campaign, political, organized effort to secure nomination and election of candidates for government offices. In the United States, the most important political campaigns are those for the nomination and election of candidates for the offices of president and vice president. In each political party such nominations are made at a national convention preceding the presidential election.

Campaign costs in the United States have become enormous, with political advertising, especially television, being the greatest expense. As a result, parties and candidates need to raise many millions of dollars. Financial contributions by corporations, labor unions, and other other organizations, individuals, and federal employees as well as expenditures by the parties' national committees have been restricted by law. Closer regulation of contributions was attempted by establishment of the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) in 1974 and 1976; the FEC provides public financing in return for spending limits.

In the late 1990s, however, the FEC negated some of its own rules and weakened the restrictions. Additionally, political action committees are permitted as private campaign-funding vehicles, and unlimited "soft money" may be raised by political parties (as opposed to candidates) for "party development" (nearly $500 million in 2000). Also, a number of presidential candidates, beginning with George W. Bush in the 2000 presidential campaign, have chosen to forgo public financing in order to avoid the associated spending limits. Thus the reforms have not slowed the escalating cost of campaigns.

Attempts in the late 1990s to revamp the way national political campaigns are financed were successfully filibustered in the U.S. Senate, but in 2002 Congress passed legislation to eliminate soft money on the national level and restrict it on the state and local level while increasing the amount that could be donated to a candidate. The bill also restricted the ability of political action committees to mention candidates by name immediately before an election. That and the provisions regarding soft money were challenged in court but narrowly upheld (2003) by the Supreme Court; the restrictions on political action committees were narrowed by a 2007 Supreme Court decision that permitted advertising that was not overtly advocating voting for or against a candidate.

In Great Britain the system of parliamentary government permits the overthrow of the cabinet by a vote of no confidence at any time, and, compared with U.S. congressional elections, this results in a more unified party campaign. British parliamentary and local elections are never held concurrently; campaigns are short and intensive, and party expenditures are comparatively very moderate and are fixed by law.

Yorktown campaign, 1781, the closing military operations of the American Revolution. After his unsuccessful Carolina campaign General Cornwallis moved into Virginia to join British forces there. His lieutenant, Banastre Tarleton, engaged American forces under the marquis de Lafayette, Baron von Steuben, and Gen. Anthony Wayne in several minor actions as the British retreated down the York peninsula. Cornwallis fortified Yorktown and waited for reinforcements to come from Sir Henry Clinton in New York. While he was there, late in August, a French fleet under Admiral de Grasse arrived from the West Indies, blockaded Chesapeake Bay, and defeated (September) the British naval forces under Admiral Graves. Leaving a force to harry Clinton in New York, Gen. George Washington and General Rochambeau rushed south, with many French troops. Cornwallis, unaware of Washington's advance, remained more or less idle. Lafayette and Steuben distinguished themselves as commanders of the holding troops and did so even more after the reinforcements arrived. By mid-September an overwhelming Franco-American force had gathered. Cornwallis tried to escape, but his attempts failed. On Oct. 17, 1781, he asked for surrender terms, which he accepted Oct. 19, 1781.

Wilderness campaign, in the American Civil War, a series of engagements (May-June, 1864) fought in the Wilderness region of Virginia. Early in May, 1864, the Northern commander in chief, Grant, led the Army of the Potomac (118,000 strong) across the Rapidan River into the Wilderness, a wild and tangled woodland c.10 mi (16 km) W of Fredericksburg. Grant planned to clear the Wilderness before trying to destroy the smaller Confederate Army of Northern Virginia (60,000 troops) under Robert E. Lee. But Lee advanced on the Union troops while they were still in that area, causing Grant to face about and order an attack. The nature of the terrain made the battle of the Wilderness (May 5-6) a disjointed but bloody fight. After the repulse of a Union attack on May 6 through the opportune arrival of the 1st Corps under James Longstreet, Lee counterattacked, and the battle became stabilized. Grant then pushed ahead by Lee's right, heading toward Spotsylvania Courthouse, c.12 mi (19 km) to the southeast. Lee, anticipating the move, was soon entrenched there. In the battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse (May 8-19), Grant unsuccessfully hammered away at the Confederate lines. The bloodiest fighting of this battle occurred on May 12 when the Union assault on the salient forming the Confederate center (the Bloody Angle) was repulsed after initial success. Lee confronted Grant's next move from a position S of the North Anna River, so impregnable that even Grant did not attack. By the beginning of June both armies were near Richmond. Fearing that Lee might withdraw within the defenses of the capital, Grant made another unsuccessful frontal assault on his strongly entrenched enemy in the battle of Cold Harbor, June 3, 1864. The Union lost 7,000 men in a few hours—the most horrible slaughter of the war. After several days of desultory trench fighting Grant then withdrew, crossed the James River, and moved against Petersburg. He had lost about 60,000 men in the campaign, and although Lee's army sustained the proportionately larger loss of 20,000, it was by no means destroyed.

Waterloo campaign, last action of the Napoleonic Wars, ending with the battle of Waterloo. Napoleon I, who escaped from Elba in Feb., 1815, and entered Paris on Mar. 20, soon faced a European coalition. His only hope lay in attacking before the enemy could combine to attack him, although he could count on only about 125,000 men in the immediate future. His plan was to destroy the British and Prussian forces under Wellington and Blücher on the northern frontier, before dealing with the Austrians and Russians under Prince Schwarzenberg then gathering on the eastern frontier. To effect this, he decided to concentrate his forces near Charleroi, between Blücher's force of about 120,000 and Wellington's of about 93,000, and thus prevent their junction. Setting out for the front on June 12, he seized Charleroi while the allies still believed he was in Paris, and he defeated Blücher at Ligny (June 16). Assuming that the Prussians were retreating toward their base in Namur, he detached Grouchy with 33,000 men to pursue them. Meanwhile, Marshal Ney was battling Wellington at Quatre Bras; Napoleon now turned to his assistance, and Wellington, though victorious, was compelled to retreat toward Brussels. Wellington took up a strong position S of Waterloo, between Mont-Saint-Jean and Belle-Alliance, and awaited attack. On June 18, about noon, Napoleon began a massed attack against the British center, but the British stemmed the tide until the overdue arrival, late in the day, of the Prussian forces, who had eluded Grouchy by marching on Wavre instead of Namur. This event proved the turning point of the battle. Routed, the French retreated with the Prussians in pursuit. Napoleon left the field and signed (June 22) his second abdication. French casualties were about 32,000, the coalition's about 23,000. The campaign was marked by confusion and miscalculation on all sides. The battle figures prominently in European literature.

Vicksburg campaign, in the American Civil War, the fighting (Nov., 1862-July, 1863) for control of the Mississippi River. The Union wanted such control in order to split the Confederacy and to restore free commerce to the politically important Northwest. New Orleans and Memphis fell to Union forces in the spring of 1862, but an attempt to take Vicksburg, Miss., by water failed (May-June). As a result the South still held 200 mi (320 km) of the river between Port Hudson, La., and Vicksburg. Early in Nov., 1862, Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, commanding the Dept. of the Tennessee, planned a converging assault on Vicksburg; Gen. William T. Sherman led an expedition down the river from Memphis to attack the city from the north, while Grant himself advanced overland from the east. However, Confederate cavalry under Earl Van Dorn and Nathan B. Forrest cut Grant's line of communications, forcing him to retreat, and Sherman was repulsed in the battle of Chickasaw Bluffs (Dec. 29, 1862). In Jan., 1863, Grant concentrated his army across the river from Vicksburg. He took over the command of John A. McClernand, who had succeeded Sherman. After several unsuccessful experiments to gain an approach to the seemingly impregnable city (Feb.-Mar., 1863), Grant in April began a brilliant movement to take it from the south. To divert the attention of the Confederate commander, John C. Pemberton, Grant left Sherman before the city and ordered a cavalry raid through central Mississippi. On the night of Apr. 16-17, David Dixon Porter ran gunboats and transports down the river past Vicksburg, and in the following days Grant marched his army south to meet the fleet and be transported across the river at Bruinsburg (c.30 mi/48 km S of Vicksburg). On May 1, McClernand and James B. McPherson defeated the Confederates at Port Gibson, forcing them to abandon their batteries at Grand Gulf, which Grant seized as a base. When Sherman joined him on May 7, 1863, Grant left Grand Gulf, marched northeast, and on May 12 defeated the Confederates at Raymond. At Jackson (May 14), he met Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, Confederate commander in the West, who retreated. Turning west toward Vicksburg, Grant defeated Pemberton in successive battles (May 16, 17) at Champion's Hill and at the bridge over the Big Black River, forcing him back into Vicksburg. After two unsuccessful attempts at storming the city's fortifications, Grant opened siege. With the Union forces between them, Pemberton and Johnston were unable to unite, and after about six weeks of gallant resistance Vicksburg's defenders surrendered on July 4, 1863. The fall of Port Hudson a few days later placed the Mississippi River entirely in Union hands.

Sinai campaign: see Arab-Israeli Wars.

Saratoga campaign, June-Oct., 1777, of the American Revolution. Lord George Germain and John Burgoyne were the chief authors of a plan to end the American Revolution by splitting the colonies along the Hudson River. Burgoyne was to advance S from Canada along Lake Champlain to Albany, where he would join Sir William Howe, advancing N from New York City up the Hudson, and Barry St. Leger, coming E along the Mohawk River. Howe, however, became engaged in the campaign against Philadelphia, and Sir Henry Clinton, who assumed the command in New York City, never reached Albany. Burgoyne had no trouble in taking Ticonderoga (July 6), but his march south proved difficult. The column of Hessians (German mercenaries) he sent to raid Bennington was badly beaten (Aug. 14-16) by troops (including the Green Mountain Boys) under John Stark and Seth Warner. Meanwhile, the force under St. Leger besieged the Revolutionary forces at Fort Stanwix (Fort Schuyler). An American party under Nicholas Herkimer, which had come to relieve the fort, was ambushed (Aug. 6, 1777) when crossing Oriskany Creek; Herkimer was mortally wounded, and the force dispersed. The British siege did not prosper, however, and when rumors came that a large Revolutionary force was approaching under Benedict Arnold, the Indians deserted the British service. St. Leger had to abandon (Aug. 22) the siege and retreated to Canada. Burgoyne continued southward, crossed the Hudson (Sept. 13), and halted near the present Saratoga Springs, where, on Bemis Heights, the Americans had taken up position. With Benjamin Lincoln threatening his rear and his supplies running low, Burgoyne tried to break through at Freeman's Farm (Sept. 19) and at Bemis Heights (Oct. 7). Both attempts were stopped by Benedict Arnold, Daniel Morgan, and Horatio Gates, who had replaced Philip J. Schuyler as American commander. The British commander then tried to retreat, but, finding himself outnumbered and surrounded, he surrendered on Oct. 17, 1777. The battle of Saratoga was the first great American victory of the war, and it is considered by many the decisive battle of the Revolution. Besides the heartening effect on the patriots, the campaign also encouraged the French, who had helped the victory by unofficial supplies and funds, to send official aid.

Quebec campaign, 1775-76, of the American Revolution. The Continental Congress decided to send an expedition to Canada to protect the northern frontier from British attack and to persuade Canada to join the revolt against England. Late in Aug., 1775, Gen. Philip Schuyler led troops up Lake Champlain and captured St. Johns; illness forced him to turn over his command to Gen. Richard Montgomery, who proceeded to capture Montreal in Nov., 1775. In Sept., 1775, General Washington sent Benedict Arnold to lead an expedition against Quebec by way of the Kennebec and Chaudière rivers in Maine. When this force arrived, it was so weakened by the incredibly hard march, illness, desertion, and lack of supplies that Arnold was forced to wait for Montgomery before attacking. The unsuccessful assault was launched in the early morning of Dec. 31, 1775. The Continentals withdrew after Montgomery was killed, Arnold wounded, and Daniel Morgan captured. Arnold and Montgomery's successor, David Wooster, continued the siege until spring, when British reinforcements enabled Sir Guy Carleton to push the Americans, now commanded by Gen. John Thomas, back to Crown Point on Lake Champlain.

Peninsular campaign, in the American Civil War, the unsuccessful Union attempt (Apr.-July, 1862) to capture Richmond, Va., by way of the peninsula between the York and James rivers.

The Plan

Early in 1862, Gen. George B. McClellan, who had kept the Army of the Potomac inactive through the winter, proposed a plan for transporting his troops by sea to Urbana, near the mouth of the Rappahannock River, and from there advancing on Richmond. This plan was soon rendered unfeasible by the advance of the Confederate army under Joseph E. Johnston to the Rappahannock, so McClellan chose Fort Monroe (at the tip of the peninsula between the York and James rivers) as the debarkation point for his offensive. President Lincoln, who preferred an overland advance, reluctantly agreed to McClellan's plan, provided that a force was left behind to protect Washington. The 1st Corps, under Irvin McDowell, was detached from the Army of the Potomac for that purpose.

Evacuation of Yorktown

Early in Apr., 1862, McClellan had about 100,000 men at Fort Monroe. Instead of trying to break through the Confederate line across the peninsula, he prepared to besiege Yorktown, the strongest point in the line. General Johnston evacuated Yorktown (May 3) just as McClellan had completed his preparations. An indecisive, though severely contested, rear-guard action was fought at Williamsburg (May 5) as the Confederates retired toward Richmond. The evacuation of Yorktown opened up the York River to the Union fleet, and on May 16, McClellan established his base at White House Landing (c.20 mi/32 km east of Richmond) on the Pamunkey River.

Union Advance and Jackson's Diversion

At the same time as Yorktown, the Union advance into the interior forced the Confederates to abandon Norfolk (May 10) and to scuttle their formidable ironclad, the Virginia (see Monitor and Merrimack), thus opening up the James as far as Drewry's Bluff (9 m/14 km south of Richmond), where Confederate batteries repulsed them on May 15. McClellan soon had his army encamped on both sides of the Chickahominy River near Richmond: the 3d and 4th corps were on the south side; the 2d, 5th, and 6th on the north. Irvin McDowell's corps (now called the Army of the Rappahannock) was to march south from its position near Fredericksburg and unite with the right wing north of the Chickahominy. McClellan would then move against the inferior forces of Johnston. However, the brilliant campaign of Thomas (Stonewall) Jackson in the Shenandoah Valley caused the diversion of McDowell's corps from the army threatening Richmond.

The End of the Campaign

Late in May heavy rains swelled the Chickahominy so that communication between the two wings of McClellan's army became precarious. On May 31, Johnston moved against the left wing (on the south side of the river), where the lines extended to Fair Oaks, a railroad station c.6 mi (9 km) east of Richmond. In the ensuing battle of Fair Oaks, or Seven Pines (May 31-June 1, 1862), the Confederate attack, led by James Longstreet, was badly executed. With the help of some divisions of the 2d corps, which managed to cross the river, the Union left wing held its ground. Johnston, severely wounded on May 31, was succeeded on June 1 by Gen. Robert E. Lee, who withdrew the Army of Northern Virginia to Richmond. Lee's subsequent counteroffensive in the Seven Days battles led to McClellan's withdrawal and the close of the campaign. Union forces did not again come so close to Richmond until 1864.

Normandy campaign, June to Aug., 1944, in World War II. The Allied invasion of the European continent through Normandy began about 12:15 A.M. on June 6, 1944 (D-day). The plan, known as Operation Overlord, had been prepared since 1943; supreme command over its execution was entrusted to Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower. In May, 1944, tactical bombing was begun in order to destroy German communications in N France. Just after midnight on June 6, British and American airborne forces landed behind the German coastal fortifications known as the Atlantic Wall. They were followed after daybreak by the seaborne troops of the U.S. 1st Army and British 2d Army. Field Marshal B. L. Montgomery was in command of the Allied land forces. Some 4,000 transports, 800 warships, and innumerable small craft, under Admiral Sir B. H. Ramsay, supported the invasion, and more than 11,000 aircraft, under Air Chief Marshal Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory, formed a protective umbrella. While naval guns and Allied bombers assaulted the beach fortifications, the men swarmed ashore. At the base of the Cotentin peninsula the U.S. forces established two beachheads—Utah Beach, W of the Vire River, and Omaha Beach, E of the Vire, the scene of the fiercest fighting. British troops, who had landed near Bayeux on three beaches called Gold, Juno, and Sword, advanced quickly but were stopped before Caen. On June 12 the fusion of the Allied beachheads was complete. The German commander, Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt, found that Allied air strength prevented use of his reserves. U.S. forces under Gen. Omar N. Bradley cut off the Cotentin peninsula (June 18), and Cherbourg surrendered on June 27. The Americans then swung south. After difficult fighting in easily defendable "hedgerow" country they captured (July 18) the vital communications center of Saint-Lô, cutting off the German force under Field Marshal Erwin Rommel. The U.S. 3d Army under Gen. George S. Patton was thrown into the battle and broke through the German left flank at Avranches. Patton raced into Brittany and S to the Loire, swinging east to outflank Paris. A German attempt to cut the U.S. forces in two at Avranches was foiled (Aug. 7-11). The British had taken Caen on July 9, but they were again halted by a massive German tank concentration. They resumed their offensive in August and captured Falaise on Aug. 16. Between them and the U.S. forces driving north from Argentan the major part of the German 7th Army was caught in the "Falaise pocket" and was wiped out by Aug. 23, opening the way for the Allies to overrun N France.

Mormon campaign: see Utah War.

Gettysburg campaign, June-July, 1863, series of decisive battles of the U.S. Civil War.

The Road to Gettysburg

After his victory in the battle of Chancellorsville, Confederate general Robert E. Lee undertook a second invasion of the North. The reorganized Army of Northern Virginia crossed the Potomac (June 17) via the Shenandoah valley, which Richard S. Ewell (2d Corps), as leader of the advance, swept clear of Union forces. By late June, Ewell was seriously threatening Harrisburg, Pa., while Lee, with James Longstreet (1st Corps) and A. P. Hill (3d Corps), was at Chambersburg, Pa. However, with the absence of his cavalry under J. E. B. Stuart, which was raiding in the area between Washington and the position of the Union army, Lee was unable to determine the enemy's strength and movements.

When he finally learned that George G. Meade was concentrating N of the Potomac, he ordered the concentration of his own force. Meade, intending to make his stand at Pipe Creek in Maryland, sent ahead John F. Reynolds, commanding the left wing. But on July 1, John Buford's cavalry, covering Reynolds, came into contact with Harry Heth's division of Hill's corps on the Chambersburg pike just W of Gettysburg. The environs of Gettysburg thus became the unintended site of the greatest battle of the war (July 1-3, 1863).

The Battles

The Federals had the best of A. P. Hill's forces until midafternoon on the first day at Gettysburg, when, outflanked by Ewell, advancing from the north, they were driven to Cemetery Hill, south of the town. Meade on the recommendation of Winfield Scott Hancock abandoned his Pipe Creek plans and hurried up his whole force. On July 2, against the Union left, Longstreet led the main attack, which was not delivered until about 4 P.M.; the Army of the Potomac thus had time to consolidate its strong position. The Confederates took the Peach Orchard but were repulsed when they attempted to seize Round Top and Little Round Top, commanding eminences at the south end of Cemetery Ridge. On the Union right, Ewell carried Culp's Hill but was beaten off at Cemetery Hill.

Meade's counterattack on the morning of July 3 retook Culp's Hill. Lee ordered Longstreet to attack the Union center with George E. Pickett's division, supported by part of Hill's corps (about 15,000 men in all). After a bombardment of the Union position by the massed Confederate artillery, Pickett moved forward in his famous charge. In the face of terrific artillery and musket fire, the gallant Southerners reached and momentarily held the first Union line. But Pickett's support gave way, and Hancock drove him back with tremendous losses. Meanwhile Stuart's cavalry, in an attempt to get at the Union right and rear, was defeated by David M. Gregg. Both armies, exhausted, held their positions until the night of July 4, when Lee withdrew. High water in the Potomac delayed his crossing back to Virginia, but Meade did not attack him in force.

Aftermath

The Union army, which had been the more numerous, lost 23,000 men either killed, wounded, or missing; the Confederate army lost 25,000 (although that figure is questionable). Both commanding generals have been criticized for their conduct of the campaign—Lee for his unwarranted reliance on unseasoned commanders and his authorization of Pickett's charge; Meade for failing to organize his forces to counterattack and pursue the fleeing enemy. The campaign marked the high point of the Confederate activity during the war; thereafter the fortunes of the South went into a marked decline.

Gallipoli campaign, 1915, Allied expedition in World War I for the purpose of gaining control of the Dardanelles and Bosporus straits, capturing Constantinople, and opening a Black Sea supply route to Russia. The idea of forcing the straits was originally promoted by Winston Churchill, then first lord of the admiralty. After the failure (Mar., 1915) of a British naval force to open the straits, British, Australian, and New Zealand troops landed (Apr. 25) at various points on the east coast of the Gallipoli Peninsula, while a French force landed on the Asian side of the straits. The Turks, under General Liman von Sanders, had been reinforced, and they put up stubborn resistance, preventing the Allies from making any important gains. Allied cooperation was poor, and there was lack of coordination between land and naval forces that resulted in a premature naval attack without sufficient support from the army. The two-month lag between the navy's arrival at Gallipoli (Feb., 1915) and the arrival of land forces (Apr., 1915) gave the Turkish army ample time to reinforce its troops. By April, the Turks had deployed six times as many troops as they had ready two months earlier. The landing (Aug., 1915) at Suvla on the west coast of the peninsula resulted in severe casualties. After months of costly fighting the Allied commander, Sir Ian Hamilton, was replaced by Sir Charles Munro, and the Allies withdrew from the area on Jan. 9, 1916. The evacuation was brilliantly executed.

Chattanooga campaign, Aug.-Nov., 1863, military encounter in the American Civil War. Chattanooga, Tenn., which commanded Confederate communications between the East and the Mississippi River and was also the key to loyal E Tennessee, had been an important Union objective as early as 1862 (see Buell, Don Carlos). In 1863, the Union general William Rosecrans, commanding the Army of the Cumberland, forced Braxton Bragg to withdraw his Confederate army from middle Tennessee (June-Aug.) and maneuvered him out of Chattanooga (Aug. 16-Sept. 8). Deceived into believing that Bragg was retreating upon Atlanta, Rosecrans pursued and was trapped by the Confederates at Chickamauga Creek, c.12 mi (20 km) S of Chattanooga. Strengthened by James Longstreet's corps, which had traveled some 650 mi (1,050 km) from Lee's army through Virginia and the Carolinas to join him, Bragg routed the Union right at the Battle of Chickamauga (Sept. 19-20). He could not crush the Union left under George H. Thomas, however; Thomas held off the enemy until Rosecrans ordered him to withdraw to Chattanooga. Bragg then took up a position extending along Missionary Ridge across Chattanooga Valley to Lookout Mt. and laid siege to the town. In a historic movement, Joseph Hooker and two corps from the Army of the Potomac circled nearly 1,200 mi (1,900 km) via Indianapolis to bolster the Union forces. But Rosecrans had lost control of the situation, and an alarmed federal administration at Washington called for U.S. Grant, who arrived at Chattanooga on Oct. 23, 1863. Generals W. F. Smith and Joseph Hooker executed a coup (Oct. 26-29) that restored a sorely needed supply line on the Tennessee River, so Grant was ready to move by late November. Sherman, who had brought up reinforcements from Vicksburg, commanded the left; Thomas, the center; and Hooker, the right. Bragg's forces had been weakened by the departure of Longstreet on an unsuccessful expedition to Knoxville. On Nov. 24, Hooker drove the Confederates from Lookout Mt. in the Battle above the Clouds. On Nov. 25, Sherman could make no headway against Missionary Ridge from its northern end, so Grant ordered the center to advance. Thomas's men—Philip Sheridan conspicuous among them—displayed great courage and boldness, proceeding to carry Bragg's position at the top; there Hooker's forces joined them in routing the Confederates. By nightfall Bragg was in full retreat to Georgia. The victory left Chattanooga in Union hands for the rest of the war.

Carolina campaign, 1780-81, of the American Revolution. After Sir Henry Clinton had captured Charleston, he returned to New York, leaving a British force under Cornwallis to subordinate the Carolinas to British control. Cornwallis swept north and capped his success in the battle of Camden on Aug. 16, 1780. The American force was completely routed, the gallant Baron de Kalb was mortally wounded, and the American commander, Horatio Gates, fled from the field, outdistancing officers and men in retreat. Patriot defense was broken in the Carolinas, where only the swift and secretly moving guerrilla bands of Francis Marion, Thomas Sumter, and Andrew Pickens harassed the invaders. The American cause was advanced, however, with the remarkable battle of Kings Mt. (Oct. 7, 1780), where bands of frontier riflemen under Isaac Shelby, John Sevier, and William Campbell surrounded a British raiding party under Patrick Ferguson; the British commander fell, and his men surrendered. This victory prefaced the campaign fought in North Carolina by Gen. Nathanael Greene (who had been appointed to succeed Gates) and his lieutenants, notably Light-Horse Harry Lee and Daniel Morgan. It was Morgan who at the head of a raiding party met and all but annihilated Cornwallis's raiders under Banastre Tarleton at Cowpens (Jan. 17, 1781). Cornwallis pushed north and at Guilford Courthouse (Mar. 15, 1781) won a Pyrrhic victory over Greene; the British had technically won but had to retreat to British-held Wilmington, N.C., and then to Virginia. Greene then joined the guerrilla leaders in freeing South Carolina. Again the Americans were defeated—by Lord Rawdon at Hobkirks Hill (Apr. 25, 1781) and by Col. Alexander Stewart at Eutaw Springs (Sept. 8, 1781)—and again the British had to retreat, returning to Charleston. The campaign was a British failure and was, moreover, a triumph for the patriots because it set the stage for the Yorktown campaign.

Atlanta campaign, May-Sept., 1864, of the U.S. Civil War. In the spring of 1864, Gen. W. T. Sherman concentrated the Union armies of G. H. Thomas, J. B. McPherson, and J. M. Schofield around Chattanooga. On May 6 he began to move along the railroad from Chattanooga to Atlanta against Dalton, Ga., c.30 mi (48 km) southeast, where Gen. J. E. Johnston had a smaller Confederate force. Sherman had a twofold objective: the destruction of Johnston's army and the capture of Atlanta, c.140 mi (225 km) southeast. Since Johnston was strongly entrenched, Sherman turned his left flank, forcing him back to Resaca, c.12 mi (19 km) south. The campaign continued in this way—Sherman outflanking Johnston, who withdrew to previously fortified positions—until June 27, when Sherman tried a direct attack at Kennesaw Mt., c.25 mi (40 km) NW of Atlanta, and was repulsed. He then reverted to flank operations. By July, Johnston had withdrawn to the south bank of the Chattahoochee River, where he prepared to fight on his own terms. On July 17, the day Sherman crossed the Chattahoochee, John Bell Hood replaced Johnston. Following Johnston's plan, Hood unsuccessfully attacked Sherman's divided army (July 20) as it crossed Peach Tree Creek, a small tributary of the Chattahoochee. In the battles of Atlanta (July 22) and Ezra Church (July 28), Hood again failed to stop the Union advance; he then retired behind the strong works of Atlanta, which Sherman soon had under bombardment. The Union lines were gradually extended until the Confederate line of communications south of the city was broken on Sept. 1. Hood abandoned Atlanta that night and Sherman occupied it on Sept. 2, 1864, and burned it.

Antietam campaign, Sept., 1862, of the Civil War. After the second battle of Bull Run, Gen. Robert E. Lee crossed the Potomac to invade Maryland and Pennsylvania. At Frederick, Md., he divided (Sept. 10) his army, sending Stonewall Jackson to capture the large Union garrison at Harpers Ferry and thus clear his communications through the Shenandoah valley. With the remainder, Lee marched NW toward Hagerstown. Gen. George B. McClellan learned of this division of forces and moved to attack. In the battle on South Mt. (the Blue Ridge N of the Potomac, 12 mi/19 km W of Frederick) on Sept. 14, 1862, McClellan defeated Lee's rear guard and took the passes of that range. Lee then fell back to Sharpsburg (c.9 mi/14.5 km W of South Mt.), where his position lay behind Antietam Creek. On Sept. 15 the Harpers Ferry garrison capitulated to Jackson, who, with part of his command, joined Lee before McClellan attacked. The battle of Antietam (or Sharpsburg) opened on the morning of Sept. 17. Early assaults on Lee's left were bloody but indecisive, and McClellan failed to press the slight Union advantage with his available reserves. In the afternoon Burnside's corps crossed the Antietam over the bridge on Lee's right and drove the Confederates back, but A. P. Hill's division arrived from Harpers Ferry and repulsed the attack. The battle was not renewed. On Sept. 18-19, Lee recrossed the Potomac into Virginia unhindered. The fighting at Antietam was so fierce that Sept. 17, 1862, is said to have been the bloodiest single day of the war with some 23,000 dead and wounded, evenly divided between the sides. It was a Union victory only in the sense that Lee's invasion was stopped. McClellan has been blamed for not pursuing Lee with his superior forces. The scene of the battle of Antietam has been set aside as a national battlefield (est. 1890; see National Parks and Monuments, table). The battle influenced Lincoln's decisions to remove McClellan and to deliver a preliminary Emancipation Proclamation.