanders dropped Lee's battle plan, and it got picked up by McClellan. He found out that Lee split his forces and wanted to invade the north. This gave them a huge advantage. The 2 forces met at Sharpsburg, Maryland in the bloodiest single day of combat in the entire war. Over 22,000 were either killed or wounded. The confederate forces were repelled, and McClellan didn't pounce on the rebels to gain ground. Although it was a tie, it hugely boosted the union soldiers. After this draw, Lincoln thought it was time to free the slaves. He wanted to wait for the right time to free them because he was scared that he might lose the Border States, upset the constitutional rights of the people, and other less important reasons. He ended up freeing the slaves with his famous Emancipation Proclamation. He only freed the slaves in the rebelling states to keep the Border States on his side. It was a momentous decision and it ended up helping the north because of all the freed slaves that signed up for the north.

http://thecivilwarparlor.tumblr.com/post/39389925382/150th-anniversary-of-the-battle-of-antietam

Confederate and union strengnths and weaknesses and first battles

          The confederation and union had very diverse economies, strengths, and weaknesses. The union strengths at the time of the civil war were their huge population, strong industries to support the war, blacks to fight with them, railroads, telegrams, a good navy, and more. Their weaknesses included bad generals, the fact that they had to invade the south, and more. The south's strengths included amazing generals, moralized troops defending their homeland, and better armies. Their weaknesses were that they had fewer troops, missed some opportunities to win, were less technologically advanced, had worse weaponry, and more. Although the strengths and weaknesses gave the north a slight advantage, both sides thought themselves superior. Fort Sumpter was a union outpost controlling the Charleston river port. Rebel forces overtook the fort and freed themselves. This angered the northerners and caused many of them to sign up for the war. Many southerners also signed up to "whoop" the northerners. Northern forces met southerners standing at Bull Run creek, which gave it its name. The two forces clashed along this river for a very bloody battle. This demoralized the troops on both sides and gave signs that the war was going to be a long one.   

http://fineartamerica.com/featured/the-battle-of-bull-run-confederate-everett.html