New York 69th Infantry (Union)
21/07/1861
Leadership Change - Regiment - Colonel Michael Corcoran
ColonelMichael Corcoran
21/07/1861
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
18/11/1861
Organized - New York 69th Infantry - New York
05/04/1862
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
31/05/1862
Leadership Change - Regiment - Colonel Robert Nugent
ColonelRobert Nugent
31/05/1862
Leadership Change - Brigade - Brigadier General Thomas F. Meagher
Brigadier GeneralThomas F. Meagher
31/05/1862
Leadership Change - Division - Brigadier General Israel B. Richardson
Brigadier GeneralIsrael B. Richardson
31/05/1862
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
01/06/1862
Battle - Fair Oaks, Virginia
08/06/1862
Battle - Fair Oaks, Virginia
30/06/1862
Battle - White Oak Swamp - Henrico County, Virginia
01/07/1862
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
17/09/1862
Leadership Change - Regiment - Lieutenant Colonel James Kelly, and Major James Cavanagh
Lieutenant ColonelJames Kelly
MajorJames Cavanagh
17/09/1862
Leadership Change - Brigade - Brigadier General Thomas F. Meagher, and Colonel John Burke
Brigadier GeneralThomas F. Meagher
ColonelJohn Burke
17/09/1862
Leadership Change - Division - Brigadier General John C. Caldwell, Brigadier General Winfield S. Hancock, and Major General Israel B. Richardson
Brigadier GeneralJohn C. Caldwell
Brigadier GeneralWinfield S. Hancock
Major GeneralIsrael B. Richardson
17/09/1862
Leadership Change - Regiment - Lieutenant Colonel James Kelly
Lieutenant ColonelJames Kelly
17/09/1862
Leadership Change - Brigade - Brigadier General Thomas F. Meagher
Brigadier GeneralThomas F. Meagher
17/09/1862
Leadership Change - Division - Major General Israel B. Richardson
Major GeneralIsrael B. Richardson
13/12/1862
Leadership Change - Regiment - Colonel Robert Nugent, and Captain James Saunders
ColonelRobert Nugent
CaptainJames Saunders
13/12/1862
Leadership Change - Brigade - Brigadier General Thomas F. Meagher
Brigadier GeneralThomas F. Meagher
13/12/1862
Leadership Change - Division - Brigadier General Winfield Scott Hancock
Brigadier GeneralWinfield Scott Hancock
13/12/1862
Leadership Change - Regiment - Colonel Robert Nugent
ColonelRobert Nugent
13/12/1862
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
30/04/1863
Leadership Change - Regiment - Captain James E. McGee
CaptainJames E. McGee
30/04/1863
Leadership Change - Division - Major General Winfield S. Hancock
Major GeneralWinfield S. Hancock
30/04/1863
Battle - Chancellorsville - Spotsylvania County, Virginia
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
01/07/1863
Leadership Change - Regiment - Captain Richard Moroney, and Lieutenant James J. Smith
CaptainRichard Moroney
LieutenantJames J. Smith
01/07/1863
Leadership Change - Brigade - Colonel Patrick Kelly
ColonelPatrick Kelly
01/07/1863
Leadership Change - Division - Brigadier General John C. Caldwell
Brigadier GeneralJohn C. Caldwell
01/07/1863
Leadership Change - Regiment - Captain Richard Moroney
CaptainRichard Moroney
01/07/1863
Battle - Gettysburg - Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
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
14/10/1863
Battle - Second Auburn - Fauquier County, Virginia
Federal and Confederate cavalry engaged at the First Battle of Auburn on October 13, and left General James Ewell Brown Stuart's men trapped. Stuart concealed 3,000 men in a ravine overnight before getting word to Lee. Lee sent General Richard S. Ewell to Stuart's aid, and his force engaged a Federal rearguard under General Gouverneur K. Warren in the Second Battle of Auburn on October 14.READ MORE
07/04/1864
Battle - Farmville - Farmville, Virginia
05/05/1864
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
08/05/1864
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
31/05/1864
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
15/06/1864
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
21/06/1864
Battle - Jerusalem Plank Road - Petersburg, Virginia
25/03/1865
Leadership Change - Regiment - Colonel James J. Smith
ColonelJames J. Smith
25/03/1865
Leadership Change - Brigade - Colonel Robert Nugent, and Captain Patrick H. Bird
ColonelRobert Nugent
CaptainPatrick H. Bird
25/03/1865
Leadership Change - Division - Brigadier General Nelson A. Miles
Brigadier GeneralNelson A. Miles
25/03/1865
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
02/04/1865
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
06/04/1865
Battle - High Bridge - Prince Edward County, Virginia; Cumberland County, Virginia
Harried mercilessly by Federal troops and continually cut off from turning south to reach Gen. Joseph Johnston's army in North Carolina, General Robert E. Lee and his army headed west along the Appomattox River, eventually arriving in Cumberland County on April 6th. Food and supplies that Lee's men desperately needed were waiting at Farmville, across the river. To get there, Lee needed to use the 2,500-foot long, 130-foot tall High Bridge, which carried the South Side Railroad over the Appomattox. A small…READ MORE
06/04/1865
Battle - Sailor's Creek - Amelia County, Virginia; Prince Edward County, Virginia; Nottoway County, Virginia
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
06/04/1865
Battle - High Bridge, Virginia
09/04/1865
Battle - Appomattox Court House - Appomattox Court House, Virginia
Between 26,000 and 28,000 Confederate soldiers surrendered and were paroled.READ MORE
30/06/1865
Mustered Out - New York 69th Infantry - New York
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