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Period: Jan 1, 1519 to
Slavery in the United States
Slavery had always been in American culture up until the Civil War. Slavery was the main issue behind the Civil War. The North wanted it abolished and the South wanted it kept. There were millions of slaves in the South. The slaves used the Underground Railroad to escape to the North. Lincoln emancipated slavery on September 22nd, 1862, and it took effect as of January 1st, 1863. -
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Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad was a network of tunnels leading North to the Free states and Canada. It helped enslaved men escape to freedom. Northern Abolitionists aided in the travel of the escaping men. It ran indirectly to avoid being detected and so plantation owners couldn't take their slaves back.It had "stations" and "depots" like railroads where the men could sleep and eat while on their travels. One famous escapee, Harriet Tubman escaped in 1849, and returned dozens on times to help slaves. -
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Robert E. Lee
Robert E. Lee was a confederae General in the Civil War. President Lincoln had offered Lee command of the entire Union Army, but when Virginia suceeded, he chose to go with them. He was an amazing battle tactician, winning many battles in the Civil War with a much smaller army. He eventually had to surrender to Unio General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 9th, 1865. -
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Jefferson Davis
Jefferson Davis was the only president of the Confederacy. He also fought in the Mexican-American war and was a senator of Mississippi. He was capture by the United States on May 10th, 1865 and charged with treason. -
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Abraham Lincoln
Issued Emancipation Proclamation on Sepember 22nd, 1862. He was President of from 1861 to 1865. He was assassinated on April 15th, 1865 by John Wilkes Booth in a movie theatre. He imposed martial law in Baltimore, and took away habeas corpus in Washington because he suspected that the confederacy had spies in Washington. -
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Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant began the campaign to seize the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers. First, he seized Fort Henry, and then took Fort Donelson. Then he won the battle of Shiloh. He was also involved in the battle of Gettysburg. He was also Generals-in-chief of the Union army from 1864-1869. Finally, he took office on March 4th, 1869 until March 4th, 1877. -
John Brown and the Raid on Harpers Ferry
John brown made a plan to seize the federal armory in Harpers Ferry, Virginia. He and several other men took control of some of the weapons inside the armory, and Brown killed seven men. He was hung for killing five pro-slavery men and inciting a slave insurrection. This even is widely consdiered a main starting point of the Civil War. -
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Battle of Fort Sumter
Lincoln announced that he was going to resupply Fort Sumter, which the Confederacy didn't like, so they decided that they would capture Fort Sumter before the supply ships could get there. The confederates sent a note to Major Anderson, demanding the surrender of the fort by the morning of April 12th. The Union did not surrender that morning, so the confederates bombarded the fort with cannon fire for 33 hours, when finally Major Anderson surrendered. No one was killed in the battle. -
Emancipation Proclamation
President Lincoln issued the emancipation proclamation five days after the battle of Antietam. The proclamation would come into effect after January 1st, 1863, freeing all slaves in states at war with the Union. The proclamation did not address the border states, as Lincoln wanted to keep them in the Union. It transformed the conflict from a war to keep the Union in tact, to a war of liberation. -
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Battle of Gettysburg
The battle of Gettysburg was the bloodiest battle of the Civil War. About 51000 people were either killed, wounded, or missing. The Union commander was General George G. Meade and the Confederate Commander was General Robert E. Lee. Picketts charge was a last gasp effort by the Confederates to win the battle, which turned out bad for them. The Union killed 7000 soldiers in under half an hour. The Union won the battle and this is considered the turning point of the war.
