Overland Campaign

Examples of Overland Campaign in the following topics:

• Grant's Pursuit of Lee

  • General Grant's Union Army pursued General Lee's Confederate Army in the Overland Campaign, resulting in an important victory for the Union.
  • Grant's Overland Campaign was a series of battles fought in Virginia during May and June 1864.
  • The Overland Campaign was the thrust necessary for the Union to win the war, and although Grant suffered a number of tactical defeats (most notably Cold Harbor), the campaign was a strategic success for the Union.
  • This map shows the Overland Campaign, from the Battle of the Wilderness to crossing the James River.
  • Describe Grant's Overland Campaign in pursuit of Lee and the resulting Union victory

• The Battles: 1863–1865

  • Confederate incursions into New Mexico territory were repulsed in 1862, and a Union campaign to secure Indian Territory succeeded in 1863.
  • Late in the war, the Union's Red River Campaign was a failure.
  • Union forces in the East attempted to maneuver past Lee and fought several battles during that phase of the eastern campaign, sometimes termed Grant's Overland Campaign.

• Siege of Vicksburg

  • During the Vicksburg Campaign, Union victory secured the important Mississippi River for the Union and was a turning point in the war.
  • During this period, the overland half of Grant's offensive was failing.
  • Unable to maintain his army without replenished supplies, Grant abandoned his overland advance.
  • Finally, Union gunboats and troop transport boats ran the batteries at Vicksburg and met up with Grant's men who had marched overland in Louisiana.
  • Grant's Vicksburg Campaign is considered one of the masterpieces of American military history.

• Oregon and the Overland Trails

  • The Oregon and Overland Trails were two principal routes that moved people and commerce from the east to the west in the 19th century.
  • The Overland Trail (also known as the Overland Stage Line) was a stagecoach and wagon trail in the American west during the 19th century.
  • While explorers and trappers had used portions of the route since the 1820s, the Overland Trail was most heavily used in the 1860s as an alternative route to the Oregon, California, and Mormon Trails through central Wyoming.
  • The Overland Stage Company owned by Ben Holladay famously used the Overland Trail to run mail and passengers to Salt Lake City, Utah, via stagecoaches in the early 1860s.
  • Examine how establishment of the Oregon and Overland Trails enabled diverse groups to travel west

• The West and the Civil War

  • Western states and territories witnessed major military campaigns by Confederate and Union forces.
  • The western theater witnessed several important campaigns.
  • The Union began campaigns in the western theater by securing Kentucky in June 1861.
  • Referred to as the "back door" of the Confederacy, ports in Texas and western Louisiana continued to ship cotton crops that could be transferred overland to Mexican border towns and then shipped to Europe in exchange for badly needed supplies.
  • Significant campaigns include the Sioux Wars in Minnesota (1862) and campaigns against the Navajo in Arizona (1864).

• Mediterranean Trade and European Expansion

  • From there, overland routes led to the Mediterranean coasts.

• Transportation: Roads, Canals, and Railroads

  • Water and river transportation were central to the national economy, while most overland transportation was by horse, which made it difficult to move large quantities of goods.
  • The suggestion was controversial: Anti-Federalists opposed expanding government power, but many others were persuaded by the compelling need for overland roads for military operations as well as for general commerce.

• The Election of 1960

  • Both Kennedy and Nixon drew large and enthusiastic crowds throughout the campaign.
  • However, Nixon was plagued by bad luck throughout the fall campaign.
  • In addition, Nixon had to cease campaigning for two weeks early in the campaign to recover from a knee injury.
  • The key turning point of the campaign were the four Kennedy-Nixon debates.
  • The turning point in the 1960 campaign was the debates.

• The Election of 1972

  • In 1972, Nixon beat George McGovern in a landslide reelection victory due to negative views on McGovern's campaign.
  • McGovern ran an anti-war campaign, but was confined by his outsider status and limited support from his own party.
  • In the general election campaign, McGovern called for the immediate exit of the Vietnam War.
  • Nixon's campaign included an aggressive policy of keeping tabs on perceived enemies.
  • On the 1968 campaign trail, Richard Nixon flashes his famous “V for Victory” gesture (a).

• The North Africa Campaign

  • The North African Campaign of World War II took place in North Africa from June 10th, 1940 to May 13th, 1943.
  • It included campaigns fought in the Libyan and Egyptian deserts (Western Desert Campaign or Desert War), in Morocco and Algeria (Operation Torch), and Tunisia (Tunisia Campaign).
  • The Western Desert Campaign, also known as the Desert War, was the initial stage of the North African Campaign.
  • After the British defeats in the Balkan Campaign, the Western Desert Campaign had become more important to British strategy.
  • Identify the effectiveness of the Western Desert Campaign, Operation Torch, and the Tunisia Campaign.