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The withdrawal of 11 states from the union in 1860 which precipitated the Civil War
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The Confederate states of America was a republic composed of 11 southern states that seceded from the Union in order to preserve Slavery, States Rights and Political liberty for whites
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First battle of the American Civil War. Intense Confederate artillery bombardment of Major Robert Anderson’s small Union garrison in the unfinished Fort in the harbor at Charleston, South Carolina, had been preceded by months of siege-like conditions. No one died
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Lincoln used the Habeas Corpus in response to the riots and threats that Maryland would secede
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Victory for Gen. Ulysses S.Grant in Tennessee, capturing Fort Henry, and 10 days later Fort Donelson. Grant earns the nickname “Unconditional Surrender” Grant.
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The Confederate ironclad USS Merrimack battles the Union ironclad USS Monitor in Chesapeake Bay. The battle is a draw but it makes wooden ships obsolete and ushers in the era of steel warships, changing naval warfare forever.
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General Robert E. Lee assumes command of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia
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Over the course of 7 days of fighting, General Robert E. Lee attacks George McClellan’s Union Army of the Potomac near Richmond, Virginia. Huge casualties cause McClellan’s to withdraw north towards Washington.
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Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation. It frees all slaves in territory captured by the Union Army, and orders the enlistment of black soldiers. From this point forward, the Civil War is a war over slavery.
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When the Gov. attempts to begin conscription, riots break out in New York and other Northern Cities. In New york, 120 men, women, and children- mainly black- are killed before Union troops returning from Gettysburg restore order.
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President Lincoln gives a two-minute Gettysburg Address at the dedication of the National Cemetery at the battlefield in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
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Ulysses S. Grant and 120,000 troops march south towards the Confederate capital. Over the course of the next six weeks, a brutal war of attrition results in the deaths of nearly 50,000 Union soldiers.
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With the beginning of the Siege of Petersburg, south of Richmond, the mobile war of the past month ends, replaced by a nine-month siege
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Union General Sherman begins his famous “March to the Sea,” cutting a swath of destruction 300 miles long and 60 miles wide through Georgia
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The U.S. congress approve amendment 13 which abolishes slavery in the constitution
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Lincoln is sworn for his 2nd term as President of the U.S.
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The Union Army Captures Richmond, Virginia, which is nearly leveled by shelling and fire.
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President Lincoln was assassinated
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The 13th Amendment is oficially Ratified
