Illinois 66th Volunteer Veteran Infantry (Union)

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

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

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

Iuka

Maj. Gen. Sterling Price's Army of the West main column marched into Iuka, Mississippi, on September 14th. Price's superior, Gen. Braxton Bragg, had ordered Price to prevent Maj. Gen. William S. Rosecrans's Army of the Mississippi from moving into Tennessee and reinforcing Nashville. Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, commanding the Army of the Tennessee, feared that Price intended to go north to join Bragg. Grant devised a plan for his left wing commander, Maj. Gen. E.O.C. Ord, to advance on Iuka from the west;…READ MORE

ColonelPatrick E. Burke

Brigadier GeneralThomas A. Davies

Battle of Corinth

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

Resaca

Following his withdrawal from Rocky Face Ridge, the first battle in Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman's campaign against Atlanta, Confederate Gen. Joseph E. Johnston established a four-mile defensive position protecting the Western & Atlantic Railroad west and north of Resaca, where the railroad crossed the Oostanaula River. On May 13th, Sherman tested the Rebel lines, sending forward divisions to skirmish with the Confederates, with little substantive result. On the 14th, the fighting erupted into a full-…READ MORE

Rome Cross Roads

An inconclusive engagement between Union Army of the Tennessee and the Confederate Army of the Tennessee a short distance from Calhoun, Georgia after the Battle of Resaca.READ MORE

New Hope Church

During early May 1864, Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman successfully outmaneuvered the army of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston in multiple battles in northwest Georgia. Each time, Johnston fell back to a new defensive position closer to the strategic Confederate city of Atlanta. After Johnston retreated to Allatoona Pass on May 19-20th following the battle at Adairsville, Sherman determined to move around Johnston's left flank rather than attack the strong Confederate defenses in his front. On May 23rd, Sherman set in…READ MORE

Dallas

During early and mid-May 1864, Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman successfully outmaneuvered the army of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston in multiple battles in northwest Georgia. Each time, Johnston fell back to a new defensive position closer to the strategic Confederate city of Atlanta. Stopped at New Hope Church on Johnston's left on May 26th, Sherman attacked Johnston's right at Pickett's Mill on May 27th. The next day, Lt. Gen. William J. Hardee's corps probed the Union defensive line, held by Maj. Gen. John A. Log…READ MORE

Kennesaw Mountain

Fearing envelopment northwest of Atlanta, Confederate Gen. Joseph E. Johnston withdrew his army to a new defensive position astride Kennesaw Mountain near Marietta. Johnston selected this position in order to protect the Western & Atlantic Railroad, his supply link to Atlanta. Prior to taking up this new line on June 19th, Johnston had pioneers working through the night digging trenches and erecting fortifications, turning Kennesaw into a formidable earthen fortress. Having defeated Lieut. Gen. John…READ MORE

Atlanta

Despite the defeat at Peach Tree Creek, Confederate Lieut. Gen. John Bell Hood still had hopes of driving Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman's Yankees from the outskirts of Atlanta with an offensive blow. On the night of July 21, 1864, Hood ordered Lt. Gen. William J. Hardee's corps to make 15-mile night march and assault the Union left flank east of the city, held by Maj. Gen. James B. McPherson's Army of the Tennessee. Joining the attack with Hardee would be the corps of Maj. Gen. Benjamin Cheatham. Hood attac…READ MORE

Lovejoy's Station

The battle of Lovejoy's Station was fought on August 20th, 1864 in Clayton County, Georgia. It was a confederate victory where the confederates repelled the Union raiders attacking the station. The battle was part of the Atlanta campaign.READ MORE

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

Second Fort McAllister

As Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman' s troops approached Savannah at the end of their march through Georgia, they were sorely in need of supplies. A Union supply fleet waited offshore but was unable to silence the Confederate coastal defenses. The earth and sand walls of the fort had survived previous Union Navy attempts to destroy it in 1862 and 1863. Sherman determined that if he could take Fort McAllister at the mouth of the Ogeechee River, defending Savannah from the sea, the ships could reach his men. He…READ MORE

Bentonville

After his march to the sea, Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman headed north in early 1865 to unite with Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's army in Virginia. Only Confederate Gen. Joseph Johnston's army stood between Sherman and Grant. After briefly blocking Sherman's advance at Averasboro, North Carolina on March 16, Johnston struck Maj. Gen. Henry Slocum's wing of Sherman's army near Bentonville on March 19. The Confederates ran into stiff resistance, as Slocum established a defensive position. Johnston's assaults con…READ MORE