The American Civil War - Chronologically

January 14, 1862  Confederate occupation of Romney Romney, WV Maj. Gen. Banks (V Corps) and Brig. Gen. Rosecrans > Kelley ( Union Gen. Frederick W. Lander’s forces evacuated Romney on January 10 as Jackson approached) vs. Maj. Gen. Jackson and Loring's Division plus Col. Ashby's raiders  *  Union retreated from Romney on January 10, and Jackson entered and occupied the town on January 14 * There is an insurrection amongst discontented officers in Loring's Division who are left to occupy Romney while Jackson departs with his Stonewall Brigade. Jackson and Loring really get into it with blaming each other for the Romney Campaign's collapse. Joe Johnston has to persuade snowflake Jackson not to resign and go back to VMI.  * The Union moves back in when Loring departs against Jackson's wishes/orders   Romney, WV https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=159294 Jackson's Headquarters John B. White House —Jackson's Bath-Romney Campaign — On January 1, 1862, Confederate G...

Jan. 11-13, 1862 Burnside Expedition Crossing Hatteras Bar  Hatteras, North Carolina * I really came all the way down here for the bombardment of Fort Hatteras and Clark in 1861, but while here... * This is the same parking lot for the Graveyard of the Atlantic museum that holds the markers for 1861 bombardments and the loss of the Monitor. Here is the furthest point South I have travelled yet (excluding the trip to Louisiana) in exploring the Eastern Theatre of the war. This stop was part of my successful 1861 Completist Tour in the Summer of 2025.  * The other side of this marker gets its own page, another date during the Burnside Expedition. More on that later.  https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=135883 Burnside's Expedition Crossing Hatteras Bar On January 11, 1862, the Burnside Expedition left for Fort Monroe, Virginia destined for Hatteras Inlet 120 miles to the south. Two days later, the fleet of over eighty vessels was struck by a strong Northeaster while crossing Hatt...

Jan. 7, 1862  The Battle of Blue's Gap; or The Battle of Hanging Rock Gap  Hanging Rock; east of Romney, WV Gen. Kelley > Col. Dunning (5th Ohio Regiment); Gen. Milroy > Capt. Lacey (32nd Ohio regiment)  vs. Maj. Gen. Jackson > Capt. Sheets * "On January 7, an advance guard of Confederates was defeated by about 2,000 Federals under Colonel Dunning at Blue's Gap."   https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=203986 * This marker itself is the first hit when searching for "Blue's Gap Battle" online - so that's something * This is not the 1863 battle of Cumberland Gap This site has got a blurb from Harper's Weekly about this early, little battle: And this has got the whole page from Harper's: And this gives us this: Wheeling Intelligencer January 8, 1862 Exciting News from Romney! Rout of the Rebels from Blue's Gap! Fifteen Rebels Killed and Twenty Prisoners Taken. Lieut. Col. John G. Kelley, who is now in the city, yesterday received the follow...

1862-1865 Niblett's Bluff Vinton, Louisiana * Yes, this is a violation of my stated intention to focus on the Eastern Theater.    " Although no bloody battles were fought here, thirty ["]heroes["] were struck down by disease and their graves bear silent testimony to those grim days of the South." I don't know what's more disturbing: that they were founded in 2000 or that they reenact a battle that never happened. I'm not sure if the p rehistoric stonecutters have any direct connection to the Lost Cause worshippers, others than sharing the same idyllic spot along the river.  "Niblett's Bluff was a trading post and a prominent stop-over on the Old Spanish Trail long before the War. A man named Niblett operated a store near the banks of the Sabine River and his name was given to the settlement in the early 1830s. The old cemetery here numbers many graves more than 100 years old. The Bluff was a large shipping port during the War. Many cargoes w...

Jan. 1862 Camp Northwest established near Huntersville, WV * Something special for me personally here: the farthest I have ever travelled for a Civil War marker - so far!. Ironically, considering the camp's name, this is the point furthest south in West Virginia I have ever driven to - 280 miles from home. Staring at this distant, isolated point on the map, I wasn't sure I would be able to make it in the time I had. But spending a night outside Beverly made it possible, and I was still able to drive home the next night. Perhaps it should go without saying, but WV is easier to visit in summer!  * See also "September 12–15, 1861 - Battle of Cheat Mountain / Camp Elkwater" for when Loring had his basecamp just north of here in late summer of 1861  https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=58226 Camp Northwest Jackson’s Huntersville Line  Huntersville (three miles northwest of here) in January 1862. Camp Northwest became Confederate Col. William L. Jackson’s headquarters and a supply...

Dec. 20, 1861 Battle of Dranesville Fairfax County, VA Union Brig. Gen. Edward O.C. Ord w/ a brigade of Pennsylvania Reserves vs. Confederate Gen. JEB Stuart w/ a mixed brigade of infantry, 150 cavalry troopers, and a four-gun Georgia Battery * "First Federal Victory South of the Potomac" * Some say this is the first time anywhere (in the Eastern Theatre) that the Union succeeds in driving off Confederates. The sign says, it is the "Federals['] first tactical success against Confederates in Virginia," which I will allow because I read it as implicitly acknowledging Federal successes in West[ern] Virginia, before this small but morale-raising victory.    * Definitely the Last Battle of the First Year of the War- 1861 https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=115854 " In the fall of 1861, Fairfax County found itself between two large armies. Confederate Gen. Joseph E. Johnston and his army occupied the Centreville area. The Federal army, still regrouping after the devast...

Dec. 13, 1861 Battle of Camp Allegheny; or the Battle of Alleghany Mountain (Colonial English spelling) Pocahontas County, WV (Monongahela National Forest)  Milroy vs. Johnson * Highest Civil War battlefield in the East [Confirmed!] " Early in the war, Confederate military planners were forced to assume a strategic defensive strategy in areas where they could not bring superior numbers of forces to bear against their Union foe. They found it critical to control or at least monitor all possible avenues of approach by Union forces into the Confederate interior. These included the overland routes through the Appalachian Mountains of western Virginia. I n December 1861, a Confederate force under Col. Edward Johnson was assigned to occupy the summit of Allegheny Mountain near the town of Bartow to defend the Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike , which connected the upper Shenandoah River valley with the Ohio River. Union victories that summer at Rich Mountain and Corrick's Ford had sol...