-
Conflicts about slavery were temporarily resolved by the Missouri compromise. It prohibited slavery north of the parallel 36°30', allowing Missouri to be a slave state yet still part of the Union.
-
Jesse Woodson James is born to Robert and Zerelda James at the James Farm in Kearney, Missouri.
-
The California Gold Rush begins approximately around 1848, and dies out around 1856.
-
Abraham Lincoln wins a close, four-way race for President of the United States.
-
South Carolina officially secedes from the Union, becoming the first state to do so.
-
Following after South Carolina, Missippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana all seceded from the Union.
-
Texas secedes. Seven states in total declare to be independent of the Union.
-
Abraham Lincoln is inaugurated as the sixteenth President of the United States.
-
The Constitution of the Confederate States of America is signed in Montgomery, Alabama.
-
Confederate forces attack Union soldiers at Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina. The Civil War officially begins.
-
Union forces surrender to the Confederacy after two days of battle at Fort Sumter.
-
Virginia secedes and joins the Confederacy after the Battle of Fort Sumter.
-
In addition to Virginia, Arkansas and Tennessee secede, followed by North Carolina.
-
North Carolina secedes from the Union, the eleventh and last state to do so.
-
The Confederacy and Union continue battling each other, with most of the victories in the Confederacy's favor.
-
The bloodiest day in history, a few battles lead up to the Battle of Antietam. Over 26,000 men are killed/wounded, and the battle is officially declared a draw.
-
Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation. It frees all slaves in territory captured by the Union Army, and orders the enlistment of black soldiers. From this point, the Civil War becomes a war over slavery.
-
From July 1 to July 4, the Union Army defeats the Confederate Army at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. One of the bloodiest battles of the war, Gettysburg is a turning point, and marks the farthest advance of the Confederate Army into northern territory.
-
President Lincoln delivers the famed Gettysburg Address at the dedication of the National Cemetery at the battlefield in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
-
General Ulysses S. Grant takes charge of the Union forces. After a few lost battles, things begin to change for the good for the Union.
-
After the change of command, the Union soon begins to effectively destroy the Confederacy.
-
The United States Congress approves the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, proposed to abolish slavery.
-
Abraham Lincoln is sworn in for his second term as President of the United States.
-
The Siege of Petersburg ends after a year as Ulysses S. Grant's army breaks through Confederate lines and marches towards Richmond.
-
Confederacy General Robert E. Lee surrenders to Union General Ulysses S. Grant in a farmhouse in the town of Appomattox Court House, Virginia. The war ends.
-
President Lincoln is shot by John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C. He does not recover from the wound and dies by assassination.
-
General Joe Johnston, leading the largest Confederate Army still existing, surrenders in North Carolina.
-
The Thirteenth Amendment is ratified by the States, and slavery is abolished.
-
Jesse James is shot by Robert Ford in his home and dies.
