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frist conscription act
This act provides that "...every able-bodied white male citizen...of the age of 18 years and under the age of 45...be enrolled in the militia...Every citizen so enrolled...shall within six months thereafter, provide himself with a good musket or forelock, a sufficient bayonet and belt"and...not less than twenty-four cartridges...The act also provided "that if any person, officer or soldier...called out into the service of the United States, be wounded or disabled while in actual service, -
west virgina becomes a state
The answer for western Virginia was for the Wheeling convention to ingeniously form its own Virginia “restored government.” You see, that Confederate legislature over east in Richmond, that secessionist one, is illegal and so the Wheeling mountaineers declared all state offices vacant. The Wheeling convention appointed new state officials on June 20. Francis Pierpoint was now governor of Virginia, and the new state capital was now in Wheeling. -
First Battle of bull run
It started in Fairfax County and Prince William County and it was the first major land battle of the armies in Virginia. By July 22, the shattered Union army reached the safety of Washington. This battle convinced the Lincoln administration that the war would be a long and costly affair. -
trent affair
Confederate President Jefferson Davis, seeking support against the North, sent diplomats James Mason of Virginia as minister to Britain and John Slidell of Louisiana as minister to France. Eluding the Union blockade, the Southerners reached Cuba, where they boarded a British mail steamer, the Trent, for passage across the Atlantic Ocean. On November 8, 1861, Captain James of the USS San Jacinto, halted the Trent 300 miles east of Havana with two shots across the bow. A boarding party. -
battle of pea ridge
On the night of March 6, Maj. Gen. Earl Van Dorn set out to outflank the Union position near Pea Ridge, dividing his army into two columns. Learning of Van Dorn's approach, the Federals marched north to meet his advance on March 7. This movement--compounded by the killing of two generals, Brig. Gen. Ben McCulloch and Brig. Gen. James McQueen McIntosh, and the capture of their ranking colonel--halted the Rebel attack. Van Dorn led a second column to meet the Federals in the Elkhorn Taver -
battle of shiloh
On the morning of April 6, 1862, 40,000 Confederate soldiers under the command of Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston poured out of the nearby woods and struck a line of Union soldiers occupying ground near Pittsburg Landing on the Tennessee River. -
the battleof seven pines
His new plan involved an early morning attack by four divisions on 31 May. They would begin their march at daybreak (roughly 4 a.m.), and fall on Keyes' corps before 8 a.m. Keyes's corps was clossest to Richmond. Most of the corps was on the Williamsburg road, with a smaller force a little further north at Fair Oaks. Heintzelman's corps was further east. Sumner's corps was slightly closer, but on the other side of the Chickahominy, which was now in flood. Keyes's corps was poorly entrenched and -
seven days battles
Over the next seven days, the Army of Northern Virginia would deliver blow after blow at Beaver Dam Creek, Gaines’ Mill, Savage Station, Glendale, and Malvern Hill. Gone were the days of torpor and defensive maneuver -
second battle of bull rull run
The second battle of Bull Run (or Manassas) was fought on Aug. 29-30, 1862. the fighting on the first day being sometimes called the battle of GROVETON. On the morning after the battle at Groveton, Pope's army was greatly reduced. It had failed to prevent the unity of Lee's army, and prudence dictated its immediate flight across Bull Run, and even to the defenses of Washington. -
Battle of Antietam
. Later, towards the center of the battlefield, Union assaults against the Sunken Road pierced the Confederate center after a terrible struggle. Late in the day, the third and final major assault by the Union army pushed over a bullet-strewn stone bridge at Antietam Creek. Just as the Federal forces began to collapse the Confederate right, the timely arrival of A.P. Hill’s division from Harpers Ferry helped to drive the Army of the Potomac back once more. -
battle of fredericksburg
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. And with nearly 200,000 combatants, no other Civil War battle featured a larger concentration of soldiers. -
battle of chancellorsville
Pressed closely by Lee’s advance, Hooker adopted a defensive posture, thus giving Lee the initiative. On the morning of May 2, Lt. Gen. T.J. Jackson directed his corps on a march against the Federal left flank, which was reported to be “hanging in the air. -
siege of vicksburg
The following day (19 May) Grant’s army arrived in front of the defences of Vicksburg. Grant decided to launch an immediate assault on the city. This was probably a good decision, although the attack was repulsed. Pemberton’s men had suffered two serious defeats in the last three days, and at Big Black River had broken and fled without putting up any serious opposition. If they were still that demoralised, then there was a chance that a sudden attack would force a collapse. -
Gettysburg address
At the end of the Battle of Gettysburg, more than 51,000 Confederate and Union soldiers were wounded, missing, or dead. Many of those who died were laid in makeshift graves along the battlefield.Although Lincoln expressed disappointment in the speech initially, it has come to be regarded as one of the most elegant and eloquent speeches in U.S. history. -
battle of gettysburg
On July 1, Confederates drove Union defenders through Gettysburg to Cemetery Hill. The next day Lee struck the flanks of the Union line resulting in severe fighting at Devil's Den, Little Round Top, the Wheatfield, Peach Orchard, Culp’s Hill and East Cemetery Hill. -
battle of chickamauga
After the Tullahoma Campaign, Rosecrans renewed his offensive, aiming to force the Confederates out of Chattanooga. The three army corps comprising Rosecrans’ s army split and set out for Chattanooga by separate routes. In early September, Rosecrans consolidated his forces scattered in Tennessee and Georgia and forced Bragg’s army out of Chattanooga, heading south -
battle of chattanooga
he moved to reinforce Chattanooga and replaced Rosecrans with Maj. Gen. George Thomas. A new supply line was soon established. Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman arrived with his four divisions in mid-November, and the Federals began offensive operations. On November 23-24, Union forces struck out and captured Orchard Knob and Lookout Mountain. -
battle of spotsylvania
After the Wilderness, Grant’s and Meade’s advance on Richmond by the left flank was stalled at Spotsylvania Court House on May 8. This two-week battle was a series of combats along the Spotsylvania front. The Union attack against the Bloody Angle at dawn, May 12-13, captured nearly a division of Lee’s army and came near to cutting the Confederate army in half. -
battle of cold harbor
On May 31, Sheridan’s cavalry seized the vital crossroads of Old Cold Harbor. Early on June 1, relying heavily on their new repeating carbines and shallow entrenchments, Sheridan’s troopers threw back an attack by Confederate infantry. -
the siege of petersburg
The city of Petersburg is situated on the south side of the Appomattox River, about 23 miles south of Richmond. The military importance of this small town -- in 1860, it had a population of about 18,000 -- was due almost entirely to railroads: Of the three railroads that led to Richmond from outside of Virginia, two went through Petersburg and the remaining one passed nearby. Federal occupation of Petersburg would virtually isolate Richmond and force the evacuation of the Confederate capital.
