The Civil War Landscapes Association's Chronology section relies primarily on information regarding every 'Army Event' recorded in the War Department's 128 volume set War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, originally published between 1881-1901. TheOR, as it is commonly known, is comprised of all of the essential military communications generated during the war that were not lost or destroyed. After every military encounter, movement, or activity, military commanders were required to file a report detailing their command's involvement. Such reports were filed by varying levels of command throughout both Armies, from Generals to Colonels leading a single regiment.
After the Civil War ended, the United States Congress approved an act on June 23, 1874, enabling the Secretary of War to compile "all reports, letters, telegrams, and general orders not heretofore copied or printed, and properly arranged in Chronological order."
Compilation of the material originally began with a resolution of Congress on May 19, 1864, and continued with publications released as they were completed starting in the fall of 1880, continuing until 1900.
The OR was the source material used by Frederick H. Dyer as he prepared his massive and unique publication A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion, originally published in 1908.
The Terminology below was used to describe the various types of military activities in the OR, and continued in use by Frederick H. Dyer's compilation and analysis of the OR.
Terminology: [1]
- Skirmish: encounter usually incidental to larger movements. A slight fight. [By convention, believed to mean all encounters by all engaged in a small scale fire fight - a total of a 1000 men or less.]
- Abandoned: to give over or surrender completely.
- Action: stresses the idea of active, frequently sharp, offensive and defensive operations.
- Advance:
- Affair: a fight.
- Assault:
- Attack: implies aggression or aggressiveness and literally the initiation of a struggle. Opposed to defense.
- Battle: usually a prolonged combat. [By convention, both commanding Generals must be present on the battlefield during the engagement.]
- Bombardment:
- Campaign:
- Capture: to sieze by force or stratagem.
- Combat:
- Demonstration: an exhibition of force, or a movement indicating an attack as to show readiness for war if necessary.
- Destruction:
- Engagement: may be a general encounter, as between armies, or a minor encounter as between subdivisions or outposts.
- Evacuation: withdrawl of troops from a town, fortress, etc.
- Expedition: a journey for a specific purpose, as a military or exploring expedition; also, the body of persons making such an excursion.
- Occupation: to hold possession of; to utilize an area or place for a purpose.
- Operation: a military and/or naval action or mission including movement, supply, attack, defense, and all requisite maneuvers.
- Raid:
- Reconnaissance:
- Retreat:
- Scout: to reconnoiter.
- Seizure: a sudden attack, perhaps gaining territory and/or military paraphernalia.
- Siege: a prolonged assault on a fix military target, from single units to an entire city.
- Surrender:
- Withdrawl:
The Best Available Evidence gives a total of 10,455 military engagements during the Civil War (of one degree or another):
- Skirmishes: 6,337
- Actions: 1,026
- Affairs: 639
- Assaults: 29
- Battles: 76
- Campaigns: 29
- Captures: 79
- Combats: 46
- Engagements: 310
- Expeditions: 727
- Occupations: 82
- Operations: 299
- Raids: 64
- Reconnaissances: 252
- Scouts: 434
- Sieges: 26
By States, the Leading Theaters of War were:
- Virginia (1): 2,154 military events
- Tennessee (2): 1,462
- Missouri (3): 1,162
- Mississippi (4): 772
- Arkansas (5): 771
- West Virginia (6): 632
- Louisiana (7): 566
- Georgia (8): 549
- Kentucky (9): 453
- Alabama (10): 336
- North Carolina (11): 313
- South Carolina (12): 239
- Maryland (13): 203
- Florida (14): 168
- Texas (15): 90
- Indian Territory (16): 89
- California (17): 88 (largely against Indians)
- New Mexico Territory (18): 75
(Source: Frederick H. Dyer, A Compendium Of The War Of The Rebellion (Dayton, Ohio: Broadfoot Publishing Co., 1994), Vol. I, pp. 660-991.; Ronald A. Mosocco, The Chronological Tracking Of The American Civil War Per The Offical Records Of The War of the Rebellion (Williamsburg, Va.: James River Publications, 1994), pp. 1-336.; and E.B. Long, The Civil War Day By Day An Almanac 1861-1865 (New York: Doubleday & Co., Inc. 1971), p. 719.)