The American Civil War - Chronologically

May 24, 1861 The Marshall House Incident  Alexandria, VA * " first two deaths from violence, representing each side of the national conflict, during the American Civil War." "In the early morning hours of May 24, 1861, the day after a public referendum in Virginia supported secession from the United States, Alexandria was invaded by Union forces crossing the Potomac. Colonel Elmer E. Ellsworth, the young commander of the 11th New York Fire Zouaves taking part in the invasion was a close confidant and friend of President Abraham Lincoln. Within minutes of arriving in the city, Ellsworth attempted to remove a secessionist flag from the rooftop flagpole of the Marshall House hostelry that once stood at this corner. As he descended the stairs after successfully removing the flag, proprietor James W. Jackson emerged from the shadows and killed Ellsworth with a gunshot to the chest at point blank range. Jackson himself was then immediately shot and bayoneted by Corporal Franci...

May 22, 1861 Grafton, VA (today WV) Fetterman Bridge - Private Thornsbury Bailey Brown shot "first enlisted Union soldier killed by a Confederate"; "first casualty of enemy fire"? -  Northwest Virginia Railroad joins the B&O here, so in May Union troops poured in to  protect https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=4547

 May 18, 1861 - Romney, WV https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=58656 Hampshire County Courthouse Secession and Occupation On May 23, 1861, Virginians voted in a statewide referendum to approve or disapprove the Ordinance of Secession that the convention in Richmond had passed on April 17. Here at the Hampshire County Courthouse, 1,188 out of 2,635 eligible voters approved and 788 disapproved secession. Virginia seceded from the Union, and the Hampshire County Committee of Safety voted to raise $10,000 to support the Confederate war effort. Although Hampshire County became part of the new state of West Virginia, county residents generally sided with the Confederacy during the war. On May 18, 1861, two local militia companies, the Hampshire Guards and the Frontier Riflemen, left Romney to join other Confederate units training at Harpers Ferry. During the course of the war, Hampshire County raised thirteen Confederate companies and only one for the Union. After the war, on September 26, 186...

Philippi May 29, 1861 - June 1, 1861 Battle of Aquia Creek Stafford County, Virginia Union Navy gunboats: USS Thomas Freeborn of the Federal Potomac Flotilla under Commander James H. Ward, then with the USS Anacostia and USS Resolute, then with USS Pawnee    vs Confederate shore batteries on the Potomac River under Captain William F. Lynch of the VA State Navy  * "First significant battle of the Civil War between the U.S. Navy and batteries of the Rebel State." * "S ite of one of the war’s earliest military engagements" * " Each side inflicted little damage and no serious casualties on the other. The Union vessels were unable to dislodge the Confederates from their positions or to inflict serious casualties on their garrisons or serious damage to their batteries. The Confederates manning the batteries were unable to inflict serious casualties on the Union sailors or cause serious damage to the Union vessels.  " * A few days later Commander Ward becomes th...

May 1862 Union Camp Hamilton Opens (in Virginia) Hampton, VA  On my way to Fort Monroe from Maryland's Eastern Shore... https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=10479 Here stood the U.S. Army’s first camp on Virginia soil after secession , built in May 1861. Only the Veteran’s Cemetery on County Street remains of this entrenched camp. The influx of soldiers at Fort Monroe prompted the commander, Lt. Col. Justin Dimick, to secure a better water supply by dispatching elements of the 4th Massachusetts Infantry to Mill Creek Bridge as well as the Segar and Clark farms here. Outraged local Confederate volunteers  “swore vengeance on Massachusetts troops for the Invasion of Virginia.”  Cavalry picket Dr. William R. Vaughan confronted Dimick and demanded,  “By what right does your army cross that bridge and invade the sacred soil of Virginia?”  Dimick replied,  “By God, sir, might makes right!”  The local Confederate commander, Lt. Col. Richard S. Ewell, ordered his sma...