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Fort Sumter, S.C.
Fort Sumter, named after a South Carolina Revolutionary War hero, was designed as part of a defensive system for Charleston Harbor. Plans were drawn in 1827, and construction began two years later. Located on a man-made island of sea shells and grani te from northern quarries, it was a pentagonal structure, fifty feet high, with walls eight to twelve feet thick. As of Lincoln's election, the fort remained uncompleted and without readied armament. A crew of workmen directed by an army engineer -
First Battle of Bull Run/ Manassas
On July 21, 1861 the First Battle of Bull Run occurred. It was the first real major conflict of the American Civil War. A Union army, consisting of 28,000 men, commanded by General McDowell, fought 33,000 Confederates under General Beauregard. The Union army, under pressure to crush the rebellion in the South, marched towards Richmond, but met the Confederate forces coming north from Manassas, a Southern base. -
Battle of Shiloh
In April 1862 General Ulysses S. Grant's army was encamped along the Tennessee River just north of the Mississippi border; poised to strike a blow into the heartland of the South. Grant had been at this location for about a month, awaiting the arrival of additional troops under General Buell before he began his march southward. -
Second Battle of Bull Run/ Manassas
The second Battle of Bull Run, took place on August 29-30, on the same battlefield as the first Battle of Bull Run. It began when forces of General Pope attacked those of Confederate General Stonewall Jackson, who had succeeded in flanking Confederate forces and destroying the Federal supply depot at Manassas. Pope's initial attack against Jackson's well entrenched lines failed. The next day, when Pope resumed his attack, the Confederates, led by Longstreet counter-attacked. They forced back Uni -
Battle of Antietam
The Battle of Antietam, a.k.a. Battle of Sharpsburg, resulted in not only the bloodiest day of the American Civil War, but the bloodiest single day in all of American history. Fought primarily on September 17, 1862, between the town of Sharpsburg, Maryland, and Antietam Creek, it ended Gen. Robert E. Lee’s first invasion of a northern state. -
Battle of Gettysburg
The battle of Gettysburg was fought between the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia - 70,000 men commanded by General Robert E. Lee - and the Federal Army of the Potomac - 94,000 men commanded by Major General George G. Meade. This number doesn't include civilian teamsters, servants, slaves and other camp followers. And not all the soldiers were men - several women were known to have fought disguised as men. -
Battle of Vicksburg
a noteworthy military operation that began at the close of 1862 and ended early in July following. The Confederates had blockaded the Mississippi River by planting heavy batteries on bluffs at Vicksburg and Port Hudson. These formed connections between the Confederates on each side of that stream, and it was important to break those connections. -
Battleof Wilderness, Virginia
Beginning of the long fight between Grant and Lee,Grant crosses the Rapidan . First contact of the two armies, Ewell's repulse. A rapid countercharge, A strange predicament .The Union centre broken, Unprecedented movement which saved the Confederate troops. -
Battleof Spotsylvania
The Battle of Spotsylvania Court House is a continuation of the Battle of the Wilderness. General Grant's decision to move forward to Spotsylvania changed the course of the war. For the first time in the Eastern Theatre, the Army of the Potomac went forward after a battle and maintained control of the initiative for the rest of the war. If viewed as one campaign, the Wilderness/Spotsylvania Campaign is the bloodiest in American history. -
Battle of Cold Harbor
In 1864 the Army of the Potomac and a large part of the Army of the James formed a junction near Cold Harbor, a locality in Hanover county, Va., originally known as Cool Arbor, and the old battleground of McClellan and Robert E. Lee in June, 1862. Gen. W. F. Smith and 16,000 men of the Army of the James had been taken in transports from Bermuda Hundred around to the White House, whence they had marched towards the Chickahominy. -
Sherman’s March to the Sea
Atlanta fell to Sherman's Army in early September 1864. He devoted the next few weeks to chasing Confederate troops through northern Georgia in a vain attempt to lure them into a decisive fight. The Confederate's evasive tactics doomed Sherman's plan to achieve victory on the battlefield so he developed an alternative strategy: destroy the South by laying waste to its economic and transportation infrastructure. -
Appomattox CourtHouse
American Civil War, site in Virginia of the surrender of the Confederate forces to those of the North on April 9, 1865. After an engagement with Federal cavalry, the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia was surrounded at Appomattox, seat of Appomattox county,