The ensuing Union withdrawal turned into a rout with many soldiers drowning while trying to re-cross the icy waters of the Potomac River. January 19, Battle of Mill Springs, Kentucky. The Union victory weakened the Confederate hold on the state. February 6, Surrender of Fort Henry, Tennessee.
The lost of this southern fort on the Tennessee River opened the door to Union control of the river. A Confederate defeat, the battle resulted in Union occupation of eastern North Carolina and control of Pamlico Sound, to be used as Northern base for further operations against the southern coast. February 16, Surrender of Fort Donelson, Tennessee. This primary southern fort on the Cumberland River left the river in Union hands. It was here that Union General Ulysses S. Grant gained his nickname "Unconditional Surrender". The Union victory loosened the Confederate hold on Missouri and disrupted southern control of a portion of the Mississippi River.
Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston, a veteran of the Texas War of Independence and the War with Mexico considered to be one of the finest officers the South has, is killed on the first day of fighting. On April 25, the fleet arrived at New Orleans where they demanded the surrender of the city. Within two days the forts fall into Union hands and the mouth of the great river is under Union control. May 25, - First Battle of Winchester, Virginia. After two weeks of maneuvering and battles at Cross Keys and Front Royal, General "Stonewall" Jackson attacks Union forces at Winchester and successfully drives them from the city.
The victory is the culmination of his Valley Campaign. Lee who renames his command the "Army of Northern Virginia". June 6, Battle of Memphis, Tennessee. A Union flotilla under Commodore Charles Davis successfully defeats a Confederate river force on the Mississippi River near the city and Memphis surrenders. The Mississippi River is now in Union control except for its course west of Mississippi where the city of Vicksburg stands as the last southern stronghold on the great river.
August , The Battle of Second Bull Run or Second Manassas is fought on the same ground where one year before, the Union army was defeated and sent reeling in retreat to Washington. Likewise, the result of this battle is a Union defeat. The result of the battle ends General Lee's first invasion of the North.
Following the Union victory, President Lincoln will introduce the Emancipation Proclamation, an executive order that freed every slave in the Confederate States. December 13, The Battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia. The Army of the Potomac, under General Ambrose Burnside, is soundly defeated by Lee's forces after a risky river crossing and sacking of the city.
January 1, The Emancipation Proclamation goes into effect. Applauded by many abolitionists including Frederick Douglass , there are others who feel it does not go far enough to totally abolish slavery. March 3, Conscription, or the drafting of soldiers into military service, begins in the North. It had begun in the South the year before.
In the west, a Union army has begun a campaign to surround and take Vicksburg, Mississippi, the last Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi River. May , - The Battle of Chancellorsville , Virginia. General Lee's greatest victory is marred by the mortal wounding of "Stonewall" Jackson, who dies on May Soon after, Lee asks Jefferson Davis for permission to invade the North and take the war out of Virginia. May 18, - Siege of Vicksburg, Mississippi begins. Union forces under General Ulysses S.
Grant attack Confederate defenses outside the city on May If Vicksburg falls, the Mississippi River will be completely controlled by the Union. Union cavalry forces cross the Rapidan River to attack General J. Stuart's cavalry and discover that Lee's men are moving west toward the Shenandoah Valley. The largest cavalry battle of the Civil War, it also marks the beginning of the Gettysburg Campaign.
Meanwhile, the Union assault on Vicksburg, Mississippi has become a siege of the city where soldiers and civilians alike suffer from constant bombardment. June , - Battle of Second Winchester,Virginia. June 28, - The Gettysburg Campaign continues. Confederates pass through York and reach the bridge over the Susquehanna River at Columbia, but Union militia set fire to the bridge, denying access to the east shore. Southern cavalry skirmishes with Union militia near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. July - The Battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
The bloodiest battle of the Civil War dashes Robert E. Lee's hopes for a successful invasion of the North. The capture of Vicksburg gives the Union complete control of the Mississippi River, a vital supply line for the Confederate states in the west. At Gettysburg, Lee begins his retreat to Virginia. July , - Union naval and land forces attack Confederate defenses near Charleston, South Carolina. Among the Union troops is the 54 th Massachusetts Colored Infantry, the first African American regiment of volunteers to see combat.
July 13, - Draft Riots begin in New York City and elsewhere as disgruntled workers and laborers, seething over the draft system that seemingly favors the rich, attack the draft office and African American churches. The riots continue through July Leading the Union infantry charge is the 54 th Massachusetts Colored Infantry commanded by Colonel Robert Gould Shaw who is killed and buried with the dead of his regiment. August 21, - Sacking of Lawrence, Kansas.
In a murderous daylight raid, Confederate and Missouri guerillas under William Clarke Quantrill storm into Lawrence and destroy most of the town.
Pickett's Charge on July 3 is often considered the high-water mark of the Confederacy because it signaled the collapse of serious Confederate threats of victory. America's Civil War slowly came to be seen as part of a global struggle against oppressive privilege" , Wall Street Journal February 7—8, Battle of Dead Buffalo Lake. Inflicting an ever-tightening naval blockade of Confederate ports, the Union marshaled the resources and manpower to attack the Confederacy from all directions, leading to the fall of Atlanta to William T. Second Battle of Fort Sumter.
Approximately men and boys are murdered by Quantrill's men. September 19 , - The Battle of Chickamauga, Georgia. Rosecrans' army retreats to the supply base at Chattanooga, Tennessee. Confederate forces under Braxton Bragg surround the occupied city. Grant is assigned to command the troops there and begins immediate plans to relieve the besieged Union army.
October 5, - Outside of Charleston Harbor, the Confederate David , a partially submerged, steam powered vessel, attacked the New Ironsides , part of the Union fleet blockading the harbor, with a torpedo. Both ships survived the attack, though the commander of the David and one of his crew were captured.
October 9 , - Bristoe Station Campaign. Lee successfully outmaneuvers Meade though fails to bring him to battle or catch him in the open. An engagement at Bristoe Station, Virginia, on October 14 gives the campaign its name. President Abraham Lincoln delivers the Gettysburg Address. November 23 , - The Battle for Chattanooga. Union forces break the Confederate siege of the city in successive attacks. The most notable event is the storming of Lookout Mountain on November 24 and Battle of Missionary Ridge the following day.
The decisive Union victory sends the Confederate Army south into Georgia where General Bragg reorganizes his forces before resigning from command on November Lee reacts and throws up a line of defenses along the banks of Mine Run Creek. After several days of probing the defenses, Meade withdraws north of the Rapidan and goes into winter quarters. November 27 to December 3, - Siege of Knoxville, Tennessee.
Longstreet finally attacks on November 30 but is repulsed with heavy losses. The arrival of Union reinforcements forces him to withdraw to Greeneville, Tennessee, where his corps will spend the winter. December 8, - Lincoln Issues his Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction, which would pardon those who participated in the "existing rebellion" if they take an oath to the Union. February 9, - Escape from Libby Prison, Richmond.
After weeks of digging, Union officers made their escape from the notorious Libby Prison, the largest and most sensational escape of the war. Though 48 of the escapees were later captured and two drowned, 59 were able to make their way into Union lines. Universally referred to as Andersonville Prison Camp , it will become notorious for overcrowded conditions and a high death rate among its inmates.
Union forces under William T. Sherman enter the city of Meridian, Mississippi after a successful month of campaigning through the central part of the state. The capture of this important southern town, well known for its industry and storage capabilities, severely hampers the efforts of Confederate commanders to sustain their armies in the deep south, Georgia and west of the Mississippi River. Struck by the submarine's torpedo, the Housatonic broke apart and sank, taking all but five of her crew with her.
Likewise, the Hunley was also lost and never heard from again until discovered in at the spot where it sank after the attack. March 2, - Ulysses S. Grant is appointed lieutenant general, a rank revived at the request of President Lincoln. Grant assumes command of all Union Armies in the field the following day. March 10, - The Red River Campaign begins. As part of an overall Union strategy to strike deep into various parts of the Confederacy, a combined force of army and navy commands under General Nathaniel Banks begins a campaign on the Red River in Louisiana.
April 9, - Battle of Pleasant Hill, Louisiana. Unfortunately, the result of the campaign would be less than desired as it drew to a close in the first week of May with Confederates still in firm control of most of the state. April 12, - Capture of Fort Pillow, Tennessee. After a rapid raid through central and western Tennessee, Confederate cavalry under Nathan Bedford Forrest attacked and overwhelmed the Union garrison at Fort Pillow, located on the Mississippi River. Among those garrisoning the fort were African American troops, many of whom were murdered by Forrest's angered troopers after they had surrendered.
The affair was investigated and though charges of an atrocity were denied by Confederate authorities, the events at Fort Pillow cast a pall over Forrest's reputation and remained an emotional issue throughout the remainder of the war and after. Grant, accompanying the Army of the Potomac under General Meade, issued orders for the campaign to begin on May 3.
Lee responded by attacking the Union column in the dense woods and underbrush of an area known as the Wilderness, west of Fredericksburg, Virginia. May 7, Beginning of the Atlanta Campaign. With three Union armies under his command, General William T. Lee successfully stalls Grant's drive toward Richmond. Kill him and his horse! Although he was seriously wounded, Forrest was able to stay on horseback and escape; he survived both the wound and the war.
The Union lost about men, most of them captured during Forrest's charge, in an incident that has been remembered with the name "Fallen Timbers". After capturing the Confederate field hospital, Sherman encountered the rear of Breckinridge's covering force, but determined the enemy was making no signs of renewing its attack and withdrew back to the Union camps.
The battle of Shiloh, or Pittsburg landing, has been perhaps less understood, or to state the case more accurately, more persistently misunderstood, than any other engagement between National and Confederate troops during the entire rebellion. Correct reports of the battle have been published, notably by Sherman, Badeau and, in a speech before a meeting of veterans, by General Prentiss; but all of these appeared long subsequent to the close of the rebellion and after public opinion had been most erroneously formed.
In the immediate aftermath of the battle, Northern newspapers vilified Grant for his performance during the battle on April 6, especially for being surprised and unprepared. Reporters, many far from the battle, spread the story that Grant had been drunk, falsely alleging that this had resulted in many of his men being bayoneted in their tents because of a lack of defensive preparedness. Despite the Union victory, Grant's reputation suffered in Northern public opinion.
Many credited Buell with taking control of the broken Union forces and leading them to victory on April 7. Calls for Grant's removal overwhelmed the White House. President Lincoln replied with one of his most famous quotations about Grant: His steadfastness under fire and amid chaos atoned for his previous melancholy and his defensive lapses preceding the battle. Army officers that were with Grant gave a starkly different account of his capacity, and performance, than those of enterprising newspaper reporters far away from Grant during the battle.
One such officer, Colonel William R. Rowley, answering a letter of inquiry about allegations aimed at Grant, maintained:. I pronounce it an unmitigated slander. I have been on his Staff ever since the Donelson affair and saw him frequently during that and necessary in close contact with him every day, and I have never seen him take even a glass of liquor more than two or three times in my life and then only a single at a time.
And I have never seen him intoxicated or even approximate to it. As to the story that he was intoxicated at the Battle of Pittsburg, I have only to say that the man who fabricated the story is an infamous liar, and you are at liberty to say to him that I say so. In retrospect, however, Grant is recognized positively for the clear judgment he was able to retain under the strenuous circumstances, and his ability to perceive the larger tactical picture that ultimately resulted in victory on the second day.
In his memoirs, he wrote:. Some of these critics claim that Shiloh was won when Johnston fell, and that if he had not fallen the army under me would have been annihilated or captured. Ifs defeated the Confederates at Shiloh. There is little doubt that we would have been disgracefully beaten if all the shells and bullets fired by us had passed harmlessly over the enemy and if all of theirs had taken effect. Commanding generals are liable to be killed during engagements; and the fact that when he was shot Johnston was leading a brigade to induce it to make a charge which had been repeatedly ordered, is evidence that there was neither the universal demoralization on our side nor the unbounded confidence on theirs which has been claimed.
There was, in fact, no hour during the day when I doubted the eventual defeat of the enemy, although I was disappointed that reinforcements so near at hand did not arrive at an earlier hour. Grant's career suffered temporarily in the aftermath of Shiloh; Halleck combined and reorganized his armies, relegating Grant to the powerless position of second-in-command.
Beauregard remained in command of the Army of Mississippi and led it back to Corinth. Halleck was promoted to be general in chief of all the Union armies and with his departure to the East, Grant was restored to command. After the surrender of Vicksburg and the fall of Port Hudson in the summer of , the Mississippi River came under Union control and the Confederacy was cut in two. Davis was outraged at Beauregard for withdrawing from Corinth without a fight, even though he faced an army nearly twice his size and his water supplies in the city had become contaminated.
Shortly after the fall of Corinth, Beauregard took medical leave without receiving authorization from Davis. This was the final straw for Davis, who quickly reassigned him to oversee the coastal defenses in South Carolina. Command of the Army of Mississippi fell to Braxton Bragg, who was promoted to full general on April 6 and during the fall of , he led it on an abortive invasion of Kentucky, culminating in his retreat from the Battle of Perryville.
The Union General Lew Wallace was heavily criticized for failing to get his division into the battle until hours, near the end of combat on the first day. He was removed from the Army of the Tennessee and never again received a front line command or took part in a big offensive operation, though his backwater assignments still placed him in important battles. In , at the Battle of Monocacy , Wallace commanded a 5, man force to oppose Jubal Early 's 14,an invasion of Maryland. Faced against an army more than twice his size, Wallace was eventually forced to retreat to Baltimore, but his men delayed Early's advance for a full day, enabling Union re-enforcement to be brought up to protect Washington D.
Despite this success and later fame for writing the book Ben Hur , criticism of Wallace's conduct at Shiloh would haunt him for the rest of his life and he would spend much of it trying to defend his actions there. The two-day battle of Shiloh, the costliest in American history up to that time, [] resulted in the defeat of the Confederate army and frustration of Johnston's plans to prevent the two Union armies in Tennessee from joining together. Union casualties were 13, 1, killed, 8, wounded, and 2, missing ; Grant's army bore the brunt of the fighting over the two days, with casualties of 1, killed, 6, wounded, and 2, missing or captured.
Confederate casualties were 10, 1, killed, 8, wounded, and missing or captured. The highest ranking Union general killed was W. Union Colonel Everett Peabody , whose decision to send out a patrol the morning of the battle may have saved the Union from disaster, was also among the dead. Both sides were shocked at the carnage, which resulted in more than four times as many casualties as the Battle of Bull Run that had horrified the nation 10 months earlier.
I saw an open field, in our possession on the second day, over which the Confederates had made repeated charges the day before, so covered with dead that it would have been possible to walk across the clearing, in any direction, stepping on dead bodies, without a foot touching the ground. Three more years of such bloodshed remained and eight larger and bloodier battles were yet to come. The war would continue, at great cost in casualties and resources, until the Confederacy succumbed or the Union was divided. Grant also learned a valuable personal lesson on preparedness that mostly served him well for the rest of the war.
The loss of Albert Johnston was a particularly severe blow to the Confederacy. President Jefferson Davis called it "the turning point of our fate. In addition to those already mentioned, several other famous people participated in the Battle of Shiloh. Shiloh's importance as a Civil War battle, coupled with the lack of widespread agricultural or industrial development in the battle area after the war, led to its development as one of the first five battlefields restored by the federal government in the s.
Government involvement eventually proved insufficient to preserve the land on which the battle took place. The federal government had saved just over 2, acres at Shiloh by , and consolidated those gains by adding another 1, acres by Since , only additional acres of the saved land had been preserved. The Civil War Trust a division of the American Battlefield Trust became the primary agent of these efforts, joining federal, state and local partners to acquire and preserve 1, acres 5. A campaign focused in particular on a section of land which was part of the Confederate right flank on day one and on several tracts which were part of the Battle of Fallen Timbers.
It was the second in a series of five stamps marking the Civil War Centennial. He recalled his experiences in the essay "What I Saw of Shiloh", written in and twice revised in the following 35 years. He describes Pittsburg Landing as follows: The song "Shiloh's Hill" was written shortly after the battle and soon became a popular civil war tune.
Shel Silverstein wrote "In the Hills of Shiloh", a poignant song about widowed bride forever awaiting the return of a man killed in the battle of Shiloh. Bobbie Ann Mason 's short story "Shiloh", which appeared in The New Yorker on October 20, , describes a visit to the site of the battle by a modern couple whose marriage is about to collapse. In Frederick Forsyth 's novel The Phantom of Manhattan , one of the main plots is of the Phantom composing an opera set during the battle called The Angel of Shiloh.
The Battle of Shiloh was depicted in the wargame Bloody April: This single-player game with a computer opponent presents several scenarios covering the two-day battle. The battle is also depicted on in Ultimate General: Civil War released November by Game Labs , a computer game that presents various battles of the civil war in a realistic and tactical manner. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. For the historic site, see Shiloh National Military Park. Federal Penetration up the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers.
Union order of battle. Lew Wallace , USA. Western Theater in early Confederate order of battle. Leonidas Polk , CSA.
Braxton Bragg , CSA. In the struggle tomorrow we shall be fighting men of our own blood, Western men, who understand the use of firearms. The struggle will be a desperate one. If the enemy comes on us in the morning, we'll be whipped like hell. American Civil War portal Tennessee portal. See, for instance, the NPS website. It was also sometimes referred to as the Army of the West. See Army of Mississippi. The Campaign and First Day's Battle", pp. The Campaign and First Day's Battle", p. Who killed Albert Sidney Johnston".
Archived from the original on October 24, Retrieved May 7, Esposito, text for Map 34, states that Johnston was severely criticized for this arrangement with Beauregard, but there was some justification since Johnston's had many inexperienced recruits in his army that needed personal inspiration at the front. Archived from the original on April 1, Archived from the original on October 6, Retrieved August 19, Army Center of Military. The Second Day's Battle and Aftermath", p. The Second Day's Battle and Aftermath", pp. Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History.
Archived from the original PDF on February 24, Retrieved August 24, Archived from the original on August 10, Retrieved May 12, In , Johnston had been hit in the right hip by a pistol shot during a duel that severed the sciatic nerve. This earlier injury caused nerve damage and numbness in his right leg.
As a result, Johnston was unable to feel heat, cold, or pain in his right leg and may not have realized that he had been seriously wounded at Shiloh. Grant, in his memoirs, recalls "20 or more. Personal Memoirs of U. Archived from the original on October 1, Retrieved August 28, Prentiss laughed to his captors, "You gentlemen have had your way today, but it will be very different to-morrow. Buell will effect the junction with Grant to-night, and we'll turn the tables on you in the morning. A popular story about Forrest's grabbing a Union soldier by the collar and lifting him up on the horse to be a human shield is probably not true; none of the cited references include it.
Grant, Personal Memoirs of U. The other references to this article do not make this claim, perhaps due to the uncertainties of the actual casualty figures in the earlier wars. In his memoirs, Grant vol. Grant estimates the Confederate dead at 4, The eight battles with higher casualties than Shiloh were: Accessed May 25, Battle of Shiloh — April 6, ". Smithsonian National Postal Museum. Retrieved January 12, Retrieved July 27, The Ambrose Bierce Project. Archived from the original PDF on February 21, What He Saw at Shiloh — the best piece Bierce ever wrote".
Los Angeles Public Library. Retrieved April 5, A Boy Named Shel: The Life and Times of Shel Silverstein. The Phantom of Manhattan. Retrieved January 16, Archived from the original on January 18, Archived from the original on April 6, Retrieved December 17, The Campaign and First Day's Battle". Blue and Gray Enterprises, Inc. The Second Day's Battle and Aftermath". The Rise of U. Books for Libraries Press, First published by the Century Co.
Shiloh and the Western Campaign of Edited by Gary Joiner and Timothy Smith. A Military History of the Civil War. West Point Atlas of American Wars. The collection of maps without explanatory text is available online at the West Point website. Grimsley, Mark, and Steven E.
University of Nebraska Press, Heidler and Jeanne T. Battle Cry of Freedom: Oxford University Press, Commander of All Lincoln's Armies: A Life of General Henry W. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, The Road to Shiloh: Early Battles in the West. The Shadow of Shiloh: Indiana Historical Society Press, University Press of Kansas, First published by Morrow. From Cairo to Vicksburg. The Army of the Tennessee, — Grant Association Newsletter s , Volume X: Archived from the original on The Death of Innocence.
Diary of a Confederate Soldier: Jackman of the Orphan Brigade. University of South Carolina Press. Frank, Joseph Allan, and George A. Raw Recruits at the Battle of Shiloh. University of Illinois Press, First published by Greenwood Press. National Geographic Society, Combat Studies Institute Press, Howard, Samuel Meek The illustrated comprehensive history of the great battle of Shiloh. In Hell before Night. University of Tennessee Press, Da Capo Press, A Novel , Nashville, TN: The Battle of Shiloh and the Organizations Engaged.
Government Printing Office, The Battle and the Battlefield. Southern Illinois University Press, The Artillery Service in the War of the Rebellion, — War Department, The War of the Rebellion: Government Printing Office, — Battle of Shiloh at Wikipedia's sister projects.
Articles relating to the Battle of Shiloh. Combatants Theaters Campaigns Battles States. Army Navy Marine Corps. Chronology of military events in the American Civil War. Smith Stuart Taylor Wheeler. Reconstruction amendments 13th Amendment 14th Amendment 15th Amendment. Taney Monument Robert E. Confederate Memorial Day Ladies' memorial associations U. Presidential Election of War Democrats. Western Theater of the American Civil War.
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The Battle of Shiloh by Thulstrup. Date April 6 — 7, Grant Don Carlos Buell. Army of the Tennessee [2] Army of the Ohio [3] [4]. Army of Mississippi [5] [6]. Grant , USA Maj. Sherman , USA Maj. Wallace , USA Brig.