The siege of Vicksburg was the final major military action in the Vicksburg campaign of the American Civil War. In a series of maneuvers, Union Major General Ulysses S. Grant and his Army of the Tennessee crossed the Mississippi River and drove the Confederate Army of Mississippi, led by Lieutenant General John C. Pemberton, into the defensive lines surrounding the fortress city of Vicksburg, Mississippi, leading to the successful siege and Confederate surrender.
Oliver Otis Howard was a career United States Army officer and a Union general in the Civil War. As a brigade commander in the Army of the Potomac, Howard lost his right arm while leading his men against Confederate forces at the Battle of Fair Oaks/Seven Pines in June 1862, an action which later earned him the Medal of Honor. As a corps commander, he suffered a major defeat at Chancellorsville and his performance was of question at Gettysburg in May and July 1863. However, he recovered from possible career setbacks as a successful corps and later army commander, commanding the Army of the Tennessee from July 27, 1864 until May 19, 1865 leading the army in the battles of Ezra Church, Battle of Jonesborough, Sherman's March to the Sea, and the Carolinas campaign in the Western Theater.
Sherman's March to the Sea was a military campaign of the American Civil War conducted through Georgia from November 15 until December 21, 1864, by William Tecumseh Sherman, major general of the Union Army. The campaign began on November 15 with Sherman's troops leaving Atlanta, recently taken by Union forces, and ended with the capture of the port of Savannah on December 21. His forces followed a "scorched earth" policy, destroying military targets as well as industry, infrastructure, and civilian property, disrupting the Confederacy's economy and transportation networks.
The Battle of Stones River, also known as the Second Battle of Murfreesboro, was fought from December 31, 1862, to January 2, 1863, in Middle Tennessee, as the culmination of the Stones River Campaign in the Western Theater of the American Civil War. Of the major battles of the war, Stones River had the highest percentage of casualties on both sides. The battle ended in Union victory after the Confederate army's withdrawal on January 3, largely due to a series of tactical miscalculations by Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg, but the victory was costly for the Union army. Nevertheless, it was an important victory for the Union because it provided a much-needed boost in morale after the Union's recent defeat at Fredericksburg and also reinforced President Abraham Lincoln's foundation for issuing the Emancipation Proclamation, which ultimately discouraged European powers from intervening on the Confederacy's behalf.
The Army of the Tennessee was a Union army in the Western Theater of the American Civil War, named for the Tennessee River. A 2005 study of the army states that it "was present at most of the great battles that became turning points of the war—Fort Donelson, Vicksburg, and Atlanta" and "won the decisive battles in the decisive theater of the war."
Henry Warner Slocum Sr., was a Union general during the American Civil War and later served in the United States House of Representatives from New York. During the war, he was one of the youngest major generals in the Army and fought numerous major battles in the Eastern Theater and in Georgia and the Carolinas. While commanding a regiment, a brigade, a division, and a corps in the Army of the Potomac, he saw action at First Bull Run, the Peninsula Campaign, Harpers Ferry, South Mountain, Antietam, and Chancellorsville.
The Atlanta campaign was a series of battles fought in the Western Theater of the American Civil War throughout northwest Georgia and the area around Atlanta during the summer of 1864. Union Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman invaded Georgia from the vicinity of Chattanooga, Tennessee, beginning in May 1864, opposed by the Confederate general Joseph E. Johnston.
William Babcock Hazen was a career United States Army officer who served in the Indian Wars, as a Union general in the American Civil War, and as Chief Signal Officer of the U.S. Army. His most famous service was defending "Hell's Half Acre" at the Battle of Stones River in 1862, and seizing Fort McAllister, Georgia, in December 1864, which allowed William Sherman to capture Savannah at the end of his March to the Sea.
The Battle of Missionary Ridge, also known as the Battle of Chattanooga, was fought on November 25, 1863, as part of the Chattanooga campaign of the American Civil War. Following the Union victory in the Battle of Lookout Mountain on November 24, Union forces in the Military Division of the Mississippi under Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant assaulted Missionary Ridge and defeated the Confederate Army of Tennessee, commanded by Gen. Braxton Bragg, forcing it to retreat to Georgia.
Fort McAllister was a Confederate earthen-work fort used to defend Savannah, Georgia during the American Civil War. It was the southernmost of the forts defending Savannah and was involved in the most battles. It was located on the Ogeechee River in Bryan County. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (#70000197). Fort McAllister was one of three forts protecting Savannah, the others being Fort Pulaski and Fort James Jackson standing in Confederate defiance of the Union naval blockade. The southeast coast of the United States was the place where both combatants tested the latest in naval artillery and coastal defenses. Fort McAllister was the key to unlocking the defenses around Savannah, one of the most important Confederate ports on the Atlantic Ocean.
The Carolinas campaign, also known as the campaign of the Carolinas, was the final campaign conducted by the Union Army against the Confederate Army in the Western Theater of the American Civil War. On January 1, Union Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman advanced north from Savannah, Georgia, through the Carolinas, with the intention of linking up with Union forces in Virginia. The campaign culminated in the defeat of Confederate Gen. Joseph E. Johnston's army at the Battle of Bentonville, and its unconditional surrender to Union forces on April 26, 1865. Coming just two weeks after the defeat of Robert E. Lee's army at the Battle of Appomattox Court House, it signaled that the war was effectively over.
The western theater of the American Civil War encompassed major military operations in the states of Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, North Carolina, Kentucky, South Carolina and Tennessee, as well as Louisiana east of the Mississippi River. Operations on the coasts of these states, except for Mobile Bay, are considered part of the Lower Seaboard Theater. Most other operations east of the Appalachian Mountains are part of the eastern theater. Operations west of the Mississippi River took place in the trans-Mississippi theater.
Robert Houstoun Anderson was a West Point graduate, an infantry officer in the United States Army and served as a Brigadier General in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. After the war he served as the Chief of Police for the city of Savannah for 23 years and was twice appointed to serve on the Visitor's Board of the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. With General Wheeler, General Anderson played an important role in reunification, recommending improvements and changes at West Point like electricity and the telephone in 1887.
The city of Atlanta, Georgia, in Fulton County, was an important rail and commercial center during the American Civil War. Although relatively small in population, the city became a critical point of contention during the Atlanta Campaign in 1864 when a powerful Union Army approached from Union-held Tennessee. The fall of Atlanta was a critical point in the Civil War, giving the North more confidence, and leading to the re-election of President Abraham Lincoln and the eventual dissolution of the Confederacy. The capture of the "Gate City of the South" was especially important for Lincoln as he was in a contentious election campaign against the Democratic opponent George B. McClellan.
The First Battle of Fort McAllister was a series of naval attacks that took place from January 27 to March 3, 1863, at Fort McAllister in Bryan County, Georgia, during the American Civil War. The commander of the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron Rear Adm. Samuel F. Du Pont decided to test operation of new monitors against Fort McAllister before conducting a major naval operation against Charleston, South Carolina.
The Battle of Altamaha Bridge, also known as the Battle for the Doctortown Railroad Trestle, was an American Civil War engagement fought December 19, 1864, in Wayne County, Georgia, during Sherman's March to the Sea. The Confederate victory prevented Federal forces from destroying a vital railroad bridge during Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman's siege of Savannah, keeping open Confederate supply lines to the city.
The Chattanooga campaign was a series of maneuvers and battles in October and November 1863, during the American Civil War. Following the defeat of Maj. Gen. William S. Rosecrans's Union Army of the Cumberland at the Battle of Chickamauga in September, the Confederate Army of Tennessee under Gen. Braxton Bragg besieged Rosecrans and his men by occupying key high terrain around Chattanooga, Tennessee. Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant was given command of Union forces in the West which was now consolidated under the Division of the Mississippi. Significant reinforcements also began to arrive with him in Chattanooga from Mississippi and the Eastern Theater. On October 18, Grant removed Rosecrans from command of the Army of the Cumberland and replaced him with Major General George Henry Thomas.
On the onset of the American Civil War in April 1861, Ulysses S. Grant was working as a clerk in his father's leather goods store in Galena, Illinois. When the war began, his military experience was needed, and congressman Elihu B. Washburne became his patron in political affairs and promotions in Illinois and nationwide.
Major George Wayne Anderson Jr, was an officer in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. He commanded the Republican Blues and later Fort McAllister near Savannah, Georgia before its capture in 1864.
Lebanon Plantation is a state historic site located at 5745 Ogeechee Road in Savannah, Georgia. The site is over 500 acres (2.0 km2) consisting of a large estate granted to James Deveaux in 1756, and was named for the many cedar trees on the property. An additional 500 acres were granted to Phillip Delegal in 1758 and eventually became part of the plantation. The site was purchased by Joseph Habersham in 1802. Habersham sold it in 1804 to George W. Anderson who built the main house that was rebuilt and added on to after the American Civil War. Anderson's son, George Wayne Anderson, JR Commanded Fort McAllister in the Civil War, and after the fort fell, Lebanon became his prison and the headquarters of the Fifteenth Army Corps of the US Army.
United States (Union)
Confederate States (Confederacy) 
