Indiana 33rd Infantry (Union)

Camp Wildcat

Early in the war, the Lincoln administration knew well the importance of keeping the border state of Kentucky in the Union. Any Rebel armies operating successfully there could encourage secessionist sympathies. In late 1861, a Confederate force of around 6,000 men under Brig. Gen. Felix Zollicoffer entered the southeast corner of the state just north of the Tennessee border and occupied the strategic Cumberland Gap. To counter Confederate moves in the area, Union Brig. Gen. George H. Thomas sent a detachme…READ MORE

Camp Wild Cat

Union Gen George H Thomas set troops commanded by Theophilus T Garrard to set up camp at Rockcastle Hills at the base of Wildcat Mountain. The camp was named Camp Wildcat for obvious reasons. On October 21, 1861 Union forces commanded by Garrard and Albin F Schoepf met Felix Zollicoffer's Confederates in the area around Camp Wildcat resulting in a Union VictoryREAD MORE

Thompson's Station

On March 5, 1863, Thompson's Station, Tennessee, was a no-man's-land. It stood in the center of a battle line that stretched 1,100 miles, from the cavalry-strewn banks of Virginia's Rappahannock River to the blue-clad battalions snaking their way down the Mississippi and beyond. The coming summer would shape the nation's destiny as much as any other single season in American history. Here in Tennessee, the advantage was anyone's for the taking.READ MORE

Franklin (1863)

The Battle of Franklin fought on April 10 1863, was a mere skirmish fought at the same location that the major Battle of Franklin would be fought in 1864.READ MORE

Resaca

Following his withdrawal from Rocky Face Ridge, the first battle in Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman's campaign against Atlanta, Confederate Gen. Joseph E. Johnston established a four-mile defensive position protecting the Western & Atlantic Railroad west and north of Resaca, where the railroad crossed the Oostanaula River. On May 13th, Sherman tested the Rebel lines, sending forward divisions to skirmish with the Confederates, with little substantive result. On the 14th, the fighting erupted into a full-…READ MORE

Dallas

During early and mid-May 1864, Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman successfully outmaneuvered the army of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston in multiple battles in northwest Georgia. Each time, Johnston fell back to a new defensive position closer to the strategic Confederate city of Atlanta. Stopped at New Hope Church on Johnston's left on May 26th, Sherman attacked Johnston's right at Pickett's Mill on May 27th. The next day, Lt. Gen. William J. Hardee's corps probed the Union defensive line, held by Maj. Gen. John A. Log…READ MORE

Kennesaw Mountain

Fearing envelopment northwest of Atlanta, Confederate Gen. Joseph E. Johnston withdrew his army to a new defensive position astride Kennesaw Mountain near Marietta. Johnston selected this position in order to protect the Western & Atlantic Railroad, his supply link to Atlanta. Prior to taking up this new line on June 19th, Johnston had pioneers working through the night digging trenches and erecting fortifications, turning Kennesaw into a formidable earthen fortress. Having defeated Lieut. Gen. John…READ MORE

Peachtree Creek

Weary of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston's pattern of retreat through northwest Georgia in the face of Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman's advancing armies, President Jefferson Davis removed him from command of the Army of Tennessee, replacing him with Lieut. Gen. John B. Hood. On July 20th, Hood determined to take the fight to the enemy by setting upon an isolated portion of Sherman's forces in front of Atlanta. Hood's target would be the Union corps of Maj. Gens. Oliver O. Howard and Joseph Hooker from Maj. Gen. Geo…READ MORE

Atlanta

Despite the defeat at Peach Tree Creek, Confederate Lieut. Gen. John Bell Hood still had hopes of driving Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman's Yankees from the outskirts of Atlanta with an offensive blow. On the night of July 21, 1864, Hood ordered Lt. Gen. William J. Hardee's corps to make 15-mile night march and assault the Union left flank east of the city, held by Maj. Gen. James B. McPherson's Army of the Tennessee. Joining the attack with Hardee would be the corps of Maj. Gen. Benjamin Cheatham. Hood attac…READ MORE

Bentonville

After his march to the sea, Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman headed north in early 1865 to unite with Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's army in Virginia. Only Confederate Gen. Joseph Johnston's army stood between Sherman and Grant. After briefly blocking Sherman's advance at Averasboro, North Carolina on March 16, Johnston struck Maj. Gen. Henry Slocum's wing of Sherman's army near Bentonville on March 19. The Confederates ran into stiff resistance, as Slocum established a defensive position. Johnston's assaults con…READ MORE