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The South Secedes
Abraham Lincoln was elected president. Abraham Lincoln was trying to abolish slavery. South Carolina represented the south when they said that if the slaves were freed then the south would seperate from the nation. -
Period: to
Civil war
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The South Creates a Government
The southern states created the Confederate Constitution. The south appointed Jefferson Davis asprovincial president. -
The South Seizes Fedral Forts
President Buchanan refused to surrender southern federal forts to the seceding states. -
Lincolns Inograution
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The Attack on Fort Sumter
Fort Sumter was the start of the civil war. The south attacked the fort and took it over just trying to scare the north. There was only 1 death which was by mistaske -
Four More States Join the Confederacy
The attack on the fort convinced 4 more states to join the confederacy. -
West Virginia is Born
The western part of virginia did not wish to secede with the rest of the union states so the western part of virginia decided to join the confederate states. -
Four Slave States Dropped the Confederacy
Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, and Missouri did not join the Confederacy. All these states kept their slaves but wanted to be part of the union. -
General McDowell is Replaced
Lincoln replaced McDowell with General George B. McClellan. -
A Block of the South
To block the coast of the Confederacy effectively, the federal navy had to be improved. The South responded by building small, fast ships that could outmaneuver Union vessels. -
First Battle of Bull Run
This war the second battle of the civil war. The north attacked the south as revenge for the attack of fort sumter. The Confederacy won this battle with 2,000 men wounded missing or dead and union had 2,900. -
Port Royal, South Carolina
Captain Samuel F. Dupont's warships silenced Confederate guns in Fort Walker and Fort Beauregard. This victory enabled General Thomas W. Sherman's troops to occupy first Port Royal and then all the famous Sea Islands of South Carolina -
Lincoln Takes Action
Lincoln issued a war order authorizing the Union to launch a unified aggressive action against the Confederacy. General McClellan ignored the order leading to him getting fired -
McClellan loses Command
President Lincoln -- impatient with General McClellan's inactivity issued an order reorganizing the Army of Virginia and relieving McClellan of supreme command. McClellan was given command of the Army of the Potomac, and ordered to attack Richmond. This marked the beginning of the Peninsular Campaign. -
Battle of the "Monitor" and the "Merrimac"
In an attempt to reduce the North's great naval advantage, Confederate engineers converted a scuttled Union frigate, the U.S.S. Merrimac, into an iron-sided vessel rechristened the C.S.S. Virginia -
The Battle of Shiloh
Confederate forces attacked Union forces under General Ulysses S. Grant at Shiloh, Tennessee. By the end of the day, the federal troops were almost defeated. -
Thomas Jackson Defeats Union Forces
Confederate General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson, commanding forces in the Shenandoah Valley, attacked Union forces in late March, forcing them to retreat across the Potomac. As a result, Union troops were rushed to protect Washington, D.C. -
The Battle of Seven Pines
The Confederate army attacked federal forces at Seven Pines, almost defeating them; last-minute reinforcements saved the Union from a serious defeat. Confederate commander Joseph E. Johnston was severely wounded, and command of the Army of Northern Virginia fell to Robert E. Lee -
The Seven Days Battles
Union and Confederate forces fought a series of battles: Mechanicsville (June 26-27), Gaines's Mill (June 27), Savage's Station (June 29), Frayser's Farm (June 30), and Malvern Hill (July 1). On July 2, the Confederates withdrew to Richmond, ending the Peninsular Campaign -
The Union's New Commander
Major-General Henry Halleck was name the unions new commander -
Pope's Defeat
Union General John Pope suffered defeated at the Second Battle of Bull Run on August 29-30 -
Harper's Ferry
Union General McClellan defeated Confederate General Lee at South Mountain and Crampton's Gap in September, but did not move quickly enough to save Harper's Ferry. -
Battle of Antietam
Confederate forces under General Lee were caught by General McClellan near Sharpsburg, Maryland. This battle proved to be the bloodiest day of the war. -
The Battle of Fredericksburg
General McClellan's slow movements, combined with General Lee's escape, and continued raiding by Confederate cavalry -
Emancipation Proclamation
In an effort to placate the slave-holding border states, Lincoln resisted the demands of radical Republicans for complete abolition. Lincoln, aware of the public's growing support of abolition, issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, declaring that all slaves in areas still in rebellion were, in the eyes of the federal government, free. -
The First Conscription Act
Because of recruiting difficulties, an act was passed making all men between the ages of 20 and 45 liable to be called for military service -
The Battle of Chancellorsville
On April 27, Union General Hooker crossed the Rappahannock River to attack General Lee's forces. Lee split his army, attacking a surprised Union army in three places and almost completely defeating them. Hooker withdrew across the Rappahannock River, giving the South a victory, but it was the Confederates' most costly victory in terms of casualties -
The Vicksburg Campaign
Union General Grant won several victories around Vicksburg, Mississippi, the fortified city considered essential to the Union's plans to regain control of the Mississippi River -
The Gettysburg Campaign
Confederate General Lee decided to take the war to the enemy. On June 13, he defeated Union forces at Winchester, Virginia, and continued north to Pennsylvania. General Hooker, who had been planning to attack Richmond, was instead forced to follow Lee. Hooker, never comfortable with his commander, General Halleck, resigned on June 28, and General George Meade replaced him as commander of the Army of the Potomac -
Battle of Gettysburg
The Battle of Gettysburg, fought July 1–3, 1863, in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, was the battle with the largest number of casualties in the American Civil War and is often described as the war's turning point. Union Maj. Gen. George Gordon Meade's Army of the Potomac defeated attacks by Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, ending Lee's invasion of the North -
The Battle of Chickamauga
Union and Confederate forces met on the Tennessee-Georgia border, near Chickamauga Creek -
The Battle of Chattanooga
Union forces pushed Confederate troops away from Chattanooga. The victory set the stage for General Sherman's Atlanta Campaign -
Final Surrenders among Remaining Confederate Troops
Remaining Confederate troops were defeated between the end of April and the end of May. Jefferson Davis was captured in Georgia on May 10. -
Grant's Wilderness Campaign
General Grant, promoted to commander of the Union armies, planned to engage Lee's forces in Virginia until they were destroyed. North and South met and fought in an inconclusive three-day battle in the Wilderness -
The Battle of Spotsylvania
General Grant continued to attack Lee. At Spotsylvania Court House, he fought for five days, vowing to fight all summer if necessary -
The Battle of Cold Harbor
Grant again attacked Confederate forces at Cold Harbor, losing over 7,000 men in twenty minutes. Although Lee suffered fewer casualties, his army never recovered from Grant's continual attacks. This was Lee's last clear victory of the war -
The Siege of Petersburg
Grant hoped to take Petersburg, below Richmond, and then approach the Confederate capital from the south. The attempt failed, resulting in a ten month siege and the loss of thousands of lives on both sides -
Confederate Troops Approach Washington, D.C
Confederate General Jubal Early led his forces into Maryland to relieve the pressure on Lee's army. Early got within five miles of Washington, D.C., but on July 13, he was driven back to Virginia -
General William T. Sherman's Atlanta Campaign
Union General Sherman departed Chattanooga, and was soon met by Confederate General Joseph Johnston. Skillful strategy enabled Johnston to hold off Sherman's force -- almost twice the size of Johnston's -
General William T. Sherman's March to the Sea
General Sherman continued his march through Georgia to the sea. In the course of the march, he cut himself off from his source of supplies, planning for his troops to live off the land -
Lincoln Is Re-Elected
The Republican party nominated President Abraham Lincoln as its presidential candidate, and Andrew Johnson for vice-president. The Democratic party chose General George B. McClellan for president, and George Pendleton for vice-president -
Fort Fisher
After Admiral David D. Porter's squadron of warships had subjected Fort Fisher to a terrific bombardment, General Alfred H. Terry's troops took it by storm on January 15, and Wilmington, North Carolina, the last resort of the blockade-runners, was sealed off. Timothy H. O'Sullivan promptly recorded the strength of the works and the effects of the bombardment -
The Fall of the Confederacy
Transportation problems and successful blockades caused severe shortages of food and supplies in the South which cause Leee's starving soldiers to desert his forces -
Sherman Marches through North and South Carolina
Union General Sherman moved from Georgia through South Carolina, destroying almost everything in his path -
Lee Loses Richmond
On March 25, General Lee attacked General Grant's forces near Petersburg, but was defeated -- attacking and losing again on April 1. On April 2, Lee evacuated Richmond, the Confederate capital, and headed west to join with other forces. -
Surrender at Appomattox Courthouse
General Lee's troops were soon surrounded, and on April 7, Grant called upon Lee to surrender. On April 9, the two commanders met at Appomattox Courthouse, and agreed on the terms of surrender. Lee's men were sent home on parole -- soldiers with their horses, and officers with their side arms. All other equipment was surrendered. -
Lincoln Assinatinon
On April 14, as President Lincoln was watching a performance of "Our American Cousin" at Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C., he was shot by John Wilkes Booth, an actor from Maryland obsessed with avenging the Confederate defeat. Lincoln died the next morning. Booth escaped to Virginia. Eleven days later, cornered in a burning barn, Booth was fatally shot by a Union soldier. Nine other people were involved in the assassination; four were hanged, four imprisoned, and one acquitted
