South Carolina
in
The War Between the States
Timeline

March 9, 1864 - President Lincoln appoints Gen. Grant to command all of the armies of the United States. Gen. William T. Sherman succeeds Grant as commander in the west.

May 1864 - Grant and Lee in Virginia

May 4, 1864 - The beginning of a massive, coordinated campaign involving all the Union Armies. In Virginia, Grant with an Army of 120,000 begins advancing toward Richmond to engage Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, now numbering 64,000, beginning a war of attrition that will include major battles at:
May 5-6, 1864 - The Wilderness
May 6, 1864 - Port Walthall Junction
May 8-21 - Spotsylvania Court House
General Grant attacks Lee at Spotsylvania Court House, vowing to fight all summer if necessary.
May 9, 1864 - Swift Creek
May 12-16, 1864 - Drewry's Bluff (Proctor's Creek)
May 17-June 16, 1864 - Bermuda Hundred
May 23-26 - North Anna
May 28 - Haw's Shop (Enon Church)

In the west, Sherman, with 100,000 men begins an advance toward Atlanta to engage Joseph E. Johnston's 60,000 strong Army of Tennessee.

June 1864 - Cold Harbor, Siege of Petersburg

June 1-3, 1864 - Cold Harbor Virginia
A costly mistake by Grant results in 7,000 Union casualties in twenty minutes during an offensive against fortified Confederates at Cold Harbor in Virginia. Many of the Union soldiers in the failed assault had predicted the outcome, including a dead soldier from Massachusetts whose last entry in his diary was, "June 3, 1864, Cold Harbor, Virginia. I was killed."

Petersburg Siege (June 1864-April 1865)

June 15, 1864 - Union forces miss an opportunity to capture Petersburg and cut off the Confederate rail lines. As a result, a nine-month siege of Petersburg begins with Grant's forces surrounding Lee.

July 1864 - Sherman in Atlanta; The Crater in Virginia

July 20-28, 1864 - Atlanta Campaign
At Atlanta, Georgia, Sherman's Union Army battles the Confederates, now under the command of Gen. John B. Hood, who replaced Johnston.

July 22, 1864 - Atlanta

July 30, 1864 - The Crater (Petersburg, VA)

Photo at left: The 13-inch Union mortar nicknamed "Dictator" mounted on a railroad flatcar at Petersburg. Its 200-pound shells had a range of over 2 miles.

August 1864

August 21, 1864 - Weldon Railroad

Aug 29, 1864 - In the grim summer of 1864, with the War Between The States in its fourth year, and seemingly at a stalemate, it seemed unlikely that Lincoln would be re-elected. Democrats nominate George B. McClellan for president to run against Republican incumbent Abraham Lincoln.

September 1864 - Fall of Atlanta

Sept 2, 1864 - Union General Sherman's Army forces Hood to abandon Atlanta, the munitions center of the Confederacy. "Atlanta is ours, and fairly won," Sherman telegraphs Lincoln. The victory greatly helps President Lincoln's bid for re-election and boosts Northern morale. Sherman remained in Atlanta, resting his war-worn men and accumulating supplies, for nearly two-and-a-half months.

September 30, 1864 - 2nd Fort Harrison

September - October 1864 - The Shenandoah Valley, Virginia

September 19, 1864 - Third Winchester - Gen. Philip Sheridan, placed in command of Union forces around Washington, is ordered to clear Gen. Jubal Early's Confederate forces from the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia. Sheridan's cavalry, after weeks of sparring and suffering a loss of over 5,000 men, eventually manages to overrun the Confederate position at Winchester.

September 22, 1864 - Fisher's Hill - Gen. Jubal Early regroups his army on Fisher's Hill, a strong defensive position near Strasburg, that blocks a further Union advance in the Shenandoah Valley. Sheridan sends a large force along the unprotected base of Little North Mountain and attacks. By nightfall, Early's troops are again routed and pursued to Staunton. Sheridan then turns northward to Winchester, burning crops the entire way to deprive the South of vital food supplies.

October 1 - Vaughan Road
October 7 - near Port Republic
October 14 - near Strasburg
October 19, 1864 - Cedar Creek / Belle Grove
Undeterred by his recent defeats, Gen. Jubal Early steals down the Shenandoah Valley from Staunton with his ragrag army and launches a surprise pre-dawn attack on Sheridan's Federals at Winchester. Caught completely off guard, the Union forces flee. Sheridan, however, rallies his men by afternoon and launches a massive counterattack at Cedar Creek. Once again Early's army is sent packing back up the Valley. A decisive Union victory by Cavalry Gen. Philip H. Sheridan in the Shenandoah Valley over Jubal Early's troops. Confederate resistance in the Shenandoah is almost broken.

November 1864 - Sherman's March to the Sea

Nov 8, 1864 - Abraham Lincoln is re-elected president, defeating Democrat George B. McClellan. Lincoln carries all but three states with 55 percent of the popular vote and 212 of 233 electoral votes. "I earnestly believe that the consequences of this day's work will be to the lasting advantage, if not the very salvation, of the country," Lincoln tells supporters.

Nov 15, 1864 - After destroying Atlanta's warehouses and railroad facilities, Sherman, unable to corner General John B. Hood, gets permission from Grant to sow destruction from Atlanta to the Atlantic Ocean. "I can make Georgia howl!" Sherman boasts. His army of 62,000 men begins a March to the Sea, moving virtually unopposed, in four columns across Georgia. His men cut a path 300 miles in length and 60 miles wide as they passed through Georgia. They left a trail of burned mills and railway stations, emptied barns and corn cribs, ransacked homes and vacant chicken coops, dead cattle and burned grain stocks, destroyed bridges and torn up railroads. Even courthouses were burned.

December 1864 - Hood defeated at Nashville, Sherman reaches Savannah

Dec 15-16, 1864 - Nashville
Continuing his policy of taking the offensive at any cost, General John B. Hood brought his reduced Confederate army before the defenses of Nashville, where it was repulsed by General George H. Thomas on December 15-16, in the most complete victory of the war. Hood's Rebel Army of 23,000 is crushed at Nashville by 55,000 Federals. The Confederate Army of Tennessee ceases as an effective fighting force.

December 13, 1864 - Fort McAllister
After marching through Georgia for a month, Sherman stormed Fort McAllister on December 13, 1864, and captured Savannah itself eight days later.

Dec 21, 1864 - Sherman reaches Savannah, leaving behind a 300 mile long path of destruction 60 miles wide all the way from Atlanta. Sherman then telegraphs Lincoln, offering him Savannah as a Christmas present.

Next in Sherman's sights are the Carolinas...

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