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Jefferson Davis shows that he is in favor of seceding from the Union for the first time.
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This mail delivery system answered the demand for a faster way to relay messages and important news. This would help war communications during the Civil War.
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Abraham Lincoln was elected the 16th president of the United States.
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South Carolina holds a convention to decide whether or not they should secede from the Union.
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South Carolina secedes from the Union, being the first southern state to do so.
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Jefferson Davis of Mississippi was elected to be the President of the Confederacy by representatives of the six seceded states in Montgomeery, Alabama.
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The Confederate States of America attack and seize Fort Sumter. In response, Lincoln decides to go to war with the Confederacy.
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Tennessee secedes from the Union to join the Confederacy, being the last state to do so.
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First major battle of the Civil War in Virginia. The Confederacy held their ground against the Union, forcing them to retreat.
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The first transcontinental telegraph system was completed, transporting messages and information from coast to coast faster than the Pony Express ever could.
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The second largest battle in Kentucky during the Civil War and the first significant Union victory of the war.
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Johnston's Confederate troops attack Grant's Union troops near a small church in Tennessee. Both sides suffered terrible loses but the Union turned out victorious.
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This was the concluding battle of the Northern Virginia Campaign located in Fairfax County, Virginia.
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General Lee's army is attacked by Union forces in Antietam, Maryland. This was the bloodiest battle of the Civil War and forced General Lee's army to retreat.
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Union forces break the first defensive line of Confederate General Stonewall Jackson but were soon driven away. Union troops suffered more than twice the casualties of Confederate soldiers.
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Abraham Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclomation which freed all slaves behind Confederate lines.
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A mob of hungry and desperate civilians in Richmond vandalize and loot stores of their contents due to a lack of supplies because of the war.
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The Confederacy loses a great general as a result of battle wounds. Lee comments - "I have lost my right arm."
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The largest predominantly cavalry battle of the Civil War and the largest to ever take place in America. The Union army gained strength and confidence as a result of this battle.
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President Abraham Lincoln delivers this short speech to honor those who died in the battle at Gettysburg. This is considered one of the most famous American speeches in history.
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The Union loss at Fort Pillow ended with a massacre of Union Army black troops by Confederate soldiers under the command of Confederate Major General Nathan Bedford Forrest.
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Union forces commanded by William T. Sherman defeat Confederate soldiers defending the southern city under John B. Hood.
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Confederate John McCausland and 2,800 calvarymen enter and burn the town of Chambersburg, Pennslyvania after the citizens of the town fail to give up the money demanded of them.
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Union Admiral David Farragut captures Fort Morgan, Alabama. This event broke Confederate ports of the Gulf of Mexico.
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This battle was one of the worst disasters for the Confederate Army. The Army of Tennessee suffered many loses of men and leadership.
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The Union captures Fort Fisher, an important fort that protected important trading routes of the port in Wilmington. North Carolina.
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Lincoln is elected president for his second term.
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General Lee and Grant meet in Appomattox, Virginia to arrange the Confederate surrender.
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After John Wilkes Booth shoots Abraham Lincoln, the president dies the next morning. Andrew Johnson replaced Lincoln as president.
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The Union Army caught up to Jefferson Davis in Irwinville, Georgia and after his capture sent him to Fort Monroe to be imprisoned for 2 years.
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The Thirteenth Amendment is added to the United States Constitution. This amendment abolished slavery.