Michigan 2nd Volunteer Infantry (Union)
5/25/61
Organized - Michigan 2nd Volunteer Infantry - Michigan
7/18/61
Battle - Blackburn's Ford - Prince William County, Virginia; Fairfax County, Virginia
7/21/61
Battle - First Bull Run - Fairfax County, Virginia; Prince William County, Virginia
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
4/5/62
Battle - Siege of Yorktown (1862) - York County, Virginia; Newport News, Virginia
Most of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston's army was not on the peninsula on April 4th when Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan departed Fortress Monroe on his Peninsula Campaign. The only force opposing the Yankee advance up the peninsula toward the Confederate capital at Richmond was Maj. Gen. John B. Magruder's small force of two divisions at Yorktown behind the Warwick River. Magruder's deceptive theatrics, conspicuously parading his men back and forth behind his defenses, convinced the Federals that his works were s…READ MORE
5/5/62
Battle - Williamsburg - York County, Virginia; James City County, Virginia; Williamsburg, Virginia
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
5/30/62
Battle - Fair Oaks, Virginia
5/31/62
Leadership Change - Regiment - Colonel Orlando M. Poe, and Lieutenant Colonel Adolphus Williams
ColonelOrlando M. Poe
Lieutenant ColonelAdolphus Williams
5/31/62
Leadership Change - Brigade - Brigadier General Hiram G. Berry
Brigadier GeneralHiram G. Berry
5/31/62
Leadership Change - Division - Brigadier General Philip Kearny
Brigadier GeneralPhilip Kearny
5/31/62
Leadership Change - Regiment - Lieutenant Colonel Adolphus Williams
Lieutenant ColonelAdolphus Williams
5/31/62
Battle - Seven Pines - Henrico County, Virginia
Gen. Joseph E. Johnston withdrew his army from the Virginia Peninsula toward the Confederate capital of Richmond as Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan's army pursued him. By the end of May, Johnston held a defensive position seven miles east of the city on the Richmond and York River Railroad. McClellan's army facing Johnston straddled the Chickahominy River and stretched south. Capturing the initiative from his Union foe, Johnston attempted to overwhelm two Federal corps isolated south of the river. The Confed…READ MORE
6/30/62
Battle - Glendale - Henrico County, Virginia
Following the rear guard action at Savage's Station on June 29th, Maj. Gen. George McClellan's Army of the Potomac continued its retreat toward the safety of Harrison's Landing on the James River. On June 30th, after five days of constant fighting, the Confederate divisions of Maj. Gens. Benjamin Huger, James Longstreet, and A.P. Hill converged on the retreating Union army in the vicinity of Glendale. Longstreet's and Hill's attacks penetrated the Union defense near Willis Church, routing Brig. Gen. George…READ MORE
7/1/62
Battle - Malvern Hill - Henrico County, Virginia
On June 30th, the retreating Federal Army of the Potomac finally stopped at the James River at the end of seven days of fighting outside of Richmond.READ MORE
8/28/62
Leadership Change - Regiment - Lieutenant Colonel Louis Dillman
Lieutenant ColonelLouis Dillman
8/28/62
Leadership Change - Brigade - Colonel Orlando Poe
ColonelOrlando Poe
8/28/62
Leadership Change - Division - Major General Philip Kearny
Major GeneralPhilip Kearny
8/28/62
Battle - Second Bull Run - Prince William County, Virginia
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
9/1/62
Leadership Change - Brigade - Colonel Orlando M. Poe
ColonelOrlando M. Poe
9/1/62
Leadership Change - Division - Brigadier General David B. Birney, and Major General Philip Kearny
Brigadier GeneralDavid B. Birney
Major GeneralPhilip Kearny
9/1/62
Leadership Change - Division - Major General Philip Kearny
Major GeneralPhilip Kearny
9/1/62
Battle - Chantilly - Fairfax County, Virginia
Confederate Maj. Gen. "Stonewall" Jackson hoped to cut off the Union retreat from Manassas the day after the Confederate victory at the second battle fought there. Jackson's wing of Lee's army made a wide, flanking march, screened by Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart's cavalry, north and then east, to take the strategically important village of Germantown. There, Maj. Gen. John Pope's only two retreat routes to Washington - the Warrenton Pike and the Little River Turnpike - converged. On September 1st, beyond Chanti…READ MORE
12/13/62
Battle - Fredericksburg - Fredericksburg, Virginia
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
5/18/63
Leadership Change - Regiment - Colonel William Humphrey
ColonelWilliam Humphrey
5/18/63
Leadership Change - Brigade - Colonel Daniel Leasure
ColonelDaniel Leasure
5/18/63
Leadership Change - Division - Brigadier General Thomas Welsh
Brigadier GeneralThomas Welsh
5/18/63
Battle - Vicksburg - Vicksburg, Mississippi
In mid-May, 1863, after six months of unsuccessful attempts, Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's Army of the Tennessee finally converged on Vicksburg, defended by a Confederate army under Lt. Gen. John C. Pemberton. Capture of the Mississippi River town was critical to Union control of the strategic river. Vicksburg was located on a high river bluff defended with artillery, and Pemberton's men had constructed a series of fortifications in an 8-mile arc surrounding the city on the landward side. After crossing the…READ MORE
7/22/63
Battle - Jackson, Mississippi
10/10/63
Battle - Blue Springs - Greene County, Tennessee
10/10/63
Battle - Blue Springs, Tennessee
5/5/64
Leadership Change - Brigade - Colonel John F. Hartranft
ColonelJohn F. Hartranft
5/5/64
Leadership Change - Division - Brigadier General Orlando B. Willcox
Brigadier GeneralOrlando B. Willcox
5/5/64
Battle - Wilderness - Spotsylvania County, Virginia; Orange County, Virginia
The first battle between Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and Gen. Robert E. Lee erupted late in the morning of May 5, 1864, as Maj. Gen. Gouverneur K. Warren's Union V Corps attacked Lt. Gen. Richard S. Ewell's Second Corps on the Orange Turnpike southwest of the old Chancellorsville battlefield. Although Federal infantry managed to break through at several points, the Confederate line held. Fighting shifted to the south as Lt. Gen. A.P. Hill's Third Corps engaged Maj. Gen. Winfield S. Hancock's II Corps and ele…READ MORE
5/8/64
Leadership Change - Division - Brigadier General Orlando B. Wilcox
Brigadier GeneralOrlando B. Wilcox
5/8/64
Battle - Spotsylvania Court House - Spotsylvania County, Virginia
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
5/31/64
Battle - Cold Harbor - Hanover County; near Mechanicsville, Virginia
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
6/15/64
Battle - Second Petersburg - Petersburg, Virginia
As the Overland Campaign concluded, the strategic goals of Lieut. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant shifted from the defeat of Robert E. Lee's army in the field to eliminating the supply and communication routes to the Confederate capital at Richmond. The city of Petersburg, 24 miles south of Richmond, was the junction point of five railroads that supplied the entire upper James River region. Grant knew Petersburg was the key to the capture of Richmond and that Lee would be forced to defend it. Marching south from Co…READ MORE
6/21/64
Battle - Jerusalem Plank Road - Petersburg, Virginia
7/30/64
Battle - Crater - Petersburg, Virginia
Two weeks after Union forces arrived to invest the Confederate defenders of Petersburg, the battle lines of both sides had settled into a stalemate. Since Cold Harbor, Lieut. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant was reluctant to mount a 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. Part of the Union line was held by Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside's Ninth Corps. Some of Burnside'…READ MORE
8/18/64
Leadership Change - Brigade - Colonel William Humphrey
ColonelWilliam Humphrey
8/18/64
Leadership Change - Division - Brigadier General Orlando B. Willcox
Brigadier GeneralOrlando B. Willcox
8/18/64
Battle - Globe Tavern - Petersburg, Virginia
9/30/64
Battle - Peebles' Farm - Dinwiddie County, Virginia
In combination with Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler's offensive north of the James River at New Market Heights, Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant extended his left flank to cut Confederate lines of communication southwest of Petersburg. Two divisions of the Ninth Corps under Maj. Gen. John G. Parke, two divisions of the Fifth Corps under Maj. Gen. Gouverneur K. Warren, and Brig. Gen. David M. Gregg's cavalry division were assigned to the operation. On September 30th, the Federals departed Fort Wadsworth and marched via…READ MORE
3/25/65
Leadership Change - Regiment - Captain John C. Boughton
CaptainJohn C. Boughton
3/25/65
Leadership Change - Brigade - Colonel Ralph Ely
ColonelRalph Ely
3/25/65
Leadership Change - Division - undefined Bvt MG Orlando B. Willcox
3/25/65
Battle - Fort Stedman - Petersburg, Virginia
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
4/2/65
Battle - Third Petersburg - Dinwiddie County, Virginia; Petersburg, Virginia
With the Confederate defeat at Five Forks on April 1st, Lieut. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and Maj. Gen. George Meade ordered a general assault against the Petersburg lines by the Second, Ninth, Sixth and Twenty-Fourth Corps to take place April 2nd. In the pre-dawn darkness, the Union infantry gained a successful breakthrough where Maj. Gen. Horatio G. Wright's advancing Sixth Corps met the Confederate lines held by Maj. Gen. A. P. Hill near the Boydton Plank Road. Hill was killed trying to reach his troops in t…READ MORE
4/9/65
Battle - Appomattox Court House - Appomattox Court House, Virginia
Between 26,000 and 28,000 Confederate soldiers surrendered and were paroled.READ MORE
8/1/65
Mustered Out - Michigan 2nd Volunteer Infantry - Michigan
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