Background: On November 7, 1861, Captain Samuel F. Dupont's warships silenced Confederate guns in Fort Walker and Fort Beauregard. This victory enabled General Thomas W. Sherman's troops to occupy first Port Royal and then all the famous Sea Islands of South Carolina, where Timothy H. O'Sullivan recorded them making themselves at home.
[Port Royal Island, S.C. Coosaw Ferry; battleground of January 1, 1862, in the distance].
Background: Confederate Winter Quarters -- 1861-1862
[Centreville, Va. Fort on the heights, with Quaker guns]
Background: In an attempt to reduce the North's great naval advantage, Confederate engineers converted a scuttled Union frigate, the U.S.S. Merrimac, into an iron-sided vessel rechristened the C.S.S. Virginia. On March 9, in the first naval engagement between ironclad ships, the Monitor fought the Virginia to a draw, but not before the Virginia had sunk two wooden Union warships off Norfolk, Virginia.
[James River, Va. Sailors relaxing on deck of U.S.S. Monitor]. 
[James River, Va. Deck and turret of U.S.S. Monitor seen from the bow (i.e. stern)].
Background: Fort Pulaski, Georgia -- April 1862. General Quincy A. Gillmore battered Fort Pulaski, the imposing masonry structure near the mouth of the Savannah River, into submission in less than two days, (April 10-11, 1862). His work was promptly recorded by the indefatigable Timothy H. O'Sullivan.
[Fort Pulaski, Ga. The "Beauregard" gun].
Background: December 1862 -- The Battle of Fredericksburg. General McClellan's slow movements, combined with General Lee's escape, and continued raiding by Confederate cavalry, dismayed many in the North. On November 7, Lincoln replaced McClellan with Major-General Ambrose E. Burnside. Burnside's forces were defeated in a series of attacks against entrenched Confederate forces at Fredericksburg, Virginia, and Burnside was replaced with General Joseph Hooker.
[Fredericksburg, Va. View of town from east bank of the Rappahannock].
[Warrenton, Va. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside and staff]
Background: June-July 1863 -- The Gettysburg Campaign.
Confederate General Lee decided to take the war to the enemy. On June 13, he defeated Union forces at Winchester, Virginia, and continued north to Pennsylvania. General Hooker, who had been planning to attack Richmond, was instead forced to follow Lee. Hooker, never comfortable with his commander, General Halleck, resigned on June 28, and General George Meade replaced him as commander of the Army of the Potomac.
On July 1, a chance encounter between Union and Confederate forces began the Battle of Gettysburg. In the fighting that followed, Meade had greater numbers and better defensive positions. He won the battle, but failed to follow Lee as he retreated back to Virginia. Militarily, the Battle of Gettysburg was the high-water mark of the Confederacy; it is also significant because it ended Confederate hopes of formal recognition by foreign governments. On November 19, President Lincoln dedicated a portion of the Gettysburg battlefield as a national cemetery, and delivered his memorable "Gettysburg Address."
Photographs of the battleground began immediately after the battle of July 1-3. This group of photographs also includes a scene of Hooker's troops in Virginia on route to Gettysburg.
[Gettysburg, Pa. Headquarters of Gen. Robert E. Lee on the Chambersburg Pike].
[Gettysburg, Pa. The Bryan house on 2d Corps line, near scene of Pickett's Charge].
[Gettysburg, Pa. John L. Burns, the "old hero of Gettysburg," with gun and crutches].
[Gettysburg, Pa. Three Confederate prisoners].
Background: The Siege of Knoxville -- November-December 1863
The difficult strategic situation of the federal armies after Chickamauga enabled Bragg to detach a force under Longstreet to drive Burnside out of eastern Tennessee. Burnside sought refuge in Knoxville, which he successfully defended from Confederate assaults. These views, taken after Longstreet's withdrawal on December 3, include one of Strawberry Plains, on his line of retreat. Here we have part of an army record: Barnard was photographer of the Chief Engineer's Office, Military Division of the Mississippi, and his views were transmitted with the report of the chief engineer of Burnside's army, April 11, 1864.
[Knoxville, Tenn., vicinity. Military bridge at Strawberry Plains and a fort in the distance, seen from north bank of the Holston].
Background: Other photos
[Portrait of Maj. Edmonds (of Virginia), C.S.A.].
[Portrait of Pvt. Levi Miller, Ohio Regiment, U.S.A.].
[Portrait of a Federal soldier from Ohio].
[Portrait of Maj. John Roberts, C.S.A.].
[Portrait of New York Zouaves]
[Unknown location. Pontoon boats on wheeled carriages].
