McClellan to retreat in the Seven Days Battles, won a major victory at
the Second Battle of Bull Run (Manassas), and invaded Maryland. At
the same time, farther west, General Braxton Bragg invaded Kentucky.
The war hung in the balance. In both Kentucky and Maryland, however,
the Confederates failed to get the popular support they expected and
had to withdraw, Lee extricating himself from potential disaster in a
fight against the odds at Antietam (Sharpsburg). Lincoln felt sufficiently
empowered to issue the Emancipation Proclamation, and any
prospect of European support for the South faded. The Confederates,
however, were still able to defy the Union armies. Another attempted
advance on Richmond ended in defeat at Fredericksburg in December.
On the Mississippi, Vicksburg held out against the Union. The year
ended in carnage at Stones River (Murfreesboro), Tennessee, with
heavy losses on both sides producing no clear victor.
(^) M
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Rive
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Ten
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GULF OF^ ME
XIC
O
A
T
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A
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E
A
N
Chicago
New York City
Philadelphia
New Orleans
Boston
Charleston
Savannah
Atlanta
Mobile
Galveston
Buffalo
Richmond Norfolk
Concord
St. Louis
Memphis
Louisville
Cincinnati
Washington, D.C.
Manassas
Montgomery
Meridian
Corinth
Austin
Des Moines
Vicksburg
Chattanooga
Nashville
Indianapolis
Kansas City
Jacksonville
Pensacola
Baton Rouge
Shiloh
Fort Henry
Fort Donelson Murfreesboro
Perryville
VERMONT MAINE
NEW
HAMPSHIRE
MASSACHUSETTS
NEW
YORK
NEW JERSEY
RHODE ISLAND
CONNECTICUT
PENNSYLVANIA
OHIO
MICHIGAN
INDIANA
ILLINOIS
MISSOURI KENTUCKY
WISCONSIN
IOWA
MINNESOTA
KANSAS
VIRGINIA
NORTH CAROLINA
SOUTH
CAROLINA
TENNESSEE
GEORGIA
ALABAMA
FLORIDA
MISSISSIPPI
ARKANSAS
TEXAS
LOUISIANA
NEBRASKA
TERRITORY
DAKOTA
TERRITORY
DELAWARE
MARYLAND
Indian
Territory
Inset map area
Red River^
The Union battered yet triumphant
This panel from the Travis Panorama shows the
Confederate forces under Braxton Bragg retreating
to Tennessee after hard fighting at Perryville on
October 8. Unable to sustain their campaign, they
leave Kentucky in Union hands.
New Orleans taken
The river defenses of New
Orleans are breached by a
Union naval squadron under
Admiral David Farragut on
April 24–25, 1862. The city
reluctantly surrenders under
threat of a naval bombardment.
Here, Union sailors are met by
a hostile crowd of locals as they
try to come ashore.
Union win at Shiloh
The Battle of Shiloh, fought
amid woods and swamps
alongside the Tennessee River,
is a savage two-day encounter.
The Union forces under General
Ulysses S. Grant comes close
to defeat on April 6, but wins
the battle the following day.
Ironclads in action on the Tennessee River
Union ironclads and timberclads provide the first vital
step in taking Confederate-held forts Henry and Donelson
in February. Fort Henry on the Tennessee River is given
up after naval bombardment; Fort Donelson on the
Cumberland River after a grim winter battle.
1862