It was just 100 miles from Washington D.C. to the Confederate capital at Richmond, Virginia, but the trip took four long years with many twists and turns. The Eastern Theater of the American Civil War ran from southern Pennsylvania to Virginia’s North Carolina border and from Chesapeake Bay to the mountains west of the Shenandoah Valley. It included the first big battle at Bull Run, the deadliest single day at Antietam, and the greatest battle of the war at Gettysburg.
There were other theaters and armies, and some of the most decisive blows of the war were elsewhere. But to many, the heart and soul of the Civil War was the duel between the Union Army of the Potomac and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia.
This site provides background information for the Stone Sentinels websites, which tour Civil War battlefields, focusing on monuments, battlefield structures, terrain and historical markers. The goal of Civil War in the East is to help viewers better understand the battles and campaigns of the Eastern Theater by providing more in-depth information on the people, military units, landscape and timelines that are found in the tours of the parks. The information is cross linked between the two sites for easy reference.
This site includes:
United States Armies
Organization of the Federal armies and departments in the Eastern Theater of the Civil War for each month, including their leaders and their unit compositions down to the regimental and battery level.
United States Regiments and Batteries
Unit history timelines of the infantry, cavalry, sharpshooters, field artillery and heavy artillery that served in the eastern theater.
Confederate States Armies
Organization of the Confederate armies in the Eastern Theater of the Civil War for each month, including their leaders and their unit compositions down to the regimental and battery level.
Confederate States Regiments and Batteries
Unit history timelines of the infantry, cavalry, sharpshooters, field artillery and heavy artillery that served in the eastern theater.
People
A brief background on some of the lesser-known but important people in the Eastern Theater.
West Point officers who served in the Civil War
West Point provided the leadership for the armies of both sides. This section lists United States Military Academy classes from 1802 until 1864 with information about whether each officer served in the war, on which side, and the highest rank he attained.
Places and Things includes a more in-depth look at a variety of other subjects having to do with the war in the east.