How did the Union finally win the war?

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Figure false: Ruins of Richmond
Figure false: As the Confederate government evacuated Richmond during the evening of April 2, 1865, demolition squads set fire to everything that had military or industrial value. Huge explosions devastated the arsenal, the ruins of which are shown here. As one witness observed, “The old war-scarred city seemed to prefer annihilation to conquest.” Library of Congress.

CHRONOLOGY

1863

  • – Vicksburg falls to Union forces.
  • – Lee is defeated at battle of Gettysburg.

1864

  • – Grant is appointed Union general in chief.
  • – Wilderness campaign.
  • – Atlanta falls to Union forces.
  • – Lincoln is reelected.

1865

  • – Richmond falls to Union forces.
  • – Lee surrenders at Appomattox Court House.
  • – Lincoln is assassinated.
  • – Andrew Johnson becomes president.

IN THE EARLY MONTHS of 1863, the Union’s prospects looked bleak, and the Confederate cause stood at high tide. Then, in July 1863, the tide began to turn. The military man most responsible for this shift was Ulysses S. Grant. Elevated to supreme command in 1864, Grant knit together a powerful war machine that integrated a sophisticated command structure, modern technology, and complex logistics and supply systems. Grant’s plan was simple: Killing more of the enemy than he killed of you equaled “the complete over-throw of the rebellion.”

The North ground out the victory battle by bloody battle. Still, Southerners were not deterred. The fighting escalated in the last two years of the war. As national elections approached in the fall of 1864, Lincoln expected a war-weary North to reject him. Instead, northern voters declared their willingness to continue the war in the defense of the ideals of union and freedom. Lincoln lived to see victory, but only days after Lee surrendered, the president died from an assassin’s bullet.