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Presidential Election of 1860
Abraham Lincoln wins election, even though Lincoln was not on the ballot in the Southern States -
South Carolina secedes from Union
South Carolina became the first slave state in the south to secede from the United States. -
Forming of the Confederate States of America
Representatives from the six seceded states met in Montgomery, Alabama, to establish a unified government, aka the Confederate States of America. -
Jefferson Davis appointed president of Confederacy
Jefferson Davis was elected the Confederacy's first president. -
Lincoln’s first inaugural address
Part of his taking of the oath of office and was addressed to the people of the South. -
Battle of Fort Sumter
Confederate States Army, and the return gunfire and subsequent surrender by the United States Army, which started the War. -
(First) Battle of Bull Run (Manassas)
Union and Confederate armies fought near Manassas Junction, Virginia, in the first major land battle of the American Civil War. -
First battle of ironclads
First meeting in combat of ironclad warships, (the USS Monitor and the CSS Virginia). -
Battle of Shiloh
Confederates launched a surprise attack on Union forces, while they were unable to hold their positions and were forced back, resulting in a Union victory. -
Siege of New Orleans by Union
Naval action by Union forces seeking to capture the city. Permanent loss of New Orleans was considered one of the worst disasters suffered by the Confederacy. -
(Second) Battle of Bull Run
Confederate victory over the Union Army of Virginia. Over 20,000 men fell as casualties at this fight. -
Battle of Antietam
First field army–level engagement in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War to take place on Union soil. -
Emancipation Proclamation
A document stating that all slaves in the rebellious states "shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free" even though it did not free a single slave, stirring the pot of the war even more. -
Battle of Gettysburg
On July 1, 1863, the most famous battle of the Civil War began, and raged for three days. The Union forces repelled assault after assault until Lee recognized the futility of the campaign and ordered his defeated and crippled army back to Virginia. -
Battle of Vicksburg (siege)
Final major military action in the Vicksburg Campaign -
Draft Riots begin in New York City
Violent disturbances in Lower Manhattan, widely regarded as the culmination of working-class discontent with new laws passed by Congress that year to draft men to fight in the war. -
54th Massachusetts Colored Infantry in combat
Infantry regiment that saw extensive service in the Union Army -
Sacking of Lawrence, Kansas by Confederates
An attack by the Quantrill's Raiders, led by William Quantrill, on the Unionist town of Lawrence, Kansas. -
Gettysburg Address
Speech delivered by Abraham Lincoln at the dedication of a soldiers' cemetery at the site of the Battle of Gettysburg. -
First Successful Submarine Attack of the Civil War
Hand-cranked Confederate submarine powered by H.L. Hunley torpedoed the mighty USS Housatonic in Charleston Harbor it became the first combat submarine to sink an enemy warship. -
Battle of the wilderness Virginia
First battle of Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's 1864 Virginia Overland Campaign against Gen. Robert E. Lee. -
Fall of Atlanta, Georgia
Battle of the Atlanta Campaign with union forces commanded by William T. Sherman. -
Lincoln wins a second term
Any hope for a negotiated settlement with the Confederacy vanished when Northern voters overwhelmingly endorse the leadership of President Lincoln. -
Sherman's Army of Georgia arrives at Savannah, Georgia
Sherman’s army had been sweeping from Atlanta across the state to the south and east towards Savannah. Along the way, Sherman destroyed farms and railroads, burned storehouses. Sherman intended to “make Georgia howl". -
Assault and capture of Fort Fisher, North Carolina
Successful assault by the Union Army, Navy and Marine Corps against Fort Fisher near the end of the War. -
Lincoln’s 2nd inaugural address
A speech delivered near the final days of the Civil War and only a month before he was assassinated. -
Sherman’s troops occupy Fayetteville, NC
The Union Army captured and destroyed the Confederate arsenal, a building where weapons were made and stored, in Fayetteville, North Carolina. -
Battle of Appomattox Courthouse
General Robert E. Lee surrendered his Army of Northern Virginia to Union General Ulysses S. Grant. -
Lincoln assassinated
Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth while attending the play Our American Cousin at Ford's Theatre.
