New York 79th Infantry (Union)

ColonelJames Cameron

First Bull Run

One of earliest battles of the Civil War, it introduced Americans to the idea that this would likely not be a short conflict and blood would be shed:READ MORE

Lewinsville

Orlando Poe's US Army Topographical Engineers were on a mapping expedition, protected by Isaac Stevens 1800 men. After performing their task, they were attacked by 400 of JEB Stuart's men. The Union soldiers were able to withstand the Confederate attack.READ MORE

Secessionville

In early June 1862, the Union divisions of Brig. Gens. Horatio G. Wright and Isaac I. Stevens, under the overall command of Brig. Gen. Henry Benham, landed on James Island just southwest of Charleston, South Carolina. Benham entrenched at Grimball's Landing near the southern end of the Confederate defensive line around the city. On June 16th, Benham's 6,500 men from the 3rd New Hampshire, 8th Michigan, 7th Connecticut, 28th Massachusetts, and 79th New York "Highlanders" infantry regiments advanced toward C…READ MORE

Second Bull Run

After the early summer collapse of the Union Peninsula Campaign offensive to capture Richmond, Robert E. Lee sought to move his army north and threaten Washington DC before Union forces could regroup.READ MORE

Lieutenant ColonelDavid Morrison

Brigadier GeneralIsaac Stevens

ColonelBenjamin C. Christ

Brigadier GeneralIsaac Stevens

Chantilly

Confederate Maj. Gen. "Stonewall" Jackson hoped to cut off the Union retreat from Manassas the day after the Confederate victory at the second battle fought there. Jackson's wing of Lee's army made a wide, flanking march, screened by Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart's cavalry, north and then east, to take the strategically important village of Germantown. There, Maj. Gen. John Pope's only two retreat routes to Washington - the Warrenton Pike and the Little River Turnpike - converged. On September 1st, beyond Chanti…READ MORE

South Mountain

After his success at Second Manassas, Gen. Robert E. Lee led the Army of Northern Virginia north across the Potomac River on an invasion of Maryland in September of 1862. Lee divided his army, sending a portion of it into western Maryland while Lieut. Gen. Stonewall Jackson's wing attempted to capture the Federal garrison at Harper's Ferry. The bold plan was jeopardized on September 13th when a mislaid copy of Lee's orders revealing the Confederates' plans was given to Union commander Maj. Gen. George B. M…READ MORE

Lieutenant ColonelDavid Morrison

ColonelBenjamin C. Christ

Brigadier GeneralOrlando B. Willcox

Antietam

The Army of the Potomac, under the command of Maj. Gen. George McClellan, mounted a series of powerful assaults against General Robert E. Lee's forces along Antietam Creek near Sharpsburg, Maryland, on September 17th, 1862.READ MORE

Fredericksburg

In early November, Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside took command of the Army of the Potomac, and made immediate plans to move the army once again toward Richmond.READ MORE

Kelly's Ford

In 1863, the recently organized Union Cavalry Corps possessed superior equipment and the advantages of a plentiful supply of men and horses over their Confederate counterparts, but lacked the confidence, experience, and leadership to challenge Maj. Gen. J. E. B. Stuart's troopers. That March, Confederate cavalry under Brig. Gen. Fitzhugh Lee conducted raids against elements of the Union line along the Rappahannock River. In response, on March 16th, 2,100 Union cavalrymen under Brig. Gen. William Averell se…READ MORE

ColonelDavid Morrison

ColonelDaniel Leasure

Brigadier GeneralThomas Welsh

Vicksburg

In mid-May, 1863, after six months of unsuccessful attempts, Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's Army of the Tennessee finally converged on Vicksburg, defended by a Confederate army under Lt. Gen. John C. Pemberton. Capture of the Mississippi River town was critical to Union control of the strategic river. Vicksburg was located on a high river bluff defended with artillery, and Pemberton's men had constructed a series of fortifications in an 8-mile arc surrounding the city on the landward side. After crossing the…READ MORE

Fort Sanders

The pro-Union counties of eastern Tennessee offered little resistance to the occupation of Knoxville by forces under Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside in 1863. As a Confederate army besieged Union forces at Chattanooga, Tennessee later that year, a force under the command of Lt. Gen. James Longstreet was sent to Knoxville to prevent Burnside's Army of the Ohio from moving in support of Chattanooga. To capture Knoxville, Longstreet decided that Fort Sanders, located northwest of the city, was the only vulnerabl…READ MORE

ColonelBenjamin C. Christ

Brigadier GeneralOrlando B. Willcox

Wilderness

The first battle between Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and Gen. Robert E. Lee erupted late in the morning of May 5, 1864, as Maj. Gen. Gouverneur K. Warren's Union V Corps attacked Lt. Gen. Richard S. Ewell's Second Corps on the Orange Turnpike southwest of the old Chancellorsville battlefield. Although Federal infantry managed to break through at several points, the Confederate line held. Fighting shifted to the south as Lt. Gen. A.P. Hill's Third Corps engaged Maj. Gen. Winfield S. Hancock's II Corps and ele…READ MORE

ColonelBenjamin C. Christ

ColonelWilliam Humphrey

Brigadier GeneralOrlando B. Wilcox

Spotsylvania Court House

Following the Battle of the Wilderness, Lieut. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant marched the Union army south with the hope of capturing Spotsylvania Court House and preventing Robert E. Lee's army from retreating further. Lee's Confederates, however, managed to get ahead of the Federals and block the road. Fighting began on May 8th, when the Union Fifth Corps under Maj. Gen. Gouverneur K. Warren and the Sixth Corps under Maj. Gen. John Sedgwick engaged Confederate Maj. Gen. Richard Anderson's First Corps at Laurel Hi…READ MORE

Cold Harbor

After two days of inconclusive fighting along Totopotomoy Creek northeast of Richmond, Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and Gen. Robert E. Lee turned their sights on the crossroads of Cold Harbor. Roads emanating through this critical junction led to Richmond as well as supply and reinforcement sources for the Union army. On May 31, 1864, Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan's cavalry captured Cold Harbor. The next day, Sheridan held the crossroads against a Confederate attack. With reinforcements from both armies arriving…READ MORE

First Deep Bottom

Two weeks after Union forces arrived to invest the Confederate defenders of Petersburg, the battle lines of both sides settled into a stalemate. Since Cold Harbor, Lieut. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant was reluctant to mount a large frontal attack against well-entrenched Confederates. By late June, Grant's lines covered most of the eastern approaches to Petersburg, but neither side seemed ready to risk an offensive move. Determined to break the stalemate, Grant agreed to plans to blow up part of the Confederate def…READ MORE

Hatcher's Run

By February 1865, the stalemate around Petersburg had entered its eighth month. Lieut. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant began to stretch the Union battle lines to the west in an attempt to get Gen. Robert E. Lee's under strength army to do the same. On February 5th, Union Brig. Gen. David Gregg's cavalry division rode out to the Boydton Plank Road via Reams Station and Dinwiddie Court House in an attempt to intercept Confederate supply trains. Maj. Gen. Gouverneur K. Warren with the Fifth Corps crossed Hatcher's Run…READ MORE

Fort Stedman

By March of 1865, Lieut. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's grip on the Confederate lines around Petersburg was having its desired effect. Outnumbered and weakened by disease, desertion and shortage of food and supplies, Gen. Robert E. Lee had few options. After careful study of the Union troops in his sector of the line, Maj. Gen. John B. Gordon suggested to Lee the possibility of a successful offensive strike against Grant. In front of Gordon's men, Union-held Fort Stedman seemed the best target for a Confederate a…READ MORE