Weird History
The Most Important Battles in US History
List Rules
Vote simply on how impactful a given battle was to the course of US history, regardless of whether you were happy with the outcome, etc.
The most significant major battles in American history, ranked by everyone. Anyone can vote on this list, making these rankings a good way to determine how important these battles were to the development of the United States. Therefore, your votes should be based on how crucial you feel these battles were, not whether you are a fan of the outcome or how much you agree with the reasons for fighting.
The course of US history was significantly altered by each of these famous battles in American history. There may be obscure wars in US History, but these famous American battles helped the US become the country it is today, for better or worse. There's no denying that, whether or not you agree with the politics of war, these important battles were fought during some of the most important wars in history and left their mark on many countries, not just the United States. Many even rank among the most important historical events in US history, or even world history.
Bear in mind, these results are not limited to battles fought within the territory of the United States. Feel free to include any other battles that you think directly impacted the future course of events in the United States.
Ranked by
- 1Midway Atoll, United States of America
- Part of: Pacific War, World War II
- Combatants: United States of America, Empire of Japan
- Commanders: Isoroku Yamamoto, Chūichi Nagumo, Chester W. Nimitz, Tamon Yamaguchi, Raymond A. Spruance
The Battle of Midway was a crucial and decisive naval battle in the Pacific Theatre of World War II. Between 4 and 7 June 1942, only six months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor and one month ...more - 2Normandy
- Part of: Operation Overlord, World War II, Normandy Campaign
- Events: Battle of Carentan, Operation Spring, Operation Martlet, Sword Beach Landings, Battle of Verrières Ridge
- Combatants: Netherlands, Kingdom of Greece, Nazi Germany, Free French, New Zealand
- Commanders: Dwight D. Eisenhower, Bernard Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, Trafford Leigh-Mallory, Omar Bradley
The Invasion of Normandy was the invasion by and establishment of Western Allied forces in Normandy, during Operation Overlord in 1944 during World War II; the largest amphibious invasion to ever ...more - 3Virginia, United States of America
- Part of: American Civil War, Peninsula Campaign
- Events: Battle of Lee's Mills
- Combatants: Confederate States of America, United States of America, Union
- Commanders: Joseph E. Johnston, George B. McClellan
The Battle of Yorktown or Siege of Yorktown was fought from April 5 to May 4, 1862, as part of the Peninsula Campaign of the American Civil War. Marching from Fort Monroe, Union Maj. Gen. George B. ...more - 4Pennsylvania, United States of America
- Part of: American Civil War, Gettysburg Campaign
- Events: Battle of Gettysburg, Second Day, Battle of Gettysburg, First Day, Anderson's assault
- Combatants: Confederate States of America, United States of America, Union
- Commanders: George Meade, Robert E. Lee
The Battle of Gettysburg was fought July 1–3, 1863, in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, by Union and Confederate forces during the American Civil War. The battle involved the largest ...more - 5Massachusetts, United States of America
- Part of: American Revolutionary War
- Combatants: Province of Massachusetts Bay, United Kingdom
The Battles of Lexington and Concord were the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War. They were fought on April 19, 1775, in Middlesex County, Province of Massachusetts Bay, ...more - 6New York, United States of America
- Part of: American Revolutionary War
- Combatants: Kingdom of Great Britain, Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Hanau, United States of America
- Commanders: Benedict Arnold, John Burgoyne
The Battles of Saratoga marked the climax of the Saratoga campaign giving a decisive victory to the Americans over the British in the American Revolutionary War. British General John Burgoyne led a ...more - 7Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, United States of America
- Part of: Pacific War, World War II
- Combatants: United States of America, Empire of Japan
- Commanders: Isoroku Yamamoto, Chūichi Nagumo
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941. The ...more - 8Trenton, New Jersey, United States of America
- Part of: New York and New Jersey campaign, American Revolutionary War
- Events: George Washington's crossing of the Delaware River
- Combatants: Kingdom of Great Britain, Hesse, Patriot, Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel
- Commanders: Johann Rall, George Washington
The Battle of Trenton was a small but pivotal battle during the American Revolutionary War which took place on the morning of December 26, 1776, in Trenton, New Jersey. After General George ...more - 9Ardennes, Belgium
- Part of: World War II
- Events: Losheim Gap, Operation Bodenplatte, Siege of Bastogne, Battle of St. Vith, Elsenborn Ridge
- Combatants: United States of America, United Kingdom, Nazi Germany
- Commanders: George S. Patton, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Bernard Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, Josef Dietrich
The Battle of the Bulge was a major German offensive campaign launched through the densely forested Ardennes region of Wallonia in Belgium, France, and Luxembourg on the Western Front toward the end ...more - 10Charlestown, Boston, Massachusetts
- Part of: American Revolutionary War
- Combatants: Province of Massachusetts Bay, Kingdom of Great Britain, Connecticut Colony, Patriot
- Commanders: Henry Clinton, William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe
The Battle of Bunker Hill was fought on June 17, 1775, during the Siege of Boston in the early stages of the American Revolutionary War. The battle is named after the adjacent Bunker Hill, which was ...more - 11Vicksburg, Mississippi, United States of America
- Part of: Western Theater of the American Civil War
- Events: Grant's Operations Against Vicksburg, Yazoo Pass Expedition
- Combatants: Confederate States of America, Union
The Vicksburg Campaign was a series of maneuvers and battles in the Western Theater of the American Civil War directed against Vicksburg, Mississippi, a fortress city that dominated the last ...more - 12Sharpsburg, Maryland, United States of America
- Part of: Maryland Campaign, American Civil War
- Combatants: Confederate States of America, United States of America, Union
- Commanders: Robert E. Lee, George B. McClellan
The Battle of Antietam, also known as the Battle of Sharpsburg, particularly in the South, fought on September 17, 1862, near Sharpsburg, Maryland, and Antietam Creek as part of the Maryland ...more - 13Okinawa Island, Japan
- Part of: Pacific War, World War II
- Events: Cactus Ridge, The Pinnacle, Battle of Okinawa
- Combatants: United States of America, Empire of Japan, United Kingdom
- Commanders: Seiichi Itō, Minoru Ōta, Joseph Stilwell, Roy Geiger, Mitsuru Ushijima
The Battle of Okinawa, codenamed Operation Iceberg, was fought on the Ryukyu Islands of Okinawa and included the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific War during World War II. The 82-day-long ...more - 14New Guinea
- Part of: Pacific War, World War II
- Events: Invasion of Tulagi
- Combatants: Allies of World War II, Empire of Japan
- Commanders: Douglas MacArthur, Thomas C. Kinkaid
The Battle of the Coral Sea, fought during 4–8 May 1942, was a major naval battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II between the Imperial Japanese Navy and naval and air forces from the United ...more - 15Iwo Jima, Japan
- Part of: Pacific War, World War II
- Combatants: United States of America, Empire of Japan
- Commanders: Marc Mitscher, Holland Smith, Graves B. Erskine, Tadamichi Kuribayashi, Alexander Vandegrift
The Battle of Iwo Jima was a major battle in which the United States Armed Forces landed and eventually captured the island of Iwo Jima from the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II. The ...more 
16Civil War
- 17Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands
- Part of: Pacific War, World War II
- Events: Battle of Edson's Ridge
- Combatants: Allies of World War II, Empire of Japan
- Commanders: Isoroku Yamamoto, William Halsey, Jr.
The Guadalcanal Campaign, also known as the Battle of Guadalcanal and codenamed Operation Watchtower by Allied forces, was a military campaign fought between 7 August 1942 and 9 February 1943 on and ...more - 18Tennessee, United States of America
- Part of: American Civil War
- Combatants: Confederate States of America, United States of America, Ulysses S. Grant, Union
- Commanders: Ulysses S. Grant, P. G. T. Beauregard, Don Carlos Buell, Albert Sidney Johnston
The Battle of Shiloh, also known as the Battle of Pittsburg Landing, was a major battle in the Western Theater of the American Civil War, fought April 6-8, 1862, in southwestern Tennessee. A Union ...more - 19Sicily, Italy
- Part of: World War II, Italian Campaign
- Events: Battle of Gela, Operation Ladbroke, Battle of Troina, Operation Fustian, Operation Chestnut
- Combatants: Allies of World War II, Kingdom of Italy, Axis powers, Nazi Germany
- Commanders: George S. Patton, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Bernard Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, Harold Alexander
The Allied invasion of Sicily, codenamed Operation Husky, was a major World War II campaign, in which the Allies took Sicily from the Axis Powers. It was a large scale amphibious and airborne ...more - 20South Carolina, United States of America
- Part of: American Revolutionary War
- Combatants: Kingdom of Great Britain
The Battle of Cowpens was a decisive victory by the Continental Army forces under Brigadier General Daniel Morgan in the Southern campaign of the American Revolutionary War over the British Army led ...more - 21Fort Ticonderoga, Ticonderoga, New York
- Part of: Invasion of Canada, American Revolutionary War
- Combatants: Province of Massachusetts Bay, Massachusetts Bay Colony, Kingdom of Great Britain, Connecticut Colony
- Commanders: Ethan Allen, Benedict Arnold, William Delaplace
The Capture of Fort Ticonderoga occurred during the American Revolutionary War on May 10, 1775, when a small force of Green Mountain Boys led by Ethan Allen and Colonel Benedict Arnold overcame a ...more - 22Fort Sumter, Charleston, South Carolina
- Part of: American Civil War
- Combatants: Confederate States of America, Union
- Commanders: Robert Anderson, P. G. T. Beauregard
The Battle of Fort Sumter was the bombardment and surrender of Fort Sumter, near Charleston, South Carolina, that started the American Civil War. Following declarations of secession by seven Southern ...more - 23Chalmette, United States of America
- Part of: War of 1812
- Combatants: Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, United States of America, United Kingdom
- Commanders: John Coffee, John Lambert, Edward Pakenham, Alexander Cochrane, William Carroll
The Battle of New Orleans was a series of engagements fought between December 24, 1814, through January 8, 1815, and was the final major battle of the War of 1812. American combatants, commanded by ...more - 24
Battle of Fort McHenry
Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America- Part of: War of 1812
- 25Atlantic Ocean
- Part of: American Revolutionary War
- Combatants: Early modern France, Kingdom of Great Britain
- Commanders: François Joseph Paul de Grasse
Decided the American Revolution, allowed the Siege of Yorktown. A rare strategic defeat for the Royal Navy.The Battle of the Chesapeake, also known as the Battle of the Virginia Capes or simply the Battle of the Capes, was a crucial naval battle in the American War of Independence that took place near the ...more
