American Civil War through art
These are great pictures, with great detail show some of the battles in American Civil War.
Battle of Antietam
The Battle of Antietam (also known as the Battle of Sharpsburg, particularly in the South), fought on September 17, 1862, near Sharpsburg, Maryland, and Antietam Creek, as part of the Maryland Campaign, was the first major battle in the American Civil War to take place on Northern soil. It was the bloodiest single-day battle in American history, with almost 23,000 casualties.
Battle of FredericksburgThe Battle of Fredericksburg, fought in and around Fredericksburg, Virginia, on December 13, 1862, between General Robert E. Lee's Confederate Army of Northern Virginia and the Union Army of the Potomac, commanded by Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside, is remembered as one of the most one-sided battles of the American Civil War. The Union Army suffered terrible casualties in futile frontal assaults against entrenched Confederate defenders on the heights behind the city, bringing to an early end their campaign against the Confederate capital of Richmond.
Battle of ChancellorsvilleThe Battle of Chancellorsville was a major battle of the American Civil War, fought near the village of Spotsylvania Courthouse, Virginia, from April 30 to May 6, 1863. Called General Robert E. Lee's "perfect battle" because of his risky but successful division of his army in the presence of a much larger enemy force, the battle pitted Union Army Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker's Army of the Potomac against an army half its size, Lee's Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. Lee's audacity and Hooker's timid performance in combat combined to result in a significant and embarrassing Union defeat. The Confederate victory was tempered by the mortal wounding of Lt. Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson to friendly fire, a loss that Lee likened to "losing my right arm."
Battle of GettysburgThe Battle of Gettysburg (July 1 – July 3, 1863), fought in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, as part of the Gettysburg Campaign, was the bloodiest battle of the American Civil War and is frequently cited as the war's turning point. Union Major General George Gordon Meade's Army of the Potomac defeated attacks by Confederate General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, ending Lee's invasion of the North.
Battle of Pea RidgeThe Battle of Pea Ridge (also known as Elkhorn Tavern) was a land battle of the American Civil War, fought on March 7 and March 8, 1862, at Pea Ridge in northwest Arkansas, near Bentonville. In the battle, Union Army forces led by General Samuel R. Curtis defeated Confederate troops under General Earl Van Dorn. The outcome of the battle essentially cemented Union control of Missouri. One notable fact of this battle is that it was one of the few in which a Confederate Army outnumbered a Union Army.
Battle of ChickamaugaThe Battle of Chickamauga, fought September 18 to September 20, 1863, marked the end of a Union offensive in south-central Tennessee and northwestern Georgia called the Chickamauga Campaign. The battle was the most significant Union defeat in the Western Theater of the American Civil War. The battle was fought between the Union Army of the Cumberland under Maj. Gen. William Rosecrans and the Confederate Army of Tennessee under General Braxton Bragg, and was named for the (now South) Chickamauga Creek, which flows into the Tennessee River about 3.5 miles (5.6km) northeast of downtown Chattanooga. Chickamauga was a local Indian word meaning "Stagnant River" or, less accurately, "River of Death," usage that may have begun after the battles.
Battle of Perryville
The Battle of Perryville, also known as Battle at Perryville and Battle of Chaplin Hills, was an important but largely neglected encounter in the American Civil War. It was fought on October 8, 1862, in the Chaplin Hills west of Perryville, Kentucky. The battle began with a middle-of-the-night skirmish over a source of drinking water, and ended more or less by default with the onset of darkness and the retreat of the tactical victor, the Confederates. The Confederate "victory" marked the end of their last offensive campaign in the West, and their retreat left the border state of Kentucky under the control of the Union Army for the rest of the war.
Battle of ShilohThe Battle of Shiloh, also known as the Battle of Pittsburg Landing, was a major battle in the Western Theater of the American Civil War, fought on April 6 and April 7, 1862 in southwestern Tennessee. Confederate forces under Generals Albert Sidney Johnston and P.G.T. Beauregard launched a surprise attack against the Union army of Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and came close to defeating his army. Gen. Johnston was killed during the first day's fighting, and Beauregard, his second in command, decided against assaulting the final Union position that night. Reinforcements from Gen. Buell arrived in the evening and turned the tide the next morning, when he and Grant launched a counterattack along the entire line. The Confederates were forced to retreat from the bloodiest battle in United States history up to that time, ending their hopes that they could block the Union invasion of northern Mississippi.
Battle of VicksburgThe Battle of Vicksburg, or Siege of Vicksburg, was the final significant battle in the Vicksburg Campaign of the American Civil War. In a series of brilliant maneuvers, Union Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and his Army of the Tennessee crossed the Mississippi River and drove the Confederate army of Lt. Gen. John C. Pemberton into defensive lines surrounding the fortress city of Vicksburg, Mississippi. Grant besieged the city, which surrendered six weeks later, yielding command of the Mississippi River to the Union.
Third Battle of ChattanoogaThe Third Battle of Chattanooga (popularly known as The Battle of Chattanooga, and including the Battle of Lookout Mountain and the Battle of Missionary Ridge) was fought from November 23 to November 25, 1863, in the American Civil War. By defeating the Confederate forces of General Braxton Bragg, Union Army Major General Ulysses S. Grant eliminated the last Confederate control of Tennessee and opened the door to an invasion of the Deep South that led to the Atlanta Campaign of 1864.
Battle of Cedar CreekThe Battle of Cedar Creek, or The Battle of Belle Grove, October 19, 1864, was one of the final, and most decisive, battles in the Valley Campaigns of 1864 during the American Civil War.
Second Battle of FranklinThe Second Battle of Franklin (more popularly known simply as The Battle of Franklin) was fought at Franklin, Tennessee, on November 30, 1864, as part of the Franklin-Nashville Campaign of the American Civil War. It was one of the worst disasters of the war for the Confederate States Army. Although the Union Army of the Ohio, commanded by Maj. Gen. John M. Schofield, left the field after the battle, the Confederate Army suffered devastating losses in its unsuccessful frontal assaults against the Union defenders, sometimes called the "Pickett's Charge of the West." A further loss at the subsequent Battle of Nashville in December marked the end of Confederate Lt. Gen. John Bell Hood's Army of Tennessee as a fighting force.
Battle of Five ForksThe Battle of Five Forks was fought on April 1, 1865, southwest of Petersburg, Virginia, in Dinwiddie County, during the Appomattox Campaign of the American Civil War. The battle, sometimes referred to as the " Waterloo of the Confederacy," pitted Union Major General Philip H. Sheridan against Confederate Major General George E. Pickett of Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. Pickett's loss at Five Forks triggered Lee's decision to abandon his entrenchments around Petersburg and begin the retreat that led to his surrender at Appomattox Court House on April 9.
Battle of Champion HillThe Battle of Champion Hill, or Bakers Creek, fought May 16, 1863, was the pivotal battle in the Vicksburg Campaign of the American Civil War. Union commander Major General Ulysses S. Grant and the Army of the Tennessee pursued the retreating Confederate Lieutenant General John C. Pemberton and defeated his army twenty miles to the east of Vicksburg, Mississippi, leading inevitably to the Siege of Vicksburg and surrender.
Battle of Wilson's CreekThe Battle of Wilson's Creek, also known as the Battle of Oak Hills, was a battle in the American Civil War that occurred August 10, 1861, near Springfield, Missouri, between Union forces and the Missouri State Guard. It was the first major battle west of the Mississippi River and is sometimes called the "Bull Run of the West."
Battle of Fort SumterThe Battle of Fort Sumter (April 12 – April 13, 1861), a relatively minor military engagement at Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, began the American Civil War.
Battle of Hampton RoadsThe Battle of Hampton Roads, often called the Battle of Monitor and Merrimack, was a naval battle of the American Civil War, famous for being the first fight between two powered iron-covered warships, or "ironclads", the USS Monitor, an entirely new design, and the CSS Virginia (which had been rebuilt from the burned-out hull of the USS Merrimack). The principal confrontations took place on March 8 and March 9, 1862, off Sewell's Point, a narrow place near the mouth of Hampton Roads, Virginia.
Second Battle of Fort FisherThe Second Battle of Fort Fisher was a joint assault by Union army and naval forces against Fort Fisher, outside Wilmington, North Carolina, near the end of the American Civil War. Sometimes referred to as the "Gibraltar of the South" and the last major coastal stronghold of the Confederacy, Fort Fisher had tremendous strategic value during the war.
Battle of ResacaThe Battle of Resaca was part of the Atlanta Campaign of the American Civil War. The battle was waged in Gordon and Whitfield counties Georgia from May 13 to May 15, 1864. It ended inconclusively. The battle was fought between the Military Division of the Mississippi (led by William T. Sherman) on the side of the Union and the Army of Tennessee (Joseph E. Johnston) for the Confederates. There were 5,547 casualties: 2,747 for the Union and 2,800 for the Confederacy.
Battle of Kennesaw MountainThe Battle of Kennesaw Mountain was fought on June 27, 1864, during the Atlanta Campaign of the American Civil War. Despite its name, much of the battle was fought to the southwest of Kennesaw Mountain, near Marietta, Georgia. The main participants in the battle were the Union armies under the command of Gen. William T. Sherman and the Army of Tennessee under the command of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston.
Battle of AtlantaThe Battle of Atlanta was a battle of the Atlanta campaign fought during the American Civil War on July 22, 1864 just southeast of Atlanta, Georgia. Despite the implication of finality in its name, the battle occurred mid-way through the campaign and the city would not fall for another six weeks.
Battle of Fort SandersThe Battle of Fort Sanders was the decisive engagement of the Knoxville Campaign of the American Civil War, fought in Knoxville, Tennessee, on November 29, 1863. Assaults by Confederate Lt. Gen. James Longstreet failed to break through the defensive lines of Union Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside, resulting in lopsided casualties, and the Siege of Knoxville entered its final days.
Battle of WilliamsburgThe Battle of Williamsburg, also known as the Battle of Fort Magruder, took place on May 5, 1862, in York County, James City County, and Williamsburg, Virginia, as part of the Peninsula Campaign of the American Civil War. It was the first pitched battle of the Peninsula Campaign, in which nearly 41,000 Federals and 32,000 Confederates were engaged, fighting an inconclusive battle that ended with the Confederates continuing their withdrawal in the direction of Richmond, Virginia.
Battle of Spotsylvania Court HouseThe Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, sometimes simply referred to as the Battle of Spotsylvania, was the second battle in Lieut. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's 1864 Overland Campaign of the American Civil War. It was fought in the Rapidan-Rappahannock river area of central Virginia, a region where more than 100,000 men on both sides fell between 1862 and 1864. The battle was fought from May 8 to May 21, 1864, along a trench line some four miles (6.5 km) long, with the Army of Northern Virginia under Gen. Robert E. Lee making its second attempt to halt the spring offensive of the Union Army of the Potomac under the command of Lieut. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and Maj. Gen. George G. Meade. Taking place less than a week after the bloody, inconclusive Battle of the Wilderness, it pitted 52,000 Confederate soldiers against a Union army numbering 100,000.
Battle of Stones RiverThe Battle of Stones River or Second Battle of Murfreesboro (in the South, simply the Battle of Murfreesboro), was fought from December 31, 1862, to January 2, 1863, in Middle Tennessee, as the culmination of the Stones River Campaign in the Western Theater of the American Civil War. Of the major battles of the Civil War, Stones River had the highest percentage of casualties on both sides. Although the battle itself was tactically indecisive, the Union Army's repulse of two Confederate attacks was a much-needed boost to U.S. morale after the defeat at the Battle of Fredericksburg, and it dashed Confederate aspirations for control of Middle Tennessee.
Battle of Cold HarborThe Battle of Cold Harbor, the final battle of Union Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's 1864 Overland Campaign during the American Civil War, is remembered as one of American history's bloodiest, most lopsided battles. Thousands of Union soldiers were slaughtered in a hopeless frontal assault against the fortified troops of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. Grant said of the battle in his memoirs "I have always regretted that the last assault at Cold Harbor was ever made. I might say the same thing of the assault of the 22d of May, 1863, at Vicksburg. At Cold Harbor no advantage whatever was gained to compensate for the heavy loss we sustained."
Battle of Fort DonelsonThe Battle of Fort Donelson was fought from February 12 to February 16, 1862, in the Western Theater of the American Civil War. The capture of the fort by Union forces opened the Cumberland River as an avenue of invasion of the South and elevated Brig. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant from an obscure and largely unproven leader to the rank of major general and earned him the nickname "Unconditional Surrender" Grant.
Battle of Bull RunThe First Battle of Bull Run (named after the closest body of water), also known as the First Battle of Manassas (named after the closest town), took place on July 21, 1861, and was the first major land battle of the American Civil War. Unseasoned Union Army troops under Brigadier General Irvin McDowell advanced against the Confederate Army under Brig. Gens. Joseph E. Johnston and P.G.T. Beauregard at Manassas, Virginia, and despite the Union's early successes, they were routed and forced to retreat back to Washington, D.C.
Battle of the WildernessThe Battle of the Wilderness, fought May 5–7, 1864, was the first battle of Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's 1864 Virginia Overland Campaign against Gen. Robert E. Lee and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. Both armies suffered heavy casualties, a harbinger of a bloody war of attrition by Grant against Lee's army and, eventually, the Confederate capital, Richmond, Virginia. The battle was tactically inconclusive, as Grant disengaged and continued his offensive.
