Civil War Important Events and Places

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    Important Events and Places

  • Compromise of 1850

    A series of resolutions on January 29, 1850, in an attempt to seek a compromise and avert a crisis between North and South over new territory. The Fugitive Slave Act was amended and the slave trade in Washington, D.C., was abolished.
  • The Kansas Nebraska Act

    Allowed people in the territories of Kansas and Nebraska to decide for themselves whether or not to allow slavery within their borders.
  • Bleeding Kansas

    War between slavery and antislavery in Kansas territory. Led to a lot of bloodshed.
  • The Dred Scott Decision

    Allowed slave owners to take their slaves to western territories which negated the doctrine of popular sovereignty.
  • Lincoln-Douglas Debates

    First time U.S. Senate candidates spoke in debates about slavery. High turnout rate.
  • Harper's Ferry

    Abolitionist John Brown led a raid against federal armory in attempt to start an armed slave revolt and destroy belief of slavery.
  • Lincoln is Elected President

    Often thought of the first event in a series that turned into the civil war. One of the most significant aspects of Lincoln’s election is that he held all of the Free states and none of the slave states.
  • Fort Sumter

    Was the site of the first shots fired of the Civil War.
  • Bull Run

    The first major land battle of the armies in Virginia.
  • Antietam

    23,000 killed the most significant because the union victory resulted in creation of the Emancipation Proclamation.
  • Emancipation Proclamation

    Freedom of slavery would happen if the Union(the North) win.
  • Gettysburg and Gettysburg Address

    Short Speech by Lincoln at Soldier’s National Cemetery showed that less words could be even more impactful than a long drawn out speech.
  • Reconstruction

    The period following the Civil War of rebuilding the United States.
  • Andersonville Prison

    From February 1864 until the end of the Civil War in April 1865, Andersonville, Georgia, served as the site of a notorious Confederate military prison.
  • Surrender at Appomattox Court House

    Robert E Lee surrendered army of North Virginia to Union leader Ulysses S Grant.
  • Assassination of Abraham Lincoln

    First American President to be assassinated. Was killed by John Wilkes Booth.