Battles of the American Civil War

Bull Run (July 21, 1861)

On July 16, 1861, the new Union volunteer army under Brig. Gen. Irvin McDowell marched from Washington DC toward the Confederate army under Gen. Pierre G. T. Beauregard, drawn up behind Bull Run creek west of Centreville. Beauregard's men defended the strategic railroad junction at Manassas, just west of the creek. On July 17, McDowell sent a small force across Bull Run at Blackburn's Ford to test the Confederate defenses.  A brief skirmish ensured, with light casualties and little result. McDowell made plans to attack the north or left end of Beauregard's line, while making a simultaneous demonstration where the Warrenton Turnpike crossed the creek at a stone bridge. Early on July 21, two of McDowell's divisions crossed at Sudley Ford and attacked the Confederate left flank on Matthews Hill. Fighting raged throughout the morning as Confederate forces were driven back to Henry Hill and more Union brigades crossed Bull Run. In the afternoon, Confederate reinforcements arrived via railroad from Gen. Joseph Johnston's army in the Shenandoah Valley, among them a brigade of Virginians under Brig. Gen. Thomas J. Jackson. Jackson organized a defense of Henry Hill bolstered by artillery. McDowell also ordered more infantry and artillery to Henry Hill, where the fiercest fighting of the new war occurred. Additional Confederate reinforcements broke the Union right flank, and Jackson held his ground on Henry Hill "like a stone wall." Under counterattack and with no reinforcements, the Federals retreated which soon deteriorated into a complete rout. The next day, the shattered Union army reached the safety of Washington and the first battle of the war was over.

Wilson's Creek (August 10, 1861)

Brig. Gen. Nathaniel Lyon’s Army of the West was camped at Springfield, Missouri, with Confederate troops from Arkansas under the command of Brig. Gen. Ben McCulloch approaching. McCulloch's men had reinforced Missouri State Guard forces under Maj. Gen. Sterling Price. On August 9th, both sides formulated plans to attack the other. At about 5:00 am on the 10th, Lyon, in two columns commanded by himself and Col. Franz Sigel, attacked the Confederates on Wilson’s Creek about 12 miles southwest of Springfield. Rebel cavalry received the first blow and fell back away from Bloody Hill. Confederate forces soon rushed up and stabilized their positions. The Confederates counterattacked the Union forces three times that morning but failed to break through the Union line. Lyon was killed during the battle and was replaced by Maj. Samuel D. Sturgis. Meanwhile, the Confederates had routed Sigel’s column, south of Skegg’s Branch. Following the third Confederate attack, which ended at 11:00 am, Price and McCulloch pulled back. Sturgis realized, however, that his men were exhausted and his ammunition was low, so he ordered a retreat to Springfield. The Confederates were too disorganized and ill-equipped to pursue. The Confederate victory buoyed southern sympathizers in Missouri and sustained Price's Missouri State Guard activities in the state. Wilson’s Creek, the most significant 1861 west of the Mississippi River, gave the Confederates control of southwestern Missouri.

Fort Donelson (February 11, 1862 – February 16, 1862)

Early in the war, Union commanders realized control of the major rivers would be the key to success in the Western Theater. After capturing Fort Henry on the Tennessee River on February 6, 1862, Brig. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant advanced 12 miles cross-country to invest Fort Donelson on the Cumberland River. By February 13, Grant had surrounded the fort with about 25,000 men and had conducted several small attacks to probe the fort's defenses. Inside and around the fort, Confederate commander Brig. Gen. John B. Floyd led a garrison of three divisions of about 16,000 infantry and cavalry. Union Navy gunboats attempted to reduce the fort on February 14, but were beaten back by heavier Confederate artillery. The next morning, the Confederates launched a surprise attack on the right flank of Grant's lines. Grant counterattacked in the afternoon, and despite some success, Floyd ordered his men to fall back inside the fort. On February 16, Floyd and some other senior commanders escaped the fort, turning over command to Gen. Simon Bolivar Buckner, a pre-war friend of Grant. Later that day, Buckner reluctantly surrendered the remaining garrison unconditionally to his old friend. The capture of Forts Henry and Donelson were major victories for Grant. They opened Tennessee for Union advances up the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers. Grant received a promotion to major general for his victory and attained stature in the Western Theater, earning the nom de guerre “Unconditional Surrender.”

Pea Ridge (March 6, 1862 – March 8, 1862)

By the spring of 1862, Union forces had pushed Confederates south and west through Missouri into northwestern Arkansas. On the night of March 6, 1862, Confederate Maj. Gen. Earl Van Dorn and his 16,000-man Army of the West set out to counterattack the Union position near Pea Ridge. Hoping to move quickly, in a fateful decision, Van Dorn ordered the supply trains far to the rear. Learning of Van Dorn’s approach, some 10,000 Federals in Brig. Gen. Samuel R. Curtis's Army of the Southwest marched to meet the Rebel advance the next day. The forces met near Elkhorn Tavern just three miles south of the Missouri border and fighting quickly ensued. Two Confederate generals, Brig. Gens. Ben McCulloch and James McQueen McIntosh, were killed in the action, halting the Rebel momentum. By nightfall, the Confederates controlled Elkhorn Tavern and the Telegraph Road. Curtis consolidated his force during the night, and the next day, counterattacked near the tavern and, by successfully employing his artillery, slowly forced the Rebels back. Running short of ammunition due to the absence of supply support, Van Dorn abandoned the battlefield, leaving Arkansas virtually defenseless. With the Confederate defeat, the Union controlled the border state of Missouri for the next two years.

Glorieta Pass (March 26, 1862 – March 28, 1862)

Hoping to expand westward, the Confederate government in 1862 sought to enforce its claim to the Confederate Arizona Territory with support from local secessionists. To cut off Union supplies and reinforcements to the area, Confederate Brig. Gen. Henry H. Sibley had captured Santa Fe and Albuquerque. Sibley next hoped to control the Santa Fe Trail passes through the Sangre de Cristo Mountains to the north. Sibley's Confederates in the area were a few hundred mounted volunteers from Texas commanded by Major Charles L. Pyron. On March 26th, Pyron advanced to Glorieta Pass on the trail and skirmished inconsequentially with Colorado infantry and regular U. S. Cavalry posted in Apache Canyon. Both sides gathered reinforcements the next day.  On March 28th, Confederate reinforcements under Lieut. Col. William Scurry attacked the Federals under Colonel John P. Slough resting and filling canteens near Pigeon’s Ranch. The fighting dragged on throughout the day, as the Confederates gradually forced Slough to retreat eastward. When a detachment of Union infantry burned their supply train, the Rebels were forced to retreat. Glorieta Pass is commonly referred to as the “Gettysburg of the West.” It was here that Federal forces were finally able to turn back the Confederate invasion of the New Mexico Territory.

Shiloh (April 6, 1862 – April 7, 1862)

On the morning of April 6, 1862, 40,000 Confederate soldiers under Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston struck the encamped divisions of Union soldiers near Pittsburg Landing on the Tennessee River. The overpowering Confederate attack drove the unprepared Federal soldiers back and threatened to overwhelm Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s entire Army of the Tennessee. Some Federal units made determined stands, and by afternoon, had established a battle line at the “Hornet's Nest.” Repeated Rebel attacks supported by massed artillery killed or wounded many of the defending Yankees and pushed their lines back further. Johnston was mortally wounded and was replaced by Gen. Pierre G.T. Beauregard. Fighting continued until after dark, but the Union army held. By the next morning, Grant had been reinforced by the Army of the Ohio under Maj. Gen. Don Carlos Buell and heavily outnumbered Beauregard. Grant launched a counteroffensive along the entire line, overpowering the weakened Confederate forces and driving Beauregard’s army from the field. The Confederate defeat ended any hopes of blocking the Union advance into northern Mississippi. The two-day battle at Shiloh produced more than 23,000 casualties and was the bloodiest battle in American history up to that time.

Gaines' Mill (June 27, 1862)

Anxious to renew his assaults from the day before, Gen. Robert E. Lee sent the bulk of his army forward late on June 27, 1862, with the intention of driving the Union V Corps into the Chickahominy River. Maj. Gen. Fitz John Porter’s Federals beat back successive waves of disjointed attacks from their position above Boatswain’s Creek, inflicting severe casualties. By dusk, the Confederates were more organized. With daylight fading, the reinforced Southerners assaulted Porter’s entire line and sent the Northerners fleeing toward the river. Only darkness saved the Federals from complete disaster. During the night, Porter’s men limped south across the Chickahominy and burned the bridges behind them. The battle at Gaines' Mill began a series of rearguard actions as Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan moved his army to the James River.

Malvern Hill (July 1, 1862)

On July 1, 1862, the retreating Army of the Potomac reached the James River after six days of fighting outside of Richmond. Confident in the support of nearby navy gunboats, Maj. Gen. George McClellan’s men occupied Malvern Hill on the north bank of the river. McClellan ordered the hilltop fortified with artillery batteries to cover the open fields that fronted the hill, and arranged his infantry with the V Corps on the west slope and the III and IV Corps on the eastern side with a strong reserve in the rear. Confederate commander Gen. Robert E. Lee believed a sustained artillery barrage could weaken the Union position before his infantry attacked. Around 1:00 p.m., both sides opened an artillery duel which was largely ineffective. Lee ordered in his infantry, but the attacks were not coordinated properly and advanced at different times, stalling short of the hill’s crest. The Federal artillery was the deciding factor, repulsing every attack and resulting in a tactical Union victory. The next day, McClellan withdrew to Harrison’s Landing on the James, ending the Peninsula Campaign and the Seven Days battles to capture the Confederate capital.

Second Manassas (August 28, 1862 – August 30, 1862)

After the spring 1862 collapse of the Union Peninsula Campaign to capture Richmond, Gen. Robert E. Lee sought to move his army north and threaten Washington DC before Union forces could regroup. His commanders, Maj. Gens. "Stonewall" Jackson and James Longstreet, brought Lee's army within 35 miles of the Union capital by the end of August. Jackson, who burned the Federal supply depot at Manassas Junction on August 27, waited for the arriving Union army just west of the old Bull Run battlefield. Longstreet, trailing Jackson, fought his way eastward through Thoroughfare Gap the next day. To draw Maj. Gen. John Pope’s new Union Army of Virginia into battle, Jackson ordered an attack on a Federal column that was passing across his front on the Warrenton Turnpike late on the 28th. The fighting there at Brawner Farm lasted several hours and resulted in a stalemate. Pope became convinced he had trapped Jackson and concentrated the bulk of his army against him. On the 29th, Pope launched a series of assaults against Jackson’s position along an unfinished railroad grade. The attacks were repulsed with heavy casualties on both sides. At noon, Longstreet arrived on the field and took a position on Jackson’s right. The afternoon of the 30th, Pope renewed his attacks, seemingly unaware that Longstreet was on the field. When massed Confederate artillery devastated a Union assault by Maj. Gen. Fitz John Porter’s V Corps, Longstreet counterattacked in the largest, simultaneous mass assault of the war. The Union left was crushed and the army was driven back to Bull Run. Only an effective Union rearguard action prevented a replay of the First Manassas disaster.

Antietam (September 16, 1862 – September 18, 1862)

The Army of the Potomac, under the command of Maj. Gen. George McClellan, mounted a series of powerful assaults against Gen. Robert E. Lee’s forces along Antietam Creek near Sharpsburg, Maryland, on September 17, 1862. The morning attacks by the Union I and XII Corps on the Confederate left flank, and vicious Confederate counterattacks by Gen. "Stonewall" Jackson's brigades swept back and forth through Miller’s Cornfield, across the Hagerstown Turnpike and into the West Woods. Towards the center of the battlefield, Union II Corps assaults against the Sunken Road pierced the Confederate center after a terrible struggle but failed to capitalize on their breakthrough. A third and final assault by Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside's IX Corps pushed over a stone bridge at Antietam Creek. Just as Burnside's forces began to collapse the Confederate right, the timely arrival of Gen. A.P. Hill’s division from Harpers Ferry helped to drive the Army of the Potomac back once more. On the 18th, both sides remained in place, too bloodied to advance. Late that evening and on the 19th, Lee withdrew from the battlefield and slipped back across the Potomac into Virginia. The bloodiest single day in American military history ended in a draw, but the Confederate retreat gave President Abraham Lincoln the “victory” he desired before issuing the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation five days later.

Perryville (October 8, 1862)

On October 7, 1862, Maj. Gen. Don Carlos Buell's Army of the Ohio, in pursuit of Gen Braxton Bragg’s Army of Mississippi, approached the crossroads town of Perryville, Kentucky. Union forces skirmished with Confederates on the Springfield Pike before heavy fighting began on Peters Hill. The next day, fighting continued as a Union division advanced up the pike. After noon, a Confederate division struck the Union left flank and forced it to fall back. When more Confederates joined the fray, the Union line made a stubborn stand, counterattacked, but finally retreated. Reinforced on their left, Union troops stabilized their line and the Confederate attack sputtered to a halt. Later, three Confederate regiments assaulted a Union division on the Springfield Pike but were repulsed and fell back into Perryville. Bragg, short of men and supplies, withdrew during the night. The battle was a Confederate tactical victory, but Bragg’s retreat effectively ended the campaign.

Fredericksburg (December 11, 1862 – December 15, 1862)

In early November, 1862, Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside took command of the Army of the Potomac and made immediate plans to move toward Richmond, hoping to quickly cross the Rappahannock River before Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia could block his route. On November 17, Burnside reached Stafford Heights on the river opposite Fredericksburg. Lee reacted by moving James Longstreet’s wing toward Fredericksburg from Culpeper; Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson’s men followed from the Shenandoah Valley. Burnside was delayed on the north bank awaiting the pontoon bridges he needed to cross the river. A week later, the overdue bridges finally arrived but Burnside failed to adjust his plan with Lee now entrenched behind the town. On December 11, Union engineers attempted to lay bridges across the Rappahannock but were slowed by Confederate rifle fire. Artillery bombardment of the town and an infantry crossing in small boats secured a bridgehead. The next day, the remainder of the Federal army crossed over, and on December 13, Burnside mounted a series of frontal assaults that resulted in staggering casualties. Maj. Gen. George G. Meade’s division on the Union left briefly penetrated Jackson’s line, but was driven back by a counterattack. On December 15, Burnside called off the attacks and recrossed the river, ending the battle.

Stones River (December 31, 1862 – January 2, 1863)

After his October 1862 defeat at Perryville in Kentucky, Gen. Braxton Bragg withdrew his army into middle Tennessee and resupplied his men near Murfreesboro. Reduced in strength by a full division sent to help defend Vicksburg, Bragg seemed hesitant to conduct offensive operations. The Union Army of the Cumberland, commanded by Maj. Gen. William Rosecrans, loitered and resupplied nearby around Nashville. Rosecrans received orders to move against Bragg and finally did so in late December. Moving south, Rosecrans met the Confederates along Stones River just north of Murfreesboro. The inevitable engagement erupted on December 31, when Bragg struck the Union right with one of his two army corps and drove it back some three miles. Heavy fighting on both sides ensued as Bragg bent Rosecrans' line. Rosecrans held on during the night and through New Years' Day. By January 2, Rosecrans was still stubbornly holding his ground. Late that afternoon, a Confederate division attacked the Union left and nearly broke through, however, massed Union artillery broke up the assault. The Union repulse of two attacks and the arrival of reinforcements made Bragg’s position untenable. He abandoned the area on January 3, giving up Confederate control of central Tennessee.

Chancellorsville (April 30, 1863 – May 6, 1863)

On April 27, 1863, Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker launched a turning movement designed to pry Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia out of its lines at Fredericksburg. The maneuver was successful and by April 30, elements of Hooker's Army of the Potomac had reached the crossroads of Chancellorsville, nine miles in Lee's rear. Outnumbering Lee two to one, Hooker stood poised to strike a fatal blow to the Confederates. Apprised of Hooker's march, Lee left a covering force at Fredericksburg and marched west. Fighting erupted on May 1 with the Federals ultimately retiring back to Chancellorsville. Now with the initiative, Lee would divide his army again and send Lt. Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson on a march to strike Hooker's right flank. The following evening, Jackson's men assailed Maj. Gen. Oliver O. Howard's XI Corps and caved in the Union line, but Jackson was wounded by friendly fire and died eight days later. Lee renewed his attack early on May 3 and dislodged Hooker from Chancellorsville. At the height of victory, Lee was forced to divide his army a third time to confront Maj. Gen. John Sedgwick's VI Corps which had broken through at Fredericksburg. The Confederates brought Sedgwick's advance to a standstill at Salem Church. Stalled on two fronts, Hooker decided to retreat and abandon his campaign on the night of May 5. The battle, considered Lee’s greatest victory, inspired him to launch a second invasion of the North.

Champion Hill (May 16, 1863)

On May 16, 1863, moving west following their capture and destruction of Jackson, Mississippi, Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s advancing Union corps met Confederates under Maj. Gen. John C. Pemberton in a fierce struggle roughly halfway between Jackson and Vicksburg. Pemberton had posted his divisions on high ground in a 3-mile line covering the roads from the south and east. Unexpectedly, Grant's men moved west along an undefended road and met Pemberton's men at Champion's Hill. Outflanked, Pemberton stretched his line to hold back the Yankees, soon advancing across his front. The Union brigades were nearly swept away by a counterattack led by the division of Brig. Gen. John Bowen. Grant ordered more men toward the hill and Bowen’s Confederates were themselves driven off, compelling a general retreat. Confederate Brig. Gen. Lloyd Tilghman was killed while directing a rearguard action that enabled most of the Confederate army to escape towards Vicksburg. The Union victories at Champion Hill and at the Big Black River the next day forced the Confederates into a doomed position inside the fortifications of Vicksburg. The Battle of Champion Hill was the largest of Grant’s Vicksburg Campaign.

Vicksburg (May 18, 1863 – July 4, 1863)

In mid-May, 1863, after six months of unsuccessful attempts, Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s Army of the Tennessee finally converged on Vicksburg, defended by a Confederate army under Lt. Gen. John C. Pemberton. Capture of the Mississippi River town was critical to Union control of the strategic river. Vicksburg was located on a high river bluff defended with artillery, and Pemberton's men had constructed a series of fortifications in an 8-mile arc surrounding the city on the landward side. After crossing the river below Vicksburg on April 30, Grant fought a series of battles as he approached Pemberton’s defenses. With the help of Navy gunboats, Grant surrounded the city by May 18. Grant launched major assaults on May 19 and 22 and was repulsed with heavy casualties, so by May 25 his army settled in for a siege. After holding out for nearly seven weeks, with no reinforcements and low on food and supplies, Pemberton surrendered on July 4. With the loss of Pemberton’s army at Vicksburg and the Union victory at Port Hudson five days later, the Union controlled the entire Mississippi River and the Confederacy was split in half.

Port Hudson (May 21, 1863 – July 9, 1863)

In cooperation with Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s final offensive against Vicksburg, Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks’s army moved against the Confederate stronghold at Port Hudson on the Mississippi River. Like Vicksburg, Port Hudson was located atop high bluffs at the river bank that commanded the river. On May 11th, Banks learned that some Confederates had been moved from Port Hudson to support the forces defending Vicksburg, so he sought to move upon the garrison before those troops could be replaced. Banks divided his forces into two columns: one group of three divisions approaching Port Hudson from Alexandria to the north, and a second column of two divisions advancing north from Baton Rouge. By May 21st, the columns had combined and Banks's force of about 30,000 men surrounded the Port Hudson defenders and outnumbered them four to one.  Banks delayed nearly a week organizing his forces, giving Maj. Gen. Franklin Gardner, in command of the Confederate defenders, time to reinforce his lines and move additional artillery into place. Banks, supported by U.S. Navy gunships, finally attacked on May 27th in a series of uncoordinated and unsuccessful attacks. Another Union attack on June 13th was beaten back, so Banks settled in for a siege.  Soon the defenders exhausted their food and ammunition, and fighting and disease greatly reduced the number of men able to defend the trenches. When Gardner learned that Vicksburg had surrendered on July 4th, he realized that his situation was hopeless and surrendered on July 9th, opening the Mississippi River to Union navigation from its source to New Orleans.

Gettysburg (July 1, 1863 – July 3, 1863)

The Battle of Gettysburg was a significant Union victory considered by many to be the turning point of the Civil War. In the summer of 1863, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee launched his second invasion of the Northern states. Lee sought to capitalize on recent Confederate victories and defeat the Union army on Northern soil, which he hoped would force the Lincoln administration to negotiate for peace. Lee also sought to take the war out of the ravaged Virginia farmland and gather supplies for his Army of Northern Virginia. Using the Shenandoah Valley as cover as he moved north on June 3, Lee was pursued first by Union Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker, and then by Maj. Gen. George G. Meade, who replaced Hooker. Lee's army crossed into Pennsylvania mid-June, and by June 28 had reached the Susquehanna River. The opposing forces collided at the crossroads town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, on the morning of July 1. In severe fighting, the Confederates swept the Federals from the fields west and north of town but were unable to secure Cemetery Hill and Culp's Hill to the south. The following day, as reinforcements arrived on both sides, Lee attacked the Federals all along their line but failed to dislodge the defenders. On July 3, Lee attacked the Union center on Cemetery Ridge and was repulsed with heavy losses in what is now known as Pickett’s Charge. Lee's second invasion of the North had failed and had resulted in an estimated 51,000 casualties on both sides, the bloodiest single battle of the entire war.

Chickamauga (September 18, 1863 – September 20, 1863)

After the successful Tullahoma Campaign, Maj. Gen. William Rosecrans continued the Union offensive, aiming to force Gen. Braxton Bragg’s Confederate army out of Chattanooga.  Through a series of skillful marches towards the Confederate-held city, Rosecrans forced Bragg out of Chattanooga and into Georgia.  Determined to reoccupy the city, Bragg followed the Federals north, brushing with Rosecrans’ army at Davis’ Cross Roads.  While they marched on September 18th, his cavalry and infantry skirmished with Union mounted infantry, who were armed with state-of-the-art Spencer repeating rifles.  Fighting began in earnest on the morning of the 19th near Chickamauga Creek.  Bragg’s men heavily assaulted Rosecrans’ line, but the Union line held.  Fighting resumed the following day. That afternoon, eight fresh brigades from the Army of Northern Virginia under Lieut. Gen. James Longstreet exploited gap in the Federal line, driving one-third of the Rosecrans’ army, including Rosecrans himself, from the field. Only a portion of the Federal army under Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas, staved off disaster by holding Horseshoe Ridge against repeated assaults, allowing the Yankees withdraw after nightfall.  For this action, Thomas earned the nickname “the Rock of Chickamauga.” The defeated Union troops retreated to Chattanooga where they remained until late November. Chickamauga is known as one of the bloodiest battles in the Western Theater.

Chattanooga (November 23, 1863 – November 25, 1863)

After taking charge of the Union’s western armies in October of 1863, Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant focused on lifting the Confederate siege of Chattanooga, Tennessee, which had been in place since the Battle of Chickamauga in September.  Grant opened the “Cracker Line” across the Tennessee River to bring supplies to the beleaguered Army of the Cumberland inside the city, and, in mid-November, brought Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman’s Army of the Tennessee into the city as well.  The Confederates under Maj. Gen. Braxton Bragg had established themselves on Missionary Ridge and Lookout Mountain, both of which had commanding views of the city. On November 23rd, the reinforced Federals began to fight their way out, overrunning Orchard Knob at the base of Missionary Ridge and gaining a foothold for continued attacks against the Confederate line.  The next day, Grant launched an attack on Lookout Mountain and captured it after six hours of fighting. On November 25th, Grant ordered Sherman to attack Tunnel Hill on the ridge east of the city. While Sherman’s initial attack was a failure, a second attack by Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas managed to completely break the center of the Confederate line along Missionary Ridge. This third victory in three days compelled a Confederate withdrawal and opened up the deep South to a Union invasion.

Mansfield (April 8, 1864)

The Red River Campaign of 1864 was one General-in-Chief Ulysses S. Grant's initiatives to apply simultaneous pressure on Confederate armies along five separate fronts from Louisiana to Virginia.  In addition to defeating the defending Confederate army, the campaign sought to confiscate cotton stores from plantations along the river and to give support to pro-Union governments in Louisiana. By early April, Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks' Union army was about 150 miles up the Red River threatening Shreveport. Confederate Maj. Gen. Richard Taylor sought to strike a blow at the Federals and slow their advance. He established a defensive position just below Mansfield, near Sabine Crossroads, an important road junction. On April 8th, Banks’s men approached, driving Confederate cavalry before them. For the rest of the morning, the Federals probed the Rebel lines. In late afternoon, Taylor, though outnumbered, decided to attack. His men made a determined assault on both flanks, rolling up one and then another of Banks’s divisions. Finally, about three miles from the original contact, a third Union division met Taylor’s attack at 6:00 pm and halted it after more than an hour's fighting. That night, Taylor unsuccessfully attempted to turn Banks’s right flank. Banks withdrew but met Taylor again on April 9th at Pleasant Hill. Mansfield was the decisive battle of the Red River Campaign, influencing Banks to retreat back southward toward Alexandria.

The Wilderness (May 5, 1864 – May 7, 1864)

The first battle between Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and Gen. Robert E. Lee erupted late in the morning of May 5, 1864, as Maj. Gen. Gouverneur K. Warren's Union V Corps attacked Lt. Gen. Richard S. Ewell’s Second Corps on the Orange Turnpike southwest of the old Chancellorsville battlefield. Although Federal infantry managed to break through at several points, the Confederate line held. Fighting shifted to the south as Lt. Gen. A.P. Hill's Third Corps engaged Maj. Gen. Winfield S. Hancock's II Corps and elements of Maj. Gen. John Sedgwick's VI Corps for control of the Orange Plank Road and Brock Road intersection. Darkness brought an end to the fighting with Hancock in firm control of the junction. At daylight on May 6, Hancock attacked west along the Orange Plank Road and smashed through Hill's line. Fortunately for Lee, reinforcements arrived under Lt. Gen. James Longstreet in time to stabilize the position. A series of Confederate attacks throughout the day pushed back the Union infantry, however, Lee was unable to break the Federal line. Rather than pull back, Grant elected to continue the campaign. He issued orders on the morning of May 7 to disengage and march southeast to Spotsylvania Court House to get between Lee and Richmond.

Spotsylvania Court House (May 8, 1864 – May 21, 1864)

Following the Battle of the Wilderness, Lieut. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant marched the Union army south with the hope of capturing Spotsylvania Court House and preventing Robert E. Lee's army from retreating further. Lee, however, managed to get ahead of the Federals and blocked their pusuit. Fighting began on May 8, when the Union V Corps under Maj. Gen. Gouverneur K. Warren and the VI Corps under Maj. Gen. John Sedgwick engaged Confederate Maj. Gen. Richard Anderson's First Corps at Laurel Hill. Sedgwick was killed by a Confederate sharpshooter. The Rebels held the hill and extended their lines further east into a “mule shoe” shaped salient. On May 10, Grant attacked the entire line with elements of four Union army corps, adding Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside's IX Corps to the fight on the Confederate right. Early on the morning of May 12, the Union II Corps under Maj. Gen. Winfield S. Hancock attacked the salient in some of the most violent fighting of the war. Burnside on the Union left and Warren on the right attacked as well. Timely Confederate reinforcements constructed a new defensive line. Bloody hand-to-hand fighting continued as both sides shifted their lines to the southeast. Grant attacked again on May 18 and Lee attacked May 19 at the Harris Farm. Lee withdrew to the North Anna River the next day, beginning the next phase of the Overland Campaign.

Cold Harbor (May 31, 1864 – June 12, 1864)

After two days of inconclusive fighting along Totopotomoy Creek northeast of Richmond, Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and Gen. Robert E. Lee turned their sights on the crossroads of Cold Harbor. Roads emanating through this critical junction led to Richmond as well as supply and reinforcement sources for the Union army. On May 31, 1864, Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan’s cavalry captured Cold Harbor. The next day, Sheridan held the crossroads against a Confederate attack. With reinforcements from both armies arriving on the field, Grant launched an assault on the evening of June 1 with the VI and XVIII Corps. The Union infantry gained ground which emboldened Grant to launch another assault two days later. Before dawn on June 3, elements from five Union army corps attacked the Confederate entrenchments, only to be massacred by Lee's infantry. Both sides remained in place for a week. Unable to destroy Lee, Grant decided to disengage and move on the Confederate rail center of Petersburg in the middle of June.

Petersburg (June 15, 1864 – June 18, 1864)

As the Overland Campaign concluded, the strategic goals of Lieut. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant shifted from the defeat of Robert E. Lee's army in the field to eliminating the supply and communication routes to the Confederate capital at Richmond.  The city of Petersburg, 24 miles south of Richmond, was the junction point of five railroads that supplied the entire upper James River region. Grant knew Petersburg was the key to the capture of Richmond and that Lee would be forced to defend it. Marching south from Cold Harbor, Maj. Gen. George G. Meade’s Army of the Potomac began crossing the James River on transports and a 2,200-foot long pontoon bridge at Windmill Point on June 14th. Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler’s Army of the James crossed the Appomattox River and attacked the Petersburg defenses on June 15th. The 5,400 defenders under command of Gen. Pierre G. T. Beauregard were driven from their first line of entrenchments back to Harrison Creek. On June 16th, the Second Corps captured another section of the Confederate line; on the 17th, the Ninth Corps gained more ground. Beauregard stripped the Howlett Line around Bermuda Hundred to defend the city, and Lee rushed reinforcements from other elements of the Army of Northern Virginia. The Second, Ninth, and Fifth Corps from right to left attacked on June 18th but were repulsed with heavy casualties. By this point, the Confederate works were heavily manned and the greatest opportunity to capture Petersburg without a siege was lost.

The Crater (July 30, 1864)

Two weeks after Union forces arrived to invest the Confederate defenders of Petersburg, the battle lines of both sides had settled into a stalemate. Since Cold Harbor, Lieut. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant was reluctant to mount a frontal attack against well-entrenched Confederates. By late June, Grant's lines covered most of the eastern approaches to Petersburg, but neither side seemed ready to risk an offensive move. Part of the Union line was held by Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside's Ninth Corps. Some of Burnside's men were Pennsylvania miners, and they approached Burnside with a plan.  They would tunnel underground from behind Union lines to a point underneath a Confederate position and fill the mine with explosives. When detonated, the resulting explosion would destroy a portion of the Rebel lines that could be exploited by infantry. Grant demurred but the digging began. On July 30th, after weeks of preparation, the Federals exploded the mine beneath a Confederate salient, blowing a gap in the defenses. At that point, everything deteriorated rapidly for the Union attackers. Unit after unit, most of whom were U. S. Colored Troops, charged into and around the crater, where most of them milled in confusion in the bottom of the crater. The Confederates quickly recovered and launched several counterattacks led by Maj. Gen. William Mahone. The break was sealed off, and the Federals were repulsed with severe casualties. Most of the black soldiers were badly mauled. Instead of ending the siege, both sides settled in for eight months of trench warfare. Burnside was relieved of command for his role in the debacle.

Mobile Bay (August 2, 1864 – August 23, 1864)

In the late summer of 1864, a Union combined Army-Navy force began operations to close Mobile Bay to blockade-running vessels from the port city of Mobile, Alabama. On August 3, infantry and cavalrymen under Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger landed on Dauphin Island and laid siege to Fort Gaines west of the main ship channel. Two days later, Rear Admiral David G. Farragut’s fleet of eighteen ships, including four ironclad monitors, entered Mobile Bay and received devastating fire from both Fort Gaines and Fort Morgan, east of the channel. Farragut's fleet successfully navigated the narrow, torpedo-filled passage, losing only the ironclad USS Tecumseh. After passing both forts, Farragut engaged a Confederate naval force inside the harbor under Adm. Franklin Buchanan, including the ironclad ram CSS Tennessee, and forced it to surrender. Without naval support, the garrisons of both forts were vulnerable and were forced to capitulate. The loss of the Confederate fleet and forts shut down the port, although the city of Mobile would not surrender until April, 1865.

Jonesborough (August 31, 1864 – September 1, 1864)

By late August 1864, the city of Atlanta was not yet subdued by Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman's armies. A few supply lines remained open to the city supporting the army of Lieut. Gen. John B. Hood encircled there. Union cavalry raids inflicted only superficial damage, quickly repaired by the Confederates. Sherman determined that if he could destroy the Macon & Western and Atlanta & West Point Railroads to the south the Rebel army would be forced to evacuate the city. On August 25, Union infantry began moving towards the railroad near Jonesborough. To counter Sherman, Hood sent Lieut. Gen. William J. Hardee with two corps to halt the Union movement. On August 31, Hardee attacked west of Jonesborough but was easily repulsed. Fearing a direct attack on Atlanta, Hood withdrew one corps from Hardee’s force that night. The next day, a Union attack broke through Hardee’ s troops which retreated south. That evening, Hood finally evacuated Atlanta, which surrendered to Federal troops on September 2. Sherman had finally won the strategically important Confederate city, but had not defeated the Army of Tennessee.

Third Winchester (September 19, 1864)

To clear the Shenandoah River valley of Confederates, Maj. Gen. Phil Sheridan moved on Winchester in mid-September 1864. Sheridan’s force of over 39,000 men was more than twice the size of Maj. Gen. Jubal Early's Confederate army defending the valley. After Brig. Gen. Joseph Kershaw’s division left Winchester to rejoin Robert E. Lee’s army at Petersburg, Early renewed his raids on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad at Martinsburg in the lower valley, dispersing his four remaining infantry divisions. On September 19th, Sheridan advanced toward Winchester along the Berryville Pike with Maj. Gen. Horatio Wright's Sixth Corps and Brig. Gen. William Emory's Nineteenth Corps, crossing Opequon Creek east of town. The Union advance was delayed long enough for Early to concentrate his forces to meet the main assault, which continued for several hours. Casualties were very heavy. The Confederate veteran divisions fought hard but their line was gradually driven back toward the town, anchored around the defensive works at Fort Collier. By mid-afternoon, Brig. Gen. George Crook’s Eighth Corps and two Union cavalry divisions under Brig. Gen. Alfred Torbert turned the Confederate left flank. Early ordered a general retreat. Confederate generals Robert Rodes and Archibald Goodwin were killed, and generals Fitzhugh Lee, William Terry and William Wharton were wounded. Union Brig. Gen. David Russell was killed, and generals John McIntosh, Emory Upton, and George Chapman were wounded. Because of its size, intensity, and result, many historians consider this the most important conflict of the Shenandoah Valley.

Cedar Creek (October 19, 1864)

In the late summer of 1864, Maj. Gen. Phil Sheridan was given command of the Union Army of the Shenandoah by Grant, with orders to root out the remaining Southern resistance in the Valley and deny the Confederacy the benefit of the area's food and supplies. From late September to early October, Sheridan's men aggressively burned barns, mills, and crops that could be used to feed Rebel armies. The Confederate force in the valley, Gen. Jubal A. Early's Army of the Valley, had been unsuccessful in slowing Sheridan since the recent Union victories at Third Winchester, Fisher's Hill and Tom's Brook. By mid-October, Early was determined to strike Sheridan. The Confederate army was camped near Strasburg, and the Union men were in camps along the east bank of Cedar Creek. Early executed a surprise attack early on October 19, 1864 and drove first one, then another, then a third Union Corps from the field. As Early paused to reorganize, Sheridan arrived after a dramatic ride from his headquarters in Winchester just in time to rally his troops and launch a crushing counterattack, from which Early’s forces could not recover. Sheridan’s victory at Cedar Creek extinguished any hope of further Confederate offensives in the Shenandoah Valley, and was one of the Union victories in late 1864 that helped ensure President Abraham Lincoln's reelection that November.

Franklin (November 30, 1864)

After allowing Maj. Gen. John Schofield’s Army of the Ohio to pass him near Spring Hill, Tennessee, the previous morning, Lt. Gen. John Bell Hood led his 30,000-man Army of Tennessee to the outskirts of Franklin on November 30th. Schofield's army had constructed a strong defensive line south of the town. Hood took a position two miles south of Schofield, with open, rolling farm land between them, and prepared to attack.  At 4:00 p.m., over 20,000 Confederates moved forward east and west of the Columbia Pike. Despite delivering a destructive fire, the Federal defenders on the outer line gave way and fell back into their second line closer to Franklin.  Some of the heaviest fighting of the war ensued as Hood's men plowed into the Union position. The Confederates achieved a temproary breakthrough near the Carter House, but the Federals were saved by timely reinforcements. Confederate Gen. Stephen D. Lee's corps reenforced Hood's left, but the Union position held and Hood’s forces were driven back with heavy losses.  The bloody assault cost Hood nearly 7,000 casualties, including six dead Confederate generals.  Schofield withdrew to Nashville where he and Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas's army would engage Hood one last time.

Nashville (December 15, 1864 – December 16, 1864)

Despite a series of defeats in the closing days of November, 1864, Confederate Lieut. Gen. John Bell Hood continued to drag his bloodied Army of Tennessee, approximately 30,000 strong, north towards Nashville. The city was protected by 55,000 Union soldiers, which should have precluded further offensive operations, but Hood was determined and his situation was dire. Hood reached Nashville on December 2nd and staked out a position south of the city, hoping to draw the Union forces into a costly attack. Ulysses S. Grant and Abraham Lincoln urged Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas to attack but he delayed for nearly two weeks, citing freezing weather and limited cavalry support. On December 15th, Thomas finally moved forward. The Union plan called for a demonstration on the Confederate right while the main assault struck a cluster of earthen redoubts on the Confederate left. The diversionary attack broke against artillery posted along present-day Battery Lane. To the west, fierce close-range combat erupted as Thomas’s men swept over the redoubts. That night, Hood retreated two miles further south. Thomas renewed the attack the next afternoon. After several hours of fighting, Brig. Gen. John McArthur broke through the Confederate left at Shy’s Hill. Hood ordered a hasty retreat south, and only a skillful rearguard action allowed his army to escape. The Union victory at Nashville shattered Hood's Army of Tennessee and effectively ended the war in Tennessee.

Fort Fisher (January 13, 1865 – January 15, 1865)

By January 1865, Fort Fisher on the North Carolina shore was the last coastal stronghold of the Confederacy. The fort protected blockade running vessels entering and departing Wilmington, the South's last open seaport on the Atlantic coast. Maj. Gen. Alfred Terry was placed in command of a Provisional Corps from the Army of the James, and was supported by a Navy and Marine Corps force of nearly 60 vessels under Rear Adm. David D. Porter. Terry's orders were to renew operations against the fort that had failed in December. He had previously commanded in operations against Charleston, so he knew the effectiveness of Army-Navy cooperation. Terry's plan combined a two-pronged infantry assault with a naval bombardment. One division of U.S. Colored Troops under Brig. Gen. Charles J. Paine would attack Maj. Gen. Robert Hoke's infantry line north of the fort, and a second division under Brig. Gen. Adelbert Ames, along with Porter's Marines and some sailors, would attack the earth and sand walls of the fort itself. Terry's infantry landed unopposed on January 13th, and two days later, after a naval bombardment, Union forces attacked. Hoke put up little resistance, so Paine's men joined Ames' brigades. After heavy fighting, Ames eventually gained the inside of the fort, and the Navy's heavy guns silenced the Confederate batteries. The garrison of the Confederate "Gibraltar of the South" surrendered late that evening, opening the way for a Federal thrust against Wilmington.

Bentonville (March 19, 1865 – March 21, 1865)

After his march to the sea, Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman headed north in early 1865 to unite with Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s army in Virginia. Only Confederate Gen. Joseph Johnston’s army stood between Sherman and Grant. After briefly blocking Sherman’s advance at Averasboro, North Carolina on March 16, Johnston struck Maj. Gen. Henry Slocum's wing of Sherman’s army near Bentonville on March 19. The Confederates ran into stiff resistance, as Slocum established a defensive position. Johnston's assaults continued throughout the day but were unable to dislodge the Federals. Sherman arrived on March 20 with Maj. Gen. Oliver O. Howard's army wing to join Slocum. Johnston reformed his line with his flanks on Mill Creek as both sides skirmished with each other. On the afternoon of March 21, a Union reconnaissance in force on Johnston's left threatened to cut of Johnston's retreat. A series of desperate Confederate counterattacks pushed the Federals back and stabilized the line. That night, Johnston retreated across Mill Creek covered by his cavalry. Sherman elected not to pursue Johnston and moved to Goldsboro. The last battle of the war for Sherman's army, the Union victory at Bentonville forced Johnston's surrender at the Bennett farmstead on April 26.

Fort Stedman (March 25, 1865)

By March of 1865, Lieut. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's grip on the Confederate lines around Petersburg was having its desired effect. Outnumbered and weakened by disease, desertion and shortage of food and supplies, Gen. Robert E. Lee had few options. After careful study of the Union troops in his sector of the line, Maj. Gen. John B. Gordon suggested to Lee the possibility of a successful offensive strike against Grant. In front of Gordon's men, Union-held Fort Stedman seemed the best target for a Confederate attack.  It was relatively close the Rebel lines, it was lightly fortified, and a Union supply depot was directly behind it.  With luck, a large force could penetrate Union defenses there and move on Grant's supply base and headquarters 10 miles away at City Point. Planned and led by Gordon, the pre-dawn assault on March 25th overpowered the garrisons of Fort Stedman and Batteries 10, 11 and 12. The Confederates were brought under a killing crossfire, and counterattacks led by Maj. Gen. John G. Parke's Ninth Corps contained the breakthrough and captured more than 1,900 of the attackers. Elsewhere, elements of the Second and Sixth Corps southwest of Petersburg assaulted and captured the Confederate picket lines in their respective fronts, which had been weakened to support the assault on Fort Stedman. The loss was a devastating blow for Lee’s army, setting up the Confederate defeat at Five Forks on April 1st and the fall of Petersburg on April 2-3rd.

Five Forks (April 1, 1865)

The Union victory along the White Oak Road on March 31st threatened to destabilize the entire Confederate line west of Petersburg. General Robert E. Lee ordered Maj. Gen. George Pickett with his infantry division and the cavalry divisions of Col. Thomas Munford, Maj. Gen. W.H.F. Lee, and Maj. Gen Thomas Rosser to hold the vital crossroads of Five Forks, along the White Oak Road five miles west of the previous fighting there. Pickett's defensive line was not well constructed, and much of his cavalry force was posted in wooded areas where it was difficult to maneuver. On the afternoon of April 1st, while Maj. Gen. Phil Sheridan’s Union cavalry under Maj. Gen. Wesley Merritt pinned the right flank of the Confederate force in position, the Fifth Corps under Maj. Gen. Gouverneur K. Warren attacked and overwhelmed the Confederate left flank, taking many prisoners. Sheridan personally directed portions of the Fifth Corps attack, while Pickett was absent from the front having a lunch when Warren's men struck. The last part of the Confederate line to collapse was the center at the road junction, held by artillery until overrun by Union cavalry. Young Colonel “Willie” Pegram, beloved Confederate artillery officer, was mortally wounded there. The loss of Five Forks threatened Lee’s last supply line, the South Side Railroad. The next morning, Lee informed President Jefferson Davis that Petersburg and Richmond must be evacuated.

Fort Blakeley (April 2, 1865 – April 9, 1865)

After the Atlanta and Georgia Campaigns of late 1864, Union commanders looked to wipe out remaining Confederate forces in the deep south, including those defending Mobile, Alabama. In the last week of March, 1865, the Union XVI and XIII corps under Maj. Gen. Edward R. S. Canby moved north along the eastern shore of Mobile Bay toward Confederate defenders at Spanish Fort, arriving there March 27. Brig. Gen. St. John R. Liddell, with about 3,000 men supported by gunboats, held out against the much larger Union force until Spanish Fort fell on April 8, allowing Canby to concentrate 16,000 men for the attack on nearby Fort Blakeley the next day. After a brief fight, Union troops breached the Confederate earthworks compelling the defenders to surrender. Around 5,000 African-American forces played a major role in the successful Union assault. The capture of Fort Blakeley was the last combined-force battle of the war, fought the same day Robert E. Lee surrendered his army at Appomattox.

Petersburg Breakthrough (April 2, 1865)

With the Confederate defeat at Five Forks on April 1st, Lieut. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and Maj. Gen. George Meade ordered a general assault against the Petersburg lines by the Second, Ninth, Sixth and Twenty-Fourth Corps to take place April 2nd. In the pre-dawn darkness, the Union infantry gained a successful breakthrough where Maj. Gen. Horatio G. Wright's advancing Sixth Corps met the Confederate lines held by Maj. Gen. A. P. Hill near the Boydton Plank Road. Hill was killed trying to reach his troops in the confusion. A heroic defense of Fort Gregg by about 600 Confederates against nearly 5,000 Federals prevented Union forces from entering the city that evening. Wright's breakthrough and the subsequent follow-up troops surged north and severed the South Side Railroad near Petersburg. The Union Army now had access to the Appomattox River and were free to cross the next day to threaten Lee’s communications on the north side of the river. After dark, Lee informed President Jefferson Davis that he could "hold his position no longer," and that Petersburg and Richmond must be evacuated. Grant had finally achieved one of the major military objectives of the war: the capture of Petersburg, which led directly to the loss of the Confederate capital at Richmond, which finally fell on April 3rd.

Appomattox Court House (April 9, 1865)

Harried mercilessly by Federal troops and continually cut off from turning south to reach Gen. Joseph Johnston's army in North Carolina, General Robert E. Lee headed west along the Appomattox River, eventually arriving in Appomattox County on April 8th. His objective was the South Side Railroad at Appomattox Station where food supplies awaited. Union cavalry under Brig. Gen. George A. Custer reached them first, capturing then burning three supply trains. Lee hoped for more supplies further west at Lynchburg, so he refused written requests by Grant to surrender his army. On the morning of April 9th, Maj. Gen. John B. Gordon's corps attacked Union cavalry under Maj. Gen. Phil Sheridan not far from the county courthouse. Realizing the cavalry was supported by two Union army corps, and unable to link up with Lieut. Gen. James Longstreet's corps, Gordon stopped. Lee’s army was trapped. Messages were soon exchanged and Lee and Grant agreed to meet at the Wilmer McLean home at Appomattox Courthouse that afternoon.  There, the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia was signed. Three days later, a formal ceremony marked the disbanding of Lee's army and the parole of his men, ending the war in Virginia. The events here triggered similar surrenders across the south, ending the fighting of the Civil War.