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Missouri Compromise
The Missouri Compromise was an effort by Congress to defuse the sectional and political rivalries triggered by the request of Missouri late in 1819 for admission as a state in which slavery would be permitted. -
Missouri admitted to the union
Missouri was admitted as a slave state -
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California Gold Rush
The California Gold Rush began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California from the rest of the United States and abroad. -
Fugitive Slave Act
Act allowing slave owners in the south to retrieve escaped slave from the north -
Uncle Tom's Cabin release
Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin is published. It becomes one of the most influential works to stir anti-slavery sentiments. -
Abraham Lincoln Elected President
Abraham Lincoln wins a four-way race for President of the United States. Although he doesn't win a popular majority and isn't even on the ballot in nine Southern states, he earns enough electoral votes to beat all other opponents. -
South Carolina First to Secede
South Carolina officially secedes from the Union, becoming the first state to do so. -
Confederate States are Formed
The Confederate States of America is formed with Jefferson Davis, a West Point graduate and former U.S. Army officer, as president. -
Abraham Lincoln is inaugurated
Abraham Lincoln is inaugurated as the 16th President of the United States. In his Inaugural Address he gives a stark warning to the South: he will not tolerate secession. -
Confederate Constitution Signed
The Constitution of the Confederate States of America is signed in Montgomery, Alabama. -
Ford Sumpter
The Battle of Fort Sumter was the first battle of the American Civil War. The intense Confederate artillery bombardment of Major Robert Anderson’s small Union garrison in the unfinished fort in the harbor at Charleston, South Carolina, had been preceded by months of siege-like conditions. -
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Civil War
Northern and Southern states fight to keep the country together -
Battle of Bull Run
First battle of the civil war showing both sides that this war is not going to be like any war ever before -
Capture of Fort Henry
Victory for Gen. Ulysses S. Grant in Tennessee, capturing Fort Henry, and ten days later Fort Donelson. Grant earns the nickname "Unconditional Surrender" Grant. -
Battle of Shiloh
he Battle of Shiloh (aka Battle of Pittsburg Landing) was fought on April 6–7, 1862, in southwestern Tennessee not far from Corinth, Mississippi. General Albert Sidney Johnston, commander of Confederate forces in the Western Theater, hoped to defeat Union major general Ulysses S. Grant’s Army of the Tennessee before it could be reinforced by Maj. Gen. Don Carlos Buell’s Army of the Ohio, which was marching from Nashville. -
Battle of Antietam
The Battle of Antietam, also called the Battle of Sharpsburg, occurred September 22, 1862, at Antietam Creek near Sharpsburg, Maryland. It pitted Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia against Union General George McClellan’s Army of the Potomac and was the culmination of Lee’s attempt to invade the north. The battle’s outcome would be vital to shaping America’s future, and it remains the deadliest one-day battle in all American military history. -
Emancipation Proclamation
The Emancipation Proclamation, or Proclamation 95, was a presidential proclamation and executive order issued by United States President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863. -
Battle of Gettysburg
The Battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, was the largest battle of the American Civil War as well as the largest battle ever fought in North America, involving around 85,000 men in the Union’s Army of the Potomac under Major General George Gordon Meade and approximately 75,000 in the Confederacy’s Army of Northern Virginia, commanded by General Robert Edward Lee. Casualties at Gettysburg totaled 23,049 for the Union. Confederate casualties were 28,063, more than a third of Lee’s army. -
Gettysburg Address
President Lincoln delivers the two-minute Gettysburg Address at the dedication of the National Cemetery at the battlefield in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania -
Appomattox Courthouse Surrender
Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered his Army of Northern Virginia to Union General Ulysses S. Grant. -
General Joe Johnston surrender
General Joe Johnston, leading the largest Confederate Army still in existence, surrenders in North Carolina. -
13th Amendment is ratified
The 13th Amendment is ratified by the States. Slavery is abolished.
