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 1864.
The last full year of campaigning in the east begins with Federal forces east and west making a unified effort to wear down the South's will to continue fighting. Lincoln has given Ulysses S. Grant the received rank of lieutenant general and placed him in command of all Union armies. His mission: destroy Joe Johnston's Army of Tennessee and Lee's Army of Northern Virginia.
Leaving Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman to deal with Johnston, Grant concentrates on Lee. Their first encounter, the Battle of the Wilderness, opens on May 5 and for the next 40 days the armies remain locke din deadly embrace. The course of the fighting leads through Spotsylvania Court House, across the North Anna River to Cold Harbor, and finally to Petersburg. There the opponents settle down to a siege, punctuated by Grant's relentless efforts to outflank the Confederates and seize vital transportation arteries. His attempt to capture Petersburg outright fails at the Battle of the Crater. Meanwhile, Lt. Gen. Jubal Early's Confederate troops expel Union forces from the Shenandoah Valley and march to the outskirts of Washington, before being turned back at Fort Stevens. Outnumbered but defiant, they return to the Valley where, in a series of hard-fought engagements, Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan erases Early's army from the war.
May 5-6 Battle of the Wilderness, Va.
May 8-21 Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, Va.
May 9-24 Sheridan's Richmond Raid.
May 15 Battle of New Market, Va.
May 16 Battle of Drewry's Bluff, Va.
May 23-26 Battle of North Anna River, Va.
May 31-Jun 12 Battle of Cold Harbor, Va.
Jun 5 Battle of Piedmont, Va.
Jun 11-12 Battle of Trevilian Station, Va.
Jun 15-18 Battle of Petersburg, Va.
Jun 17-18 Battle of Lynchburg, Va.
Jun 18-Dec 31 Siege of Petersburg, Va.
Jul 30 Battle of the Crater
Aug 18-25 Battle of Weldon Railroad and Ream's Station
Sep 29 Engagement at New Market Heights
Sep 29-30 Battle of Fort Harrison (Chaffin's Farm)
Sep 29-Oct 2 Battle of Peebles' Farm
Oct 27-28 Battle of Burgess' Mill (Boydton Plank Road)
Jun 23-Jul 25 Early's Washington Raid
Jul 9 Battle of Monocacy, Md.
Jul 12 Battle of Fort Stevens, near Washington, D.C.
Jul 24 Second Battle of Kernstown, Va.
Aug 7-Oct 19 Sheridan's Shenandoah Valley, Campaign, Va.
Sep 19 Third Battle of Winchester (Opequon Creek)
Sep 22 Battle of Fisher's Hill
Oct 19 Battle of Cedar Creek
Nov 8 Lincoln reelected President of the United States.
Search for books on the US Civil War in 1864 at Amazon.
Source materials published by the National Park Service were used to create this US Civil War Timeline for 1864.
