Confederate General Jubal Early made a bold attempt to counter Union General Philip Sheridan's advances in the Shenandoah Valley with a sweeping flanking movement that caught the federal forces by surprise in a dawn attack. Driven back more than four miles is disarray, the Union's Army of the Shenadoah rallied in the afternoon with the arrival of their commander and reinforcements and inflicted a crushing defeat on the Confederates that effectively lost the Shenandoah Valley, permanently, to Sheridan's army. (By John Osborne) 

In one last effort to break out of the chain of Union forces surrounding his Army of Northern Virginia, Confederate General Lee ordered an attack at his front at the Appomattox Court House, believing this to be the weakest link, manned as it was only by Sheridan's cavalry.  But during the night the Union's XXIV and V Corps had force marched to reinforce Sheridan. Winning initial success against the cavalry, the Confederate advance was halted on reaching the Union infantry.  Lee would surrender within hours. (By John Osborne)  

Desperate for supplies, the beleaguered Army of Northern Virginia became increasingly dependent on four supply trains waiting at Appomattox Station.  Unfortunately for them, the Union cavalry of General George Armstrong Custer arrived in the afternoon and captured most of the desperately needed materiel. A running four hour battle then ensued, cavalry against artillerymen, many serving as infantry. The Confederate forces were pushed back and Custer and his men cut off one of the last avenues of Confederate retreat.  (By John Osborne) 

Confederate commander Earl Van Dorn made an attempt to blunt Union General Samuel Curtis's drive into northwestern Arkansas.  Efforts to cut off the Union force failed and two days of fierce fighting ensued around Pea Ridge and Elkhorn Tavern in Benton County.  Though outnumbered, Union troops held their ground, killing Confederate generals Benjamin McCullough and James M. McIntosh, and on the second day drove the enemy from the field.  Casualties were heavy.  The Union lost 200 men killed and the Confederacy as many as 2000 killed, wounded, or captured. (By John Osborne)  

Confederate General George Pickett had been ordered to hold the crossroads in Dinwiddie County, Virginia at all costs.  General Philip Sheridan had ordered the whole of the Union's Fifth Corps under General Gouverneur K. Warren to take it. After a delay, the attack began in the late afternoon and despite confusion and missed opportunities, the Confederates were driven back with heavy losses.  The loss of the crossroads convinced General Lee that he could no long hold Petersburg or Richmond and advised they be evacuated.  (By John Osborne)  

The Confederate Army of the Mississippi marched north from Corinth on the Union troop concentrations at Pittsburg Landing in Hardin County, Tennessee.  Surprising Ulysses Grant's unprepared Army of the Tennessee, the Confederate force of close to fifty thousand men under General Albert Sidney Johnston drove forward all day against fierce resistance.  Although they failed in their objective to drive the defeated Federals towards the west and away from the river, and they lost their commanding general, they held the upper hand as night fell.  (By John Osborne)

The squadron had sailed from Hampton Roads with almost fifty ships and around fifteen thousand troops just over a week before.  After weathering a hurricane, the task force arrived off Port Royal, South Carolina on November 4, 1861.  Following three days preparation and a weather delay, a concerted bombardment was made in the morning on the two main defending forts, Walker and Beuaregard, by most of the warships in the fleet and four hours later they were in Union hands. Beaufort was occupied two days later. (By John Osborne) 

Union General Nathaniel Lyon made a bold attack with his 5000 men on a Confederate force twice his size under General Sterling Price near Wilson's Creek in Missouri.  A combined frontal attack and encirclement almost succeeded but when Lyon was killed at the height of the fighting, the direct assault broke down and Price's troops, reinforced with units from Arkansas under General Ben McCulloch, held.  The Union lost 1,317 Union dead, wounded, or missing and the Confederacy had 2,804 total casualties. Price now controlled south-west Missouri.  (By John Osborne)  

A reconnaissance-in-force of Massachusetts troops across the Potomac into Virginia was reinforced during the day and at about three in the afternoon a pitched battle broke out.  Confederate troops controlled the high ground and in fighting that lasted until dusk drove the Union troops back down to the river.  More than two hundred Union soldiers were killed, including Colonel Edward D. Baker, U.S. Senator from California and good friend to Abraham Lincoln.  Baker remains the only U.S. Senator ever killed in action.  (By John Osborne)