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Republican Candidate Abraham Lincoln Elected President
Abraham Lincoln, "American President A Reference Resource"In no uncertain words candidate Lincoln campaigned with promises to end the expansion of slavery into the western terrritories and new states, arguing against the morality of the institution - an argument many Southern Democrats feared would mean policies that would make slavery unlawful. As a result, "seven slave states left the Union to form the Confederate States of America, and four more joined when hostilities began between the North and South" ("American President A Reference Resource"). -
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The American Civil War
The Civil War Period (1861-1865)Conflicts over slavery, States rights, and the Cotton economy of the South would lead to the "outbreak of the Civil War--a brutal, bloody, four-year conflict that left the South defeated and ended slavery at the cost of more than half a million lives" ("American Civil War", Library of Congress). -
Jefferson Davis Elected President of the Confederate States of America
Jefferson Davis Elected President of the Confederacy Drafted by Democratic leaders, Jefferson Davis, a former U.S. Senator from Mississippi before the war, ran unopposed. He served as the President of the Confederate States of America until Lee's surrender. -
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The Emancipation Proclamation
Lincoln's "Emancipation Proclamation"Issued by Lincoln it boldly declares that "all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free." -
Battle of Gettysburg
Newly appointed General George Meade claims a much-needed victory against the Confederate army at the Battle of Gettysburg, perhaps the most important battle of the Civil War and one that marks the turning point of the war for the Union. -
Seaman Philip Bazaar Honored for Bravery
Military Honors Philip BazaarSeaman Philip Bazaar, a native of Chile and an immigrant to the United States where he fought in the Union Navy, was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his heroic actions during the attack on Fort Fisher near Willmington, North Carolina. -
Lee Surrenders to Grant at Appomattix Court House
Lee Surrenders to Grant at Appomattix Court HouseIn the afternoon of April 9, 1865 Lee formally surrenders to Grant who stops his men from cheering as Lee and his staff rode away, reportedly admonishing them that the men in gray were now their fellow Americans once again. -
President Lincoln is Assasinated
Lincoln's Funeral Procession - Harper's Weekly 1865Lincoln is murdered in Ford's Theatre where he is attending a play by actor and Southern sympathizer John Wilkes Booth.
