the succession of great and by no means one-sided battles, the
Union clearly held the initiative in both of the war’s main theaters.
The Deep South lay open to attack, and Lee’s army in Virginia could
only expect to fight yet more battles against heavy odds.
The nature of the fighting was also increasingly taking on the
characteristics that would dominate the wars of the industrialized
20th century—strategic maneuvers and the movement of supplies
of mass armies being made by rail, and the battles of these
armies being centered around fighting for entrenchments
under ferocious artillery bombardments.
The North still had weaknesses. Social and racial tensions
were made plain by the Draft Riots, but the home front in the
South was more vulnerable with galloping inflation and food
shortages. Southern prospects for 1864 were turning bleak.
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Chicago
New York City
Philadelphia
New Orleans
Boston
Charleston
Savannah
Atlanta
Mobile
Galveston
Buffalo
Richmond Norfolk
Concord
St. Louis
Memphis
Louisville
Cincinnati
Washington, D.C.
Manassas
Montgomery
Meridian
Corinth
Austin
Des Moines
Vicksburg
Chattanooga
Nashville
Indianapolis
Kansas City
Jacksonville
Baton Rouge Pensacola
Knoxville
Wilmington
Chickamauga
VERMONT MAINE
NEW
HAMPSHIRE
MASSACHUSETTS
NEW
YORK
NEW JERSEY
RHODE ISLAND
CONNECTICUT
PENNSYLVANIA
OHIO
MICHIGAN
INDIANA
ILLINOIS
MISSOURI
KENTUCKY
WISCONSIN
IOWA
MINNESOTA
KANSAS
VIRGINIA
NORTH CAROLINA
SOUTH
CAROLINA
TENNESSEE
GEORGIA
ALABAMA
FLORIDA
MISSISSIPPI
ARKANSAS
TEXAS LOUISIANA
NEBRASKA
TERRITORY
DAKOTA
TERRITORY
DELAWARE
WEST MARYLAND
VIRGINIA
Indian
Territory
Inset map area
Earthworks at Vicksburg
The siege of Vicksburg sees the
besiegers and defenders both
taking refuge in a system of
trenches and dugouts little
different from those of World
War I half a century later.
Starvation proves the Union
army’s strongest weapon.
Battle of Chickamauga
A Union offensive from
Tennessee is halted at
Chickamauga, Georgia. The
battle is portrayed here in a
Kurz and Allison print of the
late 1800s, which captures
the difficult wooded terrain
and ferocious fighting that
marked the battle.
New York Draft Riots
The riots of July 1863 begin with protests over
the exemptions allowed to the wealthy in the
North’s conscription law. However, the rioters,
many of them Irish, also target blacks and
abolitionists, fearing that black advancement
threatens the jobs of poor whites.
Lincoln with his cabinet
In Washington, D.C., President Lincoln
issues the Emancipation Proclamation
on January 1. This document specifies
the states and areas in which it will
apply. Here he presents the draft
proclamation to his cabinet.
1863