In this paper I shall discuss four points concerning the civil war in detail. The first issue addressed will be Professor McPherson's arguments in the text Ordeal by Fire and whether Antietam and Emancipation, Gettysburg, Vicksburg, and Chattanooga, represent the three critical turning points in the Civil War. Second, I will rank the three points from greatest to least in terms of their importance on the Civil War. Third, I will add a fourth event I feel was significant to the turning of the war.

The Union and Confederate Armies met at Antietam Creek near Sharpsburg, Maryland, on September 17, 1862, in the bloodiest single day of the war: more than 4,000 died on both sides and 18,000 were wounded. McClellan failed to break Lee's lines or press the attack, and Lee was able to retreat across the Potomac with his army intact. The professor suggests that this may have been the major turning point in the Civil War. I would have to agree, had the confederates been successful in this battle it is quite possible the European nation would have become involved in the war. The European nations had a special interest in the war from a financi

There are several reasons why these three battles are so significant to the Civil War. First, let us start with the obvious. Grants advance on Vicksburg was a major blow to the Confederate supply line. As any student of war knows, the best way to kill the enemy is to cut his supply line, thereby rendering him unable to fight. Grants actions had two consequences for the confederate army. Not only were they now unable to get supplies across the Mississippi river, but they where now fighting the war on two fronts. Already weakened by previous battles, the Confederate Army could ill afford to both fight the war on two fronts and continue with limited supplies. The battle of Chattanooga, and Lookout Mountain, gave the Confederates what I believe was the decisive moral turn to the war. The Lookout Mountains was a strategic point which General Bragg stated "Was impregnable" . When the a Union division marched up the face of this mountain, sending the rebels turned coat running, the war was unwinable for the Confederate army. This battle opened the door for Sherman, who marched through the Confederate states, leaving havoc in his wake. The famous battle of Gettysburg was Lee's last attempt at a push North. These three bloody days of fighting crippled Lee's army, which allowed Grant to pursue him all the way to Richmond where the Confederate capital was taken only a month before Lee's Surrender to Grant. While these three battles did lead to the actual end of the war, their importance only comes as decisive battles. Which were made available by a careless Confederate officer, who gave McClellan some southern tobacco and Lee's plans for Antietam. For had those plans never been found, I believe the Civil War would have ended on Union soil, and the State of Maryland would now be part of the Confederate Republic.

al point, since Most of the European nation and the south where dependent on the trade of cotton. Mediation would have been a most plausible interceding by Great Britain or France. The Confederates where hoping for financial or military support, but I do not think that Great Britain was willing to come back to North America and fight another war.

In conclusion, while these four issues have had a major impact on the Civil War, I must add that it is the men who fought and died in horrific confrontations, which preserved our present way of life. Honor must be additionally given to the brave men of the Confederacy who fought equally for their country in the face of insurmountable odds. Realizing and understanding the importance of this conflict in American history, enables use to understand the American people for the next century. Bravery and honor are the foundation of

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