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Fort Sumter
The battle of Fort Sumter started on April 12, 1861 and ended on April 14, 1861. The Confederates won the fort when General Anderson surrendered. Lincoln sent ships to the fort with food and other supplies and the South took it as a sign of war. They started bombarding the fort and kept it up for 34 hours. This was the first battle of the Civil War and the outcome was the start of the war. -
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Civil War
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First Bull Run
The first battle of Bull Run started on July 21, 1861 and ended on July 22, 1861. The Confederates won this battle with Beauregard as their general. The Union had General McDowell. The North had the South outnumbered but McDowell waited so long that the Confederates had time to bring in reinforcements. The “Rebel Yell” put fear into the hearts of the Union soldiers. The outcome for the South was a false sense of security and the North now thinks that they might have a fight on their hands. -
Hampton Roads
The start of this battle was March 8, 1862 and the end was March 8, 1862. It was an Indecisive battle because both ships were hurt but not sunk. The Monitor was for the Union and the Merrimack (CSS Virginia) was for the Confederates. The Monitor was crippled but the Merrimack did not follow to sink her. The outcome was the end of wooden navies because both ships were made of metal. -
Shiloh
On April 6, 1862, the Confederates launched an ambush on Union forces in Tennessee. The Union won, but there were 23,000 casualties. While General Grant was planning a counterattack, the South planned to retake some forts they wanted back. In another ambush, Southern General A. S. Johnston struck Grant before backup got to Shiloh. It lasted until April 7, leaving the Union victorious. Little resulted from it, but both armies had to stay put for weeks as the casualties totaled 10,000. -
Peninsula Campaign
In November 1861, President Lincoln appointed George McClelland as the Union head general. McClelland was a good general, but very hesitant in his actions. When the time came for McClelland to execute his plan of trapping the South between the Union army and Richmond, he hesitated. On May 31, 1862 Confederate general Joseph E. Johnston attacked the Union forces. The Confederates defeated the Union on August 2. Union morale was crushed as a result. -
Second Bull Run
The battle lasted from August 28, 1862, to August 30. The Confederates, led by General Lee, won although both sides suffered heavy casualties. Commanders for both were hesitant and miscalculated enemy movement. The final error was made by General Pope, mistaking Southern movement for retreat, when they were actually reinforced and repelled the Union force, which was twice their size. The battle caused Lincoln to lose faith in McClelland and also crushed Northern morale. -
Antietam
The battle of Antietam started on September 17, 1862 and ended on September 18, 1862. The Union won this battle but it was at a very high cost. This was the bloodiest day in American History, with 22,000 casualties. General Robert E. Lee was the general for the South and General McClellan was the general for the North. This battle allowed President Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation and stopped the first South invasion of the North. -
Fredericksburg
The battle of Fredericksburg started on December 11, 1862 and ended on December 13, 1862. The Confederates won. Burnside was the new Union general and Lee was the Confederate general. Burnside was delayed and this allowed the Confederates to get good positions on Marye’s Heights. They fired down on the Union. The Union had 13,000 casualties while the Confederates only had 5,000. The outcome was that Burnside got replaced by Hooker and it gave the Confederates good morale. -
Chancellorsville
The battle of Chancellorsville started on April 30, 1863 and ended on May 6, 1863. The Confederates were the victors. The two generals were Robert E. Lee for the South and Joseph Hooker for the North. Lee was outnumbered but decided to split his troops while Hooker fell back. Lee brilliantly strategized but even so, his best general, Stonewall Jackson, died. This battle allowed Lee to have the initiative that would take him to Gettysburg. -
Vicksburg
This Union victory eliminated the last Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi, allowing Union control of the river, and split the South, disrupting supply lines. Militarily difficult, the fort sat on river cliffs, surrounded by swamps and bayous. On May 18, 1863, General Grant led troops west across the Mississippi, then south 30 miles, sneaking back to the eastern side of the river advancing to Vicksburg. Under siege, Southern troops ran out of supplies and food, surrendering July 4, 1863. -
Gettysburg
The battle of Gettysburg started on July 1, 1863 and ended on July 3, 1863. The Union won. On day one, both Lee’s armies and Meade’s armies came to Gettysbrug. That night the Union forces came to Cemetery Hill and Little Round Top. The next day, Lee attacked but the Union held Little Round Top. Pickett’s charge came on the last day and the Union pushed back the Confederates. Because of this battle, the Confederates lost hope of foreign help and it turned the tide of the Civil War. -
Chickmauga
The battle of Chickmauga was centered on controlling the town of Chattanooga, which was a railroad center. It started on September 19, 1863 and ended on September 20, 1863. The Union general was William Rosecions and the Confederate general was Braxton Bragg. The Confederates won the first round but later Ulysses S. Grant came and the Union pulled out a victory. It was the costliest battle in the West and gave control of the railroad to the Union. -
Gettysburg Address
Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address on November 19, 1863. It lasted for only 2-3 minutes. David Wills first asked Everett to give a speech then thought of President Lincoln and asked him. Everett spoke for 2 hours and then Lincoln spoke for a very short time. He said that the war was being fought for equal rights for all people, not just saving the Union. The outcome was that people had very mixed opinions but now it is a great work that everyone knows. -
Wilderness
The Battle of the Wilderness took place from May 5-7, 1864. Natural obstacles such as trees, thick undergrowth, smoke, and fog were a big problem for the soldiers during battle. However, the South got the upper hand by constantly attacking the North. Despite all this, General Grant never retreated, and by the end of the battle, little had changed. Neither side clearly won, but The South had 7,000 less casualties than the North. -
Spotsylvania
This battle lasted from May 8-21, 1864. This battle was one of the bloodiest of the Civil War, with the North tallying 18,000 casualties and the South 11,000. The Union tried to attack the South many times, but General Lee countered them with a salient known as the “mule shoe.” Despite this setback, the Union was able to trap the Southern army between their army and Richmond. The battle was a draw, however, leaving Union citizens slightly disheartened. -
Petersburg Campaign
On June 9, 1864, the Union forces, led by Ulysses S. Grant, began a siege of Petersburg and Richmond, Virginia. By the end of the year, the South still had control of the two cities, but their railroad system had been destroyed, leaving them without food or supplies during the winter. This led many Southern soldiers to desert. After a few more devastating battles in the spring, Lee had no choice but to evacuate the cities. This led to the South’s surrender on April 9, 1865. -
Mobile Bay
On August 5, 1864, Admiral David Farragut led a fleet of Union ships towards Mobile Bay, Alabama, the most important port on the Gulf of Mexico under Southern control. It was guarded by Fort Morgan, the ironclad Tennessee, and many underwater torpedoes. Despite losing a ship early on, the Union navy forced the Tennessee to surrender which gave them control of Mobile Bay. On August 23, Fort Morgan surrendered. This battle cost the South its most crucial port along the Gulf of Mexico. -
Sherman's March
The campaign began on September 2, 1864, when the Union army, led by General William Sherman, captured Atlanta, Georgia. Its capture crushed Southern civilian hope of winning the war and robbed the South of its cultural and industrial center. Sherman led 62,000 troops from Atlanta to Savannah, destroying everything in their path with intent to make life so miserable that Southern whites would stop supporting the war. When they finally reached Savannah on December 21, it was left undefended. -
Appomattox
The town of Appomattox was where General Robert E. Lee surrendered. He signed the papers on April 9, 1865 and it was the official end of the Civil War. It also meant that the Union was the official winner. After Lee gave up Richmond, Virginia to the Union, he knew that there was no chance and decided to end the war. Appomattox is now a national monument and a historical park. -
Lincoln's Assassination
On April 14, 1865, President Lincoln decided to attend a play at Ford’s Theater in Washington D.C. However, John Wilkes Booth was planning on assassinating Lincoln during the performance. Booth was a Northern man but was sympathetic towards the South. In order to “save the South”, during the play, Booth shot Lincoln in the back of the head. The President died early the next morning. This threw the country into turmoil and made Andrew Johnson President.
