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Period: to
Civil War
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Harper's Ferry
John Brown and fellow abolitionists captured citizens of Haper's Ferry hoping that slaves would join the raid and aquire weapons and fight for freedom. Robert E. Lee ended up capturing Brown, and he was sentenced to death. -
Lincoln's First Election
Abraham Lincoln was elected the 16th president being the first Republican President. This was because the Democratic Party was deeply divided due to the issue of slavery. -
South Secedes
South Carolina was the first state to seceed from the Union. By the time Lincoln took office, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas had seceeded too. In 1861, the seven states formed the Confederate States. -
Confederate States of America Established
South Carolina was the first state to secede, and before Loncoln took office, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas had seceded. The seven states met at Montgomery, Alabama, and announced the formation of the Confederate States of Americs. -
1st Battle of Bull Run
McDowell almost succeded in dispersing the Confederate forces, but Southerners stopped a last strong Union attack and then began a counterattack. After many exghausting hours the Union panicked a retreated chaotically. -
First Income Tax
To help finance the war, the government levied an income tax for the first time. The rates eventually rose to 10 percent on incomes above $5,000, but this only raised a small portion of the needed funds. -
1st Confiscation Act
The First Consification Act authorized the Union to seize the Confederates' property. The act freed all slaves that fought or worked for the Confederate Military. Linoln objected because he thought it would make border states seceed to protect their slaves. -
Trent Affair
A crisis between the U.S. and Britain during the Civil War after the captain of the San Jacinto ordered the arrest of two confederate diplomats, James M. Madison and John Slidell, who had boarded the "Trent" to find supporters for the South, in Europe. The British claimed to be neutral in the war, but Lincoln seiezed the ship. Lincoln released the ship to avoid British conflict. -
Monitor v. Merrimac
The Monitor and Merricac were Ironclads, or ships enforced with iron. The Confederates plated a former US frigate with iron that no ship could destroy. In response the Union built a ship completley out of iron, called the Monitor. When the two went to battle, the Monitor came out on top. -
Shiloh
The Union, looking to seize control of railroadlines, came upon Confederate forces almost equal in size. After two days of fighting the Union was able to make the South withdraw and occupy Corinth, Mississippi and established control of the Mississippi as far south as Memphis. -
Capture of New Orleans
Union Ironclads and wooden vessels smashed past weak Confederate forts near the mouth of the Mississippi, and from there sailed up New Orleans, which was defenseless because the Confederates expected the attack from the north. The city surrended, being the first major and important Union victory. -
Homestead/Morrill Land Grant Acts
With Southern forces out of Congress, the Republican party could excercise unchallenged authority, and it enacted an aggressively nationalistic prgram to promote economic development. The Homestead Act of !862 permitted any citizen to claim 160 acres of public land and prchase it for a small fee after living on it for five years. The Morrill Land Grant Act transferred substantial public acreage to the state governments, which were to sell the land and use the proceeds to finance public schools -
2nd Confiscation Act
The act said that all slaves in the Confederate would be freed forever, but was only aplicable to Southern territories that had been seized by the Union. Licoln was nervous abot the border states seceeding and urged for a slow emancipation instead. -
Antietam
The bloodiest single-day battle, McCellan's 87,000 man army repeatedly attacked Lee's force of 50,000, with enormous casualties on both sides. McCellan had a chance to break through, but allowed Lee to retreat. In November, Lincoln removed McCellan from command. -
Writ of Habeas Corpus suspended
Habeas Corpus is a court order directing that anyone arrested be brought before the court to see if their is sufficient evidence to hold the person for trial. Lincoln suspended this in the area around DC, and later the rest of the nation, permitting military authorities to arrest persons suspected of being disloyal to the Union even without evidence of guilt. -
Emancipation Proclomation
Licoln signed the Emancipation Proclomation, freeing slaves in all areas of the Confederacy, except those already under Union control. It did not apply to border states , which had never seceeded from the Union and therefore were not subject to the president's war powers. -
National Draft Law instated
Enlistment had declined after the first flush of enthuasiam, and a draft law was instituted. Almost all young men were eligable to be drafted; but a man could escape service by hiring someone to go in his place or by paying the government a fee of $300. -
Vicksburg
Grant attacked the Confederates from behind at Vicksburg, one of two of the South's remaining strongholds on the Southern Mississippi River. On July 4, Vicksburg residents surrendered due to starvation. -
Capture of Atlanta
Johnston won the battle, but was unable to stop the Union, under Sherman's lead, to advance toward Atlanta. Johnston was replaced by John B. Hood because he had accomplished nothing and only weaked his own forces. Sherman took Atlanta and helped unite the previously divided Republican Party behind Lincoln. -
Lincoln's Re-election
No electoral votes from any of the eleven southern states were counted for in his election. The south lost all hope for negotiated settlements. -
Sherman's March to the Sea
Sherman's troopseft after capturing Atlanta and ended with the capture of the port of Savanah. They destroyed much of the southern land and disrupted the economy and transportortation networks. -
Capture of Richmond
Grant captured a vital railroad junction southwest of Petersburg, and Lee left Richmond because he was cut off from other Confederate forces. This led to the surrender of the Confederates. -
Surrender at Appomattox
Lee arranged to meet grant at a private home in the small town of Appomattox Court House, Virninia, after his escape route was blocked. On April 9, he surrendered the rest of his forces. Johnston surrendered 9 days later to Sherman -
Lincoln's Assassination
The president and his wife attended a play at Ford's Theater in Washington. As they sat in the presidential box, John Wilkes Booth, a member of a distinguished family of actors and a zealous advocate of the Southern cause, entered the box from the rear and shot Lincoln in the head. -
13th Admendment
The 13th Amendment is ratified. It states, "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."