United States

Battle of Corinth, Mississippi, October 3–4, 1862, colour lithograph.Stock MontageThe first major campaign of the war began in February 1862, when the Union general Ulysses S. Grant captured the Confederate strongholds of Fort Henry and Fort Donelson in western Tennessee; this action was followed by the Union general John Pope’s capture of New Madrid, Missouri, a bloody but inconclusive battle at Shiloh (Pittsburg Landing), Tennessee, on April 6–7, and the occupation of Corinth and Memphis, Tennessee, in June. Also in April, the Union naval commodore David G. Farragut gained control of New Orleans. In the East, McClellan launched a long-awaited offensive with 100,000 men in another attempt to capture Richmond. Opposed by Lee and his able lieutenants Jackson and J.E. Johnston, McClellan moved cautiously and in the Seven Days’ Battles (June 25–July 1) was turned back, his Peninsular Campaign a failure. At the Second Battle of Bull Run (August 29–30), Lee drove another Union army, under Pope, out of Virginia and followed up by invading Maryland. McClellan was able to check Lee’s forces at Antietam (or Sharpsburg, September 17). Lee withdrew, regrouped, and dealt McClellan’s successor, A.E. Burnside, a heavy defeat at Fredericksburg, Virginia, on December 13.

Gen. Stonewall Jackson's attack at the Battle of Chancellorsville, Virginia, May 2, 1863; colour lithograph.© North Wind Picture Archives

The battlefield of Gettysburg, photograph by Timothy O'Sullivan, July 1863.Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (LC-B8184-7964-A DLC)

General Ulysses S. Grant (far left) with (left to right) General John Rawlins, General Joseph Webster, Colonel Clark Lagow, and Colonel Killyer at Lookout Mountain, Tennessee, 1863.Courtesy, Colorado Historical Society, Denver (image no. F7289)Burnside was in turn replaced as commander of the Army of the Potomac by Gen. Joseph Hooker, who took the offensive in April 1863. He attempted to outflank Lee’s position at Chancellorsville, Virginia, but was completely outmaneuvered (May 1–5) and forced to retreat. Lee then undertook a second invasion of the North. He entered Pennsylvania, and a chance encounter of small units developed into a climactic battle at Gettysburg (July 1–3), where the new Union commander, Gen. George G. Meade, commanded defensive positions. Lee’s forces were repulsed at the Battle of Gettysburg and fell back into Virginia. At nearly the same time, a turning point was reached in the West. After two months of masterly maneuvering, Grant captured Vicksburg, Mississippi, on July 4, 1863. Soon the Mississippi River was entirely under Union control, effectively cutting the Confederacy in two. In October, after a Union army under Gen. W.S. Rosecrans had been defeated at Chickamauga Creek, Georgia (September 19–20), Grant was called to take command in that theatre. Ably assisted by William Sherman and Gen. George Thomas, Grant drove Confederate general Braxton Bragg out of Chattanooga (November 23–25) and out of Tennessee; Sherman subsequently secured Knoxville.

American Civil War: Union soldiers wrecking railroads in AtlantaUnion soldiers wrecking railroad lines (making “Sherman's neckties”), Atlanta, Georgia.Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (B8184-10488)

Cold Harbor, Battles of: Gaines's MillRuins of Gaines's Mill, near Cold Harbor, Virginia, photograph by John Reekie, April 1865.Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (LC-B8171-0932 DLC)In March 1864 Lincoln gave Grant supreme command of the Union armies. Grant took personal command of the Army of the Potomac in the east and soon formulated a strategy of attrition based upon the Union’s overwhelming superiority in numbers and supplies. He began to move in May, suffering extremely heavy casualties in the battles of the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, and Cold Harbor, all in Virginia, and by mid-June he had Lee pinned down in fortifications before Petersburg, Virginia. For nearly 10 months the siege of Petersburg continued, while Grant slowly closed around Lee’s positions. Meanwhile, Sherman faced the only other Confederate force of consequence in Georgia. Sherman captured Atlanta early in September, and in November he set out on his 300-mile (480-km) march through Georgia, leaving a swath of devastation behind him. He reached Savannah on December 10 and soon captured that city.