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Civil War Timespan
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Lincoln Election
Lincoln was elected the sixteenth president of the United States, beating Democrat Stephen A. Douglas, John C. Breckinridge of the Southern Democrats, and John Bell of the new Constitutional Union Party. He was the first Republican president, winning entirely on the strength of his support in the North. -
South Carolina Secession Date
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Mississippi Secession Date
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Florida Secession Date
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Alabama Secession Date
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Gerogia Secession Date
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Louisiana Secession Date
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Texas Secession Date
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Fort Sumter
The bombardment and surrender of Fort Sumter, near Charleston, South Carolina, that started the American Civil War. -
Virginia Secession Date
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Bull Run/Manassas
It was the first major land battle of the American Civil War. In the end the Confederates won and sent the Union Army running in the direction of Washington D.C.Both sides were sobered by the violence and casualties of the battle, and they realized that the war would potentially be much longer and bloodier than they had originally anticipated. -
Monitor & Merrimack fight
Was the most noted and arguably most important naval battle of the American Civil War from the standpoint of the development of navies.The battle was a part of the effort of the Confederacy to break the Union blockade, which had cut off Virginia's largest cities, Norfolk and Richmond, from international trade. -
Shiloh
A major battle in the Western Theater of the American Civil War in southwestern Tennessee. A Union army under Ulysses S. Grant had moved via the Tennessee River deep into Tennessee and was encamped principally at Pittsburg Landing on the west bank of the river. Confederate forces under Generals Albert Sidney Johnston and P. G. T. Beauregard launched a surprise attack on Grant there. The Confederates achieved considerable success on the first day, but were ultimately defeated on the sec -
Antietam
The first major battle in the Civil War to take place on northern soil. It was the bloddiest single day battle in American history with about 23,000 casualties. -
Fredericksburg
Was fought in and around Fredericksburg, Virginia, between Robert E. Lee's Confederate Army of Northern Virginia and the Union Army of the Potomac, commanded by Ambrose E. Burnside. The Union army's futile frontal assaults on December 13 against entrenched Confederate defenders on the heights behind the city is remembered as one of the most one-sided battles of the American Civil War, with Union casualties more than twice as heavy as those suffered by the Confederates. -
Emancipation Proclamation
It proclaimed the freedom of 3.1 million of the nation's 4 million slaves, and immediately freed 50,000 of them, with the rest freed as Union armies advanced.took effect except in locations where the Union had already mostly regained control. -
Chancellorsville
The campaign pitted Joseph Hooker's Army of the Potomac against an army half its size,Robert E. Lee's Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. Chancellorsville is known as Lee's "perfect battle" because his risky decision to divide his army in the presence of a much larger enemy force resulted in a significant Confederate victory. The victory, a product of Lee's audacity and Hooker's timid combat performance, was tempered by heavy casualties and the mortal wounding of Stonwall Jackson. -
Stonewall Jackson Killed
Confederate pickets accidentally shot him at the Battle of Chancellorsville on May 2, 1863, which the general survived, albeit with the loss of an arm to amputation. However, he died of complications of pneumonia eight days later. His death was a severe setback for the Confederacy, affecting not only its military prospects, but also the morale of its army and of the general public. -
Vicksburg
The final major military action in the Vicksburg Campaign of the American Civil War. In a series of maneuvers, Union Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and his Army of the Tennessee crossed the Mississippi River and drove the Confederate army of Lt. Gen. John C. Pemberton into the defensive lines surrounding the fortress city of Vicksburg, Mississippi. -
West Virginia Becomes a State
Was a key Civil War border state. West Virginia was the only state to form by seceding from a Confederate state, and was one of only two states formed during the American Civil War. -
Gettysburg
The battle with the largest number of casualties in the Civil War.Described as the war's turning point. George Gordon Meade's army of the potomac defeated attacks by Robert E. Lee's army of Northern Virginia, ending Lee's invasion of the North. -
Battle of Little Roundtop
The smaller of two rocky hills south of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. It was the site of an unsuccessful assault by Confederate troops against the Union left flank.The 20th Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment, commanded by Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, fought the most famous engagement there, culminating in a dramatic downhill bayonet charge that is one of the most well-known actions at Gettysburg and in the American Civil War. -
Gettysburg Address
A speech by U.S. President Abraham Lincoln and is one of the best-known speeches in United States history.It was delivered by Lincoln during the American Civil War at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, four and a half months after the Union armies defeated those of the Confederacy at the decisive Battle of Gettysburg. -
Grant Takes Command
Lincoln gave Ulysses S. Grant command of all Union armies. Vowing to end the war within a year, Grant launched three major offenses. General Philip H. Sheridan's task was to lay waste to farm land in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley, a mission he completed by October. Meanwhile, General William Tecumseh Sherman advanced southeastward from Chattanooga and seized Atlanta, a major southern rail center, while Grant himself pursued Lee's army and sought to capture Richmond, the Confederate capital. -
Lincoln's reelection
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. McClellan was the "peace candidate" but did not personally believe in his party's platform.Lincoln won by over 400,000 popular votes and easily clinched an electoral majority.Soldiers in the Army gave Lincoln more than 70% of their vote. -
Shermans March to the Sea
The campaign began with Sherman's troops leaving the captured city of Atlanta, Georgia, on November 15 and ended with the capture of the port of Savannah on December 21. It inflicted significant damage, particularly to industry and infrastructure and also to civilian property. -
Surrender at Appomatox Courthouse
Lee launched an attack to break through the Union force to his front, assuming the Union force consisted entirely of cavalry. When he realized that the cavalry was backed up by two corps of Union infantry, he had no choice but to surrender. -
Lincoln Assassination
Without his main bodyguard, Ward Hill Lamon, Lincoln left to attend the play Our American Cousin.Lincoln's bodyguard, John Parker, left Ford's Theater during intermission to join Lincoln's coachman for drinks in the Star Saloon next door. The now unguarded President sat in his state box in the balcony. Seizing the opportunity, Booth crept up from behind and at about 10:13 pm, aimed at the back of Lincoln's head and fired at point-blank range, mortally wounding the President.He died the next day. -
13th Amendment
Officially abolished and continues to prohibit slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime.
