This US Civil War timeline focuses on the eastern states, the area east of the Appalachians in the vicinity of the rival capitals of Washington and Richmond. For the western theater, see this page on US Civil War dates in 1862.
Joe Johnston's Confederates abandon their long-held lines around Manassas in early March and withdraw toward Richmond. McClellan's Army of the Potomac moves by water to Fort Monroe and Newport News at the tip of the Virginia peninsula and prepares to march on Richmond some 70 miles to the northwest. Confederate delaying tactics and heavy rains slow McClellan's advance and it is nearly two months before he comes within sight of the city's steeples. When a Southern offensive at Seven Pines on May 31-June 1 fails to dislodge the Federals and Johnston is wounded, Robert E. Lee assumes command of the Army of Northern Virginia and drives McClellan's troops away from the Southern capital in the Seven Days' Battles.
Victories during August by Maj. Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson at Cedar Mountain and by Lee's army at the Second Battle of Manassas push the Federals back to the outskirts of Washington. Within nine weeks, Lee has transferred the war from his own capital to the edge of his enemy's. A Confederate offensive across the Potomac is halted and turned back after battles at South Mountain and Antietam (Sharpsburg), Maryland, in mid-September. The final action of the year ends in Federal disaster when McClellan's successor, Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside, throws his army against Lee's near Fredericksburg, Virginia, in a series of frontal assaults that are easily and bloodily repulsed.
Mar 9 USS Monitor vs CSS Virginia in Hampton Roads, Va. First naval battle between ironclad vessels.
Mar 23-Jun 9 Stonewall Jackson's Shenandoah Valley Campaign, Va.
Mar 23 Battle of Kernstown
May 8 Battle of McDowell
May 23 Battle of Front Royal
May 25 First Battle of Winchester
Jun 8 Battle of Cross Keys
Jun 9 Battle of Port Republic
Apr 4 McClellan's Army of the Potomac begins advance up the Virginia peninsula toward Richmond
Apr 5-May 4 McClellan's Army of the Potomac begins advance up the Virginia peninsula toward Richmond.
May 15 Battle of Drewry's Bluff, Va.
May 31-Jun 1 Battle of Seven Pines (Fair Oaks), Va.
Jun 1 Robert E. Lee assumes command of the Army of Northern Virginia
Jun 25-Jul 1 Seven Days' Battles Around Richmond, Virginia
Jun 25 Battle of Oak Grove
Jun 26 Battle of Mechanicsburg
Jun 27 Battle of Gaines' Mill
Jun 29 Battle of Savage's Station
Jun 30 Battle of Glendale (Fraser's Farm)
Jul 1 Battle of Malvern Hill
Aug 9 Battle of Cedar Mountain, Va.
Aug 28-30 Battle of Second Manassas (Bull Run), Va.
Sep 1 Battle of Chantilly (Ox Hill), Va.
Sep 12-15 Siege and capture of Harpers Ferry, Va. (now W.Va.)
Sep 14-17 Battles of South Mountain and Antietam (Sharpsburg), Md.
Nov 7 Ambrose E. Burnside replaces McClellan as commander of the Army of the Potomac
Dec 11-13 Battle of Fredericksburg, Va.
Source materials published by the National Park Service were used to create this US Civil War Timeline for 1862.
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