Illinois 17th Infantry (Union)

Belmont

The Battle of Belmont was fought on November 7, 1861 in Missouri pitting Ulysses S Grant against Leonidas PolkREAD MORE

ColonelLeonard F. Ross

CaptainHenry H. Bush

MajorFrancis M. Smith

ColonelIsham N. Haynie

ColonelLeonard F. Ross

ColonelWilliam R. Morrison

ColonelWilliam R. Morrison

Fort Donelson

Early in the war, Union commanders realized control of the major rivers would be the key to success in the Western Theater.READ MORE

Lieutenant ColonelEnos P. Wood

MajorFrancis M. Smith

ColonelJulius Raith

Lieutenant ColonelEnos P. Wood

ColonelJulius Raith

Shiloh

On the morning of April 6, 1862, 40,000 Confederate soldiers under the command of Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston poured out of the nearby woods and struck the encamped divisions of Union soldiers occupying ground near Pittsburg Landing on the Tennessee River.READ MORE

Thompson's Station

On March 5, 1863, Thompson's Station, Tennessee, was a no-man's-land. It stood in the center of a battle line that stretched 1,100 miles, from the cavalry-strewn banks of Virginia's Rappahannock River to the blue-clad battalions snaking their way down the Mississippi and beyond. The coming summer would shape the nation's destiny as much as any other single season in American history. Here in Tennessee, the advantage was anyone's for the taking.READ MORE

Port Gibson

On April 30, 1863, Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's army crossed the Mississippi River at Bruinsburg, 30 miles south of his objective of Vicksburg. Grant hoped to move east toward the capital at Jackson to block the Confederate army there under Gen. Joseph E. Johnston from reinforcing Vicksburg. Port Gibson, ten miles east of Bruinsburg on the Bayou Pierre River, commanded the best approach routes and was the first Federal objective. A Confederate force there was commanded by Maj. Gen. John S. Bowen. Grant's A…READ MORE

Raymond

On May 12th, 1863, after days of hard marching towards Jackson, Mississippi, Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant fought to secure the crossings of Fourteenmile Creek southwest of Raymond, which would provide a vital water source for his men and animals and serve as a staging area for a strike on the Confederate rail supply line between Clinton and Edwards, Mississippi. Cutting the railroad here would cut off supplies to Grant's ultimate goal, the Mississippi River city of Vicksburg 30 miles to the west. At around…READ MORE

Champion Hill

The Battle of Champion Hill was the largest and bloodiest action of Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's Vicksburg Campaign.READ MORE

Big Black River Bridge

Reeling from their defeat at Champion Hill and heading west toward Vicksburg, the Confederates reached Big Black River Bridge, the night of May 16-17th. Lt. Gen. John C. Pemberton ordered Brig. Gen. John S. Bowen, with three brigades, to man the fortifications on the east bank of the river and impede any Union pursuit. Three divisions of Maj. Gen. John A. McClernand's Thirteenth Corps moved out from Edwards Station on the morning of the 17th. They encountered the Confederates behind breastworks and took co…READ MORE

Lieutenant ColonelFrancis M. Smith

Brigadier GeneralJohn Dunlap Stevenson

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