Union forces continue their march to Richmond. Norfolk is now occupied by Union troops, while the U.S. Navy searches for the Confederates’ flag ship ironclad, CSS Virginia. Boxed in and unable to make a run for freedom because of a low tide and unsuitable wind, the order is given to scuttle the Virginia. Early this…
For the past month, Union Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan’s Army of the Potomac, en route to the Confederate capital of Virginia, has besieged Yorktown, Virginia. McClellan’s drive to Richmond, known as the Peninsula campaign (having begun March 17), has not proceeded as planned. Caution on the part of McClellan, the logistics of moving a…
Confederate citizens and soldiers watch in dismay as a Union naval squadron, led by Flag-Officer David G. Farragut, today sails up the mouth of the Mississippi past forts Jackson and St. Philip. The fall of New Orleans is inevitable; surrender takes place on April 28. Union occupancy of the Confederacy’s largest city begins May 1,…