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Election of 1860
Lincoln, the Republican candidate, won because the democratic party was split over slavery. As a result, the South no longer felt like it has a voice in politics and a number of states seceded from the union. -
Fort Sumter
where the first shots of the civil war were fired. Once the Confederate States of America took control of Charleston Harbor, they soon aimed costal guns on the fort, and fired. After the battle, 4 more states seceded, and their was more support for military action. -
Military Draft
Conscription Act in 1863 forced men between 20-45 years old to be eligible for conscription but one could avoid it if they paid 300 or got someone in their place; provoked anger from poor workers. -
Emancipation Proclamation
After victory of Antietam Lincoln announces on the first of 1863 all slaves in the rebelling states would be free. AIM: injure confederacy, threaten its property, heighten its dread, hurt its morale. -
Suspension of Habeas Corpus
Civil liberty that was suspended by Lincoln in defiance of the constitution and Supreme Courts Chief Justice. This was done so that anti- unionists could be summarily arrested. -
Gettysburg
The greatest battle of the Civil War, fought in south-central Pennsylvania in 1863. It ended in a major victory for the North and is usually considered the turning point of the war. -
Gettysburg Address
The Gettysburg address was given by Lincoln following the battle. The speech lasted two minutes, and took place during the dedication of the cemetery at Gettysburg -
Grant takes Command of Union Army
A Northern general who helped gain victory for the union. His first successful victories came at Fort Henry and Fort Donelson on the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers in February 1862. These victories opened a door for the Union to the rest of the south. Eventually Grant was given command of the Union forces attacking Vicksburg. This would be his greatest victory of the war. Grant's final victory came when he defeated General Robert E. -
Election of 1864
Abraham Lincoln was re-elected as president. Lincoln ran under the National Union banner against his former top Civil War general, the Democratic candidate, George B. McClellan. -
Sherman's March to the Sea
Destructive route to Atlanta to Savannah in Georgia. Sherman practiced Total War in this move, and destroyed anything and everything, hoping to demoralize the south. -
Ratification of 13th Amendment
Abolished slavery and involuntary servitude. -
Surrender at Appomattox
Grant's large army pursued Lee's in VA and engaged in series of running fights; Union forces blocked Lee's retreat at a town called Appomattox Court House; April 9 Grant and Lee met in a private home Lee's troops outnumbered 2to 1, Lee surrendered, remaining Confederate forces surrender soon afterward -
Assassination of Lincoln
In Ford's Theater, April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth assassinated President Abraham Lincoln, as well as trying to assassinate Ulysses S. Grant, and other politically powerful figures
