-
Lincoln is elected as the 16thpresident of the United States. He is the first republican president in the nation.
-
Davis is appointed the first President of the Confederate States of America, a position he will hold until elections can be arranged.
-
The start of The Civil War has official begun.
-
Lincoln issues a public declaration and calls for 75,000 militia to stop the rebellion.
-
Union General Irwin McDowell against Confederate General Pierre Gustav Toutant Beauregard.
-
The Union victory loosens Confederate hold on Missouri and took away southern control from a portion of the Mississippi River
-
First major battle in Tennessee. The Union victory secures the career of Union General Ulysses S. Grant.
-
General Joseph Johnston, commander of the Confederate army in Virginia is wounded and is replaced by Robert E. Lee. He renames his command the "Army of Northern Virginia"
-
Bloodiest single day of the Civil War. Results in General Lee's first invasion of the North. President Lincoln will introduce the Emancipation Proclamation
-
Executive order that freed every slave in the Confederate States. Many abolitionists feel it does not go far enough to totally abolish slavery
-
Soon after Lee's loss, he asks Jefferson Davis permission to invade the North to take the war out of Virginia
-
Ulysses S. Grant attacked Confederate defenses in Vicksburg. If the city falls, the Mississippi River will be controlled by the Union.
-
The bloodiest battle of the Civil War disrupts Robert E. Lee's hopes to successfully invade the North
-
Draft Riots begin in New York and elsewhere as workers believe the draft system favors the rich
-
In dedication of the Soldier's National Cemetery at Gettysburg, Lincoln delivers the Gettysburg Address
-
Lincoln issues the Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction, which would pardon those who participated in the rebellion if they take an oath to the Union.
-
Grant in appointed lieutenant general, a rank revived at the request of Lincoln. Grant assumes command of all Union Armies
-
After attempting to break through Union forces blocking Virginia. Lee seeks to discuss terms with Grant. Lee signs the document of surrender
-
Lincoln assassinated by actor John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theater.
-
Simon Bolivar Buckner surrenders the Army of Trans-Mississippi, the Civil War officially ends.
