The war in the West was more of 
a frontier war than the struggles
in the East. These battles, 
despite their relative isolation 
were perhaps as critical or even 
more so, than the high profile 
campaigns in the East.


            - 1861 -

In Missouri, where the 
secessionists had taken up arms 
against the Unionist majority, 
the Confederate militia defeated 
the Unionists at Wilson's Creek 
on August 10, 1861.  Union 
control of Missouri was not 
assured until Confederate forces 
were defeated at Pea Ridge, 
Arkansas, in March 1862. 


            - 1862 -

Union General Ulysses Grant  
started the 1862 campaign west 
of the Appalachian Mountains by 
capturing Fort Henry and Fort 
Donelson on the Tennessee and 
Cumberland rivers in February.  
Grant then began to advance 
southward, while part of the 
Union army under John Pope 
chased away the Confederates 
from the upper Mississippi.  
Supported by a naval flotilla 
under Andrew Foote, Pope besieged
and captured the Confederate 
position at Island No. 10 in 
the Mississippi River in late 
March.  

In the meantime, Confederate 
General Albert Sidney Johnston 
concentrated his forces near 
Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee.  
On April 6, he launched a 
surprise attack against Grant's 
army at Shiloh Church. One of 
the worst battles of any 
American war, Shiloh raged for 
two days.   Though the 
Confederates were initially 
successful, Johnston was 
mortally wounded on the first 
day, and his command passed to 
General Beauregard.  Confusion 
and exhaustion sapped 
Confederate strength, and on 
April 7, Grant arrived to 
reinforce the Union positon.  
Beauregard withdrew, and the 
Union Army followed, taking 
Corinth in May.  

The fall of New Orleans to a 
U.S. fleet under David Farragut 
in late April was a third major 
blow to Confederates in the 
West in the course of a year. 


            - 1863 -

     - Vicksburg Campaign -

After Shiloh, Grant had been 
relegated to a subordinate 
position under Union commander 
Henry Halleck.  When Halleck 
went to Washington in July of 
1862, Grant took command of the 
Army of Tennessee.  In October, 
while the Union held Corinth 
against a Confederate assault, 
Grant began to plan a thrust with
his army toward the last 
fragment of the Mississippi 
River held by the Confederacy at 
Vicksburg, Mississippi.  

Grant's first two attempts at 
the end of 1862 and beginning 
of 1863 to take Vicksburg 
failed.  Doggedly he employed 
the same daring tactics and 
unusual logistics learned in the 
Mexican-American War to cross 
the river south of Vicksburg.  
Advancing quickly once he 
crossed the river, Grant moved 
to isolate Vicksburg and lay 
siege to the town.  After an 
unsuccessful Confederate
counterattack, Vicksburg finally
 fell on July 4th, 1863.

 - Chickamauga and Chattanooga -

In early September, the 
Confederates had been driven 
from Chattanooga, with the 
remaining forces pursued into 
northwestern Georgia.  Here, the 
Confederate forces under the 
command of General Bragg joined 
with Longstreet's army, and 
prepared for a counterstroke.  
Catching the Union unprepared 
along Chickamauga Creek, the 
Confederates smashed them and 
drove them back to Chattanooga.  

Unable to immediately take the 
Union position, Bragg sent some 
of his men to Knoxville, 
Tennessee while the majority of 
the Confederate force remained 
at Chattanooga.  

General Grant was appointed 
Commander of all of the Union 
forces in the West in mid-
October.  His first action was 
to replace the Union command at 
Chattanooga; his second, to send
a relief force.  In battles at 
Lookout Mountain and Missionary 
Ridge in November of 1863, the 
Confederates were dislodged, and 
Bragg was forced back to 
Georgia.


            - 1864 -

 - Sherman's March to the Sea -

Leaving Chattanooga in early 
May of 1864, Union General 
Sherman invaded Georgia with 
100,000 men.  With an army of 
only 60,000, the Confederates 
fell back, successfully stalling 
the Union advance.  The most 
famous battle of this initial 
advance occurred at Kennesaw 
Mountain on June 27th - a Union 
victory, but at a high cost.

General Hood took over command 
of the Confederate force at 
Atlanta in July, and prepared for
the coming Union onslaught.  
Unable to withstand the 
numerical superiority of the 
Federal army, Hood was forced 
to abandon Atlanta.  Sherman 
proceeded to burn the small 
railroad town to the ground - a 
move that lifted Northern morale
and contributed to Lincon's 
reelection bid.  

Hood's strategy turned to the 
offensive at this point.  Hoping
to draw the Union army back up 
into Tennessee, he invaded.  
Sherman was determined to make 
"Georgia howl" - he did not 
follow Hood, sending only a 
portion of his force to keep the
Confederate army at bay.  
Sherman continued his march to 
the Gulf of Mexico, laying waste
to the Peach State as he went, 
reaching Savannah on December 
21st.  

Meanwhile, Hood's invasion of 
Tennessee met with some success.
The city of Franklin, Tennessee, 
fell on November 30th to the 
Confederates, a costly loss for 
the Union.  Moving to lay siege 
to Nashville, the Confederate 
army was crushed on December 
16th by the Union defense.  The 
remnants of Hood's army, now 
under the control of General 
Johnston, moved to the Carolinas
to prepare for Sherman's next 
move.


             - 1865 -

        - The Carolinas -

Johnston won his last victory 
against the Union in March at 
Bentonville, North Carolina.  
The victory was only a pause in
Sherman's march, as the Union 
forces continued north to occupy
Raleigh by April 13th.  On April
26th, twelve days after 
Lincoln's assassination, Johnston
formally surrendered to Sherman 
at Durham Station, North 
Carolina.


The fighting in the West 
continued west of the 
Mississippi past the end of 
May, but it was peripheral to 
the war's outcome.  