TEN BLOODIEST BATTLES

OF THE CIVIL WAR

HARRYB2018
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Battle of Fort
Donelson
• Date of battle ; February 11, 1862–
February 16, 1862.
• Number of casualties ; For the
confederate , 327 people were killed
, 1,127 got wounded and 12,392
were captured or went missing .For
the union , 507 got killed 1,976 got
wounded and 208 were captured or
went missing.
• Generals ; Ulysses S. Grant , Andrew
H. Foote , Simon Bolivar , Gideon J.
Pillow and John B. Floyd
• The union won the battle .

BLOODIEST BATTLES OF THE CIVIL WAR

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Battle of Fort Donelson

 Early in the war, the Union realized control of the major rivers would be the key to success in the Western Theater. After
capturing Fort Henry on the Tennessee River on February 6, 1862, Brig. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant advanced 12 miles cross-
country to invest Fort Donelson on the Cumberland River. By February 13th, Grant had surrounded the fort with about
25,000 men, and had conducted several small attacks to probe the fort's defenses. Inside and around the fort, Confederate
commander Brig. Gen. John B. Floyd led a garrison of three divisions of about 16,000 infantry and cavalry. Union Navy
gunboats attempted to reduce the fort on February 14th but were beaten back by heavier Confederate artillery from the
fort.
 On the morning of the 15th, the Confederates launched a surprise attack on the right flank of Grant's lines outside the fort.
Grant counterattacked in the afternoon, and despite some success, Floyd ordered his men to fall back inside the fort. The
next day, Floyd and some other senior commanders and a few men escaped the fort, turning over command to Gen. Simon
Bolivar Buckner, a pre-war friend of Grant. Later that day, Buckner reluctantly surrendered the remaining garrison
unconditionally to his old friend. The capture of Fort Donelson was a major victory for Grant and a catastrophe for the
South. It helped ensure that Kentucky would stay in the Union and opened up Tennessee for Union advances up the
Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers. Grant received a promotion to major general for his victory and attained stature in the
Western Theater, earning the nom de guerre “Unconditional Surrender.”

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Battle of Shiloh
• Date of battle : April 6 – 7, 1862 .
• Number of casualties : For the union
, 1,754 were killed ,8,408 were
wounded , 2,885 captured got
captured or went missing. For the
confederate , 728 were killed ,
8,012 got wounded and 959 were
captured or went missing.
• Generals : Ulysses S. Grant , Don
Carlos Buell , Albert Sidney Johnston
, Pierre Gustave Toutant-Beauregard
.
• The union won the war .

BLOODIEST BATTLES OF THE CIVIL WAR

 Battle of Shiloh 5

 The battle of Shiloh began on the morning of April 6, 1862, where Forty thousand 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. The overpowering Confederate
attack drove the unprepared Federal soldiers from their camps and threatened to overwhelm Maj. Gen. Ulysses S.
Grant’s entire Army of the Tennessee. Some Federals made determined stands, and by afternoon, had established a
battle line at a sunken road, known as the “Hornet's Nest.” Repeated Rebel attacks failed to carry the Hornet's
Nest, but massed Union artillery helped to turn the tide as Confederates surrounded the Union troops and captured,
killed, or wounded many of them. During the first day’s fighting, Johnston was mortally wounded and was replaced
by Gen. Pierre G.T. Beauregard.
 Fighting continued until after dark, but the Union line held. By the next morning, the Federals had been reinforced
by the Army of the Ohio under Maj. Gen. Don Carlos Buell and numbered about fifty-four thousand men,
outnumbering Beauregard’s army of around thirty thousand. Grant launched a counteroffensive along the entire
line, overpowering the weakened Confederate forces and driving Beauregard’s army from the field. The
Confederate defeat ended any hopes of blocking the Union advance into northern Mississippi. The two-day battle at
Shiloh produced more than twenty-three thousand casualties and was the bloodiest battle in American history up to
that time.

BLOODIEST BATTLES OF THE CIVIL WAR

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Battle of Antietam
• Date of battle : September
17, 1862 .
• Number of casualties : For
the Union , 2,108 were
killed , 9,549 got wounded
and 753 were captured or
went missing .For the
confederate , 1,567 were
killed 7,752 got wounded
and 1,018 were captured or
went missing .
• Generals : George B.
McClellan , Robert E. Lee .
• The union won the battle .

BLOODIEST BATTLES OF THE CIVIL WAR

 7
Battle of Antietam

 On September 16, 1862, Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan and his Union Army of the Potomac confronted
Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia at Sharpsburg, Maryland. At dawn on September 17, Maj. General
Joseph Hooker’s Union corps mounted a powerful assault on Lee’s left flank that began the Battle of
Antietam, and the single bloodiest day in American military history. Repeated Union attacks, and equally
vicious Confederate counterattacks, swept back and forth across Miller’s cornfield and the West Woods.
 Despite the great Union numerical advantage, Stonewall Jackson’s forces near the Dunker Church would
hold their ground this bloody morning. Meanwhile, towards the center of the battlefield, Union assaults
against the Sunken Road would pierce the Confederate center after a terrible struggle for this key defensive
position. Unfortunately for the Union army this temporal advantage in the center was not followed up with
further advances.

BLOODIEST BATTLES OF THE CIVIL WAR

 8
Battle of Antietam

 Late in the day, Maj. General Ambrose Burnside’s corps pushed across a bullet-strewn stone bridge over
Antietam Creek and with some difficulty managed to imperil the Confederate right. At a crucial moment,
A.P. Hill’s division arrived from Harpers Ferry, and counterattacked, driving back Burnside and saving the day
for the Army of Northern Virginia. Despite being outnumbered two-to-one, Lee committed his entire force at
the Battle of Antietam, while McClellan sent in less than three-quarters of his Federal force. McClellan’s
piecemeal approach to the battle failed to fully leverage his superior numbers and allowed Lee to shift
forces from threat to threat.
 During the night, both armies tended to their wounded and consolidated their lines. In spite of crippling
casualties, Lee continued to skirmish with McClellan on the 18th, while removing his wounded south of the
Potomac. McClellan, much to the chagrin of Abraham Lincoln, did not vigorously pursue the wounded
Confederate army. While the Battle of Antietam is considered a draw from a military point of view, Abraham
Lincoln and the Union claimed victory. This hard-fought battle, which drove Lee’s forces from Maryland,
would give Lincoln the “victory” that he needed before delivering the Emancipation Proclamation .

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Second Battle of Bull
Run
• Date of battle : August 28–30,
1862.
• Number of casualties : For the
union , 1,747 were killed ,
8,452 got wounded and 4,263
were captured or went
missing. For the confederate ,
1,096 were killed and 6,202
got wounded.
• Generals ; John Pope , Robert
E. Lee
• The confederate won the
battle .

BLOODIEST BATTLES OF THE CIVIL WAR

 Second Battle of Bull Run 10

 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. His trusted and
highly capable "wing" commanders, Maj. Gen. "Stonewall" Jackson and Lieut. Gen. James Longstreet, brought Lee's
army within 35 miles of the Union capital by the end of August. Jackson, who had burned the Federal supply depot
at Manassas Junction on August 27th, waited for the arriving Union army just west of the old Bull Run battlefield.
Longstreet, trailing Jackson, fought his way eastward through Thoroughfare Gap the next day. In order to draw Maj.
Gen. John Pope’s new Union Army of Virginia into battle, Jackson ordered an attack on a Federal column that was
passing across his front on the Warrenton Turnpike late on the 28th.
 The fighting there at Brawner Farm lasted several hours and resulted in a stalemate. Pope became convinced he
had trapped Jackson and concentrated the bulk of his army against him. On the 29th, Pope launched a series of
assaults against Jackson’s position along an unfinished railroad grade. The attacks were repulsed with heavy
casualties on both sides. At noon, Longstreet arrived on the field and took position on Jackson’s right flank. The
afternoon of the 30th, Pope renewed his attacks, seemingly unaware that Longstreet was on the field. When
massed Confederate artillery devastated a Union assault by Maj. Gen. Fitz John Porter’s Fifth Corps, Longstreet’s
wing of 28,000 men counterattacked in the largest, simultaneous mass assault of the war. The Union left flank was
crushed and the army driven back to Bull Run. Only an effective Union rearguard action prevented a replay of the
First Manassas disaster.

BLOODIEST BATTLES OF THE CIVIL WAR

 Battle of Stones 11
River

• Date of battle : December

31, 1862 – January 2, 1863.
• Number of casualties : For
the Union , 1,677 were killed
, 7,543 got wounded and
3,686 were captured or went
missing . For the
Confederate , 1,294 were
killed , 7,945 got wounded
and 2,500 were captured or
went missing .
• Generals : William Rosecrans
, Braxton Bragg .
• The union won the battle .

BLOODIEST BATTLES OF THE CIVIL WAR

 12
Battle of Stones River

 After his October 1862 defeat at Perryville in Kentucky, Gen. Braxton Bragg withdrew his army into central
Tennessee and resupplied his men near Murfreesboro. Although his Army of Tennessee had received reinforcements,
Bragg seemed hesitant to conduct offensive operations. The Union Army of the Cumberland, now commanded by
Maj. Gen. William Rosecrans, also loitered in mid-Tennessee and resupplied around Nashville. Rosecrans received
orders to move against Bragg, and finally did so in late December. Moving south, the Union force met the
Confederates along Stones River just north of Murfreesboro. On December 31st, both commanders made plans to
attack his opponents right flank, but Bragg struck first, pulverizing the Union right with two veteran divisions and
driving it back three miles.
 Heavy fighting on both sides ensued as Bragg bent Rosecrans' line around nearly into a circle. Rosecrans held on
during the night and into January 1st, and false reports indicating a Union retreat kept Bragg in place also. On
January 2nd, Rosecrans still stubbornly held his ground. Maj. Gen. John Breckinridge's division attacked the Union
left late that afternoon and nearly achieved a breakthrough, but massed artillery broke up the assault. Both sides
held their ground as the fighting ended on January 3rd. Although the battle was a tactical draw, the Union repulse
of two attacks and the arrival of reinforcements made Bragg’s position untenable and dashed Confederate
aspirations for control of Middle Tennessee. Bragg retreated on January 3rd, granting the North a valuable strategic
victory in the middle of an otherwise dismal winter.
BLOODIEST BATTLES OF THE CIVIL WAR
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Battle of Chancellorsville

• Date of battle : April 30 – May

6, 1863 .
• Number of casualties : For the
union , 1,606 were killed ,
9,762 got wounded and 5,919
were captured or went missing
. For the confederate , 1,665
were killed , 9,081 got
wounded and 2,018 were
captured or went missing .
• Generals : Joseph Hooker ,
Robert E. Lee Stonewall
Jackson .
• The confederate won the war .

BLOODIEST BATTLES OF THE CIVIL WAR

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Battle of Chancellorsville

 Major Gen. Joseph Hooker’s well-executed crossing of the Rappahannock River fords above
Fredericksburg on April 30, 1863 placed most of his rejuvenated and reorganized Army of the Potomac
on General Robert E. Lee’s vulnerable flank. Rather than retreat before this sizable Federal force, Lee
opted to attack Hooker while he was still within the thick undergrowth of the Wilderness. After
making contact with General Robert E. Lee on May 1st along the Orange Turnpike east of the
Chancellor house, Hooker pulled his men back and surrendered the initiative to Lee. Late that night,
General Robert E. Lee and Gen. "Stonewall" Jackson conceived one of the boldest plans of the war.
 Gen. "Stonewall” Jackson, with the company of thirty thousand Confederates, would follow a
circuitous route to the Union right and from there conduct an attack on that exposed flank. The May
2nd flank attack stunned the Union Eleventh Corps and threatened Hooker’s position, but the
victorious Confederate attack ended with the accidental mortal wounding of Jackson. On May 3rd, the
Confederates resumed their offensive and drove Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker’s larger army back to a new
defensive line nearer the fords that held for two days. Swinging east, General Robert E. Lee then
defeated a separate Federal force near Salem Church that had threatened his rear. Having divided
and successfully fought his outnumbered army four times in the face of superior numbers, General
Robert E. Lee's victory at Chancellorsville is widely considered to be his greatest of the entire war.
BLOODIEST BATTLES OF THE CIVIL WAR
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Battle of Stones River

• Date of battle : July 1–3,

1863 .
• Number of casualties : For
the union , 3,155 were
killed , 14,529 were
wounded and 5,365 were
captured or went missing.
For the confederate , an
estimated twenty eight
thousand lives were lost .
• Generals : George G. Meade
, Robert E. Lee
• The union won the war .

BLOODIEST BATTLES OF THE CIVIL WAR

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Battle of 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 Hooker, and then by Maj. Gen. George G. Meade, who
replaced Hooker in late June. Lee's army crossed into Pennsylvania mid-June, and by June 29th had reached the
Susquehanna River opposite Harrisburg and at Wrightsville. The opposing forces collided at the crossroads town of
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, on the morning of July 1st.
 In severe fighting, the Confederates swept the Federals from the fields west and north of town, but were unable to
secure Cemetery Hill and Culp's Hill to the south. The following day, as reinforcements arrived on both sides, Lee
attacked the Federals on the heights, and also Little Round Top further south, but failed to dislodge the defenders.
On July 3rd, Lee attacked the Union center on Cemetery Ridge and was repulsed in what is now known as Pickett’s
Charge. Lee's second invasion of the North had failed, and had resulted in heavy casualties on both sides. An
estimated 51,000 soldiers were killed, wounded, captured, or listed as missing after the Battle of Gettysburg.

BLOODIEST BATTLES OF THE CIVIL WAR

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Battle of Chickamauga

• Date of battle : September

18–20, 1863 .
• Number of casualties : For the
Union , 1,657 were killed ,
9,756 were wounded and
4,757 were captured or went
missing . For the confederate
, 2,312 were killed , 14,674
got wounded and 1,468 were
captured or went missing .
• Generals : William Rosecrans
, Braxton Bragg .
• The confederates won the war
.

BLOODIEST BATTLES OF THE CIVIL WAR

 18
Battle of Chickamauga

 After the successful Tullahoma Campaign, Maj. Gen. William Rosecrans continued the Union offensive, aiming to
force Gen. Braxton Bragg’s Confederate army out of Chattanooga. Through a series of skillful marches towards the
Confederate-held city, Rosecrans forced Bragg out of Chattanooga and into Georgia. Determined to reoccupy the
city, Bragg followed the Federals north, brushing with Rosecrans’ army at Davis’ Cross Roads. While they marched
on September 18th, his cavalry and infantry skirmished with Union mounted infantry, who were armed with state-
of-the-art Spencer repeating rifles. Fighting began in earnest on the morning of the 19th near Chickamauga Creek.
Bragg’s men heavily assaulted Rosecrans’ line, but the Union line held.
 Fighting resumed the following day. That afternoon, eight fresh brigades from the Army of Northern Virginia under
Lieut. Gen. James Longstreet exploited gap in the Federal line, driving one-third of the Rosecrans’ army, including
Rosecrans himself, from the field. Only a portion of the Federal army under Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas, staved
off disaster by holding Horseshoe Ridge against repeated assaults, allowing the Yankees withdraw after nightfall.
For this action, Thomas earned the nickname “the Rock of Chickamauga.” The defeated Union troops retreated to
Chattanooga where they remained until late November. Chickamauga is known as one of the bloodiest battles in the
Western Theater.

BLOODIEST BATTLES OF THE CIVIL WAR

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Battle of the Wilderness

• Date of battle : May 5–7, 1864

.
• Number of casualties : For the
union , 2,246 were
killed,12,037 were wounded
and 3,383 were captured or
went missing .
• Generals : Ulysses S. Grant ,
George G. Meade.
• The battle was a draw ,
however the union’s general
continued his offensive .

BLOODIEST BATTLES OF THE CIVIL WAR

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Battle of the Wilderness

 The opening battle of Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant’s sustained offensive against General Robert E. Lee's Army of
Northern Virginia, known as the Overland Campaign, was fought in an area of dense wooded undergrowth known locally as
the Wilderness. On the morning of May 5, 1864, the Union Fifth Corps attacked Richard S. Ewell’s Corps on the Orange
Turnpike, while A.P. Hill’s Corps during the afternoon encountered George W. Getty’s Division of the Sixth Corps and most of
Winfield S. Hancock’s Second Corps on the Plank Road. Fighting was fierce but inconclusive as both sides attempted to
maneuver in the dense woods. Darkness halted the fighting, and both sides rushed forward reinforcements.
 At dawn on May 6th, Hancock attacked along the Plank Road, driving Hill’s Corps back in confusion. Lt. Gen. James
Longstreet’s Corps arrived in time to prevent the collapse of the Confederate right flank. At noon, a devastating Confederate
flank attack in Hamilton’s Thicket sputtered out when Longstreet was accidentally wounded by his own men. Ambrose E.
Burnside's Ninth Corps moved against the Confederate center, but was repulsed. Union generals James S. Wadsworth and
Alexander Hays were killed. Confederate generals John M. Jones, Micah Jenkins, and Leroy A. Stafford were killed. The
battle was a tactical draw. Grant, however, did not retreat as had the other Union generals before him, instead promising
Secretary of War Edwin Stanton to "fight it out on this line if it takes all summer". On May 7th, the Federals advanced
southward toward the crossroads of Spotsylvania Courthouse, where the bloody campaign would continue.

BLOODIEST BATTLES OF THE CIVIL WAR

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Battle of
Spotsylvania

• Date of the battle : May 8–21,

1864 .
• Number of casualties : For the
union 2,725 were killed, 13,416
were wounded , and 2,258
were captured or went missing .
For the confederate , 1,515
were killed, 5,414 were
wounded and 5,758 were
captured or went missing .
• Generals : Ulysses S. Grant ,
George G. Meade and Robert E.
Lee .
• The battle was indecisive .

BLOODIEST BATTLES OF THE CIVIL WAR

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Battle of Spotsylvania

 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 Hill near the road to the Court
House. The Rebels were able to hold the hill and extend their lines further east into a salient known as the Mule
Shoe. On May 10th, Grant attacked both Laurel Hill and the Mule Shoe with elements of three Union army corps.
 An innovative, compact, 12-regiment attacking column led by Colonel Emory Upton nearly achieved success
against the heavily entrenched Confederates but was beaten back. Grant added Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside's
Ninth Corps to the fight, adding pressure to the Confederate right flank. On the 11th, Grant and Lee consolidated
their lines. At 4:30 am on the 12th, the Union Second Corps under Maj. Gen. Winfield S. Hancock attacked the
Mule Shoe salient in some of the most violent fighting of the war. Burnside on the left and Warren on the right
attacked as well. Timely Confederate reinforcements constructed a new defensive line at the base of the Mule
Shoe. Bloody hand-to-hand fighting continued until the Confederates withdrew early on the 13th. Grant shifted
his lines again and attacked again on the 18th. Lee withdrew to the North Anna River the night of May 20th,
beginning the next phase of the Overland Campaign.
BLOODIEST BATTLES OF THE CIVIL WAR
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REFRERENCES

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the most lethal top ten rankings of the Civil War. Place of publication not identified: Sourcebooks.

 Johnson, C. (2013). Civil War Blunders: Amusing Incidents From the War. La Vergne: Blair.

 Flagel, T. R., TotalBoox,, & TBX,. (2010). History Buff's Guide to the Civil War. Sourcebooks.

 Coleman, W. S. (2017). Discovering Gettysburg: An unconventional introduction to the greatest little town in
America and the monumental battle that made it famous.

 Waugh, J., & Gallagher, G. W. (2009). Wars within a War: Controversy and Conflict over the American Civil War.
Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press.

 Elson, H. (1912). The Civil War Through the Camera - Hundreds of Vivid Photographs Actually Taken in Civil War
Times - Together with Elson's New History in Sixteen Parts Comprising a Complete History of the Civil War - Each
part a thrilling story in itself. In every part the full account of one or more of the word's great battles. Part Ten -
Chickamauga- The Bloodiest Conflict in the West, Battles on Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge. Springfield,
MA: Patriot Pub. Co.