Michigan 5th Volunteer Cavalry (Union)
09/08/1862
Battle - Cedar Mountain - Culpeper County, Virginia
Maj. Gen. John Pope was placed in command of the newly-constituted Army of Virginia on June 26th. Pope's orders were to defend Washington DC and Union-held northern Virginia while the Army of the Potomac under Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan battled Robert E. Lee outside of Richmond. When McClellan was defeated at the end of the Seven Days battles less than a week later, Lee turned his attention north toward Pope while McClellan regrouped his army. Pope's three army corps were arrayed in a line from the Blu…READ MORE
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
30/08/1862
Organized - Michigan 5th Volunteer Cavalry - Michigan
04/06/1863
Battle - Frying Pan, Virginia
13/06/1863
Battle - Second Winchester - Frederick County, Virginia; Winchester County, Virginia
30/06/1863
Battle - Hanover - Hanover, Pennsylvania
30/06/1863
Battle - Hanover, Pennsylvania
01/07/1863
Leadership Change - Regiment - Lieutenant Colonel Ebenezer Gould
Lieutenant ColonelEbenezer Gould
01/07/1863
Leadership Change - Regiment - Major Noah H. Ferry
MajorNoah H. Ferry
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
06/07/1863
Battle - Williamsport - Washington County, Maryland
During the night of July 4-5th, General Robert E. Lee's battered army began its retreat from Gettysburg, moving southwest toward Hagerstown and the Potomac River crossing at Williamsport, screened by Maj. Gen. J. E. B. Stuart's cavalry. Lee's infantry reached the rain-swollen Potomac but could not cross, the pontoon bridge having been destroyed by a cavalry raid. On July 11th, Lee entrenched a line protecting the river crossings at Williamsport and waited for Maj. Gen. George G. Meade's army to advance. On…READ MORE
06/07/1863
Battle - Williamsport, Maryland
08/07/1863
Battle - Boonsboro - Washington County, Maryland
12/07/1863
Battle - Hagerstown, Maryland
01/09/1863
Battle - Port Conway, Virginia
10/10/1863
Battle - James City, Virginia
01/03/1864
Battle - Ashland, 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
11/05/1864
Battle - Yellow Tavern - Henrico, Virginia
It was early morning when the column of gray- and butternut-clad horsemen reined up and came to a halt along the Telegraph Road. Exhausted, they dismounted and put their horses under cover near a ramshackle, three-story structure. Once a wayside inn, it had long since been abandoned, but was still known locally for the color of its failing siding: Yellow Tavern.READ MORE
11/06/1864
Leadership Change - Regiment - Colonel Russell A. Alger
ColonelRussell A. Alger
11/06/1864
Leadership Change - Division - Brigadier General Alfred T. A. Torbert
Brigadier GeneralAlfred T. A. Torbert
11/06/1864
Battle - Trevilian Station - Louisa County, Virginia
In June of 1864, hoping to draw attention away from Lieut. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's movement south, destroy supply lines, and join up with Brig. Gen. David Hunter in Charlottesville, Union cavalry commander Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan embarked on a cavalry raid. Near Trevilian Station, Virginia, he clashed with Confederate cavalry under Maj. Gens. Wade Hampton and Fitzhugh Lee. On June 11th, while Hampton's men struggled against Union forces on one road, Lee's men advancing on a parallel road fell back, allow…READ MORE
25/08/1864
Battle - Shepherdstown, West Virginia
19/09/1864
Battle - Third Winchester - Frederick County, Virginia; Winchester, Virginia
To clear the Shenandoah River valley of Confederates, Maj. Gen. Phil Sheridan moved on Winchester in mid-September 1864. Sheridan's force of over 39,000 men was more than twice the size of Maj. Gen. Jubal Early's Confederate army defending the valley. After Brig. Gen. Joseph Kershaw's division left Winchester to rejoin Robert E. Lee's army at Petersburg, Early renewed his raids on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad at Martinsburg in the lower valley, dispersing his four remaining infantry divisions. On Septem…READ MORE
19/10/1864
Leadership Change - Regiment - Major Smith H. Hastings
MajorSmith H. Hastings
19/10/1864
Leadership Change - Brigade - Colonel James H. Kidd
ColonelJames H. Kidd
19/10/1864
Leadership Change - Division - Brigadier General Wesley Merritt
Brigadier GeneralWesley Merritt
19/10/1864
Battle - Cedar Creek - Frederick County, Virginia; Shenandoah County, Virginia; Warren County, Virginia
Also known as: Cedar Creek, Belle GroveREAD MORE
12/11/1864
Battle - Newtown, Virginia
01/04/1865
Leadership Change - Regiment - Lieutenant Colonel Smith H. Hastings
Lieutenant ColonelSmith H. Hastings
01/04/1865
Leadership Change - Brigade - Colonel Peter Stagg
ColonelPeter Stagg
01/04/1865
Leadership Change - Division - Brigadier General Thomas Devin
Brigadier GeneralThomas Devin
01/04/1865
Battle - Five Forks - Five Forks, Virginia
The Union victory along the White Oak Road on March 31st threatened to destabilize the entire Confederate line west of Petersburg. General Robert E. Lee ordered Maj. Gen. George Pickett with his infantry division and the cavalry divisions of Col. Thomas Munford, Maj. Gen. W.H.F. Lee, and Maj. Gen Thomas Rosser to hold the vital crossroads of Five Forks, along the White Oak Road five miles west of the previous fighting there. Pickett's defensive line was not well constructed, and much of his cavalry force w…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 - 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
23/06/1866
Mustered Out - Michigan 5th Volunteer Cavalry - Michigan
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