Major Battles &amp; Events

Fort Sumter

The war begins as Confederate guns open fire on the Federal fort in Charleston harbor.

After Sumter

North and South mobilize as the nation splits and both sides rush to raise armies.

West Virginia

Union campaigns secure the mountainous western counties that break from Virginia.

Bull Run

The first major battle shatters hopes of a short war in a Confederate victory at Manassas.

1862 The Bloodiest Year

Pea Ridge

A Union victory in Arkansas secures Missouri for the North.

Ft Henry & Donelson

Grant wins his first great victories, opening the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers.

Roanoke Island

A Union amphibious assault seizes the North Carolina coast.

Monitor vs Virginia

The first clash of ironclad warships changes naval warfare forever.

Shiloh

One of the bloodiest battles yet fought ends in a costly Union victory in Tennessee.

Peninsular Campaign

McClellan's drive on Richmond up the Virginia peninsula stalls before the capital.

New Orleans

Farragut captures the Confederacy’s largest city and port.

Seven Days

Lee drives the Union army back from the gates of Richmond in a week of battles.

Second Bull Run

Lee and Jackson win a sweeping victory on the old Manassas battlefield.

Antietam

The bloodiest single day in American history halts Lee’s first invasion of the North.

Fredericksburg

Union assaults are slaughtered before the stone wall at Marye’s Heights.

1863 The Turning Point

Stone's River

A bloody, inconclusive battle in Tennessee ends in a Union hold.

Chancellorsville

Lee’s greatest victory is shadowed by the mortal wounding of Stonewall Jackson.

Gettysburg

The war’s turning point: Lee’s second invasion is broken in three days of fighting.

Draft Riots

Conscription sparks days of deadly rioting in New York City.

Chickamauga

A rare Confederate victory in the West drives the Union army into Chattanooga.

Chattanooga

Grant breaks the siege and opens the gateway to the Deep South.

1864 Total War

Red River Campaign

An ambitious Union drive up the Red River in Louisiana ends in failure.

The Wilderness

Grant and Lee collide in the tangled Virginia woods, beginning a relentless campaign.

Mobile Bay

"Damn the torpedoes!" — Farragut closes one of the last Confederate ports.

Atlanta

Sherman captures the vital rail and manufacturing hub of the Confederacy.

Petersburg

A ten-month siege grinds down Lee’s army before Richmond.

March Across Georgia

Sherman’s march to the sea cuts a swath of destruction to Savannah.

Nashville

Thomas destroys Hood’s army in one of the most decisive battles of the war.

1865 The End

1865

Surrender

Lee surrenders to Grant at Appomattox Court House, ending the war in Virginia.

1865

Lincoln's Assassination

Days after the surrender, John Wilkes Booth assassinates President Lincoln.