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The first Secession Convention meets in Columbia, South Carolina.
South Carolina’s Secession Convention assembled in the Baptist Church in Columbia to start discussions for the state to abandon the Union. Ninety percent of the 159 delegates in the assembly happened to be slave owners (with the preponderance having twenty or more slaves). -
South Carolina secedes from the Union.
South Carolina was the first slave state that was converted in the south to claim that it had seceded from the United States. -
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The southern states that seceded create a government
December 20, 1860, accompanied by Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas joined the Confederacy. Representatives of those states declared the establishment of the Confederate States of America, with its capital at Montgomery, Alabama. -
Inauguration of Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln is inaugurated as the sixteenth president of the United States in Washington, DC. -
Jefferson Davis is inaugurated as President of the Confederate States of America.
Jefferson Davis was an American politician who served as the only President of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865. -
First Battle of Winchester, Virginia
After two weeks of maneuvering and battles at Cross Keys and Front Royal, General "Stonewall" Jackson attacks Union forces at Winchester and successfully drives them from the city. The victory is the culmination of his 1862 Valley Campaign. -
The Emancipation Proclamation goes into effect.
Many abolitionists including Frederick Douglass loved this, there are others who feel it does not go far enough to totally abolish slavery. -
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The Battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
The bloodiest battle of the Civil War delays Robert E. Lee's hopes for a successful invasion of the North. -
Nominated Again
Abraham Lincoln is nominated by his party for a second term as president. -
Assassination by Theater Actor
President Abraham Lincoln is assassinated by actor John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theater in Washington, DC.
