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Abraham Lincoln Elected as President (first term)
Abraham Lincoln was elected as the 16th president of the United States as the first Republican President. The announcment of Lincolns victory triggered the secession of the Southern states , thus leading to the outbreak of the Civil War. -
Attack on Fort Sumter
The Confederate Army under General P.G.T Beauregard opened fire on Union held Fort Sumter in South Carolina. On April 13 U.S. Major Robert Anderson surrendered the fort. Two days later President Lincoln called out asking for 75,000 volunteer soldiers. -
First Battle of Bull Run (First Manassas)
Union and Confederate armies meet near Manassas Junction, Virginia, in the first major land battle of the American Civil War. 35,000 Union troops marched from the federal capital in Washington, D.C. to beat a Confederate force of 20,000 along a small river known as Bull Run. The Confederate victory gave the South a great deal of confidence and help the North realize the war would not be won as easily as they had hoped. -
Battle of Pea Ridge
Gen. Earl Van Dorn set out to outflank the Union position near Pea Ridge, dividing his army into two columns. Learning of Van Dorn’s approach, the Federals marched north to meet his advance. This movement—compounded by the killing of two generals, Brig. Gen. Ben McCulloch and Brig. Gen. James McQueen McIntosh, and the capture of their ranking colonel—halted the Rebel attack. The Union's uccessfully employing artillery, slowly forced the Rebels back. The union had controll of the Mississippi. -
USS Monitor vs. CSS Virginia
In an attempt to reduce the North's great naval advantage, Confederate engineers converted a scuttled Union frigate, the U.S.S. Merrimack, into an iron-sided vessel rechristened the C.S.S. Virginia. On March 9, in the first naval engagement between ironclad ships, the Monitor fought the Virginia to a draw, but not before the Virginia had sunk two wooden Union warships off Norfolk, Virginia. -
Battle of Shiloh (Union Victory)
The Battle of Shiloh occured in Hardin County, Tennessee. The union army gained greater control over the mississippi River valley. It was b/w Johnston and Grant. During the bloody two-day battle, each side gained and lost ground. Johnston was killed on the first day. The arrival of the Ohio force helped Grant regain territory and push the enemy back into Mississippi. The armies finally gave out, each with about 10,000 casualties. Both sides claimed victory, but, in fact, the victor was Grant. -
Seven Days' Battles
The Seven Days Battles was a series of six major battles over the seven days from June 25 to July 1, 1862, near Richmond, Virginia. Confederate General Robert E. Lee drove the invading Union Army of the Potomac, commanded by Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan, away from Richmond and into a retreat down the Virginia Peninsula. The Seven Days ended with McClellan's army in safety next to the James River Lee became convinced that McClellan wouldnt resume his threat against Richmond, he moved north. -
Second Battle of Bull Run (Second Manassas)
On August 29, Union General Pope met with Confederate General Jackson's men, Both sides suffered greatly but in the end the Confederates had a victory. The counter attack of Confederate General Longstreet forced Pope to retreat his army back to Washington in a tragic defeat. -
Battle of Antietam
Confederate and Union troops meet near Maryland's Antietam Creek in the bloodiest one-day battle in American history.Union forces led by General George B. McClellan forced the Confederate Army, led by General Robert E. Lee, to retreat back across the Potomac River. President Lincoln saw the significance of this and issued the Emancipation Proclamation. -
Emancipation Proclamation
President Abraham Lincoln issues an Emancipation Proclamation, which sets a date for the freedom of more than 3 million black slaves in the United States and recasts the Civil War as a fight against slavery. The final Emancipation Proclamation declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebel states "are, and henceforward shall be free." -
Battle of Chancellorsville
Lee used his army of around 6000 men to attack Hooker's troops at Chancellorsville. Stomewall Jackson led an attack on Hooker's flank while Lee commanded an assault on the Union front. The Union army was almost cut in two. They managed to form a defensive line, which they held for three days. Then Hooker ordered a retreat. Lee's army won a major victory. -
The Siege of Vicksburg
Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s armies converged on Vicksburg, investing the city and entrapping a Confederate army under Lt. Gen. John Pemberton. Vicksburg surrendered after prolonged siege operations. This was the culmination of one of the most brilliant military campaigns of the war. With the loss of Pemberton’s army and this vital stronghold on the Mississippi, the Confederacy was split in half. Grant's successes in the West boosted his reputation leading to hisappointment as General-in-Chief. -
Battle of Gettysburg
Confederate General Lee unknowingly clashed with Union troops in Gettysburg Pennsylvania. Confederate forces began to push Union troops back but Union forced held their ground. On the third day of the battle Confederate troops launched Pickett's Charge which proved to be unsucessful. Then on the fourth day, Lee began to retreat to Virginia. Gettysburg was a key battle that turned tides against the Confederates. -
Battle of Chickamauga
The Battle of Chickamauga was one of the major clashes of arms between the forces of the Federal North and the Confederate South. The Federal Army of the Cumberland versus the Confederate Army of Tennessee in what was later called “The Bloody Battle in the West”. -
Gettysburg Address
On the site of one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War, President Licoln delivered the Gettysburg Address at the official dedication ceremony for the National Cemetery of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania. In it, he called the principles of human equality in the Declaration of Independence and the important preservation of the Union created in 1776 and its ideal of self-government. -
Battle of Chattanooga
The battle for Chattanooga was the turning point in the Civil War because it opened the doorway to the Union forces for invasion into the deep South at the last moment for making possible the capture of Atlanta in time to influence the 1864 congressional and presidential elections. UnionVictory. 12,485 casualties of which 6,670 were Confederate soldiers. The main leader for the Union was Major General Ulysses S. Grant and for the confederates, it was General Braxton Bragg. -
Battle of Spotsylvania
This two-week battle was a series of combats along the Spotsylvania front. The Union attack against them at dawn captured nearly a division of Lee’s army and came near to cutting the Confederate army in half. Confederate counterattacks plugged the gap, and fighting continued unabated for nearly 20 hours. On May 19, a Confederate attempt to turn the Union right flank at Harris Farm was beaten.On May 21, Grant disengaged and continued his advance on Richmond. -
President Lincoln is re-elected (second term)
Northerners voters re-elect President Abraham Lincoln into a second term as president. Now that Lincoln is in office for a second term, northerners think that there is no hope for unity with the Confederates. Five months after Lincoln's re-election, the Confederacy finally gave up. -
Surrendure at Appomattox Court House
With his army surrounded, his men weak and exhausted, Robert E. Lee realized there was little choice but to consider the surrender of his Army to General Grant. After a series of notes between the two leaders, they agreed to meet on April 9, 1865, at the house of Wilmer McLean in the village of Appomattox Courthouse. The meeting lasted approximately two and one-half hours and at its conclusion the bloodliest conflict in the nation's history neared its end. -
Assassination of Lincoln
John Wilkes Booth fataly shot President Abraham Lincoln at a play at Ford's theater in Washington D.C. This attack came only 5 days after General Lee of the Confederate Army surrendered his army at the Appomattox Court House in Virginia, thus ending the American Civil War.
