The History of~The American Civil War (Part 2: The First Battles)

The American Civil War; the bloodiest conflict in US Military history. It was a deadly time for the United States, but it gave the nation a new definition for the nation and it's people.

This is part 2 of the 6-part wiki page series about the American Civil War. In this part, we will talk about some of the first battles of the American Civil War.

## The First Battles

The Confederacy has attacked and captured Ft. Sumter. The United States is now facing the inevitable, it is gripped in a huge Civil War that it tried so hard to prevent. Now people on both the north and the south have no choice, they must fight.

### Forward

To keep things PG, I am using the "official" flag of the Confederate States and not the infamous battle flag of northern Virginia.

### The 2 sides

The Union Army had the backing of many factors. First, the north had industrialization (more on that later in this series) which made for not just the faster deployment of more troops and supplies, but also better weapons and communication. This would prove crucial for the Union later in the war. They also had the backing of more states then the Confederates as the CSA only had 9 million people (3 million of which were African-American slaves) and the USA had over 20 Million people.

The Confederacy (on the other hand) had less men and used traditional battle tactics and had more primitive technology, but the troops were more motivated and better lead with officers like Robert E. Lee and Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson leading the CSA to some early victories in the war.

You good? Okay, let's go to some of the first battles.

In the months following Ft. Sumter, the American Civil War was like a "see-saw" conflict as both the Union and the Confederacy won and lost several battles. For the Union, every battle would be crucial to try to turn the tide in their favor, especially in border states like Missouri and Kentucky (slave states on the side of the Union) as they don't want those states turning grey. In the summer of 1861, the Union also won some battles in the mountainous regions of Virginia, this region would go on to become the state of West Virginia in 1863.

### First Major Battle

It wouldn't be until July 21, 1861 when both sides would fight in the first battle of the war, it would be in a small river called "Bull Run" (sometimes called the battle of Manassas) and within just a few hours, over 3,000 soldiers lie dead on the battlefield with over 2,000 Union and just over 1,000 Confederate, but the CSA (under Stonewall Jackson) were able to defend their holdings in Northern Virginia, and this would boost soldier and public morale in the CSA. A month later, the CSA would win another major battle, the battle of Wilson's Creek in Missouri.

Contrary to popular belief, civilians weren't on the hillside of Bull Run watching the battle.

As 1861 wore on, the war would again turn into a see-saw conflict. It wouldn't be until February 6, 1862 where the Union would win their major battle of the war, Fort Henry and Fort Donelson in Tennessee a few days later as the Union was led by a soon to be known General "Ulysses Grant". As Grant made a daring move to push further into Confederate Tennessee, they were caught by surprise at a church called "Shiloh" on April 6.

This battle would last for just a day, nevertheless the battle would see the deaths of over 24,000 soldiers (13,000 Union and 10,000 Confederate), but Shiloh was a crucial victory for the Union as it would increase the chances of the Union to go further west and even try to take control of the Mississippi River to prevent Confederate reinforcements to come from states like Louisiana and Texas.

Unfortunately for the Union, however, they would still have trouble with the CSA in the east.

At the same time Grant was winning battles in the west, another Union General "George McClellan" was given the task of trying to strike a the CSA's very heart; at Richmond (the CSA's capital city) by May of 1862. But his first days on the job of commanding officer wasn't exactly successful as he led the Union to inconclusive battles at Williamsburg and Eltham's Landing, by the time the month of May ended (and it wasn't a walk in the park for McClellan) he faced Confederate General "Joseph Johnston" who was wounded in the Battle of Seven Pines. This would be the Union's nightmare come true as with Johnston's exit, came in Rob Lee who would fight the Union in the seven days battle and bowl over the union in the Battle of Gaines' Mill on June 27. Throughout the summer of 1862, the war was still a "see-saw" war. But Lee would continue to win in the east as his forces would win in the second Battle of Bull Run on August 30.

It seems that Lee's forces would be unstoppable (like the Nazi army early on in World war 2), but Lee's luck would run out. One Confederate soldier was supposed to send Lee a special order with the code "191" (like in Harry Turtledove's book "Southern Victory") but that order got lost (oopsie poopsie) and was found by a Union soldier who sent the order to McClellan, and on September 17, McClellan and his forces waited Lee's army in the countryside near a town called Sharpsburg (in Maryland) and thus there's the Battle of Antietam where over 30,000 casualties occurred (with 3,000 soldiers dead). The Battle of Antietam was Robert Lee's first major defeat in the American Civil War, his forces were almost decimated, but the hesitant McClellan allowed Lee and his forces to escape. Around a month later, Lee would try again to make an attempt to invade the north, this time try to take Ohio and Indiana if his forces can take Louisville (the capital of Kentucky), this is where Lee put Confederate General "Braxton Bragg" in charge of the campaign.

On October 8, Bragg's forces faced off with the Union near a town called Perryville (still in Kentucky) which saw only 7,000 casualties (with 1,300 dead) but the Union would defend their holdings as well as the town, causing Bragg to retreat. By the end of 1862 and the beginning of 1863, Bragg's decimated and tired forces met another huge Union force at the Battle of Stone River (in Tennessee) with both sides suffering equal casualties, but because of the condition of Bragg's forces, the Union won another crucial victory.

Yeah, this is definitely going back and forth with no side showing any weakness, and it's still "anybody's game" so to say.

That'll do it for this part. In the next part (click here) we will talk about all of the advantages the Union has, and how it'll help them turn the tide of this see-saw war. Until next time, this is JohnnyOTGS signing out.