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Fort Sumter
nps.gov Gen. Beaurgard in command of the Confederate forces at Charleston, South Carolina, demanded the surrender of the Union garrison of Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor. Garrison commander Anderson refused. On April 12, Confederate batteries opened fire on the fort. -
Battle of Bull Run (1st)
nps.govThis was the first major land battle of the armies in Virginia. On July 16, 1861, the Union army under Gen. Irvin McDowell marched from Washington against the Confederate army, which was behind Bull Run beyond Centreville. On the 21st, McDowell crossed at Sudley Ford and attacked the Confederate left flank on Matthews Hill. -
Battle of Hampton Roads
nps.gov On March 8, 1862, the Confederate ship Virginia steamed into Hampton Roads where the ship sank Cumberland. On March 9, the Union ironclad having arrived to fight, started the first fight of ironclads in history. The two ships fought each other to a standstill, but Virginia gave up. -
Battle of Shiloh
nps.gov As a result of the fall of Forts Henry and Donelson, Confederate Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston, the commander in the area, was forced to fall back, giving up Kentucky and a lot of West and some of Tennessee. He chose Corinth, Mississippi, as the battle field against Maj. Gen. -
Battle of Bull Run (2nd)
August 28–30, 1862
On August 29, Pope attacked 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 from Thoroughfare Gap and took position on Jackson’s right flank. On August 30, Pope renewed his attacks, unaware that Longstreet was on the field. -
Battle of Antietam
civilwar.org Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan and his Union Army of the Potomac attacked Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia at Sharpsburg, Maryland. At dawn on September 17, Maj. General Joseph Hooker’s Union corps started an assault on Lee’s left flank that began the Battle of Antietam, and the bloodiest day in American military history. -
Battle of Fredricksburg
nps.govThe Federal army crossed over, and on December 13, Burnside mounted a series of assaults on Prospect Hill and Marye’s Heights that resulted in horrible casualties. Meade’s division, on the Union left flank, briefly hurt Jackson’s line but was driven back by a counterattack. -
Emamcipation Proclamation
archives.govThe Emancipation Proclamation freed all slaves in the Confederacy states but left the border states untouched. Abraham Lincoln adressed this document after the battle of Fredericksburg. -
Battle of Chancellorsville
nps.govOn the morning of May 2, Lt. Gen. Jackson directed his corps on a march. At 5:20 pm, Jackson’s line surged forward in an overwhelming attack that crushed the Union XI Corps. Federal troops rallied, resisted the advance, and counterattacked. -
Siege of Vicksburg
nps.govOn July 4, Vicksburg surrendered after siege operations. This was the group of one of the most brilliant military campaigns of the war. With the loss of Pemberton’s army and this most needed stronghold on the Mississippi, the Confederacy was split in half. -
Battle of Gettysburg
historyplace.comAfter much fierce fighting and heavy casualties on both sides, the Federals were pushed back through the town of Gettysburg and regrouped south of the town along the high ground near the cemetery. Lee ordered Confederate General Ewell to seize the high ground. -
Siege of Atlanta
gatech.eduAfter the Battle of Peachtree Creek, Hood determined to attack Gen. James B. McPherson’s Army of the Tennessee. He withdrew his main army at night from Atlanta’ s outer line to the inner line, making Sherman follow. -
Surrender at Appomattox Courthouse
nps.govAfter four years of Civil War, approximately 630,000 deaths General Robert E. Lee surrendered the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia to Lt. General Ulysses S. Grant, at the home of Wilmer and Virginia McLean in the town of Appomattox Court House. -
Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
While Abraham Lincoln was watching the show, "Our American Cousin," John Wilkes Booth shot Him in the back of the head, Abraham Lincoln did not die until the following day. -
Ratification of the 13th Amendment
loc.govThe 13th Amendment to the Constitution states that "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."Abolishing slavery in the United States.
