The American Civil War - Chronologically

June 26, 1862 The 7 Days: Chickahominy Bluff,  Beaver Dam Creek, Mechanicsville, Ellerson's Mill  outside Richmond, VA McClellan: McCall, then Maj. Gen. Fitz John Porter’s V Corps vs. Lee: Maj. Gen. Ambrose P. Hill’s division, plus the other Hill, Longstreet, and eventually Jackson  * Lee, outnumbered and about to be under siege, boldly goes after McClellan's isolated right flank. The Union stands strong, but retires in the night under threat.  * Second of 7 Days; First major engagement: * This "7 Days" stuff is bonkers, so try not to think too hard about it. And remember that it was seven consecutive days of battles, not seven battles. For example, this is, by my count, the second of the seven days. However, it is the first "major" battle. But what to call this pretty-major battle is anyone's guess. The first, previous day there was supposedly the battle(s) of  Oak Groves, or French's Field, or King's School - but good luck finding any marker d...

June 25, 1862 The Seven Days: Oak Grove (AKA French's Field or King's School House)  Henrico County, Virginia McClellan:  Heintzelman's III Corps ( two divisions commanded by Brig. Gens. Joseph Hooker and Philip Kearny); Dan Sickles' brigade is in there too with others. vs Lee: Huger's Division (the 26th North Carolina of Brig. Gen. Robert Ransom's brigade earns some notoriety here in their first combat engagement ) * This battle was not insignificant: it starts the "Seven Days" by most counts. However, there is no historical marker exclusively commemorating this day/battle : nothing in the database that matches these names and nothing I could find in the area on the ground. Here's what I've got: the one marker listed here out by the Richmond airport is definitely in the exact area where this battle occurred and alludes to " after the Battle of Seven Pines ," which is definitely the 7 Days, which definitely starts here and now. There...

June 20, 1862 Loudoun Rangers (Union) Muster into Service in VA (sometimes called the Independent Loudon Rangers) Lovettsville, VA in Loudoun County  Union Loyalists on the Border "It cost something to be a Union man in rebeldom." You're standing in no-man's-land during the Civil War. Lovettsville was a tense pro-Union bastion in a Confederate state , located just two miles south of the Potomac River, the border between North and South.  Lovettsville was settled by German immigrants who worked small farms, had little use for enslaved labor, and were reluctant to leave the Union. When the Lovettsville precinct voted on secession in May 1861, the vote was 325-46 against. As the Confederate government asserted control, many local Union loyalists fled to Maryland, including Samuel Means, a miller from nearby Waterford. Means was commissioned to form a Union cavalry company, the Loudon Rangers, which went into service on June 20, 1862. Half of the men in the company muster...

June 13, 1862 Stuart's Ride  Old Church, Virginia, in Hanover County I'll circle back for one of those "Stuart's Ride" markers.  And I'll get to the actual Old Church too. https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=15886 “The Old Church” Erected on this spot in 1753  Established originally on the Pamunkey River prior to 1684 Subsequently moved to the village of “Old Church” and rebuilt in 1718 The Rev. Patrick Henry officiated 1737-1777   Erected 1932 by Hanover Branch, Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities.   https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=61876 Stuart's Ride Old Church — 1862 Peninsula Campaign —  In May 1862, Union Gen. George B. McClellan led the Army of the Potomac up the Peninsula to the gates of Richmond. Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee assumed command of the Army of Northern Virginia in June and began planning a counterattack. On June 12, Gen. J.E.B. Stuart led 1,200 cavalrymen on a daring 3-day reconnaissance and discovered that the Union ri...

June 12, 1862 Stuart's Riders Skirt Ashland near Ashland, Virginia, in Hanover County https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=15881 Stuart's Riders Skirt Ashland On the afternoon of 12 June 1862, Confederate Brig. Gen. J. E. B. Stuart's column passed here on a mission to gather intelligence about Union Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan's Army of the Potomac. Riding northeast toward the Richmond, Fredericksburg, & Potomac Railroad and bypassing Ashland to avoid discovery, the expedition ended its first day without seeing any Federals. The next day, Stuart surprised Union cavalry near Hanover Court House and encountered the army's rear elements at Old Church and Tunstall's Station. Less than two weeks later, part of Confederate Maj. Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's army camped here around Independence Church en route to the Seven Days' Battles.   Erected 2002 by Department of Historic Resources.  (Marker Number E-121.)

June 9, 1862 Port Republic Rockingham County, VA Brig. Gen. Erastus B. Tyler vs. Maj. Gen. Stonewall Jackson: Ewell, Taylor's LA Tigers, Walker, Winder, Taliaferro> Stapleton Crutchfield. Thomas T. Munford  * The final and most costly battle fought by Jackson's Army of the Valley during their Valley Campaign of 1862, but still a double-success on the heels of Cross Keys . * We've got Tyler vs. Taylor here y'all!  * The battlefield "retains its wartime agrarian appearance"; it is mostly preserved. The Coaling was the first land acquisition of the modern Civil War battlefield preservation movement. The 8.55-acre site was donated to the Trust's forerunner, the Association for the Preservation of Civil War Sites (the founding battlefield preservation organization) by the Lee-Jackson Foundation in 1988. https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=254870 The cross road here roughly divides the Confederate and Union lines in the battle of June 9, 1862. Jackson attacked Shiel...