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Uncle Tom's Cabin is published
Uncle Tom's Cabin was a book written by Harriet Beecher Stowe. It was an anti-slavery novel that got very popular in the north; it's believed to be one of the major causes of the civil war. -
Dred Scott v. Sandford decision is rendered
In the early 1830's Dred Scott was a slave in Missouri. After years of torture, he moved to Illinois. Because of the Missouri compromise, which ban slavery, Illinois was a free state. When he later moved back to Missouri, he tried to sued the courts unsuccessfully for his freedom. In 1857, the Supreme Court remorsefully rendered the ruling. -
John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry
In attempts to start a slave revolt, John Brown led a raid in Harper's Ferry, Virginia. His men surrounded the arsenal and took a few hostages, however Colonel Robert E. Lee came with his troops and shut down the raid. Brown was tried and found guilty for treason and got executed.
Even though the raid failed, it did bring up a lot of controversy and conversation about abolition. -
Abraham Lincoln elected president
During the 16th election Lincoln (republican) won the election over other candidates John C. Breckinridge (democrat), John Bell (Constitutional Union), Stephen Douglas (democrat). He was the first republican to win the election. -
South Carolina votes to secede from the US
South Carolina was the first slave state to secede from the Union after the Ordinance of Secession was created. President Buchanan made it illegal but didn't do anything because it was the end of his term and he didn't have anything to prove anymore. -
Robert E Lee is named commander of the Army of Northern Virginia
Robert E Lee was a confederate soldier and military officer that took over the confederate army, changing the name to the Army of Northern Virginia. -
Confederate forces fire on Fort Sumter
The official start of the civil war was in Fort Sumter at Charleston harbor. When South Carolina seceded, the union wouldn't let the confederacy take Fort Sumter because having it is what decided if secession was a joke or not. Around 4:30 the confederate army started shooting for approximately 33 hours, although no one got killed during the battle. The union ended up surrendering Fort Sumter -
First Battle of Bull Run is fought
during the first major land battle in Manassas Junction, Virginia 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 Bull Run. The union ends up rertreating and the Confederate victory gave the South a surge of confidence and shocked many in the North, who realized the war would not be won as easily as they had hoped. -
Jefferson Davis elected president of the Confederacy
When southern states start succeeding during President Lincoln's presidency, Jefferson Davis ran unopposed to become president of the Confederacy. He got elected for a 6 year term, however his presidency ended May 5, 1865 when the confederacy dissolved. -
The Merrimack and the Monitor fight of the Virginia Coast
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Battle of Antietam
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Emancipation Proclamation is announced
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Battle of Fredericksburg
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Battle of Chancellorsville
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Battle of Gettysburg
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Confederates surrenders at vicksburg
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Lincoln gives his Gettysburg Address
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Abraham Lincoln defeats George McClellan to win re-election
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Lincoln gives his second inaugural address
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Robert E. Lee surrenders at Appomattox
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President Lincoln's Assassination
John Wilks Boothe, actor during this time period, made a plan with 6 others to kidnap the president. However, Lincoln wasn't where he was meant to be the night the kidnapping was suppose to take place.
After their plan failed, Booth was desperate to save the confederacy and ended up walking up behind the president during a play at the Ford's theater in Washington, DC and shooting him dead and yelling, "sic semper tyrannis" (thus ever to tyrants).
