Civil War Timeline

  • Presidential Election of 1860

    Presidential Election of 1860
    The Presidential Election of 1860 was the nineteenth quadrennial presidential election to select the President and Vice President of the United States.
  • South Carolina secedes from Union

    South Carolina secedes from Union
    South Carolina secedes from the Union becoming the first slave state in the south to declare that it had seceded from the United States.
  • Forming of Confederate States of America

    Forming of Confederate States of America
    Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, Florida, Georgia, Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Louisiana and Virginia are the state that made up the Confederate States. They met in Montgomery, Alabama, establish a unified government.
  • Lincoln’s first inaugural address

    Lincoln’s first inaugural address
    Lincoln’s first inaugural address was delivered as part of his taking of the oath of office for his first term as the sixteenth President of the United States.
  • Battle of Fort Sumter

    Battle of Fort Sumter
    Was the bombardment of Fort Sumter near Charleston, South Carolina by the Confederate States Army, and the return gunfire and subsequent surrender by the United States Army, that led to the Civil War.
  • (First) Battle of Bull Run (Manassas)

    (First) Battle of Bull Run (Manassas)
    It was the first major battle of the Civil War and resulted in a Confederate victory.
  • Jefferson Davis appointed president of Confederacy

    Jefferson Davis appointed president of Confederacy
    Jefferson Davis was an American politician who served as the only President of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865.
  • First Battle of Ironcalds

    First Battle of Ironcalds
    It was the first meeting in combat of ironclad warships, consisting of the ironclad ram Virginia and several supporting vessels.
  • Battle of Shiloh

    Battle of Shiloh
    The Battle of Shiloh resulted in a Union victory. More than 23,000 casualties, Shiloh was the first battle of the Civil War that saw large-scale death and suffering.
  • Siege of New Orleans by Union

    Siege of New Orleans by Union
    Naval action by Union forces seeking to capture the city during the American Civil War. The loss of New Orleans was considered one of the worst disasters suffered by the Confederacy in the western theatre of the war.
  • (Second) Battle of Bull Run

    (Second) Battle of Bull Run
    It was fought during the American Civil War, being much larger in scale and in the number of casualties than the First Battle of Bull Run.
  • Battle of Antietam

    Battle of Antietam
    Over 23,000 men fell as casualties in this one day Battle of Antietam, making it the bloodiest day in American history. The Union victory at Antietam resulted in President Abraham Lincoln issued his Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862.
  • Emancipation Proclamation

    Emancipation Proclamation
    The Emancipation Proclamation was issued by President Abraham Lincoln. One month later, after the Union victory in the Battle of Antietam, Lincoln issued a preliminary proclamation warning that in all states still in rebellion on January 1, 1863, he would declare their slaves “then, thenceforward, and forever free.”
  • Battle of Vicksburg (siege)

    Battle of Vicksburg (siege)
    In May and June of 1863, Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's armies converged on Vicksburg, investing the city and entrapping a Confederate army under Lt. Gen. John Pemberton. On July 4, Vicksburg surrendered after prolonged siege operations.
  • Battle of Gettysburg

    Battle of Gettysburg
    The Battle of Gettysburg was a Union victory that stopped Confederate General Robert E. Lee's second invasion of the North. More than 50,000 men fell as casualties during the three day battle, making it the bloodiest battle of the American Civil War.
  • Draft Riots begin in New York City

    Draft Riots begin in New York City
    Draft Riots begin in New York City was known at the time as Draft Week, were violent disturbances in Lower Manhattan, widely regarded as the culmination of working-class discontent with new laws passed by Congress that year to draft men to fight in the ongoing American Civil War.
  • 54th Massachusetts Colored Infantry in combat

    54th Massachusetts Colored Infantry in combat
    The 54th Massachusetts Infantry. The 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment was one of the first official black units in the U.S. armed forces. Their courageous assault on Fort Wagner played a key role in bringing about an end to slavery.
  • Sacking of Lawrence, Kansas by Confederates

    Sacking of Lawrence, Kansas by Confederates
    The Lawrence massacre was an attack during the American Civil War by the Quantrill's Raiders, a Confederate guerilla group led by William Quantrill, on the Unionist town of Lawrence, Kansas.
  • First Successful Submarine Attack of the Civil War

    First Successful Submarine Attack of the Civil War
    When the hand-cranked Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley torpedoed the mighty USS Housatonic in Charleston Harbor on February 17, 1864, it didn't change the course of the Civil War, but by becoming the first combat submarine to sink an enemy warship, it altered naval warfare forever.
  • Battle of the wilderness Virginia

    Battle of the wilderness Virginia
    Battle of the wilderness Virginia, was the first battle of Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's 1864 Virginia Overland Campaign against Gen. Robert E. Lee and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in the American Civil War.
  • Fall of Atlanta, Georgia

    Fall of Atlanta, Georgia
    The Battle of Atlanta was a battle of the Atlanta Campaign fought during the American Civil War, just southeast of Atlanta, Georgia. Union forces commanded by William T. Sherman, wanting to neutralize the important rail and supply hub, defeated Confederate forces defending the city under John B. Hood.
  • Lincoln wins a second term

    Lincoln wins a second term
    On this day in 1864, Northern voters overwhelmingly endorse the leadership and policies of President Abraham Lincoln when they elect him to a second term. With his re-election, any hope for a negotiated settlement with the Confederacy vanished.
  • Sherman's Army of Georgia arrives at Savannah, Georgia

    Sherman's Army of Georgia arrives at Savannah, Georgia
    Union General William T. Sherman completes his March to the Sea when he arrives in front of Savannah, Georgia.
  • Assault and capture of Fort Fisher, North Carolina

    Assault and capture of Fort Fisher, North Carolina
    The Second Battle of Fort Fisher was a successful assault by the Union Army, Navy and Marine Corps against Fort Fisher, south of Wilmington, North Carolina, near the end of the American Civil War.
  • Lincoln’s 2nd inaugural address

    Lincoln’s 2nd inaugural address
    Abraham Lincoln delivered his second inaugural address, during his second inauguration as President of the United States.
  • Sherman’s troops occupy Fayetteville, NC

    Sherman’s troops occupy Fayetteville, NC
    Kilpatrick quickly recovered from his shock and regained his camp, Hampton succeeded in opening the road to Fayetteville. Meanwhile at Wyse Fork near Kinston, Confederate forces under Gen. Braxton Bragg attacked one of Schofield’s two corps marching inland toward a junction with Sherman
  • Battle of Appomattox Courthouse (Lee surrenders)

    Battle of Appomattox Courthouse (Lee surrenders)
    The Battle of Appomattox Court House, fought on the morning of April 9, 1865, was one of the last battles of the American Civil War.
  • Lincoln assassinated

    Lincoln assassinated
    Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States, was assassinated by well-known stage actor John Wilkes Booth, while attending the play Our American Cousin at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C.
  • Gettysburg Address

    Gettysburg Address
    The Gettysburg Address is a speech delivered by Abraham Lincoln, dedicated to Soldiers National Cemetery, a cemetery for Union soldiers killed at the Battle Of Gettysburg during the American Civil War.