Troop engagements of the American Civil War , 1862 The following is a list of engagements that took place in 1862 during the American Civil War . During the winter and early spring of the year , Union forces gained several successes over the Confederacy , seizing control of Missouri , northern Arkansas , Kentucky , and western Tennessee , along with several coastal areas . Confederate forces then launched counter – offensives into Kentucky and Maryland , both of which end in Union victories . History . In the Eastern Theater , the Union Army of the Potomac , commanded by Major General George B . McClellan , was transported to Fort Monroe in April to begin an offensive against Richmond , Virginia . Convinced that he was outnumbered by the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia , commanded by General Joseph E . Johnston , McClellan advanced cautiously , taking nearly a month to capture the Confederate defensive works near Yorktown and an additional month to march westward and arrive just outside of Richmond . Here on May 31 , Johnston attacked an isolated portion of the Union army in the Battle of Seven Pines ; Johnston ' s plan failed , due to uncoordinated attacks and to Confederate columns which failed to arrive at their assigned positions , and Johnston was wounded during the battle . To replace Johnston , Confederate President Jefferson Davis choose General Robert E . Lee , who launched the Seven Days Battles in late June . While the Confederate attacks were often disjointed and several commands failed to arrive at their assigned destinations on time , Lee was still able to drive the Union army back to Harrison ' s Landing , forcing McClellan to give up his attempt to capture Richmond . Although he had driven the Union army away from the Confederate capital , Lee was disappointed that he had failed to the Union army . Lee then turned northward to deal with the Union Army of Virginia , commanded by Major General John Pope , planning to defeat Pope ' s army before it could unite with McClellan ' s army , which was arriving in northern Virginia from the Peninsula . During the Second Battle of Bull Run , Lee routed Pope ' s army and then invaded Maryland , hoping to seize supplies from Union territory and also hoping that a major Confederate victory in Northern territory would secure foreign recognition for the Confederacy . However , McClellan attacked Lee through the passes of South Mountain and forced Lee to call off his planned invasion of Pennsylvania , instead concentrating his army behind Antietam Creek . Neither army gained a victory at the Battle of Antietam on September 17 , but Lee ' s retreat back to Virginia gave the Union a strategic victory in the campaign . During October and November , Union President Abraham Lincoln pressured McClellan to launch an aggressive campaign against Lee but McClellan refused , instead moving slowly and demanding supplies . Lincoln replaced McClellan on November 7 with Major General Ambrose Burnside , who hoped to cross the Rappahannock River near Fredericksburg , Virginia in order to get between Lee and Richmond . However , delays in obtaining a pontoon bridge prevented Burnside from crossing the river until December 11 , by which time Lee was able to concentrate his entire army along a series of ridges near Fredericksburg . On December 13 , Burnside attacked the Confederate positions and lost heavily ; two days later he retreated back across the river and went into winter quarters . In the Western Theater , the Confederate forces , commanded by General Albert S . Johnston , were forced to abandon Kentucky and much of central and western Tennessee following the loss of Fort Donelson and Fort Henry in February . The capture of the two forts turned the Union commander in the battles , Major General Ulysses S . Grant , into a national hero . Johnston , following a plan proposed by his second - in - command General P . G . T . Beauregard , concentrated as many forces as he could near Corinth , Mississippi and attacked Grant ' s Army of the Tennessee near Shiloh Church . Although successful in driving the Union army almost into the Tennessee River on April 6 , Johnston was mortally wounded during the battle , while Grant was reinforced during the night by the Army of the Ohio , commanded by Major General Don Carlos Buell . Grant then led a counterattack the following morning and drove the Confederates from the field , who then retreated back to their base at Corinth . Major General Henry W . Halleck took command of the Union forces operating in western Tennessee and advanced to Corinth , where both armies settled in for a month long siege . Fearing that a full scale Union assault on the Confederate defenses was imminent , Beauregard evacuated Corinth during the night of May 29 – 30 without Halleck ' s forces finding out until the following morning . Beauregard was relieved of command shortly afterwards , due to his health ; Jefferson Davis replaced him with General Braxton Bragg . Following the Union victory at Corinth , Halleck dispersed his army across northern Mississippi , western Tennessee , and northern Alabama to protect the railroads , while sending Buell ' s Army of the Ohio eastward to capture Chattanogga , but problems with the Union supply lines prevented Buell from capturing the city . Bragg , pondering how to counteract the Union threat , received a message from Lieutenant General Edmund Kirby Smith , commander of the Confederate Department of East Tennessee , suggesting that the two combine forces to defeat Buell and retake Kentucky . Moving his troops by rail starting the end of June , Bragg arrived at Chattanooga near the end of July ; from there he advanced into Kentucky towards the Ohio River . Buell moved north as well , managing to reach Louisville before Bragg did ; from there he moved south towards Bragg . The two armies met in battle near Perryville , Kentucky on October 8 ; Bragg ' s forces attacked Buell ' s left wing but without success . Bragg retreated that night and united with Smith , intending to remain in Kentucky , but when Buell threatened his line of retreat , Bragg move south for Tennessee . The Union navy , in concerted with the army , captured several more coastal areas along the Atlantic seaboard and Gulf coast . Following the Union victory at Hatteras Inlet the previous year , other parts of the North Carolina coast , including New Berne , were captured ; in April , Union forces attacked and captured Fort Pulaski in Georgia following a thirty – hour bombardment , cutting off Savannah from blockade runners . This victory left Wilmington , North Carolina as the only major Atlantic port to remain in Confederate hands . Several ports in Florida and along the Gulf coast were captured as well , including Apalachicola and St . Augustine in Florida and Biloxi , Mississippi . In April , a Union squadron commanded by Commodore David Farragut ran past Forts Jackson and St . Philip near the mouth of the Mississippi River and forced the surrender of New Orleans , the largest Confederate port city in both population and in trade volume . In the Trans - Mississippi Theater , the Confederates launched several offensive campaigns , all of which failed . In late January , Union Major General Samuel R . Curtis maneuvered the Missouri State Guard out of the state and into northwestern Arkansas ; due to a shortage of supplies , Curtis had to halt his advance in the area of Pea Ridge . In response to the Union advance , Confederate President Jefferson Davis sent Major General Earl Van Dorn to Arkansas to take command of the Confederate forces in the state . After he arrived in early March , Van Dorn launched an offensive of his own , which resulted in the two - day Battle of Pea Ridge , a Confederate defeat . After the battle , he was ordered to take his army east of the Mississippi River and join the Confederate army at Corinth , Mississippi , but he arrived too late to fight in the Battle of Shiloh . In Texas , Brigadier General Henry Sibley raised a brigade of cavalry and led it into the New Mexico Territory , intending to drive the remaining Union forces from it and advance into Colorado , capturing the gold and silver mines located in the territory . He fought the main Union force in the territory , commanded by Colonel Edward R . S . Canby , at the Battle of Valverde on February 17 ; although the battle was a Confederate victory , Sibley failed to force Canby to surrender . Instead , Sibley continued northward , leaving Canby in his rear . Continuing northward along the Rio Grande and the Sante Fre Tail , his brigade meet a Union force , which included the 1st Colorado Infantry , at Glorieta Pass on March 28 . The Confederates again drove the Union force from the field , but during the battle a Union detachment burned most of the Confederate supply train , along with most of their supplies . This meant that the Confederates had to retreat back to Texas , reaching it by mid - April , losing over 1 , 500 men out of an original force of 3 , 700 men .