Civil War Soldiering

Date Event
Union soldiers publish their own newspaper in the field
Colonel Elmer Ellsworth, a former law student of President Lincoln, is killed in Alexandria, Virginia
In Philadelphia, the Cooper Shop Volunteer Refreshment Saloon opens
The Union Volunteer Refreshment Saloon opens in Philadelphia
After Philippi, nineteen years old James Edward Hanger becomes the first amputee of the Civil War
In western forces, Union and Confederate forces fight the first planned engagement of the war at Philippi
- The first pitched battle of the war between armies results in a Union disaster at Bull Run
The United States Army abolishes flogging as a punishment
At Wilson's Creek in Missouri, a bold Union attack is thrown back and General Nathaniel Lyon killed
Near New York City, the desertion of an entire company from the New York Rifles ends in a firefight
Union troops suffer a heavy defeat at Ball's Bluff on the Virginia side of the Potomac
Lieutenant General Winfield Scott retires from the Army after fifty-three years service, twenty as general-in-chief
Confederate General Leonidas Polk hurt in artillery accident at Columbus, Kentucky, seven others killed
The United States Christian Commission is set up at a conference in New York City
As the year closes, the armed forces of the United States reach a strength of more than 680,000 men
The second hanging of an Army of the Potomac soldier takes place north of Washington DC
In Prince William's County, a night of entertainment ends in death for ten Texas cavalrymen
Verses of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" published anonymously in the Atlantic Monthly
In Dutchess County, New York, a troop train derailment kills five men of the 94th New York Volunteers
- In western Virginia, Stonewall Jackson's infantry marches at a grueling pace towards Winchester
In the Shenandoah Valley, Stonewall Jackson suffers his only defeat at the first Battle of Kernstown
Pennsylvania troops reportedly use the machine gun in open combat for the first time in the war
Confederate president Jefferson Davis signs the first Conscription Act in American history
Union telegrapher dies in a Washington DC hospital of wounds from a booby-trap left in Yorktown
William Stoker enters Company H of the 18th Texas Infantry in Jefferson, Texas
Governor Yates of Illinois calls for recruits to fill up the state's depleted regiments
The Eighteenth Texas Volunteer Infantry arrive in Little Rock, Arkansas
Dozens of New Jersey infantrymen drown in Kentucky while crossing the Cumberland River
In Tennessee, Julius Mileke, Union Army deserter, is executed at a public crossroads outside Nashville
President Lincoln commutes the death sentence of an Indiana private soldier caught sleeping on guard
Court martial convicts General Joseph Revere, grandson of the patriot, for his retreat at Chancellorsville
Meeting in Washington DC demands protection for black Union prisoners of war
In Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, white soldiers smash up African-American dwellings and establishments
The War Department bars the enlistment of men under eighteen without parental approval
Three soldiers of the Union Army's XXII Corps are executed for desertion
Iowa infantry officer dismissed from the Army for drunkenness and sleeping with a freed slave woman
War Department sets generous cash bounties for veterans who reenlist in the Union Army
In Virginia, five deserters from the 118th Pennsylvania are executed before the entire V Corps, Army of the Potomac
In Philadelphia, the veterans of the 29th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry are welcomed home
- William Stoker returns to Coffeeville, Texas on furlough
In the U.S. Senate, Henry Wilson of Massachusetts proposes the size of the peacetime Army
The War Department reports over a million Union dead re-interred in forty-one national cemeteries.
Date Title
- C. P. Kirkland, Jr.’s Letter, April 27-28, 1861
New York Herald, “Letters for the Army,” May 19, 1861
Ripley (OH) Bee, “One of the Volunteers,” May 23, 1861
Atchison (KS) Freedom’s Champion, “News from the ‘All Hazard’ Boys,” June 1, 1861
New York Times, “The Barbarians at Harper’s Ferry,” June 16, 1861
Fayetteville (NC) Observer, “More Stealing in Pennsylvania,” July 1, 1861
Boston (MA) Advertiser, “The Attacks Upon General Scott,” July 4, 1861
James Colwell to Ann Colwell, July 4, 1861
Fayetteville (NC) Observer, “Secretary Cameron,” July 8, 1861
Cleveland (OH) Herald, “Military Printers Having Their Joke,” July 15, 1861
Raleigh (NC) Register, “The Gallantry of Southern Men,” July 17, 1861
Chicago (IL) Tribune, “A Good Idea,” July 19, 1861
Atchison (KS) Freedom’s Champion, “Disgraced,” July 20, 1861
Fayetteville (NC) Observer, “Gen. Scott Vanquished At Last,” August 1, 1861
Atchison (KS) Freedom’s Champion, “Kansas and the War,” August 3, 1861
Charleston (SC) Mercury, “The Loss of the Enemy,” August 5, 1861
Memphis (TN) Appeal, “Clothing For Our Army,” August 8, 1861
John P. Crawford to Abraham Lincoln, August 10, 1861
Fayetteville (NC) Observer, “Lincoln’s Killed, Wounded and Prisoners,” August 12, 1861
Fayetteville (NC) Observer, “Waking Up,” August 19, 1861
Charleston (SC) Mercury, “Reform,” August 21, 1861
Fayetteville (NC) Observer, “Impatience,” August 26, 1861
Henry Bellows to William Seward, Report on Condition of Confederate prisoners in New York City, October 31, 1861
United States Army Order Number 19 , Washington, D.C., November 1, 1861
Gen. Frémont's farewell address to the Western Department Army, Springfield, Missouri, November 2, 1861
Abraham Lincoln to Lorenzo Thomas, November 7, 1861
Cleveland (OH) Herald, “North Carolina Dissatisfied,” November 21, 1861
Colonel George D. Bayard, First Pennsylvania Cavalry, Report on Expedition to Dranesville, Virginia, November 27, 1861
Major-General George McClellan, General Orders No. 48 on Chaplains and the Army, November 27, 1861
Abraham Lincoln to Arnold Fischel, December 14, 1861
Colonel Robert Latimer McCook to Brigadier-General George Henry Thomas, Report on Battle of Mill Springs, Kentucky, January 27, 1862
Shreveport (LA) News, “A Pretty Severe Order,” March 11, 1862
Shreveport (LA) News, “On the Wane,” August 15, 1862
Fayetteville (NC) Observer, “Soldiers Frozen To Death,” December 15, 1862
Abraham Lincoln to Isaac Newton Arnold, May 26, 1863
Jefferson Finis Davis, Proclamation concerning Military Service, Richmond, Virginia, August 1, 1863
Abraham Lincoln, Speech to the 166th Ohio Regiment, Washington, D.C., August 22, 1864
How to Cite This Page: "Civil War Soldiering," House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, https://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/node/36570.