List of American Civil War battles

**The Battles of the American Civil War** were fought between April 12, 1861 and May 12–13, 1865 in 23 states (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, and West Virginia) and the District of Columbia, as well as the following territories (Arizona Territory, Colorado Territory, Dakota Territory, Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma), New Mexico Territory, and Washington Territory) and naval engagements. These battles would change the standing and historical memory of the United States. While the origins of the war are complex, principal among them were the issue of slavery, and the interpretations of the Constitution and the rules, rights, and qualifications that it embodied.

For lists of battles organized by campaign and theater, see:

* Eastern Theater of the American Civil War
* Western Theater of the American Civil War
* Trans-Mississippi Theater of the American Civil War
* Pacific Coast Theater of the American Civil War
* Lower Seaboard Theater of the American Civil War
* Lower Seaboard Theater of the American Civil War
* Category:Battles of the American Civil War

## Battles rated by CWSAC

The American Battlefield Protection Program (ABPP) was established within the United States National Park Service to classify the preservation status of historic battlefield land. In 1993, the Civil War Sites Advisory Commission (CWSAC) reported to Congress and the ABPP on their extensive analysis of significant battles and battlefields. Of the estimated 8,000 occasions in which hostilities occurred in the American Civil War, this table and related articles describe the 384 battles that were classified in CWSAC's *Report on the Nation's Civil War Battlefields*. In addition to the status of battlefield land preservation (not included in this table) CWSAC rated the military significance of the battles into four classes, as follows:

**Class A – Decisive**: A general engagement involving field armies in which a commander achieved a vital strategic objective. Such a result might include an indisputable victory on the field or be limited to the success or termination of a campaign offensive. Decisive battles had a direct, observable impact on the direction, duration, conduct, or outcome of the war.

**Class B – Major**: An engagement of magnitude involving field armies or divisions of the armies in which a commander achieved an important strategic objective within the context of an ongoing campaign offensive. Major battles had a direct, observable impact on the direction, duration, conduct, or outcome of the campaign.

**Class C – Formative**: An engagement involving divisions or detachments of the field armies in which a commander accomplished a limited campaign objective of reconnaissance, disruption, defense, or occupation. Formative battles had an observable influence on the direction, duration, or conduct of the campaign.

**Class D – Limited**: An engagement, typically involving detachments of the field armies, in which a commander achieved a limited tactical objective of reconnaissance, defense, or occupation. Limited battles maintained contact between the combatants without observable influence on the direction of the campaign.