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The Battle of Fort Sumter in South Carolina was the first battle of the American Civil War. This battle caused many Southern states to break away from the Union and join the Confederate cause (Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas) and caused West Virginia to break away from Virginia to join the Union.
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The First Battle of Bull Run/Manassas was the first significant land battle of the Civil War. Though the Confederate army was much smaller than the Union army (20,000 men to the Union's 35,000), they managed to win, giving the South a major confidence boost. The Confederate victory also made the North realize that winning the war wouldn’t be as easy as they thought.
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The Battle of Gettysburg is considered the most important battle of the Civil War and occurred from July 1-July 3 1863. Lee's assault of 15,00 men (“Pickett’s Charge”) managed to pierce the Union lines, but ultimately failed, resulting in thousands of confederate casualties, and Lee had to retreat to Virginia on July 4. The Union’s success stopped Lee’s invasion of the North and inspired Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address.”
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The Battle of the Wilderness was the first stage in a Union offensive toward the Confederate capital at Richmond, Virginia, which was ordered by Union General-in-Chief Ulysses S. Grant from May 5-May 6, 1864. The battle lasted two days and ended in a draw, with heavier casualties on the Union side, but Grant refused to retreat and ordered his army to keep marching, ultimately resulting in success for the Union.
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Confederate general Robert E. Lee surrendered his army of about 28,000 men to the Union general Ulysses S. Grant in Appomattox Court House, Virginia on April 9, 1865. Lee's surrender signified that the South had lost the war, which effectively ended the American Civil War with the North's victory.
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The 13th Amendment was ratified eight months after the end of the Civil War and marked the end of slavery. Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation wasn’t enough to outlaw slavery in the U.S., so a constitutional amendment had to be created, and on December 6, 1865, after being approved by the Senate and House, it was ratified by the states.
