Question of the Week: 4/10-4/16/23

In your opinion, which Civil War moment in April was the most impactful? Why?



21 Responses to Question of the Week: 4/10-4/16/23

  1. Lee’s decision to surrender his army intact rather than disperse it to continue fighting in some fashion. Although it didn’t end the War, it expedited it’s ending in a more organized fashion, rather than a potential degeneration into a region wide guerilla conflict.

  2. Fort Sumter was most impactful because it was the point of no return. Once hostilities broke out at Sumter, all out war followed with no more room for negotiations or compromises. There obviously were other very important events in April, but none of that happens without the firing at Sumter.

  3. Hmm, so many pivotal events in Aprils 1861-65. However, Lincoln’s assassination tops my list. Appomattox, Fort Sumter, Bennett Place, and Shiloh follow in that order.

  4. I agree that Lincoln’s assassination tops the list. It set back reconstruction for 100 years.

    1. Dave, I do wonder if it didn’t set back not only Reconstruction at least 100 years but in light of the current goings-on in parts of the country currently, I think that race relations could be almost as bad now as they were after the Civil War. I don’t believe the Civil War “ended’ at Appomattox in April 1865. The physical hostilities might have “technically” ended then, but from what I’ve observed in all of my 73 years here as an American,we’re STILL fighting the Civil War on many other levels.

    2. Dave, I do wonder if it didn’t set back not only Reconstruction at least 100 years but in light of the current goings-on in parts of the country currently, I think that race relations could be almost as bad now as they were after the Civil War. I don’t believe the Civil War “ended” at Appomattox in April 1865. The physical hostilities might have “technically” ended then, but from what I’ve observed in all of my 73 years here as an American, we’re STILL fighting the Civil War on many other levels.

  5. Grant crossing the Mississippi River to move below Vicksburg and attack it from the South. It required a level of coordination with Porter and the US Navy that hadn’t happened before, and it led to the most important strategic victory of the war, the fall of Vicksburg and the surrender of the Army of Vicksburg. It also led to Grant’s logistical creativity of limiting the food supplies his army carried with them, a decision Sherman thought unwise but later used to great effect in Georgia.

  6. The Lincoln Assassination. The Union won the War but lost the Peace. It will be 100 years before the Afro-American will receive the benefits of the 15th Amendment to the US Constitution.

  7. In my opinion the assassination of President Lincoln in April 1865 was the most impactful April event as it changed the course of reconstruction of nation which impacts to this day.

  8. The taking of Richmond by the Union forces. That had been their goal from day one, and it finally happened. The overall Union victory was now inevitable. Abe Lincoln being able to sit at Jeff Davis’s desk had to be a powerful vision to behold, as were the crowds of now ex-slaves gathering around the President of the soon-to-be reunified country. More killing and dying among soldiers and citizens would play out, including the President too. But Richmond had always been more than just a symbolic goal. And it was now part of the Union again.

  9. April 3, 1865—when Richmond finally fell.
    Also the day my Civil War ancestor, Andrew Tow of Grant’s Vicksburg Army, was born(1837) and died (1915). An amazing guy.

  10. The surrender of Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Court House on April 9. This event effectively ended the Civil War.

  11. In my opinion the most impactful April monent of the Civil War occurred in April 2004. Yes, I said 2004 which was when the eight crewmen of the H.L. Hunley were buried at Magnolia Cementary. The funeral procession was seven miles long with thousands of visitors in Charleston in attendance. It was a vivid reminder of the sacrifices that soldiers, both from the North and South paid for their beliefs.

  12. The firing on Fort Sumter. Davis was presented with a range of options (1) do nothing, and let Sumter be resupplied, and let the status quo continue (2) fire on the supply ship as they had on the “Star of the West” and Anderson would have be forced to surrender in a few days because of lack of food (3) and allout bombardment of the fort with the certainly of causing casualities(miraculously averted). He chose the most extreme option, deliberately provoking war in order to compel the secession of the upper slave states. A most consequential action, although not all consequences were foreseen.

    1. Of course, the lesson here is that starting a war ALWAYS has completely unexpected consequences. Ask Xerxes, ask Jeff Davis, ask George Bush and Vladimir Putin! Starting that Sumpter bombardment had no military consequences that mattered, but it galvanized the North just like Pearl Harbor would 80 yard later. It truly was one of the stupidest military/diplomatic decisions of all time, and the direct result was the complete destruction of slavery and of most of the South.

      1. Hi Doug,
        I liked your comment up to the last sentence when you said:” It truly was one of the stupidest military / diplomatic decisions of all time and the direct result was the complete destruction of slavery and of most of the South.”
        You state that it was a dumb move on the part of the south, basically. Then you go on to state that it destroyed both slavery ( a good thing? inferring perhaps that slavery was preferred and then doomed because of Sumter.) I think it lies in the semantics of how you expressed this, but I am reading it that slavery was a good thing. Anybody else read it that way?
        Thanks for reading my opinion!

    2. Matt McKeon
      Your List is good, but needs a few more “options” in order to be complete: 4) exercise patience, keep control of local South Carolina militiamen, and find some way to maneuver the Lincolnites into firing first; 5) avoid armed conflict and go the route of Negotiated Settlement through the United States Courts. (This was done previously, when the western, Virginia- bits of District of Columbia were retro-ceded back to Virginia. Of course, that Negotiated Settlement required patience: the Retrocession of that bit of the District of Columbia took 39 years to accomplish; 6) wait in readiness, and be prepared for “something” to happen at Pensacola (where Braxton Bragg had over 5000 armed volunteers under his command.) And start the war… there, in retaliation for President Lincoln breaking the Pickens Truce.

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