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Abraham Lincoln is born
Abraham Lincoln was born in Hardin County, Ketucky. His parents were Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks. When he was born, his parents had already had a child, Sarah, who was born two years before Abraham in 1807. The picture is of his parents, Nancy and Thomas Lincoln. -
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Lincoln's Life
The life of the 16th President, Abraham Lincoln. -
Abraham Lincoln's mother dies
Nancy Hanks Lincoln died when she was just 34 from tremetol (milk sickness). Abe was only nine years old at the time. Just a few months later, his father married Sarah Bush Johnston, a widow with three children. She encouraged Abe to learn to read, though both she and his father were thought to be illiterate. The picture is of Nancy Hank's (Lincoln's mother) grave. -
Lincoln is hired as a store clerk in New Salem
In the spring of 1831, Lincoln and two other men are hired by Denton Offutt to take a flatboat to New Orleans. Later that year, Offutt hires Lincoln as a clerk in a new store in New Salem, Illinois which was a new, small town about 20 miles northwest of Springfield. Lincoln later moves to New Salem to start on his own. While he was away, his parents moved to Coles County, They spend the rest of their lives there. -
Lincoln announces that he is a candidate for Illinois state legislature
He was later defeated in the long run. One reason that he may have lost was because he was away serving time with a militia during the Black Hawk war. Even though he never saw any battles, he could not return to keep his campaign up. -
Lincoln marries Mary Todd
Abraham Lincoln was 33 at the time he married Mary Todd, who was 23. They had first met at a Christmas dance in 1839 and became engaged in 1840. Abraham Lincoln broke off the engagement in 1841, but resumed the courtship the following year, in 1842. They had four children during the marriage: Robert Todd, Edward Baker, William Wallace and Thomas Lincoln. The picture shows two people playing Mary and Abraham during a reanactment. -
First child, Robert Todd Lincoln is born
Robert Todd Lincoln died in 1926. He was Abraham Lincoln's first child and the only one to survive to later adulthood. Robert Todd Lincoln later served from 1881 to 1885 as Secretary of War under Presidents James Garfield and Chester A. Arthur. -
Second child, Edward Baker Lincoln was born
Edward Baker Lincoln died on February 1, 1850. He died after being sick for 52 days. It is thought that he died from tuberculoais. He was only 3 years and 10 months old when he died. -
Third child, Wiliam Wallace Lincoln was born.
William Wallace Lincoln, "Willie", died on February 20, 1862 from typhoid fever. He died at the White House. William was only 11 when he died. -
Fourth child, Thomas Lincoln was born
Thomas Lincoln is better known by his nickname, Tad. He died in 1871. Tad got his nickname because Lincoln observed that he was "as wriggly as a tadpole" when he was a baby. -
Abraham Lincoln is elected President of the United States
Lincoln benefitted from the Democratic Party splitting into the Northern Democrats and the Southern Democrats. The Northern Democrats nominiated Senator Stephen A. Douglas, while the Southern Democrats nominated Vice President John C. Breckinridge. The fourth party, called the Constitutional Union Party, nominated John Bell who was a former Senator. -
Abraham LIncoln delivers his first Innagural Address
When Lincoln gave his first inagural address, he was focused on gaining support in the North and not pushing the South further away. He used historically significant documents for help, such as the U.S. Constitution. After he was done with his draft, Lincoln sent it out to four of his closest political advisors for changes. He gave his speech on March 4, 1861, in front of the partly finished U.S. Capitol Building. -
The Civil War begins
The attack on Fort Sumpter was considered the start of the Civil War. The War began largely in part due to the issue of slavery which was a huge political issue. The issue of slavery divided the country North and South, or the Union and the Confederacy. -
The Battle of Antietam begins
This was called "the bloodiest day in American History". More people died in the Civil War largely in part to this battle, than all of the other wars that the U.S. has been involved in. It is estimated that xx people died during this battle. -
Issues the Emancipation Proclamation
The Emancipation Proclomation is popularly misinterpreted for freeing the slaves in all of the United States. What the Emancipation Proclomation really did was free all of the slaves that were in territories that the Union was fighting, essentially freeing all of the slaves in the Confederacy, where Lincoln held no actual power. Lincoln actually submitted the Proclomation twice, once with a end-by date, and then one that was final. -
Lincoln delivers The Gettysburg Address
Many people gathered to see Lincoln make this famous speech. Some say that Lincoln scribbled out his speech on the train ride to Gettysburg because the speech was only two minutes long. This picture is thought to have been taken about a week before this speech. -
Lincoln is reelected President
Lincoln is reelected president for his second term in 1864. Republicans and War Democrats (people who supported Lincoln's war policies) formed the Union party, who nominated Lincoln for president. The other Democrats nominated former Union General George B. McClellan for president. McClellan had served in the Union army and then was fired by Lincoln who had been frusturated with McClellan's actions on multpile accounts. -
Lincoln is shot at Ford's Theatre
John Wilkes Booth, Lincoln's killer, was very prepared to assassinate the President. Booth had drilled a peephole in the door leading to the President's box in Ford's Theatre. Then, later that day, during the play, Booth snuck past the first set of doors and then barracaded them. He then watched through the peephole until the funniest moment in the play, when people would laugh, and the sound of laughter would partially disguise the sound of a gunshot. -
Lincoln is shot at Ford's Theatre (cont.)
When the time was almost there, Booth came through the second set of doors, quietly. He then cocked his pistol and waited. A few moments later, the audience began to laugh. Booth extended his arm and fired. He then went to exit the box by jumping out, but Major Rathbone got in his way. Booth stabbed Rathbone and jumoed onto the stage, snagging his stirrup in a flag. The change of location of his foot messed with the landing. Booth fractured his leg said "Sic semper tyrannis" and ran. -
President Abraham Lincoln dies
After being shot by John Wilkes Booth, Lincoln lays on the floor of the presidential box for around an hour beore Dr. Leale decides to move Lincoln to a "better" spot. As Dr. Leale and his entourage are carring Lincoln across the street to the Peterson House, Leale had to keep pulling blood clots from Lincoln's head wound to relieve the pressue on Lincoln's brain and keep the president alive. Once in the Peterson House, they lay Lincoln down on a bed diagonally because he was too tall. -
President Abraham Lincoln dies (cont.)
Dr. Leale and the helpers could not break the bed to make the President more comfortable. Lincoln's condition continued to deteriorate throughout the night and into the next morning. At 7:22.10, the 16th President of the United States of America passed away in the Peterson House.
