The American Civil War: Closing in on Richmond, the Confederate Capital

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Written by - Frank Beardsley

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VOICE ONE:

THE MAKING OF A NATION -- a program in Special English.

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I'm Larry West. Today, Maurice Joyce and I continue the story of the American Civil War.

VOICE TWO:

On July fourth, eighteen-sixty-three, a huge Confederate army surrendered at Vicksburg, Mississippi.  Union forces had surrounded the city for forty-seven days. Food was gone. The situation was hopeless. The Confederate commander gave up.

The terms of surrender were simple. The Confederate soldiers promised not to fight anymore. In return for this promise, they were released on parole and sent home to their families.

Never had a Union army won such a victory. Thirty thousand Confederate soldiers were now out of the war.  Sixty thousand guns and one hundred seventy cannon were now in Union hands. The Mississippi River was now under Union control.

VOICE ONE: 

Ulysses Grant

The victory at Vicksburg went to General Ulysses Grant. He was named commander of all Union armies in the west.  Then he was sent to Chattanooga, Tennessee.

The Union army there had just been defeated in a battle along a little river called the Chickamauga. Now the Union soldiers were resting and re-organizing in Chattanooga. The Confederate line stretched halfway around the city.

The Confederates had artillery on Lookout Mountain. They controlled every road into the city except a rough one through the mountains. They had blocked the Tennessee River above and below the city.  And they had cut the railroad.  The Confederate general said he would let hunger force the Union Army to surrender.

VOICE TWO:

Grant arrived in Chattanooga late in October. The city was full of hungry Union soldiers. They had been without supplies for almost a month.

Grant wasted no time. He quickly sent troops to fight the Confederate force blocking the Tennessee River.  He sent others to fight the Confederates blocking the road to the nearest Union supply center.  Within one week, supply wagons were rolling into Chattanooga.  Within a few weeks, the defeated Union army was ready to fight again.

VOICE ONE:

General grant sent his men against the middle and ends of the Confederate line at the same time.

There were few Confederate soldiers at Lookout Mountain.  That end of the line fell easily.  The center of the line was along a low hill called Missionary Ridge.  It held for a while.  Then Union soldiers -- acting without orders -- forced their way to the top of the hill.  The Confederate line broke. Southern soldiers threw down their guns and ran for their lives.

The Confederate Army withdrew south into the state of Georgia.  Tennessee was completely in Union hands. The way was now open for the armies of the north to march into the heart of the Confederacy.

VOICE TWO:

It was clear that the south could not win the war. Too many Confederate soldiers had fallen in battle.  None were left to take their place.  Supplies were very low.  There was not enough food to eat, no shoes to wear, and little left to fight with.

No one held any hope of getting supplies from outside the Confederacy. The south was circled by Union troops and warships. All seemed lost.

Yet Confederate soldiers refused to stop fighting.  They would not surrender. The war would not end until the Confederate Armies were defeated by military force.

VOICE ONE:

There was no question that the north had the military strength.  Supplies were no problem. Factories were producing more than ever before. Manpower was no problem. Men continued to join the Union army. Fewer than before, but still enough to make it a powerful force.  

		Abraham Lincoln

The problem with the Union Army was its generals. Some were too careful. Some were unwilling to fight. Some did not know how to fight.

The only general who seemed able to win victories was Ulysses Grant. That is why President Abraham Lincoln named Grant Commander of all Union Armies. Lincoln depended on him to end the Civil War.

VOICE TWO:

Grant went east in March, eighteen-sixty-four, five months after the battle at Chattanooga.  He decided to make his headquarters in the field with the Army of the Potomac.  He said he would not command from an office in  Washington. But he went to the city to explain his plans to President Lincoln.

Grant noted that, in the past, the separate Union Armies had moved and fought independently.  He said they were like a poorly-trained team of horses. No two of them ever pulled at the same time in the same direction.

Under his command, Grant said, the Union Armies would pull together. They would hit the Confederates with so much strength in so many places that the rebels could not stop them.

Grant said all the armies would attack at the same time.

VOICE ONE:

Grant spent the month of April preparing for the big campaign. The main target, once again, was the Confederate capital at Richmond, Virginia.

The Army of the Potomac had one hundre twenty thousand men. It would move against Richmond from the north.  General Ben Butler had fifty thousand men.  He would move against