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Abraham Lincoln 1
Abraham Lincoln becomes elected sixteenth president of the united states. -
South Carolina First to Secede 2
South Carolina officially secedes from the union also the first sate to do so -
Lincoln Inauguration 3
Abraham Lincoln is inaugurated as the sixteenth President of the United States. In his Inaugural Address he gives a stark warning to the South he will not tolerate secession. -
Confederate Constitution Signed 4
The Constitution of the Confederate States of America is signed in Montgomery Alabama. -
Civil War Begins 5
Confederate forces under General P.G.T. Beauregard bombard Major Robert Anderson and his Union soldiers at Fort Sumter in Charleston South Carolina.This is when the civil war officially begins. -
Union Surrender at Ft. Sumter 6
Rangeend_Sumter Major Robert Anderson surrenders Fort Sumter to Confederate forces after two days of bombardment. -
North Carolina Secession 7
North Carolina secedes from the union as the eleventh and last state to do so. -
Lincoln Requests Army
Lincoln addresses Congress and requests the enlistment of a Union Army. Congress authorizes a call for 500,000 men. It is clear now that the war will not be short. -
First Battle of Bull Run
The First Battle of Bull Run pits Union General Irvin McDowell against the new Confederate army. McDowell is defeated causing a panicked retreat back to Washington, which is about forty miles away. -
Moniter vs. Merrimack
The Confederate ironclad USS Merrimack battles the Union ironclad USS Monitor in Chesapeake Bay. The battle is a draw but it makes wooden ships obsolete and ushers in the era of steel warships changing naval warfare forever. -
Battle of Shiloh
Union General Ulysses S. Grant's forces are surprised at the town of Shiloh in Tennessee. The ensuing battle results in 13,000 Union and 10,000 Confederate casualties more than in all previous American wars combined. -
Gettysburg
From July 1 to July 4, the Union Army under General Meade defeats Robert E. Lee's Confederate Army at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. One of the bloodiest battles of the war Gettysburg is a turning point and marks the farthest advance of the Confederate Army into northern territory.
