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First Election of Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln is elected the 16th president of the United States over a deeply divided Democratic Party, becoming the first Republican to win the presidency. Lincoln received only 40 percent of the popular vote but handily defeated the three other candidates: Southern Democrat John C. Breckinridge, Constitutional Union candidate John Bell, and Northern Democrat Stephen Douglas, a U.S. senator for Illinois. -
First state secedes from the Union
The force of events moved very quickly upon the election of Lincoln. South Carolina acted first, calling for a convention to Secede from the Union. State by state, conventions were held, and the confederacy was formed. -
Emancipation Proclamation
President Abraham Lincoln carefully framed the conflict as concerning the preservation of the Union rather than the abolition of slavery -
Battle of Fort Sumter
Fort Sumter is most famous for being the site of the first shots of the Civil War -
First battle of Bull Run
Union and Confederate armies clashed near Manassas Junction, Virginia, in the first major land battle of the American Civil War. -
Antietam
The bloodiest single day in American history ends in a Union victory that bolsters President Lincoln's ability to issue the Emancipation Proclamation. -
The Battle of Vicksburg
Union forces waged a campaign to take the Confederate stronghold of Vicksburg, Mississippi, which lay on the east bank of the Mississippi River, halfway between Memphisto the northand New Orleansto the south.The capture of Vicksburg divided the Confederacy and proved the military genius of Union General Ulysses S. Grant -
The Gettysburg Address
President Abraham Lincoln was invited to deliver remarks, which later became known as the Gettysburg Address, at the official dedication ceremony for the National Cemetery of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania, on the site of one of the bloodiest and most decisive battles of the Civil War. -
The Battle of Gettysburg
The Battle of Gettysburg is considered the most important engagement of the American Civil War. After a great victory over Union forces at Chancellorsville, General Robert E. Lee marched his Army of Northern Virginia into Pennsylvania in late June 1863. -
The Fall of Atlanta
Atlanta surrendered to Union forces following a months-long campaign in which the outnumbered Confederates suffered devastating casualties trying to defend the city. Up until that point, the Northern war effort had stagnated so badly that President Abraham Lincoln feared losing re-election. Afterwards, however, the Union’s battlefield victories came in rapid succession, bringing the Civil War to a close within months. -
Confederacy Surrender
The Battle of Appomattox Court House was one of the last battles of the American Civil War. It was the final engagement of Confederate Army general Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia before it surrendered to the Union Army under Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant. -
Abraham Lincoln's Assassination
John Wilkes Booth, a famous actor and Confederate sympathizer, assassinated President Abraham Lincoln at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. The attack came only five days after Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered his massive army at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, effectively ending the American Civil War.
