The Appalachian Mountains divided the Civil War into two main areas of operations. The Eastern front stretched east of the mountains to the Atlantic Coast. The Western theater lay between the mountains and the Mississippi River. Battles were also fought west of the Mississippi, but they did not affect the overall outcome of the war.

Opening Battles

Fort Sumter The Civil War began on April 12, 1861, when Confederate forces under General Pierre G.T. Beauregard successfully attacked Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina, Harbor.

In response to the Confederate attack, the federal government collected an army of more than 30,000 men near Washington, D.C., under General Irvin McDowell. Another Union force of 14,000 under General Robert Patterson held the northern end of the Shenandoah River Valley, a secondary route between the rival capitals of Washington and Richmond. A Confederate force of more than 20,000 under Beauregard faced McDowell at Manassas, Virginia. General Joseph E. Johnston commanded 11,000 more Confederates in the Shenandoah Valley.

First Bull Run (Manassas) In July, McDowell approached Manassas, on a creek called Bull Run. McDowell thought his troops could destroy Beauregard's forces while the Union Army in the Shenandoah Valley kept Johnston occupied. But Johnston slipped away and joined Beauregard just before the battle. The opposing forces, both composed mainly of poorly trained volunteers, clashed on July 21. After halting several assaults, Beauregard counterattacked. The tired Union forces broke and fled to Washington in wild retreat.

March on Richmond

After the disaster at Bull Run, President Abraham Lincoln made General George B. McClellan commander of the eastern army. During the winter of 1861-1862, McClellan assembled a force of 150,000 men. He planned to capture Richmond from the southeast by landing his forces on the peninsula between the York and James rivers, and advancing along one of the rivers toward the Southern capital. However, before McClellan could move, a naval action changed his plans.

The Monitor and the Merrimack The Confederates had raised a sunken federal ship, the Merrimack, at Norfolk, Virginia, and covered it with iron plates. On March 8, 1862, this ship (renamed the Virginia) attacked Northern ships at Hampton Roads and destroyed two of them. When the ship returned the next day, it found a newly arrived Northern ironclad, the Monitor, waiting. Neither ship won the battle that followed, but the Virginia did prevent McClellan from using the James River, the best route to Richmond.

The Peninsular Campaign In March, 1862, McClellan landed on the Virginia Peninsula with more than 100,000 men. He occupied Yorktown and advanced along the York River. By late May, the Union army had marched to within six miles of Richmond. Johnston led an attack against McClellan on May 31. The Confederates failed to follow up their initial successes in the two-day Battle of Fair Oaks (Seven Pines), and fell back toward Richmond. Johnston was wounded, and Confederate President Jefferson Davis chose General Robert E. Lee to replace him.

Jackson's Valley Campaign To prevent reinforcements from reaching McClellan, Confederate General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson launched his Valley Campaign along the Shenandoah Valley. He planned to make the Northerners think he was going to attack Washington. In a series of moves between May 4 and June 9, Jackson advanced up the Shenandoah Valley. His 17,000 men defeated several federal forces and drove to the Potomac River. Jackson soon had to retreat, but he had forced the Union to withhold powerful reinforcements which McClellan had counted on.

Stuart's Raid While Lee planned his strategy as the new commander of the Army of Northern Virginia, General J.E.B. Stuart led a remarkable cavalry raid. Stuart and his men galloped completely around the Union army in three days, losing only one man.

The Seven Days Lee planned a daring move to destroy McClellan's army, which lay straddled over the Chickahominy River. With his army reinforced by Jackson's men to 85,000, Lee fell on McClellan in a series of attacks called the Battles of the Seven Days. Several battles and skirmishes took place between June 25 and July 1, including: Mechanicsville (Beaver Dam Creek), June 26; Gaines' Mill, June 27; Savage's Station, June 29; White Oak Swamp and Frayser's Farm (Glendale), June 30; and, Malvern Hill, July 1. The advantage shifted from side to side, but McClellan believed his forces were hopelessly outnumbered and finally retreated to the James River.

Soon after the final battle of the Seven Days, McClellan's army was ordered to northern Virginia, were it was to be united with a force under General John Pope.

The Confederate Offensive

Second Bull Run Lee moved rapidly to attack Pope, stationed at Manassas, before McClellan's men could join him. He sent Jackson ahead to swing around behind Pope's army and force a battle. On August 29, Pope unsuccessfully attacked Jackson, sending in McClellan's troops as fast as they arrived by boat from the south. Meanwhile, Lee and General James Longstreet had arrived and joined Jackson. On August 30, Pope attacked Lee's army, but a Confederate counterattack swept the Union forces from the field.

Antietam (Sharpsburg) The South hoped to follow up Manassas with a victory inside Union territory, thereby gaining foreign recognition for the Confederacy. Lee invaded Maryland in September, 1862, with about 50,000 troops. He divided his army and sent Jackson with 25,000 troops to capture Harpers Ferry. McClellan moved to meet Lee with about 90,000 men. On September 13, a Union soldier found a copy of Lee's orders to his commanders at an abandoned Confederate campsite. Lee learned of this loss and took up a position at Sharpsburg, on Antietam Creek. But McClellan did not attack until September 17, giving the Confederate forces time to reunite after Jackson's success at Harpers Ferry. A series of powerful Union attacks almost broke the Southern lines. But, at a crucial moment, the last of Lee's troops, headed by General A.P. Hill, arrived. Lee suffered heavy losses and had to retreat to Virginia. One of the bloodiest battles of the war, the Battle of Antietam killed or wounded about 12,500 Northerners and almost 11,000 Southerners. The Confederate retreat gave the North the victory Lincoln had been waiting for, and prompted him to announce the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation on September 22.

Fredericksburg McClellan failed to follow up his victory at Antietam, so Lincoln replaced him with General Ambrose E. Burnside, who decided to attack Lee at Fredericksburg, Virginia, on the Rappahannock River. The Confederates defended the town from a line of fortified hills called Marye's Heights. On December 13, Burnside's men tried to storm the hills. More than 12,000 Union soldiers were killed or wounded, and the Northern army retreated. Burnside was subsequently relieved of command at his own request.

Chancellorsville Burnside was replaced as commander of the Army of the Potomac by General Joseph Hooker. By the spring of 1863, Hooker's army numbered 120,000. Lee, with 60,000 men, still held the Rappahannock line. Hooker planned to keep Lee's attention at Fredericksburg while he sent another force around the town to attack the Confederate flank. The movement began on April 27 and seemed destined to succeed, but Hooker hesitated and, on April 30, withdrew his flanking troops to a defensive position at Chancellorsville. The next day, Lee left a small force at Fredericksburg and moved to attack Hooker. He sent Jackson to attack Hooker's right while he struck in front. The attack, on May 2, cut the Union army almost in two, but Union troops managed to set up a defensive line. Hooker retreated four days later. The Confederates had scored a major victory, but at the cost of Jackson's life, who had been shot accidentally by his own men.

Gettysburg Confident from his victory, Lee decided to invade the North again. In June, the Confederate army swung up the Shenandoah Valley route into Pennsylvania. The Army of the Potomac, now commanded by General George G. Meade, followed it northward. Both armies moved toward the little town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, although neither planned to fight there. The shooting began when a Confederate brigade, searching for badly needed shoes, ran into Union cavalry in Gettysburg on July 1. For the first three days of July, a Northern army of 90,000 men met a Southern army of 75,000 in what would become the greatest battle ever fought in the Western Hemisphere.

By the end of the first day, Northern troops had settled south of the town in a strong defensive position. The front ran for three miles along Cemetery Ridge, from Culp's Hill and Cemetery Hill at the right to Little Round Top and Round Top hills at the left. Confederate forces occupied Seminary Ridge, to the west.

On the second day, Lee tried to crack the Union left and roll up Cemetery Ridge. The attack crushed a Northern corps, but failed to occupy the ridge.

On July 3, Lee decided to aim directly at the Union center. After a fierce artillery duel, he ordered 15,000 men under General George E. Pickett to charge the Union lines. The men, marching in perfect parade formation, swept across an open field and up the slopes of Cemetery Ridge, directly into the face of murderous enemy fire. Only a fraction of the troops reached the crest of the ridge. They held their ground for 20 minutes before finally yielding to superior strength and falling back.

Lee withdrew what was left of his battered army to Virginia after the battle. Meade made little effort to follow him, and the Confederate army escaped. Lee had lost more than 20,000 men dead and wounded. The South would never again have the strength to mount a major offensive.

President Abraham Lincoln
George B. McClellan
Robert E. Lee

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This page was last updated on 06/21/2011.