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South Carolina secedes
South Carolina was the first state to secede from the union and the people there went wild with joy. Within six weeks after, six other states also seceded. -
Abraham Lincoln Inaugurated
Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated as the sixteenth president of the United States. Lincoln's inaugural address was stirring. He appealed for the preservation of the Union and to retain his support in the North without further alienating the South. -
Attack on Fort Sumter
The attack on Fort Sumter officially marked the start of the Civil War. Fort Sumter was a powerful fort on the Charlston harbor and it was bombarded for 34 hours straight and at the end of it all, the fort was completely destroyed. Suprisingly there were no casualties during the attack. -
Robert E. Lee surrenders commision
On the night of April 19, 1861, Colonel Robert E. Lee resolved to resign his commission in the US Army. He wrote two letters. The first was a brief letter to the Secretary of War resigning his commission in the US Army. The second was to his commanding officer and mentor, General Winfield Scott. -
Virginia Secedes
The convention that met in Richmond in early 1861 to consider Virginia's role within the nation was overwhelmingly unionist. But it was a highly conditional unionism, and within days of the fighting at Fort Sumter, the convention voted to secede. -
1sr Battle Of Bull Run
On July 21, 1861, Union and Confederate armies clashed near Manassas Junction, Virginia, in the first major land battle of the American Civil War known as the First Battle of Bull Run. After fighting on the defensive for most of the day, the rebels rallied and were able to break the Union right flank, sending the Federals into a chaotic retreat towards Washington -
Battle Of Shiloh
Confederate forces led by General Johnston attacked Union General Grant's army at Pittsburg Landing. The Confederates lost their leader when General Johnston was killed by a stray bullet. On the second day, April 7th, Grant launched a counterattack and the Confederates retreated to Corinth. -
Battle of the Monitor ands the Merrimac
During the battle of the Monitor and the Merrimac, the new ship called the Monitor was used for the first time. The union had to use this because of the Confederate's new ship called the Ironclad which was apparently unsinkable. The Monitor was pretty much an iron gun turret on a long raft. -
2nd Battle of Bull Run
After the bloody peninsula campaign, the union decided to replace General McClellan with John Pope, who had been successful in the west. Pope attacked General jacksons forces which went okay at first, but on the next day when Pope decided to attack again, the confederates led by Longstreet, counterattacked and drove the union forces back over the stone bridge over Bull Run. -
Battle Of Antietam
23,000 soldiers were killed, wounded or missing after twelve hours of savage combat on September 17, 1862. The Battle of Antietam ended the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia's first invasion into the North and led to Abraham Lincoln's issuance of the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. -
Battle of Fredericksburg
The Battle of Fredericksburg was one of the largest and deadliest battles of the Civil War. It featured the first major opposed river crossing in American military history. Union and Confederate troops fought in the streets of Fredericksburg, the Civil War’s first urban combat. And with nearly 200,000 combatants, no other Civil War battle featured a larger concentration of soldiers. -
Battle of Chancellorsville (continued)
This finally broke the Federal line at Chancellorsville. Hooker withdrew a mile and entrenched in a defensive “U” with his back to the river at United States Ford. This battle is considered by many historians to be Lee’s greatest victory. -
Battle of Chancellorsville
Hearing reports of overwhelming Confederate force, Hooker ordered his army to suspend the advance and to concentrate again at Chancellorsville. After learning that the Union left flank was "hanging in the air", Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson settled upon a highly aggressive plan that would march Jackson's forces around the Union positions and onto that exposed flank. On May 3, the Confederates attacked with both wings of the army and massed their artillery at Hazel Grove. -
Emancipation Proclamation Takes Effect
The proclamation freed all slaves in states that were still in rebellion on January 1, 1863. Lincoln used vacated Congressional seats to determine the areas still in rebellion, as some parts of the South had already been recaptured and representatives returned to Congress under Union supervision. -
Battle Of Gettysburg
The Battle of Gettysburg was the major turning poin in the war for the union and also the bloodiest battle of the war. After the Battle of Chancellorsville, the Unions spirits were really down and things werent going their way. After the Victory at Gettysburg, the South had to abandon its attempt to take the war North. -
Surrender of Vicksburg
Grant made some attacks after bottling Vicksburg, but found the Confederates well entrenched. Preparing for a long siege, his army constructed 15 miles of trenches and enclosed Pemberton's force of 29,000 men inside the perimeter. It was only a matter of time before Grant, with 70,000 troops, captured Vicksburg. -
Battle At Fort Wagner
After the July 11 assault on Fort Wagner failed, Gillmore reinforced his beachhead on Morris Island. At dusk July 18, Gillmore launched an attack spearheaded by the 54th Massachusetts Infantry. The unit’s colonel, Robert Gould Shaw, was killed. This was the fourth time a black army had a crucial role in the war and it ended in a Confederate victory. -
Lincoln Delivers Gettysburg Address
Lincolns speech was just over two minutes long and is still one of the best known speeches in American history. This speech was given in the Soldiers National Cemetary to remember all the soldiers that died in the Cilvil War. -
Grant Displays Fighting Style At Cold Harbor
At Cold Harbor, Grant was no butcher; he was very careful with the lives of his men. General Grant did not order the attack because he felt he could afford the loss of men, but he attacked due to a thought out process with the goal of capturing Richmond. -
Sherman Set Out For The Sea
When Grant left to take command of the Federal forces, Sherman assumed command of operations in the west and by September 1864 had captured Atlanta. Then he set out on his March to the Sea. He decided to proceed southeast toward Savannah or Charleston. He carefully studied census records to determine which route could provide food for his men and forage for his animals. -
Sherman Reaches Savannah
Union General William Tecumseh Sherman reached Savannah after carving a 40 mile wide march through Southeast Georgia called the March to the Sea. Sherman declared Savannah a "Christmas present" for President Lincoln. -
Lincoln Delivers 2nd Inaugural Address
Thousands of spectators stood in thick mud at the Capitol grounds to hear the President. As he stood on the East Portico to take the executive oath, the completed Capitol dome over the President's head was a physical reminder of the resolve of his Administration throughout the years of civil war. Chief Justice Salmon Chase administered the oath of office -
Richmond, The Confederate Capital, Falls
For ten months, General Ulysses S. Grant had tried unsuccessfully to infiltrate the city. After Lee made a desperate attack against Fort Stedman along the Union line on March 25, Grant prepared for a major offensive. He struck at Five Forks on April 1, crushing the end of Lee's line southwest of Petersburg. On April 2, the Yankees struck all along the Petersburg line, and the Confederates collapsed. -
Surrender At Appomattox
With his army surrounded, his men weak and exhausted, Robert E. Lee realized there was little choice but to consider the surrender of his Army to General Grant. After a series of notes between the two leaders, they agreed to meet on April 9, 1865, at the house of Wilmer McLean in the village of Appomattox Courthouse. The meeting lasted approximately two and one-half hours and at its conclusion the bloodliest conflict in the nation's history neared its end.
