List of all American Civil War battles
These are the military engagements in the Eastern and Western theaters. The Trans-Mississippi (Missouri and Arkansas), Lower Seaboard theaters, and fighting farther west is not included. The Union Naval Blockade is mentioned.
1861
Fort Sumter (Charleston, SC harbor - April 12) The Confederates shell Fort Sumter and the fort surrenders. Three days later, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln calls for 75,000 volunteers to squash the rebellion. Over 100,000 men respond. The Civil War has begun.
Manassas (Bull Run) I (July 21) Confederates route the Union Army
Missouri & Arkansas - 1861 - 1862
1862
Eastern Theater
The (Shenandoah) Valley Campaign (3/23 - 6/9) The army under Stonewall Jackson defeats three Union armies in the Valley securing the "bread basket of the South" for the Confederacy.
Kernstown - Jackson driven from field but Union must stay in Valley and can't support the
Peninsula campaign. Jackson has a sub-commander map the Valley for him.
McDowell - Jackson defeats Robert H. Milroy's 6,500 man army.
Peninsula campaign. Jackson has a sub-commander map the Valley for him.
McDowell - Jackson defeats Robert H. Milroy's 6,500 man army.
Fort Royal - Jackson defeats John Kenly's 1,000 men.
Winchester - Jackson defeats Bank's 6,500 men. Banks leaves the valley.
Cross Keys - Lincoln sent Generals John C. Frémont and Irwin MacDowell to support Banks in the Valley.
Jackson defeats Frémont's army of twice as many men.
Port Republic - Jackson defeats MacDowell's division under Eratus Tyler.
The Union has to leave the Valley and Jackson can move to help Lee on the Peninsula.
Jackson defeats Frémont's army of twice as many men.
Port Republic - Jackson defeats MacDowell's division under Eratus Tyler.
The Union has to leave the Valley and Jackson can move to help Lee on the Peninsula.
The Richmond (Peninsula) Campaign & the Seven Days - (6/3 - 7/1) General George McClellan lands his 100,000 man army on the Virginia peninsula and proceeds slowly and over-cautiously to with 10 miles of Richmond. Not popular Robert E. ("Granny") Lee is put in command of Confederate forces after General Joseph Johnston is injured. In 7 days (6/26 - 7/1) Lee pushes McClellan back off the Peninsula, saving Richmond and becoming a hero. But Lee's army takes many casualties.
Coastal Theater - Naval Blockade - In 1861 the Union begins constructing ships and attempts to blockade southern ports. This would not be very effective until 1863, but on April 29, 1862 the Union takes control of New Orleans at the mouth of the Mississippi River.
Western Theater - Union armies push south into Tennessee taking control of the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers and control of the Mississippi as far south as Memphis by June 6. Three victories - Fort Henry, Fort Donaldson, and Shiloh - are led by a relative unknown Union general, Ulysses S. Grant. As Commander in the West, Grant directed General William S. Rosecrans in defeating Confederates at Iuka (9/19) and Corinth (10/3-4) in northern Mississippi.
Eastern Theater
The Maryland Campaign - Jackson wins at Cedar Mountain in Culpeper on 8/9, joins Lee for second Confederate victory at Manassas 8/28-30. Jackson then hits Harpers Ferry on 9/15 then meets Lee for the Battle of Antietam on 9/17. Largely a stalemate, both sides take huge losses, but Lee must return to Virginia to regroup. Lincoln fires McClellan for not pursuing Lee.
Battle of Antietam Creek
The Emancipation Proclamation is announced on September 22, 1862 giving Confederates until the end of the year to quit fighting or Lincoln would free the slaves in the still rebelling states.
Kentucky & Tennessee, late 1862:
Battle of Perryville, Oct 8, 1862. Confederates arguably win a strategic victory in this deadly battle, but withdraw to Tennessee afterwards. The Union retains control of Kentucky for the remainder of the war.
After stopping a Confederate advance at Iuka, Mississippi on September 19, the Union Army soundly defeats another Confederate army at Corinth, Mississippi on October 3-4, opening a pathway to Vicksburg.
Fredericksburg - (12/13) Confederate troops under Lee slaughter Union troops. Confederates felt they had avenged the wanton destruction of fleeing Fredericksburg civilians' private property.
Confederate morale rises sharply as Union morale sinks.
1863
Eastern Theater
Chancellorsville (5/1 - 5) In 5 days, Lee, plus Jackson, route the Union Army of the Potomac now under General Joseph Hooker. Lee's tactical maneuvering is still admired by military historians to this day. Stonewall Jackson is shot by friendly fire while checking on his troops and dies on May 10.
The Pennsylvania Campaign
Brandy Station - Culpeper County (June 9) J.E.B. Stuart's cavalry is spotted and engaged by Union cavalry in the the largest cavalry engagement of the war. The results were inconclusive, but the Union found out Lee's army was on the move.
Second Battle of Winchester, Va (June 14 - 15). Richard Ewell defeats the Union garrison and meets with Lee to move into Pennsylvania. J.E.B. Stuart's cavalry takes a circular route and is unable to give Lee the intelligence he needs. Lee encounters unexpected Union troops at Gettysburg.
Gettysburg (July 1 - 3) a deadly three day battle ends in Confederate defeat when Lee sends General George Picket's men across an open field to attack Union general George Meade's troops holding the high ground. Like McClellan, Meade lets Lee head back to Virginia unmolested.
Western Theater
The Vicksburg (Mississippi) Campaign ends in Confederate surrender on July 4 after six months of Union operations against the town, the last three months of which are commanded by U.S. Grant. The Union now controls the whole Mississippi river. Northerner morale soars because of Gettysburg and Vicksburg.
Chickamauga (9/18 - 20) and Chattanooga (Nov 24 -25). Confederate general Braxton Bragg defeats Rosecrans in one of the war's bloodiest battles. Bragg then tries to lay siege to Union held Chattanooga taking position on Lookout Mountain. General George Thomas' Army of the Cumberland, now directed by Grant, charge up Lookout Mountain and chase away the Confederates. Jefferson Davis replaces Bragg with Joseph Johnston and tells him to keep the Union armies in northern Georgia. Johnston retreats all the way to Atlanta, giving the Union access to the city.
1864
Early Spring - Lincoln puts U.S. Grant in charge of all the Union armies. Grant devises a master strategy to defeat the Confederacy including capturing the Shenandoah Valley, taking Atlanta and going after Robert E. Lee's Army. (William Tecumseh Sherman, Grant's second in command in the Western theater, is promoted to ranking commander there). It is Sherman's assignment to take Atlanta. Meanwhile, Grant joins George Meade in Culpeper County to reorganize and train the Army of the Potomac. Grant will ride along with Meade, to "whisper in his ear" as they go after Lee.
Eastern Theater
The Overland Campaign (May 5 - June 18) In six battles (the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, North Anna, Cold Harbor) Grant and Meade drive Lee south to Petersburg where in several more battles, they lay siege to Petersburg through March 1865, effectively keeping Lee's Army of Northern Virginia out of action for the rest of the war as Lee runs defense lines from Petersburg to Richmond (25 miles) to protect the capital of the Confederacy. But Grant takes huge casualties, demoralizing the northern home front and putting Lincoln's re-election in November at risk. Lincoln is in need of some obvious military successes.
The (2nd Shenandoah) Valley campaign (July 9 to October 19). The campaign goes badly for the north until September as Jubal Early strikes at the Union armies. Then Grant put Philip Sheridan in charge of the valley instructing him to destroy Early and the valley's food supply until "a crow traveling the length of the valley will have to carry its provender in its beak." Sheridan battles the Confederate armies while destroying the valley's crops and finally destroys Early's army at Cedar Creek on October 19.
The Coastal Theater - The Blockade 1863 - 1865
Mobile Bay, Alabama (8/5) - As the Union Navy takes more control of the southern coastline, Admiral David Farragut "damns the torpedoes" and goes full speed ahead capturing the last significant port in the deep South.
The Western Theater
The Atlanta Campaign (May - Sept 1) William Tecumseh Sherman, with three armies totaling 100,000 men, battles Joseph Johnston's 60,000 man army and Johnston retreats into Atlanta. An angry Jefferson Davis replaces Johnston with John Bell Hood as Sherman lays siege to the city. Sherman, after allowing citizens to leave, has the city shelled and picks away at Hood's defense lines. On 9/1 Hood evacuates the city, setting fire to resources Sherman might use. The fire gets out of control and burn much of the city. On 9/2, Sherman's army enters Atlanta and destroys anything left that could aid the Confederacy.
The 1864 Election (Nov 6) Because of Sherman's, Sheridan's and Farragut's successes, northern morale rebounded and Lincoln was elected with 55% of the vote. In effect, this would give Lincoln four more years to win the war. But only six more months were necessary.
The March to the Sea (11/15 - 12/21). After leaving Atlanta, Hood takes the Army of Tennessee to Tennessee hoping to get Sherman to leave Atlanta. Instead, Sherman send General George Thomas and 40,000 of his men to go after Hood. Thomas and John Schofield crush Hood's army at Franklin (11/30) and Nashville (12/15-16)
Meanwhile, Sherman proposed to Grant that he take his other 60,000 men 250 miles across northern Georgia to Savannah in 4 columns totaling 60 miles in width. The army would be breaking its supply chain and living off the land (citizen's orchards, grain and meat). Grant convinces Lincoln to let Sherman try it. Sherman will destroy telegraph and railroad lines, bridges, cotton mills, munition factories, and barn loads of grain the Confederate armies could use.
This was also a psychological tactic to convince southerners of the futility of continuing the war as there were no Confederate armies to stop Sherman. Liberated slaves (maybe 10,000) followed Sherman creating difficulty as Sherman could not feed them. Hunger and disease may have killed over 100 of them.
Sherman arrived in Savannah four days before Christmas. Savannah promptly surrendered and Sherman telegraphed Lincoln that he is presenting Savannah to him as a Christmas present.
1865
Sherman in the Carolinas (Feb - April 26) After a month's rest, Sherman headed north to meet up with Grant at Petersburg to finish off Lee's Army. Grant had been destroying railroad lines to prevent food from reaching Lee. Lee's men were starving, living off of about 300 calories a day.
When Sherman reached Columbia, SC on 2/17 he had his men destroy the plantations of southern secessionists who had promoted the war. Sherman also destroyed everything of military value in Columbia. The city of Columbia caught on fire, and Sherman has long been accused of having ordered it burned. But evidence does not support this claim; its more likely that Confederate soldiers accidentally set Columbia on fire as they had Atlanta and would do again evacuating Richmond. The Confederates evacuated Charleston, where the war began on 2/18.
Sherman then continued into North Carolina where he scattered the remnants of Hood's Army of Tennessee on 4/26, then back under the command of Joseph Johnston.
Lee had evacuated Petersburg a few weeks earlier and Grant had pursued him west to Appomattox Courthouse where Lee surrendered to Grant on April 9. For all intent and purposes, the Civil Was over.
Abraham Lincoln was shot at Ford's Theater in Washington D.C. on Friday April 14th and died the following morning.
Lincoln had helped get the 13th Amendment, which permanently abolished slavery, passed in the House of Representatives on January 31 (it had passed the Senate in 1864). It was ratified by the states on December 6, 1865.
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