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Fort Sumpter
The Attack on Fort Sumpter On April 10, 1861, Brig. Gen. Beauregard, in command of the provisional 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, which was unable to reply effectively. At 2:30 p.m., April 13, Major Anderson surrendered Fort Sumter. -
Battle of Bull Run (1st)
First Battle of Bull Run The Union and Confederate forces met at Manassas, Virginia. Both sides planned to attack the other’s left flank with the majority of their armies. However, the confederates realized quickly the Union army’s plan and moved forces to meet the attack upon their left flank. -
Battle of Hampton Roads
Battle of Hampton Roads What makes this small scale battle so important is that it saw the first fight between two ironclad warships. Neither U.S.S. Monitor nor the C.S.S. Virginia can claim to have been the first ironclad warship, although both ships were significantly different from earlier designs. The first ironclad warships of modern times were produced by the French. -
Battle of Shiloh
About.com Confederate forces led by General Johnston attacked Union General Grant's army at Pittsburg Landing. The Union forces were not prepared but they still managed to hold their own until the arrival of General Buell's army and other reinforcements at Pittsburg Landing. Further, the Confederates lost their leader when General Johnston was killed by a stray bullet. -
Battle of Bull Run (2nd)
The Battle of 2nd Manassas n 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 hours and resulted in a stalemate. Pope became convinced that he had trapped Jackson and concentrated the bulk of his army against him. -
Battle of Antietam
Civil War BattleAntietam, BATTLE OF. After the surrender of Harper's Ferry, Sept. 15, 1862, Robert E. Lee felt himself in a perilous position, for General Franklin had entered Pleasant Valley that very morning and threatened the severance of his army. Lee at once took measures to concentrate his forces. He withdrew his troops from South Mountain and took position in the Antietam valley, near Sharpsburg, Md. Jackson, by swift marches, had recrossed the Potomac and joined Lee on Antietam Creek. -
Battle of Fredricksburg
CIVIL WAR TRUST The Battle of Fredericksburg, fought December 11-15, 1862, was one of the largest and deadliest of the Civil War. It featured the first major opposed river crossing in American military history. Union and Confederate troops fought in the streets of Fredericksburg, the Civil War’s first urban combat. -
Battle of Chancellorsville
CIVIL WAR TRUST On April 27, 1863 – three days before the historic Battle of Chancellorsville – Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker led the V, XI, and XII Corps on a campaign to turn the Confederate left flank by crossing the Rappahannock and Rapidan Rivers above Fredericksburg. Passing the Rapidan via Germanna and Ely’s Fords, the Federals concentrated near Chancellorsville on April 30 and May 1. -
Siege of Vicksburg
Battle Summaries In May and June of 1863, Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s armies converged on Vicksburg, investing the city and entrapping a Confederate army under Lt. Gen. John Pemberton. On July 4, Vicksburg surrendered after prolonged siege operations. This was the culmination of one of the most brilliant military campaigns of the war. -
Battle of Gettysburg
Eyewitness to History.com On June 24, 1863, General Robert E. Lee led his Confederate Army across the Potomac River and headed towards Pennsylvania. In response to this threat President Lincoln replaced his army commander, General Joseph Hooker, with General George Mead. As Lee's troops poured into Pennsylvania, Mead led the Union Army north from Washington. -
Emancipation Proclamation
Presidents of United States of America. A Proclamation "That on the 1st day of January, A.D. 1863, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the executive government of the United States, including the military and naval authority. -
Siege of Atlanta
Siege of Atlanta With more than 100,000 troops under his command, Union General William T. Sherman kicked off the massive Atlanta campaign from Chattanooga Tennessee on May 5, 1864, against a Confederate force of some 65,000 under General Joseph E. Johnston. Sherman's advance was part of a coordinated Federal drive against the two main Confederate armies in the field in 1864; -
Ratification of the 13th Amendment
Primary Documents in American History The 13th Amendment to the Constitution declared 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." Formally abolishing slavery in the United States, Passed by conggress on January 31st 1865. -
Assassination Of Abraham Lincoln
History.com On April 15, 1865, John Wilkes Booth, a famous actor and Confederate sympathizer, fatally shot President Abraham Lincoln at a play at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. The attack came only five days after Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered his massive army at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, effectively ending the American Civil War. -
Surrender at Appomattox Courthouse
History.com 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.
