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The Civil War took five years to end, it started from January 1, 1861 to January 1, 1866
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Abraham Lincoln is sworn as 16th president of the United States of America. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4IgXz5poqY
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At 4:30 a.m. Confederate under Gen. Pierre Beauregard open fired with 50 cannons upon Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina. The Civil War began. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmSP_pQ2LC4
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Robert E. Lee resigns his commission in the United States Army. "I cannot raise my hand against my birthplace, my home, my children." Lee then goes to Richmond, Virginia, is offered command of the military and naval forces of Virginia, and accepts. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xW0s6XFJyw
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President Lincoln appoints George B. McClellan as Commander of the Department of the Potomac, replacing McDowell. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SN1LYIObriY&feature=related
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Victory for Gen. Ulysses S. Grant in Tennessee, capturing Fort Henry, and ten days later Fort Donelson. Grant earns the nickname "Unconditional Surrender" Grant. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ffBXm7kJkk
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75,000 Federals under Gen. John Pope are defeated by 55,000 Confederates under Gen. Stonewall Jackson and Gen. James Longstreet at the second battle of Bull Run in northern Virginia. Once again the Union Army retreats to Washington. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQ3BXovXFYA
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Lee invades the North with 50,000 Confederates and heads for Harpers Ferry, located 50 miles northwest of Washington http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDfAa6jVQRQ
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The president replaces McClellan with Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside as the new Commander of the Army of the Potomac. Lincoln had grown impatient with McClellan's slowness to follow up on the success at Antietam, even telling him, "If you don't want to use the army, I should like to borrow it for a while."
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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. The war to preserve the Union now becomes a revolutionary struggle for the abolition of slavery. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrJjpTCbxyo&feature=related
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The Union Army under Gen. Hooker is decisively defeated by Lee's much smaller forces at the Battle of Chancellorsville in Virginia as a result of Lee's brilliant and daring tactics. Confederate Gen. Stonewall Jackson is mortally wounded by his own soldiers. Hooker retreats. Union losses are 17,000 killed, wounded and missing out of 130,000. The Confederates, 13, 000 out of 60,000. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0awDV7xfz9c
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The South suffers a huge blow as Stonewall Jackson dies from his wounds, his last words, "Let us cross over the river and rest under the shade of the trees." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7CVaW2HhI0
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Gen. Lee with 75,000 Confederates launches his second invasion of the North, heading into Pennsylvania in a campaign that will soon lead to Gettysburg.
