Last two days of class 1/7 and 1/8

The past two days in class we have worked on finishing up the Civil War and mainly talked about how the war ended. Yesterday we talked about how the Union was slowly, but surely closing in on the Confederates and forcing them towards their surrender. This was known as the "Anaconda Plan" which symbolized the snake that suffocates its prey, like the Union hoped to do to the Confederacy. I think that the biggest turning point was the span of 4 months in 1864 wen General Sherman captured and practically destroyed both Atlanta, GA and Savannah, VA. These were two major Confederate cities and when the Union took them over it was a huge accomplishment for them. Today in class, we summed up the end of the Civil War. It really came down to the fact that the Union had much more resources available to them compared to the Confederacy. The Union ended up pursuing Lee and the Confederates right into Petersburg, VA and Lee retreated because he was outnumbered. Lee eventually surrendered to General Grant of the Union and on April 9, 1865, the Civil War was officially over.