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Lincoln is elected president
Lincoln took office following the 1860 presidential election, in which he won a plurality of the popular vote in a four-candidate field. Almost all of Lincoln's votes came from the Northern United States, as the Republicans held little appeal to voters in the Southern United States. -
Confederate states of America is formed
Convinced that white supremacy and the institution of slavery were threatened by the November 1860 election of Republican Abraham Lincoln to the U.S. presidency on a platform that opposed the expansion of slavery into the western territories, the Confederacy declared its secession in rebellion against the United States. -
Battle of Fort Sumter
Forces from the Confederate States of America attacked the United States military garrison at Fort Sumter, South Carolina. Less than two days later, the fort surrendered. No one was killed. The battle, however, started the Civil War, the bloodiest conflict in American history. -
President Lincoln declares a blockade of Southern ports
Lincoln extended the blockade to include North Carolina and Virginia on April 27. By July of 1861, the Union Navy had established blockades of all the major southern ports. -
First Battle of Bull Run (Manassas)
The First Battle of Bull Run (called First Manassas in the South) cost some 3,000 Union casualties, compared with 1,750 for the Confederates. Its outcome sent northerners who had expected a quick, decisive victory reeling, and gave rejoicing southerners a false hope that they themselves could pull off a swift victory. -
Battle of Shiloh
the Civil War's Battle of Shiloh ended with a United States (Union) victory over Confederate forces in Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee. The two-day conflict was at that point the bloodiest battle in American history, with more than 23,000 dead and wounded. -
Battle of Antietam
The Battle of Antietam pitted Union General George McClellan's Army of the Potomac against General Robert E. Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia. The Maryland Campaign was Lee's first attempt to take the war North and it was McClellan who was tasked by President Abraham Lincoln with stopping him. -
Battle of Gettysburg
The Battle of Gettysburg was fought July 1 – 3, 1863, in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, by Union and Confederate forces during the American Civil War. The battle involved the largest number of casualties of the entire war and is often described as the war's turning point. -
Emancipation Proclamation
President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, as the nation approached its third year of bloody civil war. The proclamation declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free." -
Gettysburg Address
The main message of the Gettysburg Address is that ideals are worth dying for and that it is up to the living to carry on the work of those who died to protect ideals. The ideals of equality and freedom are the bedrock of the United States as a nation. -
Sherman’s March to the Sea
Union General William T. Sherman led some 60,000 soldiers on a 285-mile march from Atlanta to Savannah, Georgia. The purpose of Sherman's March to the Sea was to frighten Georgia's civilian population into abandoning the Confederate cause. -
13th amendment to Constitution
The 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution provides that "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction." -
Surrender at Appomattox Court House
Trapped by the Federals near Appomattox Court House, Confederate general Robert E. Lee surrendered his army to Union general Ulysses S. Grant, precipitating the capitulation of other Confederate forces and leading to the end of the bloodiest conflict in American history. -
Lincoln Assassinated
The Assassination of President Lincoln. Shortly after 10 p.m. on April 14, 1865, actor John Wilkes Booth entered the presidential box at Ford's Theater in Washington D.C., and fatally shot President Abraham Lincoln. As Lincoln slumped forward in his seat, Booth leapt onto the stage and escaped through the back door. -
Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address
The main point of Lincoln's second inaugural address was to claim that both the South and North had to share some of the blame for the sin of slavery. Lincoln expressed the tone for reconstruction and commonly used the term "we" to unify the people of the North and South when it came to the means of reunification.