Union General William Rosecrans was following up his successful capture of Chattanooga when Confederate General Braxton Bragg turned his retreating force and fought a three-day battle in north-western Georgia near Chickamauga Creek. Union troops were holding their own when an error from Rosecrans opened a gap in his lines. Bragg then advanced and placed Chattanooga under siege. Rosecrans was replaced within weeks as commander of the Army of the Cumberland. (By John Osborne)

Union forces initiated an artillery and naval gunfire barrage at mid-morning on the Confederate fortifications on Morris Island, protecting Charleston Harbor.  Ten hours later, at dusk, two full brigades, the 54th Massacusetts in the lead, made a ground assualt.  In heavy fighting that cost the lives of hundreds of Union officers and men and decimated the African-American 54th, the attack was repulsed.  Federal forces settled afterwards into a a siege but Fort Wagner remained in Confederate hands until September 1863.  (By John Osborne)

Union troops under General Nathaniel Banks on the landward side of the Confederate fortications on the Mississippi River at Port Hudson advanced from the east and north in a pincer movement.  Fighting several skirmishes along the way Banks' forces surrounded the strongpoint.  After initial attempts to take it by storm ended in failure, Port Hudson was besieged for the next seven weeks and finally surrendered on July 9, 1863.  (By John Osborne)

After weeks of movement between the Union General W.T. Sherman's offensive against Atlanta and the defending Confederate Army of the Tennessee under General Joe Johnston, Sherman ordered a change of tactics.  He organized a frontal assault on the Confederate right flank, anchored on Kennesaw Mountain. Despite a massive preparatory bombardment, Confederate trenches were easily held and 3000 Union soldiers became casualties.  Sherman never repeated such direct attacks and the campaign of maneuver continued.  (By John Osborne)