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Civil War Timeline / Chronology for March 1862 <<Previous year Next year>> January, 1862
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March 2 , 1862
Leonidas Polk completes his withdrawal from Columbus. He moves south to New Madrid, Missouri.
Kentucky
Leonidas Polk
March 3 , 1862
Abraham Lincoln appoints Andrew Johnson to be military governor of Tennessee
Tennessee
Abraham Lincoln
Andrew Johnson
March 3 , 1862
General John Pope lays siege to New Madrid
Missouri
John Pope
March 4 , 1862
Over what is generally regarded as a communication problem, Halleck relieves Grant from command and replaces him with Charles Ferguson Smith.
Ulysses S. Grant
Henry Halleck
March 6 , 1862 March 8 , 1862
Battle of Pea Ridge [US]
Battle of Elkhorn Tavern [CS]
Arkansas
Earl Van Dorn
Sterling Price
March 6 , 1862
Abraham Lincoln proposes that slaves in the border states be emancipated gradually, with compensation to the owners
Abraham Lincoln
March 6 , 1862
The Monitor , the first Union ironclad, departs from New York
March 6 , 1862
Barnwell Rhett proposes a yellow sun in a blue shield with a ray for each state. It would eliminate the stars and the red, white, and blue combinations of the Yankee flag
South Carolina
Robert Barnwell Rhett
Flags of the Civil War
March 8 , 1862
The Merrimac (CSS Virginia) battles the USS Congress and the USS Cumberland, destroying both frigates and killing more than 240 of their crewmen.
March 8 , 1862
Joseph E. Johnston orders the Confederate Army of the Potomac to withdraw from Centerville/Manassas to the Rappahannock River based on reports from JEB Stuart of increased Yankee activity
Virginia
Joseph E. Johnston
Army of Northern Virginia
J. E. B. Stuart
March 8 , 1862
Abraham Lincoln, chagrined at George McClellan for not appointing corps commanders, names Edwin Vose Sumnner, Samuel Heintzelman, Erasmus Keyes and Irvin McDowell for him.
Irvin McDowell
Abraham Lincoln
George McClellan
Edwin Vose Sumner
Samuel Heintzelman
March 9 , 1862
Battle of Hampton Roads
The duel of the ironclads, The Monitor and The Merrimac (CSS Virginia). First use of a turreted gun.
Virginia
Hampton Roads
Civil War Firsts
March 11 , 1862
President Lincoln relieves George McClellan as General-in-Chief of the U. S. Army. He continues as commander of the Army of the Potomac
General-in-Chief, U. S. Army
George McClellan
Abraham Lincoln
Army of the Potomac
March 11 , 1862
President Lincoln puts Henry Halleck in charge of all forces in the West. Lincoln also creates the Mountain Department, covering West Virginia and the mountainous area of Virginia. John Fremont is put in command.
Henry Halleck
John C. Fremont
March 11 , 1862
For their disasterous performance at Fort Donelson, President Jefferson Davis relieves John Floyd and Gideon Pillow from command.
John Floyd
Gideon Pillow
Jefferson Davis
March 12 , 1862
Jacksonville is occupied by Union naval forces
Florida
March 13 , 1862
Grant is reinstated to his command
Ulysses S. Grant
March 13 , 1862
Jefferson Davis orders Robert E. Lee to "...conduct military operations of the armies of the Confederacy."
Jefferson Davis
Robert E. Lee
March 14 , 1862
Battle of New Bern (sometimes called Newberne)
Ambrose Burnsides [US] captures the city
North Carolina
Ambrose Burnside
March 14 , 1862
Following a two week siege, federals under John Pope take New Madrid.
Missouri
John Pope
March 15 , 1862
William Tecumseh Sherman and Stephen Hurlbut arrive at Pittsburg Landing and move inland to Shiloh Baptist Church.
William Tecumseh Sherman
Battle of Shiloh
March 17 , 1862
Ulysses S. Grant assumes command of the forces at Pittsburg Landing.
Ulysses S. Grant
Battle of Shiloh
March 17 , 1862
George McClellan begins transporting his men to Fort Monroe for the Peninsula Campaign
Virginia
George McClellan
Peninsula Campaign
March 17 , 1862
Major General Lew Wallace and his division stop at Crump's Landing to destroy the tracks of the Mobile and Ohio Railroad.
Tennessee
Battle of Shiloh
Lew Wallace
Lew Wallace at Shiloh
March 18 , 1862
Jefferson Davis moves Judah Benjamin from the War Department to Secretary of State, replacing R. M. T. Hunter. George Randolph of Virginia is appointed Secretary of War.
Jefferson Davis
March 19 , 1862
Following more than $10,000 in renovations, Ford's Theater reopens for business (Ford's Athenaeum was the name at the time)
Ford's Theater
March 20 , 1862
Threatened by Stonewall Jackson, Nathaniel Banks withdraws from Strasburg to Winchester
Virginia
Stonewall Jackson
Nathaniel Banks
March 23 , 1862
John Parke [US] demands the surrender of Fort Macon on the coast of North Carolina. When the Confederates refuse, he lays siege to the fort
North Carolina
March 23 , 1862
Battle of Kernstown
In the first battle of the Shenandoah Campaign, Major General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson [CS] loses to Brig. General James Shields [US]
Virginia
Stonewall Jackson
March 24 , 1862
Albert Sidney Johnston's Army arrives at Corinth from Murfreesboro, Tennessee
Mississippi
Albert Sidney Johnston
Battle of Shiloh
March 26 , 1862
Moving along the Santa Fe Trail, Confederates engaged a group of Colorado volunteers at Johnson's Ranch. Federal forces withdraw to Glorietta.
March 28 , 1862
Jefferson Davis proposes a conscription bill, shocking many Southerners.
Jefferson Davis
March 29 , 1862
The Central Army of Kentucky and the Army of Alabama and West Florida, and is merged into the Army of Mississippi in Corinth under Albert Sidney Johnston with P. G. T. Beauregard as second-in-command. Corps commanders are Braxton Bragg, Leonidas Polk, William Hardee and George Crittenden.
Mississippi
Albert Sidney Johnston
P. G. T. Beauregard
Braxton Bragg
Leonidas Polk
William Hardee
Central Army of Kentucky
Army of Mississippi
March 30 , 1862
B&O reopens following six months of Confederate control in Maryland and West Virginia
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
January, 1862
May, 1862
September, 1862
February, 1862
June, 1862
October, 1862
March, 1862
July, 1862
November, 1862
April, 1862
August, 1862
December, 1862