April 12–14, 1861 · Eastern Theater▶ Animated map

The Confederate bombardment of Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor marked the opening engagement of the Civil War. After 34 hours of shelling, Union Major Robert Anderson surrendered the fort.

July 21, 1861 · Eastern Theater▶ Animated map

The first major land battle of the war shocked Washington spectators who came to watch what they expected to be a quick Union victory. Confederate forces under Beauregard and Jackson routed the Union army, which retreated to Washington in chaos.

March 8–9, 1862 · Eastern Theater▶ Animated map

The Confederate ironclad CSS Virginia (rebuilt from the scuttled USS Merrimack) steamed into Hampton Roads on March 8th and devastated the Union wooden fleet, sinking two warships and damaging three others. The next morning, the newly arrived USS Monitor — a revolutionary low-profile ironclad with a rotating gun turret — met the Virginia in a four-hour duel at close range. Neither could penetrate the other's armor. The era of wooden warships was over in a single day.

April 6–7, 1862 · Western Theater▶ Animated map

Confederate forces launched a surprise dawn attack on Grant's forces near Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee. After a brutal first day, Union reinforcements arrived overnight and Grant counterattacked, driving the Confederates back.

August 28–30, 1862 · Eastern Theater▶ Animated map

Lee orchestrated a masterful double-envelopment near the same ground as First Bull Run. Jackson's corps marched 50 miles in two days to destroy Pope's massive supply depot at Manassas Junction, then lured Pope into attacking what appeared to be a vulnerable, isolated force. When Pope committed his troops against Jackson's entrenched line, Longstreet's corps — 30,000 men hidden just beyond a ridge — launched a devastating flank assault that rolled up the entire Union left. Pope's army retreated to Washington in disorder.

September 17, 1862 · Eastern Theater▶ Animated map

The bloodiest single day in American military history. Lee's first invasion of the North was halted at Antietam Creek in Maryland. McClellan's cautious tactics allowed Lee to escape, but the Union claimed a strategic victory.

December 13, 1862 · Eastern Theater▶ Animated map

Union forces made costly frontal assaults against Confederates dug in on Marye's Heights. Lee famously remarked 'It is well that war is so terrible, otherwise we should grow too fond of it.'

December 31, 1862 – January 2, 1863 · Western Theater▶ Animated map

Both commanders planned the identical attack: strike the other's right flank at dawn on December 31. Bragg moved first, hitting Rosecrans's right with overwhelming force and nearly routing the Union army. The center bent but did not break around the Round Forest — 'Hell's Half Acre' — where desperate Union resistance held. After a two-day pause, Bragg launched a final assault on January 2nd that was repulsed with crushing losses. Bragg then retreated south, conceding the field.

May 1–6, 1863 · Eastern Theater▶ Animated map

Often called Lee's greatest tactical victory. Outnumbered nearly 2:1, Lee boldly split his forces and sent Stonewall Jackson on a flank march that crushed the Union right. However, Jackson was accidentally shot by his own men and died eight days later.

May 18 – July 4, 1863 · Western Theater▶ Animated map

Grant besieged the Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi River for 47 days. When the garrison surrendered on July 4th, the Union gained complete control of the Mississippi, splitting the Confederacy in two.

July 1–3, 1863 · Eastern Theater▶ Animated map

The largest battle ever fought in North America. Lee's second invasion of the North ended in catastrophic failure. On the third day, Pickett's Charge sent 12,500 Confederate soldiers across open ground into withering Union fire — fewer than half returned.

September 19–20, 1863 · Western Theater▶ Animated map

The Confederacy's last major victory in the Western Theater. A gap accidentally opened in the Union line and Confederate forces poured through, routing most of the army. Gen. George Thomas earned the nickname 'Rock of Chickamauga' by holding the Union left.

May 5–7, 1864 · Eastern Theater▶ Animated map

Grant's Overland Campaign began in the dense Virginia wilderness. Both sides suffered enormous casualties in confused fighting through underbrush so thick men could barely see. Unlike previous Union generals, Grant refused to retreat — he marched south.

May 8–21, 1864 · Eastern Theater▶ Animated map

Grant moved south after the Wilderness, racing to cut off Lee at Spotsylvania. Lee won the race and entrenched. On May 12, a massive pre-dawn Union assault overran the 'Mule Shoe' salient, capturing nearly an entire Confederate division including two generals. The fighting at the 'Bloody Angle' — where the salient met the main Confederate line — was among the most savage of the entire war. Men fought hand-to-hand across breastworks for twenty hours in pouring rain. The opposing lines were sometimes separated by only the width of a log wall.

May 31 – June 12, 1864 · Eastern Theater▶ Animated map

Grant ordered a massive frontal assault on entrenched Confederate positions. In the main attack on June 3rd, Union forces suffered 7,000 casualties in under an hour. Grant later called it the only assault he regretted ordering.

June 9, 1864 – April 2, 1865 · Eastern Theater▶ Animated map

After Cold Harbor, Grant executed a bold crossing of the James River and besieged Petersburg, the critical rail hub supplying Richmond. For nine and a half months, both armies constructed an elaborate trench system stretching 30 miles — a grim preview of WWI. Union miners tunneled under Confederate lines and detonated four tons of gunpowder in July, creating 'the Crater,' but the assault that followed was a catastrophic blunder. Grant steadily extended his lines westward, stretching Lee's shrinking army impossibly thin. On April 2, 1865, the Confederate line broke and Lee evacuated both Petersburg and Richmond.

July 22 – September 2, 1864 · Western Theater▶ Animated map

Sherman's relentless campaign through Georgia culminated in the capture of Atlanta, the Confederacy's industrial heart. Confederate General Hood repeatedly attacked and lost, then was forced to evacuate the city.

August 5, 1864 · Western Theater▶ Animated map

Admiral Farragut lashed himself to the rigging of his flagship USS Hartford to see above the smoke and led his fleet into Mobile Bay against three Confederate forts and the ironclad CSS Tennessee. When the lead monitor USS Tecumseh struck a mine and plunged to the bottom in two minutes, the fleet hesitated. Farragut reportedly ordered: 'Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!' The fleet charged through the minefield, battered the Tennessee into submission, and sealed the bay. The city of Mobile itself held out until April 1865.

November 15 – December 21, 1864 · Western Theater▶ Animated map

Sherman led 60,000 Union soldiers from Atlanta to Savannah, cutting a 60-mile wide swath of destruction through Georgia. Targeting Confederate infrastructure and civilian morale, his army destroyed railroads, supplies, and industrial capacity.

December 15–16, 1864 · Western Theater▶ Animated map

After Hood's Army of Tennessee marched north following Atlanta's fall, Gen. George Thomas — 'the Rock of Chickamauga' — methodically prepared a massive counterattack at Nashville despite intense pressure from Grant to attack immediately. On December 15, Thomas struck in a powerful two-day assault that shattered Hood's army completely. Union cavalry pursued the broken Confederate columns for miles. Hood's army of 54,000 was reduced to perhaps 15,000 fugitives.

April 9, 1865 · Eastern Theater▶ Animated map

After a week of desperate retreat, Lee's exhausted Army of Northern Virginia was surrounded. Lee met Grant in Wilmer McLean's parlor and surrendered, effectively ending the Civil War.