Civil War Turning Point Essay

Both the North and South employed honourable generals in the Civil War to enable them to plan strategic military tactics. Over the period of the Civil War nearly 10,500 battles were fought, and it could be argued that some were decisive in the defeat of the South and victory of the North, acting as a ‘turning point’. Arguably the most decisive battles were Antietam, Gettysburg and Vicksburg. Antietam has been identified by most historians as being the largest military turning point of the Civil War. This was an early battle in the war; occurring on 17th September, 1862 and concluded with a Northern victory. This battle resulted in 2 strategic advantages for the Union; first was that the Union was now in a position to cease Lee’s northward

The battle involved the greatest number of causalities of the entire war and has often been named the ‘bloodiest battle of the war’. The battle occurred 1st-3rd July 1863, in the Northern state of Pennsylvania. Gettysburg was a significant battle that occurred during the civil war because it was the first major loss that the South suffered. This is significant because it caused the esteemed Southern General, Lee, to offer his resignation. Lee was a well-respected general in the South who’s offer for resignation led to anxiety with the Southern population, it showed the Confederacy’s weakness and low morale. However, this was refused by Jefferson Davis, despite this it affected Lee’s morale for the remainder of the war and he was careful with his future strategies arguably making him overly cautious, which may have led to Confederate defeat. One notable fact was on the third day of the battle the Confederates suffered 6,500 casualties in just one hour. Therefore, it can be said that Gettysburg had a massive influence on the future of the South’s fighting, this is because it emphasised the Northern industrial power against the lesser Confederacy which was struggling to retain a full army and sufficient resources. However, it could be argued that if a Southern victory had occurred this may not have caused low morale with General Lee and the Confederacy would strongly continue in

The battle occurred on 4th July, 1863, the day after Gettysburg, where a decisive Union victory took place. This was significant because there was already low Southern morale, a general who was on the brink of resigning and an opposition who was able to see their victory. Davis at this time had difficulties because of his small army and had a dilemma of where to distribute his army, however he made the decision of allowing Lee to invade Pennsylvania instead of sending strong reinforcements from his army to defeat Grant at Vicksburg. Therefore, it was clear that a Southern loss was inevitable. This is significant because it shows that the longer the war went on, the longer the victory of Vicksburg is significant because it highlights the importance of the North’s industrial power and the Anaconda plan. After the Southern loss at Vicksburg the Confederacy was split, due to the loss of the Mississippi River. This was significant because the South used the river to supply Texas and Arkansas, to aid their war effort, conversely this was no longer