A Tour Of Civil War Battlefields
By Paula Neely By 1860, after decades of discord between northern and southern states over economic policies, state’s rights, and the role of slavery, the United States had become a divided nation. Southern states, which relied heavily on slave labor, wanted to expand slavery to new states joining the Union, but northern states opposed this. Soon after the election of President Abraham Lincoln, who pledged not to expand slavery, Southern states began seceding from the Union. The Union refused to recognize their secession, and the South fired the first shots of the Civil War at Fort Sumter, South Carolina, in April, 1861. The war took a tremendous toll. According to the National Park Service, Union forces suffered 642,427 casualties (killed, wounded, and missing), and the Confederates 483,026.
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A considerable amount of the fighting took place on the battlefields featured on this tour, most of which are managed by the National Park Service (NPS). Many of the parks encompass a number of battlefields that are located throughout a large geographic area.This tour highlights some of the major battles and historic structures at each destination. (There are battlefields and other Civil War sites in this region that are not part of this tour.) I began my trip at Petersburg National Battlefield, which also includes the Eastern Front, Western Front, Five Forks Battlefield, and Grant’s Headquarters at City Point. In June 1864, following their defeat at Cold Harbor, Union troops moved south to Petersburg, an important supply center for Richmond and Lee’s army.After a failed attempt to take
summer • 2017
