Latest Recap on the National Front up to April 1862.
Warfare was revolutionized with the first naval battle between ironclads in history. The CSS Virginia was the Confederate States Navy's first casemate ironclad, constructed from the first casemate ironclad, constructed from the salvaged hull of the scuttled USS Merrimack in 1862. It famously fought the USS Monitor to a draw in the March 1862 Battle of Hampton Roads, the first battle between ironclads, revolutionizing naval warfare and demonstrating the superiority of iron-plated ships over wooden ones. George B. McClellan prepared to move his massive Federal army into Virginia. A major battle took place in Arkansas, and Federals held firm in New Mexico Territory. Federals threatened the Atlantic Coast at North Carolina, while Confederates began a counteroffensive in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley.
Federal troops abandon Albuquerque in the face of Henry H. Sibley’s advancing Confederate Army of New Mexico.
Earl Van Dorn leads a unified Confederate army northward to confront Samuel R. Curtis’s outnumbered Federals in northwestern Arkansas.
Henry W. Halleck receives authorization to remove Ulysses S. Grant from command after Halleck alleged that Grant had neglected his duty.
Earl Van Dorn’s Confederates attack Samuel R. Curtis’s Federals in northwestern Arkansas, as part of Van Dorn’s mission to reclaim Missouri.
George B. McClellan’s Federals finally enter northern Virginia, but the Confederate retreat from that area jeopardizes McClellan’s overall strategy.
Abraham Lincoln issues an executive order removing George B. McClellan as general-in-chief of all U.S. armies and creating new military departments that would report directly to the secretary of war.
Confederate defenders abandon a position on the Mississippi River under artillery bombardment from John Pope’s Army of the Mississippi.
Federals occupying points on the North Carolina coast advance to the mainland in hopes of capturing one of the state’s largest cities.
Ulysses S. Grant is reinstated as Federal commander in western Tennessee after charges that he had been derelict in duty prove unfounded.
“Stonewall” Jackson begins a campaign intended to keep Federals busy so they could not move east and join the Federal drive on Richmond.
As the Federal Army of the Potomac heads for the Virginia Peninsula, Confederates scramble to determine their landing point.
Cambria Guards Letter Home from Seminary Hill near Alexandra, VA. March 23, 1862
54th Regiment - Letter home - Camp Campbell, March 21, 1862.
