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John Brown's Raid on Harper's Ferry
John Brown (an abolitionist) leads a small group on a raid against a federal armory in Harper's Ferry, Virginia in an attempt to start an armed slave revolt and destroy the institution of slavery. -
Abraham Lincoln Elected President
Lincoln is elected the 16th president of the United States becoming the first Republican to win the presidency. -
South Carolina Votes to Secede From the United States
After calling for a convention to secede from the Union South Carolina is the first state to do so. -
Confederate Forces Fire on Fort Sumter
The Battle of Fort Sumter was the bombardment of Fort Sumter near Charleston, South Carolina by the Confederate States Army, and the return gunfire and subsequent surrender by the United States Army that started the American Civil War. Following declarations of secession by seven Southern states, South Carolina demanded that the U.S. Army abandon its facilities in Charleston Harbor. -
First Battle of Bull Run
The First Battle of Bull Run also known as the First Battle of Manassas was fought on July 21, 1861 in Prince William County, Virginia, just north of the city of Manassas and about 25 miles west-southwest of Washington, D.C. It was the first major battle of the American Civil War. The Union's forces were slow in positioning themselves, allowing Confederate reinforcements time to arrive by rail. Each side had about 18,000 poorly trained and poorly led troops in their first battle. -
Jefferson Davis Elected President of the Confederacy
Jefferson Davis elected president of the Confederate States of America. Davis ran without opposition, and his election simply confirmed the decision that had been made by the Confederate Congress earlier in the year. -
Battle of Antietam
Fought on September 17, 1862, between Confederate General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia and Union General George B. McClellan's Army of the Potomac, at Sharpsburg, Maryland and Antietam Creek as part of the Maryland Campaign. It remains the bloodiest day in American history, with a combined tally of 22,717 dead, wounded, or missing. -
Battle of Fredericksburg
Fought December 11–15, 1862 a Fredericksburg, Virginia, between General Robert E. Lee's Confederate Army of Northern Virginia and the Union Army of the Potomac, commanded by Major General Ambrose Burnside. Considered the most one-sided battle of the war, with Union casualties more than three times greater than those of the Confederates. -
Emancipation Proclamation
Presidential proclamation and executive order issued by U.S. President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863. It changed the federal legal status of more than 3 million enslaved people in the designated areas of the South from slave to free. -
Battle of Gettysburg
Fought July 1–3, 1863, in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The battle had casualties of the war and is considered the war's turning point. The Union forces were lead by George Meade's and the Confederate's by Robert E. Lee. -
Gettysburg Address
The Gettysburg Address is a speech by U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, and one of the best-known speeches in American history. It was delivered by Lincoln during the American Civil War at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania on the afternoon of Thursday, November 19, 1863 – four and a half months after the Union armies defeated those of the Confederacy at the Battle of Gettysburg. -
Abraham Lincoln Re-elected
Lincoln re-elected. -
President Lincoln Assassinated
Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States, was assassinated by stage actor John Wilkes Booth on April 14, 1865, while attending the play Our American Cousin at Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C. He was shot in the head as he watched the play, and died the following day in the Petersen House opposite the theater. -
John Wilkes Booth is Killed
John Wilkes Booth is killed when Union soldiers track him down to a Virginia farm 12 days after he assassinated President Abraham Lincoln.
