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Abraham Lincoln delivers an address at Cooper Union in New York City. This Address was to show that Lincoln set forth with the Republican Party and confirms its no-compromise stance on slavery. -
The Pony Express was an American express mail service that used relays of horse-mounted riders. -
The national convention of the Democratic Party, led by Stephen Douglas, meets at Charleston, South Carolina. Southern delegates are determined to enforce a pro-slavery stance in the territories but Northern Democrats oppose such a code and support popular sovereignty in the regions. Douglas fails to reunify the party, and no nominations are handed out. -
The Constitutional Union Party, comprised of remnants from the Whig and American parties, nominates John Bell for the presidency and Edward Everett for the vice presidency. -
The Republican National Convention in Chicago nominates Abraham Lincoln for the presidency and Hannibal Hamlin for the vice presidency. -
The Democratic Party meets again in Baltimore and nominates Stephen Douglas for the presidency and Herschel Johnson for the vice presidency. -
Abraham Lincoln was elected president at 52 years old. Lincoln became the first Republican Party president elected for presidency. -
The first Secession Convention meets in Columbia, South Carolina. This was to consider secession after Lincoln became president. -
The Crittenden Compromise is put forth as a last attempt to persuade Southern states to remain in the Union. -
In 1860, South Carolina officially breaks awake from the United States of America. -
Buchanan makes his final message to Congress and calls the Union “a sacred trust.” Unfortunately, throughout his term, he hesitated to take strong action against secessionist leanings. -
Mississippi becomes the second state to secede from Union. -
Florida became the third states to secede from the union -
Alabama becomes the fourth state to secede from the union. -
Georgia becomes the fifth state to secede from the union -
Louisiana becomes the sixth state to secede from the union. -
Kansas is admitted to the Union as the thirty-fourth state, entering as a free state. -
The Confederate States of America (CSA) is formed in Montgomery, Alabama, from seven secessionist states. On February 7, it adopts a provisional constitution. -
Abraham Lincoln is inaugurated as President of the United States. By this time, seven states have already seceded from the Union. -
Confederates attack Ft. Sumter in Charleston, S.C., marking the start of the war. -
The Seven Days' Battles before Richmond. General Lee's army attacks the "Army of the Potomac" under General George McClellan in a succession of battles beginning at Mechanicsville on June 26 and ending at Malvern Hill on July 1. -
The last issue of the abolitionist magazine The Liberator is published. -
Battle of Mill Springs, Kentucky. The Union victory weakened the Confederate hold on the state. -
Surrender of Fort Henry, Tennessee. The loss of this southern fort on the Tennessee River opened the door to Union control of the river. -
Battle of Roanoke Island, North Carolina. A Confederate defeat, the battle resulted in Union occupation of eastern North Carolina and control of Pamlico Sound, to be used as Northern base for further operations against the southern coast. -
Jefferson Davis is inaugurated as President of the Confederate States of America. -
Battle of Pea Ridge (Elkhorn Tavern), Arkansas. The Union victory loosened the Confederate hold on Missouri and disrupted southern control of a portion of the Mississippi River. -
First Battle of Winchester, Virginia. After two weeks of maneuvering and battles at Cross Keys and Front Royal, General "Stonewall" Jackson attacks Union forces at Winchester and successfully drives them from the city. The victory is the culmination of his 1862 Valley Campaign. -
fought on the same ground where one year before, the Union army was defeated and sent reeling in retreat to Washington. Likewise, the result of this battle is a Union defeat. -
Fought between the Union Army of the Cumberland under General William Rosecrans and the Confederate Army of Tennessee under General Braxton Bragg, the costly Union victory frees middle Tennessee from Confederate control and boosts northern morale. -
The Emancipation Proclamation goes into effect. Applauded by many abolitionists including Frederick Douglass, there are others who feel it does not go far enough to totally abolish slavery. -
Conscription, or the drafting of soldiers into military service, begins in the North. It had begun in the South the year before. -
The Gettysburg Campaign continues. Confederates pass through York and reach the bridge over the Susquehanna River at Columbia, but Union militia set fire to the bridge, denying access to the east shore. Southern cavalry skirmishes with Union militia near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. -
The Battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The bloodiest battle of the Civil War dashes Robert E. Lee's hopes for a successful invasion of the North. -
Draft Riots begin in New York City and elsewhere as disgruntled workers and laborers, seething over the draft system that seemingly favors the rich, attack the draft office and African American churches. The riots continue through July 16. -
Sacking of Lawrence, Kansas. In a murderous daylight raid, Confederate and Missouri guerillas under William Clarke Quantrill storm into Lawrence and destroy most of the town. Approximately 150 men and boys are murdered by Quantrill's men. -
The Battle of Chickamauga, Georgia. The Union Army of the Cumberland under General William Rosecrans is defeated and nearly routed by the Confederate Army of Tennessee commanded by General Braxton Bragg. Rosecrans' army retreats to the supply base at Chattanooga, Tennessee. -
Outside of Charleston Harbor, the Confederate David, a partially submerged, steam powered vessel, attacked the New Ironsides, part of the Union fleet blockading the harbor, with a torpedo. Both ships survived the attack, though the commander of the David and one of his crew were captured. -
Bristoe Station Campaign. In a feint toward Washington, Lee's Army of the Northern Virginia marches into northern Virginia in an attempt to flank the Army of the Potomac, under General Meade. Lee successfully outmaneuvers Meade though fails to bring him to battle or catch him in the open. An engagement at Bristoe Station, Virginia, on October 14 gives the campaign its name. -
Dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery at Gettysburg. President Abraham Lincoln delivers the Gettysburg Address. -
First Successful Submarine Attack of the Civil War. The CSS H.L. Hunley, a seven-man submergible craft, attacked the USS Houstonic outside of Charleston, South Carolina. Struck by the submarine's torpedo, the Housatonic broke apart and sank, taking all but five of her crew with her. Likewise, the Hunley was also lost and never heard from again until discovered in 1995 at the spot where it sank after the attack. -
Ulysses S. Grant is appointed lieutenant general, a rank revived at the request of President Lincoln. Grant assumes command of all Union Armies in the field the following day. -
The Red River Campaign begins. As part of an overall Union strategy to strike deep into various parts of the Confederacy, a combined force of army and navy commands under General Nathaniel Banks begins a campaign on the Red River in Louisiana. -
Battle of Pleasant Hill, Louisiana. The Union Army under Banks defeats the attempt by Confederate forces under General Richard Taylor to drive them out of Louisiana. Unfortunately, the result of the campaign would be less than desired as it drew to a close in the first week of May with Confederates still in firm control of most of the state. -
After a rapid raid through central and western Tennessee, Confederate cavalry under Nathan Bedford Forrest attacked and overwhelmed the Union garrison at Fort Pillow, located on the Mississippi River. -
Beginning of the Atlanta Campaign. With three Union armies under his command, General William T. Sherman marched south from Tennessee into Georgia against the Confederate Army of Tennessee under General Joseph Johnston, the objective being the city of Atlanta. -
Attack on the Defenses of Washington. Jubal Early's troops arrive on the outskirts of Washington, DC, and trade cannon fire with a token Union force remaining in the forts around the city. President Lincoln observes the skirmishing from Fort Stevens as reinforcements from the Army of the Potomac arrive and quickly fill in the works. Early withdraws that evening. -
Third Battle of Winchester, Virginia. Union forces under General Philip Sheridan attacked the Confederate army under Jubal Early near the city of Winchester and drove them southward, up the Shenandoah Valley. -
Abraham Lincoln is reelected president of the United States. -
The Battle of Nashville, Tennessee. The Confederate Army under John Bell Hood is thoroughly defeated and the threat to Tennessee ends. -
Assault and capture of Fort Fisher, North Carolina. Union occupation of this fort at the mouth of the Cape Fear River closes access to Wilmington, the last southern seaport on the east coast that was open to blockade runners and commercial shipping. -
Sherman's Army leaves Savannah to march through the Carolinas. -
Sherman's Army captures Columbia, South Carolina while Confederate defenders evacuate Charleston, South Carolina. -
Wilmington, NC, falls to Union troops, closing the last important southern port on the east coast. On this same day, Joseph E. Johnston is restored to command the nearly shattered Army of the Tennessee, vice John B. Hood who resigned a month earlier. -
President Abraham Lincoln is inaugurated for his second term as president in Washington, DC. -
The Battle of Five Forks, Virginia. The Confederate defeat at Five Forks initiates General Lee's decision to abandon the Petersburg-Richmond siege lines. -
The Battle of Sailor's Creek, Virginia. A portion of Lee's Army- almost one-third of it- is cornered along the banks of Sailor's (or "Saylor's") Creek and annihilated. -
President Abraham Lincoln is assassinated by actor John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theater in Washington, DC. On the same day, Fort Sumter, South Carolina is re-occupied by Union troops. -
Southern states, after the American Civil War, in order to restrict African Americans' freedom, and to compel them to work for low wages. Since the colonial period, colonies and states had passed laws that discriminated against free Blacks. -
The 1866 Act prohibits all forms of racial discrimination in real estate, whether committed by government or private parties. -
The United States Congress overwhelmingly passes the Civil Rights Act of 1866, the first federal legislation to protect the rights of African-Americans; U.S. President Andrew Johnson vetoes the bill on March 27, and Congress overrides the veto on April 9.