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The Civil War at a Glance

The Western Theater, 1865

First posted 1998
Last update Apr 29, 2009

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The year begins with Union forces capturing Fort Fisher guarding the approaches to the Cape Fear River and Wilmington, North Carolina. Wilmington is occupied February 22, the same day that Joseph E. Johnston is restored to the command of what is left of the Army of Tennessee and given the impossible task of stopping Sherman's armies then sweeping northward through South Carolina. Sherman's troops occupy Columbia on February 17, and compel the evacuation of Charleston that evening. Entering North Carolina, Sherman defeats Johnston at Averasboro and at Bentonville.

At Goldsboro, Sherman is joined by Maj. Gen Scholfield's force, fresh from victory at Kinston. The outnumbered Johnston surrenders his troops to Sherman on April 26, at Durham Station. Meanwhile in Alabama Mobile falls to Federal forces while Maj. Gen. James H. Wilson's Union cavalry corps sweeps through Selma and Montgomery and on to Columbus and Macon, Georgia. Near Irwinville, Georgia, on May 10, his troops capture Confederate President Jefferson Davis Jefferson Davis, who had fled Richmond when that city was evacuated on April 2. From Jonesboro, Tennessee, Maj. Gen. George Stoneman and his 4,000 cavalrymen raid eastward across the Appalachians into southwest Virginia and North Carolinia's Piedmont region. By June 23, the last Confederate army is surrendered and the long war is finally over.

Jan 13 - 14Attack and capture of Fort Fisher, N.C.
Jan 14 - Apr 26 Sherman's Carolinas Campaign
Mar 8 - 10Battle of Kinston, N.C.
Mar 16Battle of Averasboro, N.C.
Mar 19 - 21Battle of Bentonville, N.C.
Apr 13Raleigh, N.C. occupied
Apr 26 Surrender of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston's Confederate forces near Durham Station, N.C.
Feb 22Capture of Wilmington, N.C.
Mar 22 - Apr 22Wilson's Alabama and Georgia Raid
Apr 2Battle of Selma, Ala.
Mar 23 - Apr 23Stoneman's North Carolina and Virginia Raid
Mar 25 - Apr 12 Mobile Campaign, Ala.
Mar 27 - Apr 8Siege of Spanish fort
Apr 2 - 9Siege and Capture of Fort Blakely
Apr 12Surrender of Mobile
May 4Surrender of Lt. Gen. Richard Taylor's Confederate forces at Citronelle, Ala.
May 12 - 13Battle of Palmito Ranch, Tex. Last Civil War land engagement
May 26Surrender of Lt. Gen. E. Kirby Smith's Confederate forces at New Orleans, La.
Jun 23Surrender of Brig. Gen. Stand Watie's Confederate Indian forces at Doaksville, Indian Territory


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