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In a speech at the Cooper Union Institute in New York, Abraham Lincoln attacks slavery and insists that the Federal government has "the power of restraining the extension of the institution."
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The Pony Express begins. Overland mail between Sacramento, California and St. Joseph's, Missouri is carried over the Oregon Trail for eighteen months by this series of riders on horseback.
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Southern delegates hold a National Democratic convention in Richmond. Party leaders urge a "wait and see" approach.
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Governor William Henry Gist notifies other Deep South states that South Carolina is considering secession as an option.
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Abraham Lincoln is elected sixteenth president of the United States.
He is the first Republican president, and opposes the spread of slavery in the United States. -
Republican candidate Abraham Lincoln, running on an anti-slavery platform, defeats three opponents in the campaign for the presidency; Democrats Stephen A. Douglas and John C. Breckinridge, and John Bell. Although Lincoln won the Electoral College by a large majority, 180 to 123 for all other candidates, the popular vote showed just how split the nation was. Lincoln garnered 1.9 million votes to the 2.8 million spread amongst his opponents.
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James Chesnut becomes the first Southerner to resign from the Senate. He is quickly followed by James H. Hammond
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Major Robert Anderson reports Fort Sumter is being threatened in Charleston as federal forces begin to improved Fort Moultrie and Fort Sumter in the harbor.
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The Crittenden Compromise was an unsuccessful proposal introduced by United States Senator John J. Crittenden. It aimed to resolve the secession crisis of 1860–1861 by addressing the fears and grievances about slavery that led many slave-holding states to contemplate secession from the United States.
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South Carolina secedes from the Union. It is the first state to do so.
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Six additional southern states secede from the Union. The second state to secede was Mississippi.
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The third state to secede from the United States was Florida.
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Alabama is the fourth state to secede from the United States of America on January 11, 1861.
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The fifth state to secede for the United States of America was Georgia.
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Louisiana is the sixth state to seceded for the United States of America.
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The next state to secede from the United States of America is Texas. This make it the seventh state to secede.
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Delegates from the secessionist states met in
Montgomery, Alabama to form the Confederate States of America. -
Jefferson Davis is appointed the first President of the Confederate States of America at Montgomery, Alabama, a position he will hold until elections can be arranged.
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The eighth state to secede for the United States of America is Virginia.
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Arkansas is the ninth state to secede from the United States of America.
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North Carolina is the tenth state to secede for the United States of America.
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Tennessee is the eleventh and final state to secede from the United States of America.
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The Battle of Bull Run, is fought near Manassas, Virginia. The Union Army under General Irwin McDowell initially succeeds in driving back Confederate forces under General Pierre Gustav Toutant Beauregard, but the arrival of troops under General Joseph E. Johnston initates a series of reverses that sends McDowell's army in a panicked retreat to the defenses of Washington. It is here that Thomas Jonathan Jackson, a professor at VMI, will receive everlasting fame as "Stonewall" Jackson.
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Lexington, Missouri falls to Confederate forces under Sterling Price.
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The Battle of Ball's Bluff, Virginia. Colonel Edward D. Baker, senator from Oregon and a friend of President Lincoln, led troops across the Potomac River only to be forced back to the river's edge where he was killed. The ensuing Union withdrawal turned into a rout with many soldiers drowning while trying to re-cross the icy waters of the Potomac River.
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The confederates surrender Fort Henry, Tennessee. The lost of this southern fort on the Tennessee River opened the door to Union control of the river.
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The Battle of Roanoke Island, North Carolina. A Confederate defeat, the battle resulted in Union occupation of eastern North Carolina and control of Pamlico Sound, to be used as Northern base for further operations against the southern coast.
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Jefferson Davis is inaugurated as President of the Confederate States of America.
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The Battle of Shiloh (Pittsburg Landing), the first major battle in Tennessee. Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston, a veteran of the Texas War of Independence and the War with Mexico considered to be one of the finest officers the South has, is killed on the first day of fighting. The Union victory further secures the career of Union General Ulysses S. Grant.
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A Union fleet of gunships under Admiral David Farragut passes Confederate forts guarding the mouth of the Mississippi River. On April 25, the fleet arrived at New Orleans where they demanded the surrender of the city. Within two days the forts fall into Union hands and the mouth of the great river is under Union control.
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First Battle of Winchester, Virginia. After two weeks of maneuvering and battles at Cross Keys and Front Royal, General "Stonewall" Jackson attacks Union forces at Winchester and successfully drives them from the city. The victory is the culmination of his 1862 Valley Campaign.
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Battle of Memphis, Tennessee. A Union flotilla under Commodore Charles Davis successfully defeats a Confederate river force on the Mississippi River near the city and Memphis surrenders. The Mississippi River is now in Union control except for its course west of Mississippi where the city of Vicksburg stands as the last southern stronghold on the great river.
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The Battle of Second Bull Run is fought on the same ground where one year before, the Union army was defeated and sent reeling in retreat to Washington. Likewise, the result of this battle is a Union defeat.
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The Battle of Antietam (or Sharpsburg), Maryland, the bloodiest single day of the Civil War. The result of the battle ends General Lee's first invasion of the North. Following the Union victory, President Lincoln will introduce the Emancipation Proclamation, an executive order that freed every slave in the Confederate States.
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The Battle of Stones River, Tennessee. Fought between the Union Army of the Cumberland under General William Rosecrans and the Confederate Army of Tennessee under General Braxton Bragg, the costly Union victory frees middle Tennessee from Confederate control and boosts northern morale.
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The Emancipation Proclamation goes into effect. Applauded by many abolitionists including Frederick Douglass, there are others who feel it does not go far enough to totally abolish slavery.
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Conscription, or the drafting of soldiers into military service, begins in the North. It had begun in the South the year before.
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The Battle of Brandy Station, Virginia. Union cavalry forces cross the Rapidan River to attack General J.E.B. Stuart's cavalry and discover that Lee's men are moving west toward the Shenandoah Valley. The largest cavalry battle of the Civil War, it also marks the beginning of the Gettysburg Campaign. Meanwhile, the Union assault on Vicksburg, Mississippi has become a siege of the city where soldiers and civilians alike suffer from constant bombardment.
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The Battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania lasted from July 1-3, 1863. The bloodiest battle of the Civil War dashes Robert E. Lee's hopes for a successful invasion of the North.
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Vicksburg, Mississippi, surrenders to the Union Army under Grant. The capture of Vicksburg gives the Union complete control of the Mississippi River, a vital supply line for the Confederate states in the west. At Gettysburg, Lee begins his retreat to Virginia.
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Draft Riots begin in New York City and elsewhere as disgruntled workers and laborers, seething over the draft system that seemingly favors the rich, attack the draft office and African American churches. The riots continue through July 16
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Near Falling Waters, Maryland, Union troops skirmish with Lee's rearguard. That night the Army of Northern Virginia crosses the Potomac River and the Gettysburg Campaign ends.
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The Second Assault on Battery Wagner, South Carolina took place and leading the Union infantry charge is the 54th Massachusetts Colored Infantry commanded by Colonel Robert Gould Shaw who is killed and buried with the dead of his regiment.
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The Siege of Knoxville, Tennessee took place for November 27 to December 3, 1863. Confederate troops under General James Longstreet lay siege to the city of Knoxville held by Union forces under General Ambrose Burnside. Longstreet finally attacks on November 30 but is repulsed with heavy losses. The arrival of Union reinforcements forces him to withdraw to Greeneville, Tennessee, where his corps will spend the winter.
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Abraham Lincoln issues his Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction, which would pardon those who participated in the "existing rebellion" if they take an oath to the Union.
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After weeks of digging, 109 Union officers made their escape from the notorious Libby Prison, the largest and most sensational escape of the war. Though 48 of the escapees were later captured and two drowned, 59 were able to make their way into Union lines.
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First Successful Submarine Attack of the Civil War. The CSS H.L. Hunley, a seven-man submergible craft, attacked the USS Houstonic outside of Charleston, South Carolina. Struck by the submarine's torpedo, the Housatonic broke apart and sank, taking all but five of her crew with her. Likewise, the Hunley was also lost and never heard from again until discovered in 1995 at the spot where it sank after the attack.
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In Georgia, Camp Sumter Prison Camp opens. Universally referred to as Andersonville Prison Camp, it will become notorious for overcrowded conditions and a high death rate among its inmates.
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Ulysses S. Grant is appointed lieutenant general, a rank revived at the request of President Lincoln. Grant assumes command of all Union Armies in the field the following day.
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The Red River Campaign begins. As part of an overall Union strategy to strike deep into various parts of the Confederacy, a combined force of army and navy commands under General Nathaniel Banks begins a campaign on the Red River in Louisiana.
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The Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, Virginia lasted from May 8-21, 1864. Lee successfully stalls Grant's drive toward Richmond.
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The Union Army of the Shenandoah under General Philip Sheridan attacked Jubal Early's Confederates near Fisher's Hill, overpowering the southerners and again forcing them to flee the battlefield. Union officers and officials in Washington believe this to be the final battle in the Shenandoah Valley.
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In an early morning surprise attack, Jubal Early's Confederates successfully attack and drive troops of the Army of the Shenandoah from their camps on the banks of Cedar Creek, Virginia. Hearing the fight from his headquarters at Winchester, General Philip Sheridan rides southward, rallying dispirited troops to return to the battlefield.
Despite several attempts to disrupt the Union advance in the coming weeks, the battle for control of the Shenandoah Valley is over. -
Abraham Lincoln is reelected president of the United States for his second term.
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The Battle of Fort Harrison near Richmond, Virginia took place from September 29-30 1864. In a sweeping assault, the Confederate stronghold known as Fort Harrison falls to the Army of the James. The Confederate efforts to retake the fort fail.
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The New York Stock Exchange opened a permanent headquarters for the first time near Wall Street.
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President Abraham Lincoln is inaugurated for his second term as president in Washington, DC.
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Lincoln outlines his second term talking directly to the Confederate people "...with malice toward none; with charity for all..." and Andrew Johnson replaces Henry Hamlin as Vice-president after he gives a rambling speech while drunk.
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The Fall of Petersburg and Richmond; General Lee abandons both cities and moves his army west in hopes of joining Confederate forces under General Johnston in North Carolina.
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After an early morning attempt to break through Union forces blocking the route west to Danville, Virginia, Lee seeks an audience with General Grant to discuss terms. That afternoon in the parlor of Wilmer McLean, Lee signs the document of surrender.
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The Army of Northern Virginia, Confederates, formally surrenders and is disbanded at the Appomattox Court House
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President Abraham Lincoln is assassinated by John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theater in Washington D.C.
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General Joseph Johnston signs the surrender document for the Confederate Army of the Tennessee and the troops he commands at Bennett's Place.
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On January 31, 1865 the Thirteenth Amendment, which abolished slavery, was passed by congress, but was not ratified until later that year on December 6, 1865.
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The Ku Klux Klan was formed by a group of COnfederate veterans who wished to ensure Africal Americans did not gain civil and legal rights.
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The New York City Metropolitan Board of Health was established by the New York Legislature.
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The United States Congress passes the Civil Rights Act of 1866.
This is the first federal legislation to protect the rights of African-Americans. -
Congress passes an act which created government homes for disabled volunteer soldiers to live in.
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President Andrew Johnson vetoes the Civil Rights Bills, which will later become the Fourteenth Amendment.
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President Andrew Johnson vetoes the Civil Rights Act of 1866 on March 27, 1866 and Congress overrides the veto on April 9 1866.
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Even with President Andrew Johnson's veto on the Civil Rights Bill it is still passed. This bill gave former slaves all citizen rights intended in by the Thirteenth Amendment.
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Confederate President Jefferson Davis is released from prison after serving two years as punishment for his role during the Civil War
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Tennessee is the first state readmitted to the United States of America after the Civil War.
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President Andrew Johnson officially declares the Civil War over even though the fighting had stopped months before this.
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Fredrick Douglas became the first black delegate at a national convention.
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Despite President Andrew Johnson vetoing it, legislation granted Washington, D.C. blacks suffrage.
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The first railroad across across Iowa was finished in Council Bluffs. This railroad stretched from the Mississippi River to the Missouri River.
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Nebraska becomes the thirty seventh state in the United States of America.
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The first Reconstruction Act was passed by Congress. This act laid out a plan to readmit Southern states to the Union.
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Again Congress override President Andrew Johnson's veto and passed the second Reconstruction Act. This act went more into depth as to what was expected of Southern states as they rejoined the Union.
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Congress approved the Lincoln Memorial which would contain an enormous statue of Abraham Lincoln in Washington, D.C.
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Secretary of State William H. Seward signed an agreement that purchased the territory of Alaska for two cents an acre with Russia's Baron Edouard de Stoeckl. This deal was referred to as "Seward's Folly," "Seward's icebox," and President Andrew Johnson's "polar bear garden."
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Black people voted in the municipal election in Tuscumbia, Alabama.
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The first elevated railroad for the United States began its service in New York City.
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The Union Pacific rails reached Cheyenne Wyoming even though the rail crews faced challenging work in the Rocky Mountians.
