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Mississippi Senator Jefferson Davis demonstrates resolutions as to why slavery should be allowed in the territories.
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Lincoln gives the Cooper Union Address, where he stated that the Federal Government would be banning slavery in new territories. This was Lincoln's most moving speech and most people believe it won him the presidency.
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The Pony Express began by going from Saint Louis, Missouri to Sacremento, California. It had 119 stations that were each 12 miles apart. It was a better way of improving communication.
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The members of the American and Whig parties met in Baltimore and formed the Constitutional Union Party, They elected John Bell to be their candidate to run for president and Edward Everett as their candidate for vice president.
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Grace Bedell, an 11 year old young girl, wrote to Lincoln. In her letter she told him that a beard would make his face look more healthy and appealing because it was so thin. Lincoln then decided to let a beard grow out.
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Abraham Lincoln of Illinois wins the 1860 Presidential Election by obtaining 180 electoral votes. Lincoln won 39% of the popular vote and would become Chief of Party for the Republicans.
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Seven senators and twenty-three representatives present a manifesto urging southern secession. It recommended forming a Southern Confederacy.
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South Carolina had enough and decided to secede from the Union.
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The South Carolina Congressmen resigned due to secession.
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South Carolina issued their "Declaration of the Immediate Causes Which Induce and Justify the Seccession of South Carolina from the Federal Union".
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Star of the West, an unarmed merchant vessel secretly carrying federal troops and supplies to Fort Sumter, is fired upon by South Carolina artillery at the entrance to Charleston harbor.
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Kansas is admitted as a state with a constitution that will prohibit slavery,
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The Confederate States of America is formed with Jefferson Davis, a West Point graduate and former U.S Army Officer, as President.
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Abraham Lincoln is sworn in as the sixteenth President of the United States of America.
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At 4:30 A.M the Confederate general, General Pierre Beauregard, opened fire with fifty cannons upon Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina.
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Lincoln calls for 75,000 militiamen and summons a special session of Congress for July 4th.
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Virginia secedes from the Union. Up until May 20th, Arkansas, Tenessee, and North Carolina also seceded from the Union.
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Colonel Robert E. Lee resigns his commission in the United States Army.
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Richmond becomes the capitol of the Confederacy.
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George B. McClellan, thirty-four, replaces the aging Winfield Scott as general-in-chief of the Union armies.
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General Ulysses S. Grant captures Fort Henry located in Tennessee. Ten days later he accepts the unconditional surrender of Fort Donelson. This is where he recieved his nickname, "unconditional surrender."
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General Ulysses S. Grant wins the Battle of Shiloh, but still suffers tremendous losses in his troops.
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The Confederacy starts to use conscription in order to get more soldiers to fight in the war.
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Union fleet commander, David G. Farragut, captures New Orleans from the Confederacy.
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Stonewall Jackson’s Shenandoah Valley campaign begins successfully with a victory at the Battle of McDowell in Virginia.
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Horace Greely of the New York Tribune publishes The Prayer of Twenty Millions. It was a plea for Lincoln to liberate slaves in the Union.
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There is a major battle in Antietam, Maryland. Both sides suffer tremendous losses and it is one of the bloodiest battles of all time.
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President Lincoln issues the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation.
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General McClellan receives Lincoln’s order relieving him of command of the Army of the Potomac.
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Robert E. Lee decisively wins the Battle of Fredericksburg.
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Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation, which declares that slaves in the seceded states are now free
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President Lincoln signs a Federal Draft Act to volunteer more soldiers to fight the war without them having to actually volunteer.
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Lee hands the Army of the Potomac another serious loss at the Battle of Chancellorsville. “Stonewall” Jackson is wounded during the battle.
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After getting shot, Stonewall Jackson develops pneumonia and dies on May 10.
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Confederate cavalry under Jeb Stuart clash with the Union mounts of Alfred Pleasonton in an all day battle at Brandy Station, Virginia. Some 18,000 troopers, approximately nine thousand on either side take part, making this the largest cavalry battle on American soil.
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The Battle of Gettysburg is fought in Pennsylvania. General George G. Meade compromises his victory by allowing Lee to retreat South across the Potomac. This battle last until July 3.
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After a long siege, Confederates surrender Vicksburg to Ulysses S. Grant, which secured the Mississippi River for the Union.
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Violent riots erupt in New York City in protest to the draft. People were every upset about randomly being called to war.
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Lincoln delivers his famous speech, the Gettysburg Address, in which he demonstrates the nation’s fundamental principle that all men are created equal.
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After three days of battle, the Union victory at Chattanooga, Tennessee, opens the way for Union advancement into the heart of the Confederacy.
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After being commissioned to the rank of lieutenant general, Ulysses S. Grant is given official authority to command all of the armies of the United States.
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The Battle of the Wilderness in Virginia is the first of a bloody series of month-long squarrels between Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee.
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The Battle of Cold Harbor results in many Union deaths. Grant prepares for a ten month siege of Petersburg.
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President Lincoln signs a bill repealing the fugitive slave laws.
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Confederate forces under Jubal Early fire upon the defenses of Washington, D.C., putting the Capital in a state of high alert.
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Union Admiral David G. Farragut wins the Battle of Mobile Bay.
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A Union victory at Cedar Creek scares the Confederates and ends the threat in the Shenandoah Valley.
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Lincoln is reelected President, with Andrew Johnson as his Vice President.
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Sherman leaves Atlanta and begins his “march to the sea,” in an attempt to demoralize the South and speed up their surrender.
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Savannah falls to Sherman’s army without resistance. Sherman gives the city to Lincoln as a Christmas present.
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Congress passes the Thirteenth Amendment, which abolishes slavery throughout the United States.
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Columbia, South Carolina, is almost completely destroyed by fire, most likely set off by Sherman’s troops.
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Lincoln is inaugurated as President for a second term.
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The Appomattox campaign begins, with Grant’s move against Lee’s defenses at Petersburg, Virginia.
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Union troops take over and occupy Richmond.
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Robert E. Lee surrenders his Army of Virginia to Grant at the Appomattox Courthouse.
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John Wilkes Booth shoots President Lincoln at Ford’s Theater and Secretary of State William H. Seward is stabbed and wounded in an assassination attempt inside his Washington home.
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President Lincoln dies, and his Vice President Andrew Johnson is inaugurated as President.
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Jefferson Davis is captured and taken prisoner near Irwinville, Georgia.
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All eight conspirators are convicted for the assassination of President Lincoln; four are sentenced to death.
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The last issue of the Liberator was published. The newspaper had now becames unnecessary because the slaves had been free.
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The first day light bank robbery takes place in Liberty, Missouri. This was carried out by Jesse James and his gang, although no one is quite sure where Jesse James fits into this event.
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The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is founded in New York by Henry Bergh.
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Congress approved the minting of a five cent piece, known as the nickel.
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The 14th amendment is ratified. This gives civil rights to all the freed African Americans.
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After the Civil War Tennessee became the first state readmitted to the Union
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Congress passed the legislation making General of the Army a rank. Ulysses S. Grant was the first to hold this title.
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The Atlantic Cable was built allowing transatlantic telegraph communication for the first time.
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The first train robbery took place. The Reno brothers ran away with $13,000
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Jesse James and his gang robbed a bank in Lexington, Missouri. They got away with $2,000.
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African American males were given the right to vote in Washington D.C. Congress overcame President Johnson's veto to give the African Americans this right.
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Jesse James robbed a bank in Savannah,Missouri. The attempt failed with one death.
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The first reconstruction act set up five military districts in the South, each under the control of a military commander.
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African Americans staged a ride on streetcars in New Orleans to protest segregation.
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President Andrew Johnson announced the purchase of Alaska. It is the second to last state added to the United States of America.
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Johnson vetods the third reconstruction act which described lection procedures in the South and re-established congressional control over the Reconstruction.
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Johnson suspended Stanton as Secretary of War after the two fought over reconstruction plans. Johnson placed Ulysses S. Grant in the position.
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The United States takes full control of Alaska by purchasing it from Russia for 7.2 million dollars.
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Congress looked into impeaching Johnson for his lack of unwillingness to follow through with the idea of reconstruction.
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Former Minnesota farmer Oliver Hudson Kelley found the Order of the Patrons of Husbandry.
