Exploring the most important 55 months in American history
165 YEARS AGO: The Federal army reaches Centreville in northern Virginia, while Joseph E. Johnston’s Confederates slip out of the Shenandoah Valley undetected and head east.
165 YEARS AGO: In western Virginia, a Federal force looks to clear Confederates out of the Great Kanawha Valley while Confederates try to coordinate and consolidate their forces.
165 YEARS AGO: The largest army ever assembled in North America goes into motion, starting the great campaign that many hope will end the war.
OTD 165 YEARS AGO: Letter from Maj. Sullivan Ballou, 2nd Rhode Island, to his wife.
165 YEARS AGO: In northwestern Virginia, one Confederate commander surrenders his force, and another becomes the first general killed in action.
OTD 165 YEARS AGO: A detachment of George B. McClellan’s Federal army attacks an isolated portion of Robert S. Garnett’s Confederate army near Beverly in northwestern Virginia.