United States 4th Infantry (Union)

ColonelRobert C. Buchanan

Seven Pines

Gen. Joseph E. Johnston withdrew his army from the Virginia Peninsula toward the Confederate capital of Richmond as Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan's army pursued him. By the end of May, Johnston held a defensive position seven miles east of the city on the Richmond and York River Railroad. McClellan's army facing Johnston straddled the Chickahominy River and stretched south. Capturing the initiative from his Union foe, Johnston attempted to overwhelm two Federal corps isolated south of the river. The Confed…READ MORE

CaptainHiram Dryer

Lieutenant ColonelRobert C. Buchanan

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

Brigadier GeneralRomeyn B. Ayres

Major GeneralGeorge Sykes

Chancellorsville

On April 27, 1863, Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker launched a turning movement designed to pry Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia out of its lines at Fredericksburg.READ MORE

LieutenantSamuel S. Elder

CaptainJames M. Robertson

CaptainJulius W. Adams

Jr.

ColonelHannibal Day

Brigadier GeneralRomeyn B. Ayres

Gettysburg

In the summer of 1863, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee launched his second invasion of the Northern states. Lee sought to capitalize on recent Confederate victories and defeat the Union army on Northern soil, which he hoped would force the Lincoln administration to negotiate for peace. Lee also sought to take the war out of the ravaged Virginia farmland and gather supplies for his Army of Northern Virginia. Using the Shenandoah Valley as cover for his army, Lee was pursued first by Union Maj. Gen. Joseph Ho…READ MORE

CaptainCharles H. Brightly

ColonelJacob P. Gould

ColonelSumner Carruth

Brigadier GeneralThomas G. Stevenson

CaptainCharles H. Brightly

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

Brigadier GeneralJames Ledlie

ColonelJacob P. Gould

Lieutenant ColonelStephen M. Weld Jr.

Brigadier GeneralThomas G. Stevenson

ColonelDaniel Leasure

Major GeneralThomas L. Crittenden

Brigadier GeneralThomas G. Stevenson

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

CaptainSamuel S. Elder

ColonelSamuel A. Duncan Col John W. Ames

Brigadier GeneralCharles J. Paine

ColonelSamuel A. Duncan Col John W. Ames

Lieutenant ColonelRichard H. Jackson

Major GeneralAlfred H. Terry

Lieutenant ColonelGeorge Rogers

ColonelJohn W. Ames

Brigadier GeneralCharles J. Paine

Second Fort Fisher

By January 1865, Fort Fisher on the North Carolina shore was the last coastal stronghold of the Confederacy. The fort protected blockade running vessels entering and departing Wilmington, the South's last open seaport on the Atlantic coast. Maj. Gen. Alfred Terry was placed in command of a Provisional Corps from the Army of the James, and was supported by a Navy and Marine Corps force of nearly 60 vessels under Rear Adm. David D. Porter. Terry's orders were to renew operations against the fort that had fai…READ MORE