Western Theater Of The American Civil War Events

Other Names: None Location: Harrison Campaign: Morgan’s Raid in Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio (July 1863) Date(s): July 9, 1863 Principal Commanders: BCol. Lewis Jordan [US]; Brig. ...

Description: On July 13, Morgan’s raiders crossed into Ohio at Harrison, pursued by several columns of Union cavalry under overall direction of Brig. Gen. Edward H. Hobson. On July 19, Ka...

The Battle of Salineville occurred July 26, 1863, near Salineville, Ohio during Morgan's Raid in the American Civil War. It was one of the northernmost military actions involving the Conf...

Description: On August 16, 1863, Maj. Gen. William S. Rosecrans, commander of the Army of the Cumberland, launched a campaign to take Chattanooga. Col. John T. Wilder’s brigade of the Uni...

The old Wilderness Road cutting through the Gap was a natural invasion route. For the Confederacy, it led to the rich Kentucky bluegrass country to the north. For the Union, it led to the...

Description: After the Tullahoma Campaign, Rosecrans renewed his offensive, aiming to force the Rebels out of Chattanooga. The three corps comprising Rosecrans’s army split and set out fo...

The Battle of Chickamauga, fought September 19–20, 1863, marked the end of a Union offensive in southeastern Tennessee and northwestern Georgia called the Chickamauga Campaign. The battle...

Planning for the second day At Braxton Bragg's headquarters at Thedford Ford, the commanding general was officially pleased with the day's events. He reported that "Night found us mast...

Description: Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside, commander of the Department of the Ohio, undertook an expedition into East Tennessee to clear the roads and gaps to Virginia, and, if possible, se...

Wheeler's October 1863 Raid (October 1–9, 1863) was a large cavalry raid in southeastern Tennessee during the American Civil War. Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheeler's Confederate cavalry scored a g...

Description: Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside, commander of the Department of the Ohio, undertook an expedition into East Tennessee to clear the roads and passes to Virginia, and, if possibl...

Description: In an effort to relieve Union forces besieged in Chattanooga, Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas and Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant initiated the “Cracker Line Operation” on October 26, ...

Description: Four minor battles occurred in 1863 at Collierville, Tennessee, during a three-month period. The November 3 fight was intended to be a Confederate cavalry raid to break up th...

Description: In early November 1863, Lt. Gen. James Longstreet, with two divisions and about 5,000 cavalry, was detached from the Confederate Army of Tennessee near Chattanooga to attack ...

Description: From the last days of September through October 1863, Gen. Braxton Bragg’s army laid siege to the Union army under Maj. Gen. William Rosecrans at Chattanooga, cutting off its...

The Battle of Missionary Ridge was fought November 25, 1863, as part of the Chattanooga Campaign of the American Civil War. Following the Union victory in the Battle of Lookout Mountain o...

Description: Following the Union victory at Missionary Ridge and the Rebel retreat, Yankee troops set out in pursuit. Maj. Gen. Patrick Cleburne’s command fell back to Ringgold Gap where ...

Description: In attempting to take Knoxville, the Confederates decided that Fort Sanders was the only vulnerable place where they could penetrate Union Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside’s for...

Description: Lt. Gen. James Longstreet abandoned the Siege of Knoxville, on December 4, 1863, and retreated northeast towards Rogersville, Tennessee. Union Maj. Gen. John G. Parke pursued...

Description: Brig. Gen. Samuel D. Sturgis received a report on the night of December 28, 1863, that a brigade of enemy cavalry was in the neighborhood of Dandridge that afternoon. Surmisi...

Description: Union forces under Maj. Gen. John G. Parke advanced on Dandridge, Tennessee, near the East Tennessee & Virginia Railroad, on January 14, forcing Lt. Gen. James Longstreet’s C...

Description: Confederate cavalry, numbering about 600 men, attacked Athens, held by about 100 Union troops, around 4:00 am on the morning of January 26, 1864. After a two-hour battle, the...

Description: Since the Battle of Dandridge, the Union cavalry had moved to the south side of the French Broad River and had disrupted Confederate foraging and captured numerous wagons in ...

Description: From Vicksburg, Mississippi, Sherman launched a campaign to take the important railroad center at Meridian and, if the situation was favorable, push on to Selma, Alabama, and...

Description: From Vicksburg, Mississippi, Sherman launched a campaign to take the important railroad center at Meridian, Mississippi, and if the situation were favorable, to push on to Se...

Other Names: None Location: Whitfield County Campaign: Demonstration on Dalton (1864) Date(s): February 22-27, 1864 Principal Commanders: Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas [US]; Gen....

Description: In March 1864, Forrest set out from Columbus, Mississippi, with a force of less than 3,000 men on a multipurpose expedition (recruit, reoutfit, disperse Yankees, etc.) into W...

"Fort Pillow marked one of the bleakest, saddest events of American military history." —Military historian David J. Eicher

Description: Gen. Joseph E. Johnston had entrenched his army on the long, high mountain of Rocky Face Ridge and eastward across Crow Valley. As Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman approached, he...

Description: Gen. Joseph E. Johnston had withdrawn from Rocky Face Ridge to the hills around Resaca. On the 13th, the Union troops tested the Rebel lines to pinpoint their whereabouts. Th...

Description: Following the Battle of Resaca, May 13-15, Gen. Joseph E. Johnston’ s army retreated southward while Sherman pursued. Failing to find a good defensive position south of Calho...

Description: After Johnston retreated to Allatoona Pass on May 19-20, Sherman decided that he would most likely pay dearly for attacking Johnston there, so he determined to move around Jo...

Description: Johnston’s army fell back from the vicinity of Cassville-Kinston, first to Allatoona Pass and then to the Dallas area and entrenched. Sherman’s army tested the Rebel line whi...

Description: After the Union defeat at New Hope Church, Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman ordered Maj. Gen. O.O. Howard to attack Gen. Joseph E. Johnston’ s seemingly exposed right flank. The ...

Description: During the Atlanta Campaign, Sherman maneuvered Johnston's Confederate army out of several successive defensive positions in Cobb County. This strategy spared the Union army ...

Description: At the beginning of June 1864, Maj. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest set out with his cavalry corps of about 2,000 men to enter Middle Tennessee and destroy the Nashville & Chatta...

Other Names: Kellar’s Bridge Location: Harrison County Campaign: Morgan’s Raid into Kentucky (1864) Date(s): June 11-12, 1864 Principal Commanders: Brig. Gen. Stephen Gano Bur...

Description: On the night of June 18-19, Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, fearing envelopment, moved his army to a new, previously selected position astride Kennesaw Mountain, an entrenched arc-s...

Description: On the night of June 18-19, Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, fearing envelopment, withdrew his army to a new, previously selected position astride Kennesaw Mountain. This entrenched ...

The Battle of Pace's Ferry was an engagement fought on July 5, 1864, near Atlanta, Georgia, during the Atlanta Campaign of the American Civil War. Union troops of Maj. Gen. Oliver O. Howa...

Description: Maj. Gen. A.J. Smith, commanding a combined force of more than 14,000 men, left LaGrange, Tennessee, on July 5, 1864, and advanced south. Smith’s mission was to insure that M...

Description: Under Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, the Army of Tennessee had retired south of Peachtree Creek, an east to west flowing stream, about three miles north of Atlanta. Sherman split h...

Description: Following the Battle of Peachtree Creek, Hood determined to attack Maj. Gen. James B. McPherson’s Army of the Tennessee. He withdrew his main army at night from Atlanta’ s ou...

Description: Earlier, Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman’s forces had approached Atlanta from the east and north. Hood had not defeated them, but he had kept them away from the city. Sherman no...

The Battle of Brown's Mill was fought July 30, 1864, in Coweta County, Georgia, during the Atlanta Campaign of the American Civil War. Edward M. McCook's Union cavalry, on a daring raid t...

The Battle of Mobile Bay of August 5, 1864, was an engagement of the American Civil War in which a Federal fleet commanded by Rear Admiral David G. Farragut, assisted by a contingent of s...

The Siege of Fort Gaines occurred between August 3 and 8, 1864, during the American Civil War. It took place in the Mobile Bay area of Alabama as part of the larger battle of Mobile Bay, ...

Description: After failing to envelop Hood’s left flank at Ezra Church, Sherman still wanted to extend his right flank to hit the railroad between East Point and Atlanta. He transferred J...

Other Names: Passing of Forts Morgan and Gaines Location: Mobile County and Baldwin County Campaign: Operations in Mobile Bay (1864) Date(s): August 2-23, 1864 Principal Comma...

The Second Battle of Dalton was fought August 14–15, 1864, between Union and Confederate forces in Whitfield County, northern Georgia. The Union force from the District of Etowah was comm...