Turning Points in the Civil War

Analytical Assignment Turning points that occur during a conflict such as a civil war may be found in men, as well as forces of events. Turning points are the moments or acts which are thought to have had profound effects which are necessary to drive the war along the course which it took. During the American Civil War in the 1860’s there can be a widespread debate over which actual event was the turning point in the war that led to a Union victory. Most analysts refer to July 4th, 1864 when the Confederacy retreated from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania and Vicksburg, Mississippi surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant and the Union as the turning point for the North in the civil war. Historian James McPherson goes examines these events in great detail in Chapter 19 in his book, Ordeal by Fire: The Civil War and Reconstruction while James Rawley does the same in his book, Turning Points in the Civil War in Chapter 6. James McPherson’s writings have been geared towards advancing the arguments that the North was justified in crushing the rebellion in the South. He sees the civil war in the lens of not a war against the North and the South, but a war against slavery and against their emancipation; a war between progressive forces against conservative ideologies in the south. In his writings, he is quick to indicate that the North’s win was inevitable, because of the relatively more polished military organizational capabilities and a vindication by history. McPherson downplays the factual successes that the Confederate forces had on the different war fronts throughout his book as either mere short term lapses in the organization of the Union forces rather than the actual inabilities to withstand the South’s firepower (McPherson, 2009). Although McPherson appreciates that the northern forces were decisively defeated at Chancellorsville, Virginia, he insinuates that the win by the South at that point was its main undoing in the subsequent advance to Pennsylvania in the

References: McPherson, J. (2009). Ordeal by Fire: The Civil War and Reconstruction: McGraw-Hill. Rawley, J. (1989). Turning Points of the Civil War. Nebraska: University Of Nebraska Press