Virginia 22nd Infantry (Confederate)

Carnifex Ferry

On September 10, 1861, Union troops led by Brig. Gen. William S. Rosecrans engaged the Confederates and forced them to evacuate an entrenched position on the Henry Patterson farm, which overlooked Carnifex Ferry. The Confederate commander, Brig. Gen. John B. Floyd, retreated across the ferry to the south side of the Gauley River and on eastward to Meadow Bluff near Lewisburg. This Civil War battle represented failure of a Confederate drive to regain control of the Kanawha Valley. As a result the movement f…READ MORE

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

Major GeneralA.P. Hill

Brigadier GeneralCharles W. Field

ColonelJohn M. Brockenbrough

Major GeneralAmbrose P. Hill

Brigadier GeneralCharles W. Field

ColonelJohn M. Brockenbrough

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

MajorEdward P. Tayloe

Lieutenant ColonelEdward P. Tayloe

Major GeneralA. P. Hill

Brigadier GeneralHenry Heth

ColonelJohn M. Brockenbrough

Brigadier GeneralHenry Heth

Brigadier GeneralJames J. Archer

Brigadier GeneralWilliam D. Pender

Major GeneralAmbrose P. Hill

Brigadier GeneralHenry Heth

Brigadier GeneralWilliam D. Pender

MajorJohn S. Bowles

ColonelJohn M. Brockenbrough

ColonelRobert M. Mayo

Brigadier GeneralJames J. Pettigrew

Major GeneralHenry Heth

Major GeneralHenry Heth

Brigadier GeneralJames J. Pettigrew

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

Droop Mountain

Droop Mountain is one of West Virginia's largest and last important Civil War battles. The battle was fought on November 6, 1863 between the Union army of Gen. William Averell and the Confederate army of Gen. John Echols. Echols's army was pushed south into Virginia and never regained control of southeastern West Virginia.READ MORE

Brigadier GeneralHenry H. Walker

Major GeneralHenry Heth

Brigadier GeneralHenry H. Walker

ColonelRobert M. Mayo

Brigadier GeneralHenry H. Walker

New Market

In conjunction with other spring 1864 offensives against strategic points in the Confederacy, Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant ordered Maj. Gen. Franz Sigel to move up the Shenandoah Valley along the Valley Turnpike to destroy the railroad and canal complex at Lynchburg. Union control of the strategic and agriculturally rich valley was a crucial part of Grant's plans. Receiving word that the Union Army had entered the valley, Maj. Gen. John C. Breckinridge pulled together all available troops to repulse the invad…READ MORE

Totopotomoy Creek

Operations along Totopotomoy Creek northeast of Richmond opened with cavalry combat at the Pamunkey River crossing at Dabney's Ferry (near Hanovertown) and at Crump's Creek on May 27th. During the cavalry fight at Haw's Shop on May 28th, Union and Confederate infantry arrived in the vicinity and the Confederates entrenched behind Totopotomoy Creek. On the 29th, the Union army Second, Ninth, and Fifth Corps probed Lee's position along the creek, while the Sixth Corps felt its way toward Hanover Court House.…READ MORE

Brigadier GeneralBirkett D. Fry

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

Lynchburg

The Union threat forced Robert E. Lee to dispatch General Jubal Early with his Second Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia to defend Lynchburg. On June 17 and 18, the opposing forces clashed, resulting in a Union retreat all the way into West Virginia, leaving the Valley open for another Confederate advance into the North.READ MORE

Monocacy

After marching north down the Shenandoah Valley from Lynchburg, the Confederate army of Lt. Gen. Jubal A. Early side-stepped the Federal garrison at Harpers Ferry and crossed the Potomac River at Shepherdstown into Maryland on July 5-6th, 1864. On July 9th, a makeshift Union force under Maj. Gen. Lew Wallace attempted to stop Early's invading Confederate divisions along the Monocacy River, just east of Frederick. The strategic area was near the junction of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and the Georgetown…READ MORE

Fort Stevens

After his victory over Maj. Gen. Lew Wallace at the Battle of Monocacy in central Maryland on July 9th, Confederate Maj. Gen. Jubal A. Early pressed his advantage and moved south toward the Union capital in Washington, DC. On July 11th, Early's exhausted Confederates reached the outskirts of Washington near Silver Spring. Skirmishers advanced to feel the fortifications that encircled the city, which at the time were manned only by Home Guards, clerks, and convalescent troops. During the night, Union reinfo…READ MORE

Cool Spring

A Union column under Maj. Gen. Horatio Wright, consisting of the Sixth Corps and elements of the Nineteenth Corps, pursued Maj. Gen. Jubal Early's army as it withdrew from the environs of Washington, D.C. in the summer of 1864. Early had moved down the Shenandoah Valley, beat a Union force at Monocacy, Maryland and threatened the capital with an attack on Fort Stevens. Wright's force was joined by elements of Gen. George R. Crook's command, which had accompanied Gen. David Hunter during his retreat through…READ MORE

Second Kernstown

As the forces under Maj. Gen. Jubal Early withdrew south after the battle at Cool Spring, and believing that Early's army was no longer a threat in the Shenandoah Valley, Maj. Gen. Horatio Wright abandoned his pursuit and ordered the Sixth and Nineteenth Corps to return to Washington, where they were to be sent back to the Union army before Petersburg. Wright left Brig. Gen. George Crook with three divisions and some cavalry to hold Winchester. Under Lee's orders to prevent reinforcements from being sent t…READ MORE

ColonelRobert M. Mayo

ColonelWilliam S. Christian

Third Winchester

To clear the Shenandoah River valley of Confederates, Maj. Gen. Phil Sheridan moved on Winchester in mid-September 1864. Sheridan's force of over 39,000 men was more than twice the size of Maj. Gen. Jubal Early's Confederate army defending the valley. After Brig. Gen. Joseph Kershaw's division left Winchester to rejoin Robert E. Lee's army at Petersburg, Early renewed his raids on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad at Martinsburg in the lower valley, dispersing his four remaining infantry divisions. On Septem…READ MORE

Fisher's Hill

Confederate Maj. Gen. Jubal Early's Army of the Valley, bloodied by its defeat at the Third Battle of Winchester on September 19th, retreated 20 miles up the valley and took a defensive position in an east-west line across Fisher's Hill, southwest of Strasburg. Maj. Gen. Phillip Sheridan's Army of the Shenandoah, in accordance with Lieut. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's orders, aggressively pursued Early. Sheridan, outnumbering Early about three to one, noted that the right of the Confederate line was anchored o…READ MORE

Cedar Creek

Also known as: Cedar Creek, Belle GroveREAD MORE

Five Forks

The Union victory along the White Oak Road on March 31st threatened to destabilize the entire Confederate line west of Petersburg. General Robert E. Lee ordered Maj. Gen. George Pickett with his infantry division and the cavalry divisions of Col. Thomas Munford, Maj. Gen. W.H.F. Lee, and Maj. Gen Thomas Rosser to hold the vital crossroads of Five Forks, along the White Oak Road five miles west of the previous fighting there. Pickett's defensive line was not well constructed, and much of his cavalry force w…READ MORE