Military Campaigns

The Atlanta Campaign was an 1864 Union offensive into Northern Georgia, led by General William T. Sherman against the Confederate Army of Tennessee. The campaign started when Sherman advanced from the area near Chattanooga, Tennessee, and ended after John Bell Hood evacuated Atlanta. Sherman occupied the city, securing a major Union victory and strengthening President Abraham Lincoln’s reelection campaign.

The Bermuda Hundred Campaign was a failed Union offensive into Virginia in May 1864. General Benjamin Butler and the Army of the James tried to threaten Richmond and cut the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad, but Confederate forces under General P. G. T. Beauregard stopped the advance. After fighting at Port Walthall Junction, Swift Creek, Chester Station, Proctor’s Creek, and Ware Bottom Church, Confederate defenses trapped Butler’s army on the Bermuda Hundred peninsula.

The Bristoe Campaign was fought from October 13 to November 7, 1863, after the Union victory at the Battle of Gettysburg. General George G. Meade and the Army of the Potomac pursued General Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia during a series of battles and maneuvers. Although Lee opened the campaign with an offensive, Union victories at Bristoe Station and Rappahannock Station helped Meade force Lee to retreat southward.

The Carolinas Campaign was a Union military campaign led by General William T. Sherman from February to April 1865, in North Carolina and South Carolina. Sherman marched north from Savannah with nearly 60,000 soldiers, occupied Columbia and Raleigh, and joined forces with General John Schofield and the Army of Ohio. The campaign ended when General Joseph E. Johnston surrendered Confederate forces in the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida at Bennett Place.

The Chattanooga Campaign was a series of Union military operations from September 21 to November 27, 1863, that broke the Confederate Siege of Chattanooga, Tennessee. After General Ulysses S. Grant restored the Union supply line, he launched attacks on Confederate positions at Orchard Knob, Lookout Mountain, and Missionary Ridge, and drove the Confederates away. The Union victories forced Bragg to retreat toward Dalton, Georgia, and secured Chattanooga as an important supply center for General William T. Sherman’s Atlanta Campaign.

The Confederate Heartland Campaign, also known as Bragg’s Invasion of Kentucky, was a Confederate invasion of the border state of Kentucky in 1862. Although Confederate forces were largely successful on the battlefield, General Braxton Bragg abandoned the campaign and retreated to Tennessee, leaving Kentucky under Union control.

Early’s Valley Campaign was a Confederate military campaign led by General Jubal Early from June through August 1864. Early’s forces defeated Union troops at Monocacy and threatened Washington, D.C., before Union reinforcements stopped them at Fort Stevens. The campaign ended without a clear winner, but it led General Ulysses S. Grant to send General Philip Sheridan into the Shenandoah Valley to stop Early’s operations.

The East Tennessee Campaign was a Union operation led by General Ambrose Burnside to occupy Knoxville, Tennessee, capture the Cumberland Gap, and remove Confederate forces from northeast Tennessee in 1863. Burnside’s forces entered Knoxville with little resistance, forced the Confederate surrender at the Cumberland Gap, and won engagements at Blountville and Blue Springs. The campaign resulted in a Union victory and secured control of much of East Tennessee.

The Franklin-Nashville Campaign was a Confederate offensive conducted in Georgia, Alabama, and Tennessee from September 18 to December 27, 1864. General John Bell Hood tried to disrupt Union supply lines and defeat Union forces before they united at Nashville. After failing to stop General John M. Schofield at Columbia and Spring Hill, Hood suffered devastating losses at Franklin before General George H. Thomas defeated his army at Nashville and drove it from Tennessee.

The Gettysburg Campaign was Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s second Invasion of the North during the Civil War. Lee moved the Army of Northern Virginia into Maryland and Pennsylvania, where the campaign included major engagements at Brandy Station, Winchester, Gettysburg, and Williamsport. The Union victory at Gettysburg forced Lee to retreat into Virginia, ending the invasion and shifting the war’s momentum toward the Union.

The Kanawha Valley Campaign was a Confederate offensive conducted in Western Virginia from September 6–16, 1862. Confederate General William Wing Loring’s forces drove Union troops from Fayetteville, captured Charleston, and pursued Colonel Joseph A.J. Lightburn’s command across the Ohio River. Although the campaign ended in a Confederate victory, Union forces regained control of the Kanawha Valley by November 1862.

The Knoxville Campaign was a Confederate offensive in East Tennessee from November 4–December 14, 1863, led by General James Longstreet against Union forces under General Ambrose Burnside. The campaign included the Battle of Campbell’s Station, the Siege of Knoxville, the Battle of Fort Sanders, and the Battle of Bean’s Station. Longstreet failed to capture Knoxville, allowing the Union to maintain control of East Tennessee for the rest of the Civil War.

The Lynchburg Campaign was a Union military operation in Virginia from May through June 1864 and the first of three campaigns that formed the Shenandoah Valley Campaign of 1864. Confederate forces defeated General Franz Sigel at New Market, but General David Hunter resumed the Union advance and won at Piedmont. General Jubal Early stopped Hunter at Lynchburg and forced the Union army to retreat into West Virginia.

The Maryland Campaign was General Robert E. Lee’s first invasion of the North during the Civil War. Confederate forces entered Maryland in September 1862 and fought Union forces at South Mountain, Harpers Ferry, Antietam, and Shepherdstown. The campaign ended after Lee withdrew across the Potomac River, giving the Union a strategic victory and allowing President Abraham Lincoln to issue the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation.

The Meridian Campaign was a Union military operation led by General William T. Sherman across Mississippi from February 3 to March 4, 1864. Sherman’s forces captured Meridian and destroyed railroads, bridges, locomotives, and other Confederate infrastructure, although William Sooy Smith’s cavalry failed to join him after Confederate forces defeated Smith at the Battle of Okolona. The Union victory demonstrated that Sherman’s army could operate deep in Confederate territory while living off the land.

The Mine Run Campaign was a short-lived Union offensive that pitted the Army of the Potomac against the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia from November 26–December 2, 1863, in Orange County, Virginia.

The Northern Virginia Campaign was fought from July 19 to September 1, 1862, between Union and Confederate forces in Northern Virginia. Confederate General Robert E. Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia defeated General John Pope’s Army of Virginia through a series of engagements that included Cedar Mountain, Second Bull Run, and Chantilly. The Confederate victory allowed Lee to launch the Maryland Campaign, while the Union dissolved the Army of Virginia and merged it with the Army of the Potomac.

The Overland Campaign was a Union offensive in eastern Virginia from May 4 to June 24, 1864, led by Ulysses S. Grant against Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia. Despite costly battles at the Wilderness, Spotsylvania Court House, North Anna, and Cold Harbor, Grant refused to retreat and continued advancing. The campaign ended when Grant shifted his operations toward Petersburg and Richmond.

The Peninsula Campaign was a Union offensive led by George B. McClellan in 1862 to capture Richmond, Virginia, and end the Civil War quickly. McClellan advanced up the Virginia Peninsula but repeatedly delayed his movements because he overestimated Confederate troop strength. After Robert E. Lee took command of Confederate forces, the Seven Days Battles drove the Army of the Potomac away from Richmond, and the campaign ended in a Confederate victory.

Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant's Petersburg Campaign was a nine-month-long Union offensive launched in June 1864, that comprised nineteen major military engagements, plus additional minor skirmishes, that forced General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia to abandon the Confederate capital at Richmond in April 1865.