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Confederate forces fire on Fort Sumter
Confederate troops fired on Fort Sumter in South Carolina's Charleston Harbor. Less than 34 hours later, Union forces surrendered. Traditionally, this event has been used to mark the beginning of the Civil War. -
Abraham Lincoln elected president
The 1860 United States presidential election was the 19th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 6, 1860. -
South Carolina votes to secede from the United States
South Carolina became the first state to secede from the federal Union. -
Anaconda Plan
military strategy proposed by Union General Winfield Scott early in the American Civil War. The plan called for a naval blockade of the Confederate littoral, a thrust down the Mississippi, and the strangulation of the South by Union land and naval forces. -
Richmond becomes the capital of the Confederacy
After May, 29th, 1861, the capital of the Confederate States of America was moved to Richmond, Virginia from Montgomery, Alabama. Richmond became the capital of the Confederacy as a reward for seceding from the Union and joining the CSA -
First Battle of Bull Run is fought
The first land battle of the Civil War was fought on July 21, 1861, just 30 miles from Washington—close enough for U.S. senators to witness the battle in person. Southerners called it the Battle of Manassas, after the closest town. Northerners called it Bull Run, after a stream running through the battlefield. -
Jefferson Davis elected president of the Confederacy
confirmed by the voters for a full six-year term. -
The Merrimac and the Monitor fight of the Virginia coast
On March 8-9, 1862, the Union ironclad, the Monitor, and the Confederate ironclad, the Merrimack, met in a historic first battle. There was no conclusive winner of the fight, but it did usher in a new era of technology and fighting. -
Battle of Shiloh
The Battle of Shiloh, also known as the Battle of Pittsburg Landing, was a major battle in the American Civil War fought on April 6–7, 1862. -
Robert E. Lee is named commander of the Army of Northern Virginia
is given command of the Army of Northern Virginia, the main Confederate army in the eastern theater of the war. Union troops are poised at the gates of Richmond. -
Battle of Antietam
The Battle of Antietam, also called the Battle of Sharpsburg, occurred on September 17, 1862, at Antietam Creek near Sharpsburg, Maryland. -
Lincoln suspends habeas corpus
Presidential Proclamation 94 of September 24, 1862, by President Abraham Lincoln suspending the writ of Habeas Corpus. -
battle of fredericksburg
bloody engagement of the American Civil War fought at Fredericksburg, Virginia, between Union forces under Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia under Gen. -
Emancipation Proclamation is announced
President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, announcing, "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious areas "are, and henceforward shall be free." -
Battle of Chancellorsville
was a major battle of the American Civil War (1861–1865), and the principal engagement of the Chancellorsville campaign. -
Battle of Gettysburg
in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, by Union and Confederate forces during the American Civil War. The battle involved the largest number of casualties of the entire war and is often described as the war's turning point. -
Confederates surrender at Vicksburg
The war can never be brought to a close until that key is in our pocket.” The Vicksburg Campaign began in 1862 and ended with the Confederate surrender on July 4, 1863. -
New York City draft riots
On Saturday, July 11, 1863, the first lottery of the conscription law was held. For twenty-four hours the city remained quiet. On Monday, July 13, 1863, between 6 and 7 A.M., the five days of mayhem and bloodshed that would be known as the Civil War Draft Riots began. -
54th Massachusetts fighting a Second Battle of Ft. Wagner
The Battle of Fort Wagner on July 18, 1863, was an unsuccessful assault led by the 54th Massachusetts, an African American infantry, famously depicted in the movie Glory. -
Lincoln gives his Gettysburg Address
Lincoln delivered one of the most famous speeches in United States history at the dedication of the Gettysburg National Cemetery on November 19, 1863. -
The Battle of the Crater
Battle of the Crater, Union defeat on July 30, 1864, during the American Civil War (1861–65), part of the Siege of Petersburg, Virginia. -
Atlanta is captured
Despite the implication of finality in its name, the battle occurred midway through the Atlanta campaign, and the city did not fall until September 2, 1864, after a Union siege and various attempts to seize railroads and supply lines leading to Atlanta. -
Sherman begins his March to the Sea
The March to the Sea, the most destructive campaign against a civilian population during the Civil War (1861-65), began in Atlanta on November 15, 1864, and concluded in Savannah on December 21, 1864. -
Congress passes the 13th Amendment
Only through the Thirteenth Amendment did emancipation become national policy. It was passed by the Senate on April 8, 1864, and by the House on January 31, 1865. The joint resolution of both bodies that submitted the amendment to the states for approval was signed by President Abraham Lincoln on February 1, 1865. -
Freedmen's Bureau is created
The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands (Record Group 105), also known as the Freedmen's Bureau, was established in the War Department by an act of Congress on March 3, 1865. -
Lincoln gives his second inaugural address
In his Second Inaugural Address, March 4, 1865, a re-elected President Abraham Lincoln wanted to unify a broken nation. -
Richmond falls to the Union Army
The Confederacy's capital of Richmond was a chief distribution center for weapons, supplies, and troops, and the city resisted repeated Union assaults before officially capitulating on April 3, 1865. -
Robert E. Lee surrenders at Appomattox
How it ended. Union victory. Lee's formal surrender to Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865, brought the war in Virginia to an end. -
Appomattox Court House--Surrender of Lee’s forces
Union victory. Lee's formal surrender to Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865, brought the war in Virginia to an end. -
President Lincoln assassinated
President Lincoln was assassinated on April 14, 1865, by John Wilkes Booth, a Confederate sympathizer. The assassination took place at Fords Theatre in Washington, D.C., and it had a profound impact on the nation during a critical time in its history. -
John Wilkes Booth is killed
near Port Royal, Virginia) was a member of one of the United States' most distinguished acting families of the 19th century and the assassin who killed U.S. Pres. Abraham Lincoln.