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Fort Sumter
Abraham Lincoln took office and had to evactuate For Cumter in March. The South's batteries fired at 4:30pm on the 12th of April and Anderson was forced to surrender after 34 hours of shelling. Fort Sumter was evacuated on April 14th by federal troops, had a gun salute and marched out waving the American Flag. -
Petersburg
After 34 hours of shelling Anderson was forced to surrender when south batteries opened fire at 4:30 a.m. on April 12th. The shelling of U.S. property aroused and united the North. The monument preserves the ruins of Fort Supter, which was later partly rebuilt and modified. -
Period: to
Civil War
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First Battle of Bull Run
The First Battle of Bull Run began on July 21st and ended July 22nd, lasting one day. McDowell's Union force struck on July 21st shelling the enemy across Bull Run. By four o'clock in the afternoon, both sides had an equal number of men on the field of battle. Confederates had victory and were too far disorganized to press their advantage. -
Hampton Roads
The Battle of Hampton Roads was part of a Confederate effort to break the Union blockade of Southern ports. The Virginia's spectacular success on March 8th had not just marked the end to the day of wooden navies but raised false hope that the Union bloackade might be broken. Following the Confederate evacuation of Norfolk, the Virginia was destoyed by its crew, on May 9th, 1862. -
Shiloh
Confederate generals launched a surprise attack on on Ulysses S. Grant's forces in Southwestern Tennessee in April 1862. The battle was fought in the woods with troops that were inexperienced on both sides. It was Confederate failure even though both sides claimed victory. -
Vicksburg
Union forces waged a campaign to take the Confederate stronghold of Vicksburgh, Mississippi and the capture of Vicksburg divided by the Confederacy and proved the military genius of Union General Ulysses S. Grant. General John C. Pemberton surrendered the city on July 4th. With that surrender of Vicksburg, and the victory of the Battle of Gettysburgh greatly helped and heartened the North and making that the turning point of the war. -
Antietam
Generals Robert E. Lee and George McClellan faced off near Antietam creek in Sharpsburgh, Maryland. This battle brought about America's bloodest day, the product of Confederate audacity and Union command failure. Lee withdrew across the river on September 18 and had 10,318 victims. -
Chancellorsville
Facing an enemy force nearly twice his size, Gen. Robert E. Lee's daringly split his troops in two, confronting and suprising Union Gen. Joseph Hooker. Chancellorsville was General Rober E. Lee's greatest defensive victory. Lee now possessed the strategic initiative, which in a few weeks would lead him north to Gettysburg. -
Chickamauga
Union and Confederate forces were struggling over control of the key railroad center of Chattanooga, Tennessee in autumn of 1863. Longstreet advanced around 11:30 am on September 20. Overall Confederates casualties numbered close to 20,000 and Union suffered around 16,000. -
Spotsylvania
Grant send the Army of Potomac's 2nd Corps, led by Winfield Scott Hancock, to turn the Confederate left and Lee was able to counter the movement on May 10th. Sheridan's men pulled out a victory in an even more crushing loss for the Confederacy. As the Union Army headed for Cold Harbor, another crossroads town located near the battlefield at Gaines' Mill, Lee was forced yet again to maneuver him army in between the enemy and the Confederate captial. -
Sherman's March
General Sherman's troops captured Atlanta on September 2, 1864, this is an important triumph becuase Atlanta was a railroad hub and the industrial center of the Confederacy, with factories, foundries, and warehouses that kept the Confederate army supplied with food, weapons and other goods. After they lost Altanta, the Confederate army headed west into Tennesse and Alabama, attacking Union supplies lines.
