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Battles of the eastern theater of the American Civil War

  • Battle of Salem ChurchUnion General Sedgwick attacked at Salem Church believing he faced one brigade. Lee had sent a division.
  • Second Battle of FredericksburgAt Fredericksburg, a truce to collect wounded men let Union soldiers study a Confederate flank.
  • Battle of ChancellorsvilleAt Chancellorsville, Robert E. Lee split his outnumbered army twice. The Union force was more than twice his size.
  • Battle of Yellow TavernA Union private on foot shot Jeb Stuart at the Battle of Yellow Tavern. Stuart died in Richmond the next day, May 1864.
  • Battle of AntietamTwo Union soldiers found Lee's army orders wrapped around three cigars. The Battle of Antietam followed in 1862.
  • Battle of FredericksburgAt Fredericksburg in 1862, Union troops charged a stone wall fourteen times and never broke through.
  • Battle of Five ForksAt the Battle of Five Forks, both top Confederate commanders were at a fish lunch over a mile from the front.
  • Battle of Spotsylvania Court HouseRifle fire alone cut clean through a 22-inch oak trunk at the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House.
  • Second Battle of Bull RunStonewall Jackson once rode past Union troops dressed as a farmer. They ignored him, and hours later he attacked.
  • Battle of the WildernessAfter the Battle of the Wilderness, Grant marched south instead of retreating.
  • Battle of Philippi (1861)A mother's pistol shots started the Battle of Philippi early. She fired at Union pickets who had caught her son.
  • Battle of Cedar CreekThe Battle of Cedar Creek, also known as the Battle of Belle Grove, was fought on the 19th of October 1864 in the Shenandoah Valley of Northern Virginia. It began in heavy fog before dawn. Many Union soldiers near Middletown were still…
  • Battle of Appomattox Court HouseWilmer McLean moved to Appomattox to escape the war, and Lee surrendered in his parlor.
  • Battle of Hampton RoadsIn one day in March 1862, an ironclad sank two Union warships. It was the Battle of Hampton Roads.
  • First Battle of Bull RunWealthy Washingtonians brought picnic lunches to watch the First Battle of Bull Run. They fled beside a routed army.
  • Baltimore riot of 1861The first Union volunteers killed by hostile action in the Civil War were killed by civilians in Baltimore.
  • Battle of Seven PinesA bullet and a shell fragment felled Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston at the Battle of Seven Pines.
  • Battle of New MarketAt the Battle of New Market in 1864, teenage cadets charged across a muddy field. They lost their shoes in the mire.

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