The American Civil War, day-by-day

September 10th, 1861
The Battle of Carnifex Ferry rages in Nicolas County, (West) Virginia, pitting Rosecrans' three brigades against a Confederate force half his size, under John B. Floyd. Throughout the afternoon, the Rebels hold offer several Union infantry assaults, but finally cave under an artillery attack in the evening. This is another much-needed early war triumph for the North.

September 10th, 1862
Small skirmishes take place at Gauley, Virginia, and Fayetteville, West Virginia. In the meantime, George McClellan is around Frederick, Maryland, searching for Lee's army.

September 10th, 1863
Bragg and his generals hastily organize an ambush for the disparate Army of the Cumberland. Two of Rosecrans' corps commanders perceive the danger and withdraw, thus spoiling the planned Confederate attack.

September 10th, 1864
On this day, Grant telegraphs Sherman, urging him not to stand still for long. Both generals are in agreement that Sherman should focus his energies on destroying the Army of Tennessee.


A romanticized 19th Century image of the Battle of Carnifex Ferry, West Virginia.

September 11th, 1863
On this day, Braxton Bragg and elements of the opposing Union army entered into a series of feints and movements grandly remembered as the "Battle" of Davis' Crossroads; Bragg's envisioned assault on the Union army fails to materialize, and very few casualties are suffered on either side.

September 11th, 1864
Sherman and Hood agree to a temporary truce, spanning ten days, to allow the civilians of Atlanta to vacate the city. When the town fathers protest to Sherman, he ominously replies that "you might as well appeal against the thunderstorm as against these terrible hardships of war".


Union soldiers under Sherman's command foraging in the vicinity of Atlanta. Troops would often grandly proclaim that the regional livestock were, in fact, enemy agents, and had to be dealt with accordingly.

This thread will be updated within the next day or two - I'm recovering from a brief illness. However, I believe it is only right to observe that today is the 153rd anniversary of the Battle of Antietam. September 17th, 1862 was the bloodiest single day in American history, and one of the most climactic days in the history of my native state of Maryland.

September 12th, 1861
This day marked the beginning of Robert E. Lee's Cheat Mountain Campaign, fought in what is now eastern West Virginia. Detailed information on the day-by-day occurrences of this campaign is difficult to find, but it has generally been regarded as an early-war humiliation for Lee, newly-minted as a Confederate general. His efforts at coordinating an attack on a Union position at Cheat Mountain were hamstrung by poor knowledge of the terrain, and by the surly dispositions of his subordinate generals.

September 12th, 1862
This day marked the fateful beginning of T.J. 'Stonewall' Jackson's assault on Union-occupied Harpers Ferry. The Northern garrison commander, Dixon Miles, resolved to defend the town even though Jackson would be in a perfect position to rain artillery down from the surrounding mountains; Miles was also handicapped by a garrison composed mostly of freshly-raised troops who had never seen combat. Some light action took place in this campaign today, as the Confederate vanguard began surrounding the town.
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While Jackson begins his move against Harpers Ferry, George McClellan is in the vicinity of Frederick, Maryland. By now, his Army of the Potomac has completely digested John Pope's short-lived Army of Virginia.

September 12th, 1863
Rosecrans finally realizes his danger, and calls for the disparate wings of the Army of the Cumberland to rejoin - for many of his troops, this will entail an agonizing forced march through the mountains of northern Georgia. Bragg, in the meantime, continues to urge his ill-motivated subordinates to launch an attack.


This photograph captures Harpers Ferry as it looked in 1862 - photographed by Matthew Brady during its occupation by Northern forces. Much like Winchester, Virginia, this town would change hands multiple times during the War. Very little of what stood in Harpers Ferry during Brown's 1859 Raid was still standing by 1865. Though the town would continue to hold appeal for historians, Civil Rights leaders, tourists, and even ghost hunters, its days of strategic and industrial importance were brought to a swift and fiery end after four years of war.

Robert E. Lee in the Cheat Mountain Campaign, September 11th - 17th, 1861


A Northern depiction of Fort Milroy, the Union stronghold on Cheat Mountain. The defenses of the Fort were occupied by a bug-eyed Indianan doctor and politician, Nathan Kimball. The rest of the Union forces in the region, totaling around 3,000 men, were led by a professional soldier, Joseph Reynolds. Robert E. Lee, by contrast, had around 5,000 Confederates at his disposal, but they were not as well-coordinated as their Yankee counterparts.


A postwar painting of Lee. Ironically, Lee's first major taste of Civil War combat, in September of 1861, cast him in a bad light. Lee enjoyed the advantage of numbers (an advantage he would seldom experience again), and yet was unable to control his quarrelsome, ambitious subordinates. Two of his best-known flaws as a general - the ambiguous nature of his written orders, and his gentlemanly unwillingness to confront erring officers - added to the confusion of the Cheat Mountain Campaign. On September 17th, Lee stood on a stump to watch his soldiers march by, apparently trying to create an impromptu military review - in disgust, they ignored him. On year later to the day, some of these soldiers would be fighting fiercely under his command at Antietam.


William Loring, one of the subordinates who made life difficult for Lee at Cheat Mountain. Though an aggressive general, Loring's refusal to submit to authority became his only claim-to-fame as a Civil War general. After the conflict, he served for a time as a mercenary officer in Egypt.


Musicians and soldiers of the 3rd Arkansas Infantry Regiment, 1861. This regiment served in the Confederate Army of the Northwest under Lee at Cheat Mountain. The Army of the Northwest was absorbed into other units in February of 1862, while the 3rd Arkansas became distinguished for the heavy casualties it suffered throughout the War.

September 13th, 1861
This was the first of several days of heavy skirmishing around Lexington, Missouri, between Northern forces and the pro-Confederate Missouri militiamen of Sterling Price.

September 13th, 1862
Confederate troops converge in force on Harpers Ferry, and win early-morning successes against the largely untried opposition they encounter. General Miles firmly insists on protecting the town, but clings to an extremely literal interpretation of his orders and refuses to dispatch any men to keep the Rebels from seizing more high ground around Harpers Ferry. This stubbornness will be his undoing.
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The Union cause also received a sudden stroke of luck on this day. A couple of Northern infantrymen find a copy of General Lee's orders for the invasion of Maryland wrapped around a cigar. McClellan thus learns that Lee's forces are divided - Longstreet is at Hagerstown, Stuart at South Mountain, and Jackson at Harpers Ferry. These mysteriously-lost papers will go down in history as "the Lost Orders".

September 13th, 1863
Lee recognizes that, because of the First Corps' absence, he would not be able to stand against a renewed Northern offensive at his current position. He withdraws across the Rapidan, leaving Culpeper Courthouse to be occupied by the North.
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Braxton Bragg is enraged to find that, in direct defiance of his orders, Leonidas Polk has not moved against the Union Twenty-First Corps. The Army of the Cumberland has successful rejoined, and Bragg has now seemingly lost his great chance to destroy Rosecrans in detail.

September 13th, 1864
In the Shenandoah Valley, skirmishing takes place at Bunker Hill and Opequon Creek.


A classic image of "Ragged Rebels" crossing a waterway in Maryland, several days before the Battle of Antietam.

September 14th, 1862
This day witnesses the hottest fighting yet in the Maryland Campaign. Elements of McClellan and Lee's armies engage at three locations, Crampton's Gap, Turner's Gap, and Fox's Gap - these engagements are often collectively called the Battle of South Mountain. Overall, the day's fighting is considered a marginal Union victory, though neither side committed its entire strength. The cautious nature of the Union generals allows Lee to begin consolidating his disparate command, and it also allows him to continue funneling men into his assault on Harpers Ferry. By nightfall, each army has lost roughly 2,500 men, the majority non-fatally wounded.
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On this day, Confederate soldiers under the overall command of Simon B. Buckner begin a siege of Munfordville, Kentucky, a Union stronghold held by 4,000 men. The Yankees are badly outnumbered, but their commander, Colonel John T. Wilder of New York, organizes a plucky defense.

September 14th, 1864
The Confederate Third Corps, under Anderson, is dispatched back to Petersburg after having spent a period fighting in Valley. The loss of this column of veteran infantry while severely hamper Jubal Early's resistance to Philip Sheridan in the coming campaign.


A period depiction of Union soldiers at the Munfordville garrison, September of 1862. The courageous Northern commander, Colonel Wilder, was a young man with a bright future.

Fighting in three mountain gaps - the Battle of South Mountain, September 14th, 1862


A 19th Century depiction of an exchange of artillery fire at the Battle of South Mountain. The covered wagons visible in the foreground remind us of the logistic headaches suffered by both McClellan and Lee, and their sutlers and quartermasters. Feeding and equipping an army carried as much challenges as leading it to victory.


A modern painting of Union troops at the Battle of South Mountain.


A wartime image of Confederate soldiers pouring fire into an advancing Union line. Though South Mountain effectively consisted of three smaller battles, the fighting at Crampton's Gap was most terrible - yet also anti-climactic, due to the cautious nature of the Union commander William B. Franklin.


A melodramatic wartime image of cavalrymen skirmishing at South Mountain. The man on the right is shown firing a carbine from the back of a galloping horse - an unlikely scenario.


An eyewitness sketch, depicting dead Confederates left behind at Fox's Gap.

September 15th, 1862
This date was not only one of the darkest days for the North in the Civil War, it also remains one of the most shameful days in the history of the United States Army. By dawn, Jackson has completely surrounded the Union garrison at Harpers Ferry. He begins a ferocious bombardment of the town with his artillery, and then begins mustering an infantry attack. At this point, the elderly Union commander Dixon Miles resolves to surrender his command, and shortly afterwards he is mortally wounded by a Confederate round. By the end of the day, more than 12,000 Union soldiers, as well as 73 cannons and innumerable rifles and other weapons and supplies, are all surrendered to Stonewall Jackson. The Rebel chieftain boasts to General Lee of God's evident favor, while the Union prisoners bemoan their fate. The stigma of cowardice will be unfairly associated with the men who were surrendered at Harpers Ferry, thanks to the timidity of their dying commander. This would remain the largest surrender of American soldiers before World War II.
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Confederate forces begin merging around the Maryland town of Sharpsburg, thus setting the stage for the Battle of Antietam two days later.

September 15th, 1863
President Lincoln sends a message to General Meade on the Rapidan, urging him again to attack the Army of Northern Virginia. In the past two months, Lincoln has become acutely frustrated with Meade's perceived reluctance, despite the latter's earlier triumph at Gettysburg.


A Marylander by birth and a soldier by trade, Dixon Miles (1804-1862) found himself in an uncomfortable position on September 15th, 1862. His decision to surrender his command to Stonewall Jackson was incredibly unpopular - at the time, his choice was variously blamed on senility, drunkenness, or cowardliness. More likely, Colonel Miles simply recognized that Jackson had a massive advantage in positioning, and chose to avoid a slaughter. He was wounded in the leg before the surrender became official (probably by Confederate artillery, but possibly by friendly fire), and died in town the next day.

September 16th, 1861
In a naval engagement on the Cumberland River, the USS Conestoga seizes two Confederate vessels.

September 16th, 1864
In the so-called 'Beefsteak Raid', Wade Hampton and the Army of Northern Virginia's cavalry defeats their Union counterparts in a skirmish, and then seize more than 2,000 head of cattle, which are driven into the Petersburg lines to feed the starving Rebels.
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Ulysses S. Grant and Philip Sheridan spend the day in Charles Town, West Virginia, where they discuss the strategic situation in the Shenandoah Valley. Sheridan notes that Anderson's Corps is no longer with Early, and the Union generals agree that the time is right for Sheridan to campaign in the Shenandoah in force.


A modern painting showing Confederate horsemen playing the part of cowboys on September 16th, 1864, during Hampton's Beefsteak Raid.

September 17th, 1861
A column of 3,500 Missouri State Guardsmen crossing the Missouri River, with intentions to reinforce the Confederates in Kentucky. On this day, a small detachment of pro-Union Missourians and Iowans try to stop them, but are beaten back in what becomes grandly known as the Battle of Liberty.

September 17th, 1862
After the two armies braced themselves the previous evening, the Battle of Antietam finally begins in western Maryland. In the North, it is known as Antietam after a local river; in the South, it is named after the nearby town of Sharpsburg. The fighting seesaws throughout the day, with great casualties but little practical results being produced on either side. After wasting much of the day on piecemeal assaults, Burnside finally forges his Ninth Corps across the bridge now known in his honor, attempting to roll up the Confederate right flank. At this point, however, he is halted by the dramatic evening arrival of A.P. Hill, one of Jackson's subordinates who had just force-marched his way from Harpers Ferry to reinforce Lee. The battle effectively ends in a tactical stalemate. The Union loses roughly 12,000 men including around 2,000 dead; Lee loses about 10,000 men including 1,500 dead. The Battle of Antietam is still widely hailed as the single bloodiest day in American history.
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In Kentucky, John T. Wilder reluctantly surrenders the garrison of Munfordville.

September 17th, 1863
The Army of the Cumberland converges around Chickamauga Creek, thus setting the stage for the great battle about to begin.


A late 19th Century lithograph presented a grand (and almost entirely fanciful) depiction of Burnside's Ninth Corps slamming into Hill's Confederate reinforcements.

Antietam - the Bloodiest Day in American History


A depiction of Southern artillerymen in action at Antietam, which appeared in Harper's Weekly in October of 1862.


In a modern Mort Kunstler painting, Thomas Francis Meagher rallies the 69th New York Infantry, the vanguard of the infamous Irish Brigade. This unit won both renown and heavy losses fighting in the Bloody Lane of Antietam.


Don Troiani's painting of the Texas Brigade, a Confederate unit that also won immortality early in the fighting on September 17th.


In another Troiani masterpiece, Robert E. Lee confers with General Gordon before the main battle begins.

The Battle of Antietam in Photography


One of only a small handful of photographs depicting action in the American Civil War. To the right is a line of Union artillery batteries in the midst of firing; to the left is a wagon train, presumably carrying ordnance.


A photo of the Rohrbach "Burnside" Bridge, supposedly taken on the day of the Battle.


Fallen soldiers around the Dunker Church, the site of the morning's worst combat. Photographs of Antietam casualties, most of them captured by Alexander Gardner, helped bring the carnage of the War home for Northern civilians.


A detail of Union grave-diggers surveying the corpses of Confederate fatalities. This photo was taken on the Antietam battlefield two days after the great clash.


Members of the US Signal Corps, in a photo taken during the Maryland Campaign.

September 18th, 1861
Lincoln and his Cabinet hold another official meeting to discuss the conduct of the War on this day. John Fremont, and naval operations on the Southern coastlines are the most popular topics of discussion.

September 18th, 1862
By the end of the previous night, Robert E. Lee had no choice but to concede that his Maryland Campaign was a failure. Early on the 18th, both armies were exhausted, and neither moved against the other. Late in the day, the Army of Northern Virginia began limping home.

September 18th, 1863
By this day, the stage is set for the Battle of Chickamauga, but neither Rosecrans nor Bragg is feeling completely confident. Both generals are hampered by the dense terrain of the region, and Bragg also struggles to coordinate his disparate and often uncooperative forces. Throughout this day, small parties of cavalry from each army engage one another.

September 18th, 1864
Confederates under Early suffer a bloody nose from Sheridan's cavalry. Due to Early's subsequent withdraw towards Winchester, and the poor organizational state of his army, Sheridan resolves to attack him tomorrow.


Several Union soldiers pause under a tree, shortly after the Battle of Antietam. The Union army had won the battle, almost in spite of its commanding general.

September 19th, 1861
In a skirmish at Barbourville, in southeastern Kentucky, pro-Union militiamen are driven out by Confederates under the grandly-named Felix Zollicoffer.

September 19th, 1862
As Lee retreats from Maryland and gathers his forces, several small skirmishes break out. Actions are fought around Sharpsburg and Williamsport, and in Jefferson County (West) Virginia.
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This day also witnessed the Battle of Iuka, fought in the northeastern corner of Mississippi. Union general Ulysses S. Grant had been conducting a campaign in the region while directing the movements of two Northern armies. On this day, the Army of the Mississippi, under William Rosecrans, is attacked at Iuka by a strong Confederate force under Sterling Price. Grant did not reinforce Rosecrans because he was unaware that the battle was taking place. Although the Army of the Mississippi wins the battle and inflicts more than 1,500 casualties on Price's rebels, Rosecrans believes that Grant set him up to fail, and spends the rest of his life holding a grudge against his superior.

September 19th, 1863
The Battle of Chickamauga, one of the greatest pitched battles of the Western Theater, begins this morning, when Rebel cavalry under Forrest clashes with a division of Union infantry under George Thomas. Skirmishes between these forces, and between various pickets, gradually morphed into a full-scale battle. Bragg repeatedly assaults Rosecran's left flank, hoping to push the Northerners away from Chattanooga. For the remainder of the day's fighting, Rosecrans holds firm against these assaults, and both sides suffer atrocious losses amidst hectic fighting conditions. After dark, Rosecrans begins fortifying his army behind ......works, while Bragg and his generals plot their next moves. James Longstreet and his reinforcements from Virginia arrive on the battlefield shortly before midnight.

September 19th, 1864
By this point in the War, the Confederacy has begun to resort to increasingly desperate tactics. On this day, two officers from the Southern navy act on a plot to free the Rebel prisoners held on Johnson's Island in Lake Eire. Captain John Yates Beall, the senior officer, manages to commandeer two Northern vessels before being arrested; he will later be hanged as a spy.
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This day witnesses the Battle of Opequon Creek (alternatively known as the Third Battle of Winchester), one of the most climactic engagements between Sheridan and Early in the Shenandoah Valley. Over the course of the day, Sheridan's larger Army of the Shenandoah fails in its assaults against Jubal Early's Army of the Valley. Eventually the Northern forces overwhelm the Southerners, aided in part by the arrival of mounted reinforcements under Sheridan's favored young subordinates, Wesley Merritt and William Averell. In the North, this victory was viewed as politically important for Lincoln's efforts to be reelected. Both sides suffered proportionally heavy losses, however - some 5,000 casualties for Sheridan, while Confederate casualty estimates range from 3,000 to 5,000.


A sampling of the terrain in which the Battle of Chickamauga was fought. This photo, taken in 1867, shows Crawfish Springs, where some of the Battle's opening movements took place. Legend claims that "Chickamauga" was Tsalagi ("Cherokee") for "River of Death"; other sources prefer a more mundane translation.

Fighting for the Union on September 19th


Northern officers surveying Iuka, Mississippi, shortly before the battle that took place on its outskirts on September 19th, 1862. Despite being a Northern victory, mis-communications at Iuka would inspire a lengthy rivalry between generals Grant and Rosecrans.


The 21st Ohio Volunteer Infantry, pouring fire into Bragg's attacking Rebels, in a painting by Keith Rocco. Union forces in the Western Theater tended to have a rougher aura than their Eastern counterparts. Observers commented on their confident "swagger" and their preference for 'Hardee hats' and even cowboyesque garb, rather than the normal kepi hats of Eastern troops.


A contemporary engraving that captures the carnage of Chickamauga. Along with Antietam, Gettysburg, and the Overland Campaign, it was one of the most devastating and costly moments of the War in regards to human life.


In one of the most famous and oft-depicted moments of his military career, Philip Sheridan rallies his wearying army outside Winchester, on September 19th, 1864. For both Sheridan and President Lincoln, this action would have profound repercussions that would echo in American history.

Fallen Generals at Winchester - September 19th, 1864


David A. Russell, a career Army officer born in 1820, had served quietly and competently in the Union army since the beginning of the War. By 1864 he had risen to the rank of brigadier general, and served in the Army of the Shenandoah under Sheridan. On September 19th, he was mortally wounded by a burst of Rebel artillery fire.


Emory Upton, born in 1839, had become a favorite of Ulysses S. Grant earlier in 1864 due to his tactical innovations in the fighting around Spotsylvania Courthouse. At Winchester, he took command of a division of infantry, and continued giving orders even after being wounded in the thigh. His courage and resolve paid off, winning him promotions both within the regular and volunteer forces.


Fitzhugh Lee, born in 1835, was a nephew and favored subordinate of Robert E. Lee, who showed promise throughout the War as a commander of Confederate cavalry. His Civil War career was notoriously rough-and-tumble, and included a non-fatal injury at Winchester while serving under Jubal Early. After the War, Lee became prominent in state politics, and also boasted of leading the last Rebel cavalry charge in Virginia.


Robert E. Rodes, born in 1829, was a favorite of Stonewall Jackson who served in the Confederate Second Corps for the entirety of his Civil War service. Regarded as a solid and dependable subordinate, the mustaches Rodes died much like his Union counterpart Russell - mortally wounded by a shell fragment during the fierce fighting on September 19th.

September 20th, 1861
After a harrowing week under siege, the Union garrison at Lexington, Missouri, under the courageous command of Colonel Mulligan, is forced to surrender by Sterling Price. This incident adds to the criticism of General Fremont in Washington, who mysteriously refused to move against Price during the siege.

September 20th, 1862
In the vicinity of Shepherdstown, (West) Virginia, the infantry division of A.P. Hill, part of the Rebel Second Corps, is badly handled by a detachment of troops from Porter's Fifth Corps. This day witnesses other light skirmishes connected to the ending Maryland Campaign.

September 20th, 1863
This day witnesses the second and final major fighting of the Battle of Chickamauga. After spending the early morning raging at the timidity of his subordinate Leonidas Polk, Bragg continues to focus on the Union left. These attacks do much to create the legend of the "Rock of Chickamauga", as the Union general George Thomas successfully urges his men to hold firm against these repeated Southern onslaughts. Late in the morning, Rosecrans mistakenly opens a gap in his battle-line, and James Longstreet quickly takes advantage of this crucial error, thus dividing the Union army in half. The Union right is quickly driven from the field, and Rosecrans himself panics, fleeing for his life into Chattanooga. The Union left, still under Thomas, fortifies itself at Snodgrass Hill, and spends the afternoon beating off more and yet more Confederate advances. Finally, many of the Northern men run out of ammunition, and resist the Rebels with bayonets and clubbed muskets. At this point, the Reserve Corps of the Army of the Cumberland commits itself to the battle despite contrary orders from Rosecrans. Thomas and these new reinforcements are too late to win the battle, but they rescue the army from being completely destroyed. The North lost around 16,000 men, the South around 18,000 in two days of fighting. After the Battle, Rosecrans would be mocked for his flight, Thomas would be lionized for his bravery, and Bragg would be consistently underrated despite winning one of the South's most dramatic victories in the War.

September 20th, 1864
Sheridan's cavalry harass Early's retreating Confederates, winning skirmishes at Cedarville, Strasburg, and Middletown.
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Skirmishes break out in at least two locations in Missouri, as Price's Rebel cavalry moves on St. Louis.


John Bell Hood suffered greatly in 1863. His arm was crippled at Gettysburg, and several months later, he lost part of his right leg at Chickamauga. This engraving, showing the Confederate general being wounded at Chickamauga, appeared in a British newspaper on the day after Christmas, 1863.

Valor Along the River of Death - Chickamauga, September 20th, 1863


George Thomas, the "Rock of Chickamauga", shown resting amongst his troops on the night of September 19th-20th. A Virginian by birth, Thomas was a quiet, modest, and genial man, but at Chickamauga he proved his mettle as a soldier. Late in the War, however, Thomas lost the confidence of Grant and Sherman. He was also ostracized by his family because of his loyalty to the Union.


A painting of the 22nd Alabama Infantry Regiment, set during the Battle of Chickamauga. The Confederate Army actually used a wide range of emblems in addition to what we now call the 'Confederate Flag'.


The Kentucky Orphan Brigade, participating in a charge on September 20th.


George Thomas giving orders to his men, while fortifying his famous position on Snodgrass Hill.


Patrick Cleburne leading his command at Chickamauga. An Irishman by birth and a British soldier by trade, Cleburne had resigned his commission and immigrated to America. Though he identified with the South, his Irish birth and his hatred of slavery made him many enemies in the hierarchy of the Confederate army.