Civil War

  • Lincoln's 1st Election

    Republican - Abraham Lincoln. Democrat - Stephan A. Douglas, John C. Breckenridge. Constitutional Union - John Bell. Issues were slavery in the territories (Lincoln opposed adding any new slave states).
  • South Secedes

    With the election in 1860 of Abraham Lincoln, who ran on a message of containing slavery to where it currently existed, and the success of the Republican Party to which he belonged – the first entirely regional party in US history – in that election, South Carolina seceded on December 20, 1860, the first state to ever officially secede from the United States. Four months later, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Texas and Louisiana seceded as well. Later Virginia (except for its northwester
  • Confederate States of America est.

    Formed in February 1861, the Confederate States of America was a republic composed of eleven Southern states that seceded from the Union in order to preserve slavery, states’ rights, and political liberty for whites. Its conservative government, with Mississippian Jefferson Davis as president, sought a peaceful separation, but the United States refused to acquiesce in the secession.
  • 1st Battle of Bull Run

    July 21, 1861. Va. (outside of D.C.) People watched battle. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson: Confederate general, held his ground and stood in battle like a "stone wall." Union retreated. Confederate victory. Showed that both sides needed training and war would be long and bloody.
  • 1st Confiscation Act

    Passed on August 6, 1861 and stated that any property belonging to confederates used in war could be seized by federal forces. Any slaves used by their masters to benefit the war would be freed.
  • The Trent Affair

    Union warship stopped a British ship on way to England and arrested 2 Confederate diplomats-James Mason and John Slidell
    Britain prepared for war against US-sent troops to Canada
    Lincoln decided to release Confederates because he did not want to fight a two front war.
    He said Captain of Union Ship acted without orders.
  • Monitor vs. Merrimack

    Monitor vs. Merrimack was the first engagement ever between two iron-clad naval vessels. The two ships battled in a portion of the Chesapeake Bay known as Hampton Roads for five hours on March 9, 1862, ending in a draw.
  • Battle of Shiloh

    Confederate forces suprised union troops & drove them across the Tennesee river; union got backup and won the battle but it was one of the most bloody battles in the civil war.
  • Capture of New Orleans

    April 25- May 1 1862
    naval action by Union forces seeking to capture the city during the American Civil War. A Union naval squadron of 43 ships under Admiral David G. Farragut entered the lower Mississippi near New Orleans and soon breached the heavy chain cables that were stretched across the river as a prime defense. The permanent loss of New Orleans was considered one of the worst disasters suffered by the Confederacy in the western theatre of the war.
  • Homestead Act & Morrill Land Grant Acts

    HS- Permitted any citizen or prospective citizen to claim 160 acres of public land and purchase it for a small fee after living on it for 5 yrs.
    MLG- transferred substanial public acerage to the state governments, which were to sell the land and use the proceeds to finance public education.
  • Second Confiscation Act

    July 1862, authorized the seizure of all property of persons of rebellion and said slaves that came to Union lines were free forever.
  • Harper's Ferry

    John Brown's scheme to invade the South with armed slaves, backed by sponsoring, northern abolitionists; seized the federal arsenal; Brown and remnants were caught by Robert E. Lee and the US Marines; Brown was hanged.
  • Battle of Antietam

    Battle in Maryland that ended Lee's first invasion of the North. Known for being the bloodiest day in the war, and led to the Emancipation Proclamation.
  • First income tax

    Congress levied new taxes on almost all goods and services: and in 1861 the governments levied an income tax for the first time, with rates that eventually rose to 10% on income above $5,000. But taxation raised only a small propaortion of the funds necessary for financing the war, and stronger popular resistance prevented the government from raising rates.
  • Peninsula Campaign

    Botched Union attempt to capture the capital Richmond by circumventing the Confederate army by sea, McClellan responsible for Union failure, also Seven Days Battle
  • Emancipation Proclamation

    On September 22, soon after the Union victory at Antietam, he issued a preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, declaring that as of January 1, 1863, all slaves in the rebellious states “shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.” While the Emancipation Proclamation did not free a single slave, it was an important turning point in the war, transforming the fight to preserve the nation into a battle for human freedom.
  • National Draft Law instated

    The Conscription Act that passed Congress on March 3, 1863, is often cited as "the first draft in the North" or words to that effect. Drafting in the North, under this act, began more than a year after the Confederate conscription act, which was approved April 16, 1862. This has been cited as evidence of different abilities or enthusiasm on the two sides in the Civil War.
  • Writ of Habeas Corpus suspended

    "To release an individual from unlawful imprisonment; through this use it has come to be regarded as the great writ of liberty."It began in the House of Representatives as an indemnity bill, introduced on December 5, 1862, releasing the president and his subordinates from any liability for having suspended habeas corpus without congressional approval.
  • The Battle of Vicksburg

    May 18-July 4 1863
    General Grant led the Union forces in the Battle of Vicksburg. He defeated two Confederate armies and destroyed the city, this was across the river near Vicksburg, Mississippi. Five days later they had complete control of the Mississippi.
  • Capture of Atlanta

    Union forces commanded by William T. Sherman, wanting to neutralize the important rail and supply hub, defeated Confederate forces defending the city under John B. Hood. After ordering the evacuation of the city, Sherman burned most of the buildings in the city, military or not. After taking the city, Sherman headed south toward Savannah, beginning his Sherman’s March To The Sea.
  • Lincoln's 2nd Election

    Lincoln vs. McClellan, Lincoln wants to unite North and South, McClellan wants war to end if he's elected, citizens of North are sick of war so many vote for McClellan, Lincoln wins
  • Sherman's March to the Sea

    Sherman's march from Atlanta to South Carolina, he and his army applied a total warfare, scorched earth policy that led over a million dollars in damage and crushed the south.
  • Surrender at Appomattox

    The Battle of Appomattox Court House, fought on the morning of April 9, 1865, was the final engagement of Confederate States Army General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia before it surrendered to the Union Army under Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, and one of the last battles of the American Civil War.
  • Lincoln's Assassination

    In Ford's Theater, April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth assassinated President Abraham Lincoln, as well as trying to assassinate Ulysses S. Grant, and other politically powerful figures (with "friends").
  • 13th Amendment

    1865
    Abolition of slavery (involuntary servitude).
    Congress has the power to enforce this via legislation.