Portal:American Civil War/This week in American Civil War history
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Portal:American Civil War/This week in American Civil War history/1
January edit
January 1 edit
1863 - Washington, D.C. - The Emancipation Proclamation announced in September by President Abraham Lincoln, took effect only in states and portion of states which were "in rebellion against the United States"; the proclamation had no effect on slaveholders in loyal Union or border states
January 2 edit
1863 - Murfreesboro - Massed artillery under the command of Major John Mendenhall fired across the West Fork of the Stones River directly over the heads of friendly soldiers of the Union left wing to help decimate John C. Breckinridge's Orphan Brigade
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January 3 edit
1861 - Dover - The nominally slave state of Delaware voted not to secede from the United States; while some citizens joined the southern cause, no Confederate units or militia arose from the state
1862 - Cockpit Point - Though shelled heavily by USS Anacostia and USS Yankee, this fortified Potomac River bluff, commanded by Confederate Samuel G. French, maintained its river blockade with neither side gaining an advantage
1863 - Murphreesboro - Reinforced by men and material, Union Army commander William Rosecrans ordered an attack on Confederate sharpshooter positions, capturing almost 100
January 4 edit
January 5 edit
1862 - Hancock - After marching his brigade almost forty miles in bitter cold, Confederate commander Stonewall Jackson scattered Union pickets, then commenced bombardment of this garrisoned town in Washington County, Maryland
January 6 edit
1862 - Hancock - Pinning the Frederick Lander's Union garrison with bombardment, the Stonewall Brigade probed for a useful Potomac River crossing in Morgan County, West Virginia
January 7 edit
January 8 edit
1821 - Edgefield - The Longstreet family have their third son; they name him James after his father, but would nickname him "Pete"
1863 - Springfield - Federal commander Egbert B. Brown removed some supplies to hidden Greene County, Missouri depots, concentrated his defenders in four earthen works surrounding this county seat's public square, and his men withstood repeated assaults until sundown against superior Confederate columns under John Marmaduke
1865 - Dove Creek - Texan soldiers under Confederate captains Henry Fossett and S.S. Totten, misunderstanding which tribe occupied a discovered camp near what is now Knickerbocker, Texas, attacked a tribe of peaceful Kickapoo Indians and were badly beaten by organized defense
January 9 edit
1861 - Morris Island - The civilian resupply ship Star of the West was fired upon by cadets from The Citadel as the ship entered Charleston Harbor; this prevented the Star of the West from resupplying Major Robert Anderson's garrison at Fort Sumter
1863 - Fort Hindman - After communicating his intention to President Lincoln, but not to commanders Grant or Halleck, political general John Alexander McClernand landed ground troops under Sherman at Arkansas Post, overrunning Confederate trenches
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January 10 edit
1862 - Middle Creek - This minor Union victory in Floyd County, Kentucky helped enable the Federal invasion of Tennessee and launched the military career of 30 year-old former schoolteacher Colonel James Garfield
1863 - Fort Hindman - Union Navy commander David Porter ordered a bombardment to reduce the Confederate defenses of this fort commanding the mouth of the Arkansas River
January 11 edit
1863 - Fort Hindman - Two days' bombardment from artillery and ironclad warship silenced virtually every defending cannon, and Fort Hindman commander Thomas Churchill surrendered the entire Confederate garrison of 5,500 soldiers
1863 - Hartville - Union garrison commander Samuel Merrill positioned his defenders in covered high ground in Wright County, Missouri, and endured four hours of assault by Confederate infantry under John S. Marmaduke and Joseph C. Porter before being forced to withdraw
January 12 edit
January 13 edit
1832 - Washington, D.C. - President Andrew Jackson wrote to Vice President Martin Van Buren expressing his opposition to South Carolina's defiance of federal authority in the Nullification Crisis
January 14 edit
January 15 edit
1865 - Fort Fisher - After unloading thousands of Union Army infantry and Marines, and arranging several lines of Union Navy ironclads and gunboats for artillery support, a successful cross-service amphibious assault led by David Porter and Alfred Terry captured the "Gibraltar of the South"
January 16 edit
1807 - Beacon Hill - On a house on Somerset Street, the last of thirteen children of Boston attorney Daniel Davis and his wife Lois was born, a boy called Charles
1815 - Westernville - Henry Halleck, a farm boy was born near Delta Lake in Oneida County, New York; detesting farm work, he would run away dreaming of becoming a soldier
1821 - Cabell's Dale - Proud parents Joseph Cabell Breckinridge and Mary Clay Smith had the third of what would eventually be fourteen children, a boy named John born in this ancestral farm off the Paris Pike in northeast Fayette County, Kentucky
Portal:American Civil War/This week in American Civil War history/4
January 17 edit
1864 - Dandridge - Confederate infantry under James Longstreet drove Army of the Ohio cavalry under Samuel D. Sturgis in this minor Jefferson County, Tennessee firefight
January 18 edit
1863 - Shelton Laurel valley - Despite orders from North Carolina Governor Zebulon Vance Confederate soldiers of the 64th North Carolina Infantry Regiment under James A. Keith tortured and killed Unionist sympathizers in Madison County
January 19 edit
1807 - Stratford Hall - Members of the Virginia gentry class Anne Hill Lee and Henry Lee ("Light Horse Harry") have their fifth child, a boy named Robert in Westmoreland County, Virginia
1862 - Fishing Creek - After white raincoat-clad Felix Zollicoffer was killed leading his brigade's attack in dense Kentucky timberland, rebel commander George B. Crittenden was powerless to stop a disorderly rout by his men
January 20 edit
1863 - Ferry Farm - Army of the Potomac commander Ambrose Burnside took advantage of his rested troops and mild weather to attempt a sudden move upstream to cross the Rappahannock River but a saturating rain turned the entire movement into the legendary "mud march"
January 21 edit
1824 - Clarksburg - Harrison County attorney Jonathan Jackson and his wife Julia Neale Jackson receive their third child, a boy they name Thomas Jonathan after his maternal grandfather
1861 - Washington, D.C. - Five Southern members of the United States Senate resign from the Senate: David Levy Yulee and Stephen Mallory of Florida, Clement Clay and Benjamin Fitzpatrick of Alabama, and Jefferson Davis of Mississippi.
January 22 edit
1863 - Falmouth - Ambrose Burnside released rations of whiskey to Army of Potomac soldiers frustrated at the army's slow progress through roads choked with mud; exhausted and drunken Union troops didn't accelerate the movement
January 23 edit
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January 24 edit
1861 - Augusta - Georgia militia capture the U.S. Army arsenal which would become the essential Confederate Powderworks, the only permanent structures erected by the Confederate States of America
January 25 edit
1825 - Richmond - A son, George, is born at a house on Main Street about a block from the Virginia State Capitol building, the first child of Robert and Mary Pickett
January 26 edit
1861 - Baton Rouge - A convention of citizens of Louisiana passed and signed an ordinance of secession; dissolving the state's association with the United States of America and absolving the state's citizens of any loyalty to the Union government
1863 - Washington, D.C. - President Abraham Lincoln replaced Army of the Potomac commander Ambrose Burnside with Joseph Hooker: "Only those generals who gain success can set up dictators. What I ask now of you is military success, and I will risk the dictatorship..."
1863 - Springfield - Massachusetts Governor John Albion Andrew received permission from Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton to raise a militia organization for men of African descent
January 27 edit
1864 - Fair Garden - In fog, Union brigades under Edward M. McCook attacked a Confederate division commanded by William T. Martin in this Sevier County, Tennessee cavalry clash
January 28 edit
January 29 edit
1861 - Washington, D.C. - Kansas admitted as the 34th U.S. state.
1862 - Trans-Mississippi - Major General Earl Van Dorn assumes command of the Trans-Mississippi District of the Confederacy.
January 30 edit
1862 - Greenpoint - Ironclad warship USS Monitor's hull was launched after construction at the Continental Iron Works in this section of Brooklyn, New York
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January 31 edit
February edit
February 1 edit
1861 - Austin - Texas passed an ordinance of secession from the United States, subject to public vote on set for February 23
1862 - Boston - Julia Ward Howe's "Battle Hymn of the Republic" was published for the first time in the Atlantic Monthly
February 2 edit
1864 - Chattanooga - 129 Confederate deserters take loyalty oath to the United States
1865 - Rhode Island, Michigan - ratification of the 13th Amendment by respective state governments
February 3 edit
1862 - Washington, D.C. - The offer of war elephants from the King of Siam declined by Abraham Lincoln
1864 - Vicksburg - William Tecumseh Sherman leaves to assault Meridian, Mississippi
1865 - Fort Monroe - Hampton Roads Conference is held
February 4 edit
1861 - Montgomery - Representatives of the states of South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana met and formed the Confederate States of America
1862 - Fort Henry - landing of Union troops nearby
February 5 edit
February 6 edit
1833 - Patrick County, Virginia - James Ewell Brown Stuart, later known as the Confederate cavalry commander "Jeb" Stuart, was born at Laurel Hill Farm in southern Virginia close to the North Carolina border
1862 - Fort Henry - Naval bombardment and rising Tennessee River waters forced Lloyd Tilghman to surrender his poorly-sited fortification to little-known Union Brigadier General Ulysses S. Grant before any infantry engagement
1864 - Morton's Ford - Crossings by Union troops at several points along the Rappahannock River in Orange and Culpeper Counties, Virginia stalled after defense by Richard S. Ewell's corps
1865 - Hatcher's Run - After a bold dash across Boydton Plank Road undertaken to destroy Confederate supply wagons in Dinwiddie County, Virginia, Union II Corps and V Corps found themselves pushed back by rebels under John B. Gordon
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February 7 edit
1865 - Hatcher's Run - Gouverneur K. Warren's V Corps launched an attack against Gordon's corps, regaining ground lost to counterattack the day before
February 8 edit
1820 - Lancaster, Ohio - Near the banks of the Hocking River, future Union Army commander Tecumseh Sherman was born to Mary Hoyt and Charles Robert Sherman
1862 - Roanoke Island - Successfully landing 7,500 troops, Union commander Ambrose Burnside coordinated land and sea bombardments with land assault to overwhelm defenders of Fort Huger under Henry A. Wise
1865 - Delaware - State voters rejected the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and voted to continue the practice of slavery (Delaware finally ratified the amendment on February 12, 1901)
February 9 edit
1861 - Montgomery, Alabama - During a constitutional convention for the new Confederate States, Jefferson Davis was named provisional president of the Confederacy
February 10 edit
1862 - Elizabeth City - After success at Roanoke Island, fourteen Union Navy vessels under Captain Stephen Rowan destroyed the Confederate mosquito fleet, silenced a four-gun battery, and helped to clear the waterway to Norfolk, Virginia
February 11 edit
1861 - Washington, D.C. - United States House of Representatives unanimously passes a resolution guaranteeing noninterference with slavery in any state.
February 12 edit
1809 - LaRue County, Kentucky - In a log cabin on the Sinking Spring Farm Nancy Hanks, the wife of uneducated farmer Thomas Lincoln, gave birth to the Lincolns' second child, a boy they chose to name Abraham
1865 - Washington, D.C. - Electoral college met and officially elected Abraham Lincoln to a second term as President of the United States
February 13 edit
1862 - Wheeling, West Virginia - A constitutional convention held in Independence Hall decided to forbid both free and enslaved blacks from permanent residence in the nascent state of West Virginia
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February 14 edit
1862 - Fort Donelson - Union river fleet under Flag officer Andrew Foote attempted to reduce this Stewart County, Tennessee fort by naval bombardment but was badly damaged by Donelson's Cumberland River batteries
1864 - Battle of Meridian - Unable to concentrate his troops, Leonidas Polk abandoned this Lauderdale County seat to overwhelming Union forces under William Tecumseh Sherman
February 15 edit
1862 - Fort Donelson - After preliminary investment of the fort, Ulysses S. Grant found himself surprised in morning attacks by defenders under John B. Floyd, but arrived in time to hamper the breakout attempt
February 16 edit
1862 - Fort Donelson - Left in command by ranking Confederate generals Floyd and Gideon Pillow, Simon Bolivar Buckner asked for terms from his old friend Grant, but was rebuffed with: "No terms except unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted."
February 17 edit
1864 - Charleston Harbor - USS Housatonic becomes the first ship ever sunk by a submarine, the CSS Hunley, which itself sank with all hands before returning from its only operation
1865 - Columbia - Federal troops under Sherman commit widespread arson after P. G. T. Beauregard decides to abandon the city
February 18 edit
1862 - Richmond - The First Congress of the Confederate States of America opens.
February 19 edit
1862 - Richmond - Confederate Congress orders the release of 2000 prisoners of war
February 20 edit
1863 - Olustee - The largest battle fought in Florida during the war
1865 - Richmond - Confederate House of Representatives approve use of slaves as soldiers
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February 21 edit
1862 - Tangier - Confederate officers detained by U.S. consul James De Long, but were soon released
February 22 edit
1865 - Wilmington - Federal troops capture city. Lee places Joseph E. Johnston in command of forces in South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and Tennessee.
February 23 edit
1864 - Richmond, Virginia - Buyers' panic causes whisky and food prices to rise greatly.
February 24 edit
1863 - Arizona Territory separated from New Mexico Territory
1864 - Washington, D.C. - The rank of Lieutenant General approved by U.S. Senate; Armies of the Confederacy were charged to Braxton Bragg
February 25 edit
1862 - Nashville, Tennessee - Nashville falls to Union forces
February 26 edit
1863 - U.S. President Abraham Lincoln signs the National Banking Act into law.
February 27 edit
1864 - The first Northern prisoners arrive at the Confederate prison at Andersonville, Georgia.
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February 28 edit
1861 - Colorado is organized as a United States territory.
1863 - CSS Nashville - renamed Rattlesnake, sunk by USS Montauk in Savannah area.
February 29 edit
1864 - American Civil War: Kilpatrick-Dahlgren Raid fails - Plans to free 15,000 Union soldiers being held near Richmond, Virginia are thwarted.
March edit
March 1 edit
March 2 edit
1861 - Nevada Territory and Dakota Territory are organized as political divisions of the United States
1865 - Battle of Waynesboro, Virginia -
March 3 edit
1865 - Washington, D.C. - U.S. Congress authorized formation of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands to aid former slaves through education, health care and employment
March 4 edit
1861 - Montgomery - First national flag of the Confederate States of America (the Stars and Bars) was adopted
1865 - Richmond - Last national flag of the Confederate States of America was adopted
March 5 edit
1863 - Thompson's Station - Confederate corps commander Earl Van Dorn attacked a probing Union force in Williamson County, Tennessee with two cavalry divisions, capturing an entire infantry brigade and its commander, John Coburn
March 6 edit
1857 - Washington, D.C.- The Supreme Court of the United States ruled in the Dred Scott v. Sandford case, shocking many in the North
1865 - Natural Bridge - A small band of Confederate soldiers, supported by elderly citizens and young students from nearby Florida Military and Collegiate Institute repelled attacks from two United States Colored Troops regiments, successfully defending the Florida state capitol at Tallahassee
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March 7 edit
1862 - Elkhorn Tavern - Though outnumbered, Samuel Curtis's Army of the Southwest defeated the Confederate Army of the West under Earl Van Dorn at Pea Ridge in Benton County, Arkansas
1865 - Battle of Wyse Fork - Jacob D. Cox's XXIII Corps encountered Braxton Bragg's entrenched forces along Southwest Creek east of Kinston, North Carolina
March 8 edit
1862 - Hampton Roads - The ironclad CSS Virginia (formerly USS Merrimack) rammed and sank the USS Cumberland and burned USS Congress before retiring to Norfolk, Virginia shipyards
March 9 edit
1862 - Hampton Roads - Returning to finish the Union Navy fleet, CSS Virginia met USS Monitor in the first "battle of the ironclads"
March 10 edit
1864 - Vicksburg - The Red River Campaign began as Union troops under Andrew J. Smith embarked for Alexandria, Louisiana with a gunboat fleet under David Porter
1865 - Wyse Fork - Sustained attacks by Confederate infantry Daniel H. Hill and Robert Hoke were unable to dislodge Jacob Cox's reinforced provisional corps in Lenoir County, North Carolina
March 11 edit
1861 - Montgomery - The Constitution of the Confederate States of America was adopted.
March 12 edit
March 13 edit
1862 - Washington, D.C. - The U.S. federal government forbade all Union army officers from returning fugitive slaves, thus effectively annulling the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 and setting the stage for the Emancipation Proclamation.
1863 - Deep Gully - D.H. Hill's native North Carolina division have initial success in Craven County, North Carolina against Hiram Anderson's division of the Union XVIII Corps
1865 - Richmond - The Confederate States of America reluctantly agreed to the use of African American troops.
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March 14 edit
1862 - New Bern - One of the rare Eastern Theater Union tactical victories in 1862, Ambrose Burnside's three brigade expeditionary force crossed the Neuse River and drove Confederate defenders from this Craven County town for the balance of the war
1862 - New Madrid, Missouri - After a one-day bombardment by siege artillery of the Union Army of the Mississippi, the Confederate forces under Brigadier General John P. McCown abandon the town and move to Island No. 10
March 15 edit
1862 - Island No. 10 - Union gunboats and mortars arrive at the island, and the siege of the island begins
1863 - Fort Anderson - D.H. Hill's North Carolinians, unable to break Union barricades in the face of steady Federal naval gunfire, retire after nearly breaching the fort
March 16 edit
1861 - Austin - Edward Clark became Governor of Texas, replacing Sam Houston, who was evicted from the office for refusing to take an oath of loyalty to the Confederacy.
1865 - Averasborough - William Hardee's Confederate corps morning assault Henry Slocum's Army of Georgia failed to delay William T. Sherman's pending attack at Bentonville, North Carolina
March 17 edit
1863 - Kellyville - Culpeper County, Virginia
March 18 edit
1865 - Richmond - The Congress of the Confederate States of America adjourned for the last time.
March 19 edit
1863 - Charleston Harbor - The SS Georgiana, said to have been the most powerful Confederate cruiser, was destroyed on her maiden voyage with cargo of munitions, medicines and merchandise then valued at over $1,000,000. The wreck was discovered on the same day and month, exactly 102 years later by then teenage diver and pioneer underwater archaeologist E. Lee Spence.
1865 - Bentonville - By the end of the battle two days later the Confederate forces have retreated from Four Oaks, North Carolina.
March 20 edit
1863 - Vaught's Hill -
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March 21 edit
1865 - Bentonville -
March 22 edit
1817 - Warrenton - A boy was born to the Bragg family in Warren County, North Carolina, which they named Braxton
March 23 edit
March 24 edit
March 25 edit
1863 - Brentwood - Union commander Edward Bloodgood and his 400-man railroad depot garrison, facing Nathan Bedford Forrest's entire cavalry division in Williamson County, Tennessee, were surrounded and captured
1864 - Paducah - Forrest's cavalry division again overwhelmed Union supply trains in McCracken County, Kentucky, capturing valuable livestock and burning all they couldn't plunder
1865 - Fort Stedman - In this last serious attempt by Confederate troops to break the Siege of Petersburg, John B. Gordon's corps attacked Federal siege works before dawn, hoping to breakthrough to the Union supply base at City Point
March 26 edit
1862 - Glorieta Pass - A battalion of the 1st Colorado Volunteers under John Chivington defeated lead Confederate elements under Charles L. Pyron in Henry H. Sibley's New Mexico Campaign
1892 - Camden - Walt Whitman, among the most influential poets in the American canon, died in his home as a result of bronchial pneumonia
March 27 edit
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March 28 edit
1862 - Glorieta Pass - William Read Scurry reinforced Pyron's rebels, took the initiative from 1st Colorado Volunteers commander John P. Slough, but when Chivington's battalion attacked his baggage train was forced to withdraw
1870 - The Presidio - George Henry Thomas, the "Rock of Chickamauga," commanding the Division of the Pacific headquartered in San Francisco, died of a stroke while writing reply to an article criticizing his military career
March 29 edit
1865 - Lewis's Farm - In this first action of the Appomattox campaign, Ulysses S. Grant attempted to break the right wing of Robert E. Lee's Petersburg defenses in Dinwiddie County, Virginia
March 30 edit
1855 - Bleeding Kansas - "Border Ruffians" from Missouri invaded Kansas and force election of a pro-slavery legislature.
March 31 edit
1865 - White Oak Road - Robert E. Lee shifted his forces westward to counter the Union move around his right flank; Gouverneur K. Warren's V Corps assaulted Confederate trenches along White Oak Road but was repulsed by counterattack from Bushrod Johnson
1865 - Dinwiddie Court House - Phil Sheridan's cavalry movement to the court house and around Lee's flank was blocked by cavalry under W.H.F. "Rooney" Lee and infantry under George Pickett
April edit
April 1 edit
1865 - Five Forks - In the decisive battle of the Appomattox Campaign, Warren and Sheridan dislodged Pickett and Rooney Lee from a critical crossroads that protected their supply lines; over 4,500 Confederate soldiers surrendered
April 2 edit
1863 - Richmond - Food shortages incited hundreds of angry women to riot and demand the Confederate government to release emergency supplies in the Richmond Bread Riot
1865 - Selma - Nathan Bedford Forrest was unable to mount defense against two Union cavalry divisions in James Wilson's raid
1865 - Petersburg - Decisive massed Union assault on Confederate trenches ended the ten-month Siege of Petersburg
1865 - Sutherland's Station - Nelson A. Miles' Union division won the footrace to the Southside Railroad, cutting off Lee's supply line
April 3 edit
1864 - Elkin's Ferry - Frederick Steele's mixed infantry and cavalry force reached Elkin's Ferry on the Little Missouri River, but were met by Confederate cavalry under Joseph O. "Jo" Shelby
1865 - Namozine Church - With 30,000 hungry men to feed, Lee chose to rest at the end of the day, sending out foraging parties, allowing Union cavalry time to erase Lee's headstart in his retreat
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April 4 edit
1862 - New Madrid Bend, Mississippi River - USS Carondelet ran past the Confederate batteries at Island No. 10 on a stormy night and joined with the Union Army of the Mississippi at New Madrid, Missouri
1864 - Elkin's Ferry - John S. Marmaduke's cavalry assaulted Federals as they were crossing the Little Missouri; Steele's Union forces were able to fend off these attacks and then cross the river
1865 - Richmond - A day after Union forces capture Richmond, Virginia, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln visits the Confederate capital
April 5 edit
1862 - Yorktown - John B. Magruder's prepared Confederate positions and showy demonstrations of force compelled Army of the Potomac commander George B. McClellan to slow his intended advance on Richmond
April 6 edit
1862 - Shiloh - Albert S. Johnston's Army of Mississippi surprised camps under Ulysses S. Grant in a pre-dawn assault, pushing the Union force back to a defensive position protecting supplies at Pittsburg Landing
1865 - Sayler's Creek - Nearly a quarter of the Confederate army was cut off and forced to surrender by Sheridan; many of the Confederate supply trains were also captured
1865 - High Bridge - Confederate cavalry fought stubbornly to secure the Appomattox River bridges separating Prince Edward & Cumberland Counties
1866 - Decatur - The Grand Army of the Republic, an American patriotic organization composed of Union veterans of the American Civil War, was founded; it lasted until 1956
April 7 edit
1862 - Pittsburg Landing - Albert S. Johnston's death, and the timely arrival of reinforcements under Don Carlos Buell allowed Ulysses S. Grant to launch a counterattack along the entire line forcing rebels to retreat
1865 - Cumberland Church - The Union II Corps under Andrew A. Humphreys struck at the Confederate rear but was held at bay in Cumberland County, Virginia
April 8 edit
1862 - Island Number Ten - Confederate commander William W. Mackall surrendered Island No. 10 and its garrison of 7,000 men
1864 - Sabine Cross-Roads - After losing contact with his accompanying Red River gunboat fleet, Nathaniel P. Banks's vangard was defeated and routed by Confederates concentrated under Richard Taylor
1865 - Spanish Fort - After an eight day envelopment, garrison commander St. John Richardson Liddell surrendered to Union forces
1865 - Appomattox Station - After George A. Custer's cavalry division seized a supply train and 25 guns, effectively blocking Robert E. Lee's path, Grant sent a letter proposing a meeting to discuss terms of surrender
April 9 edit
1864 - Pleasant Hill - Thomas Churchill's brigade was sent mistakenly into the strong Union center and repulsed, but Banks decided to retreat toward his gunboat fleet without gathering all Union wounded
1865 - Appomattox Courthouse - Army of Northern Virginia commander Robert E. Lee sat down in Appomattox Courthouse to discuss the surrender of all Confederate armies
1865 - Fort Blakely - In the last combined-force battle of the war, Union forces under Edward Canby forced the surrender of the last Mobile Bay fortification
April 10 edit
1862 - Fort Pulaski - Union forces on Tybee Island besiege and capture the Confederate-held fort after 30 hours of bombardment
1863 - Franklin - Earl Van Dorn's Army of Tennessee cavalry division probed Williamson County, Tennessee for Gordon Granger's Army of Kentucky
1864 - Prairie D'Ane - Frederick Steele’s forces, combined with Brig. Gen. John M. Thayer’s division, encountered a Confederate line of battle at Prairie D’Ane and attacked, driving it back a mile before checked
1865 - Appomattox Courthouse - A day after his surrender to Union forces, Confederate General Robert E. Lee addressed his troops for the last time
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April 11 edit
April 12 edit
1861 - Fort Sumter - Just after 4:30 A.M. local time, Edmund Ruffin fired the first shots of the American Civil War at this island coastal fortification in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina
1864 - Fort Pillow - After capturing this Mississippi River outpost, Confederate commander Nathan Bedford Forrest failed to prevent his men from killing many United States Colored Troops after their surrender
April 13 edit
1864 - Prairie D'Ane - Sterling Prices Missouri State Guard fell upon Frederick Steele's rearguard; after a four-hour battle, Price disengaged, and Steele’s column continued to Camden
April 14 edit
1865 - Washington, D.C. - Abraham Lincoln was shot in Ford's Theatre by John Wilkes Booth while William H. Seward and his family were attacked in his home by Lewis Powell
April 15 edit
1862 - Peralta - Tom Green's 5th Texas Mounted Volunteers, temporarily cut off by Edward Canby's pursuing Federal brigades, used a dust storm in Valencia County, New Mexico to cover their escape
1863 - Norfleet House - Union artillery opened fire on Confederate batteries at Norfleet House on the Nansemond River, opening part of the river to Union Navy gunboats
April 16 edit
1862 - Yorktown - William T. H. Brooks's 1st Vermont Brigade briefly occupied Confederate rifle pits in Yorktown, Virginia defenses at Dam Number One, but fell back under counter attack led by Georgia brothers Howell Cobb and Thomas Cobb
1862 - Washington, D.C. - A law passed ending the practice of slavery in the District of Columbia
1863 - Vicksburg - Ships led by David Dixon Porter moved through heavy Confederate artillery fire on approach to Vicksburg, Mississippi
1865 - West Point - James H. Wilson's raid ended, capturing Fort Tyler at West Point, Georgia
April 17 edit
1861 - Richmond - The state of Virginia seceded from the Union
1864 - Plymouth - In a combined operation with the ironclad ram CSS Albemarle, Confederate forces under Robert F. Hoke, attacked the Federal garrison at Plymouth, North Carolina
1865 - Washington, D.C. - Mary Surratt arrested as a conspirator in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln
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April 18 edit
1864 - Poison Spring - Confederate divisions under John S. Marmaduke and Samuel B. Maxey fell on a Union foraging party under John M. Williams, capturing 200 wagons of corn
April 19 edit
1861 - Baltimore - Anti-union sentiment in Baltimore builds into violence; while marching between Baltimore's President Street Station to Camden station, the Sixth Massachusetts infantry regiment is attacked by a mob and fires into the crowd, killing twelve
1862 - South Mills - In an effort to prevent Confederate ironclads from entering Albemarle Sound, two Union regiments under Jesse L. Reno unsuccessfully attempted to destroy Dismal Swamp Canal locks
1863 - Hill's Point - A detachment of the 8th Connecticut and the 89th New York landed on Hill's Point at the confluence of the forks of the Nansemond River; this amphibious force assaulted Fort Huger from the rear, quickly capturing its garrison, thus reopening the river to Union shipping
April 20 edit
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April 22 edit
1863 - La Grange - Benjamin Grierson led a Union cavalry brigade consisting of Illinois and Iowa troopers to destroy Confederate infrastructure in central Mississippi in what became known as Grierson's Raid
1864 - Washington, D.C. - U.S. Congress passed the Coinage Act which mandated the inscription "In God We Trust" be placed on all coins minted as United States currency
April 23 edit
1864 - Cane River Crossing - Using natural Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana obstacles, Confederate commander Hamilton P. Bee attempted to block a division under William H. Emory, but was overwhelmed by Federal reinforcements
April 24 edit
1862 - New Orleans - A thirteen ship Union Navy flotilla commanded by David Farragut passed Forts Jackson and St. Philip on the Mississippi River on its way to capture New Orleans
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April 25 edit
1862 - New Orleans - David Farragut anchored his flotilla in the Mississippi River opposite the Confederate city of New Orleans at noon
1864 - Marks' Mills - Two Confederate cavalry divisions ambushed and captured a Union foraging column with 240 wagons under Francis Drake in Cleveland County, Arkansas
April 26 edit
1862 - Fort Macon - Accurate rifled cannon fire penetrated the scarp of these Carteret County, North Carolina fortifications, causing the fort's speedy surrender
1865 - Durham - Confederate General Joseph Johnston surrendered his army to General William Tecumseh Sherman at the Bennett Place
1865 - Port Royal - Union cavalry troopers cornered and killed John Wilkes Booth, President Lincoln's assassin, in Virginia
1863 - Cape Girardeau - John S. Marmaduke Confederate cavalry division attacked John McNeil's Union garrison at Cape Girardeau County, Missouri; McNeil's command retreated into their field works, and Marmaduke was forced to withdraw
April 27 edit
1861 - Washington, D.C. - President of the United States Abraham Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus
1865 - Memphis - The steamboat Sultana, carrying 2,400 passengers, exploded and sank in the Mississippi River, killing 1,700, most of whom were Union survivors of the Andersonville Prison
April 28 edit
April 29 edit
April 30 edit
1863 - Day's Gap - Confederate cavalry under Nathan Bedford Forrest skirmished with mule-mounted Federal raiders under Abel Streight in Cullman County, Alabama, but were repulsed by his rear guard units as the raiders escaped toward Georgia
1863 - Snyder's Bluff - As the Union main body crossed the Mississippi River below Vicksburg at Grand Gulf, infantry under William T. Sherman attacked northern approaches to hold Confederate defenders inside the Vicksburg fortifications
1864 - Jenkins' Ferry - Frederick Steele's Union Camden Expedition columns were attacked repeatedly while trying to cross the Saline River in Grant County, Arkansas, but Kirby Smith deployed his units piecemeal
May edit
May 1 edit
1862 - New Orleans - Union infantry under Benjamin Butler occupied the city, which surrendered without fighting
1863 - Chalk Bluff - William Vandever, commanding the 2nd Division of the Union Army of the Frontier, was repulsed in an attempt to prevent Confederate cavalry under John S. Marmaduke from crossing the St. Francis River
1863 - Chancellorsville - Joseph Hooker, commanding the Army of the Potomac, pulled back after initial success against the Army of Northern Virginia; later he confessed, "I just lost confidence in Joe Hooker"
1863 - Port Gibson - With two of his three Federal corps assembled on dry ground south of Vicksburg, Ulysses S. Grant pushed northeastward along the Bayou Pierre attempting to flank Confederate prepared fortifications at Grand Gulf
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May 2 edit
1863 - Chancellorsville - After commanding the successful surprise attack on Oliver O. Howard's XI Corps and rolling up the Union Army's right flank, Stonewall Jackson was struck down by friendly fire while returning from scouting; he succumbed to pneumonia eight days later
May 3 edit
1863 - Fredericksburg - Union commander John Sedgwick pushed his reinforced VI Corps across the Rappahannock River and up Marye's Heights
May 4 edit
1862 - Yorktown - Early in the morning, Samuel P. Heintzelman ascended in an observation balloon and found Confederates had evacuated their earthworks
1863 - Salem Church - Union VI Corps assaults were repulsed with heavy casualties; after dark, Sedgwick withdrew across two pontoon bridges at Scott’s Dam
May 5 edit
1862 - Williamsburg -
1864 - The Wilderness -
1864 - Albemarle Sound -
May 6 edit
1861 - Little Rock - Arkansas secedes from the Union.
1863 - Chancellorsville -
1864 - Port Walthall Junction -
May 7 edit
1862 - Eltham's Landing -
1864 - Port Walthall Junction -
1864 - Rocky Face Ridge -
1864 - Todd's Tavern -
May 8 edit
1861 - Richmond - Richmond, Virginia, is named the capital of the Confederate States of America
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May 9 edit
1864 - Cloyd's Mountain -
1864 - Swift Creek -
May 10 edit
1863 - Stonewall Jackson, American Confederate general (b. 1824) dies
1864 - Cove Mountain -
1864 - Chester Station -
1864 - Rocky Face Ridge -
1864 - Spotsylvania -
1865 - Irwinville - Jefferson Davis is captured by Union troops in Irwin County, Georgia
May 11 edit
1862 - James River - The ironclad CSS Virginia is scuttled in the James River northwest of Norfolk, Virginia.
1864 - Yellow Tavern -
May 12 edit
1864 - Spotsylvania -
May 13 edit
1865 - Palmito Ranch -
May 14 edit
May 15 edit
1862 - Drewry's Bluff -
1864 - New Market -
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May 16 edit
1863 - Champion Hill -
1864 - Proctor's Creek -
May 17 edit
1863 - Big Black River Bridge - This Hinds County, Mississippi victory by the Union XIII Corps under John A. McClernand bottled Confederate forces up in the Mississippi River fortress at Vicksburg
1864 - Adairsville - Retreating Army of Tennessee commander Joseph E. Johnston deployed William Hardee's corps astride the Kingston road, repulsing the Union IV Corps under Oliver O. Howard in pursuit; darkness prevented reinforced attack
May 18 edit
1861 - Battle of Sewell's Point -
1864 - Battle of Spotsylvania Court House -
May 19 edit
1861 - Battle of Sewell's Point -
1862 - Battle of Whitney's Lane -
May 20 edit
1863 - Battle of Pogue's Run -
1864 - Battle of Ware Bottom Church -
May 21 edit
1863 - Battle of Plains Store -
May 22 edit
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May 23 edit
1862 - Battle of Front Royal -
May 24 edit
1864 - Battle of Wilson's Wharf -
May 25 edit
1862 - Siege of Corinth -
1862 - First Battle of Winchester -
1864 - Battle of New Hope Church -
1865 - Mobile magazine explosion
May 26 edit
May 27 edit
1862 - Battle of Hanover Court House -
1864 - Battle of Pickett's Mill -
May 28 edit
1864 - Battle of Dallas -
May 29 edit
1861 - Battle of Aquia Creek -
1864 - Battle of Totopotomoy Creek -
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May 30 edit
1861 - Battle of Aquia Creek -
1862 - Siege of Corinth -
1864 - Battle of Totopotomoy Creek -
May 31 edit
1861 - Battle of Aquia Creek -
1862 - Battle of Seven Pines -
June edit
June 1 edit
1861 - Battle of Aquia Creek -
1862 - Battle of Seven Pines -
1864 - Battle of Cold Harbor -
June 2 edit
1864 - Battle of Cold Harbor -
June 3 edit
1807 - Fairview - A son is born to Samuel Emory Davis and his wife Jane, their tenth child. They name him Jefferson after the Virginia-born founding father
1861 - Philippi - A coordinated double envelopment of Union infantry under Thomas A. Morris overwhelmed poorly armed Confederates defending a covered bridge crossing the Tygart River in what is now Barbour County, West Virginia
1864 - Cold Harbor - Advancing in pre-dawn fog, three Union infantry corps under George Meade were decimated in the face of strong improvised Confederate earthworks. The assault would lead to the deaths of as many as 7,000 Federal casualties in just three hours.
June 4 edit
1864 - Battle of Cold Harbor -
June 5 edit
1862 - Battle of Tranter's Creek
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June 6 edit
1862 - First Battle of Memphis
June 7 edit
1862 - First Battle of Chattanooga
1863 - Battle of Milliken's Bend
June 8 edit
1862 - First Battle of Chattanooga
June 9 edit
1862 - Battle of Port Republic
1863 - Battle of Brandy Station
1864 - First Battle of Petersburg -
June 10 edit
1864 - Battle of Brice's Crossroads
June 11 edit
1864 - Battle of Trevilian Station
June 12 edit
1864 - Battle of Trevilian Station
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June 13 edit
1863 - Second Battle of Winchester
June 14 edit
1863 - Second Battle of Winchester
June 15 edit
1863 - Second Battle of Winchester
1864 - Second Battle of Petersburg
June 16 edit
1864 - Second Battle of Petersburg
June 17 edit
1862 - Saint Charles -
1863 - Middleburg -
1864 - Petersburg -
June 18 edit
1863 - Hines' Raid - Thomas Hines enters Indiana on a scouting mission for John Hunt Morgan.
1863 - Middleburg -
1864 - Petersburg -
June 19 edit
1862 - Washington, D.C. - U.S. Congress prohibits slavery in United States territories, nullifying the Dred Scott Case
1863 - Middleburg -
1864 - Alabama and Kearsarge -
1865 - Galveston - Over two years after the Emancipation Proclamation, slaves are finally informed of their freedom; the anniversary is still officially celebrated in Texas and 13 other contiguous states as Juneteenth
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June 20 edit
1863 - Washington, D.C. - West Virginia is admitted as the 35th U.S. state.
June 21 edit
1863 - Upperville -
June 22 edit
1864 - Kolb's Farm -
June 23 edit
1865 - Fort Towson - At this post in Oklahoma Territory, Confederate General Stand Watie surrenders the last significant rebel army.
June 24 edit
1864 - Battle of Saint Mary's Church
June 25 edit
June 26 edit
1862 - Battle of Beaver Dam Creek
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June 27 edit
1862 - Battle of Garnett's & Golding's Farm
1864 - Battle of Kennesaw Mountain
June 28 edit
1862 - Battle of Garnett's & Golding's Farm
June 29 edit
1862 - Battle of Savage's Station
June 30 edit
1862 - Battle of White Oak Swamp
1863 - Battle of Goodrich's Landing
July edit
July 1 edit
1863 - Battle of Gettysburg, First Day -
July 2 edit
1863 - Battle of Gettysburg, Second Day -
July 3 edit
1863 - Battle of Gettysburg, Third Day -
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July 4 edit
1863 - Vicksburg captured by General Grant
1863 - Battle of Tebbs Bend - John Hunt Morgan is delayed by the stalemate.
July 5 edit
1861 - Battle of Carthage (1861)
July 6 edit
July 7 edit
July 8 edit
July 9 edit
July 10 edit
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July 11 edit
1861 - Battle of Rich Mountain
1863 - Battle of Fort Wagner -
1864 - Battle of Fort Stevens -
July 12 edit
1864 - Battle of Fort Stevens -
July 13 edit
1862 - Battle of Murfreesboro I
July 14 edit
1863 - Battle of Williamsport -
1864 - Battle of Tupelo -
July 15 edit
1864 - Battle of Tupelo -
July 16 edit
1863 - Battle of Williamsport -
July 17 edit
1863 - Battle of Honey Springs -
1864 - Battle of Cool Spring -
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July 18 edit
1861 - Battle of Blackburn's Ford
1864 - Battle of Cool Spring -
July 19 edit
1863 - Battle of Buffington Island -
July 20 edit
1864 - Battle of Rutherford's Farm -
1864 - Battle of Peachtree Creek -
July 21 edit
1861 - First Battle of Manassas - Northerns run away after the first major battle of the war[ Stonewall Jackson gains his nickname.
July 22 edit
July 23 edit
1863 - Battle of Manassas Gap -
July 24 edit
1864 - Battle of Kernstown II -
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July 25 edit
July 26 edit
1863 - Battle of Dead Buffalo Lake -
1863 - Battle of Salineville -
1864 - Battle of Killdeer Mountain -
July 27 edit
July 28 edit
1864 - Battle of Ezra Church -
July 29 edit
July 30 edit
July 31 edit
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August edit
August 1 edit
1864 - Battle of Folck's Mill -
August 2 edit
August 3 edit
August 4 edit
August 5 edit
1861 - Battle of Athens (1861)
1862 - Battle of Baton Rouge (1862)
1864 - Battle of Mobile Bay damn the torpedoes
August 6 edit
August 7 edit
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August 8 edit
August 9 edit
1862 - Battle of Cedar Mountain
August 10 edit
1861 - Battle of Wilson's Creek
August 11 edit
1862 - First Battle of Independence
August 12 edit
August 13 edit
August 14 edit
1864 - Second Battle of Dalton
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August 15 edit
1864 - Second Battle of Dalton
August 16 edit
August 17 edit
August 18 edit
August 19 edit
August 20 edit
1864 - Battle of Lovejoy's Station
August 21 edit
1863 - Second Battle of Chattanooga
1864 - Second Battle of Memphis
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August 22 edit
1862 - Battle of Rappahannock Station I
August 23 edit
1862 - Battle of Rappahannock Station I
1864 - Battle of Mobile Bay surrendered
August 24 edit
1862 - Battle of Rappahannock Station I
August 25 edit
1862 - Battle of Rappahannock Station I
1862 - Battle of Manassas Station Ops.
1864 - Second Battle of Ream's Station
August 26 edit
1861 - Battle of Kessler's Cross Lanes
1862 - Battle of Manassas Station Ops.
August 27 edit
1862 - Battle of Manassas Station Ops.
August 28 edit
1861 - Battle of Hatteras Inlet Batteries
1862 - Battle of Thoroughfare Gap
1862 - Second Battle of Bull Run
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August 29 edit
1861 - Battle of Hatteras Inlet Batteries
1862 - Second Battle of Bull Run
August 30 edit
1862 - Second Battle of Bull Run
August 31 edit
September edit
September 1 edit
1862 - Battle of Chantilly (Ox Hill) - Attempting to cut off retreat after the Second Battle of Bull Run, Major General Stonewall Jackson's troops attacked two Union divisions under Philip Kearny and Isaac Stevens in a pouring thunderstorm, killed both commanding officers, and forced the Army of Virginia under John Pope to retreat to Washington D.C.
1863 - Battle of Devil's Backbone - Colonel William F. Cloud's force of cavalry and artillery was ambushed by a brigade under William Lewis Cabell in the Ouachita Mountains of western Arkansas. Regrouping under the umbrella of artillery fire, Cloud's troops defeated their ambushers.
September 2 edit
1861 - The Battle of the Mules - Colonel Jim Lane's Kansas cavalry brigade encountered a much larger Confederate infantry force at Big Dry Wood Creek, Vernon County, Missouri. After skirmishing which lasted two hours, Lane's cavalry retired, abandoning its mule train to the Missouri State Guard under Major General Sterling Price
September 3 edit
1863 - Battle of Whitestone Hill - An Iowa cavalry detachment surrounded and attacked a Sioux camp, but the timely arrival of commanding general Alfred Sully and his Nebraska reinforcements repelled the Sioux counterattack; the Sioux eventually broke under the firepower and fled, hotly pursued
1864 - Battle of Berryville - Joseph B. Kershaw's infantry division attacked Colonel Joseph Thoburn's VIII Corps at the end of daylight and turned one flank before reinforcements prevented Union defeat in Clarke County, Virginia
September 4 edit
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September 5 edit
September 6 edit
September 7 edit
1863 - Charleston Harbor - After considerable Union siege preparations and a massive prolonged bombardment, Confederate troops relinquish Fort Wagner but hold off an assault on Fort Sumter.
September 8 edit
1863 - Second Battle of Fort Sumter
1863 - Sabine Pass - Confederate detachment of Texan artillery under Richard W. Dowling repel Union naval flotilla under William B. Franklin, capturing 200 sailors and sinking two Federal gunboats
September 9 edit
September 10 edit
1861 - Carnifex Ferry - Troops under William Rosecrans engaged camps of John B. Floyd in Nicholas County, West Virginia; darkness enforced a cease fire
1863 - Bayou Fourche - The Army of Arkansas under Frederick Steele forced Confederates under John S. Marmaduke to retreat, leading to Union occupation of Little Rock, Arkansas
1864 - Davis' Cross Roads - Maneuver by Confederate divisions under Thomas C. Hindman and Patrick Cleburne forced the withdrawal of George H. Thomas's XIV Corps at Dug's Gap, Georgia
September 11 edit
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September 12 edit
1861 - Cheat Mountain- Robert E. Lee's first offensive operations in Pocahontas County, West Virginia failed due to poor support and coordination among attacking brigades
September 13 edit
September 14 edit
1862 - South Mountain - Confederates employed a delaying defense in Maryland mountain passes against attacks by pursuing Federal columns under George B. McClellan, presaging the Battle of Antietam
1862 - Munfordville (Green River) - Union garrison under John T. Wilder repulsed initial attacks by Confederate infantry under James R. Chambers, forcing siege operations in Hart County, Kentucky
September 15 edit
1862 - Harpers Ferry - Armory and garrison under Dixon S. Miles surrendered after bombardment to troops under Thomas J. Jackson; Miles was killed by cannon fire after white flags were raised
September 16 edit
September 17 edit
1861 - Battle of Liberty - Union forces unsuccessfully attempted to prevent pro-Confederate Missouri State Guards from northern Missouri from crossing the Missouri River near the confluence with the Blue River to reinforce Sterling Price at Lexington
1862 - Antietam - Units of the Army of Northern Virginia under Robert E. Lee reassembled, took defensive positions close to Sharpsburg, Maryland, and repulsed strong attacks against the Army of the Potomac and commander George B. McClellan
September 18 edit
1861 - Lexington - Sterling Price's artillery offered nine hours of bombardment, utilizing heated shot in their endeavor to set fire to the Masonic College and other Federal positions; Union commander James A. Mulligan stationed a youth in the attic of the college's main building, who was able to remove all incoming rounds before they could set the building ablaze
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September 19 edit
1862 - Iuka - Sterling Price's Army of the West was attacked and defeated by units of the Army of the Ohio and the Army of the Tennessee under William Rosecrans in the opening battle of the Iuka-Corinth campaign
1862 - Shepherdstown (Boteler's Ford) - Federal units under Fitz-John Porter are smashed while crossing the Potomac River by rear guard Confederate units under A. P. Hill
1863 - Chickamauga - Determined attacks by the Army of Tennessee under Braxton Bragg and James Longstreet defeat the Army of the Cumberland under William Rosecrans
1864 - Opequon - The Army of the Shenandoah under Philip Sheridan decisively defeated raiding troops under Jubal Early in Winchester, Virginia, forcing Confederate retreat to Fisher's Hill
September 20 edit
1861 - Battle of the Hemp Bales - Missouri State Guardsmen under Thomas A. Harris created rolling breastworks composed of water-soaked hemp bales; the Guardsmen used the bales as cover until close enough to quickly overrun Union defenses
September 21 edit
September 22 edit
1862 - Emancipation Proclamation - After the Army of the Potomac's success at the Antietam, President Abraham Lincoln issued the first executive order freeing slaves in the former states rebelling against the Union on January 1, 1863
1864 - Fisher's Hill - Concentrated Confederate forces under Jubal Early are routed, leaving the important Shenandoah Valley open for scorched earth tactics by the Union victors
September 23 edit
1862 - Wood Lake - Union volunteers under Henry Hastings Sibley avoid ambush in Yellow Medicine County, Minnesota, and defeat Sioux under Chief Little Crow in the Dakota War of 1862
September 24 edit
September 25 edit
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September 26 edit
September 27 edit
1864 - Fort Davidson - In the first engagement of Price's Raid, Sterling Price's 12,000 men of the Army of Missouri unsuccessfully assaulted Union field works at a railhead in southeast Missouri, then failed to capture the garrison under Thomas Ewing Jr., which escaped in darkness, detonating the fort's magazine in a massive explosion and preventing the capture of military supplies stored at the fort
September 28 edit
September 29 edit
1863 - Stirling's Plantation - Arkansas and Texas units under Tom Green battered a detachment of 2nd Division, XIII Corps blocking the Atchafalaya River in this minor action in Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana
September 30 edit
1862 - Newtonia - In this meeting engagement in Newton County, Missouri, a division of the Union Army of Kansas under James G. Blunt attacked Douglas H. Cooper's smaller force while both were foraging for supplies; reinforcements routed Union troops by evening
1864 - Chaffin's Farm - As the eastern half of a simultaneous advance, United States Colored infantry units in X Corps under David Birney attacked Confederate lines at New Market Heights while Edward O. C. Ord's XVIII Corps assaulted Fort Harrison in actions south of the James River
1864 - Peebles' Farm - In Ulysses S. Grant's western advance on Richmond and Petersburg defenses north of the James River, V Corps under Gouverneur K. Warren attempted to cut supply lines, but counterattacks by troops under Henry Heth and Wade Hampton prevented the advance to Boydton Plank Road
October edit
October 1 edit
October 2 edit
1864 - Saltville - Federal troops under Stephen G. Burbridge including the 5th United States Colored Cavalry were defeated in a raid on salt works in Smyth County, Virginia; some wounded and captured Union soldiers were killed afterwards by partisans under Champ Ferguson; he was later hanged for the crimes
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October 3 edit
1862 - Corinth - After enduring multiple massed assaults in oppressive Mississippi heat, the Army of the Mississippi under William Rosecrans repulsed divisions of the Army of the West and the Army of Tennessee under Earl Van Dorn, but failed to quickly pursue the beaten rebels
October 4 edit
October 5 edit
1862 - Hatchie's Bridge - Van Dorn's Army of Tennessee finally eluded Rosecrans's tardy pursuit after defeat at Corinth; Van Dorn's and Sterling Price's retreating forces fought off Union pursuers under Edward Ord in southwest Tennessee
1864 - Allatoona Pass - "Hold the fort! I am coming!" signaled William T. Sherman as he dispatched a brigade to John M. Corse, urging Corse to protect works next to the Western and Atlantic Railroad supply line in Bartow County, Georgia
October 6 edit
1863 - Baxter Springs - Raiders under William Quantrill stumbled upon and attacked the district headquarters column of James G. Blunt while harassing local Union soldiers in this Cherokee County, Kansas action; Blunt narrowly avoided capture, losing his military band in the escape
October 7 edit
1864 - Darbytown - In response to the loss of Fort Harrison from the Petersburg defenses, Robert E. Lee ordered an attack on Union lines along the Darbytown road, but after initial success, rebel assaults were rebuffed and Texas Brigade commander John Gregg was killed
October 8 edit
1862 - Perryville - In this meeting engagement caused by both sides' need to secure fresh drinking water, the Army of Mississippi under Braxton Bragg successfully assaulted the much larger Army of the Ohio under Don Carlos Buell arriving in Boyle County, Kentucky, but the enormous rebel losses taken (one in four Confederates were listed as casualties) outweighed the greater loss inflicted on the larger Union force (one in nine Federals were casualties)
October 9 edit
1861 - Santa Rosa Island - After midnight, two steamers landed 1,200 Confederates under Richard H. Anderson on the west Florida barrier island surprising Union volunteer units camped outside Fort Pickens, but were unable to capture the fort garrisoned by regular army soldiers
1864 - The Woodstock Races - Saying "either whip the enemy or get whipped yourself" Philip Sheridan ordered cavalry commander Alfred Torbert to turn and attack advancing Confederate infantry in Shenandoah County, Virginia; Merritt's and Custer's cavalry surprised and outpaced rebel divisions under Thomas L. Rosser and Lunsford L. Lomax, capturing two batteries of cannon in rapid pursuit
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October 10 edit
1863 - Blue Springs - Samuel P. Carter's Union cavalry division of the XXIII Corps attacked and defeated Confederates under John S. Williams in Greene County, Tennessee; Williams retreated to Virginia, enabling Burnside's invasion of East Tennessee
October 11 edit
October 12 edit
October 13 edit
1863 - Catlett's Station - In this first fight of the Bristoe campaign, Federal infantry withdrawing along the line of the Orange & Alexandria Railroad tangled with J.E.B. Stuart's cavalry; III Corps' retreat temporarily cut Stuart off from his main force, but Stuart's two brigades escaped by waiting in a wooded valley for the enemy to pass
October 14 edit
1863 - Bristoe Station - After listening to A. P. Hill explain how he allowed Gouverneur K. Warren's II Corps ambush "Harry" Heth's division in this Prince William County, Virginia clash, Robert E. Lee instructed Hill: "Bury these poor men, general, and we'll say no more about it."
October 15 edit
1864 - Glasgow - Sterling Price's raiders under John Bullock Clark Jr. and Joseph O. Shelby seized much-needed weapons and clothing in Howard County, Missouri
1864 - Sedalia - M. Jeff Thompson's Confederate cavalrymen seized supplies in Sedalia, Missouri, as part of Price's Raid
October 16 edit
1863 - Fort Brooke - Using a nighttime naval bombardment as cover, a small landing party under Acting Master T.R. Harris captured two Confederate steamers and caused the destruction of another in Tampa Bay, Florida
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October 17 edit
October 18 edit
October 19 edit
1863 - Buckland Races - Two Confederate cavalry divisions covering Robert E. Lee's retreat after Battle of Bristoe Station surprised pursuing Union cavalry under Judson Kilpatrick
1864 - Lexington - Price's Raid continued to push westward through Lafayette County, Missouri against Federal forces under James G. Blunt
1864 - Cedar Creek - Philip Sheridan's Shenandoah Valley ride rallied flagging Union units, turning Jubal Early's audacious morning victory into a crushing rebel defeat
October 20 edit
October 21 edit
1861 - Ball's Bluff - Oregon U.S. Senator Edward D. Baker's battlefield death in this Potomac River crossing debacle caused creation of the influential United States Congress Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War to oversee military leadership
1861 - Wildcat Mountain - Union forces under Albin F. Schoepf arrived in time to prevent Felix Zollicoffer's assault to control the vital Wilderness Road in Laurel County, Kentucky
1861 - Fredericktown - This Madison County, Missouri battle consolidated Union control over southeast Missouri
1864 - Little Blue River - Price's Army of Missouri continued westward up the Missouri River, overwhelming determined Federals under Blunt and Thomas Moonlight
October 22 edit
1862 - Old Fort Wayne - James G. Blunt's First Division of the newly formed Army of the Frontier attacked and routed Douglas Cooper's Indian Brigade along the Arkansas/Indian Territory border
1864 - Independence - Alfred Pleasonton's provisional cavalry division harassed rear guard units of the Army of Missouri during Price's Raid in this second battle around Independence, Missouri
October 23 edit
1861 - New York City - The trial of the crew of the privateer Savannah for piracy opened in the United States Circuit Court for the Southern District of New York. It ended a week later with a hung jury.
1864 - Westport - While Pleasonton's division attacked John S. Marmaduke at Byram's Ford, Samuel Curtis assembled the Army of the Border and accepted battle with the smaller Army of Missouri under Sterling Price in what is now midtown Kansas City, Missouri; Price's army was broken and withdrew southward.
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October 24 edit
October 25 edit
1861 - Zagonyi's Charge - Leading outnumbered scouts and John Fremont's black-clad personal bodyguard in advance of his main force, Charles Zagonyi charged past an ambush set along the road leading into Springfield, Missouri by Missouri State Guard forces and withdrew from the town after nightfall
1864 - Marais des Cygnes - Pursuing Price's Army of Missouri after its defeat at Westport, Pleasonton's fast moving columns smashed Confederates in Linn County, Kansas, and then caught retreating Confederates again at Mine Creek and Marmiton River
October 26 edit
October 27 edit
1862 - Georgia Landing - Using the Army of the Gulf's reserve brigade, Godfrey Weitzel defeated Louisiana state militia forces under Alfred Mouton in Lafourche Parish, Louisiana
1864 - Battle of Boydton Plank Road
October 28 edit
1864 - Battle of Boydton Plank Road
1864 - Newtonia - Price's remaining forces gathered to rest south of Newtonia, Missouri, but the supply train was surprised by James Blunt's Union division; Jo Shelby's brigades counterattacked, but arriving Federal artillery and reinforcements ended Price's Army of Missouri as a fighting force
October 29 edit
1861 - Port Royal Expedition - Under the command of Samuel Francis Du Pont, a fleet of 74 vessels, including transports for 12,000 Federal troops, sailed under sealed secret orders for the coast of South Carolina
1863 - Wauhatchie - Micah Jenkins's night attack with his South Carolina brigade failed when tardy Union divisions under Carl Schurz and Adolph von Steinwehr reinforced the beleaguered John W. Geary in Hamilton County, Tennessee
1864 - Decatur - A reinforced brigade under Robert S. Granger prevented the entire Army of Tennessee under John Bell Hood from crossing the Tennessee River in North Alabama
October 30 edit
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October 31 edit
November edit
November 1 edit
1861 - Port Royal - Defenders received a telegram: "The enemy's expedition is intended for Port Royal."
November 2 edit
November 3 edit
1863 - Collierville - James R. Chalmers's bold raid on Collierville, Shelby County, Tennessee ran into more trouble than expected when raiding cavalry was attacked in the flanks by the 3rd U.S. Cavalry Brigade under Edward Hatch
November 4 edit
1864 - Johnsonville - In an effort to check the Union army’s advance through Georgia, Nathan Bedford Forrest led a 23-day raid culminating in this attack on the Union supply base in Benton County, Tennessee
November 5 edit
1862 - Washington, D.C. - Abraham Lincoln removed George B. McClellan as commander of the Union Army for the second and final time.
November 6 edit
1861 - Richmond - Jefferson Davis was elected president of the Confederate States of America.
1863 - Droop Mountain - William Averell's raid on the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad encountered a brigade under John Echols in Pocahontas County, West Virginia, but Averell outflanked his opponent
1865 - Liverpool - CSS Shenandoah was the last Confederate combat unit to surrender after circumnavigating the globe on its cruise that sank or captured 37 vessels.
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November 7 edit
1861 - Belmont - Ulysses S. Grant's first battle in Mississippi County, Missouri included an amphibious landing, an overland march and a successful attack on a Confederate camp, but Grant withdrew under superior artillery fire
1861 - Port Royal - Assembled for the attack, a fleet under Samuel Francis Du Pont bombarded the defenses of Port Royal Sound, South Carolina, enabling over 12,000 Union troops under Thomas W. Sherman to occupy the islands
1862 - Clark's Mill - Outnumbered ten to one, 10th Illinois cavalry detachment commander Hiram Barstow unlimbered his artillery to command both approaches to hold off attacks for five hours before surrendering this Bryant Creek blockhouse northwest of Vera Cruz in Douglas County, Missouri
1863 - Rappahannock Station - Attempting to seize a bridgehead on the vital Rappahannock River, John Sedgwick's sudden rush with Second Corps surprised guarding Confederates under Jubal Early, hundreds of rebels were captured in the confusion
November 8 edit
1861 - Ivy Narrows - Confederates under John Stuart Williams savage bottlenecked attackers in Floyd County, Kentucky, but were unable to stop William "Bull" Nelson's push toward Virginia
1861 - The Trent Affair - The USS San Jacinto stopped the British mailship Trent and arrested two Confederate envoys, sparking a diplomatic crisis between the UK and US.
November 9 edit
November 10 edit
November 11 edit
1864 - Bull's Gap - John C. Breckinridge's foraging expedition probes into East Tennessee were first repulsed by Federals under Alvan Cullem Gillem, but Confederates pushed Gillem back into defensive lines
1864 - Atlanta - After William T. Sherman's Army of the Tennessee and Army of Georgia burn the city of Atlanta to the ground, they march southeastward toward Savannah intending to "make Georgia howl."
November 12 edit
November 13 edit
1861 - Washington D.C. - President Abraham Lincoln, William Steward and John Hay arrived at commanding general George McClellan's house to discuss the war, but informed McClellan was attending a wedding, they chose to wait until his return; when McClellan returned, he went straight to bed without meeting the President
1864 - Bull's Gap - Union forces under Alvan Cullem Gillem, exhausted and out of ammunition and supplies after three days of firefight, retire in the face of overwhelming Confederate force under John C. Breckinridge
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November 14 edit
1862 - Washington D.C. - Lincoln approves Ambrose Burnside's plan to capture the Confederate capital at Richmond, Virginia by an audacious crossing of the Rappahannock River, leading to the Battle of Fredericksburg
November 15 edit
1862 - Washington D.C. - Lincoln, Seward, and Secretary of the Treasury Samuel Chase attend a demonstration of rocketry at the Navy Yard; the party escapes injury when the rocket unexpectedly explodes
1864 - Atlanta - After burning Atlanta, Georgia, William T. Sherman's two armies moved southeast toward Savannah, beginning the March to the Sea
November 16 edit
1863 - Campbell's Station - Army of Tennessee divisions under James Longstreet raced to meet Ambrose Burnside's Army of the Ohio before it could move into its works in Knoxville, Tennessee; Burnside's Army of the Ohio was damaged, but avoided the defeat Longstreet had planned
November 17 edit
1863 - Knoxville - Longstreet's two divisions begin siege operations against the Army of the Ohio at Knoxville
November 18 edit
November 19 edit
1861 - Round Mountain - Confederates under Douglas Cooper tracked down a band of Unionist Creeks and Seminoles under Opothleyahola, but retreating Unionists set a grass fire to provide a screen for escape to what is now Tulsa County, Oklahoma
1863 - Gettysburg - After listening to principal orator Edward Everett for over two hours, an Adams County, Pennsylvania crowd assembled to dedicate a new battlefield cemetery heard Abraham Lincoln's 292-word dedication speech, now known as the Gettysburg Address
November 20 edit
1863 - Gettysburg - In a letter to Lincoln, Everett praised the President for his eloquent and concise speech, saying, "I should be glad if I could flatter myself that I came as near to the central idea of the occasion, in two hours, as you did in two minutes."
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November 21 edit
November 22 edit
November 23 edit
1863 - Chattanooga - In this first phase of Ulysses S. Grant's planned breakout from Chattanooga, the Army of the Cumberland under George H. Thomas struck out east in the face of Missionary Ridge meeting little Confederate resistance
November 24 edit
1863 - Lookout Mountain - In this second day, Joseph Hooker's XI and XII Corps of the Army of the Potomac, recently transferred to the western theater, assaulted the gap between Lookout Mountain and the Tennessee River and fought the "Battle above the Clouds"
1864 - Columbia - A Confederate diversion designed to cross the Duck River upstream and interdict the Union army's line of communications with Nashville, John B. Hood's Army of Tennessee was delayed by Federals under John Schofield
November 25 edit
1863 - Missionary Ridge - Ordered to take the rifle pits in front of Missionary Ridge, Thomas's Army of the Cumberland advanced to the ridge top without orders and broke the Confederate line overlooking the city of Chattanooga
1864 - First Battle of Adobe Walls
November 26 edit
November 27 edit
1863 - Ringgold Gap - In the wake of the Battle of Chattanooga, Army of Tennessee commander Braxton Bragg ordered Patrick Cleburne and his division to defend this narrow pass in Catoosa County, Georgia "at all hazards" from pursuing Federal corps under Joseph Hooker
1863 - Mine Run - George Meade pushed his Army of the Potomac to cross the Rapidan River in Orange County, Virginia in an attempt to surprise Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia
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November 28 edit
1862 - Cane Hill - In this minor clash Union troops under James G. Blunt drove Confederates under John S. Marmaduke back into the Boston Mountains of northwestern Arkansas.
1864 - Buck Head Creek - The second battle of Sherman's March to the Sea, Judson Kilpatrick's cavalry division repulsed an attack by Confederate cavalry under Joseph Wheeler, but was forced to abandon its attempt to destroy railroads and rescue Union prisoners of war in Jenkins County, Georgia
November 29 edit
1863 - Fort Sanders - In the decisive engagement of the Siege of Knoxville, assaults by Confederate James Longstreet failed to break through the defensive lines of Ambrose Burnside's Army of the Ohio, resulting in lopsided casualties
1864 - Spring Hill - John B. Hood's Army of Tennessee was unable to catch unsupported units of the Army of the Ohio in this prelude to the Battle of Franklin in Maury County, Tennessee
1864 - Sand Creek massacre - John Chivington's Colorado volunteers slaughter a camp of peaceful Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians under Black Kettle's American flag in Kiowa County, Colorado
November 30 edit
1864 - Franklin - John Schofield's entrenched Army of the Ohio and Army of the Cumberland crush desperate frontal attacks by Hood's Army of Tennessee; five Confederate generals perish in the assaults
December edit
December 1 edit
1863 - Mine Run - Unable to find a weak spot in Lee's hastily constructed Rapidan River crossing defenses, the Army of the Potomac withdrew, ending the year's campaign in the Eastern Theater
December 2 edit
December 3 edit
1861 - Washington, D.C. - President Abraham Lincoln gave his first Annual Message to Congress: "The struggle of today, is not altogether for today---it is for a vast future also."
December 4 edit
1864 - Waynesboro - Sherman's cavalry commander Judson Kilpatrick, supported by two brigades of infantry, defeated harassing Confederate cavalry led by Joseph Wheeler in Burke County, Georgia
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December 5 edit
1864 - Murfreesboro - Nathan Bedford Forrest, commanding one infantry and two cavalry divisions, surprised this supply depot Rutherford County, Tennessee, driving Federal garrison troops into "Fortress Rosecrans"
December 6 edit
1864 - Washington, D.C. - President Lincoln nominated his former Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase to be Chief Justice of the Supreme Court to replace Roger B. Taney, who had died
December 7 edit
1862 - Hartsville - John Hunt Morgan and his outnumbered Confederate cavalry detachment boldly captured the Cumberland River crossing and the defending Union garrison in Trousdale County, Tennessee
1862 - Prairie Grove -
1864 - Murfreesboro - Veteran Union commanders Horatio P. Van Cleve, Włodzimierz Krzyżanowski and their brigades engaged then unexpectedly broke elements of Forrest's cavalry corps to force Confederate withdrawal from this Tennessee rail station
1864 - Fort Fisher -
December 8 edit
December 9 edit
1861 - Caving Banks - Douglas H. Cooper's combined Texas volunteers, Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Creek Indians attacked Opothleyahola's camp of Creek and Seminole Indians along the banks of Bird Creek in what is now Tulsa County, Oklahoma
1861 - Washington, D.C. - Faced with multiple battlefield reverses, shoddy and apparent corruption in War Department contracts, the U.S. Congress established Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War, with Benjamin Wade as chairman
December 10 edit
1861 - Richmond, Virginia - The Confederate States of America accepts a rival state government's pronouncement that declares Kentucky to be the 13th state of the Confederacy.
December 11 edit
1862 - Fredericksburg - Union Army engineers began assembly of six pontoon bridges under the cover of 220 artillery pieces of Stafford Heights; after William Barksdale's Mississippi sharpshooters began picking off the workers, Army of the Potomac commander Ambrose Burnside ordered landing parties across the Rappahannock River to secure a beachhead for the bridges
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December 12 edit
December 13 edit
1861 - Alleghany Mountain - Pressed by Federals under Robert H. Milroy to relinquish their defense of the Staunton-Parkersburg pike, Edward Johnson unlimbered artillery and led his troops "headlong down the mountain, killing and wounding many..."; Johnson earned general's stars and the enduring nickname "Alleghany" for his efforts that day
1862 - Fredericksburg - Sixteen individual Federal brigades charged against Confederate defenses on Marye's Heights, but foggy conditions prevented superior Union artillery from quieting Rebel guns; almost 8,000 Union soldiers were killed or wounded
December 14 edit
1862 - Fredericksburg - After listening overnight to the cries of Union Army dying and wounded on the cold Virginia ground and obtaining permission from his reluctant commanding general, Confederate Sergeant Richard Rowland Kirkland filled canteens and spent almost two hours providing water and care to the wounded, earning the sobriquet "Angel of Marye's Heights"
1862 - Kinston - A Union expedition led by John G. Foster left New Bern to disrupt the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad at Goldsborough; stubbornly contested by Nathan Evans's brigade near Kinston Bridge, but the outnumbered Confederates withdrew north of the Neuse River in the direction of Goldsborough
1863 - Bean's Station - The Army of Tennessee under James Longstreet turned to punish pursuing Federals under John M. Shackelford; overwhelming numbers eventually forced Union retreat, but timely reinforcement by John G. Parke prevented disaster
December 15 edit
1862 - Fredericksburg - Army of the Potomac commander Ambrose Burnside, after witnessing the piecemeal slaughter of his brigades two days before, and unable to break the army's encirclement by entrenched Confederate forces under Robert E. Lee, withdraws his forces to the north side of the Rappahannock River, ending the battle
December 16 edit
1862 - White Hall Ferry - Union forces under John G. Foster demonstrated intention to cross at this Neuse River ferry site while the main force continued toward Goldsborough bridge, keeping the opposition fixed in position
December 17 edit
1862 - Goldsborough Bridge - Foster's expedition reached its objective in Wayne County, North Carolina, burned an important railroad crossing bridge, and withdrew to its base in New Bern
1862 - Holly Springs - From his headquarters, Ulysses S. Grant issues General Order No. 11, expelling Jews from Tennessee, Mississippi, and Kentucky.
December 18 edit
1865 - Milledgeville - The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified by Georgia, fulfilling the two-thirds requirement for ratification, and banning slavery in the United States.
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December 19 edit
1862 - Jackson - Cavalry raiders commanded by Nathan Bedford Forrest attacked two Union regiments defending this Madison County, Tennessee depot, while detachments destroyed Mobile and Ohio Railroad tracks north and south of the town
December 20 edit
1861 - Dranesville - This minor engagement between patrols in Loudoun County, Virginia featured commanders J.E.B. Stuart and E.O.C. Ord; both would rise to corps command
1864 - Saltville - This time under the supervision of commanding officer, George Stoneman, Stephen G. Burbridge got a second chance to destroy the vital saltworks of this Smyth County, Virginia village; while a brigade under Alvan Gillem engaged the Confederate garrison, Burbridge's division overwhelmed defenses and destroyed the works
December 21 edit
1861 - Washington, D.C. - President Abraham Lincoln signs into law Public Resolution 82, containing a provision for the creation of a new military award, a Navy Medal of Valor.
December 22 edit
1864 - Savannah - Mayor Richard D. Arnold rode out to formally surrender this port city to Union commander William Tecumseh Sherman; after maneuvering 62,000 Federals without supply lines through thirty-seven days march and over 300 miles of destruction, "Sherman's March to the Sea" finally reached the Atlantic Ocean
December 23 edit
December 24 edit
1864 - Savannah - Sherman telegraphed President Abraham Lincoln: "I beg to present you as a Christmas gift the City of Savannah, with one hundred and fifty guns and plenty of ammunition, also about twenty-five thousand bales of cotton."
December 25 edit
1864 - Devil's Gap - Nathan Bedford Forrest used natural Tennessee terrain, concealment, and prepared position to enable his Confederate troops to ambush and disrupt an enthusiastic Christmas Day Union cavalry pursuit commanded by James H. Wilson
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December 26 edit
1861 - Chustenahlah - Confederate commander Douglas H. Cooper used his mostly Texas troops to defeat pro-Union Native Americans in what was known as Indian Territory, forcing the flight of the last band of 9,000 to Kansas in bitter cold and snow in what became known as the "Trail of Blood on the Ice"
December 27 edit
1862 - Chickasaw Bayou - Sherman's Army of the Tennessee pushed their lines forward through Yazoo River swamps toward the strongly defended Walnut Hills of Vicksburg, Mississippi
December 28 edit
1861 - Battle of Mount Zion Church - Benjamin M. Prentiss led a battalion-sized Union force of mounted infantry and sharpshooters into Boone County; at first surprised by the strength of local resistance, Prentiss's men smashed Confederate locals with three charges, ending Rebel recruiting activities in the region
December 29 edit
1862 - Battle of Chickasaw Bayou - William T. Sherman withdrew after a frontal assault by his Army of the Tennessee was repulsed with heavy casualties; this Confederate victory frustrated Ulysses S. Grant's attempts to take Vicksburg by direct approach.
1863 - Mossy Creek - William T. Martin and his Confederate cavalry saw an opportunity to attack the Union outpost at Talbott's Station in Jefferson County, Tennessee, but quick response by Union commander Samuel D. Sturgis prevented disaster
December 30 edit
December 31 edit
1862 - Cape Hatteras - The USS Monitor, the first turreted ironclad warship, was swamped by high waves while under tow by USS Rhode Island and sank off Hatteras Island, North Carolina
1862 - Murfreesboro - In the third major battle, after Fort Donelson and Shiloh, in which an early morning attack caught a Union army by surprise, successive attacks by Confederate corps under William J. Hardee and Leonidas Polk collapsed the Union right, forcing defenders into a small defensive pocket
1862 - Parker's Cross Roads - Union brigades under Cyrus Dunham and John W. Fuller attempted to surround Forrest's cavalry after its successful railroad raid at Jackson, Tennessee; "Charge 'em both ways," ordered Forrest
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