Battle of Bull Run, Bull Run - either of two battles during the American Civil War (1861 and 1862); Confederate forces defeated the Federal army in both battles

Chancellorsville - a major battle in the American Civil War (1863); the Confederates under Robert E. Lee defeated the Union forces under Joseph Hooker

Battle of Fredericksburg, Fredericksburg - an important battle in the American Civil War (1862); the Union's army under A. E. Burnside was defeated by the Confederate army under Robert E. Lee

Petersburg, Petersburg Campaign - the final campaign of the American Civil War (1864-65); Union forces under Grant besieged and finally defeated Confederate forces under Lee

battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse, Spotsylvania - a battle between the armies of Grant and Lee during the Wilderness Campaign

Wilderness Campaign - American Civil War; a series of indecisive battles in Grant's campaign (1864) against Lee in which both armies suffered terrible losses

Yorktown - in 1781 during the American Revolution the British under Cornwallis surrendered after a siege of three weeks by American and French troops

Shenandoah National Park - a national park in Virginia for the Blue Ridge Mountains

American state - one of the 50 states of the United States

U.S.A., United States, United States of America, US, USA, America, U.S. - North American republic containing 50 states - 48 conterminous states in North America plus Alaska in northwest North America and the Hawaiian Islands in the Pacific Ocean; achieved independence in 1776

Confederacy, Confederate States, Confederate States of America, Dixie, Dixieland, South - the southern states that seceded from the United States in 1861

capital of Virginia, Richmond - capital of the state of Virginia located in the east central part of the state; was capital of the Confederacy during the American Civil War

Blacksburg - a university town in southwestern Virginia (west of Roanoke) in the Allegheny Mountains

Jamestown - a former village on the James River in Virginia north of Norfolk; site of the first permanent English settlement in America in 1607

Newport News - a port city in southeastern Virginia at the mouth of the James River off Hampton Roads; large shipyards

Norfolk - port city located in southeastern Virginia on the Elizabeth River at the mouth of Chesapeake Bay; headquarters of the Atlantic fleet of the United States Navy

Lynchburg - a city in central Virginia

Portsmouth - a port city in southeastern Virginia on the Elizabeth River opposite Norfolk; naval base; shipyards

Roanoke - a city in southwestern Virginia

Virginia Beach - the largest city in Virginia; long overshadowed by Norfolk but growing rapidly since 1970; with 28 miles of public beaches tourism is a major factor in the economy; site of three United States Navy bases

Mount Vernon - the former residence of George Washington; in northeastern Virginia overlooking the Potomac river

Chesapeake Bay - a large inlet of the North Atlantic between Virginia and Maryland; fed by Susquehanna River

Clinch River - a river that rises in southwestern Virginia and flows generally southwestward across eastern Tennessee to the Tennessee River

Elizabeth River - a short river in southeastern Virginia flowing between Norfolk and Portsmouth into Hampton Roads

Hampton Roads - a channel in southeastern Virginia through which the Elizabeth River and the James River flow into Chesapeake Bay

James River, James - a river in Virginia that flows east into Chesapeake Bay at Hampton Roads

Potomac, Potomac River - a river in the east central United States; rises in West Virginia in the Appalachian Mountains and flows eastward, forming the boundary between Maryland and Virginia, to the Chesapeake Bay

Shenandoah Valley - a large valley between the Allegheny Mountains and the Blue Ridge Mountains in northern Virginia; site of numerous battles during the American Civil War

executive department - a federal department in the executive branch of the government of the United States