The battles of the Civil War are known as some of the most famous war battles in US history. Most people know that the Battle of Gettysburg mostly ensured a Union victory in the war, and the Battle of Antietam has been recognized as the bloodiest single day of fighting in US history. However, most people cannot name the rest of the Civil War battles and the victorious of each. Each battle of the war had its own strategic importance, and greatly impacted both the Union and Confederacy. The battles all contributed to the Union’s victory, and Confederate’s ruin.

The Confederates fire on Fort Sumter began the Civil War in April of 1861. Not long after, on July 21, 1861, the First Battle of Bull Run occurred. McDowell (Union General) and Beauregard’s (Confederate) armies clashed at the battle. The Union forces seemed on the verge of winning, but Beauregard’s forces, with General Joseph E. Johnston’s reinforcements, repulsed the assault, scattering the union army. Bull Run boosted Southerner’s confidence although the opposing armies were of relatively equal strength when the fighting began. The battle destroyed the Northerners’ original belief that the war would end quickly. This timeline illustrates the events and days leading up to the First Battle of Bull Run.

 

Timeline of Events:

• July 16, 1861 - Advance of the Union army
• July 17, 1861 - Skirmish at Fairfax Court-House
• July 17, 1861 - Skirmish at Vienna
• July 17, 1861 - Confederate army retires to lone of Bull Run
• July 18, 1861 - Action at Blackburn's Ford
• July 18, 1861 - Skirmish at Mitchell's Ford
• July 18-19, 1861 - Confederate forces under General Johnston re-enforce General Beauregard
• July 21, 1863 - Battle of Bull Run
• July 21-22, 1861 - Retreat of the Union army

(http://www.civilwarhome.com/bullrunevents.htm)

            The Seven Days’ Battles occurred June 25-July 1, 1862, a year after the fighting first started between the Union and Confederacy. Under General Robert E. Lee’s leadership, the Confederacy’s defensive strategy underwent an important shift. Lee seized the initiative on June 25, 1862, attacking General McClellan’s right flank. The attack pushed McClellan into a defensive position. For a week, the armies fought in a series of fierce engagements known as the Seven Days’ Battles. More than 30,000 men were killed or wounded on both sides, making it the deadliest week of the war so far. McClellan came out with the victory. Lee lost ¼ of his 80,000 man army. (http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/hh/33/hh33h.htm)

            A month after the Seven Days’ Battles came the Second Battle of Bull Run on August 29-30, 1862.The Second Battle of Bull Run was as much of a disaster for the Union as the first.

In order to draw Pope’s army into battle, Jackson ordered an attack on a Federal column that was passing across his front on the Warrenton Turnpike on August 28. The fighting at Brawner Farm lasted several hours and resulted in a stalemate.  Pope became convinced that he had trapped Jackson and concentrated the bulk of his army against him. On August 29, Pope launched a series of assaults against Jackson’s position along an unfinished railroad grade. The attacks were repulsed with heavy casualties on both sides. At noon, Longstreet arrived on the field from Thoroughfare Gap and took position on Jackson’s right flank.  On August 30, Pope renewed his attacks, seemingly unaware that Longstreet was on the field. When massed Confederate artillery devastated a Union assault by Fitz John Porter’s command, Longstreet’s wing of 28,000 men counterattacked in the largest, simultaneous mass assault of the war. The Union left flank was crushed and the army driven back to Bull Run. Only an effective Union rearguard action prevented a replay of the First Manassas disaster. Pope’s retreat to Centreville was precipitous, nonetheless.  The next day, Lee ordered his army in pursuit. This was the decisive battle of the Northern Virginia Campaign.(http://www.nps.gov/history/hps/abpp/battles/va026.htm)

September 17, 1862 became known as the bloodiest single day of fighting in American history. The battle of Antietam lost about 2,100 Union soldiers and 2,700 Confederates to the battlefield. McClellan led uncoordinated and timid Union attacks. Although the armies fought to a tactical draw, the battle was a strategic defeat for the Confederacy. Antietam marked a major turning point in the war; kept Lee from directly threatening Northern industry and financial institutions. The battle provided Lincoln with the victory he needed to announce the abolition of slavery.

In the aftermath of the Confederate victory at Manassas, General Lee led his army into Maryland– in a gamble to win the war. His plans fell into Union hands, and the Union army massed against him outside a little town in Maryland, called Sharpsburg, near the Antietam Creek. In a day long battle, 23,582 Americans became casualties. Both sides lost an equal number of men. The Confederate force, which was smaller however, was forced to withdraw. In the aftermath of the battle– considered to be a Union victory, Lincoln announced the Emancipation Proclamation. (http://www.multied.com/civilwar/antietam.html)

The Battle of Fredericksburg came on December 13, 1862. The President had replaced McClellan with General Ambrose E. Burnside after the Battle of Antietam. Moving swiftly against Lee’s dispersed army in northern Virginia; Burnside reached the Rappahannock River opposite Fredericksburg in November 1862. On December 13, the Union forces launched a poorly coordinated and foolish frontal assault that the Confederates repelled, inflicting heavy Federal casualties. Burnside was replaced with Major General Joseph Hooker.

The main Union assault however, was commanded by General Hooker. His goal was to capture Marye's Heights. Many of Burnside's officers opposed the assault. They claimed it would be impossible to capture in a frontal assault. They were right. Seven separate Union divisions, attempted to scale the Marye's Heights. Each assault was halted in its tracks.
A confederate officer William Miller Owens describes the scene: "The enemy, having deployed, now showed himself above the crest of the ridge and advanced in columns of brigades, and at once our guns began their deadly work with shell and solid shot. How beautifully they came on! Their bright bayonets glistering in the sunlight made the line look a huge serpent of blue and steel. The very force of their onset leveled the broad fences bounding the small fields and gardens that interspersed the plain. We could see our shells bursting in their ranks, making great gaps; but on they came, as though they would go straight through and over us. Now we gave them canister, and that staggered them. A few more paces onward and the Georgians in the road below us rose up, and, glancing an instant along their rifle barrels, let loose a storm of lead into the faces of the advance brigade. This was too much; the column hesitated, and then turning, took refuge behind the bank."
Thousands of Union men were trapped on the fields leading to the heights. All night the dying lay untended on the battlefield. With staggering Union casualties, General Burnside ordered a general withdrawal back across the river. Union casualties totaled 12,653, while Confederate casualties stood at 5377 (http://www.multied.com/civilwar/frederick.html).

 

The Battle of Chancellorsville was fought May 2-6, 1863. The famous Stonewall Jackson was mortally wounded in the battle. Union General Hooker hoped to outflank Lee. But the Confederate commander surprised Hooker by sending Stonewall Jackson to outflank the Union right. Between May 1 and May 4, Lee’s army delivered a series of crushing attacks on Hookers forces. Outnumber 2 to 1; Lee had pulled off another stunning victory but at high cost. Lee lost some 13,000 men, more than the confederacy could afford.

 

Chancellorsville is considered Lee's greatest victory, although the Confederate commander's daring and skill met little resistance from the inept generalship of Joseph Hooker. Using cunning, and dividing their forces repeatedly, the massively outnumbered Confederates drove the Federal army from the battlefield. The cost had been frightful. The Confederates suffered 14,000 casualties, while inflicting 17,000. Perhaps the most damaging loss to the Confederacy was the death of Lee's "right arm," Stonewall Jackson, who died of pneumonia on May 10 while recuperating from his wounds (http://www.civilwarhome.com/chancellorsvillebattledescrpt.htm).

 

The greatest battle of the Civil War came on July 1-3, 1863, the Battle of Gettysburg. A Confederate brigade left Cashtown to confiscate much-needed shoes in Gettysburg. On July 1, 1863, a larger Confederate force advanced toward Gettysburg to disperse the cavalry and seize the shoes. During the first day of battle, July 1, the Confederates appeared to gain the upper hand. On the second day, the entire Union army was in its place, but the Confederates seized the initiative and took several key locations along Cemetery Ridge before Federal forces pushed them back to the previous day’s position. On July 3, day 3 of the battles, Lee made a fateful error. He believed the center of Meade’s line to be weak and ordered an all-out assault against it. Meade was prepared for Lee’s assault. When the Union guns suddenly went silent, the Confederates began a charge thinking they had knocked the Union forces out. As they marched, the Union artillery opened up again, tearing apart the charging Southerners. The Confederates retreated and half of Pickett’s 13,000 men lay dead or wounded. Gettysburg was the bloodiest battle of the war. The Union suffered 23,000 casualties; the Confederacy, 28,000.

 

Gen. Robert E. Lee concentrated his full strength against Maj. Gen. George G. Meade’s Army of the Potomac at the crossroads county seat of Gettysburg. On July 1, Confederate forces converged on the town from west and north, driving Union defenders back through the streets to Cemetery Hill. During the night, reinforcements arrived for both sides. On July 2, Lee attempted to envelop the Federals, first striking the Union left flank at the Peach Orchard, Wheatfield, Devil’s Den, and the Round Tops with Longstreet’s and Hill’s divisions, and then attacking the Union right at Culp’s and East Cemetery Hills with Ewell’s divisions. By evening, the Federals retained Little Round Top and had repulsed most of Ewell’s men. During the morning of July 3, the Confederate infantry were driven from their last toe-hold on Culp’s Hill. In the afternoon, after a preliminary artillery bombardment, Lee attacked the Union center on Cemetery Ridge. The Pickett-Pettigrew assault (more popularly, Pickett’s Charge) momentarily pierced the Union line but was driven back with severe casualties. Stuart’s cavalry attempted to gain the Union rear but was repulsed. On July 4, Lee began withdrawing his army toward Williamsport on the Potomac River. His train of wounded soldiers stretched more than fourteen miles (http://www.civilwar.com/content/view/1806/39/).

Following the major battle at Gettysburg, the Confederate stronghold of Vicksburg fell to Union forces, November 1862-July 1863.On July 4, one day after Pickett’s charge at Gettysburg, the city of Vicksburg, the last major Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi, surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant. By March 1863, Grant had devised a plan to take Vicksburg that called for rapid maneuvering and expert coordination. Grant had his 20,000 Union troops scattered across the Mississippi from the Louisiana side at a point south of Vicksburg. He marched them quickly into the interior of Mississippi. Cut off from supplies, they moved northeastward, captured the Mississippi state capital at Jackson, and turned west toward Vicksburg. On May 22, 1863, Grant settled down in front of the city, less than 600 yards from Confederate positions. Grant’s tight siege and the Union navy’s bombardment from the river cut off the city completely. Their situation hopeless, General John Pemberton and his 30,000 man garrison surrendered on July 4.

By 1863, the Confederate hold on the Mississippi River was limited to Vicksburg and Port Hudson– both strong bastions– difficult to overcome. In a daring move, U.S. Grant, commanding the Union forces, sent his troops past Vicksburg and landed to the south of the city. Grant's troops then defeated Confederate forces in five separate engagements. After a 6 week siege, Confederate forces surrendered (http://www.multied.com/civilwar/Vicksburg.html).

While Grant was besieging Vicksburg in June of 1863, the Union general William S. Rosecrans advanced on Confederate general Braxton Bragg whose army held Chattanooga, a doorway on the railroad linking Richmond to the Lower South. The Battle of Chattanooga was fought from August to November 1863. In order to lift the siege of Chattanooga, Lincoln took a number of immediate actions. He ordered 20,000 reinforcements from the Army of the Potomac to Chattanooga, and he appointed U.S. Grant as the overall commander of Union troops west of the Alleghenies. Grant took immediate action to improve the supply lines. Then, on November 24th, he launched his attack on Confederate lines. That day troops under, General Hooker, captured Lookout Mountain. The next day troops under General Thomas broke through the center of the Confederate lines and sent the Confederates in headlong retreat (http://www.multied.com/civilwar/Chatanooga.html).

The Union successes by 1863 had quite an impact on both sides. Hopes of victory and reunion increased in the North, and the economy boomed. As the battlefield losses had mounted, the Confederacy had disintegrated. Victory is like glue, while defeat dissolves the bonds that hold the glue together. After 1863, defeat infected Confederate politics, ruined the Southern economy, and invaded the hearts and minds of the people of the South.

On April 9, 1865, the Civil War finally came to its conclusion. Confederate commander Robert E. Lee met Union general Grant in the McLean house of the Appomattox Court House to sign the documents of surrender. Grant’s army of 80,000 had outrun Lee’s force of 35,000 and cut off Lee’s escape at the court house. Lee had realized the any more resistance was worthless, and decided on a surrender.