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Uncle Tom's Cabin
Uncle Tom’s Cabin is a novel that clearly played the experience of slavery by Harriet Beecher Stowe. It also widened the gap between the North and the South, greatly strengthening Northern abolitionism and denouncing in the South. This book was one of the causes that led to the Civil War. -
Fort Sumter
Beauregard bombarded Fort Sumter with an estimation of 3,000 shots at the citadel in 34 hours. The Confederates used the fort to marshal a defense of Charleston Harbor. No Union troops died in the bombardment, but two men died in an explosion before the U.S evacuation. This bombardment played a major part in the first battle that triggered the Civil War. -
First Battle of Bull Run
The First Battle of Bull Run was marked to be the first major land battle of the Civil War. The Union suffered 2,896 casualties and 460 killed while the Confederates suffered 1,982 casualties with 387 killed. In the end, the Confederates won the battle, but it gave realization to both sides that it was going to be a long war. -
Battle of Fort Henry & Donelson
The Battle of Fort Henry was the first significant Union victory of the Civil War. After a naval bombardment, Confederate Tilghman secretly evacuated to a nearby Fort Donelson before surrendering to the Union forces. The capture of the two forts gave a major victory to the Union since they opened Tennessee for advances up the Tennessee and Cumberland River. -
Battle of the Ironclads
The Battle of the Ironclads was between the U.S.S Monitor and the Merrimack and became famous for the first naval battle between ironclad warships. The battle was inconclusive, and neither side really won the battle, but it changed the course of naval warfare by proving wooden ships were no longer viable in war. -
Shiloh
The Battle of Shiloh was fought between the Union and the Confederate Army in Tennessee and was the first major battle to take place in western theater of war. 16,000 troops of the Union Army were wounded, killed, or even captured. As for the Confederate, there were more than 10,000 casualties. At the end, the victory was given to the Union Army. -
Antietam
Robert E. Lee and his Confederate Army invaded Maryland to hopefully invade the North all the way to Pennsylvania. This battle lasted about 12 hours, but the victory was given to the Union Army. Additionally, after the victory, the Union Army gave an opportunity to President Lincoln to announce the Emancipation Proclamation. -
Fredericksburg
This battle that took place in Virginia, had almost 200,000 troops, making it the largest concentration of troops in any Civil War battle. Additionally, it involved the first major opposed river-crossing in the nation’s history. Although the Union outnumbered the Confederate, they suffered twice the casualties and the victory was given to the Confederates. -
Emancipation Proclamation
The Emancipation Proclamation that was issued by President Lincoln declared that all enslaved people in the states currently engaged in rebellion against the Union “shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.” It didn’t free all the slaves, but it was an important step to ending slavery in the United States. -
Chancellorsville
This battle gave a big victory to the Confederate Army despite the fact that they had less than half the number of soldiers. Also, they inflicted 17,000 casualties on the Union while 13,000 on their own. Although the Confederates won the battle, they lost 13,000 men and they lost one of their best generals named Stonewall Jackson who was accidentally shot by his own troops. -
Vicksburg
The Battle of Vicksburg was a Union victory that divided the Confederacy and cemented the reputation of Grant. This battle gave control of the Mississippi River to the Union. Around the same time, the Confederate Army was defeated in the Battle of Gettysburg. These two battles were a major turning point of the Civil War in favor of the Union. -
Gettysburg
The Battle of Gettysburg fought in Pennsylvania was the largest battle in the Civil War involving around 85,000 men in the Union’s Army and around 75,000 in the Confederacy's Army. At the end of the battle, the victory was given to the Union Army, and Confederacy’s Army’s plan to invade the North was put to an end. The Battle of Gettysburg became the turning point of the Civil War. -
Battle of Chickamauga
A Union force led by Rosecran had a goal to capture the city of Chattanooga in Tennessee which was an important rail junction and gateway to the Deep South, but unfortunately, they were defeated by Braxton Bragg’s Army of Tennessee. With 16,170 Union and 18,454 Confederate casualties, the battle was the second costliest battle behind Gettysburg. -
Battle of the Wilderness
The Battle of the Wilderness was marked the first battle of Union Grant’s “Overland Campaign to defeat once and for all Confederate Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia and capture Richmond. In the end, the Union had to suffer a total of 18,400 and the Confederate had 11,400 casualties. -
Battle of Cold Harbor
The Battle of Cold Harbor was a disastrous defeat for the Union and left more than 6,000 Union soldiers killed, wounded, or captured. This battle was also known to be Confederate Lee’s last large-scale field victory. Even though it was a victory for the Confederates, the battle was a strategic turning point in the Civil War, considering little chance of overall Confederate victory. -
Battle of Petersburg
In the Battle of Petersburg, Union Grant’s Army of Potomac and Confederate Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia fought for the last time as the Union troops attacked Petersburg. This battle didn’t end until Lee’s Army finally surrendered. Both sides fought hard to protect themselves, but as the Union kept filling up their manpower, the Confederate’s manpower started to diminish. -
Battle of Nashville
The Battle of Nashville shattered the Confederate Army of Tennessee after the Union victory and effectively ended the war in Tennessee. This meant that the Union Army was close to winning the Civil War. In the end, the Confederate suffered 6,000 casualties and the Union only had 3,061. -
13th Amendment
The 13th Amendment was created because the Emancipation Proclamation issued by Lincoln did not end slavery entirely. The amendment abolished slavery in the United States and provided that “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” -
Appomatox
The Appomattox Court House marks the beginning of peace and reunification following 4 years of the Civil War. This site was known to be where the Confederate Army surrendered to the Union Army to prevent further destruction in the South. -
Lincoln Assassination
President Lincoln was attending a play at the Ford Theatre in Washington D.C when a Confederate supporter named John Wilkes Booth shot him in the head. He was killed 5 days after the Confederate Army surrendered at the Appomattox Court House. Additionally, this assassination changed the Reconstruction era drastically.
