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Battle of Fort Sumter
The resupply of Fort Sumter became the crisis for the Union. President Lincoln notified the Governor of South Carolina, Francis W. Pickens, that he was sending supply ships to Fort Sumter, which resulted in an ultimatum from the Confederate government for the immediate evacuation of Fort Sumter, which Major Anderson refused. On April 12, the Confederates bombarded the fort. Although the Union returned fire, they were significantly outgunned and, after 34 hours, Major Anderson agreed to evacuate. -
First Battle of Bull Run
Union forces under McDowell attacked on July 21 and maintained the offensive most of the day. He seemed poised to overrun the Confederates until southern reinforcements under Thomas Jackson stalled the Union advance. Under intense cannon fire, Union troops panicked and began fleeing. Union soldiers retreated toward Washington. Jefferson Davis immediately ordered the invasion of the Union capital, but the Confederates were also in disarray and made no attempt to pursue the fleeing Union forces. -
Trent Affair
James Mason and John Slidell were travelling to their posts aboard the Trent. After the Trent left Havana, the U.S. warship San Jacinto stopped the Trent. Mason and Slidell were removed from the Trent and taken to Boston as prisoners of war. Northerners celebrated, but the British viewed the Trent Affair as aggression against a neutral government. Lincoln ordered the release of the prisoners and apologized to the British, handling the incident so adroitly that the pubic outcry was forgotten. -
Battle of Shiloh
Confederate forces under Johnston attacked Union forces at Pittsburg Landing. Some Union forces under General William Sherman were driven back, but the Confederate attack soon lost momentum as Union defenses stiffened. The battle raged until midafternoon. When Johnston was mortally wounded, General Beauregard took command and by day's end believed the enemy defeated. But Union reinforcements arrived during the night, and the next morning Grant counterattacked, pushing the Confederates back. -
Battle of Seven Pines
Union forces under McClellan proceeded cautiously between the York and James Rivers. The outnumbered Confederate forces took advantage of McClellan's indecision and twice slipped away, retreating toward Richmond while McClellan followed. Hoping to overcome the odds by surprising his Union opponent, General Joseph Johnston wheeled about and attacked the Union forces at Seven Pines. Both sides claimed victory. The battle halted McClellan's progress and disabled Johnston, who was seriously wounded. -
Second Battle of Bull Run
Fed up with McClellan, Lincoln ordered the Army of the Potomac back to Washington and gave command to General John Pope, who soon encountered Lee's army again at the Manassas rail line. The Confederates pretended to retreat, and when Pope followed, Lee soundly defeated Lincoln's new general. Union troops led by John Pope were outmaneuvered by Lee. Thoroughly disappointed with Pope's performance, Lincoln once again named McClellan commander of the Army of the Potomac. -
Battle of Antietam
Lee reunited Confederate forces around Antietam Creek. There the Army of the Potomac and the Army of Northern Virginia engaged in the bloodiest single-day battle of the Civil War. The bitter fighting exhausted both armies. After a day of rest, Lee retreated across the Potomac. Jackson soundly thrashed a force that McClellan sent in pursuit. But for the first time, General Lee experienced defeat. Although Lee's offensive had been thwarted, Lincoln wasn't pleased with the performance of his army. -
Battle of Fredericksburg
Lincoln fired McClellan again, for good, and placed Ambrose Burnside in command.Burnside moved his forces to Fredericksburg where he delayed for almost three weeks. Lee used the time to fortify the heights west of the city with men and artillery. Burnside ordered a day-long frontal assault. The results were devastating. Federal troops, mowed down from the heights, suffered tremendous casualties, and once again the Army of the Potomac retreated to Washington. -
Emancipation Proclamation
Lincoln drafted a proclamation freeing the slaves in the Confederacy and submitted it to his cabinet. Lincoln unveiled the Emancipation Proclamation which would abolish slavery in the states in rebellion on January 1, 1863.Lincoln made emancipation entirely conditional on a Union military victory, a gambit designed to force critics of the war, whether in the United States or Great Britain, to rally behind his cause. -
Battle of Chancellorsville
After Burnside's disaster at Fredericksburg, Lincoln demoted him and elevated General Joseph Hooker. Despite Hooker's reputation for bravery in battle Lee soundly defeated his forces at Chancellorsville. After Hooker had maneuvered Lee into a corer, Jackson unleashed a vicious attack, and according to one of his subordinates Hooker simply lost his nerve. Hooker resigned, and Lincoln replaced him with General George Meade. -
Battle of Gettysburg
The Army of Northern Virginia invaded the Union and net only weak opposition as it crossed the Potomac River. Learning that Union forces were in the area of Gettysburg and believing them to be weaker than they were, Lee moved to engage the Federals. Meade, whole Army of the Potomac had been trailing Lee's army as it marched north from Chancellorsville, reinforced Gettysburg. On the following day, the two armies began a furious three-day battle. Meade's forces drove off the attack and Lee lost. -
The Gettysburg Address
Lincoln participated in the dedication of the national cemetery at the site where, just months before, the Battle of Gettysburg had taken the lives of thousands. In the speech he delivered, Lincoln dedicated not only the cemetery but the war effort itself to the fallen soldiers, and also to a principle. The Gettysburg Address was circulated in the media and galvanized many Americans who had come to doubt the war's purpose. -
Battle of the Wilderness
Grant and Meade moved toward Richmond and Lee. The next day, Union and Confederate armies collided in a tangle of woods called the Wilderness, near Chancellorsville. Two days of bloody fighting followed. Grant decided to skirt Lee's troops and head for Richmond, but Lee anticipated the maneuver and blocked Grant's route at Spotsylvania. Twelve days of fighting ensued. Grant again attempted to move around Lee, and again Lee anticipated him. -
Battle of Spotsylvania
Lee's army beat the Union army to the critical crossroads of Spotsylvania Court House and began entrenching. Fighting occurred on and off, as Grant tried various schemes to break the Confederate line. In the end, the battle was tactically inconclusive, but both sides declared victory. The Confederacy declared victory because they were able to hold their defenses. The United States declared victory because the Federal offensive continued and Lee's army suffered losses that could not be replaced. -
Battle of Cold Harbor
Union and Confederate armies met at Cold Harbor. After each side consolidated its position, Grant ordered a series of frontal attacks against the entrenched Confederates. Lee's veteran troops waited patiently in the best position the had ever defended, while Union soldiers expecting to die marched toward them. The assault failed amid unspeakable slaughter. After Cold Harbor, Grant steered the Union army toward Petersburg to try to take the vital rail center and cut off the southern capital. -
Robert e. Lee's Surrender
Grant ordered an immediate assault as Lee's forces retreated from Petersburg. Lee had little ammunition, almost no food, and only thirty-five thousand men. Sheridan's Army of the Shenandoah arrived, cutting off Lee's retreat. Union forces now surrounded Lee's broken army. Lee sent a note offering surrender. The two generals met in private. Grant offered generous terms, allowing Confederate officers and men to go home as long as they observe their paroles and the laws in force where they reside. -
Abraham Lincoln's Assassination
With victory in hand and a peace plan in place, after and exhausting day in conference with Grant and his cabinet, Lincoln chose to relax by attending a play at Ford's Theater in Washington. John Booth, an actor and a southern sympathizer, entered the president's box and shot him.The following morning, Lincoln died of his wound. -
Joseph E. Johnston's Surrender
Even though Lincoln was dead and Lee had fallen, the war continued. Johnston, whose forces succeeded in preventing Sherman from joining Grant, did not surrender until April 18. After three separate days of negotiations, Johnston surrendered the Army of Tennessee and all remaining Confederate forces still active in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. -
Jefferson Davis's Capture
Although most of his forces had been defeated, Jefferson Davis remained in hiding and called for guerrilla warfare and continued resistance. But one by one, the Confederate officers surrendered to their Union opponents. Davis was captured near Irwinville, Georgia. Andrew Johnson, who had assumed the presidency upon Lincoln's death, issued a statement to the American people that armed rebellion against legitimate authority could be considered virtually at an end. -
Battle of Palmito Ranch
Union and Confederate forces in southern Texas had been observing an unofficial truce since the beginning of 1865. But Union Colonel Theodore Barrett, newly assigned to command an all-black unit, and never having been in combat, ordered an attack on a Confederate camp near Fort Brown for unknown reasons. The Union attackers captured a few prisoners, but the following day the attack was repulsed near Palmito Ranch by Colonel John Ford, and the battle resulted in a Union defeat.
