American Civil War Battles

American Civil War battles... Sounds intimidating doesn't it? I can almost hear a dusty old history teacher now...

...on such and such date General X and the Forces of Y met General Z and the forces of Q at the bridge to nowhere. And then they did do battle upon the field of honor and the forces of Q emerged victorious thanks to the brilliant leadership of General P who assumed command when General Z was struck down in the midst of battle... ...now for a pop quiz please tell me General P's birthday...

Terrifying, isn't it? All those facts, with no idea of the stories behind them, just start to flow together and it becomes hard to tell one from another.

Each American Civil War battle has a unique and interesting story. We are going to try to bring as many as possible together here...

Civil War Battle Quick Links:

Battle of Fort Sumter

Battle of Carthage

Battle of Shiloh

Battle of Columbus

Battle Stories

You can find a breakdown of battles like Gettysburg and Chancellorsville anywhere on the web. Some are good and some are terrible, but you will find neither here. I intend to focus on smaller, less well-known battles. That is not not say I will never write about some well known battle. I will write about any good story I come across. Overall, I want to pull together a bunch of interesting Civil War battle stories that you don't hear everyday.

One of my favorite Civil War battle stories is the First Battle of Lexington, Missouri. Also known as Battle of the Hemp Bales, and some even go so far as to call it the Battle of the Marijuana Bales...

Basically, Confederate General Sterling Price of the Missouri State Guard had his men soak bales of hemp - which were awaiting river transport to rope making facilities - in the river overnight. The men then rolled them up the hill toward the Union defenses. The soaked bales absorbed the Union shots and allowed the Confederates - behind their mobile Cannabis breastwork - to completely surround the Union troops and cut them off from all supplies and water, which forced them to surrender.

This is just one example of the many interesting and sometimes even funny stories that go with all those dry facts about Civil War battles.

Battles of the Civil War

There were many battles throughout the Civil War. Some were of great importance and are well known. However, some were very minor and the stories are rarely told. Here we will look at the interesting stories that go with all of them.

This is not intended to be an exhaustive list of Civil War battles. As I add more pages the list will grow. For a more extensive list of Civil War battles and their outcomes, check out our Civil War battle list. Feel free to contact me with American Civil War battles you would like me to write about.

American Civil War Story-Home