"Map of the rebellion as it was in 1861 and as it is now" depicts the consequences for the Confederacy of the seizure of Memphis in 1862 and the fall of Vicksburg in 1863 (Harper's Weekly, March 19, 1864)
February 17 – American Civil War: The ConfederatesubmarineHunleytorpedoes theUSS Housatonic, becoming the first submarine to sink an enemy ship (the sub and her crew of 8 are also lost).
February 25 – American Civil War: The first Northern prisoners arrive at the Confederate prison atAndersonville, Georgia (the 500 prisoners had left Richmond, Virginia, 7 days before).
May –Man and Nature: or, Physical geography as modified by human action byGeorge Perkins Marsh is published. One of the first works to document the effects of human action on theenvironment and it helped to launch the modern conservation movement.
May 18 –Civil War gold hoax: TheNew York World and theNew York Journal of Commerce publish a fake proclamation that PresidentAbraham Lincoln has issued a draft of 400,000 more soldiers.
June 9 – American Civil War: TheSiege of Petersburg begins. Union forces under General Grant and troops led by Confederate GeneralRobert E. Lee battle for the last time.
June 12 – American Civil War:Battle of Cold Harbor: General Ulysses S. Grant pulls his troops from their positions at Cold Harbor, Virginia and moves south.
July 22 – American Civil War:Battle of Atlanta: Outside of Atlanta, Georgia, Confederate General Hood leads an unsuccessful attack on Union troops under General Sherman on Bald Hill.
July 24 – American Civil War:Battle of Kernstown: Confederate GeneralJubal Early defeats Union troops led by GeneralGeorge Crook in an effort to keep the Yankees out of the Shenandoah Valley.
July 28 – American Civil War:Battle of Ezra Church: Confederate troops led by General Hood make a third unsuccessful attempt to drive Union forces under General Sherman from Atlanta, Georgia.
July 30 – American Civil War:Battle of the Crater: Union forces attempt to break Confederate lines by exploding a large bomb under their trenches.
October 30 –Helena, Montana is founded after fourprospectors (the so-calledFour Georgians) discovergold atLast Chance Gulch; it is their last and agreed final attempt at weeks of trying to find gold in the northern Rockies.
November 4 – American Civil War:Battle of Johnsonville: At Johnsonville, Tennessee, troops under the command of Confederate GeneralNathan Bedford Forrest bombard a Union supply base with artillery and destroy millions of dollars in material.
November 15 – American Civil War:Sherman's March to the Sea begins: Union General Sherman burns Atlanta and starts to move south, causing extensive devastation to crops and mills and living off the land.
November 22 – American Civil War: Sherman's March to the Sea: Confederate General John Bell Hood invadesTennessee in an unsuccessful attempt to draw Union General Sherman from Georgia.
November 25 – American Civil War: A group of Confederate operatives calling themselves theConfederate Army of Manhattan starts fires in more than 20 locations in an unsuccessful attempt to burn downNew York City.
November 30 – American Civil War:Second Battle of Franklin: TheArmy of Tennessee led by General Hood mounts a dramatically unsuccessful frontal assault on Union positions aroundFranklin, Tennessee (Hood loses 6 generals and almost a third of his troops).
December 4 – American Civil War: Sherman's March to the Sea: AtWaynesboro, Georgia, forces under Union GeneralJudson Kilpatrick prevent troops led by Confederate GeneralJoseph Wheeler from interfering with Union General Sherman's campaign of destroying a wide swath of the South on his march to Savannah, Georgia (Union forces suffer more than 3 times the casualties as the Confederates, however).
December 15–16 – American Civil War:Battle of Nashville: Union forces decisively defeat the Confederate Army of Tennessee.
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