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United States Civil War
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Kansas becomes a State
Kansas is admitted to the Union. It is 34th U.S. state and was supposed to be a slave state. Much controversy led it to eventually become free. -
Senator Jefferson Davis speaks for Slavery
Mississippi Senator Jefferson Davis presents resolutions as to why slavery should be allowed in the territories. He also gave reasons as to why the nation should protect slaveholders. His intention was to unite the Democratic party. -
Lincoln's Cooper Speech
Abraham Lincoln, a lawyer from Springfield, Illinois, gave a speech at Cooper Union in New York City. Lincoln delivered a forceful and well-reasoned argument against the spread of enslavement and became an overnight star and a leading candidate for the upcoming presidential election. -
Pony Express begins
The first Pony Express mail, traveling by horse and rider relay teams, simultaneously leaves St. Joseph, Missouri, and Sacramento, California. -
Ride-ins
African Americans stage a ride on streetcars in New Orleans to protest segregation. -
Constitutional Union Party Forms
The former members of the American and Whig parties meet in Baltimore and form the Constitutional Union Party, They elect John Bell to be their candidate for president and Edward Everett as candidate for vice president. -
Abraham Lincoln election
Abraham Lincoln elected sixteenth president of the United States. First Republican president who opposes the spread of slavery in the U.S. -
Secession Convention
The first Secession Convention meets in Columbia, South Carolina. -
Crittenden Compromise fails.
Despite considerable popular support for Crittenden's compromise, Congress failed to enact it. It would have required the Republican Party to repudiate its guiding principle: no extension of slavery into the western territories -
South Carolina secedes
South Carolina is the first to secede in the immediate aftermath of Lincoln’s election. -
Committee of U.S Senators
Vice President John C. Breckenridge appoints a Committee of Thirteen U.S. Senators of differing views, including Jefferson Davis, Robert Toombs, William Seward, and Stephen A. Douglas, to consider the state of the nation and to propose solutions to the crisis. -
Mississippi Secession
Mississippi secedes from the Union. -
Florida Secession
Florida secedes from the Union. -
Alabama Secession
Alabama secedes from the Union. -
Georgia Secession
Georgia secedes from the Union. -
Louisiana Secession
Louisiana secedes from the Union. -
Texas Secession.
Texas secedes from the Union. -
Lincoln’s first inaugural address
Abraham Lincoln is inaugurated as the 16th President of the United States. Lincoln calls for peace with the erring seceding states. -
Confederate Constitution Signed
The Constitution of the Confederate States of America is signed in Montgomery, Alabama. -
Civil War Begins at Fort Sumter
General P.G.T. Beauregard bombard Major Robert Anderson and his Union soldiers at Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina. -
Union Surrender at Ft. Sumter
Major Robert Anderson surrenders Fort Sumter to Confederate forces after two days of bombardment. -
Moniter vs. Merrimack
The Confederate ironclad USS Merrimack battles the Union ironclad USS Monitor in Chesapeake Bay. The battle is a draw but changes naval warfare forever. -
Battle of Shiloh
Union General Ulysses S. Grant's forces are surprised at Shiloh in Tennessee. The battle results in 13,000 Union and 10,000 Confederate casualties, more than all previous American wars combined. -
Battle of Spotsylvania
Continuing his advance, Union General Ulysses S. Grant attacks Robert E. Lee's Confederate forces at Spotsylvania. Grant loses more soldiers than Lee. Still, General Lee is forced to retreat south. -
Robert E. Lee Assumes Command
General Robert E. Lee assumes command of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. -
The Seven Days
Over the course of seven days, General Robert E. Lee attacks George McClellan's Union Army of the Potomac near Richmond, Virginia. Huge casualties cause McClellan to withdraw north towards Washington. -
First Battle of Bull Run
First Battle of Bull Run pits Union General Irvin McDowell against the Confederate army. McDowell is defeated, they retreat back to Washington. -
Second Battle of Bull Run
The Second Battle of Bull Run is a resounding victory for Confederate General Stonewall Jackson. Union General John Pope is blamed for the loss and is relieved of his duties after the battle. -
Antietam
The Battle of Antietam is the bloodiest day in United States history. Over 26,000 men are killed, wounded or missing in action on both sides. Though officially a draw, the battle stops General Robert E. Lee's invasion of Maryland and he retreats back to Virginia. -
Preliminary Emancipation
Lincoln issues a preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, which declares his intention to free all slaves in any new territory captured by the Union Army. -
Fredericksburg
The Union Army under General Ambrose E. Burnside suffers a horrible defeat at the Battle of Fredericksburg in Virginia. Fourteen individual assaults on an entrenched Confederate position cost the Union 13,000 casualties. -
Emancipation Proclamation
Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation. It frees all slaves in territory captured by the Union Army, and orders the enlistment of Black soldiers. From this point forward, the Civil War is a war over slavery. -
Military Draft
Congress enacts the first draft in American history, requiring every man to serve in the army unless he can furnish a substitute or pay the government $300. These escape provisions are wildly unpopular with workers and recent immigrants, and lead to draft riots in New York and other northern cities. -
Chancellorsville
Over the course of three days, General Robert E. Lee divides his army in the face of a larger enemy, and manages to defeat the Union Army led by "Fighting" Joe Hooker. The North suffers 17,000 casualties, the South 13,000. -
Stonewall Jackson Dies
Confederate General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson dies from wounds sustained when he was mistakenly shot by his own troops at Chancellorsville. -
Gettysburg
From July 1st to July 4th, the Union Army under General Meade defeats Robert E. Lee's Confederate Army at Gettysburg. Bloodiest battles of the war, Gettysburg is a turning point. Marks the farthest advance of the Confederate Army into Northern territory. -
Vicksburg
Far to the West on the Mississippi River, General Ulysses S. Grant takes Vicksburg after a long siege. At this point, the Union controls the entire river, cutting the Confederacy in two. -
Pickett’s Charge
Robert E. Lee orders George Pickett to assault entrenched Union positions. More than half of the 12,000 Confederate soldiers who participate in the charge are slaughtered as they walk slowly across a 3/4-mile field into a hail of gunfire. -
Draft Riots
When the government attempts to begin conscription, riots break out in New York and other northern cities. In New York, 120 men, women and children—mostly Black—are killed before Union troops returning from Gettysburg restore order. -
Battle of Chickamauga
Union General William Rosecrans is defeated by Confederate General Braxton Bragg at the Battle of Chickamauga, in Tennessee. -
Gettysburg Address
President Lincoln delivers the two-minute Gettysburg Address at the dedication of the National Cemetery at the battlefield in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. -
Escape from Libby Prison
After weeks of digging, 109 Union officers made their escape from the notorious Libby Prison, the largest and most sensational escape of the war. Though 48 of the escapees were later captured and two drowned, 59 were able to make their way into Union lines. -
First Successful Submarine Attack of the Civil War.
The CSS H.L. Hunley, a seven-man submergible craft, attacked the USS Houstonic outside of Charleston, South Carolina. Struck by the submarine's torpedo, the Housatonic broke apart and sank, taking all but five of her crew with her. Likewise, the Hunley was also lost and never heard from again until discovered in 1995 at the spot where it sank after the attack. -
Grant Takes Command
Lincoln appoints Ulysses S. Grant commander of all Union armies, ending his long search for a decent general to command northern forces. General William T. Sherman takes over as commander in the West. -
Virginia Campaign
Beginning a drive aimed at ending the war, Ulysses S. Grant and 120,000 troops march south toward Richmond, the Confederate capital. Over the course of the next six weeks, a brutal war of attrition results in the deaths of nearly 50,000 Union soldiers. -
Battle of Wilderness
During the horrific Battle of the Wilderness, thousands of men burn to death as the woods in which they were fighting catch fire. -
Battle of Cold Harbor
The bloody battle of Cold Harbor is a disaster for the Union. General Ulysses S. Grant makes a series of tactical mistakes that result in the deaths of 7,000 Union in 20 minutes. -
Siege of Petersburg
With the beginning of the Siege of Petersburg, south of Richmond, the mobile war of the past month ends, replaced by a nine-month siege. -
Battle of Franklin, Tennessee.
After a month of raiding Sherman's supply lines and attacking Union outposts, John Bell Hood's army confronts Union troops from General John Schofield's command, who they had encountered the day before near Spring Hill, Tennessee. A massive frontal assault on the well entrenched Federal line meets with disaster. Despite some taking of outside works and defenses, the toll for Hood's forces is too heavy including the loss of six of his generals. Union troops retreat in the direction of Nashville. -
The Battle of Nashville, Tennessee.
The Confederate Army under John Bell Hood is thoroughly defeated and the threat to Tennessee ends. -
March to the Sea
Harassed only by scattered Georgia militia, Sherman's Army of Georgia arrives at Savannah, Georgia, completing the famous "March to the Sea". At Savannah, his troops will take Fort McAllister and force Confederate defenders to evacuate the city. -
13th Amendment Ends Slavery
The United States Congress approves the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, which will abolish slavery. -
Second Lincoln Inaugural
Lincoln is sworn in for his second term as President of the United States. -
Attack on Fort Stedman, Petersburg, Virginia
Touted as "Lee's last offensive", Confederate troops under General John B. Gordon attack and briefly capture the Union fort in the Petersburg siege lines in an attempt to thwart Union plans for a late March assault. By day's end, the southerners have been thrown out and the lines remain unchanged. -
Siege of Petersburg Ends
The Siege of Petersburg ends as Ulysses S. Grant's army breaks through Confederate lines and marches toward Richmond. -
Fall of Richmond
The Union Army captures Richmond, Virginia, which is nearly leveled by shelling and fire. -
Battle of Appomattox Court House and Surrender
After an early morning attempt to break through Union forces blocking the route west to Danville, Virginia, Lee seeks an audience with General Grant to discuss terms. That afternoon in the parlor of Wilmer McLean, Lee signs the document of surrender. On April 12, the Army of Northern Virginia formally surrenders and is disbanded. -
Lincolns assasination
President Abraham Lincoln is assassinated by actor John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theater in Washington, DC. On the same day, Fort Sumter, South Carolina is re-occupied by Union troops. -
Johnston Surrenders
General Joe Johnston, leading the largest Confederate Army still in existence, surrenders in North Carolina. -
Capture of Atlanta
Under General William Sherman’s command, the Union army capture the Confederate stronghold of Atlanta and embark on a campaign of destruction aimed at breaking the will of the Confederate army. -
Slavery Abolished
The 13th Amendment is ratified by the States. Slavery is abolished -
Vetos Freedmen's Bureau Bill
President Johnson vetoes a supplemental Freedmen's Bureau Bill, which Republican moderates have designed to extend protection to Southern blacks. -
Moderate Republican legislation, the Civil Rights Bill
Grants citizenship and the same rights enjoyed by white citizens to all male persons in the United States. It passes both houses of Congress by overwhelming majorities, and when President Johnson vetoes it, Congress overrides the veto, making the bill the first major piece of legislation enacted over a presidential veto. The rift between Congress and the president is complete. -
Racial violence rages in Memphis, Tennessee
Racial violence rages in Memphis, Tennessee for three days as whites assault blacks on the streets. In the aftermath, 48 people, nearly all black, are dead, and hundreds of black homes, churches, and schools have been pillaged or burned -
Congress sends the Fourteenth Amendment to the states
It writes the Republican vision of how post-Civil War American society should be structured into the U.S. Constitution, out of the reach of partisan politics. The amendment defines citizenship to include all people born or naturalized in the U.S. and increases the federal government's power over the states to protect all Americans' rights. It stops short of guaranteeing blacks the right to vote. The controversial amendment will take over two years to be ratified. -
Congress re-passes its supplemental Freedmen's Bureau Bill
President Johnson vetoes it again, and Congress again overrides the veto, making the bill a law. -
Tennessee readmission
Tennessee is the first former Confederate state readmitted to the Union. -
Riots break out in New Orleans, Louisiana
A white mob attacks blacks and Radical Republicans attending a black suffrage convention, killing 40 people. -
Temporary take over
Johnson orders Grant to take over the War Department temporarily. -
"The swing around the circle."
With Congress demanding that Southern states ratify the Fourteenth Amendment in order to gain re-admittance to the legislature, President Johnson begins a disastrous speaking tour of the North to bolster support for his policies in the mid-term elections. He asks popular Union Gen Ulysses S. Grant to come along. When crowds heckle the president, Johnson's angry and undignified responses cause Grant and many Northerners to lose sympathy with the president and his lenient Reconstruction policies. -
Following the president's ruinous campaign, the mid-term elections become a battleground over the Fourteenth Amendment and civil rights.
Johnson's opponents are victorious, and the Republicans occupy enough seats to guarantee they will be able to override any presidential vetoes in the coming legislative session. -
The Ku Klux Klan
The Ku Klux Klan reorganizes into a paramilitary organization led by a former Confederate General, Nathan Bedford Forrest -
African American Males are given the right to Vote
African American males are given the right to vote in Washington D.C. Congress over came President Johnson's veto to give the African Americans this right. -
The North Carolina legislature holds a whiskey party
The North Carolina legislature holds a whiskey party when it adjourns before the state's first election with black candidates. "We have lost all hope of escaping the vengeance of the Northern people," one state senator writes, "and are preparing for the worst." -
Congress passes the Tenure of Office Act
Congress passes the Tenure of Office Act, denying the right of the President to remove officials who had been appointed with the consent of Congress -
First Reconstruction Act
The first reconstruction act sets up five military districts in the South, each under the control of a military commander. The Army Appropriations Act is passed, lessening Johnsons' control on the army. The final act passed is The Tenure Office Act which states that Johnson cannot remove cabinet members without the Senate's consent. -
Alaska
President Andrew Johnson announces the purchase of Alaska. This would be the second to last state added to the United States of America. -
Congress Admitting States in the Union
Congress passes a bill admitting Arkansas, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, and South Carolina into the Union. Virginia, Mississippi, and Texas, having refused to ratify the fourteenth amendment, were refused admission into the Union. -
Third Reconstruction Act
Johnson vetoes the third reconstruction act which spells out election procedures in the South and reasserts congressional control over the Reconstruction. Congress overrides Johnsons' veto. -
Secretary of War intended fire
President Andrew Johnson tells Ulysses S. Grant that he intends to fire Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, who has been a consistent opponent of the president and is close to the Radical Republicans who dominate Congress. -
Johnson's Impeachment
Congress seeks to the impeachment of Andrew Johnson for his lack of interest in forming reconstruction.