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presidential election of 1860
It was the 19th presidential election with Abraham Lincoln, John C. Breckinridge, John Bell and Stephen A. Douglas. Abraham Lincoln won the election. -
South Carolina secedes from Union
South Carolina became the first slave state in the south to declare that it had seceded from the United States. -
Forming of Confederate States of America
Representatives from the six seceded states met up in Alabama and formally established a unified government in which they named Confederate States of America. -
Jefferson Davis appointed president of Confederacy
Jefferson Davis, who was an american politician, served as the only president of the confederate states from 1861-1865. -
Lincoln’s first inaugural address
Abraham Lincoln gave his first inaugural address taking the oath in order to be the president. -
Battle of Fort Sumter
The Battle of Fort Sumter was the bombardment of Fort Sumter near Charleston, South Carolina by the Confederate States Army, and the return gunfire and surrender by the United States Army, that started the American Civil War. -
(First) Battle of Bull Run (Manassas)
35,000 Union troops marched from the federal capital in Washington, D.C. to strike a Confederate force of 20,000 along a river known as Bull Run. The rebels rallied and were able to break the Union right flank, making them retreat towards Washington. The Confederate victory gave the South confidence and shocked the North, who realized the war would not be won as easily as they had hoped. -
First battle of ironclads
The CSS Virginia, a captured and rebuilt Union steam frigate formerly known as the Merrimac, engages the USS Monitor in the first battle between iron-fortified naval vessels in history. -
Battle of Shiloh
The Battle of Shiloh was a battle in the Western Theater of the American Civil War, fought April 6–7, 1862, in southwestern Tennessee. -
Siege of New Orleans by Union
Battle of New Orleans, naval action by Union forces seeking to capture the city during the American Civil War. The permanent loss of New Orleans was considered one of the worst disasters suffered by the Confederacy in the western theatre of the war. -
(Second) Battle of Bull Run
The Second Battle of Bull Run (Second Battle of Manassas) was fought during the American Civil War. It was much larger in size and in the number of casualties than the First Battle of Bull Run fought in July 1861 on much of the same ground. -
Battle of Antietam
The Battle of Antietam, also known as the Battle of Sharpsburg, was a battle of the American Civil War, fought on September 17, 1862, between Confederate General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia and Union General George B. McClellan's Army of the Potomac, near Sharpsburg, Maryland and Antietam Creek. -
Emancipation Proclamation
The Emancipation Proclamation was an executive order issued on January 1, 1863, by President Lincoln freeing slaves in all portions of the United States not then under Union control. -
Battle of Vicksburg (siege)
In May and June of 1863, Major General Ulysses S. Grant's armies converged on Vicksburg, investing the city and entrapping a Confederate army under Lieutenant General John Pemberton. On July 4, Vicksburg surrendered after prolonged siege operations. -
Battle of Gettysburg
After a great victory over Union forces at Chancellorsville, General Robert E. Lee marched his Army of Northern Virginia into Pennsylvania in late June 1863. Lee was eventually forced to withdraw his battered army toward Virginia on July 4.
