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President
President Lincoln was President during the Civil War. -
Civil War Began
At 4:30 a.m. Confederates under General Pierre Beauregard open fire with 50 cannons upon Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina. -
First Bull Run attack
The Union Army under General Irvin McDowell suffers a defeat at Bull Run 25 miles southwest of Washington. Union troops fall back to Washington. President Lincoln realizes the war will be long. -
Surprise attack at Shiloh
Confederate surprise attack on General Ulysses S. Grant's unprepared troops at Shiloh on the Tennessee River. The soldiers were struggled with 13,000 Union killed and wounded. -
Seven Days Battle
The Seven Days Battles as Lee attacks McClellan near Richmond, resulting in very heavy losses for both armies. McClellan then begins a withdrawal back toward Washington. -
Second Battle Bull Run
75,000 Federals under General John Pope are defeated by 55,000 Confederates under General Stonewall Jackson and General James Longstreet at the second battle of Bull Run in northern Virginia. Once again the Union Army returned to Washington. -
The Battle of Antietam
The bloodiest day in U.S. military history as General Robert E. Lee and the Confederate Armies are stopped at Antietam in Maryland by McClellan and the Union forces. By nightfall 26,000 men are dead, wounded, or missing. -
Black Slaves Enlisting
President Lincoln issues freeing all slaves in territories held by Confederates and emphasizes the enlisting of black soldiers in the Union Army. -
Stonewalls Jackson dies
General Stonewall Jackson was badly wounded in the arm at the battles of Chancellorsville, and had his arm amputated. -
Battle of Gettysburg
The tide of war turns against the South as the Confederates are defeated at the Battle of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania -
Cold Harbor
A costly mistake by Grant results in 7,000 Union casualties in twenty minutes during an offensive against fortified Rebels at Cold Harbor in Virginia. -
Re-elected Abraham Lincoln as President
Abraham Lincoln is re-elected president, defeating Democrat George B. McClellan. Lincoln carries all but three states with 55 percent of the popular vote and 212 of 233 electoral votes. -
President Abraham Lincoln died
President Abraham Lincoln dies at 7:22 in the morning. -
Civil War ended
Remaining Confederate forces surrender. The Nation is reunited as the Civil War ends. Over 620,000 Americans died in the war, with disease killing twice as many as those lost in battle. 50,000 survivors return home as amputees. -
Slavery was abolished
The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, passed by Congress on January 31, 1865, is finally ratified. Slavery is abolished.
