1. THE WAR RAGES ON
Essential Questions:
1. What new types of weapons were used in the Civil
War?
2. Who was Robert E. Lee?
3. How did Robert E. Lee and George McClellan lead
and fight on the battlefield?
4. What was the Battle of Antietam and why was it
important?
5. What was the Emancipation Proclamation?
6. Why was the Emancipation Proclamation important?

2. Ironclads
 It was a steam-propelled warship
 Protected by iron or steel armor
plates
 Grant used the Ironclad ship
when he captured Fort Henry
and Donelson
 On March 9, 1862 the North’s
ironclad Monitor traded fire with
the South’s ironclad Merrimack
 It was a draw
 With this battle the era of
wooden fighting ships was over

3. New Weapons
 Even more deadly than the
invention of the ironclad was new
weapons
 The Rifle
 The minie ball
 Rifles
 Were more accurate than old-
fashioned muskets
 Soldiers could load rifles more
quickly
 Minie Ball
 A soft lead bullet that was more
destructive that earlier bullets
 Troops also used primitive hand
grenades and land mines in
battle

4. George McClellan and Robert E.
Lee
 McClellan was a cautious leader
 Trained 120,000 man army for
five months
 Then he said he could not attack the
Confederate capital of Richmond
until he had an army of 270,000
troops
 Finally, McClellan marched towards
Richmond in the spring of 1862
 McClellan was engaged by an army
led by Robert E. Lee
 Lee had opposed secession
 He refused to fight against his
beloved state of Virginia
 Turned down an offer to lead the
Union army

5. McClellan vs. Lee
 Lee engaged McClellan in battle
from June 25 to July 1, 1862
 Seven Days Battle
 Lee’s unorthodox fighting and
determination led the
Confederates to victory
 Lee then moved on the Union’s
capital… Washington D.C.
 Lee won an overwhelming victory
at the Second Battle of Bull Run
 A few days later Lee crossed the
Potomac

6. McClellan's Luck
 A Union corporal exploring
where the Confederates
had camped found Lee’s
army orders
 They were wrapped
around a bunch of cigars
 The orders showed Lee
and Stonewall Jackson
would be separated
 McClellan acted
aggressively and moved
towards Lee

7. A Creek Called Antietam
 On September 17, 1862 the two
armies fought beside a creek called
Antietam
 Bloodiest single day in American
history
 26,000 soldiers died in the battle
 As many as the War of 1812 and
the War with Mexico combined
 The battle turned into a
stalemate, but the Confederates
retreated across the Potomac
 As they were retreating
McClellan…did nothing
 He could have ended the Civil War
 November 7, 1862 Lincoln fired
McClellan

8. Lincoln’s View on Slavery
 In the north abolitionist feelings
grew
 Began to feel winning the war
was not enough
 Issue of slavery had to be settled
 Lincoln disliked slavery but he
did not believe the government
had the power to abolish it where
it existed
 But as the war progressed he
used his presidential powers to
end slavery
 He decided that just as he could
order the Union army to seize
confederate supplies he could
authorize the army to
emancipate slaves
 Means freeing someone from the
control of another

9. Emancipation Proclamation
(1863)
 It was actually two orders issued
by Lincoln:
 Second, issued January
1, 1863, named ten specific
states where it would apply.
 What did it do?
 Applied only to areas behind
Confederate lines, and
outside of Union control
 Was a military action aimed at
the states in rebellion
 Did not apply to Southern
territory already occupied by
the Union
 Did not apply to the slave
states that had not seceded

10. Reactions to the Proclamation
 Proclamation had little practical effect
 But it had immense symbolic
importance
 It gave the war a high moral
purpose
 It turned the war into a struggle to
fight to free slaves
 Free Blacks welcomed the
Proclamation since it allowed them to
fight in the Union army
 After the Emancipation was issued
there was no chance for compromise
 It was now a fight to the death