The Battle of First Manassas (First Bull Run)

• Near Manassas, Virginia, on July 21, 1861, Union forces under Gen. Irvin McDowell attacked the left flank of the Confederate line. The line collapsed and the Southern forces fled. As Confederate Gen. Thomas J. Jackson and his brigade arrived, Gen. Bernard Bee attempted to rally the troops by pointing to him and saying, "There stands Jackson like a stone wall! Rally behind the Virginians!" With the help of more reinforcements, Confederate troops broke the right flank of the Union army, which retreated in disorder.
  
  

The Battle of Second Manassas (Second Bull Run)

• Union forces under Gen. John Pope met Gen. Jackson's troops near Manassas on August 29, 1861; the Union line was forced back. General Robert E. Lee arrived with Gen. James Longstreet and his troops. They deployed their forces on Jackson's right. The next day, unaware of the presence of the Confederate reinforcements, Pope was convinced the Confederates were retreating. He ordered the Union forces to pursue. Longstreet's columns crushed the Union forces, which withdrew toward Washington, D.C.
  
  

Battle of Fredericksburg

• In November 1862, Union Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside proposed a rapid march to Fredericksburg, Virginia, and to cross the Rappahannock River and proceed onto Richmond, the Confederate capital. Lee ordered Longstreet's and Jackson's troops to position themselves on the hills outside Fredericksburg. On December 13, the Union forces crossed the river. They found themselves in a low valley that offered no cover. Burnside sent the troops in one futile assault after another against the entrenched Confederate forces. On December 15, the Union army retreated across the river.
  
  

Battle of Chancellorsville

• On May 2, 1863, Union forces under Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker were camped near Chancellorsville, Virginia, a road junction in a wood known as "the Wilderness." Gen. Jackson's troops drove them from the field in a surprise attack. Lee's cavalry chief, J.E.B. Stuart, set up artillery on the Union's abandoned position. The Confederate forces attacked on May 3. The Union troops lost their way in the thickets of the wood, which were set ablaze by the artillery. Hooker withdrew the Union forces across the Rappahannock River.
  
  

Battle of Chickamauga

• Chickamauga was the last major victory for the CSA in the Civil War. By early September 1863, troops under Union Gen. William S. Rosecrans had forced Confederate forces under Gen. Braxton Bragg out of Chattanooga. Bragg set up base on the west bank of Chickamauga Creek on September 18. On the 20th, thanks to a gap in the Union line, Confederate forces drove the Union troops from the field. Bragg's forces pursued and laid siege to the city.