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Abraham Lincoln is inaugurated as President of the United States.
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South Carolina became the first southern state to secede from the Union. This ushers in a wave of secession that ultimately culminate in the creation of the Confederacy.
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The Confederate general Thomas Jonathan Jackson earns his nickname, Stonewall Jackson.
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General Ulysses S. Grant earns his nickname: Unconditional Surrender after his first major victory.
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The first ever modern naval battle occurs between the USS Monitor and the CSS Virginia.
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Jefferson Davis is sworn in as President of the Confederate States of America.
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General Stonewall Jackson drives Union forces from Winchester, completing his 1862 Valley Campaign.
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General Robert E. Lee attacks McClellan's Army of the Potomac in a series of inconclusive battles.
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President Lincoln issues a proclamation freeing all Southern slaves, but not Northern ones. A major step forward in ending slavery in the US.
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Lee wins his greatest victory but it is dampened by the mortal wounding and later the death of Stonewall Jackson.
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This battle concludes with crushing Lee's hopes of a successful invasion of the North and ends the South's hopes of ever invading the North again.
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The siege of Vicksburg ends in a Union victory after general Ulysses Grant takes the city and thereby cuts the Confederacy in two.
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Union forces break a siege and released their surrounded army which sends the Confederate Army south into Georgia.
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President Lincoln makes a speech promising a pardon for those who are taking part in the rebellion.
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The Union captures Meridian Mississippi, William T. Sherman leads the attack and this severely hampers supply and distribution for the Southern armies.
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Ulysses S. Grant is appointed to be Lieutenant-General of the Union, and therefore has command over all Union armies.
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General Sherman begins his advance into Georgia to take Atlanta and then march to Savannah.
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This was a massive explosion that opened the Confederate lines but due to poor coordination one of the best opportunities of the war was missed.
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General Sherman arrives in Savannah and takes Fort McAllister, severing the Carolinas from the rest of the Confederacy.
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General Lee retreats from the Confederate capital of Richmond, taken by Union troops. He would formally surrender one week later, beginning the peace negotiations.
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