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President Lincoln assassinated
Shot in the head by Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth, Lincoln died the next morning -
John Wilkes Booth is killed
The bullet severed Booth's spinal cord and paralyzed him. John Wilkes Booth died three hours later. His last words were spoken while looking at his hands. -
South Carolina votes to secede from the United States
South Carolina became the first state to secede from the federal Union on December 20, 1860. The victory of Abraham Lincoln in the 1860 presidential election triggered cries for disunion across the slave holding South. -
abraham lincoln elected president
Lincoln took office following the 1860 presidential election, in which he won a plurality of the popular vote in a four-candidate field. Almost all of Lincoln's votes came from the Northern United States -
Jefferson Davis elected president of the Confederacy
On November 6, 1861, Jefferson Davis is elected president of the Confederate States of America. He ran without opposition, and the election simply confirmed the decision that had been made by the Confederate Congress earlier in the year. -
First Battle of Bull Run is fought
The engagement began when about 35,000 Union troops marched from the federal capital in Washington, D.C. to strike a Confederate force of 20,000 along a small river known as Bull run -
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. -
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 -
Anaconda Plan
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 -
battle of fredericksburg
The Battle of Fredericksburg saw more troops engaged than any other battle of the American Civil War, almost 200,000 men. Fought in and around Fredericksburg, -
Battle of Antietam
Antietam, the deadliest one-day battle in American military history, showed that the Union could stand against the Confederate army in the Eastern theater. It also gave President Abraham Lincoln the confidence to issue the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation -
Battle of Shiloh
The Battle of Shiloh, also known as the Battle of Pittsburg Landing, allowed Union troops to penetrate the Confederate interior. The carnage was unprecedented, with the human toll being the greatest of any war on the American continent up to that date -
Robert E. Lee is named commander of the Army of Northern Virginia
the most successful of the Southern armies during the American Civil War, and ultimately commanded all the Confederate armies. -
The Merrimac and the Monitor fight of the Virginia coast
in the American Civil War, naval engagement at Hampton Roads, Virginia, a harbour at the mouth of the James River, notable as history's first duel between ironclad warships and the beginning of a new era of naval warfare -
Battle of Gettysburg
fought July 1–3, 1863, in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, by Union and Confederate forces during the American Civil War. -
Emancipation Proclamation is announced
The proclamation declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free." -
Lincoln gives his Gettysburg Address
Lincoln used the speech to remind his audience that the United States was founded based on liberty and equality, pulling from language used in the Declaration of Independence -
Battle of Chancellorsville
Confederate troops, commanded by Robert E. Lee and led first by Stonewall Jackson and then by Jeb Stuart, soundly defeated the Union forces under the command of Fighting Joe Hooker -
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. -
54th Massachusetts fighting a Second Battle of Ft. Wagner
On July 18, the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Regiment led a second U.S. assault against Fort Wagner. The Second Battle of Fort Wagner served as the 54th Massachusetts's trial by fire. The all-Black volunteer regiment first experienced combat only two days prior in a comparatively minor skirmish. -
Lincoln suspends habeas corpus
President Lincoln used the authority granted him under the Act on September 15, 1863, to suspend habeas corpus throughout the Union in any case involving prisoners of war, spies, -
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. -
Abraham Lincoln defeats George McClellan to win re-election
the Republican Party ticket of Abraham Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin won a national popular plurality, a popular majority in the North where states already had abolished slavery -
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 -
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. Union general William T. -
The Battle of the Crater
The Battle of the Crater, part of the Petersburg Campaign, was the result of an unusual attempt, on the part of Union forces, to break through the Confederate defenses just south of the critical railroad hub of Petersburg -
Lincoln gives his second inaugural address
Lincoln's second inaugural address highlights his belief that the institution of slavery was the main driver toward war during the period. -
Robert E. Lee surrenders at Appomattox
Lee surrendered his army to Union general Ulysses S. Grant, precipitating the capitulation of other Confederate forces and leading to the end of the bloodiest conflict in American history. -
Appomattox Court House--Surrender of Lee’s forces
Trapped by the Federals near Appomattox Court House, Confederate general Robert E. Lee surrendered his army to Union general Ulysses S. Grant, precipitating the capitulation of other Confederate forces and leading to the end of the bloodiest conflict in American history. -
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. -
Freedmen's Bureau is created
On March 3, 1865, Congress passed “An Act to establish a Bureau for the Relief of Freedmen and Refugees” to provide food, shelter, clothing, medical services, and land to displaced Southerners, including newly freed African Americans. -
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.