Video: April 6, 1862 (at 32:09)

(Sunday, April 6, 1862, during the American Civil War) — The Battle of Shiloh, also known as the Battle of Pittsburg Landing, began this morning in southwestern Tennessee when Confederate forces under Generals Albert Sidney Johnston and P. G. T. Beauregard launched a surprise attack on Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant. Continue reading Confederates launch Battle of Shiloh 150 years ago today (1862) →

Video: April 5, 1862 (at 24:25)

(Saturday, April 5, 1862,  part of the Peninsula Campaign of the American Civil War) — The monthlong Siege of Yorktown began today in Virginia when the Union commander, Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan, overestimated the enemy’s strength and insisted on preparations for a full-scale assault.

Video: April 4, 1862 (at 21:51)

(Friday, April 4, 1862,  part of the Peninsula Campaign of the American Civil War) — Union Gen. George B. McClellan’s army began its advance toward Richmond today with 121,500 men, 14,592 horses and mules, 1,150 wagons and 44 batteries of artillery.

Video: Gray condolence letter (at 27:47)

(Thursday, March 20, 1862, during the American Civil War) — An official condolence letter was written today to the brother of Corporal Charles Gray, who was killed at the Battle of New Bern on Mar. 14, 1862. He was the first man from Deer Isle, Maine, to join the army and the first from the island to die in the war.

Video: Fugitive Slave Act

(Thursday, March 13, 1862, during the American Civil War) — U.S. President Abraham Lincoln signed a measure today prohibiting Union military officers from returning fugitive slaves to their owners, effectively superseding the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.

Video: Lincoln and McClellan at Antietam, Oct. 1862

(Tuesday, March 11, 1862, during the American Civil War) — President Abraham Lincoln today removed Gen. George B. McClellan as general-in-chief of the Union armies, leaving him in command of only the Army of the Potomac, ostensibly so that McClellan would be free to devote all his attention to the move on Richmond.

Video: Battle of Hampton Roads begins (at 16:36)

(Saturday, March 8, 1862, during the American Civil War) — The ironclad CSS Virginia (built from the remnants of the USS Merrimack) rammed and sank the USS Cumberland and heavily damaged the USS Congress, both frigates, off Newport News, Virginia, today in the Battle of Hampton Roads.

Video: USS Monitor built, launched (at 14:09)

(Thursday, March 6, 1862, during the American Civil War) — The first American ironclad warship, the USS Monitor finally departed New York today, following two failed attempts on Feb. 27 and Mar. 3, this time towed by a tug.

Video: Shenandoah Valley Campaign begins (at 8:06)

(Thursday, February 27, 1862, during the American Civil War) — The Shenandoah Valley Campaign, Confederate Maj. Gen. Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson’s famous spring 1862 campaign through the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia, began today.

In six small engagements (through June 9), at Kernstown, McDowell, Front Royal, Winchester, Cross Keys, and Port Republic, Jackson tied down large Union forces in the Shenandoah Valley that otherwise would have been used—probably decisively, in a Union offensive against the Confederate capital at Richmond.

Video: Union forces occupy Clarksville (at 21:06)

(Wednesday, February 19, 1862, during the American Civil War) — Three days after the fall of Fort Donelson, federal forces of General C.F. Smith from General U.S. Grant’s command today occupied Clarksville, Tennessee.