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Pemberton Mill, in Lawrence, Massachusetts, collapses trapping 500 people in the ruins and eventually ends up killing 250 people after catching on fire.
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Abraham Lincoln, a lawyer from Springfield, Illinois, gave a speech at Cooper Union in New York City.Lincoln spoke about how he is against slavery. This speech is what put him as a leading candidate for the upcoming presidential election.
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Abraham Lincoln visited the Five Points, the infamous slum. He spent time with children at a Sunday school.
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The Pony Express was a mail service created that used horseback riders in 157 Pony Express relay stations across the prairies, plains, deserts, and mountains of the Western United States to deliver messages between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts in about 10 days.
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A Homestead Act that was providing federal land grants to Western settlers is vetoed by President Buchanan under pressure from the South. The veto divides Buchanan's democratic party, clearing the way for Abraham Lincoln's election.
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Albert Hicks, a pirate convinced of murder, was hanged on present day Liberty Island in New York Harbor before thousands of spectators.
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A severe drought leads to an evacuation of 30,000 settlers from Kansas.
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Abraham Lincoln is elected the 16th president of the United States. He is the first Republican president who represents a party that opposes the spread of slavery in the United States
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South Carolina is the first of 11 states to secede from the Union.
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Major-General Robert Anderson moves his troops from Fort Moultrie to Fort Sumter.
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An unarmed merchant ship called Star of the West arrives in Charleston harbor with troops and supplies to reinforce Fort Sumter. This ship is fired upon and is forced to retreat. Also on this day, Mississippi secedes from the Union.
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The senate refuses to consider the Crittenden Compromise. This was an attempt to ease tension between the North and the South.
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The southern states that seceded create a government. This government is created in Montgomery, Alabama. The Confederate States of America are formed.
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Jefferson Davis is chosen to be the first president of the Confederate States of America. This takes place in Montgomery ], Alabama.
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Abraham Lincoln is inaugurated as the sixteenth president of the United States. This takes place in Washington, D.C.
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Southern forces fire upon Fort Sumter, South Carolina. This officially starts the Civil War.
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President Lincoln issues a public declaration and calls for 75,000 militia to stop the rebellion. As a result of this, four more states secede from the union
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President Lincoln announces a blockade against southern ports.This blockade limits the South from being able to stay well supplied for the war.
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Tennesse is the last state to secede from the union making that a total of 11 states that seceded from the union.
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The battle of Bull Run was the first official battle of the Civil War. The reason Fort Sumter was not considered the first battle is because no one died.
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Fort Henry is surrendered in Tenessee. This loss let the Union take control over the river.
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The second fort in Tennessee is surrendered. This left the Cumberland River in the Unions hands. This is where Ulysses S. Grant earned his nickname "Unconditional Surrender".
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The Battle of Shiloh was the first major battle in Tennessee. Ulysses S. Grant leads the Union soldiers to a victory.
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A Union fleet of gunships arrives at New Orleans where they demand the surrender of the city. The Union takes control of the forts within two days.
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General "Stonewall" Jackson attacks Union forces at Winchester, Virginia. He successfully drives them from the city.
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General Joseph Johnston, commander of the Confederate army from Virginia, is wounded. He is replaced by Robert E. Lee
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The Seven Days' battles were a series of battles that took place from June 25, 1862 to July 1, 1862.General Lee and his army attack the Army from the Potomac under General George McClellan.
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fought one year after the first battle of Bull Run. Union army was defeated and retreated to Washington.
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The Battle of Antietam in Sharpsburg, Maryland was the bloodiest single day battle of the Civil War. The war resulted in a Union victory.
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After the Union had a victory in Sharpsburg, Maryland, President Lincoln introduced the Emancipation Proclamation. The Emancipation Proclamation was an executive order that freed every slave in Confederate states.
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The Battle of Stones River, Tennessee was fought between The Union Army of Cumberland under General William Rosecrans and the Confederate Army of Tennessee commanded by General Braxton Bragg. The Union victory frees middle Tennessee from confederate control.
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The Emancipation Proclamation goes into effect . Some feel this was not a far enough stretch to abolish slavery.
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President Lincoln appointed General Joseph Hooker as commander of the Army of the Potomac. Hooker replaces Burnside.
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The Battle of Chancellorsville was General Lee's greatest victory.
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General "Stonewall Jackson is wounded in the Battle of Chancellorsville and dies on May 10.
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Union soldiers set fire to the bridge over the Susquehanna River.
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The Battle of Gettysburg becomes the bloodiest battle of the Civil War. Robert E.Lee's hopes of successfully invading the North are crushed.
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Vicksburg, Mississippi surrenders to the Union Army. The Union Army serves under grant.
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Union naval forces attack Confederate defenses near Charleston, South Carolina.
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Rioting over war drafting begins in New York City. The Rioters target the rich, the draft office, and African Americans who volunteer for combat.
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The Union Army from Cumberland is defeated under General William Rosecrans. The Confederate Army from Tennessee commanded by General Braxton Bragg defeats them.
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First successful submarine attack takes place outside of Charleston, South Carolina. The CSS H.L. Hunley attacked the USS Housatonic. The USS Housatonic broke apart and sank taking all but 5 of the crew members with it. The CSS H.L. was lost and never found again until 1995.
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Andersonvillle Prison Camp opens up in Georgia. Gets a bad reputation for being overcrowded and having a high death rate among inmates.
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Ulysses S. Grant is appointed lieutenant general. This rank was revived at the request of President Lincoln.
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Confederate soldiers under Nathan Bedford Forrest attacked the Union army at Fort Pillow. After the Union army surrendered, African Americans were still murdered by angry Confederate troops.
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General Grant makes a costly mistake resulting in 7,000 Union casualties within twenty minutes. The Union army was fighting against Rebels in Cold Harbor, Virginia.
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Abraham Lincoln is nominated by his party for a second term as president.
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Union forces under General Philip Sheridan attacked the Confederate army under Jubal Early and drove them towards the south.
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Abraham Lincoln is reelected as president and serves his second term.
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Union General Sherman begins his March to the Sea, causing destruction 300 miles long and 60 miles wide through Georgia.
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Battle of Nashville, Tennessee ended in a Union victory. Confederate army under John Bell Hood is defeated. The threat to Tennessee ends.
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General Robert E. Lee surrenders to General Ulysses S. Grant at the Appomattox Court House in Virginia.
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At the Appomattox Court House Lee and Grant discuss terms. Lee signs document of surrender.
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On April 12, the army of Northern Virginia under General Lee formally surrenders and is disbanded
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President Abraham Lincoln is assassinated by John Wilkes Booth in Ford's Theater in Washington D.C.
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John Wilkes Booth is shot and killed in a tobacco barn in Virginia
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Confederate President Jefferson Davis is captured near Irwinville, Georgia.
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The final battle of the Civil War takes place at Palmito Ranch, Texas. This battle was a Confederate victory.
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General Simon Bolivar Buckner enters into terms for surrender of the Army of the Trans- Mississippi, which are agreed to on June 2, 1865. The Civil War officially ends.
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The Thirteenth amendment is passed by congress for the United States Constitution. Slavery is abolished.
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A group if confederate veterans form a secret society called the "Klu Klux Klan". This society was created to make sure local African Americans did not gain civil and legal rights.
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Congress removed civilian governments and replaced them with former Confederacy under rule of the United States Army. The army then organized new elections in which freed slaves could vote.
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The Grand Army of the Republic, and organization of Union veterans, was formed.
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First appearance of a 5-cent coin, soon called "the nickel."
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Congress passes the Civil Rights Bill of 1866.
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Alfred Noble discovers that the mixture of nitroglycerin and kieselguhr powder was very deadly but convenient to handle.
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General Phillip H. Sheridan takes command of U.S. forces in the West, proposing to bring peace to the plains by exterminating the herds of buffalo that support the Indians' way of life.
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Charles Goodnight and Oliver Loving create the first cattle trail, driving a herd of 2,000 longhorns from Texas to New Mexico in what will become an annual tradition across the southern plains.
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Jesse James and his brother Frank James, Confederate soldiers turn to crime and create the James-Younger Gang. They led the first armed bank robbery in the United States.
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A Lakota war party led by Chief Red Cloud attacks a wagon train bringing supplies to the newly constructed Fort Phil Kearny on the Powder River in northern Wyoming.
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Red Cloud, leader of the Sioux Tribe, led his tribe into battle against white settlers. This happened in Montana and Wyoming on the Bozeman Trail. The Snake, leader of Northern Paiute Tribe, attack settlers and miners. This happened in Oregon and Idaho.
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All males over the age of 21 are granted suffrage in US territories.
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Peabody Fund is formed to promote Black education in the South.
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Nebraska becomes the 37th state to join the U.S. in 1867.
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The first Reconstruction Act passed over the presidents veto.
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The United States Congress created the Department of Education.
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The annual parade for St. Patrick's Day in New York City becomes violent.
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The Second Reconstruction Act is passed on March 23.
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The northwestern tip of land in North America is purchased by the United States of America from Russia. The U.S. Purchased Alaska for $7.2 million. This meant the U.S. payed two cents per each acre of land.
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The first cattle drive from Texas up the Chisholm Trail arrives at the rail yards of Abilene, Kansas.
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The Third Reconstruction Act is passed over a presidential veto.
