Missouri 1st Light Artillery (Union)

Wilson's Creek

In the summer of 1861, the Union and the Confederacy struggled for control of Missouri. Brig. Gen. Nathaniel Lyon Army of the West was camped at Springfield, Missouri, with Confederate troops under the command of Brig. Gen. Ben McCulloch and Maj. Gen. Sterling Price approaching.READ MORE

ColonelWilliam R. Morrison

Fort Donelson

Early in the war, Union commanders realized control of the major rivers would be the key to success in the Western Theater.READ MORE

CaptainFrederick Sparrestrom

ColonelNapoleon B. Buford

Island Number Ten

In addition to prosecuting the coastal blockade and pursuing Confederate commerce raiders, the U.S. Navy's other main role in the Civil War, and arguably its most important one, was seizing and controlling the Mississippi River and its tributaries. In this effort, the main obstacle was not the tiny Confederate navy, but rather the formidable shore fortifications erected by the Confederates along the banks of the Tennessee, Cumberland and Mississippi Rivers. This war, therefore, was less often a matter of s…READ MORE

Pea Ridge

By the spring of 1862, Union forces had pushed Confederates south and west through Missouri into northwestern Arkansas. On the night of March 6, 1862, Confederate Maj. Gen. Earl Van Dorn and his 16,000-man Army of the West set out to counterattack the Union position near Pea Ridge. Hoping to move quickly, in a fateful decision, Van Dorn ordered the supply trains far to the rear. Learning of Van Dorn's approach, some 10,000 Federals in Brig. Gen. Samuel R. Curtis's Army of the Southwest marched to meet the…READ MORE

CaptainHenry Richardson

Brigadier GeneralW.H.L. Wallace

ColonelJames M. Tuttle

Brigadier GeneralW.H.L. Wallace

Shiloh

On the morning of April 6, 1862, 40,000 Confederate soldiers under the command of Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston poured out of the nearby woods and struck the encamped divisions of Union soldiers occupying ground near Pittsburg Landing on the Tennessee River.READ MORE

CaptainAlbert M. Powell

Lieutenant ColonelWarren L. Lothrop

Siege of Corinth

Union forces had captured the railroad junction and important transportation center at Corinth, Mississippi in the spring of 1862 after their victory at Shiloh. After the Battle of Iuka in September, Maj. Gen. Sterling Price's Confederate Army of the West marched to Ripley, Mississippi where it joined Maj. Gen. Earl Van Dorn's Army of West Tennessee. Van Dorn took command of the combined force numbering about 22,000 men. The Rebels marched southeast toward Corinth, hoping to recapture it and then sweep int…READ MORE

CaptainHenry Richardson

MajorGeorge H. Stone

Brigadier GeneralThomas A. Davies

Battle of Corinth

Not to be confused with Siege of Corinth. Also known as Second Battle of Corinth.READ MORE

CaptainHenry Hescock

12 guns k-51 w-288 m-14 = 353

Brigadier GeneralPhilip Henry Sheridan

Company L 2nd Kentucky Cavalry:

Escort:

Perryville

On October 7, 1862, Maj. Gen. Don Carlos Buell's Army of the Ohio, in pursuit of Gen Braxton Bragg's Army of Mississippi, approached the crossroads town of Perryville, Kentucky. Union forces skirmished with Confederates on the Springfield Pike before heavy fighting began on Peters Hill. The next day, fighting continued as a Union division advanced up the pike. After noon, a Confederate division struck the Union left flank and forced it to fall back. When more Confederates joined the fray, the Union line ma…READ MORE

CaptainHenry Hescock

Brigadier GeneralPhilip Sheridan

Stones River

After his October 1862 defeat at Perryville in Kentucky, Gen. Braxton Bragg withdrew his army into middle Tennessee and resupplied his men near Murfreesboro.READ MORE

Arkansas Post

The Battle of Arkansas Post, also known as the Battle of Fort Hindman, was a combined land-river assault by Union forces on the Confederate Fort Hindman, which loomed over a bend in the Arkansas River near the town of Arkansas Post. As the Union advance down the Mississippi River passed the mouth of the Arkansas, the presence of Fort Hindman outflanked the Federal forward positions.READ MORE

CaptainGeorge W. Schofield

Brigadier GeneralAlvin P. Hovey

Champion Hill

The Battle of Champion Hill was the largest and bloodiest action of Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's Vicksburg Campaign.READ MORE

CaptainNelson Cole

Brigadier GeneralWilliam Vandever

Major GeneralFrancis J. Herron

Vicksburg

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

LieutenantJohn O'Connell

Helena

Lt. Gen. Theophilus Holmes, Confederate commander in Arkansas, sought to relieve Union pressure on Vicksburg, Mississippi as the army of Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant besieged that strategic city. Holmes won approval for a plan to assault the Union-held river town of Helena, Arkansas, 170 miles north of Vicksburg, with a combined force of about 7,600 men. About 4,000 Union soldiers were in Helena under the command of Maj. Gen. Benjamin Prentiss. Four artillery batteries defended the town, surrounded on the la…READ MORE

LieutenantGustavus Schueler

ColonelBernard Laiboldt

Major GeneralPhilip Sheridan

Chickamauga

After the successful Tullahoma Campaign, Maj. Gen. William Rosecrans continued the Union offensive, aiming to force Gen. Braxton Bragg's Confederate army out of Chattanooga. Through a series of skillful marches towards the Confederate-held city, Rosecrans forced Bragg out of Chattanooga and into Georgia. Determined to reoccupy the city, Bragg followed the Federals north, brushing with Rosecrans' army at Davis' Cross Roads. While they marched on September 18th, his cavalry and infantry skirmished with Un…READ MORE

Capt Frederick Welker

Brigadier GeneralJohn M. Corse

Jonesborough

By late August 1865, the city of Atlanta was not yet subdued by Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman's armies. A few supply lines remained open to the city supporting the army of Lieut. Gen. John B. Hood encircled there. Union cavalry raids inflicted only superficial damage, quickly repaired by the Confederates. Sherman determined that if he could destroy the Macon & Western and Atlanta & West Point Railroads to the south the Rebel army would be forced to evacuate the city. On August 25, Union infantry beg…READ MORE

LieutenantJohn Zepp

Nashville

Despite a series of defeats in the closing days of November, 1864, Confederate Lieut. Gen. John Bell Hood continued to drag his bloodied Army of Tennessee, approximately 30,000 strong, north towards Nashville. The city was protected by 55,000 Union soldiers, which should have precluded further offensive operations, but Hood was determined and his situation was dire. Hood reached Nashville on December 2nd and staked out a position south of the city, hoping to draw the Union forces into a costly attack. Ulys…READ MORE