New Jersey 8th Volunteer Infantry (Union)
14/09/1861
Organized - New Jersey 8th Volunteer Infantry - New Jersey
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
05/05/1862
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
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
16/06/1862
Battle - Fair Oaks, Virginia
28/08/1862
Leadership Change - Regiment - Captain George Hoffman, Captain John Tuite, and Lieutenant Colonel William Ward
28/08/1862
Leadership Change - Brigade - Colonel Joseph B. Carr
ColonelJoseph B. Carr
28/08/1862
Leadership Change - Division - Major General Joseph Hooker
Major GeneralJoseph Hooker
28/08/1862
Leadership Change - Regiment - Lieutenant Colonel William Ward
Lieutenant ColonelWilliam Ward
28/08/1862
Leadership Change - Regiment - Captain John Tuite
CaptainJohn Tuite
28/08/1862
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
01/09/1862
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
13/12/1862
Leadership Change - Regiment - Colonel Adolphus J. Johnson
ColonelAdolphus J. Johnson
13/12/1862
Leadership Change - Brigade - Brigadier General Joseph W. Revere
Brigadier GeneralJoseph W. Revere
13/12/1862
Leadership Change - Division - Brigadier General Daniel Sickles
Brigadier GeneralDaniel Sickles
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 - Colonel John Ramsey, and Captain John Langton
ColonelJohn Ramsey
CaptainJohn Langton
30/04/1863
Leadership Change - Brigade - Brigadier General Gershom Mott, and Colonel William J. Sewell
Brigadier GeneralGershom Mott
ColonelWilliam J. Sewell
30/04/1863
Leadership Change - Division - Brigadier General Joseph B. Carr, and Major General Hiram Berry
Brigadier GeneralJoseph B. Carr
Major GeneralHiram Berry
30/04/1863
Leadership Change - Regiment - Colonel John Ramsey
ColonelJohn Ramsey
30/04/1863
Leadership Change - Brigade - Brigadier General Gershom Mott
Brigadier GeneralGershom Mott
30/04/1863
Leadership Change - Division - Major General Hiram Berry
Major GeneralHiram Berry
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 - Brigade - Colonel George C. Burling
ColonelGeorge C. Burling
01/07/1863
Leadership Change - Division - Brigadier General Andrew A. Humphreys
Brigadier GeneralAndrew A. Humphreys
01/07/1863
Leadership Change - Regiment - Colonel John Ramsey
ColonelJohn Ramsey
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
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
27/07/1864
Battle - First Deep Bottom - Henrico County, Virginia
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
14/08/1864
Battle - Second Deep Bottom - Henrico County, Virginia
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
25/08/1864
Battle - Second Ream's Station - Dinwiddie County, Virginia
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
30/09/1864
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
27/10/1864
Leadership Change - Brigade - Colonel Robert McAllister
ColonelRobert McAllister
27/10/1864
Leadership Change - Division - undefined Bvt MG Gershom Mott
27/10/1864
Battle - Boydton Plank Road - Dinwiddie County, Virginia
05/02/1865
Battle - Hatcher's Run - Dinwiddie County, Virginia
By February 1865, the stalemate around Petersburg had entered its eighth month. Lieut. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant began to stretch the Union battle lines to the west in an attempt to get Gen. Robert E. Lee's under strength army to do the same. On February 5th, Union Brig. Gen. David Gregg's cavalry division rode out to the Boydton Plank Road via Reams Station and Dinwiddie Court House in an attempt to intercept Confederate supply trains. Maj. Gen. Gouverneur K. Warren with the Fifth Corps crossed Hatcher's Run…READ MORE
25/03/1865
Leadership Change - Regiment - Major Henry Hartford
MajorHenry Hartford
25/03/1865
Leadership Change - Brigade - Brigadier General Robert McAllister
Brigadier GeneralRobert McAllister
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
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
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
17/07/1865
Mustered Out - New Jersey 8th Volunteer Infantry - New Jersey
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