-
Election of Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was elected president of the United States over a deeply divided Democratic Party, becoming the first Republican to win the presidency. -
Period: to
Fort Sumter
The spark occurred at Fort Sumter, a federal outpost in Charleston, South Carolina, that was attacked by Confederates troops, beginning the Civil War. -
First Battle of Bull Run
This was the first major land battle of the armies in Virginia. -
Period: to
Second Battle of Bull Run
It was the second battle fought there, although it was a much larger battle than the first one. The Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, led by Robert E. Lee, defeated the Union's Major General John Pope and his Army of Virginia. -
Battle of Antietam
The Army of Potomac, under the command of George McClellan, mounted a series of powerful assaults against Robert E. Lee's forces near Sharpsburg, Maryland. -
Emancipation Proclamation
President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. It declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free." -
Battle of Gettysburg
The advancing Confederates clashed with the Union's Army of Potomac, commanded by George G. Meade, at the crossroads town of Gettysburg -
Gettysburg Address
President Abraham Lincoln was invited to deliver remarks, which later became known as the Gettysburg Address. -
Surrender of Confederate Forces
Robert E. Lee, commander of the Army of Northern Virginia, surrendered his beleaguered Confederate forces to Ulysses S. Grant and the Union Army. -
Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
John Wilkes Booth, a famous actor and Confederate sympathizer , fatally shot President Abraham Lincoln at a party at Ford's Theatre in Washington D.C.
