What were the most important battles of the Civil War?

Among the most important were Fort Sumter, Bull Run, Shiloh, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Vicksburg, the Wilderness and Spotsylvania.

What was the turning point of the Civil War?

Early July 1863 is widely seen as the turning point, when the Union won at Gettysburg and captured Vicksburg within a day of each other.

What was the bloodiest battle of the Civil War?

Gettysburg caused the most total casualties of any battle, while Antietam remains the bloodiest single day in American history.

How many people died in the Civil War?

Estimates range from about 620,000 to 750,000 dead, more American deaths than in any other war.

Who won the American Civil War?

The Union, which preserved the United States and ended slavery; the Confederacy was defeated and dissolved by 1865.

The Greatest Battles of the American Civil War

The American Civil War was the deadliest conflict in the nation's history, and it was decided on battlefields whose names still echo: Antietam, Gettysburg, Vicksburg. This guide gathers the war's greatest battles, from the opening shots at Fort Sumter to the grinding campaigns that finally broke the Confederacy.

The battles that decided the war

Fort Sumter, 1861 · the opening shots of the war in Charleston Harbor.

Lithograph of shore batteries firing at a fort in the middle of a harbour — Bombardment of Fort Sumter, Charleston Harbor, 12 and 13 April 1861, a hand coloured lithograph published by Currier and Ives in 1861. Library of Congress. Public domain

First Bull Run, 1861 · the first major land battle, and a Union rout.

Shiloh, 1862 · the battle whose casualties showed how terrible the war would be.

Antietam, 1862 · the bloodiest single day in American history, and the road to emancipation.

Colour print of Union infantry advancing past a white church under fire — The Iron Brigade charges near the Dunker Church on the morning of 17 September 1862, in Thure de Thulstrup's Battle of Antietam, a chromolithograph published by L. Prang and Co. in 1887. Public domain

Fredericksburg, 1862 · a one-sided Union slaughter before the stone wall at Marye's Heights.

Chancellorsville, 1863 · Lee's greatest victory, won at the cost of Stonewall Jackson.

Gettysburg, 1863 · the high-water mark of the Confederacy and the war's turning point.

Vicksburg, 1863 · the siege that won the Mississippi and split the South in two.

Nineteenth century map of Vicksburg and the bend of the Mississippi with siege works — Map of the siege of Vicksburg, Mississippi, in 1863, showing the city on its bluffs above the Mississippi River and the siege lines around it. US National Archives. Public domain

The Wilderness, 1864 · the first clash of Grant and Lee, after which Grant pressed on.

Spotsylvania, 1864 · two weeks of carnage, including the hand-to-hand horror of the Bloody Angle.

Colour lithograph of Union and Confederate troops fighting hand to hand over breastworks — Battle of Spottsylvania, May 1864, a colour lithograph published by Kurz and Allison in 1888. Library of Congress. Public domain

How the war turned

For two years the war swung back and forth, with Confederate commanders like Robert E. Lee winning stunning victories in the East even as the Union tightened its grip in the West. The great turning came in July 1863, when Lee's invasion of the North was shattered at Gettysburg on the same days that Vicksburg fell and gave the Union the Mississippi.

From 1864 the Union pressed its advantage without let-up. Ulysses S. Grant's Overland Campaign, through the Wilderness and Spotsylvania, traded terrible casualties to pin Lee's army, while Sherman drove through the Deep South. The Confederacy, outnumbered and out-produced, was worn down to collapse.

Why these battles matter

The Civil War settled whether the United States would survive as one nation and ended slavery within it. Its battles reshaped warfare, with rifled weapons, railroads, ironclads and trenches foreshadowing the industrial wars to come, and they cost more American lives than any war before or since. To explore further, see our guide to the greatest battles in American history.

The Greatest Battles of the American Civil War

At a glance

The battles that decided the war

How the war turned

Why these battles matter

Frequently asked questions

Command the armies of the Civil War