American Civil War timeline

  • Battle of Marais des Cygnes

    Description: Maj. Gen. Sterling Price led an expedition into Missouri which Union forces under Maj. Gen. Samuel R. Curtis and Maj. Gen. Alfred... Read more

  • Battle of Mine Creek

    Description: About six miles south of Trading Post, where the Marais de Cygnes engagement had occurred, the brigades of Col. Frederick W. Benteen... Read more

  • Battle of Marmiton River

    Description: Following the Battle of Mine Creek, Maj. Gen. Sterling Price continued his cartage towards Fort Scott. In late afternoon of October... Read more

  • Battle of Decatur

    Description: As Gen. John B. Hood began the Franklin-Nashville Campaign during the fall of 1864, his Army of Tennessee demonstrated against... Read more

  • Battle of Fair Oaks & Darbytown Road

    Description: In combination with movements against the Boydton Plank Road at Petersburg, Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler attacked the Richmond defenses... Read more

  • Battle of Boydton Plank Road

    Description: Directed by Maj. Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock, divisions from three Union corps (II, V, and IX) and Gregg’s cavalry division, numbering... Read more

  • Second Battle of Newtonia

    Description: Price’s force was in full retreat following its expedition into Missouri. On October 28, 1864, it stopped to rest about two miles... Read more

  • Battle of Honey Hill

    Description: Leaving Hilton Head on November 28, a Union expeditionary force under Maj. Gen. John P. Hatch steamed up the Broad River in transports... Read more

  • Battle of Johnsonville

    Description: In an effort to check the Union army’s advance through Georgia, Maj. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest led a 23-day raid culminating in an... Read more

  • 1864 Presidential Election

    After Union victories at Gettysburg, Vicksburg, and Chattanooga in 1863, overall victory seemed at hand, and Lincoln promoted Ulysses S. Grant... Read more

  • Battle of Bull's Gap

    Description: In November 1864, Maj. Gen. John C. Breckinridge undertook an expedition into East Tennessee, anticipating that Confederate... Read more

  • Sherman's March to the Sea

    Sherman's March to the Sea is the name commonly given to the Savannah Campaign conducted through Georgia from November 15, 1864 to December 21,... Read more

  • Battle of Griswoldville

    Description: Brig. Gen. Charles Walcutt was ordered to make a demonstration, with the six infantry regiments and one battery that comprised his... Read more

  • Battle of Columbia

    Description:Conflict near Columbia, during Hood’s 1864 Tennessee invasion, constituted a Confederate diversion as part of a maneuver designed to... Read more

  • Battle of Buck Head Creek

    Description: As Sherman’s infantry marched southeast through Georgia, his cavalry, under Brig. Gen. Judson Kilpatrick moved northeastward, on... Read more

  • Battle of Spring Hill

    Description: Spring Hill was the prelude to the Battle of Franklin. On the night of November 28, 1864, Gen. John Bell Hood’s Army of Tennessee... Read more

  • Sand Creek massacre

    The Sand Creek Massacre (also known as the Chivington massacre or the Battle of Sand Creek or the Massacre of Cheyenne Indians) was an incident in... Read more

  • Second Battle of Franklin

    Description: Having lost a good opportunity at Spring Hill to hurt significantly the Union Army, Gen. John B. Hood marched in rapid pursuit of Maj.... Read more

  • Rainbow Bluff Expedition

    On 9 December, an expedition, of which Wyalusing was a part, moved farther up the Roanoke to capture Rainbow Bluff and another Confederate ram,... Read more

  • Battle of Waynesboro

    Description: As Sherman’s infantry marched southeast through Georgia, his cavalry under Brig. Gen. Judson Kilpatrick rode northeastward. He set out... Read more

  • Third Battle of Murfreesboro

    Description: In a last, desperate attempt to force Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman’s army out of Georgia, Gen. John Bell Hood led the Army of... Read more

  • First Battle of Fort Fisher

    Description: Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler was relieved of command of the Army of the James and assigned to lead an amphibious expedition against Fort... Read more

  • The Battle of Fort Branch

    Fort Branch was a fort built by the Confederate Army especially to defend against attacks from the Union Army along the Roanoke River in North... Read more

  • Second Battle of Fort McAllister

    Description: As Sherman’ s troops approached Savannah they sorely required supplies. Sherman determined that if he could take Fort McAllister,... Read more

  • Battle of Altamaha Bridge

    The Battle of Altahama Bridge, also known as the Battle for the Doctortown Railroad Trestle, was an American Civil War engagement fought December... Read more