THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR, THE ARMY OF VIRGINIA AND THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC 1861-1865

More Americans died fighting in the Civil War than in any other conflict in our country's history.

Revised March 30,2001

Special thanks and credit for many of the links found on this page must be given to the National Parks Service and The American Battlefield Protection Program--Civil War Battlefield Summaries.

 

Table of Contents

1861-1862	Grant's Overland Campaign
Jackson's Valley Campaign	The Battle of New Market (Virginia)
Peninsula Campaign	Early's Raid
Seven Days	Richmond-Petersburg Campaign
Northern Virginia Campaign	Sheridan's Valley Campaign
Maryland Campaign	Richmond to Appomattox, 1865
Fredericksburg	Abraham Lincoln
Chancellorsville Campaign	Civil War Sites of Interest
Battle of Brandy Station	Page Dedication--E-Mail
Gettysburg Campaign

1861-62

Secession of the Confederate States

• The First Wave of Secession--Within weeks of Lincoln's election, the Deep South states, led by perennial firebrand South Carolina, had seceded.
• Ordinances of Secession of the 13 Confederate States of America--AN ORDINANCE to dissolve the union between the State of South Carolina and other States united with her under the compact entitled "The Constitution of the United States of America."
• The First Wave of Secession--Within weeks of Lincoln's election, the Deep South states, led by perennial firebrand South Carolina, had seceded.

• April 7 - 12, 1861, And The War Came--Lincoln had made his decision to relieve Forts Sumter and Pickens. Lincoln had set his plan in motion, but its outcome was no longer subject to his control. Already, and still unknown to him, the flagship of the Sumter fleet, the Powhatan, was headed for the wrong fort,Pickens. Furthermore, nature was proving uncooperative. A storm struck the Atlantic just as the Sumter expedition left port, blowing gale winds, rain, and high seas. The ships had to make their way through this"unpropitious" weather to reach Charleston. Most significantly, the action of Confederate officials would also determine the consequences of Lincoln's decision.
• Fort Sumter Attacked--April 12, 1861--At 4:30 a.m. Confederates under Gen. Pierre Beauregard open fire with 50 cannons upon Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina. The Civil War begins.
• Fort Sumter-- Detailed Description, Confederate Military History--The War Begins! Fort Sumter (Confederate Military History, Volume 5, Chapter I)
• The Battle of Fort. Sumter Official Records and Battle Description--The Attack on Fort Sumter (April 12-13, 1861) Gen. Beauregard, in command of the provisional Confederate forces at Charleston, South Carolina, demanded the surrender of the Union garrison.

• Proclamation Calling Militia and Convening Congress--April 15, 1861--Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, in virtue of the power in me vested by the Constitution, and the laws, have thought fit to call forth, and hereby do call forth, the militia of the several States of the Union, to the aggregate number of seventy-five thousand, in order to suppress said combinations, and to cause the laws to be duly executed. The details, for this object, will be immediately communicated to the State authorities through the War Department.
• The Trent Affair--The Illustrated London News, London, Saturday, December 21, 1861--Last week it seemed difficult to obtain attention for any subject save that of the American crisis.

• First Bull Run--July 21, 1861--The Union Army under Gen. Irvin McDowell suffers a defeat at Bull Run 25 miles southwest of Washington. Confederate Gen. Thomas J. Jackson earns the nickname "Stonewall,"as his Brigade resists Union attacks. Union troops fall back to Washington. President Lincoln realizes the war will be long.
• Manassas National Battlefield Park--The American Civil War's Battles of First and Second Manassas (also called Bull Run) were fought here July 21, 1861, and August 28-30, 1862. The 1861 battle was the first test of Northern and Southern military prowess. Here Confederate Brig. Gen. Thomas J. Jackson acquired his nickname "Stonewall."
• First Manassas--"There stands Jackson like a stone wall." On a warm July day in 1861, two great armies of a divided nation clashed for the first time on the fields overlooking Bull Run. Their ranks were filled with enthusiastic young volunteers in colorful new uniforms, gathered together from every part of the country. Confident that their foes would run at the first shot, the raw recruits were thankful that they would not miss the only battle of what would surely be a short war. But any thought of colorful pageantry was suddenly lost in the smoke, din, dirt, and death of the battle.
• Battle of Bull Run--On July 21, 1861 the First Battle of Bull Run occurred. It was the first real major conflict of the American Civil War. A Union army, consisting of 28,000 men, commanded by General McDowell, fought 33,000 Confederates under General Beauregard.
• The Battle of Bull Run--The battle of Bull Run took place in Manassas, Virginia. It proved that the Confederate army was stronger than the Union thought.
• McDowell's 1stManassas OR--COLONEL: I have the honor to submit the following report of the battle of the 21st of July, near Manassas, Va. It has been delayed till this time from the inability of the subordinate commanders to get earlier a true account of the state of their commands.
• WHEAT'S TIGERS Confederate Zouaves at First Manassas--Recruited from New Orleans' teeming waterfront by soldier of fortune Roberdeau Wheat, the 1st Louisiana Special Battalion more than lived up to its pugnacious nickname--Wheat's Tigers--at the First Battle of Manassas.
• 1st Manassas - July 21, 1861--The first major battle of the Civil War was fought at the Manassas railway junction near the Bull Run River. The armies involved were not large by Civil War standards.

View of the battlefield July, 1861

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Jackson's Valley Campaign [March-June 1862]

They called him Stonewall

• Stonewall Jackson's Valley Campaign--Study of the 1862 Campagin, includes links to all the Battles of the Valley Campaign, and explanations to Jackson's movements.
• Shenandoah Valley Campaign--"Stonewall" Jackson had been reinforced to a strength of 17,000 men by a division from Johnston's army commanded by Richard S. Ewell.
• References to the Battle of Kernstown, March 1862--A few days ago I wrote you giving some account of our fight near Winchester. Since that time we have been marching up and down the Valley, one day falling back before the enemy and the next advancing towards him, skirmishing with him almost daily. He is now in strong force about ten miles off. Gen. Jackson has taken a position here, but whether he will fight at this place or not I am unable to say. If he has sufficient force he would not wait to be attacked .
• First Battle of Kernstown--On March 23, 1862, the Rebel forces under Stonewall Jackson struck at the Union forces under the command of Gen. Shields at Kernstown just south of Winchester. It resulted in Jackson's first and only defeat in the Shenandoah. After the battle, his forces retired up the Shenandoah, harrying the Federal advance with its calvary rear guard.
• Battle of Kernstown--Jackson hoped to take the ridge and move beyond the Federals' right flank and cut them off from Winchester.
• Battle of Kernstown--The dogwoods were beginning to blosson on the lower levels of the Shenandoah Valley when Stonewall Jackson struck. "Old Jack", as his troops called him, had been issued formidable orders: block any Federal advance into the Valley and stop the Yankees from shifting reinforcements eastward against Richmond.
• May 16, Report (Battle of McDowell)--Sir--In making my official report of the part borne by my Regt. in the battle near McDowell on the 8th inst., I have to say that when I was ordered to the field, being about one mile distant, I had to pass on a portion of the way, up a very rocky & brushy hollow, which embarrassed the advance of my men greatly, and it being nothing but a defile, and the men having to advance in a single file, the Regt. necessarily stretched out over a long line. They were also much annoyed on the march after entering the field, by the shell from one of the enemies' guns.
• The Battle of McDowell--Jackson's forces suffered about 498 causalities to Milroy's 256. Over one third of Jackson's losses came from the 12th Georgia. Despite the heavy losses, Jackson had achieved an important victory and prevented any joining of Banks and Fremont's forces at Staunton. Jackson wrote to Richmond: "God blessed our arms with victory at McDowell yesterday.
• Battle of McDowell--Maj. Gen. T.J. Jackson marched his army west along the Parkersburg Road to confront two brigades of Frémont's force (Milroy and Schenck), advancing toward the Shenandoah Valley from western Virginia.
• References to the Battle of McDowell (8 May)--It has been a good while since I wrote and the reason is that I have not had an opportunity of writing, and I feel little like it now. We have been constantly marching, fighting, and watching for more than a month; and the consequence is that we are all nearly broken down, with fatigue, loss of sleep, and irregularity in eating.
• The Battle of Front Royal--Jackson and Taylor's brigade arrived at the burning bridge, and quickly crossed it before it collapsed. Upon reaching the other side of the river, Jackson saw the Union troops fleeing toward Winchester.
• Battle at Winchester; 25 May 1862--In making my report of the part acted by the 3rd Brigade in the battle near Winchester on the 25th inst., I have to say that on the morning of the 24th the Brigade left its bivouac four miles south of Front Royal at daylight and marched to Middletown, and thence down the main valley Pike in the direction of Winchester. Owing to delay occasioned by the enemies' skirmishers embarrassing the advance of the head of the column, daylight came upon us near Kernstown, after which we quickly advanced to the mills south of Winchester, at which time a vigorous fire was going on between our own and the enemies' batteries.
• The Battle of First Winchester--Banks, having already lost over 35 percent of his command in the last three days, tried to rally his troops and bring order to their retreat. This was not to happen, as the Union forces covered more than 35 miles in the next 14 hours. They did not stop until they had crossed the Potomac and were once again standing on Union soil.
• Port Republic, Rockingham Co.--The place at which this letter is written is a pretty village near the foot of the Blue Ridge and about twelve miles from Harrisonburg, at the junction of the North and South Rivers, which form the Shenandoah.
• The Battles of Cross Keys and Port Republic--As June 8th came to a close, Jackson was still caught between two Union armies.
• The Battles of Cross Keys --Cluseret began 'feeling out' the Confederate center around 11 AM, in conjunction with Stahel's brigade (the 39th's regular brigade, and the largest under Fremont's command) began their (eventually very costly) assult on the Confederate right.
• "Fulkerson's Estimate of Jackson"--On the 14th of June, 1862, just two weeks before he was killed, Col. Fulkerson, in a letter to his sister-in-law, the wife of his brother Abram, written at Weyer's Cave, Virginia, says--
• 33rd Virginia Volunteer--The 33rd Regiment of Virginia Volunteers was one of the five regiments in the immortal Stonewall Brigade of the Confederate Army.

• The Peninsula Campaign--This saga along the rivers, swamps and fields of Tidewater Virginia is a story of leadership, technology, logistics, strategy and valor known as the Peninsula Campaign.
• The Peninsula Campaign--Confederate Captain Charles Bruce kept his father apprised of conditions during the crucial Peninsula campaign.
• George Brinton McClellan--War Service April, 1861, Maj. Gen. McClellan of Ohio volunteers, commanded Dept. of the Ohio, Rich Mountain, Corrick's Ford, May, 1861, Maj. Gen. in Regular Army, commanded Army of the Potomac, appointed general-in-chief November 1861, Peninsula Campaign, Seven Days, his army was given by Lincoln to Pope, returned after Second Bull Run, Antietam campaign, relieved of active duty, unsuccessful Democratic presidential candidate in 1864.
• Peninsular Campaign--The idea behind the Peninsular Campaign was an advancement of the Union forces into Virginia and to take Richmond.
• THE EASTERN THEATER: THE PENINSULA CAMPAIGN--Following the Federal fiasco at First Manassas, Major General George B. McClellan replaced McDowell as commander of the Federal forces. He whipped the Federal Army of the Potomac into fine fighting trim, but was slow to move the army southward.
• The Peninsula Campaign--Although Pres. Lincoln and others favored the direct overland from Washington to Richmond, Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan delayed any movement of his Army of the Potomac until he could get permission for a more daring approach, transporting his forces to the eastern coast of Virginia and moving up the "Virginia Peninsula" formed by the James and York rivers.
• Siege of Yorktown--Although McClellan considered it a victory many consider the siege and loss, for the Confederate were able to hold the Union soldiers at bay for more than a month. This allowed for Johnston to get reinforcements along with Richmond.
• CAMPAIGNS - 1862 IN THE EAST--By April 1862 McClellan was on the Virginia peninsula with 105,000 men. In the meantime, General Joseph E. Johnston, commanding the Confederate forces in Virginia, had concentrated his small army on the peninsula between McClellan and Richmond. McClellan slowly advanced westward; Johnston, with only 60,000 men, had no choice but to fall back and fight delaying actions. Driving rains turned the country into a vast sea of mud. By the end of May 1862 McClellan's army had reached Seven Pines. The spires of Richmond were visible, nine miles away.
• A Year of Glory-June 1862 - June 1863-The Peninsula Campaign-- On July 27, 1861, Major General George Brinton McClellan assumed command of the disorganized and demoralized Union Army of the Potomac. The Battle of Manassas (Bull Run) had not gone according to anyone's expectations, North or South, but the Union Army had been beaten. By replacing General Irvin McDowell, President Abraham Lincoln hoped to restore order to the chaos. Washington, D.C. was swarming with troops who had retreated from the battlefield, some thirty miles to the west, and McClellan's task was to recreate a cohesive, fighting unit.

• Battle of Seven Days--Lee acted immediately. He strengthened Richmond's defenses, improved his army's organization, replenished supplies and weapons, and made himself known to all his troops. All the while, he was formulating a plan to drive the Union troops from Richmond and gain the upper hand. Lee's actions worked and worked well.
• The Seven Days' Battles--Official Records and Battle(s) Descriptions
• The Seven Days' Battles--Good detailed description with a Confederate slant. Taken from the Confederate Military History.
• PENINSULAR CAMPAIGN--SEVEN DAYS' BATTLES--O.R.-- SERIES I--VOLUME XI/2 [S# 13] --Report of Brig. Gen. James E. B. Stuart, C. S. Army, Commanding Cavalry Brigade, of Operations June 26-- July 10.
• Gaines' Mill--This was the third of the Seven Days' Battles.
• Robert Edward Lee--After serving in western Virginia and South Carolina during the first year of the war, Lee was called to Richmond in March 1862 and became Davis' top military adviser. When Joseph E. Johnston was wounded that May, Davis asked Lee to assume command of what was coming to be known as the Army of Northern Virginia.
• Robert E. Lee--Lee then won a number of victories in the following months. In June of '62, Lee drove the Union army away from the Richmond area in the Seven Days' Battle.
• Richmond National Battlefield Park--Provides many links and pictures of Richmond during the Civil War years.

• SECOND BATTLE OF MANASSAS--In August 1862, Union and Confederate armies converged for a second time on the plains of Manassas.
• A fairly good-looking young fellow--When Capt. Harrison began to talk about Jackson's getting around the right of Pope's Army, reaching Manassas, capturing train loads of rations, clothing and ammunition, sent out from Washington for the Union Army, supplying themselves with those rations and the ammunition sent to be used against them as the saying goes, "I sat right up and took notice."
• Second Battle of Bull Run--To Lee this battle was a great victory, for it drove the Union out of Virginia and Lee than could drive the war up to the North. The Union needed a victory soon.
• Battle of Second Bull Run--The Union army led by General John Pope suffered a loss of 1/4th of 63,000 Union men. He initially failed to realize or recognize the flanking and maneuvering movements of Lee's army.
• Return to the Killing Ground--A heavy, soaking rain fell across northern Virginia on the night of August 30-31, 1862. Despite the storm's intensity, it could not wash away the bloodstains that reddened the fields and wood lots along Bull Run Creek. On the two previous days, more than 100,000 Northerners and Southerners had killed and maimed each other. If General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia had a single crucible that forged it into one of history's finest commands, it was perhaps this familiar killing ground at Manassas.
• Second Battle of Bull Run--After the failure of the Peninsular campaign, Lincoln named Henry W. Halleck General-In-Chief of the Union armies. The Army of Virginia was organized in June 1862. General John Pope, a former subordinate of Halleck's, was put in command of the new army. Halleck ordered McClellan to bring his men back to Washington, where he was to join with the forces under Pope.
• The Second Battle of Bull Run--The Second Battle of Bull Run was fought on August 29th and 30th, 1862 near Bull Run.
• The Battle of 2nd Manassas--In order to draw Pope's army into battle, Jackson ordered an attack on a Federal column that was passing across his front on the Warrenton Turnpike on August 28. The fighting at Brawner Farm lasted several hour and resulted in a stalemate. Pope became convinced that he had trapped Jackson and concentrated the bulk of his army against him.

Major General Fitz-John Porter's V Corps finally attacks "Stonewall" Jackson's position on the afternoon of August 30, 1862--one day too late, according to Maj. Gen. John Pope. The humiliating Federal defeat would result in controversy and court-martial.

• The Battle of Antietam--Antietam resulted in nine times as many Americans killed or wounded (22,726 soldiers) as took place on June 6, 1944--D-Day.
• Antietam--Sept .17, 1862--The bloodiest day in U.S. military history as Gen. Robert E. Lee and the Confederate Armies are stopped at Antietam in Maryland by McClellan and numerically superior Union forces. By nightfall 26,000 men are dead, wounded, or missing. Lee then withdraws to Virginia.
• Battle of Antietam--The battle was fought just south of Sharpsburg along the Antietam River. McClellan held both sides of the river while Lee's army was concentrated between Sharpsburg and the Antietam River. For Lee it was his worst strategical position ever, for he had several exposed flanks due to the river.
• Antietam--New York Tribune reporter George Smalley scooped the world with his vivid account of the Battle of Antietam.
• Savage Skirmish Near Sharpsburg--With Robert E. Lee's Confederates waiting somewhere in the vicinity of Antietam Creek, Union General George McClellan ordered Joseph hooker to advance and turn the Rebel flank. Hooker soon found himself in an unexpectedly vicious fight.
• Antietam National Battlefield--Established by Act of Congress on August 30, 1890, this Civil War site marks the end of General Robert E. Lee's first invasion of the North in September 1862. The battle claimed more than 23,000 men killed, wounded, and missing in one single day, September 17,1862, and led to Lincoln's issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation.
• "A Woman's Recollections of Antietam"--What before was confusion grew worse; the retreat became a stampede. The battery may not have done a very great deal of execution, but it made a fearful noise. It is curious how much louder guns sound when they are pointed at you than when they are turned the other way! And the shell, with its long-drawn screeching, though no doubtless more terrifying than the singing minie-ball, has a way of making one's hair stand on end.
• Antietam Archives--A very good site containing many links to Antietam--many good accounts of the battle.
• Antietam, Setember 17, 1862--The battle ended at sundown on September 17, 1862. Lee used the cover of darkness to mask his retreat across the Potomac River the following evening. His plans to bring the war into the North's unscarred territory would have to wait another year. Even though McClellan had almost twice as many men as Lee (85,000 vs. 40,000), his overcautiousness prevented the full weight of the Union army from bearing down on the Confederates, leaving Lee to fight another day.
• Battle of Antietam--This was a day no one would forget. In the two days before the battle many men from both sides maneuvered into positions around Antietam. Each knew the other was there; skirmishes erupted throughout the day on 15 and 16 September. Long range artillery tore through the air in hopes of softening the opposing forces. Everyone knew on the evening of 16 September that the next day would be one to remember.
• The Battle of Antietam (Sharpsburg)--To view the magnitude of the losses, consider that Antietam resulted in nine times as many Americans killed or wounded (22,726 soldiers) as took place on June 6, 1944--D-Day, the so-called "longest day" of World War II,* which led to the fall of Germany.
• Battle of Antietam--More men were killed or wounded on that day than on any other single day of the Civil War: some 12,400 Federal and 10,700 Confederate troops fell in about twelve hours of ferocious combat.
• Carnage in a Maryland Cornfield--David Miller's humble cornfield near Antietam Creek became the unlikely setting for perhaps the worst fighting in America's Civil War.
• Antietam-A Photographic Tour--The pages that follow will attempt to guide the reader through the more important points of interest of the battlefield.
• The Batle of Antietam: Behind the Front Line--Today our troops went into battle, on the Antietam Creek. Although the weather was dreary, the troops' spirits were at a high. Leading them was General McClellan, hopeful for a grand victory. McClellan playfully twitched his mustache, as he told the troops of the victory party they would have.
• The Battle of Antietam--Antietam resulted in nine times as many Americans killed or wounded (22,726 soldiers) as took place on June 6, 1944--D-Day.

Dead at the Dunkard Church

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Fredericksburg, December, 1862

• The Battle of Fredericksburg, 1862--Lee had boldly divided his 78,000 men, sending Lt. Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson to the Shenandoah Valley while leaving Lt. Gen. James Longstreet to face the Federals directly. Lee had not anticipated Burnside's shift to Fredericksburg and now neither of his wings was in position to defend the old city.
• Fredericksburg Battlefield--The Battlefield Visitor Center is located along the historic Sunken Road portion of the battlefield. Two walking trails will allow you to walk over the same ground that was so hotly contested on December 13, 1862.
• The Fredericksburg Battlefield Virtual Tour--This "virtual tour" includes photographs from points on the Fredericksburg Battlefield, taken during the author's visit in May 1996.
• Fredericksburg--More than 10,000 Union soldiers were injured trying to climb the hill and penetrate the Confederate wall. Not one Union man made it within a hundred yards of the wall, from daylight to dusk.
• The Marye House--During the Battle of Fredericksburg, December 13, 1862, the famed Washington Artillery of New Orleans was posted around the Marye House, here on Marye's Heights.
• Fire in the Streets--On four separate occasions, the Union Army of the Potomac fought the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in and around the City. These clashes left over 100,000 casualties and a scarred landscape in their wake.
• The Angel of Marye's Heights--After gaining the reluctant approval from his commanding officer, and though not permitted to carry a white handkerchief that could prevent him from getting shot, the brave sergeant crawled over the stone wall and for hours tended the wounded, weary, and cold men. The 19-year-old Kirkland was hailed on both sides as "the angel of Marye's Heights." No doubt he deserved that title. He gave hope and comfort to an enemy who, just the day before, was out to kill him and his fellow comrades. Regrettably, this "angel" of Fredericksburg fell mortally wounded over a year later at Chickamauga.
• Letter of Henry Ropes to John Codman Ropes December 18, 1862--Detailed description of the intense street fighting of the 20th Mass. in Fredericksburg, VA, on December 11, 1862. Contained in the Manuscripts of the Boston Public Library.
• The Battle of Fredericksburg--Provides a brief description of the battle, and a timeline beginning with Dec. 11 taken from the Official Records.
• Battle of Fredericksburg--"A chicken could not live on that field when we open on it."-- Lieutenant Colonel E. Porter Alexander, CSA.

Image: Street fighting in Fredericksburg from Harper's Weekly.

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Chancellorsville Campaign [April-May 1863]

• Chancellorsville--May 1-4, 1863--The Union Army under Gen. Hooker is decisively defeated by Lee's much smaller forces at the Battle of Chancellorsville in Virginia as a result of Lee's brilliant and daring tactics. Confederate Gen. Stonewall Jackson is mortally wounded.
• Chancellorsville Battlefield--A strategic and tactical masterpiece on the part of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. Learn more about the campaign and why it was a hollow victory for the Rebels.
• Chancellorsville, Day One--New Union commander "Fighting Joe" Hooker planned to encircle Robert E. Lee at the Virginia crossroads hamlet of Chancellorsville.
• The Battle of Chancellorsville--Jackson's death made Chancellorsville a decisive battle in the war, for the impetus for Confederate victory in the east died with him.
• THE BATTLE OF CHANCELLORSVILLE--In no battle of the Civil War was the military genius of General Lee more brilliantly displayed than at Chancellorsville, May 2-4, 1863.
• The Battle of Chancellorsville--The Battle of Chancellorsville was a tragic one, even though it had its victorious and its defeating times. This battle was one of double envelopment (this means that the Union came on to us from two sides.) that was thoroughly planned.
• The Battle of Chancellorsville--Very detailed description not only of the battle, but Jackson's death. Taken from the Confederate Military History.
• THE EASTERN THEATER: THE CHANCELLORSVILLE CAMPAIGN -- For some reason on May 1, Hooker suddenly became cautious, halted his advance while still inside the tangle of the Wilderness and ordered his men into a defensive posture. Had he continued to more open country, his superior numbers would have given him a decided advantage, especially with respect to his artillery.
• Death of Stonewall Jackson--At 9:00 pm Saturday, May 2nd, 1863, Jackson was wounded at the Battle of Chancellorsville. He was shot through the left upper arm just beneath the shoulder. The humerus was fractured--the brachial artery was injured. He bled profusely.
• Dr. Hunter McGuire--Stonewall Jackson's 27-year-old medical director, chronicled the general's last days.

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Battle of Brandy Station, June 9, 1863

• BATTLE OF BRANDY STATION JUNE 9, 1863--A dense fog hung over the Rappahannock on the morning of June 9. Unknown to the Confederates, 10,000 Union horsemen had massed their forces on the other side.
• The Battle of Brandy Station, June 9, 1863--The Battle of Brandy Station was the largest cavalry battle ever fought on the North American Continent. Of the 20,000 soldiers involved, about 17,000 were of the mounted branch. Brandy Station is also the first battle of the war's most famous campaign--Gettysburg.
• BATTLE OF BRANDY STATION JUNE 9, 1863--Most of the Southern cavalry was camped near Brandy Station. Stuart, the "dashing cavalier", requested a full field review of his troops by Gen. Lee. His request granted, on June 8 nearly 9,000 mounted troopers passed Lee's reviewing stand, first at a walk, then in full gallop as sabers glistened in the sun and 22 batteries of horse artillery roared in simulated battle. Today this review field remains much as it was in 1863, except that the Virginia Police Station occupies part of it.

• THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG--Gettysburg today is a place where gallant spirits still tell their story of high sacrifice and undying devotion. There is a cemetery; there are gentle ridges rolling unbroken toward the sunset; and here and there one can find spots where everything that is significant in the American dream speaks to today's world with an undying voice.
• Battlefield Views--current photographs of the Gettysburg Battle Field.
• The Oak Ridge - McPherson Ridge Area--The action started at the Battle of Gettysburg on July 1, 1863, on the ground shown on this map. The Confederate Third Corps under Gen. A. P. Hill swept in from the west (the left side of the map) and pushed the Union First Corps off McPherson and Seminary Ridges (the low hills running north to south on the right half of the map) and then through Gettysburg.
• The Area North of Gettysburg--While the Union First Corps was holding off Hill's Confederates west of Gettysburg, the Yankee Eleventh Corps was deploying north of town to hold off the Gen. Richard Else Confederate Second Corps, who were approaching from the north and northeast.
• Culp's and Cemetery Hills--By 4 pm on July 1, 1863, the Union First and Eleventh Corps had been chased from west and north of Gettysburg, and were now in exhausted disarray on the heights of Cemetery Hill (the open rise shown on this map immediately south of Gettysburg). Cemetery Hill was at that hour protected by only one fresh Union reserve brigade. There were still nearly four hours of daylight left.
• The Union Left Flank--As July 2, 1863, dawned, the area shown on this map was unoccupied by either side. But both commanders clearly saw the possibilities here. Union commander Gen. George Meade saw the need the defend the big hills in the south half of the map (the "Round Tops"), while his adversary Gen. Robert E. Lee saw those same hills as an opportunity to outflank Meade's troops and get around behind them.
• The High Water Mark of the Confederacy--Shown on this map is what was the center of the Union line for the better part of July 2 and 3, 1863. Their lines covered the eastern area of the map, running from Culps and Cemetery Hills southeast of Gettysburg, then south along the gentle slopes of Cemetery Ridge, in the middle of the map. The Confederates were positioned in the woods on the left of the map. Except for an evening attack on July 2, part of Confederate Gen. James Longstreet's assault on the Union left flank, this part of the battlefield saw little action on that day. But the respite was ended on the afternoon of July 3 as General Lee made his last attempt at victory in the North.
• The Cavalry Field--General J. E. B. Stuart, the proud and flamboyant commander of General Lee's cavalry, became a central figure in the Battle of Gettysburg more for what he did not do, and where he did not go, than for what he did. During the month of June, 1863, Stuart had sought and gained permission for a raid into the Union army's rear to tie up transportation and supplies while Lee led the Army of Northern Virginia into Pennsylvania. Unfortunately for the Confederates, Stuart enjoyed so much success on his raid that he showed up at Gettysburg too late to do Lee much good.
• Battle of Gettysburg Essay--Gettysburg is arguably the Army of the Potomac's (AOP) only great victory on the battlefield.
• Battle of Gettysburg--Allows the viewer to study all three days of the battle.
• Elizabeth Thorn's Battle Narrative--At the time of the Battle of Gettysburg, Elizabeth was caretaker of Evergreen Cemetery, the job normally performed by her husband Peter who was serving with the 138th Pennsylvania which was at Harpers Ferry and Washington, D.C., during the Gettysburg Campaign.
• Zoom In On Gettysburg--Exploring History through Artifacts.
• Battle of Gettysburg Homepage--This site provides a detailed account of the Battle, day by day.
• Pickett's Charge, at the Battle of Gettysburg, 1864 {Painting} .JUG (164 kb)--Pickett's Charge, at the Battle of Gettysburg, 1864 (from the cyclorama by Paul Philippoteaux)
• Gettysburg National Military Park--Located 50 miles northwest of Baltimore, the small town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, was the site of the largest battle ever waged in the Western Hemisphere.

Cannons at the Angle. On the last day of battle Confederate troops walked right into them. As many times as I have stood on this very spot it is almost impossible to imagine what it must have taken to march across that open field of Pickett's Charge into the muskets and cannon that were right here.

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Grant's Overland Campaign [May-June 1864] 

• The 1864 Overland Campaign--In early May 1864, the Union Army of the Potomac crossed the Rapidan River. Six weeks later, it was camped outside Petersburg.
• Grant's Overland Campaign--In the overland campaign of 1864, Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant with the Army of the Potomac battled General Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia for six weeks across central Virginia. At the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, North Anna, and Totopotomoy Creek, Lee repeatedly stalled, but failed to stop, Grant's southward progress toward Richmond. The next logical military objective for Grant was the crossroads styled by locals Old Cold Harbor.
• Campaign from the Rapidan to the James River, Va.--Reports of General Robert E. Lee, C. S. Army, Commanding Army of Northern Virginia. 
• Campaign from the Rapidan to the James River, Va.--Report of Maj. Gen. Winfield S. Hancock, U.S. Army, Commanding Second Army Corps.
• The "Overland" Campaign--No 165: Report of Brig. Gen. Daniel D. Bidwell, U.S. Army, commanding Third Brigade. August 20, 1864
• Spottsylvania--The Battle as seen from the Ranks of the 126th Ohio.
• The Battles of Wilderness and Spotsylvania Court House--The Bluecoats negotiated the Rapidan River on May 4. Lee easily spotted the Federal advance from his signal stations. He immediately ordered his forces to march east and strike their opponents in the familiar and foreboding Wilderness, where Grant's legions would be neutralized by the inhospitable terrain.
• Wilderness--The opening battle of Grant's sustained offensive against the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, known as the Overland Campaign, was fought at the Wilderness, May 5-7.
• The Wilderness--"The appalling rattle of the musketry, the yells of the enemy, and the cheers of our own men were constantly in our ears."
• Wilderness Campaign--Gen. Meade, under Grant, attacked with more than 100,000 Union troops. Lee, with less than 70,000 soldiers, met the first Union attack in a wooded area called the Wilderness about 50 miles north of Richmond.
• The Wilderness Campaign.
• THE CHANCE BATTLE IN THE WILDERNESS--The Overland Campaign of 1864 was unparalleled in all of the war. The original quintessential matchup of Civil War generals--Ulysses S. Grant versus Robert E. Lee--the campaign pitted the Army of the Potomac against the Army of Northern Virginia without a break for forty-two days. Casualties were horrendous. When a pause in the fighting finally graced the exhausted foes, they had reached the trenches at Petersburg, where they would see nine more months of bloody stalemate before the war's end.
• BATTLE of the WILDERNESS--The Battle of the Wilderness began what was to be variously termed the Battle Summer, the Overland Campaign, or the Dance of Death. Unlike his predecessors, Grant kept trying to outflank Lee toward Richmond, in spite of extremely heavy losses. He was determined to" fight it out along this line if it takes all summer." The argument has been made that Grant had no strategy, other than to utilize the superior military might of the Union forces to eventually wear down the Confederates. Grant was aware that a large number of the three year troops who enlisted in 1861 were due to leave his army at the expiration of service, and it appears he wanted to get all the use out of them that he could.
• The Battle of the Wilderness-- Battle Description. Official Records. Maj. Gen. Ambrose E Burnside, Maj. Gen. Winfield S. Hancock, Maj. Gen. John Gibbon.
• Diary of the Battle of the Wilderness--The fighting commenced at daylight. The canons roared like thunder. Several charges were made but very little was accomplished on either side.
• Battle of Spotsylvania--"It was a life or death contest. . . . The stars and stripes and the stars and bars nearly touched each other. . . ."
• North Anna and Cold Harbor--Official Records--Brief description containing just the basics.
• Cold Harbor--June 3, 1864--A costly mistake by Grant results in 7,000 Union casualties in twenty minutes during an offensive against fortified Rebels at Cold Harbor in Virginia.
• Opportunities Lost, Battle of Cold Harbor--This work has not been attempted as a history, but as a venture in military research. It is an effort to lift Cold Harbor from the class of a one-event military affair to its true rank as an "operation", and to describe from that standpoint the great war game played during the last days of May and the first half of June, 1864, in the theater lying between the Pamunkey and Chickahominy Rivers, in Eastern Virginia.

Cold Harbor, VA--African Americans collecting bones of soldiers killed in the battle.

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The Battle of New Market (Virginia)

• The Battle of New Market (Virginia)--The VMI Corps of Cadets fought as a unit at the Battle of New Market, Virginia, on May 15, 1864. Two hundred fifty-seven cadets were on the field, organized into a battalion of four companies of Infantry and one section of Artillery.
• Civil War in the Shenandoah Valley 1863-1865--This web site contains a complete accounting of the Battle of New Market, and of other important battles in the Shenandoah Valley during the final years of the war.
• Battle of New Market--Had it not been for the unselfish heroism of 247 teenagers, in fact, there would be no $2 million Civil War museum to explain the Battle of New Market or the war's larger canvas. The youngsters were cadets at Virginia Military Institute at Lexington, some 80 miles south. In a Confederate emergency of May, 1864, they were quickly marched north toward an advancing Union Army.
• New Market Battlefield State Historical Park--Your exploration of the Civil War in Virginia begins here in the legendary Shenandoah Valley. The three-hundred acre New Market Battlefield State Historical Park,
• Cadets in the Fray--The most celebrated schoolboy performance of the war was the baptism of fire of the Virginia Military Institute Cadet Corps at the Battle of New Market, Virginia-the only such instance in the war.

Jacob and Sarah Bushong established their home here in 1818. The current home was built in 1825. Three generations of their family found shelter in the basement as the battle raged around them.

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Early's Raid

• Monocacy--Known as the "Battle That Saved Washington," the Battle of Monocacy on July 9, 1864, between 18,000 Confederate forces under General Jubal Early, and 5,800 Union forces under General Lew Wallace, marked the last campaign of the Confederacy to carry the war into the north. .
• Report of Lieut. Gen. Jubal A. Early--The Battle of the Monocacy and Operations Against Washington, D.C.
• The Battle of The Monocacy -- After marching north through the Shenandoah Valley from Lynchburg, the Confederate army of Lt. Gen. Jubal A. Early side-stepped the Federal garrison at Harpers Ferry and crossed the Potomac River at Shepherdstown into Maryland on July 5-6. On July 9, 1864, a makeshift Union force under Maj. Gen. Lew Wallace attempted to arrest Early's invading Confederate divisions along the Monocacy River, just east of Frederick.

• Last Desperate Measures--The unprecedented bloodshed of that summer's fighting had created a growing war-weariness in the Union with an impending presidential election in November. The Democratic party sought simultaneously to avoid the tint of disloyalty and to mobilize sentiment against the war through adopting an anti-Unionist platform and nominating a "war Democrat," the still popular Gen. George B. McClellan. Charging that the Republicans had carried the war beyond a constitutional struggle to maintain the Union into a war for slave liberation and "amalgamation" of the races the opposition appealed to white voters with a virulently anti-black campaign.
• Petersburg: The Beginning--The pursuit of the enemy force found them on the south side of Swift Creek, lying three miles north of Petersburg, which lay beyond the Appomattox. Smith and Gillmore suggested pulling back to the entrenchments and building a bridge across the Appomattox to take Petersburg from the east. Butler thought that, once the struggle for Petersburg got sticky, such a bridge would be used as an avenue of retreat rather than pursuit; and rejected the idea. This decision was one of the many terrible ones Butler would make in the coming days.
• The Debacle of the Crater--"The disaster on Saturday...was the saddest affair I have witnessed in this war. Such an opportunity for carrying fortifications I have never seen and do not expect again to have."
• Grant Extends his Siege Lines--Grant had built up the small hamlet of City Point into an immense supply dump. All the Union forces involved in the siege drew their supplies from this town. Munitions, rations, and medical supplies were all present in large numbers at the town.
• Military Operations at Petersburg, 1862-1865--In the annals of Petersburg history, no event is more revered than the Battle of June 9, 1864, when Union forces numbering about 4,500 infantry under Major General Quincy A. Gillmore and 1,300 cavalry under Brigadier General August V. Kautz attempted to take the city. Gillmore's infantry took up positions east of Petersburg; but overestimating the number of Confederate troops in the line east of the city, remained inactive. Kautz's cavalry continued to the Jerusalem Plank Road and approached from the south. At Battery 29 on the Dimmock line, his advance was checked by a single gun detached from Sturdivant's battery, which was in the lines east of the city, and Major Fletcher H. Archer's small force of 125 reserves and second class militia, who were too young or old for regular service. More than half of them were killed, wounded, and captured, but the "old men and boys" managed to hold off Kautz until the arrival of reinforcements saved the day for Petersburg.
• Boydton Plank Road--Built originally in late September and early October 1864 primarily by the South Carolinians of Brig. Gen. Samuel McGowan's Brigade, these earthworks still reach eight feet in height, with the original moat, traverses, artillery positions, military dams, and even picket posts remaining intact. They performed their role in protecting the Boydton Plank Road from Union attack until the morning of April 2, when some 14,000 blueclad troops from the Sixth Corps charged through a deadly field of fire and over the parapet of the Confederate defenses.
• The Siege of Petersburg--The siege of Petersburg, Virginia (June 15, 1864 -April 2, 1865) is one of the least studied campaigns of the Civil War.

Petersburg, VA, Confederate fortifications with chevaux-de-frise beyond

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Sheridan's Valley Campaign [August-October 1864]

• Civil War in the Shenandoah Valley 1863-1865--This site provides a comprehensive look at the Shenandoah Valley in the later years of the Civil War.
• Sheridan's Shenandoah Valley Campaign-- 123rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and the Department of West Virginia was under the command of General Phil Sheridan. From this point they become known as the Department of the Shenandoah. The government issued much needed shoes and clothing in preparation for the impending campaign.
• SHERIDAN'S SHENANDOAH VALLEY CAMPAIGN-- As a result of the embarrassment of Early's Washington Raid, the Federal authorities set up the Middle Military Division and placed it under Major General Phil Sheridan who took command on August 7, 1864. Sheridan reorganized the various forces under his command to include a cavalry corps of three divisions. His effective strength was about 48,000 men.
• Cedar Creek--USA Gen. Philip Sheridan was not at his headquarters at Belle Grove Plantation, as the Confederates thought, prior to the Battle of Cedar Creek in October 1864.
• Events in the Shenandoah--The fact that the plans of both Grant and Lee focused on the area between Richmond and Washington, D.C. left the Shenandoah valley as merely a sideshow. However, neither side could afford to ignore the region completely.

• Petersburg National Battlefield--Fort Stedma--This Union stronghold was the focus of Lee's attack on March 25, 1865, in his attempt to relieve heavy pressure west of the city. The loop trail leads from Fort Stedman to Colquitt's Salient where the Confederate attack originated. The trail also passes the 1st Maine Monument, commemorating the greatest regimental loss in a single action of the Civil War.
• Last-Ditch Rebel Stand at Petersburg--After nearly 10 months of trench warfare, Confederate resistance at Petersburg, Va., suddenly collapsed. Desperate to save his army, Robert E. Lee called on his soldiers for one last miracle.
• RICHMONDS CIVIL WAR LEGACY--My lines are broken in three places,--the note said.--Richmond must be evacuated this evening.
• THE EVACUATION AND FALL OF RICHMOND--While Petersburg was still held by the Confederate army, Lee saw that it could not be held much longer. His heavy losses--by this time exceeding 10,000 men--and the utter demolition of his right, rendered it morally certain that to hold on was to insure the capture or destruction of his army; and well he knew that his veterans were the last hope of the Rebellion.
• Appomattox--With Union armies closing in on all sides, the outlook was not good for Lee. On March 25, 1865, he attempted to smash through Grant's army, but with half as many troops, he was defeated.
• Lee's Retreat--"So we moved on in disorder, keeping no regular column, no regular pace. . . . There were not many words spoken. An indescribable sadness weighed upon us. The men were very gentle towards each other--very liberal in bestowing the little food that remained to them. . . ."
• Appomattox Court House--Robert E. Lee, commanding general of the Army of Northern Virginia, surrendered his men to Ulysses Grant, General-In-Chief of all United States forces, on April 9, 1865.
• From Five Forks to Appomattox--That night, Lee ordered an evacuation of the Richmond-Petersburg defenses. The Confederates converged on Amilia Courthouse in the midst of horrible weather. Lee's plan was to join Johnston at Danville, where Jefferson Davis had set up a temporary capitol. Grant was determined to stop Lee from such a movement and marched parallel to Lee, barring Lee from moving south. Both armies were now exausted, but still responded well to their leaders. Lee tried to move to the southwest, but Sheridan arrived in Jeetersville just in time to stop him on 5 April. Lee continued westward, with Sheridan harassing him constantly.
• The Surrender: April 9,1865--On April 9, 1865, after four years of Civil War, approximately 630,000 deaths and over 1 million casualties, General Robert E. Lee surrendered the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia to Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant, at the home of Wilmer and Virginia McLean in the town of Appomattox Court House, Virginia.
• Surrender At Appomattox, 1865--With his army surrounded, his men weak and exhausted, Robert E. Lee realized there was little choice but to consider the surrender of his Army to General Grant. After a series of notes between the two leaders, they agreed to meet on April 9, 1865, at the house of Wilmer McLean in the village of Appomattox Courthouse. The meeting lasted approximately two and one-half hours and at its conclusion the bloodliest conflict in the nation's history neared its end.

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Abraham Lincoln

• Abraham Lincoln Research Site--LINCOLN'S COFFIN OPENED AND THE REMAINS VIEWED BY 23 PEOPLE IN 1901! This and many other interesting facts about Abraham Lincoln.
• Abraham Lincoln Online--"A house divided against itself cannot stand." I believe this Government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved,--I do not expect the house to fall,--but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other.
• Abraham Lincoln--Abraham Lincoln warned the South in his Inaugural Address: "In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The government will not assail you. . . . You have no oath registered in Heaven to destroy the government, while I shall have the most solemn one to preserve, protect and defend it."
• The Assassination--The man had a small one shot .44 caliber muzzle-loading Derringer pistol. He pointed it at Lincoln's head and shot.

• Civil War Medicine--Instead, morphine, the leading pain-killing drug of the time, was rubbed or dusted into the wound. Sometimes it was also given in the form of opium pills. They had no idea what addiction was, and so many soldiers came home from the war addicted to opium.  Fortunately for these poor soldiers, opium was available at every self-respecting local druggist.
• Civil War Clipart Gallery--A good site for any Civil War related clip art needs..
• Civil War Women--An archive of information dealing with women's roles during the Civil war.
• Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress--The Selected Civil War Photographs Collection contains 1,118 photographs. Most of the images were made under the supervision of Mathew B. Brady, and include scenes of military personnel, preparations for battle, and battle after-effects. The collection also includes portraits of both Confederate and Union officers, and a selection of enlisted men.