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After South Carolina secedes (Dec. 20, 1860), Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas follow, forming the Confederate States of America, with Jefferson Davis as president.
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War begins as Confederates fire on Fort Sumter.
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Lincoln calls for 75,000 volunteers. Southern ports blockaded by superior Union naval forces. Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina secede to complete 11-state Confederacy. Union army advancing on Richmond repulsed at first Battle of Bull Run (Manassas).
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General Grant wins first important Union victory in West, at Fort Donelson; Nashville falls.
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Lincoln removes McClellan for lack of aggressiveness. He was replaced with Ambrose Burnside.
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Lee defeats Hooker at Chancellorsville; “Stonewall” Jackson, Confederate general, dies.
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Confederate invasion of Pennsylvania stopped at Gettysburg by George Meade—Lee loses 20,000 men—the greatest battle of the war.
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The Union victory at Vicksburg mark the war's turning point. Union general George H. Thomas, the “Rock of Chickamauga,” holds Bragg's forces on Georgia-Tennessee border.
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In the Wilderness campaign, Grant forces Lee's Army of Northern Virginia back toward Richmond.
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Sherman's Atlanta campaign and “march to the sea”. Sherman's march to the sea was disasteras to the Confederates.
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On April 9, Lee surrenders to Grant at Appomattox. His surrender marked the end of the war.
