-
Jefferson Davis comes out in favor of secession for the first time.
-
Abraham Lincoln speaks at the Cooper Institute in New York City.
-
The Constitution Union Party, meeting in Baltimore, creates a platform taken heavily from the U. S. Constitution and selects John Bell of Tennessee for President and Edward Everett of Massachusetts for Vice-President.
-
Governor William Henry Gist informs South states that South Carolina is considering secession.
-
Abraham Lincoln is elected presdient, first republican, receving 180 of 303 electoral votes and 40 percent of popular vote.
-
South Carolina calls for a convention to decide if the state should secede from the Union
-
James Chesnut becomes the first Southerner to resign from the Senate.
-
Robert Anderson reports Fort Sumter is being threatened in Charleston.
-
Georgia calls for a convention of Southern states to form an independent nation.
-
South Carolina seceds from Union. Followed by Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas.
-
The Confederate States of America is formed with Jefferson Davis as president
-
Abraham Lincoln is sworn in as 16th President of the United States of America.
-
Confederates attack Fort Sumter in Charlestown, South Carolina. Civil War Begins
-
President Lincoln issues a Proclamation calling for 75,000 militiamen, and summoning a special session of Congress for July 4.
-
Virginia secedes from the Union, followed by Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina, Confederacy of 11 states and Union of 21 states
-
President Lincoln issues proclamation to block all Southern ports to stop ability from getting supplies for war.
-
Lincoln calls for 500,000 men for the Union Army
-
The Union army with General Irvin McDowell gets defeated at Bull Run. Confederate Thomas J. Jackson earns the nickname "Stonewall,"
-
Lincoln appoints George B. McClellan as commander of the department of Potomac
-
Lincoln appoints McClellan as generral-in-chief of the entire Union army
-
Ulysses S. Grant captures Fort Henry, and ten days later Fort Donelson. Grant earns the nickname "Unconditional Surrender"
-
Confederate surprise attack on Ulysses S. Grant's and his troops at Shiloh on the Tennessee River. 13,000 Union killed and wounded and 10,000 Confederates.
-
Joseph E. Johnston's Army attacks McClellan's troops in front of Richmond and almost defeats them. Johnston is badly wounded.
-
June 25-July 1. Lee attacks McClellan near Richmond, resulting in losses for both armies. McClellan then begins a withdrawal back toward Washington.
-
John Pope is defeated by 55,000 Confederates under Stonewall Jackson and James Longstreet at the second battle of Bull Run in northern Virginia.
-
Lee invades the North with 50,000 Confederates and heads for Harpers Ferry, northwest of Washington.
-
The bloodiest day in U.S. military history as Robert E. Lee is stopped at Antietam in Maryland by McClellan and numerically superior Union forces. 26,000 men are dead, wounded, or missing. Lee then withdraws to Virginia.
-
President Lincoln issues Emancipation Proclamation freeing slaves.
-
Lincoln grows impatient with McClellan and his slowness, He replaces him with Ambrose E. Burnside
-
Burnside suffers a costly defeat at Fredericksburg in Virginia.
-
President Lincoln issues the final Emancipation Proclamation freeing all slaves in territories held by Confederates and emphasizes the enlisting of black soldiers in the Union Army.
-
Grant is placed in command of the Army of the west and given orders to capture Vicksburg
-
The U.S. Congress enacts a draft, affecting male citizens aged 20 to 45, but exempts those who pay $300 or provide a substitute.
-
The Union Army under under Hooker is defeated by Lee's smaller forces at the Battle of Chancellorsville in Virginia. Stonewall Jackson is wounded by his own soldiers.
-
Stonewall Jackson dies from his wounds suffered at Chancellorsville
-
Lee with 75,000 Confederates leads his second invasion of the North, heading into Pennsylvania.
-
The war turns as the confederates are defeated in Gettysburg Pennsylvania.
-
Vicksburg surrenders to Grant. It was the confederates last stronghold
-
Anti-draft riots in New York City include arson and the murder of blacks by poor immigrant whites.
-
The president meets with Frederick Douglass who pushes for full equality for Union Negro troops
-
A victory by Braxton Braggs leaves Union Army under siege
-
The president appoints Grant to command all operations in the west.
-
President Lincoln delivers a two minute Gettysburg Address at a ceremony dedicating the Battlefield as a National Cemetery.
-
The Rebel siege of Chattanooga ends as Union forces under Grant defeat Braxton Braggs
-
President Lincoln appoints Grant to command all of the armies of the United States.
-
A mistake by Grant results in 7,000 Union casualties in twenty minutes during an battle against fortified Rebels at Cold Harbor in Virginia.
-
Union forces miss an opportunity to capture Petersburg and cut off the Confederate rail lines. A nine month siege of Petersburg begins with Grant's forces
-
At Atlanta, Sherman's forces battle the Rebels
-
Democrats nominate George B. McClellan for president to run against Abraham Lincoln.
-
Atlanta is captured by Sherman's Army.
-
Abraham Lincoln is re-elected president, defeating Democrat George B. McClellan.
-
After destroying Atlanta Sherman, with 62,000 men begins a March to the Sea.
-
Hood's Rebel Army of is crushed at Nashville
-
Sherman reaches Savannah in Georgia leaving behind a destroyed Atlanta
-
The U.S. Congress approves the Thirteenth Amendment.
-
A peace conference occurs as President Lincoln meets with Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens in Virginia, but the meeting ends in failure, the war continues
-
The last offensive for Lee's Army of Northern Virginia begins with an attack of Grant's forces at Petersburg.
-
Grant's forces begin a general advance and break through Lee's lines at Petersburg. Lee evacuates.
-
Robert E. Lee surrenders his Confederate Army to Ulysses S. Grant at the village of Appomattox Court House in Virginia.
-
Lincoln and his wife see a play at Ford's Theater. During the play John Wilkes Booth shoots the president in the head.
-
President Abraham Lincoln dies in the morning. Vice President Andrew Johnson takes over.
-
John Wilkes Booth is shot and killed in a tobacco barn in Virginia.
-
Remaining Confederate forces surrender. The civil war ends.
-
Abraham Lincoln is buried in Oak Ridge Cemeter in Illinois.
-
New Freedman's Bureau bill passed by Congress. President Andrew Johnson vetoes.
-
Texas repeals the actions of the Secessionist Convention
-
President Johnson vetos the Civil Rights Act of 1866 because it was unconstitutional
-
The United States at peace with Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia
-
Congress appropriates $100,000 to buy Ford's Theater.
-
Congress overrides President Andrew Johnson's veto of the Civil Rights Act
-
Winfield Scott dies, West Point, NY
-
Congress overrides Andrew Johnson's veto of the Freedman's Bureau bill.
-
Congress establishes "general of the armies".
-
The U. S. Secret Service begins an investigation into the Ku Klux Klan
-
African Americans in Washington D. C. gain the right to vote in a bill passed over President Andrew Johnson's veto.
-
Nebraska becomes a state
-
Congress passes the Tenure of Office Act.
-
Alexandria, Virginia rejects votes cast by Negroes, who were granted universal suffrage under the Reconstruction Act.
-
Congress passes the 2nd Reconstruction Act.
-
William P. Seward signs a treaty with Russia buying Alaska for 2 cents an acre.
-
President Andrew Johnson demands the resignation of Edwin Stanton, Secretary of War.
-
Edwin Stanton suspended by President Andrew Johnson.
-
Ulysses S. Grant becomes ad interim Secretary of War.
-
Russia turns over Alaska to the United States.
