Narrates the major battles and campaigns of the conflict, conveying the full military experience during the Civil War.

1. Introduction. The Cambridge History of the American Civil War Aaron Sheehan-Dean; Part I. Major Battles and Campaigns: 2. The battles of Virginia, 1861 Hunter Lesser; 3. The battles of Tennessee, 1862 Timothy B. Smith; 4. The battles of the Trans-Mississippi, 1861-1863 William L. Shea; 5. The Peninsula Campaign Glenn D. Brasher; 6. The Shenandoah Valley Campaigns of 1862 and 1864 Kathryn J. Shively; 7. The Second Bull Run Campaign John Hennessy; 8. The Antietam Campaign D. Scott Hartwig; 9. The Western Theater, 1862-1863 Kenneth W. Noe; 10. The Battle of Fredericksburg Elizabeth Parnicza; 11. The Chancellorsville Campaign Christian B. Keller; 12. The Gettysburg Campaign Carol Reardon; 13. The Vicksburg Campaign Terrence J. Winschel; 14. The Battles of Tennessee, 1863 Daryl Black; 15. The Overland Campaign Gordon C. Rhea; 16. The Georgia Campaign Robert L. Glaze; 17. The Carolinas Campaign Lisa Tendrich Frank; 18. The Tennessee Campaign, 1864 William Lee White; 19. The Petersburg and Appomattox Campaigns William Marvel; Part II. Places: 20. War on the rivers Gary D. Joiner; 21. War on the waters Kurt Hackemer; 22. The blockade Robert Browning, Jr; 23. The border war Aaron Astor; 24. War in the Deep South Andrew F. Lang; 25. War in Appalachia Brian D. McKnight; 26. War in Arkansas, Texas, and Louisiana Donald S. Frazier; 27. War in the West Kevin Adams; 28. War in Indian country Kevin Waite.