Virginia Civil War Battles1
1861
The high spirits with which North and South naively go to war after the
attack on Fort Sumter first meet the test of battle on a large scale in mid-July
as Union troops under Brig. General Irvin McDowell clash with Confederate
soldiers under Gen. Joseph E. Johnston and Brig. Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard on the
plains of Manassas, Virginia. A sweeping Confederate victory in what Southerners
call the First Battle of Manassas (the North calls it Bulls Run) inspires the
Federal Government to renewed effort and makes the South over-confident. For the
rest of the year the contending armies remain static between Manassas and
Washington, giving Union Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan plenty of time to
organize and train his new Army of the Potomac. A small Federal force
overwhelmed and crushed at Ball's Bluff, Virginia, in October includes a friend
and ally of President Abraham Lincoln, so the political repercussions of that
battle outstrip its military significance. In December, Confederate cavalry
leader J.E.B. Stuart fights a small affair at Dranesville, Virginia. All of the
1861 actions combined do not equal in scope a single day of the famous battles
fought later in the war.
Mar 4 Abraham Lincoln is inaugurated 16th President of the United States
Apr 12-13 Bombardment and surrender of Fort
Sumter, S.C.
Apr 15 President Lincoln
calls for 75,000 volunteers
Apr 17 Virginia secedes
Apr 19 Confederates occupy
Harpers Ferry, Va. (now W.Va.)
Jun 10 Engagement at Big
Bethel, Va. First land "battle" in Virginia
Jul 11 Engagement at
Rich Mountain, Va. (now W.Va.)
Jul 21 First battle
of Manassas (Bull Run), Va.
Jul 27 George B.
McClellan takes command of Union Army of the Potomac
Oct 21 Battle of Ball's
Bluff, Va.
1862
Joe Johnston's Confederates abandon their long-held lines around Manassas in
early March and withdraw toward Richmond. McClellan's Army of the Potomac moves
by water to Fort Monroe and Newport News at the tip of the Virginia peninsula
and prepares to march on Richmond some 70 miles to the northwest. Confederate
delaying tactics and heavy rains slow McClellan's advance and it is nearly two
months before he comes within sight of the city's steeples. When a Southern
offensive at Seven Pines on May 31-June 1 fails to dislodge the Federals and
Johnston is wounded, Robert E. Lee assumes command of the Army of Northern
Virginia and drives McClellan's troops away from the Southern capital in the
Seven Days' Battles.
Victories during August by Maj. Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson at
Cedar Mountain and by Lee's army at the Second Battle of Manassas push the
Federals back to the outskirts of Washington. Within nine weeks, Lee has
transferred the war from his own capital to the edge of his enemy's. A
Confederate offensive across the Potomac is halted and turned back after battles
at South Mountain and Antietam (Sharpsburg), Maryland, in mid-September. The
final action of the year ends in Federal disaster when McClellan's successor,
Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside, throws his army against Lee's near
Fredericksburg, Virginia, in a series of frontal assaults that are easily and
bloodily repulsed.
Mar 9 USS
Monitor vs CSS Virginia in Hampton Roads, Va. First naval battle between
ironclad vessels.
Mar 23-Jun 9 Stonewall Jackson's Shenandoah Valley Campaign, Va.
Mar 23 Battle of
Kernstown
May 8 Battle
of McDowell
May 23 Battle of Front
Royal
May 25 First Battle of
Winchester
Jun 8 Battle
of Cross Keys
Jun 9 Battle
of Port Republic
Apr 4
McClellan's Army of the Potomac begins advance up the Virginia peninsula toward
Richmond
Apr 5-May 4 McClellan's Army of the Potomac begins advance up the
Virginia peninsula toward Richmond.
May 15 Battle of Drewry's
Bluff, Va.
May 31-Jun 1 Battle of Seven Pines (Fair Oaks), Va.
Jun 1
Robert E. Lee assumes command of the Army of Northern Virginia
Jun 25-Jul 1 Seven Days' Battles Around Richmond, Virginia
Jun 25 Battle of Oak
Grove
Jun 26 Battle of
Mechanicsburg
Jun 27 Battle of
Gaines' Mill
Jun 29 Battle of
Savage's Station
Jun 30 Battle of
Glendale (Fraser's Farm)
Jul 1
Battle of Malvern Hill
Aug 9 Battle
of Cedar Mountain, Va.
Aug 28-30 Battle of Second Manassas (Bull Run),
Va.
Sep 1 Battle
of Chantilly (Ox Hill), Va.
Sep 12-15 Siege and capture of Harpers Ferry, Va.
(now W.Va.)
Sep 14-17 Battles of South Mountain and Antietam
(Sharpsburg), Md.
Nov 7 Ambrose E.
Burnside replaces McClellan as commander of the Army of the Potomac
Dec 11-13 Battle of Fredericksburg, Va.
1863
The 1863 campaigns open along the Rappahannock in the final days of April as
Burnside's replacement, Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker, leads the Army of the Potomac
upstream to slip around Lee's left flank. Lee responds aggressively and during
the first week of May wins what has been called his greatest victory. That
victory is costly, because, Stonewall Jackson is mortally wounded, but it gives
the Confederate the opportunity to march northward into Pennsylvania. The Army
of the Potomac follows, and, now under Maj. Gen. George G. Meade's direction,
gives Lee a stinging defeat at Gettysburg on July 1-3.
After Lee's retreat into Virginia, both armies spend the next three months
recuperating while the military frontier alternates between the river lines of
the Rappahannock and Rapidan west of Fredericksburg. Both armies are also
reduced in strength as troops are ordered west to bolster operations around
Chattanooga. Lee's attempt to turn Meade's flank in October crests in defeat at
Bristoe Station. A similar move by Meade south of the Rapidan culminates in
stalemate at Mine Run at the end of November.
Jan 1
Lincoln issues Emancipation Proclamation
Jan 19-23 Burnside's Mud March
Jan 26 Joseph Hooker
succeeds Burnside as commander of the Army of the Potomac
Apr 11-May 4 Siege of Suffolk, Va.
Apr-May Chancellorsville
Campaign, Va.
Apr 29-May 8 Stoneman's Rd.
May 1-4 Battle of
Chancellorsville
May 2
Stonewall Jackson
May 3 Second
Battle of Fredericksburg
May 3-4 Battle of Salem Church
May 10 Stonewall Jackson
dies at Guiney's Station, Va.
Jun 3-Jul 13 Gettysburg Campaign, Pa.
Jun 9
Battle of Brandy Station, Va.
Jun 13-15 Second Battle of Winchester, Va
Jun 28 George G.
Meade replaces Hooker as commander of the Army of the Potomac
Jul 1-3 Battle of
Gettysburg
Jul 13-16 New York City draft riots
Oct 9-22 Bristoe Campaign, Va.
Oct 14 Battle of
Briscoe Station
Nov 6 Battle
of Droop Mountain, W.Va.
Nov 7
Engagement at Rappahannock Station, Va.
Nov 19 Lincoln
delivers his Gettysburg Address.
Nov 26-Dec 2 Mine Run Campaign, Va.
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