Hoods desperate gamble
In the weeks following Sherman's capture of Atlanta, the Union Army engaged in a series of skirmishes minor fights with Hood's force, which continued to lurk in the region. In November 1864, Sherman's army set fire to Atlanta and marched eastward out of the city. Sherman planned to march through the heart of the Confederacy, seizing supplies and destroying croplands along the way. If we can march a well-appointed prepared army right through Jefferson Davis's territory, it is a demonstration to...
American Civil War Timeline
1775 Philadelphia Quakers organize America's first antislav-ery society. 1776-83 English colonies' War for Independence against Great Britain ends with the formation of the United States. 1788 The U.S. Constitution is ratified, providing legal protection to slaveowners. 1793 Eli Whitney invents the cotton gin, which will dramatically increase Southern cotton production. 1803 President Thomas Jefferson purchases the Louisiana Territory from France. Yankee Doodle is written. George Washington...
Meets a tragic end
After the Civil War ended in 1865, Cushman returned to her acting career. She was proud of her successful wartime service she liked to be introduced in the theater as Major Pauline Cushman in uniform. Reproduced by permission of Corbis-Bettmann. Pauline Cushman in uniform. Reproduced by permission of Corbis-Bettmann. Women acted as spies for both the North and the South during the Civil War. Like the men who fought as soldiers, they risked their lives in order to serve their country. Female...
Greeleys Prayer of Twenty Millions
Lincoln recognized that Greeley's views helped increase Northern support for the war, especially during the first two years of the conflict. Nonetheless, Greeley's editorials in the Tribune sometimes angered the president. The publisher sometimes criticized Lincoln for his military leadership, and he repeatedly called on Lincoln to free all blacks who were enslaved in the Southern states. Lincoln, though, worried that such a declaration would erode support for the war among Northerners, whose...
Helps Confederates win the First Battle of Bull Run
When the war began, people in both the North and the South were confident that it would end quickly in a victo ry for their side. Spurred by such confidence, Northerners pressured President Abraham Lincoln 1809-1865 see entry to make an early offensive advance into Confederate territory. After consulting with his advisors, Lincoln decided to attack a large Confederate encampment at Manassas Junction, Virginia. Since this rebel stronghold was located about thirty miles from Washington, Union...
Dies for the Confederate cause
In the summer of 1864, Greenhow decided to return to the United States. She made the final leg of her journey aboard a Confederate ship called the Condor. On October 1, the ship ran aground in a raging storm just off the coast of Wilmington, North Carolina. Before long, a Union ship approached. Fearing that she would be arrested, Greenhow asked to be rowed ashore in a small boat. Unfortunately, the boat capsized in the waves. Although the other people on board were saved, Greenhow drowned. It...
Executed for his crimes
Just one week later, Brown was put on trial before a Virginia court. Brown laid on a cot during the proceedings because he was too badly wounded to sit up. But he still found the strength to defend his actions. I believe that to interfere, as I have done, in the behalf of God's despised poor is not wrong but right, he stated. Now, if it is deemed considered necessary that I should mingle my blood further with the blood of my children and the blood of millions in this slave country whose rights...
Calls for end to slavery
Greeley's strong interest in eliminating poverty in America was a major factor in his antislavery stands of the 1850s. Slavery had been a part of America since the 1600s, when white people first captured African blacks and brought them to North America. The basic belief behind slavery was that black people were inferior to whites. Under slavery, white slaveholders treated black people as property, forced them to perform hard labor, and controlled every aspect of their lives. States in the...