Maine 8th Volunteer Infantry (Union)

Fort Pulaski

Fort Pulaski, built between 1829 and 1847, was placed near the mouth of the Savannah River to block upriver access to the city. Brick and masonry fortifications such as Pulaski, called "third system" forts, were considered invincible, but the new technology of rifled artillery would soon change that. To shut down blockade running traffic from coastal Georgia and South Carolina, the Union army and navy mounted an expedition in November, 1861 to occupy the land area surrounding Savannah. Tybee Island, opposi…READ MORE

Ware Bottom Church

After severe fighting at Drewry's Bluff on the James River blunted a Union offensive against Richmond, Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler's Army of the James withdrew to the Bermuda Hundred peninsula. On May 20th, eight Confederate brigades under Gen. Pierre G.T. Beauregard attacked Butler's advance picket lines near Ware Bottom Church. Nearly 10,000 soldiers from both sides clashed in the vicinity of the structure. At the end of the severe fight, over 1,400 men were left either dead or wounded. After the battle, t…READ MORE

Cold Harbor

After two days of inconclusive fighting along Totopotomoy Creek northeast of Richmond, Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and Gen. Robert E. Lee turned their sights on the crossroads of Cold Harbor. Roads emanating through this critical junction led to Richmond as well as supply and reinforcement sources for the Union army. On May 31, 1864, Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan's cavalry captured Cold Harbor. The next day, Sheridan held the crossroads against a Confederate attack. With reinforcements from both armies arriving…READ MORE

Second Petersburg

As the Overland Campaign concluded, the strategic goals of Lieut. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant shifted from the defeat of Robert E. Lee's army in the field to eliminating the supply and communication routes to the Confederate capital at Richmond. The city of Petersburg, 24 miles south of Richmond, was the junction point of five railroads that supplied the entire upper James River region. Grant knew Petersburg was the key to the capture of Richmond and that Lee would be forced to defend it. Marching south from Co…READ MORE

Crater

Two weeks after Union forces arrived to invest the Confederate defenders of Petersburg, the battle lines of both sides had settled into a stalemate. Since Cold Harbor, Lieut. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant was reluctant to mount a frontal attack against well-entrenched Confederates. By late June, Grant's lines covered most of the eastern approaches to Petersburg, but neither side seemed ready to risk an offensive move. Part of the Union line was held by Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside's Ninth Corps. Some of Burnside'…READ MORE

ColonelEdward H. Ripley

Brigadier GeneralCharles A. Heckman

ColonelHarrison S. Fairchild

Fair Oaks & Darbytown Road

See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Fair_Oaks_%26_Darbytown_RoadREAD MORE

Third Petersburg

With the Confederate defeat at Five Forks on April 1st, Lieut. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and Maj. Gen. George Meade ordered a general assault against the Petersburg lines by the Second, Ninth, Sixth and Twenty-Fourth Corps to take place April 2nd. In the pre-dawn darkness, the Union infantry gained a successful breakthrough where Maj. Gen. Horatio G. Wright's advancing Sixth Corps met the Confederate lines held by Maj. Gen. A. P. Hill near the Boydton Plank Road. Hill was killed trying to reach his troops in t…READ MORE

Appomattox Court House

Between 26,000 and 28,000 Confederate soldiers surrendered and were paroled.READ MORE