Page 55 - NS-2 Textbook

48 MARITIME HISTORY

roe after taking Yorktown. A month later Norfolk was Navy alone. He called for at least 12,000 troops to storm
taken. But the slow Union advance enabled Lee to gather the city from the landward side before the Confederates
his forces and prepare the defenses before Richmond. could fully prepare for such an assault. An army never
In a series of sharp engagements called the Seven came, hmNevel~ and the Confederate buildup continued.
Days' Battles, Lee pushed McClellan back from Rich- Finally, Farragut had to return to New Orleans because
mond. By August, McClellan had to evacuate the perun- the depth of the water began to fall as stunmer pro-
sula and reorganize the defenses of Washington. III Sep- gressed. A large stretch of the southern Mississippi re-
tember, Lee crossed the Potomac into Maryland in the turned to Confederate control by the end of the year
first invasion of the North. He hoped to detach Matyland because of this lack of coordination between the Army
from the Union and move into Pennsylvania. He 'wanted and Navy.
to impress the North with the horrors of war and gain In October Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter was
diplomatic recognition atld military aid from the Euro- given conunand of the naval forces on the upper Missis-
pean powers by this grand undertaking. sippi. He called for many more ships and guns. Porter
On 17 September at Antietatn Creek near Sharpsburg, worked out a scheme with Gratlt and General William
Maryland, howeve1; Lee met McClellatl'S reorganized and TecUll1seh Sherman to put a pincers movement against
reequipped army in the bloodiest one-day action of the en- Vicksburg. He figured the Confederates could not de-
tire war. Over 12,000 thousand Uillon and 13,000 Confed- fend the city equally well from two directions. But the
erates fell in battle that day. Lee was forced to withdraw to scheme failed when Grant's supply line and stores were
Virginia. TIle immediate threat to Maryland, Washington, destroyed by Confederate cavalry. Without Grant's
and the North was stopped, but Lee had gained some time forces, the Confederates -were able to concentrate on
and prolonged the life of the Confederacy. Shermatl, and the campaign failed.
III early 1863 the Navy tried again, first with Portel;
then with Farragut and Porte1; but without success.
THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION
In April Grant arrived. He moved south of Vicks-
Antietam was an expensive victory for the North, but it burg on the western shore of the Mississippi, and then had
served to hearten the Union. Lincoin took the opportu- the Navy ferry him across the river to attack the soufuern
illty to announce his prelirninary Emancipation Procla- defenses of the city, while Sherman moved in from the
mation on 22 September 1862. He promised freedom to north. Direct assaults on the now impregnable fortifica-
all slaves within the territories still in rebellion on 1 Jan- tions failed, and Grant settled in for a siege of the city.
uary 1863. He was in no position to enforce such an edict, For forty days and nights, Porter's mortar boats
but it was a great psychological move. Although it did rained destruction on Vicksburg, wIllie the Army tight-
nothing to free slaves in the border states, or in Confed- ened its noose. Vicksburg's defenders took shelter in
erate areas controlled by the Union, the proclamation ral- caves and lived on horse meat and rats. Finally, weak-
lied many Northerners who were only lukewarm about ened by starvation, the 31,000 Confederates surrendered
continuing the war. It also made a significant difference on 4 July 1863. Four days later the fort at Port Hudson
in European attitudes. The 'ivar l1mN became a cause for smrendered, and the Mississippi River was clear of all
the liberation of the slaves, which Europe favored, not Confederate forces from Illinois to the Gulf of Mexico.
just a ,var to save the Union, toward 'which most Euro- TIle Confederacy was split. Grant paroled the Vicksburg
peans were indifferent. It thus ended any chance that prisoners and sent them home under a pledge to take no
France or Britain "vQuld intervene in favor of the South in further part in the war.
the war.
Also, many liberated slaves joined the Union forces.
Lincoln's proclatnation could not enforce freedom for TURNING POINT
slaves in the Confederacy, of course. But the Emancipa-
tion Proclamation encouraged the passage by Congress Despite the Union victories in the Mississippi Valley,
of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution in General Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia were still
1865, which finally ended slavelY in the United States. very much in the war. III May 1863 Lee took on the Army
of the Potomac at Chancellorsville, Virginia, and won a
resounding victory over Northern general Joseph
VICKSBURG Hooker. Lee lost his most talented general officer at
Chancellorsville, hOV\Tever. "Stone'ivalY' Jackson was ac-
Farragut had arrived off the Mississippi River fortress of cidentally killed by his own men in the darkness as he re-
Vicksburg in Mal' 1862, after nmillng north from New huned from a reconnaissance mission.
Orleans. He quickly discovered, however, that this The victory spurred Lee on to plan another invasion
"Gibraltar of the Mississippi" could not be taken by the of the North. It was a desperate gamble to crush the