Massachusetts 34th Volunteer Infantry (Union)
01/08/1862
Organized - Massachusetts 34th Volunteer Infantry - Massachusetts
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
18/10/1863
Battle - Charlestown - Charles Town, Jefferson County, West Virginia
15/05/1864
Battle - New Market - Shenandoah County, Virginia
In conjunction with other spring 1864 offensives against strategic points in the Confederacy, Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant ordered Maj. Gen. Franz Sigel to move up the Shenandoah Valley along the Valley Turnpike to destroy the railroad and canal complex at Lynchburg. Union control of the strategic and agriculturally rich valley was a crucial part of Grant's plans. Receiving word that the Union Army had entered the valley, Maj. Gen. John C. Breckinridge pulled together all available troops to repulse the invad…READ MORE
05/06/1864
Battle - Piedmont - Augusta County, Virginia
10/06/1864
Battle - Staunton, Virginia
17/06/1864
Battle - Lynchburg - Lynchburg, Virginia
The Union threat forced Robert E. Lee to dispatch General Jubal Early with his Second Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia to defend Lynchburg. On June 17 and 18, the opposing forces clashed, resulting in a Union retreat all the way into West Virginia, leaving the Valley open for another Confederate advance into the North.READ MORE
20/06/1864
Battle - Salem, Virginia
22/07/1864
Battle - Winchester, Virginia
03/09/1864
Battle - Berryville - Clarke County, Virginia
04/09/1864
Battle - Berryville, 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
21/09/1864
Battle - Fisher's Hill - Shenandoah County, Virginia
Confederate Maj. Gen. Jubal Early's Army of the Valley, bloodied by its defeat at the Third Battle of Winchester on September 19th, retreated 20 miles up the valley and took a defensive position in an east-west line across Fisher's Hill, southwest of Strasburg. Maj. Gen. Phillip Sheridan's Army of the Shenandoah, in accordance with Lieut. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's orders, aggressively pursued Early. Sheridan, outnumbering Early about three to one, noted that the right of the Confederate line was anchored o…READ MORE
13/10/1864
Battle - Cedar Creek, Virginia
19/10/1864
Leadership Change - Regiment - Captain Andrew Potter
CaptainAndrew Potter
19/10/1864
Leadership Change - Brigade - Lieutenant Colonel Thomas F. Wildes
Lieutenant ColonelThomas F. Wildes
19/10/1864
Leadership Change - Division - Colonel Joseph Thoburn, and Colonel Thomas M. Harris
ColonelJoseph Thoburn
ColonelThomas M. Harris
19/10/1864
Leadership Change - Division - Colonel Joseph Thoburn
ColonelJoseph Thoburn
19/10/1864
Battle - Cedar Creek - Frederick County, Virginia; Shenandoah County, Virginia; Warren County, Virginia
Also known as: Cedar Creek, Belle GroveREAD 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
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
02/07/1865
Mustered Out - Massachusetts 34th Volunteer Infantry - Massachusetts
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