-
Abraham Lincoln Elected President
Abraham Lincoln is elected the first Republican president with 40% of the popular vote and an electoral majority. His party's platform is the abolishment of slavery. -
South Carolina Secedes
South Carolina is the first state to secede following Lincoln's election. -
Mississippi Secedes
Mississppi is teh second state to secede from the Union, joining South Carolina. -
Florida Secedes
Florida is the third state to secede. -
Alabama Secedes
Alabam is the fourth state to secede from the Union. -
Georgia Secedes
Georgia is the 5th state to secede. -
Louisiana Secedes
Louisiana is the 6th state to secede. -
Texas Secedes
Texas is the seventh state to secede. -
Confederacy Formed
The seceded states form the confederate States of America. -
Jefferson Davis Appointed President
Jefferson Davis was appointed president of the Confederacy. -
Attack on Fort Sumter
The Confederates attack the last Union fort in Confederate territtory, Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina. Union forces surrender and withdraw. -
Union Army Mobilized
President Lincoln makes a procolamation for 75,000 troops to be put into service. -
Virginia Secedes
Virginia is the 8th state to secede. -
Anaconda Plan
The ANaconda Plan to choke off and forc ethe South into surrendering is proposed. -
Arkansas Secedes
Arkansas is the 8th state to secede. -
Tenessee Secedes
Tenessee is the 10th State to secede. -
North Carolina Secedes
North Carolina is the 11th and final state to secede from the Union. -
First Battle of Bull Run
The first major battle of the American Civil War breaks out near Manassas, Virginia as Union forces are ambushed on their march for the Confederate capitol at Richmond. Confederate victory where Stonewall Jackson gains his notoriety for holding his ground like a stonewall. -
General Mcllelan
George B. Mclellan is appointed as head of the Union Army. -
Winfield Scott
Winfield Scott relieved from duty as Supreme Comander of the United States. -
"One War At A Time"
President Lincoln orders the release of two confederate officials who were arrested as they sailed toward England, Britain demanded their release. -
Monitor and Merrimac
The Confederate Ironclad 'Merrimac' sinks two wooden Union ships then battles the Union Ironclad 'Monitor' to a draw. Naval warfare is thus changed forever, making wooden ships obsolete. -
Peninsular Campaign
The Peninsular Campaign begins as McClellan's Army of the Potomac advances from Washington down the Potomac River and the Chesapeake Bay to the peninsular south of the Confederate Capital of Richmond, Virginia then begins an advance toward Richmond. -
Fall of New Orleans
17 Union ships under the command of Flag Officer David Farragut move up the Mississippi River then take New Orleans, the South's greatest seaport. -
New General in Cheif
After serving as his own General-in-chief, Lincoln appoints Henry W. Halleck to the position. -
Admiral Farragut
Congress created the rank of rear admiral for Farragut a rank never before used in the U.S. Navy. Before this time, the American Navy had resisted the rank of admiral, preferring the term "flag officer", to distinguish the rank from the traditions of the European navies. -
Second Bull Run
The culmination of an offensive campaign waged by Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia against Union Maj. Gen. John Pope's Army of Virginia, and a battle of much larger scale and numbers than the First Battle of Bull Run fought in 1861 on the same ground. -
Harpers Ferry
Lee invades the North with 50,000 Confederates and heads for Harpers Ferry, located 50 miles northwest of Washington. -
Battle of Antietam
The first major battle in the American Civil War to take place on Union soil. It was the bloodiest single-day battle in American history, with a count of dead, wounded, and missing at 22,717. -
Mclellan Has The Slows
Lincoln replaces McClellan with General Ambrose E. Burnside as the new Commander of the Army of the Potomac. Lincoln grew impatient with McClellan's slowness to follow up on the success at Antietam, even telling him, "If you don't want to use the army, I should like to borrow it for a while." -
Fredericksburg
Army of the Potomac under Gen. Burnside looses a costly defeat at Fredericksburg, Virginia loosing 12,653 men after 14 frontal assaults on the well entrenched Confederates on Marye's Heights. "We might as well have tried to take hell," a Union soldier remarks. Confederate losses are 5,309. -
Emancipation Procolamation
President Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation freeing all slaves in territories held by Confederacy and the war to preserve the Union now becomes a revolutionary struggle for the abolition of slavery. -
Vicksburg Campaign
General Grant is placed in command of the Army of the West, with orders to capture Vicksburg. -
Battle of Chancellorsville
The Union Army is defeated by Lee's much smaller force at the Battle of Chancellorsville in Virginia due to Lee's daring tactics. Confederate General Stonewall Jackson is mortally wounded by his own soldiers. -
Stonewall Jackson Dies
The Confederacy looses one of their greatest generals when Stonewall Jackson succumbs to his wounds. His last words are, "Let us cross over the river and rest under the shade of the trees." -
Siege of Vicksburg
General Grant and his Amry of Tenessee sieged and took the last confederate stronghold on the Mississippi river, thhe city of Vicksburg. -
Battle of Gettysburg
Gettysburg involved the largest number of casualties of the entire war and is often described as the war's turning point. Union Major General George Meade's Army of the Potomac defeated Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, ending Lee's attempt to invade the North. -
Frederick Douglass
President Lincoln meets with Frederick Douglass, an abolitionist who pushes for full equality for black soldiers of the Union. -
Gettysburg Address
President Lincoln delivers the Gettysburg Address, dedicating the Battlefield as a National Cemetery. -
Andersonville
Andersonville Prison Camp opens in Georgia. It will be known for its extremely harsh conditions to inmates. -
Grant in Command
General Grant is appointed commander of all Union forces. -
Battle of Chattanooga
Sherman, with 100,000 men begins an advance toward Atlanta to engage Joseph E. Johnston's 60,000 strong Army of Tennessee. -
Battle of Cold Harbour
7,000 casualties from the Union occur because of Grant's attack at Cold Harbor in Virginia. -
Conscription Law
Conscription Law is signed by Lincoln, the fee that someone could pay to avoid being drafted into the Union Army. -
Mcllelan runs for President
Democrats nominate George B. McClellan for president to run against Republican incumbent Abraham Lincoln. -
Battle of Atlanta
Sherman's Army captures Atlanta. "Atlanta is ours, and fairly won," he telegraphs Lincoln. -
Shenandoah Valley
Union victory by Cavalry Gen. Philip H. Sheridan in the Shenandoah Valley over Jubal Early's troops. -
Sherman's March to the sea
General william Tecumseh Sherman begins his path of destruction and death from Atlanta to Savannah -
Sherman completes his March to the Sea
Sherman reaches Savannah in Georgia leaving behind a 300 mile long path of destruction 60 miles wide all the way from Atlanta. Sherman then telegraphs Linc -
Farragut becomes Vice Admiral
On December 21, 1864, Lincoln promoted Farragut to vice admiral. -
Congress Approves the Thirteenth Amendment
Congress approves the Thirteenth Amendment, it is then submitted to the states for ratification. -
Petersburg
The last offensive for Lee's Army of Northern Virginia begins with an attack on the center of Grant's forces at Petersburg. Four hours later the attack is broken. -
Evacuation Sunday
President Davis, his Cabinet, and the Confederate defenders abandoned Richmond and fled south on the last open railroad line, the Richmond and Danville. -
Lincoln Tours The Fallen Captiol
President Lincoln, who had been visiting General Grant and staying nearby at City Point, toured the fallen city by foot and carriage with his young son Tad, and visited the former White House of the Confederacy and the Virginia State Capitol. -
Appomatox Court House
General Lee surrenders the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, on April 9, 1865. This marks the effective end of the Confederacy. -
Celebrations Break In Washington
The capitol celebrates the crippling of the Confedercay. -
Lincoln is Assassinated
President Lincoln is assassinated in Fords Theatre by John Wilkes Booth, who was acting as a part of a widespread conspiracy to avenge the Confederate Cause. -
President Johnson Takes Office
With the death of Lincoln, Vice President Andrew Johnson takes office. -
General Johnston Surrenders
Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston surrenders to Sherman outside of Durham, North Carolina. -
Wilkes Found and Killed
John Wilkes Booth is shot and killed in a tobacco barn in Virginia. -
Abraham Lincoln Laid To Rest
Abraham Lincoln is laid to rest in Oak Ridge Cemetery -
Victory Parade
Union Army troops parade down Pennsylvania Avenue to celebrate the end of the American Civil War. -
Amnesty for the Confederates
Andrew Johnson issues a proclamation of general amnesty for most citizens of the former Confederacy. -
Juneteenth
Union Major General Gordon Granger lands at Galveston, Texas and informs the people of Texas of the Emancipation Proclamation this event is celebrated in modern times each year as Juneteenth. -
Last Confederate General Surrenders
American Civil War finally ends at Fort Towson in Oklahoma Territory, Confederate General Stand Watie, a Cherokee Indian, surrenders the last significant Confederate army. -
War Crimes
Major Henry Wirz is hung; he had been the leader of the prisoner war camp, Andersonville. -
13th Amendment Ratified
Slavery is finally abolished -
Fisk University Established
One of the first historically black colleges is established in Tennessee. -
The Liberated
The last issue of the Abolitionist Magazine the Liberator is published. -
Civil RIghts Act of 1866
The United States Congress overwhelmingly passes the Civil Rights Act of 1866, the first federal legislation to protect the rights of African-Americans. -
State of Peace with States
The United States declares that a state of peace exists with Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. -
Ford's Theatre Purchased
Congress appropriates $100,000 to buy Ford's Theater. It will house the Army Medical Museum, the Office of the Surgeon General and War Department records until 1893. -
Tennessee Readmitted
Tennessee becomes the first state to be readmitted to the Union. -
Peace with Texas
A proclamation of peace with Texas is issued by United States President Andrew Johnson. -
Longest Bridge in the World
The wartime booming industrial economy of the North continues with the contrustuction of the Covington–Cincinnati Suspension Bridge which opens between Cincinnati, Ohio and Covington, Kentucky in the United States, becoming the longest single-span bridge in the world. -
African-Americans vote
African-American men are granted the right to vote in the District of Columbia. -
Tenure of Office Act
Congress passes the Tenure of Office Act, denying the right of the President to remove officials who had been appointed with the consent of Congress. -
Alaska Purchase
The Alaska Purchase was the United States' acquisition of Alaska from the Russian Empire in 1867 by a treaty ratified by the U.S. Senate. -
States readmitted to the Union
Congress passes a bill readmitting Arkansas, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, and South Carolina into the Union. Virginia, Mississippi, and Texas, having refused to ratify the fourteenth amendment, were refused admission into the Union. -
Edwin Stanton
President Andrew Johnson demands the resignation of Edwin Stanton, Secretary of War. -
Midway Island
The United States takes control of Midway Island. -
Congress looks into Impeaching President Johnson
Due to his lack of effectiveness with reconstruction, Congress looks into impeaching President Johnson.
