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Inauguration of Lincoln
On March 4th, 1861, Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated as the 16th President of the United States. The inauguration was held at the East Portico of Washington, D. C. This was the 19th inauguration and marked the commencement of the first, and eventually only full term of Abraham Lincoln as President and the only term of Hannibal Hamlin as Vice President. -
Fort Sumter
Fort Sumter is an island fortification which is located in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina. This site is most famously known for being the place that had been the first shots of the Civil War. Fort Sumter was originally constructed as a coastal garrison in 1829. Fort Sumter was also one of nearly 50 forts built as part of the so-called Third System, a coastal defense program implemented by Congress in 1817 -
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Uncle Tom's Cabin or otherwise known as Life Among the Lowly, is an anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. Published in 1852, the novel had a profound effect on attitudes toward African Americans and slavery in the U.S. and is said to have helped lay the groundwork for the Civil War. Uncle Tom's Cabin was the best-selling novel of the 19th century and the second best-selling book of that century, following the Bible. -
First Battle of Bull Run
The First Battle of the Bull Run is also known as the Battle of Manassas, marked the first major land battle of the American Civil War. On this day, the Union and Confederate Armies clashed near Manassas Junction, Virginia. The engagement began when about 35,000 Union troops marched from the federal capital in Washington, D.C. to strike a Confederate force of 20,000 along a small river known as the Bull Run. -
Hatteras Inlet Batteries
The Battle of Hatteras Inlet Batteries was the first combined operation of the Union Army and Navy in the American Civil War, resulting in the Union dominating a strategically important location, the North Carolina Sounds. This battle is sometimes also known as the Battle of Forts Hatteras and Clark. -
Antietam
The Battle of Antietam was also known as the Battle of Sharpsburg. The Battle of Antietam was the bloodiest day in American history, with casualties ranging as high as 22,717 dead, severely injured, or missing. This was also one of the much-needed strategic victories to give President Lincoln the confidence to write the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed more than 3.5 million slaves. -
Fort Henry
The first battle of the American Civil War, the Battle of Fort Henry, was fought on February 6th, 1862, in Donelson, Stewart County, Tennessee. This battle was the first important victory for the Union and helped spike off the reputation of General Ulysses S. Grant. This battle helped the morale of the Union troops greatly. -
Battle of the Ironclads
The Battle of the Ironclads is known as one of the most famous naval battles in the history of the United States. The two ironclads, U. S. S. Monitor and the C. S. S. Virginia fought to a draw off Hampton Roads, Virginia. These two ships fired at each other all morning but managed to do nothing to each other's protective armor plates, signaling a draw. -
Battle of Shiloh
The Battle of Shiloh was also known as the Battle of Pittsburg Landing. This battle was one of the bloodiest engagements of the Civil War up to that point in time, with nearly twice as many casualties as the previous major battles combined. The reason for this was because the Union army was ambushed, and led to a bloody fight between them. The Confederate Army had tried to ambush them because they wanted to stop the Union from advancing into northern Mississippi. -
Emancipation Proclamation
The Emancipation Proclamation was a presidential proclamation and an executive order issued by President Abraham Lincoln on September 22, 1862, during the Civil War. The Proclamation summarized that all slaves would be freed from this day on, and would be granted the freedom and recognition of the entire United States. -
Battle of Fredericksburg
The Battle of Fredericksburg was known as one of the most one-sided battles of the entire war, with Union casualties going as high as twice as those of their Confederate counterparts. This battle was one that was another of the Union's failed attempts to get their campaign into the Eastern Theater. -
Battle of Chancellorsville
The Battle of Chancellorsville was known to be a major battle of the American Civil War and was the principal engagement of the Chancellorsville Campaign. This battle was situated in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, near Chancellorsville. This battle was also known as General Robert E. Lee’s “perfect battle’ because his risky decision to divide his army in the presence of much larger enemy forces resulted in a significant victory for the Confederates. -
Battle of Vicksburg
The Battle of Vicksburg was also called the Siege of Vicksburg. This battle was the culmination of a long land and naval campaign by Union forces to capture a strategic location during the American Civil War. This was a key battle that led to the Union dividing the confederacy and helped cement the reputation of General Ulysses. S. Grant. -
Gettysburg
The battle of Gettysburg ended the Confederacy’s last full-scale invasion of the North. This battle was also one of the key factors that made Abraham Lincoln make the Gettysburg Address and redefine the war as a struggle for freedom and democracy. -
Chattanooga
The Battle of Chattanooga was a decisive battle fought at Chattanooga on the Tennessee River, which was a significant victory for the North. Chattanooga was contested because this location had strategic importance as a vital railroad junction for the Confederacy. The casualties of this battle were about 6,000 Union and 7,000 Confederate soldiers. -
Battle of the Crater
The Battle of the Crater was a battle of the American Civil War, part of the siege of Petersburg. On July 30 Union forces exploded a mine in Major General Ambrose’s IX Corps sector, blowing a gap in the Confederate defenses of Petersburg, Virginia. The situation deteriorated rapidly for the Union attackers as a unit after unit charged into and around the crater, where the unprepared soldiers milled around in confusion. This event was known as a large failure for the Union. -
13th Amendment
During the start of the Civil War, it was said that Lincoln was not actually an abolitionist in the start of the Civil War. This changed however as the war progressed, and he started to see that military power that could bloom from freeing the slaves, in order to win the Civil War. Abraham Lincoln once said, “My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or destroy slavery,” he wrote in a famous letter to Horace Greeley in August 1862. -
Battle of Wilmington
The Battle of Wilmington was a battle fought during the American Civil War, mostly outside the city of Wilmington, North Carolina, between the opposing Union and Confederate Departments of North Carolina. Wilmington fell to Union troops after they overcame Confederate defenses along the Cape Fear River south of the city. The Confederate General Braxton burned stores of tobacco and cotton, among other supplies and equipment, before leaving the city, to prevent the Union from seizing them. -
Appomattox
The surrender of the Appomattox Court House was one of the biggest factors in the closing of the Civil War. It was the agreement between Robert. E. Lee, the Confederate General in Chief, and his army of Northern Virginia; before they surrendered to the Union Army of Potomac, which was under the command of Ulysses. S. Grant. -
Lincoln’s Assignation
On the evening of April 14, 1865, 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. This attack was due to a failed attempt to kidnap the president and a desperate move by John Wilkes Booth.
