Curated category
Battles of the eastern theater of the American Civil War
- Battle of Salem ChurchThe Battle of Salem Church unfolded across two days in May 1863, in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, as part of a larger Union campaign that was already…
- Second Battle of FredericksburgThe Second Battle of Fredericksburg unfolded on the 3rd of May 1863, when a Union force under Major General John Sedgwick stormed a ridge in Virginia that…
- Battle of ChancellorsvilleThe Battle of Chancellorsville lasted just seven days, from the 30th of April to the 6th of May, 1863, and it cost more than 30,000 men their lives, their…
- Battle of Yellow TavernThe Battle of Yellow Tavern was fought on the 11th of May, 1864, at a crossroads six miles north of Richmond, Virginia. The location was little more than an…
- Battle of AntietamThe Battle of Antietam, fought on the 17th of September 1862, produced more American casualties in a single day than any other engagement before or since.
- Battle of FredericksburgThe Battle of Fredericksburg, fought from December 11 to 15 of 1862, produced one of the most lopsided casualty counts of the entire American Civil War.
- Battle of Five ForksOn the 1st of April, 1865, a Union general named Philip Sheridan sat down to eat a shad caught from the Nottoway River, cooked over a fire north of Hatcher's…
- Battle of Spotsylvania Court HouseThe Battle of Spotsylvania Court House left behind an unusual object, now held by the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History.
- Second Battle of Bull RunThe Second Battle of Bull Run was fought August 28-30, 1862, on the same Virginia ground where Union forces had already suffered a humiliating defeat a…
- Battle of the WildernessThe Battle of the Wilderness began with Robert E. Lee standing on Clark Mountain on the 2nd of May 1864. He looked down at a panorama of Union campfires…
- Battle of Philippi (1861)The Battle of Philippi began before any Union officer gave the signal to attack. Just before dawn on the 3rd of June, 1861, Confederate sympathizer Mrs.
- Battle of Cedar CreekIn March 1864, Major General Ulysses S. Grant assumed command of all Union armies after being summoned from the Western Theater and promoted to lieutenant…
- Battle of Appomattox Court HouseOn the morning of the 9th of April, 1865, Robert E. Lee rode out to meet Ulysses S. Grant. He wore his ceremonial uniform.
- Battle of Hampton RoadsThe Battle of Hampton Roads began on the morning of the 8th of March 1862, when a strange ironclad vessel steamed out of Confederate waters and into a harbor…
- First Battle of Bull RunThe First Battle of Bull Run, fought on the 21st of July 1861 in Prince William County, Virginia, ended with Union soldiers abandoning their weapons and…
- Baltimore riot of 1861On Friday, the 19th of April 1861, horses dragged railroad cars along Pratt Street in Baltimore, Maryland, because city law forbade steam locomotives from…
- Battle of Seven PinesThe Battle of Seven Pines takes its name from a crossroads in Virginia where seven large pine trees once clustered together, and it was there, on the 31st of…
- Battle of New MarketThe Battle of New Market was fought on the 15th of May 1864, in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley, and it produced a moment so unusual that it stands alone in…