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142-780: The Confederates had not achieved their primary objectives of bringing on a decisive battle or preventing the Federal reinforcement of the Western Theater , and Lee and his officers were much demoralized by this failure. After the Battle of Gettysburg in July, Robert E. Lee retreated back across the Potomac River to Virginia and concentrated behind the Rapidan River in Orange County, Virginia . Meade

284-666: A Christmas gift the City of Savannah ...." After Sherman captured Savannah, he was ordered by Grant to embark his army on ships to reinforce the Union armies in Virginia, where Grant was bogged down in the Siege of Petersburg against Robert E. Lee. Sherman proposed an alternative strategy. He persuaded Grant that he should march north through the Carolinas instead, destroying everything of military value along

426-531: A battle, replaced him with the more aggressive Lt. Gen. John Bell Hood . Over the next six weeks, Hood would repeatedly attempt to attack a portion of Sherman's force which seemed isolated from the main body; each attack failed, often with heavy casualties for the Confederate army. Sherman eventually cut Hood's supply lines from the south. Knowing that he was trapped, Hood evacuated Atlanta on the night of September 1, burning military supplies and installations, causing

568-509: A brilliant, almost bloodless, campaign of maneuver, the Tullahoma Campaign , and drove Bragg from Middle Tennessee. During this period, Brig. Gen. John Hunt Morgan and his 2,460 Confederate cavalrymen rode west from Sparta in middle Tennessee on June 11, intending to divert the attention of Ambrose Burnside 's Army of the Ohio , which was moving toward Knoxville, from Southern forces in

710-635: A campaign that would capture Mobile and push east. But when news of the dire straits of Rosecrans's Army of the Cumberland reached Washington, Grant was ordered to rescue them. On October 17, he was given command of the Military Division of the Mississippi, controlling all of the armies in the Western Theater. He replaced Rosecrans with Thomas and traveled to Chattanooga, where he approved a plan to open

852-402: A cavalry charge against the infantry positions of Lt. Gen. James Longstreet 's Corps on the Confederate right flank, just west of Little Round Top . Kilpatrick's lone brigade commander, Brig. Gen. Elon J. Farnsworth , protested against the futility of such a move. Kilpatrick essentially questioned his bravery and allegedly dared him to charge: "Then, by God, if you are afraid to go I will lead

994-478: A decisive battle or preventing the Federal reinforcement of the Western Theater. Meade's army was in a good position, sitting on their supply base and having suffered fewer casualties in their larger force. Pressured by Abraham Lincoln to achieve an offensive success against Lee before the winter brought campaigning to a halt, Meade began to plan his Mine Run campaign for later in November. Western Theater of

1136-552: A defense against Hood, while taking the remainder of his army in the direction of Savannah, Georgia . Thomas's forces were divided: half were with him in Nashville and the other half with John M. Schofield , moving in pursuit from Atlanta, with other troops due to arrive from the Red River Campaign . Hood hoped to defeat Schofield before he could join forces with Thomas and before the reinforcements from Louisiana arrived. He had

1278-400: A few miles south of the city and waited, hoping that Thomas would wreck his army on the Confederate fortifications. After a two-week preparation period in winter weather, during which he received great pressure from Grant and the Union government to attack, Thomas unleashed an overwhelming assault that sent Hood and his survivors in retreat to Franklin and then to Mississippi, never to recover as

1420-574: A few of the 117 battles the NPS classifies for this theater are described. Boxed text in the right margin show the NPS campaigns associated with each section. The focus early in the war was on two critical states: Missouri and Kentucky. The loss of either would have been a crippling blow to the Union cause. Primarily because of the successes of Captain Nathaniel Lyon and his victory at Boonville in June, Missouri

1562-411: A fighting force. There are stories of Federal cavalry pursuing the fleeing Confederates up to 100 miles over the next week. The western army was nothing but a shadow of its former self. Many men chose to desert because of the overall leadership that had been lost, Hood's poor planning and tactics leading to disaster in battle, and the realization by many that the war was truly over. By his own request, Hood

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1704-467: A fortified bridgehead on the north bank, protecting the approach to Kelly's Ford. On November 7, Meade forced passage of the Rappahannock at two places. A surprise attack by Maj. Gen. John Sedgwick 's VI Corps at dusk overran the Confederate bridgehead at Rappahannock Station, capturing two brigades (more than 1,600 men) of Maj. Gen. Jubal A. Early 's division. Fighting at Kelly's Ford was less severe, but

1846-575: A great conflagration in the city. While Sherman rested his army in preparation for offensive operations to the east, Hood embarked on a campaign to defeat Sherman by interfering with his lines of communications from Chattanooga. He drove west through Alabama and turned north toward Tennessee, hoping that Sherman would follow him and do battle. This was partially effective because his movements, and raids by Nathan Bedford Forrest, were causing considerable consternation to Sherman. Sherman thought Hood's strategy to be folly. Even stating “If Hood takes his army to

1988-508: A hostile country. The troopers battled their way to the Mattaponi River , crossed, and appeared to be safe from danger, but in the dark they ran into a Confederate ambush. Dahlgren was shot dead along with many of his men, the rest being taken prisoner. His body was then displayed in Richmond as a war trophy. Papers found on the body of Dahlgren shortly after his death described the object of

2130-555: A large number of pamphlets in and around homes and other buildings offering amnesty to any Southern civilian who took the oath of loyalty to the United States. During the raid BG John H. Winder, Provost Marshal of Richmond, was so concerned that Union POWs held in Richmond Libby prison would try to escape that he ordered gunpowder placed under the building, to be detonated if they attempted to escape. The discovery and publication of

2272-527: A list of Republicans arrested for bribery. He was continued as Minister by President Grant. As American Minister to Chile, Kilpatrick was involved in an attempt to arbitrate between the combatants of the Chincha Islands War after the Valparaiso bombardment (1866). The attempt failed, as the chief condition of Spanish admiral Méndez Núñez was the return of the captured Covadonga . Kilpatrick asked

2414-598: A long defensive line that was intended to block Union advances against the strategic city of Chattanooga in his rear. In April, Union cavalry under Col. Abel Streight moved against the railroad that supplied Bragg's army in Middle Tennessee, hoping it would cause it to withdraw to Georgia. Streight's brigade raided through Mississippi and Alabama, fighting against Nathan Bedford Forrest . Streight's Raid ended when his exhausted men surrendered near Rome, Georgia , on May 3. In June, Rosecrans finally advanced against Bragg in

2556-464: A minor victory at the Battle of Iuka (September 19), but poor coordination of forces and an acoustic shadow allowed Price to escape from the intended Union double envelopment. Price and Van Dorn decided to unite their forces and attack the concentration of Union troops at Corinth and then advance into West or Middle Tennessee . In the Second Battle of Corinth (October 3–4), they attacked

2698-617: A new Confederate capital at Bowling Green , set up by the Russellville Convention . The alternative government was recognized by the Confederate government, which admitted Kentucky into the Confederacy in December 1861. Using the rail system resources of the Mobile and Ohio Railroad , Polk was able to quickly fortify and equip the Confederate base at Columbus. The Union military command in

2840-699: A new supply line (the "Cracker Line"), allowing supplies and reinforcements to reach the city. Soon the troops were joined by 40,000 more, from the Army of the Tennessee under Sherman and from the Army of the Potomac under Joseph Hooker . While the Union army expanded, the Confederate army contracted; Bragg dispatched Longstreet's corps to Knoxville to hold off an advance by Burnside. The Battles for Chattanooga began in earnest on November 24, 1863, as Hooker took Lookout Mountain , which

2982-506: A sharp bend in the river and called the " Gibraltar of the Mississippi", Vicksburg was nearly invulnerable to naval assault. Admiral David Farragut had found this directly in his failed operations of May 1862. The overall plan to capture Vicksburg was for Ulysses S. Grant to move south from Memphis and Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks to move north from Baton Rouge . Banks's advance was slow to develop and bogged down at Port Hudson, offering little assistance to Grant. Grant's first campaign

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3124-505: A single corps of Buell's Army of the Ohio . That evening Bragg realized that he was facing Buell's entire army and ordered a retreat to Harrodsburg , where he was joined by Kirby Smith's Army of Kentucky on October 10. Despite having a strong combined force, Bragg made no attempt to regain the initiative. Buell was equally passive. Bragg retreated through the Cumberland Gap and returned to Murfreesboro by way of Chattanooga. While Buell

3266-476: A sleet storm, the woods filled with enemy troops and hostile civilians at every turn. Dahlgren and the 200 cavalrymen he was accompanying had been told by a slave of a place where the James was shallow and could be forded. When they got there, the river was swelled up and cresting. Convinced he had been tricked, Dahlgren ordered the slave hanged. They went back north and found that Kilpatrick was gone and they were alone in

3408-638: A steady series of Union victories in major battles, interrupted by only a single defeat, which took place at Chickamauga. The Western Theater was an area defined by both geography and the sequence of campaigning. It originally represented the area east of the Mississippi River and west of the Appalachian Mountains . It excluded operations against the Gulf Coast and the Eastern Seaboard , but as

3550-415: Is one of the key tenets of a strategy of total war . Sherman's army left Atlanta on November 15, 1864, and was conducted in two columns separated by about 60 miles (97 km), the right under Maj. Gen. Oliver Otis Howard and the left under Maj. Gen. Henry Warner Slocum . Between these columns, the destruction was significant and spawned hatred for generations. Most of the resistance to Sherman's armies

3692-457: Is one of two dominant peaks over the city. The next day, Grant planned a double envelopment of Bragg's position on the other mountain, Missionary Ridge . Sherman was to attack from the north, Hooker from the south, and Thomas was to hold the center. But Sherman's attack bogged down in confusion, and Grant ordered Thomas to launch a minor attack as a diversion to relieve pressure on Sherman. Thomas's troops continued their initial attack by charging up

3834-664: The Appalachian Mountains are part of the eastern theater . Operations west of the Mississippi River took place in the trans-Mississippi theater . The western theater served as an avenue of military operations by Union armies directly into the agricultural heartland of the South via the major rivers of the region (the Mississippi , the Tennessee , and the Cumberland ). The Confederacy

3976-473: The Army of Tennessee , in Tupelo, Mississippi , due south of Corinth. But he determined that an advance directly north from Tupelo was not practical. He left Maj. Gens. Sterling Price and Earl Van Dorn to distract Grant and shifted 35,000 men by rail through Mobile, Alabama , to Chattanooga. Even though he did not leave Tupelo until July 21, he was able to reach Chattanooga before Buell could. Bragg's general plan

4118-446: The Battle of Shiloh , driving it out of western Tennessee and subsequently marching into Mississippi and capturing Corinth. Grant's troops marched towards and captured Vicksburg in 1862–1863. Meanwhile, the Army of the Ohio experienced success, blocking a Confederate invasion of Kentucky and gaining control over large amounts of Tennessee through the Battle of Stones River and the 1863 Tullahoma Campaign while fighting against

4260-479: The Battle of Stones River , Bragg surprised Rosecrans with a powerful assault on December 31, pushing the Union forces back to a small perimeter against the Stones River. But on January 2, 1863, further attempts to assault Rosecrans were beaten back decisively and Bragg withdrew his army southeast to Tullahoma . In proportion to the size of the armies, the casualties at Stones River (about 12,000 on each side) made it

4402-475: The Overland Campaign , forcing Lee into a brutal siege of Petersburg . Sherman's Atlanta Campaign , on the other hand, was an unqualified success. At the start of the campaign, Sherman's Military Division of the Mississippi consisted of three armies: James B. McPherson 's Army of the Tennessee (Sherman's old army under Grant), John M. Schofield 's Army of the Ohio , and George H. Thomas 's Army of

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4544-568: The Rappahannock River in August, and on September 13 he pushed strong columns forward to confront Lee along the Rapidan, occupying Culpeper, Virginia , following the Battle of Culpeper Court House . Meade planned to use his numerical superiority in a broad turning movement, similar to the one planned by Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker in the Battle of Chancellorsville that spring. However, on September 24

4686-592: The Union Army during the American Civil War , achieving the rank of brevet major general . He was later the United States Minister to Chile and an unsuccessful candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives . Nicknamed "Kilcavalry" (or "Kill-Cavalry") for using tactics in battle that were considered as recklessly disregarding the lives of soldiers under his command, Kilpatrick was both praised for

4828-405: The 1850s made the historic cavalry charge essentially an anachronism. Cavalry's role shrank primarily to screening, raiding, reconnaissance and intelligence gathering.) The widespread nickname his troopers used for Kilpatrick was "Kill Cavalry". He also had a bad reputation with others in the Army. His camps were poorly maintained and frequented by prostitutes, often visiting Kilpatrick himself. He

4970-631: The 1st Brigade , 2nd Division . In the Chancellorsville Campaign in May, Stoneman's cavalry was ordered to swing deeply behind Gen. Robert E. Lee 's army and destroy railroads and supplies. Kilpatrick did just that, with gusto. Although the corps failed to distract Lee as intended, Kilpatrick achieved fame by aggressively capturing wagons, burning bridges, and riding around Lee, almost to the outskirts of Richmond, Virginia , in Stoneman's 1863 raid . At

5112-515: The 3rd Division of the Cavalry Corps of the Army of the Cumberland , under Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman . Summing up Judson Kilpatrick in 1864, Sherman said "I know that Kilpatrick is a hell of a damned fool, but I want just that sort of man to command my cavalry on this expedition." Starting in May 1864, Kilpatrick rode in the Atlanta Campaign . On May 13, he was severely wounded in

5254-580: The American Civil War The western theater of the American Civil War encompassed major military operations in the states of Alabama , Georgia , Florida , Mississippi , North Carolina , Kentucky , South Carolina and Tennessee , as well as Louisiana east of the Mississippi River . Operations on the coasts of these states, except for Mobile Bay , are considered part of the Lower Seaboard Theater . Most other operations east of

5396-606: The American naval commander Commander John Rodgers to defend the port and attack the Spanish fleet. Admiral Méndez Núñez famously responded with, "I will be forced to sink [the US ships], because even if I have one ship left I will proceed with the bombardment. Spain, the Queen and I prefer honor without ships to ships without honor." (" España prefiere honra sin barcos a barcos sin honra .") Kilpatrick

5538-554: The Army of the Potomac, which was considering hanging them, and execution of Dahlgren's men might set off a chain reaction. The Confederate general sent the papers to George Meade under a flag of truce and asked him to provide an explanation. Meade wrote back that no burnings or assassinations had been ordered by anyone in Washington or the army. Meanwhile, newspapers and politicians in the North and South exchanged blows. The former condemned

5680-525: The Confederacy. After reaching the ocean, Sherman invaded the Carolinas. Operations in the Western Theater concluded with the surrender of Southern forces to the Union armies in North Carolina and Florida in May 1865 following General Robert E. Lee 's surrender to Grant at Appomattox Court House . The Western Theater typically receives less attention than the Eastern Theater. This has much to do with

5822-485: The Confederate Army of Tennessee , whose commander, Braxton Bragg , was often criticized for a perceived lack of military skill. The Union army was briefly checked in its invasion of Georgia at the Battle of Chickamauga , and besieged at Chattanooga . Grant, now commanding the newly created Military Division of the Mississippi , took command, and received reinforcements from the Army of the Tennessee, as well as from

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5964-702: The Confederate Army was divided and could be defeated in detail. Further, he could not agree with his peer, Buell, now in Nashville, on a joint course of action. He sent Grant up the Tennessee River while Buell remained in Nashville. On March 11, President Lincoln appointed Halleck the commander of all forces from the Missouri River to Knoxville, Tennessee , thus achieving the needed unity of command, and Halleck ordered Buell to join Grant's forces at Pittsburg Landing on

6106-531: The Confederate defenses. At this time, Beauregard decided not to make a costly defensive stand and withdrew without hostilities during the night of May 29. Grant did not command directly in the Corinth campaign. Halleck had reorganized his army, giving Grant the powerless position of second-in-command and shuffling divisions from the three armies into three "wings". When Halleck moved east to replace McClellan as general-in-chief, Grant resumed his field command, now named

6248-432: The Confederate defenses. When Sherman flanked the defensive lines (almost exclusively around Johnston's left flank), Johnston would retreat to another prepared position. The Battle of Kennesaw Mountain (June 27) was a notable exception, in which Sherman attempted a frontal assault, against the advice of his subordinates, and suffered significant losses, losing 3,000 men versus 1,000 for Johnston. Both armies took advantage of

6390-563: The Confederate side, General Albert Sidney Johnston commanded all forces from Arkansas to the Cumberland Gap . He was faced with the problem of defending a broad front with numerically inferior forces, but he had an excellent system of lateral communications, permitting him to move troops rapidly where they were needed, and he had two able subordinates, Polk and Maj. Gen. William J. Hardee . Johnston also gained political support from secessionists in central and western counties of Kentucky via

6532-457: The Confederate works twice at great cost at the start of the Siege of Vicksburg but then settled in for a lengthy siege. The soldiers and civilians in Vicksburg suffered greatly from Union bombardment and impending starvation. They clung to the hope that General Johnston would arrive with reinforcements, but Johnston was both cut off and too cautious. On July 4, Pemberton surrendered his army and

6674-582: The Confederates retired slowly to the Rappahannock River, destroying the Orange & Alexandria Railroad as they went. Meade was under pressure from general-in-chief Maj. Gen. Henry W. Halleck to pursue Lee, but it took almost a month to re-lay the railroad track behind his army. After defeat at Bristoe Station and an aborted advance on Centreville, Stuart's cavalry shielded the withdrawal of Lee's army from

6816-659: The Confederates retreated, allowing the Federals across in force. On the verge of going into winter quarters around Culpeper, Lee's army retired instead into Orange County, south of the Rapidan. The Army of the Potomac occupied the vicinity of Brandy Station and Culpeper County. The five battles in the Bristoe campaign resulted in 4,815 casualties on both sides, including 1,973 Confederate prisoners at Rappahannock Station. Lee and his officers were disgusted with their lack of success. They had not achieved their primary objectives of bringing on

6958-574: The Cumberland . Opposing him was the Confederate Army of Tennessee , commanded by Joseph E. Johnston. Sherman outnumbered Johnston 98,000 to 50,000, but his ranks were depleted by many furloughed soldiers, and Johnston received 15,000 reinforcements from Alabama in April. The campaign opened with several battles in May and June 1864 as Sherman pressed Johnston southeast through mountainous terrain. Sherman avoided frontal assaults against most of Johnston's positions, instead maneuvering in flanking marches around

7100-532: The Dahlgren Papers sparked an international controversy. General Braxton Bragg denounced the papers as "fiendish" and Confederate Secretary of War James Seddon proposed that the Union prisoners be hanged. Robert E. Lee agreed that they made for an atrocious document, but urged calm, saying that no actual destruction had taken place and the papers might very well be fakes. In addition, Lee was concerned because some Confederate guerrillas had just been captured by

7242-632: The District of West Tennessee. But before he left, Halleck dispersed his forces, sending Buell towards Chattanooga , Sherman to Memphis, one division to Arkansas, and Rosecrans to hold a covering position around Corinth. Part of Halleck's reason for this was that Lincoln desired to capture eastern Tennessee and protect the Unionists in the region. While Halleck accomplished little following Corinth, Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg succeeded Beauregard (on June 27, for health reasons) in command of his 56,000 troops of

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7384-641: The Eastern, both at the time and in subsequent historical accounts. The near-steady progress that Union forces made in defeating Confederate armies in the West and overtaking Confederate territory went nearly unnoticed. The campaign classification established by the United States National Park Service is more fine-grained than the one used in this article. Some minor NPS campaigns have been omitted and some have been combined into larger categories. Only

7526-718: The Gray: Or, War is Hell (posthumous, 1930). Battery Kilpatrick at Fort Sherman , on the Atlantic end of the Panama Canal , was named for Judson Kilpatrick. The World War II Liberty Ship SS  Hugh J. Kilpatrick was named in his honor. The Major General Judson Kilpatrick Camp No. 7, Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, was formed in September, 2021 in Cary, North Carolina. The camp

7668-507: The II Corps, posted behind the Orange & Alexandria Railroad embankment, mauled two brigades of Maj. Gen. Henry Heth 's division and captured a battery of artillery. Hill reinforced his line but could make little headway against the determined defenders. After this victory, Meade continued his withdrawal to Centreville unmolested. Lee's Bristoe offensive sputtered to a premature halt. Meade was well entrenched, and Lee had outrun his supplies. After minor skirmishing near Manassas and Centreville,

7810-412: The James was stationed. Meanwhile, the general was dismayed to find out that Ulric Dahlgren 's brigade (detached from the main force) had not made it across the James River. Eventually 300 of the latter's troopers stumbled into camp, Dahlgren and the rest seemingly vanished into thin air. The survivors reported that they had made a nightmarish journey through the countryside around Richmond in darkness and

7952-403: The Mississippi from April to June 1865, and was promoted to major general of volunteers on June 18, 1865. He resigned from the Army on December 1, 1865. Kilpatrick was an early member of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States , a military society composed of officers who had served in the Union armed forces and their descendants. He was elected a First Class Companion in

8094-402: The Mississippi River began to tighten. On April 7, while the Confederates were retreating from Shiloh, Union Maj. Gen. John Pope defeated Beauregard's isolated force at Island Number 10 , opening the river almost as far south as Memphis . On April 28, Admiral David Farragut captured New Orleans , the South's largest city and most significant seaport. Army Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler occupied

8236-559: The Mississippi and Tennessee Rivers, which effectively divided the unity of command so that Johnston controlled only a small force at Murfreesboro, Tennessee . Beauregard planned to concentrate his forces in the vicinity of Corinth, Mississippi , and prepare for an offensive. Johnston moved his force to concentrate with Beauregard's by late March. The preparations for the Union campaign did not proceed smoothly. Halleck seemed more concerned with his standing in relation to General-in-Chief George B. McClellan than he did with understanding that

8378-400: The Mississippi and beyond. Here, in the West, the truly decisive battles were fought. Steven E. Woodworth , Jefferson Davis and His Generals The West was by some measures the most important theater of the war. Capture of the Mississippi River has been one of the key tenets of Union General-in-Chief Winfield Scott 's Anaconda Plan . Military historian J. F. C. Fuller has described

8520-415: The Mississippi, to converge at Pittsburg Landing. He moved slowly in the direction of the critical rail junction at Corinth, taking four weeks to cover the twenty miles (32 km) from Shiloh, stopping nightly to entrench. By May 3, Halleck was within ten miles of the city but took another three weeks to advance eight miles closer to Corinth , by which time Halleck was ready to start a massive bombardment of

8662-425: The Ohio River I’d give him rations”. The confederate western army was already greatly reduced and The Federal Western Command had more than enough men in reserve to deal with Hood's invasion. Leaving Sherman virtually unopposed taking 65,000 men and marching through Georgia to the Sea. He sent Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas with portions of the Army of the Cumberland and most of the cavalry corps to Nashville to coordinate

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8804-410: The Pennsylvania Commandery on November 1, 1865 and was assigned insignia number 63. Kilpatrick became active in politics as a Republican and in 1880 was an unsuccessful candidate for the U.S. Congress from New Jersey. In November 1865, Kilpatrick was appointed Minister to Chile by President Andrew Johnson . This appointment was announced concurrently with the inclusion of Kilpatrick's name on

8946-449: The Republicans and supported Rutherford B. Hayes for the presidency. In Chile he married his second wife, Luisa Fernandez de Valdivieso (1836-1928), a member of a wealthy family of Spanish origin that had emigrated to South America in the 17th century. They had two daughters: Julia Mercedes Kilpatrick (b. November 6, 1867 Santiago, Chile) and Laura Delphine Kilpatrick (1874–1956). In March 1881, in recognition of Kilpatrick's service to

9088-507: The Republicans in New Jersey as well as a consolation prize for his defeat for a House seat, President James Garfield appointed Kilpatrick again to the post of Minister to Chile, where he died shortly after his arrival in the Chilean capital Santiago . His remains returned to the United States in 1887 and were interred at the West Point Cemetery in West Point, New York . Kilpatrick was the author of two plays, Allatoona: An Historical and Military Drama in Five Acts (1875) and The Blue and

9230-423: The Sea to Savannah and north in the Carolinas Campaign . He delighted in destroying Southern property. On two occasions his coarse personal instincts betrayed him: Confederate cavalry under the command of Maj. Gen. Wade Hampton raided his camp while he was in bed. At the Battle of Monroe's Crossroads , he was forced to flee for his life in his underclothes until his troops could reform. Kilpatrick would march to

9372-401: The Tennessee River, heading south, and interdicting the Confederate supply lines from Georgia. He began operations on August 18 and used a two-week bombardment of Chattanooga as a diversion. The Confederate high command reinforced Bragg with a division from Mississippi as well as a corps previously of the Army of Northern Virginia commanded by James Longstreet . Rosecrans pursued Bragg into

9514-420: The Tennessee River. On April 6, the combined Confederate forces under Beauregard and Johnston surprised Grant's unprepared Army of West Tennessee with a massive dawn assault at Pittsburg Landing in the Battle of Shiloh . In the first day of the battle, the Confederate onslaught drove Grant back against the Tennessee but could not defeat him. Johnston was mortally wounded leading an infantry charge that day; he

9656-416: The Tennessee. Grant moved swiftly, starting his troops up the Tennessee River toward Fort Henry on river transports on February 2. His operations in the campaign were well coordinated with United States Navy Flag Officer Andrew H. Foote . The fort was poorly situated on a floodplain and virtually indefensible against gunboats, with many of its guns under water due to flooding winter rains. Because of

9798-415: The Union had to deplete its forces as well, sending the XI and XII Corps to the Chattanooga campaign in Tennessee . Lee learned of the departing Union corps, and early in October he began an offensive sweep around Cedar Mountain with his remaining two corps, attempting to turn Meade's right flank . Meade, despite having superior numbers, did not wish to give battle in a position that did not offer him

9940-560: The Union invasion as an immense turning movement, a left wheel that started in Kentucky , headed south down the Mississippi River, and then east through Tennessee , Georgia, and the Carolinas. With the exception of the Battle of Chickamauga and some daring raids by cavalry or guerrilla forces, the four years in the West marked a string of almost continuous defeats for the Confederates; or, at best, tactical draws that eventually turned out to be strategic reversals. Union generals consistently outclassed most of their Confederate opponents, with

10082-404: The Union squadron for nearly three hours before he determined that further resistance was useless. The Tennessee River was then open for future Union operations into the South. Fort Donelson , on the Cumberland River , was more defensible than Henry, and Navy assaults on the fort were ineffective. Grant's army marched cross-country in pursuit of Tilghman's men and attempted immediate assaults on

10224-460: The Vicksburg defensive guns and were able to ferry Grant's army across the river to land south of Vicksburg at Bruinsburg . Grant employed two strategic diversions to mask his intentions: a feint by Sherman north of Vicksburg and a daring cavalry raid through central Mississippi by Colonel Benjamin Grierson , known as Grierson's Raid . The former was inconclusive, but the latter was a success. Grierson

10366-477: The Virginia countryside. After reaching Ben Butler's base at Fort Monroe , Kilpatrick's men took a steamship back to Washington. More trouble followed when they were granted a few days' rest in Alexandria, Virginia before rejoining the Army of the Potomac. The city was garrisoned with African-American troops, and one stopped to inform a cavalryman that only persons on active duty were allowed to ride horses through

10508-514: The West, however, suffered from a lack of unified command, organized by November into three separate departments: the Department of Kansas , under Maj. Gen. David Hunter , the Department of the Missouri , under Maj. Gen. Henry Halleck , and the Department of the Ohio , under Brig. Gen. Don Carlos Buell (who had replaced Brig. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman ). By January 1862, this disunity of command

10650-532: The Yazoo, McClernand asserted control. He inexplicably detoured from his primary objective by capturing Arkansas Post on the Arkansas River , but before he could resume his main advance, Grant had reasserted control, and McClernand became a corps commander in Grant's army. For the rest of the winter, Grant attempted five separate projects to reach the city by moving through or reengineering, rivers, canals, and bayous to

10792-519: The advantage and ordered the Army of the Potomac to withdraw along the line of the Orange and Alexandria Railroad . On October 13, Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart was on one of his typical cavalry raids to capture supply wagons and blundered into the rear guard of the Union III Corps near Warrenton. Lt. Gen. Richard S. Ewell 's corps was sent to rescue him, but Stuart hid his troopers in a wooded ravine until

10934-489: The battle. By September 25 he was a lieutenant colonel , now of the 2nd New York Cavalry Regiment , which he helped to raise, and it was the mounted arm that brought him fame and infamy. Assignments were initially quiet for Lt. Col. Kilpatrick, serving in staff jobs and in minor cavalry skirmishes. That changed in the Second Battle of Bull Run in August 1862. He raided the Virginia Central Railroad early in

11076-519: The beginning of the Gettysburg Campaign , on June 9, 1863, Kilpatrick fought at Brandy Station , the largest cavalry battle of the war. He received his brigadier general 's star at the age of 27 on June 13, fought at Aldie and Upperville , and assumed division command three days before the Battle of Gettysburg commenced. On June 21, he was captured at Upperville, but was quickly rescued, going on to risk his life that same day in order to rescue

11218-445: The bloodiest battle of the war. At the end of the campaign, Bragg's threat against Kentucky had been defeated, and he effectively yielded control of Middle Tennessee. Abraham Lincoln believed that the river fortress city of Vicksburg, Mississippi , was a key to winning the war. Vicksburg and Port Hudson were the last remaining strongholds that prevented full Union control of the Mississippi River. Situated on high bluffs overlooking

11360-511: The campaign and then ordered a twilight cavalry charge the first evening of the battle, losing a full squadron of troopers. Nevertheless, he was promoted to full colonel on December 6. Kilpatrick was aggressive, fearless, ambitious, and blustery. He was a master, in his mid-twenties, of using political influence to get ahead. His men had little love for his manner and his willingness to exhaust men and horses and to order suicidal mounted cavalry charges. (The rifled muskets introduced to warfare in

11502-470: The chance at the Battle of Spring Hill in Tennessee (November 29, 1864), but the Union troops were able to slip through the trap, due to the Confederate failure to cut the Columbia-to-Franklin turnpike in the Union rear. At the Battle of Franklin the following day, Hood launched repeated massive frontal assaults against strong entrenchments and suffered severe casualties. The battle of Franklin cost

11644-444: The charge myself." Farnsworth reluctantly complied with the order. He was killed in the attack and his brigade suffered significant losses. Kilpatrick and the rest of the cavalry pursued and harassed Lee during his retreat back to Virginia. That fall, he took part in an expedition to destroy the Confederate gunboats Satellite and Reliance in the Rappahannock River , boarding them and capturing their crews successfully. Just before

11786-467: The city of Aiken , where he would engage with troops under the command of Joseph Wheeler . Kilpatick lost the battle and forced back to his defenses at Montmorenci . Kilpatrick was fired upon on April 13, 1865 by a reportedly drunk Texas cavalry lieutenant from Wheeler's Cavalry who said he was named Robert Walsh. Walsh fired six shots from his revolver at the approaching General and his staff while several citizens of Raleigh begged him not to, fearing

11928-509: The city to Grant. In conjunction with the defeat of Robert E. Lee at the Battle of Gettysburg the previous day, Vicksburg is widely considered one of the turning points of the war. By July 8, after Banks captured Port Hudson, the entire Mississippi River was in Union hands, and the Confederacy was split in two. After his victory at Stones River, Rosecrans occupied Murfreesboro for almost six months while Bragg rested in Tullahoma, establishing

12070-442: The city with a strong military government that caused considerable resentment among the civilian population. Although Beauregard had little concentrated strength available to oppose a southward movement by Halleck, the Union general showed insufficient drive to take advantage of the situation. He waited until he assembled a large army, combining the forces of Buell's Army of the Ohio, Grant's Army of West Tennessee, and Pope's Army of

12212-462: The city. Defenses around the city were too strong however and numerous squads of Confederate militia and cavalry nipped at their heels the whole way, including some of General Wade Hampton 's troopers dispatched from the Army of Northern Virginia. Unable to get at Richmond or return to the Army of the Potomac, Kilpatrick decided to bolt down the Virginia Peninsula where Ben Butler 's Army of

12354-478: The confederacy far too many experienced officers and men. David J. Eicher wrote that Hood mortally wounded his army at Franklin but killed it at the Battle of Nashville Schofield although taking high casualties was able to retreat in good order to Nashville. The Battle of Franklin had been a blunder the South could not afford. December 15–16. At Nashville, facing the combined force of Schofield and Thomas, he dug in

12496-519: The defensive stand by a portion of the line led by the Union XIV Corps , commanded by Major General George H. Thomas ("The Rock of Chickamauga"), the Union Army would have been completely routed. Rosecrans, devastated by his defeat, withdrew his army to Chattanooga, where Bragg besieged it, occupying the high ground dominating the city. Back in Vicksburg, Grant was resting his army and planning for

12638-483: The destruction of the city which had surrendered days earlier. Kilpatrick, after a brief interrogation, ordered his men to take Walsh out of sight of the women and hang him. Kilpatrick accompanied Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman to the surrender negotiations held at Bennett Place near Durham, North Carolina , on April 17, 1865. Kilpatrick later commanded a division of the Cavalry Corps in the Military Division of

12780-553: The direction of Richmond and in the Shenandoah Valley ; capture Mobile with an army under Nathaniel Banks ; and destroy Johnston's army while driving toward Atlanta. Most of the initiatives failed: Butler became bogged down in the Bermuda Hundred Campaign ; Sigel was quickly defeated in the valley; Banks became occupied in the ill-fated Red River Campaign ; Meade and Grant achieved a string of strategic victories during

12922-422: The eastern Army of the Potomac . The siege of Chattanooga was lifted in November 1863. Following his elevation by Abraham Lincoln to General-in-Chief, Grant put Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman in charge of the combined armies. Chattanooga served as a launching pad for Sherman to capture the Confederate rail-hub of Atlanta and to march to the Atlantic, inflicting a major logistical and psychological blow to

13064-498: The exception of cavalry commander Nathan Bedford Forrest . Lacking the proximity to the opposing capitals and population centers (and the accompanying concentration of newspapers) of the East, the astounding Confederate victories, and the fame of Eastern generals such as Robert E. Lee , George B. McClellan , and Stonewall Jackson , the Western theater received considerably less attention than

13206-430: The expedition, apparently indicating that he intended to burn and loot Richmond and assassinate Jefferson Davis and the whole Confederate cabinet. The raid had resulted in 324 cavalrymen killed and wounded, and 1,000 more taken prisoner. Kilpatrick's men had cut a swathe of destruction across the outskirts of Richmond, destroying tobacco barns, boats, railroad cars and tracks, and other infrastructure. They also deposited

13348-463: The fires were accidental, others a deliberate act of vengeance. On that same day, the Confederates evacuated Charleston. On February 18, Sherman's forces destroyed virtually anything of military value in Columbia. The last significant Confederate seaport, Wilmington , surrendered on February 22. Judson Kilpatrick Hugh Judson Kilpatrick (January 14, 1836 – December 4, 1881) was an officer in

13490-404: The fort from the rear, but they were unsuccessful. On February 15, the Confederate forces under Brig. Gen. John B. Floyd attempted to escape and launched a surprise assault against the Union right flank (commanded by Brig. Gen. John A. McClernand ), driving McClernand's division back but not creating the opening they needed to slip away. Grant recovered from this temporary reversal and assaulted

13632-492: The fortified Union troops but were repulsed with serious losses. Retreating to the northwest, they escaped pursuit by Rosecrans's exhausted army, but their objectives of threatening Middle Tennessee and supporting Bragg were foiled. On October 24, the Union government replaced Buell with Rosecrans, who renamed his force the Army of the Cumberland . After a period of resupplying and training his army in Nashville, Rosecrans moved against Bragg at Murfreesboro just after Christmas. In

13774-411: The greater proximity of action in the east to capitals and to major population centers. However, some historians consider it the war's most important theater. While the Eastern Theater essentially remained in stalemate until 1864, Union troops in the west, beginning in 1861, were able to steadily surround and drive back the Confederate troops, forcing them into eventual capitulation. This was done through

13916-493: The imposing ridge, breaking the Confederate line and causing them to retreat. Chattanooga was saved. Combined with the failure of Longstreet's Knoxville Campaign against Burnside, politically sensitive eastern Tennessee was free of Confederate control. An avenue of invasion pointed directly to Atlanta and the heart of the Confederacy. Bragg, whose personal friendship with Confederate President Jefferson Davis saved his command following his defeats at Perryville and Stones River,

14058-414: The infantry of Brig. Gen. Harry Hays 's division near Auburn on October 14. Stuart's cavalry boldly bluffed Warren's infantry and escaped disaster. The II Corps pushed on to Catlett Station on the Orange & Alexandria Railroad. Lt. Gen. A.P. Hill 's corps stumbled upon two corps of the retreating Union army at Bristoe Station and attacked without proper reconnaissance. On October 14, Union soldiers of

14200-461: The mission, he was repulsed in bloody assaults against Chickasaw Bayou in late December. Political considerations then intruded. Illinois politician and Maj. Gen. John A. McClernand obtained permission from Lincoln to recruit an army in southern Illinois and command it on a river-born expedition aimed at Vicksburg. He was able to get Sherman's corps assigned to him, but it departed Memphis before McClernand could arrive. When Sherman returned from

14342-472: The night to the southeast at Two Taverns. One of his brigade commanders, Brig. Gen. George A. Custer , was ordered to join Brig. Gen. David McM. Gregg 's division for the next day's action against Stuart's cavalry east of town, so Kilpatrick was down to one brigade. On July 3, after Pickett's Charge , he was ordered by army commander Maj. Gen. George G. Meade and Cavalry Corps commander Alfred Pleasonton to launch

14484-400: The north of Vicksburg. All five were unsuccessful; Grant explained afterward that he had expected these setbacks and was simply attempting to keep his army busy and motivated, but many historians believe he really hoped that some would succeed and that they were too ambitious. The second campaign, beginning in the spring of 1863, was successful and is considered Grant's greatest achievement of

14626-433: The previous neutrality of Kentucky, the Confederates could not build river defenses at a more strategic location inside the state, so they settled for a site just inside the border of Tennessee. Brig. Gen. Lloyd Tilghman withdrew almost all of his garrison on February 5, moving them across country 11 miles (18 km) to the east to Fort Donelson. With a reduced crew manning the cannons, Tilghman fought an artillery duel with

14768-687: The proclaimed neutrality of the state; while most of the state government remained loyal to the Union, the pro-Confederate elements of the legislature organized a separate government in Russellville that was admitted into the Confederate States. This sequence of events is considered a victory for the Union because Kentucky never formally sided with the Confederacy, and if the Union had been prevented from maneuvering within Kentucky, its later successful campaigns in Tennessee would have been more difficult. On

14910-505: The railroads as supply lines, with Johnston shortening his supply lines as he drew closer to Atlanta, and Sherman lengthening his own. However, Davis was becoming frustrated with Johnston, who he viewed was needlessly losing territory and was refusing to counterattack or even discuss his plans with Davis. Just before the Battle of Peachtree Creek (July 20) in the outskirts of Atlanta, Jefferson Davis lost patience with Johnston's strategy and, fearing that Johnston would give up Atlanta without

15052-432: The rugged mountains of northwestern Georgia, only to find that a trap had been set. Bragg started the Battle of Chickamauga (September 19–20, 1863) when he launched a three-division assault against Rosecrans's army. A command misunderstanding allowed a major gap to appear in the Union line as reinforcements arrived, and Longstreet was able to drive his corps into that gap and send the Union Army into retreat. If not for

15194-412: The scattered Confederate defenders as to his first true objective, which was the state capital Columbia . He faced the smaller and battered Army of Tennessee, again under the command of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston. On February 17, Columbia surrendered to Sherman. Fires began in the city, and most of the central city was destroyed. The burning of Columbia has engendered controversy ever since, with some claiming

15336-536: The start of Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant 's Overland Campaign in the spring of 1864, Kilpatrick conducted a raid toward Richmond and through the Virginia Peninsula , hoping to rescue Union prisoners of war held at Belle Isle and in Libby Prisons in Richmond. Kilpatrick took his division out on February 28, sneaking past Robert E. Lee's flank and driving south for Richmond. On March 1, they were within 5 miles of

15478-549: The start of a campaign prevented it). As he approached Perryville, Kentucky , he began to concentrate his army in the face of Confederate forces there. Bragg was not initially present with his army, having decided to attend the inauguration ceremony of a Confederate governor of Kentucky in Frankfort . On October 8, fighting began at Perryville over possession of water sources, and as the fighting escalated, Bragg's Army of Mississippi achieved some tactical success in an assault against

15620-450: The start of the war, and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the 1st U.S. Artillery. Within three days he was a captain in the 5th New York Infantry (" Duryée 's Zouaves "). Kilpatrick was the first United States Army officer to be wounded in the Civil War, struck in the thigh by canister fire while leading a company at the Battle of Big Bethel , June 10, 1861. Felix Agnus is credited with saving his life after being injured in

15762-631: The state. At the start of the Tullahoma Campaign, Morgan moved northward. For 46 days as they rode over 1,000 miles (1,600 km), Morgan's cavalrymen terrorized a region from Tennessee to northern Ohio, destroying bridges, railroads, and government stores before being captured; in November they made a daring escape from the Ohio Penitentiary, at Columbus, Ohio , and returned to the South. After delaying for several weeks in Tullahoma, Rosecrans planned to flush Bragg out of Chattanooga by crossing

15904-477: The streets. This trooper found it insulting to take orders from a black man and promptly struck him down with his sword. Kilpatrick's division was punished by being forced to immediately embark for the Rapidan River without resting or drawing new uniforms. The "Kilpatrick-Dahlgren" expedition was such a fiasco that Kilpatrick found he was no longer welcome in the Eastern Theater . He transferred west to command

16046-464: The thigh at the Battle of Resaca and his injuries kept him out of the field until late July. He had considerable success raiding behind Confederate lines, tearing up railroads, and at one point rode his division completely around the enemy positions in Atlanta . His division played a significant role in the Battle of Jonesborough on August 31, 1864. Kilpatrick continued with Sherman through his March to

16188-434: The two Confederate armies. His army headed swiftly northeast toward Jackson. Meanwhile, Grant brought with him a limited supply line. The conventional history of the campaign indicates that he cut loose from all of his supplies, perplexing Pemberton, who attempted to interdict his nonexistent lines at Raymond on May 12. In reality, Grant relied on the local economy to provide him only foodstuffs for men and animals, but there

16330-404: The unsuspecting III Corps moved on, and the assistance was not necessary. As the Union army withdrew towards Manassas Junction, Meade was careful to protect his western flank from the kind of envelopment that had doomed Maj. Gen. John Pope and Hooker in previous battles in this area. Brigades from Maj. Gen. Gouverneur K. Warren 's II Corps fought a rearguard action against Stuart's cavalry and

16472-419: The use of Ulric Dahlgren's corpse as a carnival attraction and the latter accused Lincoln's government of wanting to conduct indiscriminate pillage and slaughter on Virginia civilians, including the claim that Kilpatrick wanted to free Union prisoners and turn them loose on the women of Richmond. Northern papers also cheered the destruction caused by the raid and took pleasure in describing the ravaged condition of

16614-460: The vicinity of Manassas Junction. Union cavalry under Brig. Gen. Judson Kilpatrick pursued Stuart's cavalry along the Warrenton Turnpike but were lured into an ambush near Chestnut Hill and routed. The Federal troopers were scattered and chased five miles (8 km) in an affair that came to be known as the "Buckland Races". Lee returned to his old position behind the Rappahannock but left

16756-551: The victories he achieved, and despised by Southerners whose homes and towns he devastated. Hugh Judson Kilpatrick, more commonly referred to as Judson Kilpatrick , the fourth child of Colonel Simon Kilpatrick and Julia Wickham, was born on the family farm in Wantage Township , near Deckertown, New Jersey (now Sussex Borough). Kilpatrick graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1861, just after

16898-479: The war (and a classic campaign of military history). He knew that he could not attack through Mississippi from the northwest because of the vulnerability of his supply line; river-born approaches had failed repeatedly. So, after movement became possible on dirt roads that were finally drying from the winter rains, Grant moved the bulk of his army down the western bank of the Mississippi. On April 16, U.S. Navy gunboats and troop transports managed at great risk to slip past

17040-485: The war progressed and William Tecumseh Sherman's Union armies moved southeast from Chattanooga, Tennessee in 1864 and 1865, the definition of the theater expanded to encompass their operations into Georgia and the Carolinas . The Virginia front was by far the more prestigious theater. ... Yet the war's outcome was decided not there but in the vast expanse that stretched west from the Appalachian Mountains to

17182-600: The way, similar to his march to the sea through Georgia. He was particularly interested in targeting South Carolina , the first state to secede from the Union, for the effect it would have on Southern morale. Sherman's plan was to bypass the minor Confederate troop concentrations at Augusta, Georgia , and Charleston, South Carolina , and reach Goldsboro, North Carolina , by March 15, 1865, where he would unite with Union forces commanded by John M. Schofield and Alfred H. Terry . As with his Georgia operations, he marched his armies in multiple directions simultaneously, confusing

17324-448: The weakened Confederate right. Trapped in the fort and the town of Dover, Tennessee , Confederate Brig. Gen. Simon B. Buckner surrendered his command of 11,500 men and many needed guns and supplies to Grant's demand for "unconditional surrender". The combined victories at Henry and Donelson were the first significant Union victories in the war, and two major rivers became available for invasions into Tennessee. Johnston's forward defense

17466-511: The wounded commander of the 5th North Carolina Cavalry. On June 30, he clashed briefly with J.E.B. Stuart 's cavalry at Hanover, Pennsylvania , but then proceeded on a wild goose chase in pursuit of Stuart, rather than fulfilling his mission of intelligence gathering. On the second day of the Gettysburg battle, July 2, 1863, Kilpatrick's division skirmished against Wade Hampton five miles northeast of town at Hunterstown . He then settled in for

17608-401: Was a constant stream of wagons carrying ammunition, coffee, hardtack, salt, and other supplies for his army. Sherman's corps captured Jackson on May 14. The entire army then turned west to confront Pemberton in front of Vicksburg. The decisive battle was at Champion Hill , the effective last stand for Pemberton before he withdrew into his entrenchments around the city. Grant's army assaulted

17750-570: Was a significant victory in a strategic sense because it broke the end of the Confederate Western defensive line and opened the Cumberland Gap to East Tennessee, but it got Buell no closer to Nashville.) In Halleck's department, Grant demonstrated down the Mississippi River by attacking the Confederate camp at Belmont to divert attention from Buell's intended advance, which did not occur. On February 1, 1862, after repeated requests by Grant, Halleck authorized Grant to move against Fort Henry on

17892-502: Was a two-pronged movement. William T. Sherman sailed down the Mississippi River with 32,000 men while Grant was to move in parallel through Mississippi by railroad with 40,000. Grant advanced 80 miles (130 km), but his supply lines were cut by Confederate cavalry under Earl Van Dorn at Holly Springs , forcing him to fall back. Sherman reached the Yazoo River just north of the city of Vicksburg, but without support from Grant's half of

18034-483: Was able to draw out significant Confederate forces, dispersing them around the state. Grant faced two Confederate armies in his campaign: the Vicksburg garrison, commanded by Maj. Gen. John C. Pemberton , and forces in Jackson , commanded by Gen. Joseph E. Johnston , the overall theater commander. Rather than simply heading directly north to the city, Grant chose to cut the line of communications (and reinforcement) between

18176-446: Was apparent because no strategy for operations in the Western theater could be agreed upon. Buell, under political pressure to invade and hold pro-Union East Tennessee , moved slowly in the direction of Nashville , but achieved nothing more substantial toward his goal than minor victories at Middle Creek (January 10, 1862) under Col. James A. Garfield and Mill Springs (January 19) under Brig. Gen. George Henry Thomas . (Mill Springs

18318-500: Was broken. As Grant had anticipated, Polk's position at Columbus was untenable, and he withdrew soon after Donelson fell. Grant had also cut the Memphis and Ohio Railroad that previously had allowed Confederate forces to move laterally in support of each other. General P.G.T. Beauregard had arrived from the East to report to Johnston in February, and he commanded all Confederate forces between

18460-450: Was considered by Jefferson Davis to be the most effective general in the Confederacy at that time. On the second day, April 7, Grant received reinforcements from Buell and launched a counterattack that drove back the Confederates. Grant failed to pursue the retreating enemy and received enormous criticism for this and for the great loss of life—more casualties (almost 24,000) than all previous American battles combined. Union control of

18602-691: Was facing Bragg's threat in Kentucky, Confederate operations in northern Mississippi were aimed at preventing Buell's reinforcement by Grant, who was preparing for his upcoming Vicksburg campaign. Halleck had departed for Washington, and Grant was left without interference as commander of the District of West Tennessee. On September 14, Maj. Gen. Sterling Price moved his Confederate Army of the West to Iuka , 20 miles (32 km) east of Corinth. He intended to link up with Maj. Gen. Earl Van Dorn 's Army of West Tennessee and operate against Grant. But Grant sent forces under Maj. Gens. William S. Rosecrans and Edward Ord to attack Price's force at Iuka. Rosecrans won

18744-488: Was finally relieved of duty and replaced by General Joseph E. Johnston . In March 1864, Grant was promoted to lieutenant general and went east to assume command of all the Union armies. Sherman succeeded him in command of the Military Division of the Mississippi. Grant devised a strategy for simultaneous advances across the Confederacy. It was intended to destroy or fix Robert E. Lee's army in Virginia with three major thrusts (under Meade , Butler , and Sigel ) launched in

18886-424: Was forced to defend an enormous area with limited resources. Most railroads ran from north to south, as opposed to east to west, making it difficult to send Confederate reinforcements and supplies to troops further from the more heavily populated and industrialized areas of the eastern Confederacy. Union operations began with attempting to secure Kentucky in Union hands in September 1861, as more than half of Kentucky

19028-557: Was from Georgia militia and home guards, although Joseph Wheeler's cavalry corps from the Army of Tennessee and some troops from the Department of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida were also present but scattered. At Savannah on December 17, Sherman encountered about 10,000 defending troops under Maj. Gen. William J. Hardee . Following lengthy artillery bombardments, Hardee abandoned the city and Sherman entered on December 22, 1864. He telegraphed to President Lincoln, "I beg to present you as

19170-578: Was held in the Union. The state of Kentucky, with a pro-Confederate governor and a pro-Union legislature, had declared neutrality between the opposing sides. This neutrality was first violated on September 3, when Confederate Maj. Gen. Leonidas Polk occupied Columbus , considered key to controlling the Lower Mississippi . Two days later Union Brig. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant , displaying the personal initiative that would characterize his later career, seized Paducah . Henceforth, neither adversary respected

19312-483: Was jailed in 1862 on charges of corruption, accused of selling captured Confederate goods for personal gain. He was jailed again for a drunken spree in Washington, D.C. , and for allegedly accepting bribes in the procurement of horses for his command. In February 1863, Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker created a Cavalry Corps in the Army of the Potomac , commanded by Maj. Gen. George Stoneman . Kilpatrick assumed command of

19454-534: Was recalled in 1870. The 1865 appointment seems to have been the result of a political deal. Kilpatrick had been a candidate for the Republican nomination for governor of New Jersey but lost out to Marcus Ward . For helping Ward, Kilpatrick was rewarded with the post in Chile. Due to the Grant administration recalling him, Kilpatrick supported Horace Greeley in the 1872 presidential election . By 1876, Kilpatrick returned to

19596-657: Was relieved of command of the Army of Tennessee and Lt. Gen. Richard Taylor was appointed temporary commander of the army. Sherman's Savannah Campaign is more popularly known as the March to the Sea. He and Grant believed that the Civil War would end only if the Confederacy's strategic, economic, and psychological capacity for warfare were decisively broken. Sherman therefore applied the principles of scorched earth , ordering his troops to burn crops, kill livestock, consume supplies, and destroy civilian infrastructure along their path. This policy

19738-465: Was reluctant to develop this situation because he was outnumbered by Buell; if he had been able to combine with Kirby Smith, he would have been numerically equal, but Smith's command was separate, and Smith believed that Bragg could capture Louisville without his assistance. Buell, under pressure from the government to take aggressive action, was almost relieved of duty (only the personal reluctance of George H. Thomas to assume command from his superior at

19880-623: Was to invade Kentucky in a joint operation with Maj. Gen. Edmund Kirby Smith , cut Buell's lines of communications, defeat him, and then turn back to defeat Grant. Kirby Smith left Knoxville on August 14, forced the Union to evacuate Cumberland Gap , defeated a Union force at the Battle of Richmond (Kentucky) taking over 4,000 prisoners, and reached Lexington on August 30. Bragg departed Chattanooga just before Smith reached Lexington, while Buell moved north from Nashville to Bowling Green. But Bragg moved quickly and by September 14 had interposed his army on Buell's supply lines from Louisville . Bragg

20022-408: Was under Confederate control by late 1861 into 1862. Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant 's Army of the Tennessee had early successes in Kentucky and western Tennessee in 1861 and 1862, capturing the important strategic locations of forts Henry and Donelson . The Army of the Tennessee and the Army of the Ohio defeated the Confederate Army of Mississippi , commanded by General Albert Sidney Johnston , at

20164-431: Was widely criticized for failing to pursue aggressively and defeat Lee's army. He planned new offensives in Virginia for the fall. Early in September, Lee dispatched two divisions of Lt. Gen. James Longstreet 's Corps to reinforce the Confederate Army of Tennessee for the Battle of Chickamauga . Meade knew that Lee had been weakened by the departure of Longstreet and wanted to take advantage. Meade advanced his army to

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