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The Mississippi River was the primary conduit for supplies and communication through the south as well as a vital lifeline for goods going north. To Confederate President Jefferson Davis, Vicksburg was the "nailhead that holds the South's two halves together." President Abraham Lincoln remarked, “Vicksburg is the key!

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The Mississippi River was the primary conduit for supplies and communication through the south as well as a vital lifeline for goods going north. To Confederate President Jefferson Davis, Vicksburg was the "nailhead that holds the South's two halves together."  President Abraham Lincoln remarked, “Vicksburg is the key! The war can never be brought to a close until that key is in our pocket.” The Vicksburg Campaign began in 1862 and ended with the Confederate surrender on July 4, 1863. With the loss of Confederate general John C. Pemberton’s army after the siege at Vicksburg and a Union victory at Port Hudson five days later, the Union controlled the entire Mississippi River and the Confederacy was split in half. Grant’s victory led to his continued command in eastern Tennessee and his eventual appointment as general-in-chief of the Union armies.

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After failing to pursue Gen. Robert E. Lee’s army aggressively after the Battle of Antietam, Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan was removed from command of the Army of the Potomac. His replacement, Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside, feeling pressure from Washington to move quickly, developed a plan to beat Lee to the Confederate capital city of Richmond.

From his camps around Warrenton, Virginia, Burnside planned to abandon the army’s movement southwest in favor of a quick dash southeast toward the lower Rappahannock River. There, he would cross quickly and position himself between Lee and the direct route to Richmond. The plan had great promise, but, to accomplish it successfully, speed was essential.With nearly 200,000 combatants—the greatest number of any Civil War engagement—Fredericksburg was one of the largest and deadliest battles of the Civil War. It featured the first opposed river crossing in American military history as well as the Civil War’s first instance of urban combat.

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Major General Ambrose E. Burnside lasted only a single campaign as the head of the Army of the Potomac. His abject failure at Fredericksburg in December 1862, followed by further fumbling on January's "Mud March," convinced President Abraham Lincoln to make another change in army commanders. He appointed 48-year-old Massachusetts native Joseph Hooker to take charge.

Hooker's energetic make-over polished the Union army into tip-top condition, and he declared them “the finest army on the planet.” With complete confidence, Hooker orchestrated a “perfect” plan to confront Lee and drive him from his camp at Fredericksburg. Though outmanned, Lee did not retreat. He met Hooker’s challenge head on, engaging him in one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War. Brilliant tactics by Lee and “Stonewall” Jackson thwarted Hooker’s ambitions and resulted in a victory for the South. Buoyed by the outcome, Lee later launched an offensive into Pennsylvania, where the opposing armies met on the battlefield in Gettysburg in July 1863. Despite the heavy casualties sustained there, the Battle of Chancellorsville is considered Gen. Robert E. Lee’s greatest military victory.  It was the last battle for Confederate Lt. Gen. Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson, who was mortally wounded by friendly fire.

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"I hope to keep Kentucky in the Union, for the loss of that state would be a great blow." （ Abraham Lincoln）

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Kentucky was a border state that was strategically important during the Civil War. Both sides wanted to control Kentucky because of its rich resources, population, and transportation routes. Kentucky's secession led to wars, such as the Battle of Perryville in 1862, where Union troops successfully repelled a Confederate attempt to seize control of Kentucky.

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Antietam, the deadliest one-day battle in American military history, showed that the Union could stand against the Confederate army in the Eastern theater. It also gave President Abraham Lincoln the confidence to issue the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation at a moment of strength rather than desperation.Inconclusive. General Robert E. Lee committed his entire force to the battle, while Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan sent in less than three quarters of his. With the full commitment of McClellan’s troops, which outnumbered the Confederates two to one, the battle might have had a more definitive outcome. Instead, McClellan’s half-hearted approach allowed Lee to hold ground by shifting forces from threat to threat.

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The Battle of Shiloh, also known as the Battle of Pittsburg Landing, allowed Union troops to penetrate the Confederate interior. The carnage was unprecedented, with the human toll being the greatest of any war on the American continent up to that date.

How it ended

Union victory. The South’s defeat at Shiloh ended the Confederacy’s hopes of blocking the Union advance into Mississippi and doomed the Confederate military initiative in the West. With the loss of their commander, Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston, in battle, Confederate morale plummeted.

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The Baltimore riot of 1861 (also called the "Pratt Street Riots" and the "Pratt Street Massacre") was a civil conflict on Friday, April 19, 1861, on Pratt Street, Baltimore, Maryland. It occurred between antiwar "Copperhead" Democrats (the largest party in Maryland) and other Confederate sympathizers on one side, and on the other, members of Massachusetts and Pennsylvania state militia regiments en route to the national capital at Washington who had been called up for federal service. The fighting began at the President Street Station, spreading throughout President Street and subsequently to Howard Street, where it ended at the Camden Street Station. The riot produced the first deaths of Union volunteers by hostile action, although caused by civilians, in the American Civil War. Civilians among the attackers also were killed.

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Battle of New Orleans, (April 24–25, 1862), naval action by Union forces seeking to capture the city during the American Civil War. A Union naval squadron of 43 ships under Admiral David G. Farragut entered the lower Mississippi near New Orleans and soon breached the heavy chain cables that were stretched across the river as a prime defense. Realizing that resistance was useless, Confederate General Mansfield Lovell withdrew his 3,000 troops northward, and the city fell on April 25. On May 1 General B.F. Butler led 15,000 Union troops into the city to take command for the remainder of the war. The permanent loss of New Orleans was considered one of the worst disasters suffered by the Confederacy in the western theatre of the war.

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"I had determined to fight them, even at the cost of heavy casualties, because Tennessee was critical to the Union’s victory." （Ulysses S. Grant）

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Tennessee was the first Confederate state to be invaded by Union troops, and it was the site of major battles, such as the Battle of Shiloh and the Battle of Chattanooga. The state's geography. Union victories at Fort Donelson and the Battle of Shiloh gave them control of much of the state.

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"Montgomery is our seat of government, where the Confederacy shall take its stand against the Union."(Jefferson Davis)

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Montgomery was the first capital of the Confederacy, where the Confederate States of America was formed in 1861. It was here that the first president of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis, was inaugurated. Montgomery is a symbol of the early Confederacy.

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Chickamauga And Chattanooga National Military Park and Auto tour, Lafayette Road, Fort Oglethorpe, GA

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Chickamauga And Chattanooga National Military Park and Auto tour, Lafayette Road, Fort Oglethorpe, GA

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Chickamauga And Chattanooga National Military Park and Auto tour, Lafayette Road, Fort Oglethorpe, GA

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The Confederate army secured a decisive victory at Chickamauga but lost 20 percent of its force in battle. After two days of fierce fighting, the Rebels broke through Union lines and forced the Federals into a siege at Chattanooga.

How it ended

Confederate victory. At the end of a summer that had seen disastrous Confederate losses at Gettysburg and Vicksburg, the triumph of the Army of Tennessee at Chickamauga was a well-timed turn-around for the Confederates, but it came at a great cost.  Chickamauga was the second bloodiest battle of the Civil War, ranking only behind Gettysburg, and was by far the deadliest battle in the Western Theater.

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Richmond, Virginia, served as the capital of the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War from May 1861 to April 1865. Besides its political status, it was a vital source of weapons and supplies for the war effort, as well as the terminus of five railroads; as such, it would have been defended by the Confederate States Army at all costs.

The Union made many attempts to invade Richmond. In the Peninsula Campaign of 1862, General George McClellan moved up the James River, almost to the suburbs of the city, but was beaten back by Robert E. Lee in the Seven Days Battles. In 1864–65, General Ulysses S. Grant laid siege to nearby Petersburg. By April 1865, the Confederate government realized the siege was almost over and abandoned the city lest they be captured. The retreating Confederates chose to burn military supplies rather than let them fall into Union hands; the resulting fire destroyed much of central Richmond.

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Sherman's March to the Sea (also known as the Savannah campaign or simply Sherman's March) was a military campaign of the American Civil War conducted through Georgia from November 15 until December 21, 1864, by William Tecumseh Sherman, major general of the Union Army. The campaign began on November 15 with Sherman's troops leaving Atlanta, recently taken by Union forces, and ended with the capture of the port of Savannah on December 21. His forces followed a "scorched earth" policy, destroying military targets as well as industry, infrastructure, and civilian property, disrupting the Confederacy's economy and transportation networks.

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Appomattox Court House National Historical Park, National Park Drive, Appomattox, VA

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Appomattox Court House National Historical Park, National Park Drive, Appomattox, VA

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Appomattox Court House National Historical Park, National Park Drive, Appomattox, VA

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The Battle of Appomattox Court House, fought in Appomattox County, Virginia, on the morning of April 9, 1865, was one of the last, and ultimately one of the most consequential, battles of the American Civil War (1861–1865). It was the final engagement of Confederate General in Chief Robert E. Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia before they surrendered to the Union Army of the Potomac under the Commanding General of the United States Army, Ulysses S. Grant.The signing of the surrender documents occurred in the parlor of the house owned by Wilmer McLean on the afternoon of April 9. On April 12, a formal ceremony of parade and the stacking of arms led by Confederate Maj. Gen. John B. Gordon to Union Brig. Gen. Joshua Chamberlain marked the disbandment of the Army of Northern Virginia with the parole of its nearly 28,000 remaining officers and men, free to return home without their major weapons but enabling men to take their horses and officers to retain their sidearms (swords and pistols), and effectively ending the war in Virginia.

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During the American Civil War (1861–1865), Washington, D.C., the capital city of the United States, was the center of the Union war effort, which rapidly turned it from a small city into a major capital with full civic infrastructure and strong defenses.[1]

The shock of the Union defeat at the First Battle of Bull Run in July 1861, with demoralized troops wandering the streets of the capital, caused President Abraham Lincoln to order extensive fortifications and a large garrison. That required an influx of troops, military suppliers and building contractors, which would set up a new demand for accommodation, including military hospitals. The abolition of slavery in Washington in 1862 also attracted many freedmen to the city. Except for one attempted invasion by Confederate cavalry leader Jubal Early in 1864, the capital remained impregnable.[1]

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"The ironclad has changed the course of naval warfare forever." — Abraham Lincoln

The Chesapeake Bay was an important area of ​​naval action during the Civil War, especially as the Union attempted to blockade Confederate ports. The bay's most famous event was the Battle of Hampton Roads, the first engagement of armored warships in March 1862. The battle marked the end of the era of wooden warships and was a turning point in naval warfare.

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"The Monitor will prove the might of the Union Navy and ensure the blockade succeeds."(Abraham Lincoln)

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The James River was the gateway to the Confederate capital of Richmond. Confederate forces successfully repelled a Union attack at the Battle of Drewry's Bluff in 1862. The James River also saw fierce naval battles, including the use of armored ships and other warships to support military operations around Richmond.

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"The Rappahannock is a stronghold that we must not lose. It is crucial to our defense." — Robert E. Lee

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The Rappahannock River formed the border between Union and Confederate forces in the Eastern Theater of Operations. Union forces used the river as a route toward the Confederate capital of Richmond and made major crossings during battles such as the 1862 Battle of Fredericksburg, often resulting in bloody clashes between the two sides.

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"The Potomac must remain free of Confederate forces if we are to protect our capital." — Abraham Lincoln

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The Potomac River was used extensively for transportation, troop movements, and logistical support. The river played an important role in the Battle of Antietam and General Robert E. Lee's campaigns, especially when Confederate troops crossed the river to engage Union forces near Washington, D.C.

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The Ohio River is our gateway to the West. We cannot afford to lose it. — Ulysses S. Grant

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The Ohio River was another key waterway for both sides, serving as an important transport route for troops and supplies. The river's location also made it a vital strategic point for controlling the Midwest.

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"It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced." — Abraham Lincoln

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The Battle of Gettysburg, fought from July 1 to July 3, 1863, was one of the most important battles of the Civil War, the largest battle ever fought in North America, with more than 50,000 casualties. President Abraham Lincoln delivered his famous Gettysburg Address later that year, reaffirming the principles of liberty and equality and stressing the importance of national unity.

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"The Union must be preserved. No state can secede, and the Republic will stand." — Abraham Lincoln

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Fort Sumter was the site of the outbreak of the Civil War on April 12, 1861, when Confederate troops opened fire on the Union garrison. The bombardment of Fort Sumter led to the surrender of Union troops, but also prompted the North to take actions that would eventually lead to the declaration of war. This event marked the official start of the Civil War and set the stage for the escalation of the conflict.

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"I am now quite sure that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with blood." — John Brown

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Harpers Ferry was the site of a raid led by abolitionist John Brown in 1859. His attempt to seize the federal armory and incite a slave uprising was unsuccessful, but it stirred tensions between the North and the South.

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"The enemy is at our doorstep, but we shall stand firm and drive them back." — Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson

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The First Battle of Bull Run (also known as the First Battle of Manassas) was fought in Virginia on July 21, 1861. The Confederate victory at Bull Run dashed the Union's hopes for a quick and decisive victory and proved that the war would be long and bloody.

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Seven states that seceded first

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Seven states that seceded first

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Seven states that seceded first

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Seven states that seceded first

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Seven states that seceded first

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Seven states that seceded first

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Border States

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Border States

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Four Confederate states that joined after Fort Sumter

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Four Confederate states that joined after Fort Sumter

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Four Confederate states that joined after Fort Sumter

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Four Confederate states that joined after Fort Sumter

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The Draft Riots of 1863 were a series of violent protests against the Union’s draft laws, which were seen as unfair, especially because wealthier men could avoid military service by paying for substitutes. The riots lasted for several days in July 1863 and resulted in significant destruction, with racial tensions playing a key role in the violence. Many African Americans were targeted during these riots, and the federal government had to send troops to restore order.

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Original Capital of the Confederacy

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Second Capital of the Confederacy

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Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, was from Illinois. He is closely associated with the state, having served in the Illinois State Legislature and practiced law in Springfield before being elected president. Lincoln was born in Kentucky but considered Illinois his home state.

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Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederate States, was from Mississippi. He was born in Kentucky but spent much of his early life in Mississippi. Davis represented the state in the U.S. Senate before becoming the Confederacy’s leader. Mississippi played a significant role in the Confederate cause, and Davis’s leadership was central to the state’s participation in the rebellion.