This Week in the Civil War

The Associated Press

This Week in The Civil War for Sunday, Oct. 26: Confederate ironclad sunk, fighting near Richmond, Virginia.

A Union vessel sunk the Confederate ironclad Albemarle at its berth in Plymouth, North Carolina, 150 years ago this week in the Civil War. The Confederate ironclad had menaced Union warships since it was commissioned in 1864, sinking the USS Southfield on one occasion and damaging or driving others off in a subsequent encounter. Later, when Union forces gained control of Plymouth, the ironclad would be refloated and taken in 1865 to Norfolk, Virginia, before being sold off. Fighting continued in late October in Virginia as Union commander Ulysses S. Grant launched a double-pronged offensive near the Confederate seat at Richmond, Virginia, and the neighboring city of Petersburg. But the attempt on Oct. 27-28, 1864, to cut off Confederate supply lines was repulsed by the Confederate defenders at Burgess Mill in Virginia and Union fighters were forced to retreat to their earlier positions.

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This Week in The Civil War for Sunday, Nov. 2: Lincoln re-elected.

Buoyed by a series of military successes, Abraham Lincoln was re-elected president this week 150 years ago in the Civil War. Lincoln defeated Gen. George B. McClellan, who got into politics in the years after Lincoln sacked him from his military command for a cautious approach to the early Union war effort. McClellan campaigned on an anti-war platform but the Union’s military successes late in 1864, including the capture of Atlanta, swayed many voters on Nov. 8, 1864, to hand him a second term. Many Union soldiers voted by absentee ballot from the field.

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This Week in The Civil War for Sunday, Nov. 9: Lincoln’s re-election trumpeted by Northern newspapers.

Union states patiently awaited final ratification this week of President Abraham Lincoln’s re-election 150 years ago in the Civil War. The New York Hearld, a day after the voting concluded in November 1864, trumpeted: “The Result of the Great National Contest. ABRAHAM LINCOLN RE-ELECTED PRESIDENT.” The newspaper reported voting proceeded calmly despite rain in many Union states and that based on early vote tallies, Lincoln’s re-election was at hand. The Associated Press reported Lincoln was serenaded by well-wishers from Pennsylvania a day after the vote, delivering a speech from a window stating he had worked “for the best interests of the country and the world, not only for the present, but for all future ages.” He added that he would abide by the outcome once it had been duly ratified.

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This Week in The Civil War for Sunday, Nov. 16: Sherman’s March to the Sea.

Union forces had occupied Atlanta for more than two months when Union Gen. William Sherman departed in mid-November 1864 on the so-called March to the Sea — a campaign to capture Savannah, Georgia. As Sherman’s federal forces advanced, the troops destroyed buildings, businesses, and property in their path, a “scorched earth” policy that angered and also demoralized Southerners. Sherman split his roughly 60,000 troops into two wings and the two groups kept miles apart as they crossed Georgia, raiding farms and plantations and occasionally clashing with Confederates along the route.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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