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Lincoln declared that succession was illegal and that he would hold federal forts in the South.
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The attack on Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina by Confederate forces started the civil war.
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Virginia withdraws from the Union, followed by Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina. The Confederacy now made up of eleven states and the Union had 21 states.
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President Lincoln orders the blockade against Southern ports. This blockade limited the rural South's ability to remain well equipped during the war against the industrialized North.
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The First Battle of Bull Run took place on July 21, 1861. This battle was the first major battle of the American Civil War. The battle saw 2,900 killed, wounded, captured, or missing for Union army and 2,000 for Confederates. When Confederate reinforcements arrived on the battlefield Confederates won the battle. The battle encouraged a sense of victory in the South. Alternatively, the loss resulted in the North wanting revenge.
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17 Union ships move up the Mississippi River then take New Orleans, which was the South's greatest seaport.
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The Seven Days Battles was a series of battles. Lee attacks McClellan near Richmond, resulting in very heavy losses for both armies. McClellan then begins a withdrawal back toward Washington.
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In the second Battle of Bull Run in northern Virginia, 75,000 Federals under Gen. John Pope are defeated by 55,000 Confederates under Gen. Stonewall Jackson and Gen. James Longstreet.
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The battle at Antietam was the bloodiest battle in America's military history. The Confederate Armies are stopped at Antietam in Maryland by Union forces. A total of 26,000 men are dead, wounded, or missing.
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the final Emancipation Proclamation freeing all slaves in territories held by Confederates is issued by President Lincoln. The Proclamation emphasized the enlisting of black soldiers in the Union Army. The war to preserve the Union turned into a revolutionary movement to abolish slavery.
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July 1-3, 1863 - Confederate soldiers came upon a Union brigade guarding the Town of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania. The Confederates were defeated. The Battle of Gettysburg was the last time the Confederate army tried to bring about a significant battle on Union soil.
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The last Confederate stronghold, Vicksburg, on the Mississippi River surrendered to the Union forces after a six week siege. As a result the Confederacy is effectively split in two, cut off from its western partners as the Union forces were in control of the Mississippi.
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Abraham Lincoln is re-elected president.
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The U.S. Congress passes the Thirteenth Amendment to the American Constitution, to abolish slavery. The amendment is then forwarded to the states for ratification.
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President Lincoln meets with Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens at Hampton Roads in Virginia to work out a peace treaty. However, the meeting ends in failure - the war will continue.
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Grant's forces begin a general advance and break through Lee's lines at Petersburg. Lee withdraws to Petersburg. Richmond, the Confederate Capital, is evacuated. The following day, Union troops enter and raise the Stars and Stripes.
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Gen. Robert E. Lee surrenders his Confederate Army to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at the village of Appomattox Court House in Virginia.
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The Stars and Stripes is raised over Fort Sumter. Lincoln and his wife Mary see the play "Our American Cousin" at Ford's Theater that same night. John Wilkes Booth shoots the president in the head at 10:13 p.m., during the third act of the play.
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President Abraham Lincoln dies from his injuries. Vice President Andrew Johnson becomes the President.
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Confederate Gen. Joseph E. Johnston surrenders to Sherman near Durham in North Carolina
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The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, passed by Congress on January 31, 1865, is ratified abolishing slavery.
