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GARRY ADELMAN: Abraham Lincoln ordered in January of 1862, Union forces to move on all fronts. And they did, but at different speeds. In the east, George McClellan got moving rather slowly and wouldn't actually start moving till March. In the west, George Thomas right away won a huge victory at Mill Springs in Kentucky. Followed up by movements by US Grant, who's going to capture Confederate forts Henry and Donelson. That will uncover Nashville, Tennessee. And the first Confederate capital falls to the Union right before spring even dawns of 1862.

Additional Union gains in Arkansas at the Battle of Pea Ridge, as well as Grant going down the Mississippi and winning another battle, the Battle of Shiloh, the bloodiest up to that point, really is going to not only swing things for the Union at that point, but along with other gains in the west, such as the battles of Picacho Peak and at Glorieta Pass, which secures the Pacific Ocean for the Union. The Union's feeling good. They have gained hundreds of thousands of miles of territory to add to their cause. And the Confederates are really reeling at this point.

As the Battle of Shiloh is raging, George McClellan is assembling on the Virginia peninsula with the largest force in the country on any side. He's got the Army of the Potomac. He's going to try to capture Richmond from the east. He's going to very slowly and doggedly move along the Virginia peninsula, laying siege to Yorktown. Eventually when the Confederates fall back from there, he will move up and fight a battle at Williamsburg. This will result later in the Battle of Fair Oaks in Seven Pines which, in itself, wounding the Confederate officer Joseph E. Johnston. Will result in the ascension of promotion of Robert E. Lee, who will take command of the Army of Northern Virginia. And everything changes from that point forward.

In the meantime, Stonewall Jackson is occupying three separate Union forces in the Shenandoah Valley. Jackson moves up. He moves down. His foot cavalry is all over the place, defeating one Union force after another. And, most importantly, occupying Union forces state they cannot go and join George McClellan in helping him on the Virginia peninsula. In fact, it is Stonewall Jackson that goes to join Robert E. Lee while the Union forces are still up near Washington D.C.

Joined by Jackson, Robert E. Lee launches a series of assaults that not only pushes the Union back towards James River, but essentially, in the minds of American, undoes everything that the Union commanders had done in the west. Abraham Lincoln couldn't believe they'd already captured hundreds of thousands of miles of square territory. And with just a few Confederate movements in the east, everybody thought the South was winning. The South was indeed winning and pushing the Union such as at Beaver Dam Creek. At Gaines' Mill. At Savage's Station. At Glendale, and onto Malvern Hill. So whipped and intimidated was the Union commander, that he fled to his gunboats while Robert E. Lee struck out northward, fighting and winning at Cedar Mountain. And then a huge battle and a huge victory at Second Manassas before Robert E. Lee decides to invade the north.

When he invades the north, Robert E. Lee quickly captures Harpers Ferry, but some of his plans fall into Union hands. George McClellan now knows that Robert E. Lee is split and separated, and pushes doggedly and quickly against Robert E. Lee. They will fight at South Mountain. The Confederates will fall back toward Sharpsburg, Maryland. And at the Battle of Antietam there, in the bloodiest single day of fighting, not only in 1862, but in American history. The Union will push the Confederates back. It will end as a draw, but the Southerners end their invasion. The Southerners are also turned back at Perrysville, Kentucky, and suddenly there has been a great sea change. Abraham Lincoln seized the moment to issue his preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, and it really changed the war.

Starting at the 1st of January, 1863, suddenly the war would have different purposes for different people. It was no longer just about saving the Union. It was also about freeing the slaves, about equality. Meanwhile in the west, U.S. Grant is not inactive. He's trying to go down the Mississippi River to actually try to capture places like Vicksburg and Port Hudson. You also have the Union moving down into Mississippi, and holding Corinth successfully in October against a pretty intense Confederate attack to recapture Corinth for their own purposes.

In the meantime, George McClellan is replaced by his friend, Ambrose Burnside. Burnside comes up with a pretty good plan to try to get to Fredericksburg before the Confederates can. He does get there before Lee, but he doesn't have the boats to get around and across Lee's communications in time. And, ultimately, Burnside will launch a series of bloody assaults against strong Confederate positions. It is a horrible disaster for the Union, but things are going a little bit better out west for the Union.

You're going to have US Grant defending Corinth against some pretty intense Confederate assault. The Union also moves forward down towards Vicksburg, Mississippi. William Tecumseh Sherman is actually repulsed at the Battle of Chickasaw Bayou, but the Union is getting closer to Vicksburg at that point. And, in one final battle, in 1862, the Battle of Stones River, fought outside Murfreesboro, Tennessee. The Confederates have it going their way at the beginning, but those Confederates are themselves reeling back and end up retreating from that particular battlefield. And it's going to be a long, bloody war ahead.

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