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New York 8th Infantry (Union)

4/23/61

Organized - New York 8th Infantry - New York

7/21/61

Leadership Change - Division - Colonel David Hunter

7/21/61

Battle - First Bull Run - Fairfax County, Virginia; Prince William County, Virginia

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First Bull Run

One of earliest battles of the Civil War, it introduced Americans to the idea that this would likely not be a short conflict and blood would be shed:READ MORE

5/5/62

Battle - Williamsburg - York County, Virginia; James City County, Virginia; Williamsburg, Virginia

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Williamsburg

Following the Confederate withdrawal from their Yorktown position, Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan was not prepared to mount an immediate pursuit with his entire force from the siege lines he had occupied for nearly a month. Initially, he was able to send forward only a portion of his army, led by the Third Corps of Samuel P. Heitzelman, to follow Gen. Joseph E. Johnston's Confederates. Heitzelman's divisions, led by Brig. Gens. Joseph Hooker and Phil Kearny, made contact with Johnston's army four miles sout…READ MORE

5/31/62

Leadership Change - Regiment - Captain Butler Fitch

5/31/62

Leadership Change - Brigade - Colonel Guilford D. Bailey, Captain Peter C. Regan, and Major D. H. Van Valkenburgh

5/31/62

Leadership Change - Division - Brigadier General Silas Casey

Brigadier GeneralSilas Casey

5/31/62

Leadership Change - Brigade - Colonel Guilford D. Bailey

5/31/62

Leadership Change - Brigade - Major D. H. Van Valkenburgh

6/8/62

Leadership Change - Brigade - Brigadier General Julius Stahel

Brigadier GeneralJulius Stahel

6/8/62

Leadership Change - Division - Brigadier General Louis Blenker

Brigadier GeneralLouis Blenker

6/8/62

Battle - Cross Keys - Rockingham County, Virginia

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Cross Keys

Maj. Gen. John C. Frémont's and his 11,000-man Mountain Department army were tasked with keeping Maj. Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's two-division force engaged in the Shenandoah Valley and unable to join with Robert E. Lee's army defending Richmond during the Peninsula Campaign against the Confederate capital. In early June, Jackson's men under Maj. Gen. Richard S. Ewell were encamped in the vicinity of Cross Keys on the South Fork of the Shenandoah River. Union screening cavalry approached Jackson f…READ MORE

8/22/62

Battle - First Rappahannock Station - Culpeper County, Virginia; Fauquier County, Virginia

8/28/62

Battle - Second Bull Run - Prince William County, Virginia

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Second Bull Run

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.READ MORE

9/17/62

Leadership Change - Regiment - Colonel Benjamin F. Davis

9/17/62

Leadership Change - Brigade - Colonel Benjamin F. Davis

9/17/62

Leadership Change - Division - Brigadier General Alfred Pleasonton

Brigadier GeneralAlfred Pleasonton

9/17/62

Battle - Antietam - Sharpsburg, Maryland

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Antietam

The Army of the Potomac, under the command of Maj. Gen. George McClellan, mounted a series of powerful assaults against General Robert E. Lee's forces along Antietam Creek near Sharpsburg, Maryland, on September 17th, 1862.READ MORE

12/13/62

Leadership Change - Regiment - Colonel Felix Salm-, and undefined Salm

12/13/62

Leadership Change - Brigade - Colonel Leopold Von Gilsa

12/13/62

Leadership Change - Division - Brigadier General Nathaniel C. McLean

Brigadier GeneralNathaniel C. McLean

12/13/62

Battle - Fredericksburg - Fredericksburg, Virginia

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Fredericksburg

In early November, Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside took command of the Army of the Potomac, and made immediate plans to move the army once again toward Richmond.READ MORE

4/23/63

Mustered Out - New York 8th Infantry - New York

4/30/63

Leadership Change - Regiment - Lieutenant Herman Rosenkranz

4/30/63

Leadership Change - Division - Brigadier General Charles Devens Jr., and Brigadier General Nathaniel C. McLean

Brigadier GeneralCharles Devens Jr.

Brigadier GeneralNathaniel C. McLean

4/30/63

Leadership Change - Division - Brigadier General Charles Devens Jr.

Brigadier GeneralCharles Devens Jr.

4/30/63

Battle - Chancellorsville - Spotsylvania County, Virginia

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Chancellorsville

On April 27, 1863, Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker launched a turning movement designed to pry Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia out of its lines at Fredericksburg.READ MORE

6/9/63

Leadership Change - Regiment - Major Edmund M. Pope

6/9/63

Leadership Change - Brigade - Colonel Benjamin F. Davis, and Major William S. McClure

6/9/63

Leadership Change - Division - Brigadier General John Buford, and Colonel Thomas C. Devin

Brigadier GeneralJohn Buford

ColonelThomas C. Devin

6/9/63

Leadership Change - Brigade - Colonel Benjamin F. Davis

6/9/63

Battle - Brandy Station - Culpeper County, Virginia

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Brandy Station

> *As we emerged from the woods into an open space or field where our mounted skirmishers were deployed, it was clearly discovered that our troops were confronted with a heavy line of infantry, who, with weapons of a longer range than that of our carbines, were dismounting our men at a fearful rate, whilst they were unable to inflict any punishment upon the enemy. As Colonel Devin approached the skirmish line, he at once became the target for the Rebel sharp shooters and, the way the minnie balls were whiz…READ MORE

7/1/63

Battle - Gettysburg - Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

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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 Ho…READ MORE

5/8/64

Battle - Spotsylvania Court House - Spotsylvania County, Virginia

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Spotsylvania Court House

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 Hi…READ MORE

5/15/64

Battle - New Market - Shenandoah County, Virginia

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New Market

In conjunction with other spring 1864 offensives against strategic points in the Confederacy, Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant ordered Maj. Gen. Franz Sigel to move up the Shenandoah Valley along the Valley Turnpike to destroy the railroad and canal complex at Lynchburg. Union control of the strategic and agriculturally rich valley was a crucial part of Grant's plans. Receiving word that the Union Army had entered the valley, Maj. Gen. John C. Breckinridge pulled together all available troops to repulse the invad…READ MORE

5/23/64

Battle - North Anna - Caroline County, Virginia; Hanover County, Virginia

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North Anna

Following the stalemate at Spotsylvania Court House, Grant was determined to continue his offensive against Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. After a failed attempt to bait Lee out of his earthworks, he found the Confederates entrenched on the south side of the North Anna River, where Lee's "inverted V" defenses forced Grant to divide his army into three parts in order to attack. On May 23rd, one of Maj. Gen. A.P. Hill's divisions assaulted the isolated Fifth Corps on the Union right which had crossed the r…READ MORE

5/31/64

Battle - Cold Harbor - Hanover County; near Mechanicsville, Virginia

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Cold Harbor

After two days of inconclusive fighting along Totopotomoy Creek northeast of Richmond, Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and Gen. Robert E. Lee turned their sights on the crossroads of Cold Harbor. Roads emanating through this critical junction led to Richmond as well as supply and reinforcement sources for the Union army. On May 31, 1864, Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan's cavalry captured Cold Harbor. The next day, Sheridan held the crossroads against a Confederate attack. With reinforcements from both armies arriving…READ MORE

7/27/64

Battle - First Deep Bottom - Henrico County, Virginia

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First Deep Bottom

Two weeks after Union forces arrived to invest the Confederate defenders of Petersburg, the battle lines of both sides settled into a stalemate. Since Cold Harbor, Lieut. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant was reluctant to mount a large frontal attack against well-entrenched Confederates. By late June, Grant's lines covered most of the eastern approaches to Petersburg, but neither side seemed ready to risk an offensive move. Determined to break the stalemate, Grant agreed to plans to blow up part of the Confederate def…READ MORE

8/14/64

Battle - Second Deep Bottom - Henrico County, Virginia

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Second Deep Bottom

As he had done in late July during the Battle of the Crater, Lieut. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant called upon Maj. Gen. Winfield S. Hancock and his Second Corps to attack Gen. Robert E. Lee's forces around Richmond to exploit suspected weaknesses in Lee's lines. In early August, Grant had detached the Sixth Corps from the Union lines around Richmond and Petersburg and sent them to the Shenandoah Valley under Maj. Gen. Phil Sheridan. Sheridan's new army there was to counter Gen. Jubal Early, then operating in the v…READ MORE

8/17/64

Battle - Gainesville - Gainesville, Florida

8/25/64

Battle - Second Ream's Station - Dinwiddie County, Virginia

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Second Ream's Station

As the Union siege of Petersburg began to take hold, Lieut. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant looked for ways to sever the railroads supplying the city and Gen. Robert E. Lee's army. One of these critical routes was the Weldon Railroad, which led south to the Confederacy's only remaining major port at Wilmington, North Carolina. On August 24th, the Army of the Potomac Second Corps moved south along the railroad, tearing up track, and screened by Brig. Gen. David McMurtrie Gregg's cavalry division. To stop Hancock, Lee…READ MORE

3/25/65

Leadership Change - Division - undefined Bvt BG John C. Tidball, and Major Theodore Miller Inspector of Artillery

3/25/65

Battle - Fort Stedman - Petersburg, Virginia

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Fort Stedman

By March of 1865, Lieut. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's grip on the Confederate lines around Petersburg was having its desired effect. Outnumbered and weakened by disease, desertion and shortage of food and supplies, Gen. Robert E. Lee had few options. After careful study of the Union troops in his sector of the line, Maj. Gen. John B. Gordon suggested to Lee the possibility of a successful offensive strike against Grant. In front of Gordon's men, Union-held Fort Stedman seemed the best target for a Confederate a…READ MORE

4/6/65

Battle - Sailor's Creek - Amelia County, Virginia; Prince Edward County, Virginia; Nottoway County, Virginia

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Sailor's Creek

Five days after Robert E. Lee's men retreated from the trenches of Petersburg, cavalry under Maj. Gen. Phil Sheridan effectively cut off three separate corps of Lee's army near Sailor's Creek, a tributary of the Appomattox River, while the Union Second and Sixth Corps approached from the east. On April 6th, two brigades of Andrew H. Humphrey's Second Corps overwhelmed two brigades of Maj. Gen. John B. Gordon's division as the Confederates struggled to move their supply and artillery trains across the creek…READ MORE

4/9/65

Battle - Appomattox Court House - Appomattox Court House, Virginia

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Appomattox Court House

Between 26,000 and 28,000 Confederate soldiers surrendered and were paroled.READ MORE

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