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Abraham Lincoln elected President
He won the popular vote out of four candidates. His goal as President was to save the Union. -
South Carolina secedes from the United States
South Carolina was mad that Lincoln became President. They thought that him being president meant slavery was going to be abolished. -
Confederate forces fire on Fort Sumter
The Confederacy wanted Sumter to surrender before ships arrived and they refused. The Confederates started firing and 1 day later the military at Sumter surrendered. -
Anaconda Plan
The plan was created by a Union general after the Fort Sumter attack in 1861. It was meant to cut off supplies to the Confederates with a naval blockade and divide their forces by controlling the Mississippi River. -
Richmond becomes the capital of the Confederacy
The Confederate capital was moved to Richmond because Virginia was now Confederate. Virginia was important to the Confederacy. -
First Battle of Bull Run is fought
This was the first major battle of the civil war. The Confederates won the battle. -
Jefferson Davis Elected President of the Confederacy
Jefferson Davis was elected as a compromise between the moderates and the radicals. He was the first and only President of the Confederacy. -
The Merrimac and the Monitor fight off the Virginia coast
This was the first battle in history between ironclad warships. The Merrimack, a Confederate ship attacked several Union ships before sailing into Hampton Roads, VA. The Monitor, a Union ship, faced off against it in a four hour battle that ended with both ships retreating. -
Battle of Shiloh
This was one of the deadliest battles of the war. Confederate troops ambushed a Union camp at Pittsburgh landing. The Union was saved by a backup of troops arriving and forced the Confederates to retreat. This battle made everyone realize that this war was serious. -
Robert E. Lee is named commander of the Army of Northern Virginia
Lee replaced Gen. Johnson and led the Southern army in the Seven Days' Battles, forcing Union retreats. Lee was a successful general and won the hearts of most of the Confederate states, but his military style caused an overly large number of casualties for the Southern army. -
Battle of Antietam
The Confederate army was stopped and Union won. There were 23,000 deaths. This battle caused Lincoln to pass the Emancipation Proclamation. -
Lincoln suspends habeas corpus
The suspension meant that people could be put in jail and arrested without appearing before a judge. Their 6th amendment was being taken away. -
Battle of Fredericksburg
A fight between the Union and Confederate. The Confederate won but they lost about 6,000 men. The Union lost 12,500 men. It was the deadliest battle during the American Civil War. -
Emancipation Proclamation is announced
All the slaves in the Confederacy were freed. There were more than 3.5 million slaves freed. -
Battle of Chancellorsville
This is considered to be Robert E Lee's greatest victory. The Confederates won a battle where they were outnumbered almost 2 to 1. General Stonewall Jackson died during this battle, wounded by friendly fire from his own men. -
Battle of Gettysburg
The turning point in the American Civil War. It was fought between the Union and Confederates. The Union won the battle. -
Confederates surrender at Vicksburg
The Confederates were hit with two different assaults which ended in a lot of injuries and death. They surrendered because they were running out of supplies. -
New York City draft riots
To help fight the war, Lincoln passed a draft law that said all male citizens between 20 and 35 and all unmarried men between 35 and 45 needed to serve in the military. New Yorkers rioted in outrage at this, targeting mostly Black people or anti-slavery whites, seeing abolition as the reason for the war and the draft. -
54th Massachusetts fighting a Second Battle of Ft. Wagner
The 54th Massachusetts was an all-Black infantry that attacked Fort Wagner in 1863. The battle was quickly won by the Confederates. However, many soldiers from the 54th were honored for their valor after the war. -
Lincoln gives his Gettysburg Address
Lincoln gave a speech at the dedication of Soldiers National Cemetery, in Gettysburg, PA. This was the site of a deadly three-day battle in July 1863 that saw 3,500 Union soldiers killed. The speech is one of the most famous known today and reflected Lincoln's belief that the Civil War was a fight for freedom and equality. -
Congress passes the 13th Amendment
The 13th Amendment to the Constitution abolished slavery in the United States. This followed up the Emancipation Proclamation by making slavery illegal everywhere as a matter of law. -
The Battle of the Crater
This was a battle where the Union strategy was to dig a trench and use gunpowder to breach the front lines of the Southern army. The explosion worked and Union troops moved forward, but got stuck in the crater made by the explosion. Confederate troops easily fired from above at the Union soldiers stuck in the trench, winning the battle. -
Atlanta is captured
Union General Sherman and Confederate General Hood fought numerous battles in and around Atlanta, which was a major Confederate city. Sherman's three battalions overpowered Hood's forces in several small battles, eventually forcing the Southern Army to retreat from Atlanta, boosting morale for the Northern forces. -
Abraham Lincoln defeats George McClellan to win re-election
Lincoln beat him with 55% of the popular vote. Lincoln was for the National Union party. McClellan was a former Union army general. -
Sherman begins his March to the Sea
Union General Sherman led 60,000 soldiers on a 285-mile march from Atlanta to Savannah, Georgia. The purpose was to scare the non-military people living in the South into realizing the power of the Northern army and calling for an end to war. His troops stole or destroyed food and supplies meant for the Confederate army. -
Freedmen's Bureau is created
The Freedmen's Bureau was created to provide food, shelter, clothing, medical services, and land to displaced Southerners, including newly freed African Americans. It was meant to settle former slaves on confiscated land taken during the war. It was ineffective due to funding shortages and leftover bad feelings from pro-slavery representatives. -
Lincoln gives his second inaugural address
Lincoln's address was about how both the North and South were to blame for slavery. He wanted to fix the Union because it was broken. -
Richmond falls to the Union Army
Richmond was the capital of the South. General Grant had pushed his troops along the Petersburg line and defeated the Southern Army. The confederates evacuated Richmond and the Union troops went in and took over the city effectively ending the war. -
Robert E. Lee surrenders at Appomattox
Lee knew that he was not going to win. He surrendered to Union general Ulysses Grant. Lee did not want to destroy his army because they had already fought so hard. -
Lincoln's assassination
Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth. Lincoln was watching the play, "Our American Cousin" at Ford's Theatre. -
John Wilkes Booth is killed
Booth and a companion had been on the run for 12 days and were cornered in a barn in Port Royal, VA. Booth refused to come out and was shot through the neck by a soldier named Boston Corbett. He died several hours later without naming any conspirators in the death of Abraham Lincoln.