Ohio 58th Volunteer Infantry (Union)

Fort Donelson

Early in the war, Union commanders realized control of the major rivers would be the key to success in the Western Theater.READ MORE

ColonelValentine Bausenwein

Major GeneralLew Wallace

Shiloh

On the morning of April 6, 1862, 40,000 Confederate soldiers under the command of Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston poured out of the nearby woods and struck the encamped divisions of Union soldiers occupying ground near Pittsburg Landing on the Tennessee River.READ MORE

Siege of Corinth

Union forces had captured the railroad junction and important transportation center at Corinth, Mississippi in the spring of 1862 after their victory at Shiloh. After the Battle of Iuka in September, Maj. Gen. Sterling Price's Confederate Army of the West marched to Ripley, Mississippi where it joined Maj. Gen. Earl Van Dorn's Army of West Tennessee. Van Dorn took command of the combined force numbering about 22,000 men. The Rebels marched southeast toward Corinth, hoping to recapture it and then sweep int…READ MORE

Lieutenant ColonelPeter Dister

Brigadier GeneralFrancis Preston Blair Jr.

Brigadier GeneralFrederick Steele

Lieutenant ColonelPeter Dister

CaptainBastian Benkler

Brigadier GeneralFrederick Steele

Escort: Dodson's Kane County Cavalry: Cpt William C. Wilder

Arkansas Post

The Battle of Arkansas Post, also known as the Battle of Fort Hindman, was a combined land-river assault by Union forces on the Confederate Fort Hindman, which loomed over a bend in the Arkansas River near the town of Arkansas Post. As the Union advance down the Mississippi River passed the mouth of the Arkansas, the presence of Fort Hindman outflanked the Federal forward positions.READ MORE

Grand Gulf

The river batteries at Grand Gulf were the southernmost leg of the Vicksburg defenses. Grant tried to land his army at Grand Gulf but was driven off by the Confederate batteries.READ MORE

Vicksburg

In mid-May, 1863, after six months of unsuccessful attempts, Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's Army of the Tennessee finally converged on Vicksburg, defended by a Confederate army under Lt. Gen. John C. Pemberton. Capture of the Mississippi River town was critical to Union control of the strategic river. Vicksburg was located on a high river bluff defended with artillery, and Pemberton's men had constructed a series of fortifications in an 8-mile arc surrounding the city on the landward side. After crossing the…READ MORE