Pennsylvania 27th Volunteer Infantry (Union)

First Bull Run

One of earliest battles of the Civil War, it introduced Americans to the idea that this would likely not be a short conflict and blood would be shed:READ MORE

Brigadier GeneralJulius Stahel

Brigadier GeneralLouis Blenker

Cross Keys

Maj. Gen. John C. Frémont's and his 11,000-man Mountain Department army were tasked with keeping Maj. Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's two-division force engaged in the Shenandoah Valley and unable to join with Robert E. Lee's army defending Richmond during the Peninsula Campaign against the Confederate capital. In early June, Jackson's men under Maj. Gen. Richard S. Ewell were encamped in the vicinity of Cross Keys on the South Fork of the Shenandoah River. Union screening cavalry approached Jackson f…READ MORE

Lieutenant ColonelLorenz Cantador

ColonelAdolphus Buschbeck

Brigadier GeneralAdolph Von Steinwehr

Fredericksburg

In early November, Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside took command of the Army of the Potomac, and made immediate plans to move the army once again toward Richmond.READ MORE

Chancellorsville

On April 27, 1863, Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker launched a turning movement designed to pry Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia out of its lines at Fredericksburg.READ MORE

ColonelCharles R. Coster

Brigadier GeneralAdolph von Steinwehr

Gettysburg

In the summer of 1863, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee launched his second invasion of the Northern states. Lee sought to capitalize on recent Confederate victories and defeat the Union army on Northern soil, which he hoped would force the Lincoln administration to negotiate for peace. Lee also sought to take the war out of the ravaged Virginia farmland and gather supplies for his Army of Northern Virginia. Using the Shenandoah Valley as cover for his army, Lee was pursued first by Union Maj. Gen. Joseph Ho…READ MORE

ColonelAdolphus Buschbeck

Wauhatchie

Wary of troops marching to the aid of the Federal army besieged at Chattanooga, General Braxton Bragg ordered General James Longstreet to take action against the force massing in Lookout Valley. In a rare nighttime attack, a division of Longstreet's corps attacked the Union rearguard near the crossroads of Wauhatchie. The brief fight was a bloody repulse for the Confederates, who were forced to withdraw. The Confederates had missed their last best chance to prevent supplies from reaching the Union Army of…READ MORE

Rocky Face Ridge

During early May 1864, Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman would successfully outmaneuver the army of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston in multiple battles in northwest Georgia. Each time, Johnston would fall back to a new defensive position closer to the strategic Confederate city of Atlanta. By May 7th, Johnston had entrenched his army on the long, high mountain of Rocky Face Ridge and eastward across Crow Valley. As Sherman approached, he decided to demonstrate against the position with two columns to the north while he…READ MORE

ColonelMoses N. Wisewill

Fort Stevens

After his victory over Maj. Gen. Lew Wallace at the Battle of Monocacy in central Maryland on July 9th, Confederate Maj. Gen. Jubal A. Early pressed his advantage and moved south toward the Union capital in Washington, DC. On July 11th, Early's exhausted Confederates reached the outskirts of Washington near Silver Spring. Skirmishers advanced to feel the fortifications that encircled the city, which at the time were manned only by Home Guards, clerks, and convalescent troops. During the night, Union reinfo…READ MORE