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Lincoln, the Republican candidate, is elected the 16th president of the United States. This outrages the South and leads to the Civil War.
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Southern forces fire on Fort Sumter. This formally marks the start of the American Civil War.
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The Union army suffers a defeat at Bull Run. Confederate General, Thomas J. Jackson, earns the nickname "Stonewall" for resisting Union attacks. This is the battle that causes Lincoln to realize the war will be long.
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Jefferson Davis is inaugurated as the official president of the Confederate States of America.
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This was the first major battle in Tennessee. This is a Union victory in which Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston was killed.
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75,000 Federals under General Pope are defeated by 55,000 Confederates under Generals Jackson and Longstreet. Ends with Union retreat to Washington.
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This was the bloodiest battle in the Civil War.By nightfall of the battle, 26,000 men were dead, injured, or missing. General Lee and the confederate armies retreat.
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On January 1, 1863, President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. This freed all slaves in currently rebelling states.
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Union forces defeat Confederate ones. This battle tuned the tide in the war.
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Lincoln delivers his famous Gettysburg address at a ceremony dedicating the battlefield as a National Cemetery.
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General Lee surrendered his army to the Union, marking the end of the war.
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After the war, Lincoln and his wife went to see a play at Ford's Theater. Lincoln is shot by John Wilkes Booth.
