The Union victory at Shiloh in April 1862 made Confederate control of the Mississippi River in Tennessee impossible. Following a brief gunboat battle below the Memphis bluffs on June 6, 1862, Confederates abandoned the city. Memphis became a vital supply depot and staging area for Union campaigns. Mississippi River Museum at Mud Island River Park … Read more
While Gens. Robert E. Lee and U.S. Grant squared off at Cold Harbor, Northern cavalry under Union Gen. Philip Sheridan rode west to disrupt communication and supply lines into Richmond. Confederate cavalry rode to cut them off. The two large forces clashed June 11–12, 1864, near Trevilian Station on the Virginia Central Railroad near Louisa … Read more
Early on the rainy morning of April 12, 1862, conductor William Fuller and the “General” chugged out of the Marietta station headed north toward Chattanooga on the single-track Western and Atlantic Railroad (W&A). Aboard the train that day were 20 young men on a special mission. These men, headed by civilian spy James Andrews, planned … Read more
It sounded like such a good idea. Popular Sovereignty. It has a democratic ring to it. But those words meant only trouble for the Kansas Territory in the 1850s, and they sparked a Civil War years before shots were fired at Fort Sumter. The 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act defined the borders of the new territories, opened … Read more
After shooting President Abraham Lincoln at Ford’s Theatre April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth fled across the Potomac River into Maryland, then headed toward Virginia. His leg broken in a fall at the theater, Booth met up with accomplice David Herold before stopping at the Surratt House and Tavern for supplies and guns stashed there … Read more
Excellent walking tour brochures detailing street fighting in the city are available at the Fredericksburg City Visitor Center, 706 Caroline St. Just outside the building are Civil War Trails signs describing city and area Civil War sites. Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park Main visitor center 1013 Lafayette Blvd, Fredericksburg VA 22401 www.nps.gov/frsp, 540-693-3200 (choose … Read more
More Valley Sites Battle of Wytheville A series of five Civil War Trails interpretive signs describes the action on July 18, 1863, as a Federal raiding party marched to the Wytheville area intending to destroy the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad tracks and bridges. In addition, the force planned to destroy telegraph lines and the salt … Read more
Following the decisive battle at Champion Hill May 16, 1863, Grant approached the well-fortified Confederate positions surrounding Vicksburg itself. Grant ordered two massive assaults on the city, May 19 and 22, both of which were unsuccessful. Following the bloody failures, Grant settled into a siege. Pemberton in Vicksburg was increasingly isolated as Confederate efforts west … Read more
Gettysburg National Military Park Podcasts: Gettysburg Civil War Tours One of the best-known and most studied battlefields in the world is visited by well more than a million people a year, so expect crowds and traffic in the peak season. Many believe the three-day battle here July 1–3, 1863, decided the outcome of the war. … Read more
Knoxville was the key city in the middle of a contentious area known for divided loyalties. Most of the area was anti-secession and tended to side with the Union cause, making Confederate military control tenuous at best. The East Tennessee and Virginia Railroad and the East Tennessee and Georgia Railroad intersected in Knoxville, creating a … Read more