-
Union and Confederate States of America Fight
-
Organized Baseball is first played in San Franscico
-
1st Pony Express began between St Joeshph MO and Sacremento
-
Thomas Jackson is assigned to command Harpers Ferry
-
Chicago: Republican convention selects Abraham Lincoln as candidate
-
US Congress establishes Government Printing Office
-
Telegraph line between LA & SF opens bettering communtication between both cities
-
Lincoln wins the presidency. He is seen as a threat to the south and southern states succeed later.
-
South Carolina is the first to succeed. Later Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky and Missouri all succeed.
-
Harriet Tubman arrives in Auburn, New York, on her last mission to free slaves, having evaded capture for 8 years on the Underground
-
The first British seagoing iron-clad warship, HMS Warrior is launched
-
Jefferson Davis is elected president of the Confederacy. Alexander H. Stephens is vice president.
-
Following the secession of the Confederate states, South Carolina was looking to remove Union Forts in their state.
The Bombardment of the fort starts and ends with no casualties with over 4,000 shots fired. The Union surrenders the fort. -
Lincoln issues a proclamation of blockade on southern ports. This limits the south during the entire war and finds it hard to obtain supplies for war.
-
Robert E. Lee is offered to be the General of the Union army but declines because he is loyal to his own states of Virginia. Later he accepts the position of command over the souths land and naval forces.
-
Congress calls for 500,000 men after Lincolns speach.
-
The first battle of bull run happens. The south wins and has a surge in their confidence. The Union relizes that the south aren´t going to be easy to beat.
-
The Union Army under Gen. Irvin McDowell suffers a defeat at Bull Run 25 miles southwest of Washington. Confederate Gen. Thomas J. Jackson earns the the nickname stonewall because of his success against repeated attacks by Union troops.
-
Lincoln appoints George B. McClellan as Commander of the Department of the Potomac, replacing McDowell.
-
Lincoln appoints McClellan as general-in-chief of all Union forces after the resignation of the aged Winfield Scott.
-
Union naval forces capture southern diplomates heading to England, the leading world power, demands their release, threatening war. Lincoln eventually gives in and orders their release in December. "One war at a time," Lincoln remarks.
-
Victory for Gen. Ulysses S. Grant in Tennessee, capturing Fort Henry, and ten days later Fort Donelson. Grant earns the nickname "Unconditional Surrender" Grant.
-
Willie Lincoln, dies from fever, probably caused by polluted drinking water in the White House.
-
The Confederate Ironclad 'Merrimac' sinks two wooden Union ships then battles the Union Ironclad 'Monitor' to a draw. Naval warfare is thus changed forever, making wooden ships obsolete
-
Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's unprepared troops at Shiloh on the Tennessee River results in a bitter struggle with 13,000 Union killed and wounded and 10,000 Confederates, more men than in all previous American wars combined. The president is then pressured to relieve Grant but resists.
-
Gen. Joseph E. Johnston's Army attacks McClellan's troops in front of Richmond and nearly defeats them. But Johnston is badly wounded.
-
replacing the wounded Johnston. Lee then renames his force the Army of Northern Virginia. McClellan is not impressed, saying Lee is "likely to be timid and irresolute in action."
-
75,000 Federals under Gen. John Pope are defeated by 55,000 Confederates under Gen. Stonewall Jackson and Gen. James Longstreet. Lincoln then relieves Pope.
-
The bloodiest day in U.S. military history as Gen. Robert E. Lee and the Confederate Armies are stopped at Antietam in Maryland by McClellan.
-
Emancipation Proclamation frees slaves, issued by President Lincoln.
-
Army of the Potomac under Gen. Burnside suffers a costly defeat at Fredericksburg in Virginia with a loss of 12,653 men. Confederates only lose 5,309.
-
Congress enacts a draft, affecting male citizens aged 20 to 45, but also exempts those who pay $300 or provide a substitute
-
The Union Army under Gen. Hooker is decisively defeated by Lee's much smaller forces at the Battle of Chancellorsville in Virginia as a result of Lee's brilliant and daring tactics. Confederate Gen. Stonewall Jackson is mortally wounded by his own soldiers.
-
The South suffers a huge blow as Stonewall Jackson dies from his wounds. One of the greatest generals of the time is now dead.
-
Gen. Lee with 75,000 Confederates launches his second invasion of the North, heading into Pennsylvania in a campaign that will soon lead to Gettysburg.
-
President Lincoln appoints Gen. George G. Meade as commander of the Army of the Potomac, replacing Hooker. Meade is the 5th man to command the Army in less than a year.
-
The tide of war turns against the South as the Confederates are defeated at the Battle of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania. Reslolted in the largest number of casualties during the entire war.
-
Vicksburg, the last Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi River, surrenders to Gen. Grant and the Army of the West after a six week siege. With the Union now in control of the Mississippi, the Confederacy is effectively split in two, cut off from its western allies.
-
The president appoints Gen. Grant to command all operations in the western theater.
-
President Lincoln delivers a two minute Gettysburg Address at a ceremony dedicating the Battlefield as a National Cemetery.
-
The Rebel siege of Chattanooga ends as Union forces under Grant defeat the siege army of Gen. Braxton Bragg. During the battle, one of the most dramatic moments of the war occurs. Yelling "Chickamauga! Chickamauga!" Union troops avenge their previous defeat at Chickamauga
-
Following Grants successes, Lincoln promotes him again to be in charge of all the union's armies. Sherman is prompeted to his previous possision.
-
The beginning of a massive, coordinated campaign involving all the Union Armies. In Virginia, Grant with an Army of 120,000 begins advancing toward Richmond to engage Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, now numbering 64,000, beginning a war of attrition that will include major battles at the Wilderness (May 5-6), Spotsylvania (May 8-12), and Cold Harbor (June 1-3).
In the west, Sherman, with 100,000 men begins an advance toward Atlanta to engage Joseph E. Johnston's 60,000 strong Army of Tennessee. -
A costly mistake by Grant results in 7,000 Union casualties in twenty minutes during an offensive against fortified Rebels at Cold Harbor in Virginia.
-
Union forces miss an opportunity to capture Petersburg and cut off the Confederate rail lines. As a result, a nine month siege of Petersburg begins with Grant's forces surrounding Lee.
-
Democrats nominate George B. McClellan for president to run against Republican incumbent Abraham Lincoln.
-
Atlanta is captured by Sherman's Army. "Atlanta is ours, and fairly won," Sherman telegraphs Lincoln. The victory greatly helps President Lincoln in his reelection for re-election against McClellan
-
Abraham Lincoln is re-elected as president beating Democrat George B. McClellan. Lincoln won all but three states with 55 percent of the popular vote and 212 of 233 electoral votes.
-
After destroying Atlanta's warehouses and railroad facilities, Sherman, with 62,000 men begins his famous a March to the Sea. President Lincoln on advice from Grant approved the idea.
-
Hood's Rebel Army of 23,000 is beaten at Nashville by 55,000 Federals including Negro troops under Gen. George H. Thomas. The Confederate Army of Tennessee is no longer able to aid the south with good troops.
-
Sherman reaches Savannah, Georgia leaving behind a 300 mile long path of destruction 60 miles wide all the way from Atlanta. Sherman then telegraphs Lincoln, offering him Savannah as a Christmas present.
-
The U.S. Congress approves the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, to abolish slavery. The amendment is then submitted to the states for ratification.
-
A peace conference occurs as President Lincoln meets with Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens at Hampton Roads in Virginia, but the meeting ends in failure - the war will continue.
-
The last offensive for Lee's Army of Northern Virginia begins with an attack on the center of Grant's forces at Petersburg. Four hours later the attack is broken.
-
Lee evacuates Petersburg. The Confederate Capital, Richmond, is evacuated. Fires and looting break out. The next day, Union troops enter and raise the Stars and Stripes.
-
Gen. Robert E. Lee surrenders his Confederate Army to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at the village of Appomattox Court House in Virginia. Grant allows Rebel officers to keep their sidearms and permits soldiers to keep horses and mules. "After four years of arduous service marked by unsurpassed courage and fortitude the Army of Northern Virginia has been compelled to yield to overwhelming numbers and resources," Lee tells his troops.
-
Lincoln and his wife Mary see the play "Our American Cousin" at Ford's Theater. At 10:13 p.m., during the third act of the play, John Wilkes Booth shoots the president in the head. Doctors attend to the president in the theater then move him to a house across the street. He never regains consciousness.
-
President Abraham Lincoln dies at 7:22 in the morning. Vice President Andrew Johnson assumes the presidency.
-
Confederate Gen. Joseph E. Johnston surrenders to Sherman near Durham in North Carolina.
-
John Wilkes Booth is shot and killed in a tobacco barn in Virginia.
-
The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, passed by Congress on January 31, 1865, is finally ratified. Slavery is abolished.
-
Congress passes the 1st reconstuction act, the goal is torebuild the south
-
Congress creates the Department of Education
-
The American Equal rights association forms
-
law to define citizenship and affirm that all citizens are equally protected by the law.
-
The United States Congress authorizes the nickel, replacing the silver half dime.
-
After a shooting altercation between white policemen and black soldiers recently mustered out of the Union Army, mobs of white civilians and policemen rampaged through black neighborhoods and the houses of freedmen, attacking, raping and killing black men, women and children.
-
The House agrees to pass the civil rights act giving African Americans civil rights
-
Tennessee previously a confederate state is the first to ratify the amendment.
-
The atlantic telegraph cable
-
The metric measurement system becomes legal in the US
-
All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
-
Democrats including police and firemen attacked Republicans, most of them African American, parading outside the Mechanics Institute in New Orleans.
-
Nebraska becomes the 37th US State
-
The 1st ever ship passes throught the suez canal
-
Congress abolishes peonage in New Mexico (debt servitude)
-
Congress passes the 2nd reconstuction act after they overide the veto
-
Congress approves the plans for the Lincoln Memorial
-
The US Purchases Alaska from Russia for 7.2 million dollars at the time.
-
Following the impacation of the reconstruction acts, african american now gain the right to vote.
-
The first ever elevated railroad service begins in NYC
-
Congress passes the 3rd reconstruction act even after another veto
-
The US officaily takes occupation of the midway islands in the pacific
