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The Battles of the American Civil War were fought between April 12, 1861 and May 12–13, 1865 in 23 states (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, and West Virginia) and the District of Columbia, as well as the following territories (Arizona Territory, Colorado Territory, Dakota Territory, Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma), New Mexico Territory, and Washington Territory) and naval engagements. These battles would change the standing and historical memory of the United States. While the origins of the war are complex, principle among them were the issue of slavery, and the interpretations of the Constitution and the rules, rights, and qualifications that it embodied.
Contents
- Battles rated by CWSAC
- Other USACSA battles
- Other battles in the American Indian Wars
- Troop engagements
- References
For lists of battles organized by campaign and theater, see:
Some battles have more than one name; e.g., the Battles known in the North as Battle of Antietam and Second Battle of Bull Run were referred to as the Battles of Sharpsburg and Manassas by the South. This was because the North tended to name battles after landmarks (often rivers or bodies of water), whereas the South named battles after nearby towns. See Naming the American Civil War#Naming the battles and armies for more details.
Battles rated by CWSAC
The American Battlefield Protection Program (ABPP) was established within the United States National Park Service to classify the preservation status of historic battlefield land. In 1993, the Civil War Sites Advisory Commission (CWSAC) reported to Congress and the ABPP on their extensive analysis of significant battles and battlefields. Of the estimated 8,000 occasions in which hostilities occurred in the American Civil War, this table and related articles describe the 384 battles that were classified in CWSAC's Report on the Nation's Civil War Battlefields. In addition to the status of battlefield land preservation (not included in this table) CWSAC rated the military significance of the battles into four classes, as follows:
Other USA/CSA battles
Other non-Indian wars battles and skirmishes not rated by CWSAC.
Other battles in the American Indian Wars
Other battles and skirmishes, not rated by CWSAC, of the American Indian Wars between either USA or CSA forces and the Apache, Arapaho, Cheyenne, Comanche, Dakota, Kiowa, Navajo, and Shoshone which occurred during the American Civil War – including: the Apache Wars, Colorado War, Dakota War of 1862, Navajo Wars, and Texas–Indian wars.
Troop engagements
This is a chronological summary and record of every engagement between the troops of the Union and of the Confederacy, showing the total losses and casualties in each engagement. It was collated and compiled from the Official Records of the War Department.
This summary has been divided by year: