First Bull Run (First Manassas)
Just months after the start of the war at Fort Sumter, the Northern public clamored for a march against the Confederate capital of Richmond Virginia, which they expected to bring an early end to the rebellion. Yielding to political pressure, General Irvin McDowell led his unseasoned Union Army across Bull Run against the equally inexperienced Confederate Army of General P. G. T. Beauregard camped near Manassas Junction. McDowell's ambitious plan for a surprise flank attack on the Confederate left was poorly executed by his officers and men; nevertheless, the Confederates, who had been planning to attack the Union left flank, found themselves at an initial disadvantage. Confederate reinforcements under General Joseph E. Johnston arrived from the Shenandoah by railroad and the course of the battle quickly changed. A brigade of Virginians under a relatively unknown colonel, Thomas J. Jackson, stood their ground and Jackson received his famous nickname, "Stonewall Jackson". The Confederates launched a strong counterattack, and as the Union troops began withdrawing under fire, many panicked and the retreat turned into panic. McDowell's men frantically ran without order in the direction of Washington D.C. Both armies were sobered by the fierce fighting and many casualties, and realized the war was going to be much longer and bloodier than either had anticipated.
Shiloh
This battle was also known as the Battle of Pittsburg Landing and it was a major battle in the Western Theater of the Civil War, fought April 6-7, 1862 in Northern Tennessee. A Union army under General Ulysses S. Grant had moved up the Tennessee River deep into Tennessee and was encamped principally at Pittsburg Landing on the west bank of the river. Confederate forces under Generals Albert Sidney Johnston and P. G. T. Beauregard launched a surprise attack on Grant there. The Confederates achieved considerable success on the first day, but were ultimately defeated on the second day. On the first day of the battle, the Confederates struck with the intention of driving the Union defenders away from the river and into the swamps of Owl Creek to the west, hoping to defeat Grant's Army of the Tennessee before the anticipated arrival of General Don Carlos Buell's Army of Ohio. The Confederate battle lines became confused during the fierce fighting, and Grant's men instead fell back to the northeast, in the direction of Pittsburg Landing. A position on a slightly sunken road, nicknamed the "Hornet's Nest", defended by the men of Generals Benjamin M. Prentiss's and W. H. L. Wallace’s divisions, provided critical time for the rest of the Union line to stabilize under the protection of numerous artillery batteries. General Johnston was killed during the first day of fighting, and Beauregard, his second in command, decided against assaulting the final Union position that night. Reinforcements from General Buell and from Grant's own army arrived in the evening and turned the tide the next morning, when the Union commanders 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 advance into northern Mississippi.
Antietam
On September 16, 1862, General George McClellan and the Union Army of the Potomac met General Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia in the small town of Sharpsburg of Maryland. This was the first battle of the Civil War to be fought on Northern soil. At dawn on September 17, General Joseph Hooker's corps mounted a powerful assault on Lee's left flank. Attacks and counterattacks swept across Miller's cornfield and fighting swirled around the Dunker Church. Union assaults against the Sunken Road eventually pierced the Confederate center, but the Federal advantage was not followed up. In the afternoon, Union General Ambrose Burnside’s corps entered the action, capturing a stone bridge over Antietam Creek and advancing against the Confederate right. At a crucial moment, Confederate General A. P. Hill’s division arrived from Harpers Ferry and launched a surprise counterattack, driving back Burnside and ending the battle. Although outnumbered two-to-one, Lee committed his entire force, while McClellan sent in less than three-quarters of his army, enabling Lee to fight the Federals to a standstill. During the night, both armies consolidated their lines. In spite of crippling casualties, Lee continued to skirmish with McClellan throughout September 18, while removing his battered army south of the Potomac River.
Vicksburg
In May and June of 1863, General Ulysses S. Grant’s armies converged on Vicksburg, investing the city and entrapping a Confederate army under General John Pemberton. Union victories at Champion Hill and Big Black Bridge weakened Pemberton’s forces, leaving him no alternative but to retreat to Vicksburg's defenses. The Federals invaded the Rebel stronghold on May 19 and 22, but were repulsed with such great loss that Grant determined to lay siege to the city to avoid further loss of life. Inside Vicksburg, civilians huddled in caves to avoid the cannon shells being fired daily from Grant’s artillery around the town and the guns on the fleet in the river. Food and other supplies from outside had been cut off for a month and a half. Horses, dogs, cats, reportedly even rats became part of the diet for soldiers and civilians alike. On July 3, Pemberton rode out to discuss surrender terms with Grant. Although he had been dubbed "Unconditional Surrender" Grant after his demands to the garrison at Tennessee’s Fort Donelson the previous year, the Union commander agreed to parole Pemberton’s men. The next morning, July 4, Confederate soldiers began marching out and stacking their guns. The city of Vicksburg would not celebrate the Fourth of July as a holiday thereafter until well into the 20th century. Despite the prolonged shelling they’d endured, the Confederates’ losses during the siege had been light. Some 29,500 surrendered. With the loss of Pemberton’s army and this vital stronghold on the Mississippi, the Confederacy was effectively split in half.
Gettysburg
The battle of Gettysburg was fought from July 1 to July 3, 1863. This battle is often referred to as the most important battle of the American Civil War. After a great victory over Union forces at Chancellorsville, General Robert E. Lee marched his Army of Northern Virginia up the Shenandoah Valley into Pennsylvania in late June 1863, his second invasion of the North - The Gettysburg Campaign. In hopes of relieving Virginia of some of the intense fighting and to try and convince the North to give up on taking the south. On July 1, the Confederates under Lee's direction clashed with the Union's Army of the Potomac led by General George G. Meade at the town of Gettysburg. On July 2, 1863 the fighting picked up and intensified as the Confederates attacked the Union troops both from the left and right. On the following day General Robert E. Lee ordered an attack on the center of the Union troops with less than 15,000 men at Cemetery Ridge. "Pickett's Charge," as its often referred to as, managed to pierce Union lines, but ultimately failed and caused thousands of rebel casualties. Lee was forced to to withdraw what was left of his army toward Virginia on July 4, 1863. With a total of 46,286 dead, missing, and wounded this was one of the most devastating battles for either side during the Civil War.