DK - The American Civil War

CLASH OF ARMIES 1862

JANUARY 9

David Farragut takes

command of the

Union West Gulf

Blockading Squadron.

JANUARY 9

Edwin Stanton is made

Secretary of War by

Lincoln, a post he keeps

for the rest of the war.

JANUARY 19

Confederate

forces are

defeated at the

Battle of Mill

Springs in

Kentucky.

JANUARY 30

USS Monitor is

launched in

New York, a

revolutionary

new design

of ironclad

warship.

FEBRUARY 16

The Confederates

surrender Fort

Donelson on the

Cumberland River to

Brigadier General

Ulysses S. Grant.

FEBRUARY 6

Union forces capture

Fort Henry on the

Tennessee River.

FEBRUARY 8

Roanoke Island off

North Carolina is

seized by Brigadier

General Ambrose

Burnside’s forces.

FEBRUARY 25

The Confederates

abandon Nashville,

Tennessee, which

becomes the first

Confederate state

capital to fall to

the Union.

APRIL 24–25

Farragut’s West Coast

Blockading Squadron

fights its way through

Confederate defenses

on the Mississippi River

to take New Orleans.

APRIL 4

McClellan opens his

Peninsula Campaign, settling

down to a siege at Yorktown.

APRIL 6–7

In the Battle of Shiloh, Grant

gains a hard-won victory after

the Confederates launch a

surprise attack.

APRIL 8

Island Number Ten,

a key Confederate

position on the

Mississippi, is lost

to Union forces.

MARCH 7–8

A victory for

outnumbered Union

forces at Pea Ridge

(Elkhorn Tavern) in

Arkansas confirms

Union control of the

state of Missouri.

MARCH 8–9

In the Battle of

Hampton Roads, the

Confederate ironclad

CSS Virginia clashes

with USS Monitor, the

first combat between

ironclad warships.

MARCH 23

Confederate general

Stonewall Jackson is

checked in a battle at

Kernstown in the

Shenandoah Valley.

MARCH 28

A Confederate thrust

through New Mexico

toward Colorado and

California is repulsed.

MARCH 17

McClellan begins

moving the Army

of the Potomac by

sea to the Virginia

Peninsula.

MAY 25

Jackson’s successes in

the Shenandoah Valley

cause Lincoln to divert

Union forces from the

advance on Richmond.

MAY 31–JUNE 1

A Confederate counter-

attack is repulsed at Seven

Pines (Fair Oaks).

MAY 5

The Confederate army

fights a defensive battle

at Williamsburg as it

withdraws to Richmond.

MAY 8

The Battle of McDowell

gives Jackson the first

win of his Shenandoah

Valley Campaign.

JUNE 2

Confederate general

Robert E. Lee assumes

command of the Army

of Northern Virginia.

JUNE 6

Union ironclads score a

crushing victory on the

Mississippi River at the

Battle of Memphis.

JUNE 12–15

Confederate cavalry

commander Jeb

Stuart rides around

McClellan’s Army of

the Potomac on a

reconnaissance mission.

JUNE 26

Lee launches an

offensive against the

Army of the Potomac

that becomes the

Seven Days Battles.

JANUARY FEBRUARY MARCH APRIL MAY JUNE

General Robert E. Lee

TIMELINE 1862

Forts Henry and Donelson ■ Hampton Roads ■ New Orleans ■ The Mississippi River ■ Jackson in the

Shenandoah Valley ■ McClellan and the Army of the Potomac ■ The Peninsula Campaign ■ Lee and the Army

of Northern Virginia ■ Seven Days Battles ■ Second Bull Run ■ Antietam ■ Confederate invasion of Kentucky

Union troops marching

in the Shenandoah Valley

The Battle of Hampton

Roads

Farragut’s

sword

Confederate belt plate

with bullet hole

Union troops, siege of Yorktown