Civil War Timeline

By LH888
  • Period: to

    Battles & Events

  • Fort Sumter

    Fort Sumter
    The attack on Fort Sumter was the start of the civil war. The battle started on April 12, 1861 and ended on April 14, 1861.The South's batteries opened fire at 4:30 on April 12, and Anderson was forced to surrender after 34 hours of shelling.

  • First Bull Run

    First Bull Run
    Start- July 21, 1861
    End- July 22, 1861
    At the start of the battle 10,000 Federals pushed back 4,500 rebels. At four o'clock in the afternoon both sides had the same number of troops. Troops started yelling the Rebel yell, while soon after the COnfederates were able to take down the Union.

  • Shiloh

    Shiloh
    Start - April 6, 1862
    End - April 7, 1862
    Also known as the battle of Pittsburgh Landing It was the second greatest engagement o the american Civil War. Both sides had lost a combined total of 23,000 casualties.

  • Hampton Roads

    Hampton Roads
    Start - March 9, 1862
    End - May 9, 1862
    The engangment, known as the Battle of Hampton Roads was part of a confederate effort to break the union blockades in southern ports--includeing Norfolk and Richmond, Virginia. The battle was inconclusive, but it began a new era of naval warfare.

  • Battle of Antietam

    Battle of Antietam
    Start - September 17, 1862
    End - September 18, 1862
    THe Battle of Antietam was fought along Antietam Creek, at Sharpsburg, Maryland, this battle brought about America's bloodiest day, the product of Confederate audacity and Union command failure. General Lee withdrew accross the river and the union claimed it as a victory.

  • Fredericksburg

    Fredericksburg
    Start - December 11, 1862
    End - December 13 1862
    The Battle of Fredericksburg was a crushing defeat for the Union, whose soldiers fought courageously and well but fell victim to mismanagement by their generals, including confused orders from Burnside to Franklin.On the Confederate side, the victory at Fredericksburg restored Confederate morale after Lee's unsuccessful campaign into Maryland in the fall.

  • Chancellorsville

    Chancellorsville
    Start- April 30, 1863
    End- May 6, 1863
    Chancellorsville is considered to be Confederate General Robert E. Lee's greatest victory during the American Civil War. Lee took on a battle that which the Union had almost twice as meny men as the Confederates. The battle was fought in the wilderness of Virginia, in which Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, one of the most trusted generals, was wounded by friendly fire.

  • Gettysburg

    Gettysburg
    Start - July 1, 1863
    End - July 3, 1863
    Gettysburg started with a defensive line across cemetary ridge to the hill known as cemetary ridge. Over the next several hours on july 2nd a bloody fight raged along Sickles line which streched from Devils Den to a peach orchard. The union attacked and severly wounded the confederate army at Picketts Charge. The Battle of Gettysburg was a Major Victory for the union.

  • Vicksburg

    Vicksburg
    Start - July 4, 1863
    End - July 4, 1863
    After the spring of 1862, when the Confederates lost Fort Henry, Fort Donelson, and Memphis in Tennessee and New Orleans in Louisiana, Vicksburg became the key remaining point of their defense of the Mississippi River. The surrender of Vicksburg, with the victory at the Battle of Gettysburg the previous day (July 3), greatly heartened the North and in fact marked the turning point of the war.

  • Chickamauga

    Chickamauga
    Start - September 19, 1863
    End - September 20, 1863
    On the first day of battle, Bragg's men repeatedly attacked the Union left, anchored by a large Union corps led by George Thomas. Bragg's inaction turned a tactical triumph for the South into a strategic defeat, as Union forces were allowed to get safely to Chattanooga.

  • Wilderness

    Wilderness
    Start - May 5, 1864
    End - May 7, 1864
    Confederate corps led by Richard Ewell clashed with the Union's 5th Corps near the Orange Turnpike, the region's principal east-west road. That night, exhausted Federal troops left their trenches and began marching south, toward the lower edge of the Wilderness.

  • Spotsylvania

    Spotsylvania
    Start - May 9, 1864
    End - May 24, 1864
    At dawn on May 12, Hancock's Union Corps attacked the confederate salient at a section that became known as "Bloody Angle". on May 19 the cofederates turned the tables with a flank attack on the union right at Harris Farm; it was repulsed with heavy losses on both sides.

  • Sherman's March

    Sherman's March
    Start- September 2, 1864
    End- Janurary 3, 1865
    Sherman's March started by the Union capturing Atlanta which was a railroad hub and the industrial center of the Confederacy. The Confederate army then headed west into Tennessee and Alabama while attacking Union supply lines as they went.

  • Petersberg

    Petersberg
    Start- June 9, 1864
    End- April 9, 1865
    Petersburg was a series of military operations in southern Virginia during the end of the Civil War to defeat the South.Petersburg was a important 23 mile railroad center. After a tough battle Lee surrendered to General Grant at Appomattox Court House.

  • Lincoln's Assassination

    Lincoln's Assassination
    Abraham Lincol was killed on April 14, 1865 by John Wilkes Booth. AT 10:15 Booth slipped into the box and shot Lincoln in the back of the head with his .44-caliber single shot. At first the audience thought it was part of the play. Booth jumped from the box an broke his leg. After fleeing and getting his leg fixed Booth hid in a farm house in Virginia, where on April 26 Union troops found an shot him.