Fort Sumter was the site of the opening battle of the Civil War. Fort Sumter is located near Charleston, South Carolina. After South Carolina succeed, Fort Sumter was one of two forts still in the Union’s control. Confederate forces, led by General Beauregard, fought to gain control of the fort and opened attack on April 12th of 1861. On April 13th Major Robert Anderson,the Union leader, surrendered to General Beauregard. After this battle, more slave states decided to join the Confederacy.
The Battle of Antietam took place in Maryland on September 17, 1862. It was the bloodiest single day battle of the Civil War with 22,000+ soldiers dead, wounded, or missing. Union leader George McClellan stopped Robert E. Lee's soldiers from pushing northward. Although the battle technically ended as a draw, it was seen as an Union victory and was the push Lincoln needed to issue the Emancipation Proclamation.
The Battle of Vicksburg was fought in Mississippi in May of 1863. Ulysses S. Grant’s army surrounded the Confederate forces led by John Pemberton to effectively end the South's control of the Mississippi River. This also cut off the western part of the Confederacy with the rest of the south, splitting the Confederacy in half.
Union General William Sherman led troops in the take down and burning of the city of Atlanta in the summer of 1864 at the Battle of Atlanta. William J. Hardee's troops were unable to keep the Union soldiers from taking and burning the city. Shermen continued his March to the Sea, creating a new tactic to win the war. By using tactics to scare civilans like destroying cities, transporation, and cutting of supplies in the South, Sherman greatly hurt the South's moarle.
The Battle at Gettysburg is know to be the bloodiest battle of the war and lasted from July 1st to the 3rd in 1863. Confederate soldiers entered Pennsylvania, led by Robert E. Lee, as part of the second invasion of the North. Two Union leaders, George Meade and Joesph Hooker led a major Union victory, which was the turning point of the war. Confederate troops were never truly able to recover from the severe losses and Lee gave up attacking the Union.