The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1900-06-08
BATTLES IN THE CIVIL WAR.
Total In Four Years, 3,1a5TMissouri
-, =. Witnessed Much HARD
Fighting. E-,.e go

thing to the numerous articles that
have already appeared, but upon a sub
ject not heretofore. touched upon.
Through the courtesy of Capt. L. M.
Kelley, the obliging deputy commits
sioner of pensions, I was permitted to
unearth certain facts relating to the
civil war that will absolutely distin-
guish it as being conflict truly Titan
ic; and at the same time it may furnish
a surprise to those who are only IA
miliar with the great battles. Capt.
Kelley, by the way, is gallant union
soldier, and participated in many of
the hard-fought battles that engaged
the armies in the west. He entered the
service as private and emerged from
the. conflict as captain of company A,
Thirty-sixth Illinois infantry. A vast
number of engagements were fought in
states where only few are ever spoken
of, and of the actual number but little
is known. For instance, should a civil
service examination require an .appli-
cant TO- name the state in which the
greatest number of battles took place,
excepting, of course, Virginia, he would
naturally reply Kentucky or Tennes-
see, while as matter of fact more bat
ties were fought in Missouri than in
any other state. In Texas the fewest
number took place of any of the seced-
ing states, while Florida and Maryland
come next in the ascending scale. The
actual number of engagements that oc-
Cured in each state will doubtless sur
prise those who have not investigated
the matter. AS Virginia was the great
theater of that struggle. we hear often
est of Bull Run, the Seven Days bat
tie, Fredericksburg, the Wilderness.
Charlottesville, Petersburg and the
Valley campaign, but by actual count,
taken from the records, 627 battles
were fought in that commonwealth
during the civil war. In Missouri the
greatest prominence is given to the bat
ties of Elk Horn and Wilson's Creek,
while, as a matter of fact, At engage
ments took place altogether. Tennes-
see is famous as the scene of the battles
of Murfreesboro, Lookout Mountain,
Chickamauga, Franklin and other i'm
portant struggles, but at the close of
the strife 37S engagements were put
down as her quota.
In Arkansas, one of the border states.
there was much hard fighting, Pea
Ridge being one of the important en-
gagements, but there were 294 battles
in all. Vicl<sburg was in the fury of a
long siege, and the battles of Corinth,
Holly Springs and Jackson also took
place in mississippi; add to these the
other engagements that occurred.i
that state, and we have a total of 2s4.
Louisiana comes next in point of num-
bers. with 1S1, among these being the
battles of New Orleans, Pleasant Hills
and the siege of Port Hudson as events
that will live in history. Georgia, the
route of Sherman's march to the sea,
furnished many of the notable battles
of the war, among them Atlanta, Kene-
saw Mountain, Peach Tree Greek,
Resaca, Savannah and Ringgold, the
total being 1852. In Kentucky there
were 1873 battles during the war, that
OF Perryville being perhaps the most
important. In Alabama there were los
engagements, notable among them be-
ing the bombardmcnt of Mobile and
battles around Selma and Montgomery.
Next on the list comes North Carolina,
with a total of 102 battles, among them
Bentonville, Wilmington and Green's
boro. In West Virginia SO engage
ments took place. In South Carolina,
where the first gun of the war was
fred, there were Is battles, including
the capture of Columbia and the
numerous bombardments of Fort Sum-
ter and the assaults that were made
upon the batteries in Charleston har-
Dor. In the Indian territory there were
40 battles, and in Florida there were 80,
the most important being the battle of
Olustec. Maryland is famous for
strategic Importance because the bat
tie of Antietam took place within her
borders, but there were also 80 other
engagements There were % engage
ments in Kansas during the war, and
in Texas IL. Gettysburg, the greatest
battle of the war, was fought in Penn
sylvania, but there were six other en-
gagements in that state which have
been overshaGowed by that more inn
portant event. In Ohio there were five
engagements, in Indiana five, Illinois
one, and in the District of Columbia
(Earlys raid) one.
According to the above figures, and
they are taken from the records, the
total number of battles that were
fought between the union and confed-
crate armies from April Is, 1861, to
April 9, 1865, is 3,125. This period en-
braced the four years of the civil strife.
TO give an idea of how this compares
with other struggles in which the
United States have been engaged, it
may be here stated that more battles
took place in West Virginia during the
civil war than were fought in the en-
tire country during the revolutionary
war or during the war with Mexico. or
course, there were numerous battles of
greater Importance during the latter
conflicts, but by count the number of
engagements by comparison is in West
Virginia's Observation-Disclosures Post.
A civil war Heroine.
A few days ago Miss Lizzie Vanlew,
who rendered such conspicuous serv-
ices to the federal cause during the civil
war, died at Richmond, Va. For the
aid she gave Gen. Grant the latter when
elected president made Miss. Vanlew
postmistress of Richmond. Mass Van
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