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Lee and Longstreet seize the initiative and launch a massive counterattack against the Union left. Union forces mount a tenacious defense on Chinn Ridge , which buys time for Pope to shift enough troops onto Henry Hill and stave off disaster. The Union lines on Henry Hill hold as the Confederate counterattack stalls before dusk. After dark, Pope pulls his beaten army off the field and retreats across Bull Run.
Despite heavy Confederate casualties, Second Manassas is a decisive victory for the Rebels. Lee pulled off a strategic offensive against an enemy force much greater than his own.
The Second Battle of Manassas was larger in scale and greatly exceeded the number of casualties than the First Battle of Manassas, which was fought on the same ground in July So much had changed in a year. At the first battle, when the war was young, both Union and Confederate soldiers marched eagerly and innocently into a conflict they thought would be short and victorious.
Neither preconception turned out to be true. The First Battle of Manassas saw more than 5, casualties, including nearly dead. The nation was shocked by the carnage. The Union was stunned by the stinging defeat. The armies who met at the Second Battle of Manassas in late August were more experienced. They were battle scarred and hardened. The soldiers had none of the naive enthusiasm shown by their peers in As the Civil War stretched into its second year, the battles became deadlier and bloodier.
The forces were larger, the troops better trained, the officers more prepared, and the tactics more ruthless and proficient. New developments in weaponry made warfare more dangerous, as rifles and artillery could be fired with greater precision. The human toll was greater, with almost 14, Union and more than 8, Confederate casualties.
The exhausted troops showed little remorse toward the enemy. They were numbed by the atrocities they had witnessed. His arrogance before the battle only served to exacerbate the sting of defeat. After he was named commander of the newly formed Army of Virginia on June 26, , he lectured his troops:. This attempt to boost morale only served to insult his corps commanders, who felt his critical words targeted them.
Pope was a well-trained and capable officer. Before the Civil War he had a job surveying potential southern routes for the First Transcontinental Railroad. In , he was appointed as a brigadier general in the Union army and had several successes early in the war, leading Lincoln to select him to command the Army of Virginia in We had the enemy in our hands on Friday and if our generals, who were vexed with Pope, had done their duty…all of our present difficulties and reverses have been brought upon us by these quarrels of the generals.
How it ended Confederate victory. In context One year after their stunning victory at the First Battle of Manassas in July , Confederate prospects were uncertain.
During the Battle. Union 70, Aftermath Union. Estimated Casualties. Union 13, Questions to Consider 1. What became of Maj. John Pope after the disastrous Union defeat at Second Manassas? After he was named commander of the newly formed Army of Virginia on June 26, , he lectured his troops: Let us understand each other. I have come from the West, where we have always seen the backs of our enemies; from an Army whose business it has been to seek the adversary and to beat him when he was found; whose policy has been attack and not defense.
In but one instance has the enemy been able to place our western armies in defensive attitude. I presume that I have been called here to pursue the same system, and to lead you against the enemy. It is my purpose to do so, and that speedily. I am sure you long for an opportunity to win the distinction you are capable of achieving. That opportunity I shall endeavor to give you.
Meantime I desire you to dismiss from your minds certain phrases which I am sorry to find much in vogue amongst you. The strongest position a soldier should desire to occupy is one from which he can most easily advance against the enemy. Let us study the probable lines of retreat of our opponents, and leave our own to take care of themselves.
They failed, but Confederates soon after moved prisoners farther south. Food was scarce for everyone, not just prisoners. In Richmond, a group of women marched to the Capitol to protest the rampant speculation and inflation that had led many people to go hungry.
The protest turned into what became known as the Bread Riot , which ended only after Governor John Letcher threatened to send in troops. However, the governor also promised to step up his efforts to relieve the suffering of the poor. Some Confederate civilians protested the government for other reasons. They worried that President Davis and the Confederate Congress were infringing on their civil liberties , and protested declarations of martial law in Richmond, Petersburg , and Lynchburg.
Free and enslaved African Americans were uprooted by the war. In approximately 66, male slaves between the ages of eighteen and forty-five lived in Virginia; by that number was fewer than 26, Many Confederates claimed that free blacks supported their cause, but in reality most only did so by threat of violence. Martin R. The Confederate government required many men, including African Americans, to serve the army or government; however, in Charlottesville in four slaves murdered a Confederate officer rather than comply.
As Union armies neared, many slaves escaped to Union lines. Union general Benjamin F. This allowed him to circumvent the Fugitive Slave Act and not return them to their owners. It also helped pave the way for emancipation.
Following the Battle of Antietam in September , President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared free all slaves in the Confederate states, including Virginia. For the Lincoln administration, the war became about ending slavery, not just preserving the Union. Confederate troops often treated black soldiers cruelly, murdering African Americans who surrendered at the Battle of the Crater and at Saltville Late in the war, however, the Confederate government devised a plan to use slaves as soldiers.
Some whites feared that if these so-called black Confederates made good soldiers, slavery would no longer be justified.
However, the idea was fairly popular in the ranks of the army and supported by General Lee. Religion was an important means for African Americans to exercise their freedom. Following the war, black churches in central Virginia joined to form the Colored Shiloh Baptist Association , led by E.
Corprew , an African American pastor and missionary. Of course, white Virginians also worshipped during the Civil War, and many Confederate soldiers organized huge religious revivals between battles. In the spring of , the new Union general-in-chief, Ulysses S. Unlike his predecessors, Grant targeted the Confederate army rather than the Confederate capital. Grant then launched his Overland Campaign by attacking Lee in a stretch of woods called the Wilderness.
Grant then laid siege to the city, a campaign that lasted ten months. Tredegar ironworks in Richmond, operated by Joseph R. Anderson , was the largest producer of munitions in the Confederacy. After Grant finally broke through. He then retreated west. Thousands of Confederate soldiers deserted. President Davis fled to Georgia where he was captured.
He was later imprisoned at Fort Monroe. Johnston surrendered in North Carolina on April 26 rather than resort to guerrilla warfare. The Civil War was over. The Reconstruction era — represented a difficult period of adjustment for both white and black Virginians. It remained in effect until voters ratified the Underwood Constitution in African American men were able to vote at first, but over the next fifty years they mostly lost that and many other civil rights while often being subjected to violence.
The Virginia Constitutional Convention of — , in particular, disfranchised most blacks through such measures as poll taxes. Meanwhile, Jim Crow laws and later the Racial Integrity Laws ensured that Virginia was a strictly segregated society where freedom won in the Civil War did not translate into equal rights.
In fact, Lost Cause advocates claimed that slaves had been loyal servants, many of whom hoped for Confederate independence. The Lost Cause view also argued that despite the efforts of brave Southern men and noble Southern women, the South lost the war because the Union army was larger and better equipped and its generals more willing to let their men die. Historians have responded that some Lost Cause claims are true while many are not.
Still, the Lost Cause has had two critical legacies: it helped whites in the North and South reconcile after the war and, for some, helped to justify white supremacy in the South.
Many Virginians worked hard to commemorate the efforts of soldiers and civilians. Lexington even built Lee Chapel , where the general was buried. Later, the battlefields where Union and Confederate soldiers died were preserved as parks, while museums, like the Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond, were also established.
Finally, veterans of the war organized into groups such as the Sons of Confederate Veterans and many became important state and national leaders. Fitzhugh Lee , Robert E. William Mahone , also a former Confederate general, became a railroad executive and leader of the biracial Readjuster Party. He served in the U. Another important U.
Encyclopedia Virginia Grady Ave. Virginia Humanities acknowledges the Monacan Nation , the original people of the land and waters of our home in Charlottesville, Virginia.
We invite you to learn more about Indians in Virginia in our Encyclopedia Virginia. Skip to content. Contributor: Brendan Wolfe. Before the War Daguerreotype of John Brown. A Pike Made for John Brown.
Lincoln Campaign Button. War — Richmond Howitzers Knapsack. The Last Meeting. A Harvest of Death, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Prosthetic Arm. African Americans African American Refugees. End of the War — Union Generals Strategize. General Robert E. Legacy Instructions on Preserving Racial Integrity. Human Confederate Flag Postcard. Interview with a Member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. Arsenal there in an attempt to start a slave rebellion. Five men are killed four white and one black.
Lee, capture Brown, who is. December 2, After a gripping trial held in Charles Town in which John Brown is found guilty of conspiracy, of inciting servile insurrection, and of treason against the state, he is hanged. He wins 1 percent of the vote in Virginia. Breckinridge wins the trans-Allegheny counties of western Virginia. April 12, G. The Union garrison is evacuated the next day. April 15, In response to the firing on Fort Sumter, President Abraham Lincoln issues a call for 75, troops—2, of which are to come from Virginia—”to execute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrections, repel invasions.
Thirty-two of the “no” votes come from trans-Allegheny delegates, who are more firmly Unionist than representatives from other parts of the state. May 23, The Ordinance of Secession is approved by Virginia voters by a vote of , to 20,, with many western Virginia votes being discarded from the tally.
May 27, Union general Benjamin F. Butler, the commander at Fort Monroe, announces that he will not return fugitive slaves to bondage.
Fort Monroe becomes known as “Freedom’s Fortress,” and a steady stream of “contraband” offered wages, food, and shelter, begins work for the Union army. Confederate troops under Joseph E. Beauregard decisively defeat Union forces commanded by Irvin McDowell. McClellan leads the Army of the Potomac toward the Confederate capital at Richmond from the southeast. April 16, The Confederate Congress passes the first Conscription Act, making all white males between the ages of eighteen and thirty-five eligible to be drafted into military service.
This is the first such draft in U. Lee defeats George B. McClellan in a series of fierce engagements. September 17, In the bloodiest single day of the war, George B. McClellan attacks Confederates under Robert E. Lee at Antietam Creek in Maryland. The battle ends in a stalemate, but Lee is forced to retreat south to Virginia.
December 13, Confederate general Robert E. Burnside and the Army of the Potomac at the Battle of Fredericksburg in one of the most lopsided defeats of the war. January 1, Abraham Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring free all enslaved people in Confederate-controlled regions and authorizing the enlistment of Black men in the Union army.
Lee and Thomas J. July 1—3, Union general George G. Meade defeats Robert E. April 7, The Virginia Convention, comprised of seventeen delegates called by the Restored government of Virginia, votes 13 to 4 to adopt the new constitution and consequently to put it in force.
May 5—June 3, Ulysses S. Grant, the Union’s new general-in-chief, directs the Army of the Potomac south toward Richmond. Bloody and largely inconclusive fights at the Wilderness and Spotsylvania, along the North Anna River, and at Cold Harbor result in Grant’s army’s taking up siege positions before Petersburg. Forty-seven are wounded and ten killed in the Confederate victory. June 9, Fletcher H. Archer leads his Virginia Reserves in a successful defense of Petersburg against a Union cavalry attack in what comes to be known as the Battle of Old Men and Young Boys.
June 11—14, Union general David Hunter’s forces shell Lexington and burn the Virginia Military Institute before occupying the town for several days during the Shenandoah Valley Campaign of June 15, —April 2, Union general Ulysses S. Grant lays siege to Petersburg, south of Richmond, for ten months, finally breaking through Robert E.
Lee’s lines at the Battle of Five Forks. Petersburg and Richmond immediately fall and Lee retreats to the west. January 31, The U. Congress passes the Thirteenth Amendment to the U. Constitution by a vote of to The amendment abolishes slavery. Lee loses 20 percent of his army, most of it captured, including nine generals. April 9, Confederate general Robert E. Grant at Appomattox Court House.
August 11, The Colored Shiloh Baptist Association, a union of individual black congregations in central Virginia, is formed and meets in Richmond. July 6, Voters ratify a new state constitution, often called the Underwood Constitution, rejecting separate provisions that would have disfranchised men who had held civil or military office under the Confederacy.
The new constitution supplants the former one, proclaimed on April 7, Lee on October 12, his remains are carried to Lee Chapel where they would lie in state before his burial in the basement vault.
Civil War in Virginia – Virginia Is For Lovers.Northern Virginia Campaign | American Battlefield Trust
Unit commander Col. Wynthrop was killed. The Union forces were disorganized and retired, returning to Hampton and Newport News. The Confederates suffered 1 killed, 7 wounded. Description: On 16 July, , the untried Union army under Brig. Irvin McDowell, 35, strong, marched out of the Washington defenses to give battle to the Confederate army, which was concentrated around the vital railroad junction at Manassas.
The Confederate army, about 22, men, under the command of Brig. Beauregard, guarded the fords of Bull Run. He was repulsed. Because of this action, Union commander McDowell decided on the flanking maneuver he employed at First Manassas.
Joseph E. Johnston and Brig. Beauregard [CS]. Description: This was the first major land battle of the armies in Virginia. On July 16, , the untried Union army under Brig. Fighting raged throughout the day as Confederate forces were driven back to Henry Hill. Late in the afternoon, Confederate reinforcements one brigade arriving by rail from the Shenandoah Valley extended and broke the Union right flank. The Federal retreat rapidly deteriorated into a rout. Although victorious, Confederate forces were too disorganized to pursue.
Confederate Gen. Bee and Col. He then develops a narrative of military and political events, including social and industrial aspects of the Civil War.
McPherson features descriptions of major campaigns, with treatment of both strategy and tactics on both sides. Though there are numerous contingent moments where victory or defeat hung in the balance, the North gradually developed both military and industrial superiority. A detailed bibliography and notes contributes to the usefulness of this volume as an introduction to the Civil War.
The emphasis on the strategic also includes context for individual engagements and developments in tactics and armaments. He focuses on a thousand letters of the volunteers from and , not the later conscripts, nor deserters, and Gallagher does not take under consideration what he estimates to be the half who were shirkers.
Return to Bull Run by Hennessy, J. The Second battle of Manassas by Greene, A. The action is noteworthy as the introduction to Battle of a brigade that would become legendary in the Army of the Potomac. Tempest at Ox Hill by Welker, D. Particularly interesting are modern photographs showing where the Battle was fought.
The Battle of Chantilly by Moore, J. Sebastian County, AR Sep 1, Casualties: 81 Union: 16 Confederate: Jefferson County, TX Sep 8, Casualties: Union: Casualties: 34, Union: 16, Confederate: 18, Fauquier County, VA Oct 19, Hamilton County, Tennessee Oct 28 – 29, Pocahontas, WV Nov 6, Fauquier County, VA Nov 7, Casualties: 13, Union: 5, Confederate: 8, Catoosa County, GA Nov 27, Knox County, TN Nov 29, Grant County, WV Jan 31, Result: Inconclusive.
Culpeper, VA Feb 6 – 7, Baker County, FL Feb 20, Chickasaw County, MS Feb 22, Avoyelles Parish, LA Mar 14, Casualties: Union: 48 Confederate: Nevada County, AR Apr 3 – 4, Casualties: 92 Union: 38 Confederate: Nevada County, AR Apr 9 – 13, Casualties: 29, Union: 17, Confederate: 13, Whitfield County, GA May 7 – 13, Spotsylvania County, VA May 8 – 21, Casualties: 30, Union: 18, Confederate: 12, Shenandoah County, VA May 15, Chesterfield County, VA May 20, Paulding County, GA May 25 – 26, Paulding County, GA May 27, Hanover County, VA May 28 – 30, Paulding County, GA May 28, Casualties: 5, Union: Confederate: 1, Casualties: 17, Union: 12, Confederate: 4, Casualties: 3, Union: 2, Confederate: Louisa County, VA Jun 11 – 12, Cobb County, GA Jun 15 – 17, City of Petersburg, VA Jun 15 – 18, Casualties: 11, Union: 8, Confederate: 3, Cobb County, GA Jun 27, Casualties: 4, Union: 3, Confederate: 1, Frederick County, MD Jul 9, Washington, DC Jul 11 – 12, Lee County, Mississippi Jul 14 – 15, Clarke County, VA Jul 18, Fulton County, GA Jul 20, Casualties: 4, Union: 1, Confederate: 2, Fulton County, GA Jul 22, Casualties: 9, Union: 3, Confederate: 5, Frederick County, VA Jul 24, Henrico County, VA Jul 27 – 29, Petersburg, VA Jul 30, Casualties: 5, Union: 3, Confederate: 1, Casualties: Union: 42 Confederate: Henrico County, VA Aug 13 – 20, Jefferson County, WV Aug 21, Dinwiddie County, VA Aug 25, Frederick County, VA Sep 19, Casualties: 8, Union: 5, Confederate: 3, Shenandoah County, VA Sep 21 – 22, Limestone, AL Sep 25, Iron County, MO Sep 27, Henrico, Virginia Sep 29 – 30, Result: Union Victory Union: 4, Confederate: 1, Henrico County, VA Sep 29 – 30, Casualties: 5, Union: 4, Confederate: 1, Smyth County, VA Oct 2, Shenandoah County, VA Oct 9, Casualties: Union: 57 Confederate: Jackson County, MO Oct 22 – 23, Casualties: 3, Union: 1, Confederate: 1, Linn County, KS Oct 25, Newton County, MO Oct 28, Benton County, TN Nov 4 – 5, Casualties: 1, Union: 94 Confederate: 1, Spring Hill, TN Nov 29, Kiowa County, CO Nov 29 – 30, Casualties: Union: 76 Confederate: Franklin, TN Nov 30, Casualties: 8, Union: 2, Confederate: 6, Bryan County, GA Dec 13, Davidson County, TN Dec 15 – 16, Casualties: 9, Union: 3, Confederate: 6, Dinwiddie County, VA Feb 5 – 7, Leon County, FL Mar 6,
List of American Civil War battles in Northern Virginia – Wikipedia.Category:Battles of the American Civil War in Virginia – Wikipedia
More major Civil War battles were fought in Virginia than in any other state. From the first battle of ironclad ships at Hampton Roads in the east to the adventures of Stonewall Jackson in the . Fairfax County and Prince William County, VA | Jul 21, Civil War | Battle. La batalla de Bull Run. Fairfax County and Prince William County, VA | Jul 21, Civil War | Battle. . List of American Civil War battles in Northern Virginia. Battle of Kernstown I. First Battle of Winchester. Second Battle of Winchester. Battle of Kernstown II. Battle of Rutherford’s Farm. .
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