The Battle Of Bentonville : The Bentonville Battlefield Essay

Taking place in 1775, at the start of the Revolutionary War, the Battle of Bunker Hill was a needed victory early in the war to get the soldiers to believe in themselves. Many soldiers in the beginning of the war did not believe that the lowly colonists could defeat and declare independence from a superpower; Britain. Although outnumbered and with little confidence, the continental army stood their ground at the Battle of Bunker Hill and proved that they could win the war.

No other war seems to hold our focus like the Civil War. Scholars have chosen to make it their life's work, authors have written reams about it, and we all feel some kind of connection to the Civil War. This paper was created to highlight some of the major battles that took place during that conflict. Major battles usually marked a drastic change in the momentum from one side to the other or led to massive losses of troops. These battles and their results all played a huge part in the outcome of the war.

After Shiloh the South would never smile again. Known originally as the Battle of Pittsburg Landing, The Battle of Shiloh was the bloodiest battle fought in North America up to that time. Pittsburg Landing was an area from where the Yankees planned to attack the Confederates who had moved from Fort Donelson to Corinth, Mississippi. The North was commanded by General Ulysses S. Grant and the South by General Albert Sydney Johnston.

Sherman lead Union forces into battle to take control of the city of Atlanta, Georgia. This was part of a plan known as the Atlanta campaign that was constructed by Sherman under Commander in Chief Ulysses S. Grant. According to Facts on File, Inc. “Plans for the capture of Atlanta, the Confederacy’s largest railroad hub… were first formulated in February and March 1864” (2009). This was about four to five months before Sherman had led the union into Atlanta. Sherman’s plan which was revealed in April, was described to destroy railroads in order to cease the transportation of supplies that confederate troops needed, as well as make Joseph E. Johnston’s army of Confederate soldiers retreat back to Atlanta forcing them to surrender. A month after on May 5, 1864 Union soldiers attacked Confederates at Dalton, Georgia and attacked Resaca four days later. On May 12 Johnston led his soldiers to meet the Union army at Resaca where his army would battle Union soldiers from May 13 to May 15. Although Confederates had driven Union soldiers back on the second day of battle, after Johnston received reports telling him of the Unions success in gaining position he decided not to attack on the following morning and instead retreated his soldiers to Calhoun and Adairsville. Following this evacuation, Confederates were supposed to ambush Union soldiers on Cassville road, they were all positioned by May 19 in the morning, but the army retreated and waited for Union soldiers to attack

The Battle of Bull Run was the first battle fought during the Civil War. It was a bloody battle and showed both sides that this war would not be won quickly. There were a few factors that swayed the battle in favor of the Confederacy, such as terrain, weather and technology. The Confederacy was able to use railroads to transport troops to battle, which had never been done before. This allowed them to continue fighting while the Union troops were growing tired and weak. Since the battle was fought on Southern soil, the Confederacy gained the upper hand. Not only did their troops have knowledge of the terrain, they were also accustomed to the warmer, humid climate of the south. The Union also had its share of advantages, one being use of the

You might of heard of the first battle of Bull Run, but did you know a second one exists? The Second Battle of Bull Run was fought between August 28th and 30th, 1862 in the city of Manassas, Virginia. This was the second time both forces had met at Bull Run. The previous battle of Bull Run had taken place the year before and had resulted in a victory for the South. The Union army was commanded by Major General John Pope and McClellan, with General Robert E. Lee leading the Confederate army. This battle is considered one of the worst Union defeats in the Civil War.

The Battle of Shiloh is also called The Battle of Pittsburg Landing and was fought April 6-7, 1862. The battle took place in southwest Tennessee, the western theater. An army known as the Army of Tennessee, lead by Ulysses Grant, advanced into Tennessee territory by route of the Tennessee River. While they were camped deep in Tennessee territory the Confederate Army of Mississippi launched a surprise attack on General Grant and his soldiers. General Albert Sidney Johnston and his second-in-command P. G. T. Beauregard initiated the first assault on the Union troops. Unfortunately General Johnston was mortally wounded. General Beauregard decided not to continue the attack throughout the evening. In the morning Grant’s army having been reinforced

The second phase of the Battle of Shiloh starts as reinforcements from General Buell’s Army of the Ohio and a unit of Grant’s own reserve division joined the Union Army now positioned at Pittsburg Landing. These reinforcements added over 22,500 men to the Union lines13 bringing the total number of Union forces to over 45,000, which is more than they had on 6 April, the first day of fighting.14 On April 7, General Grant renewed the fighting with an aggressive counteract.15 Greatly outnumbered (Confederate forces now around 25,000) and disorganized the Confederate forces now under General Beauregard fought hard but eventually had to retreat to back Corinth.16 The second phase of the Battle of Shiloh was won by General Grant and his Union forces due to two main reasons. The first, Union troop numbers greatly outnumbered their enemy, over 45,000 to 25,000 respectively. And secondly, the reinforcements received by General Grant had not fought the day before and were fresh and excited to fight, unlike the exhausted remaining Confederate troops.17 This was the bloodiest battle fought on American soil up to that point, with 23,746 casualties (Union: 13,047; Confederate: 10,699).18 The Union lost more men but claimed the victory because the Confederate Army retreated back to Corinth, Mississippi.

“Maj. Gen. Benjamin F. Butler sent converging columns from Hampton and Newport News against advanced Confederate outposts at Little and Big Bethel.”(https://www.nps.gov/abpp/battles/va003.htm). The Confederates left Little Bethel and went back to their entrenchments near Big Bethel Church. The Federals, under the command of Brig. Gen. Ebenezer Pierce, attacked and an exchange of fire began. The unit commander of the Federals was killed, leaving the unit without a leader. They quickly became disorganized and the battle ended as a Confederate

It can be debated where exactly the Union was able to claim its victory during the War Between the States. Most people could narrow the turning point in the war to Gettysburg and Vicksburg. The battle of Gettysburg was a very tragic loss for the South, but the battle at Vicksburg was the largest victory for the North. In this lone battle, the Union created an economic problem for the South. The Union Army’s troops, helped by gunboats and river ironclads took control over the Mississippi River. This action virtually split the Confederate territory in two while also seizing control over the South 's main artery of transport. When Vicksburg fell to Union troops on July 4, 1863, the Confederacy lost its last chance to control the Mississippi River.

The battle of Fredericksburg started on December 11th and ended on December 15th 1862. The two generals that were a part of this war was general Robert E. Lee and general Ambrose Burnside. Burnside had a plan to cross the Rappahannock river at Fredericksburg in mid-November and race to the confederate capital of Richmond before lees army could stop him. But before Burnside could do that they had a problem which were pontoon bridges which gave lee enough time to move his army. They finally had time to build the bridges while they were under fire. While all that was happening the Union troops prepared to assault Confederate defensive positions south of the city and on a strongly fortified ridge just west of the city known as Marye's Heights.

On July 21, 1861, two armies, one confederate and the other Union, prepared for the first major land battle of the Civil War. In 1861 Abraham Lincoln was sworn in as President.

The Battle of Fredericksburg falls in a long list of failures of the Army of the Potomac during the first year of the American Civil War. Following the Battle of Antietam the Northern Army had the opportunity to defeat Lee’s army. However, Northerners, were shocked by Lee’s escape following this battle on 17 September 1862, and were further upset by Major General George B. McClellan’s procrastination in pursuing Lee and allowing General J.E.B. Stuarts daring cavalry raid into Pennsylvania around Gettysburg (10-12 October 1862). McClellan’s failure to pursue Lee’s Army is mainly due to his own lack of confidence, believing that he doesn’t have enough men or material in order to defeat the Army of Virginia. President Lincoln had finally

Around noon, Union and Confederate cavalry troops battled three miles east of Gettysburg but Stuart was eventually repulsed by cannon fire led in part by Gen. George Custer and the Union Cavalry. The diversion attempt failed. Back at the main battle site, just after 1 p.m. about 170 Confederate cannons opened fire on the Union position on Cemetery Ridge to pave the way for the Rebel Charge. This was the heaviest artillery barrage of the war. The Federals returned heavy cannon fire and soon the battlefield was covered in smoke and dust. Around 2:30 p.m. the Federals slowed their rate of fire, then stopped firing, to conserve ammunition and to fool the Rebels into thinking the cannons were knocked out-and that's exactly what the Rebels thought too. But as the Rebels got within range, Federal cannons opened fire using grapeshot which is a shell containing iron balls that flew apart when fired, and they also used deadly waves of rifle fire. Soon the Rebel army was torn apart but they still moved forward. Pickett’s charge was almost more after the once majestic army of 13,000 had its numbers of troops dwindle.. The Rebels still move forward, shooting then charging with bayonets. The battle lasted for about an hour mostly of hand-to-hand combat. Finally what was left of Pickett’s charge (5,500) retreated. Lee admitted this was his mistake and the tide of war now turned in the North’s favor. The Union lost (either dead, wounded, or missing) about 23,000, and the Confederates lost about

Johnston originally planned to attack Grant on April 4, but delays postponed it until the 6th. Attacking the Union troops on the morning of the 6th, the Confederates surprised them, routing many. Some Federals made determined stands and by afternoon, they had established a battle line at the sunken road, known as the "Hornets Nest." Repeated Rebel attacks failed to carry the Hornets Nest, but massed artillery helped to turn the tide as Confederates surrounded the Union troops and captured, killed, or wounded most. Johnston had been mortally wounded earlier and his second in command, Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard, took over. The Union troops established another line covering Pittsburgh Landing, anchored with artillery and augmented by Buell’s men who began to arrive and take up positions. Fighting continued until after dark, but the Federals held. By the next morning, the combined Federal forces numbered about 40,000, outnumbering Beauregard’s army of less than 30,000. Beauregard was unaware of the arrival of Buell’s army and launched a counterattack in response to a two-mile advance by William Nelson’s division of Buell’s army at 6:00 am, which was, at first, successful. Union troops stiffened and began forcing the Confederates back. Beauregard ordered a counterattack, which stopped the Union advance but did not break its battle line. At this point, Beauregard realized that he could not win and, having suffered too many