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Start of the War!!
It was 150 years ago today, in the early morning of April 12, 1861, that the American Civil War officially began. -
President Speech
Lincoln forced the Confederate hand with his decision to resupply the fort, which had suddenly become an outpost in a hostile nation. The Southern navy turned away the supply convoy and then fired the first shot of the war at Fort Sumter, forcing the Federal defenders to surrender after a 34-hour battle. -
The Emancipation Proclamation
All slaves in the rebellious states "shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free." While the Emancipation Proclamation did not free a single slave, it was an important turning point in the war, transforming the fight to preserve the nation into a battle for human freedom. -
The Gettysburg Address
In it, he invoked the principles of human equality contained in the Declaration of Independence and connected the sacrifices of the Civil War with the desire for "a new birth of freedom," as well as the all-important preservation of the Union created in 1776 and its ideal of self-government. -
President Election
The United States presidential election of 1864 was the 20th presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 8, 1864. -
End Of War
The usual date given for the end of the war is the surrender of Lee to Grant at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia, on April 9, 1865, but Johnston did not surrender to Sherman until April 26,1865. -
Assassination
His assassination near the end of the war left the final challenge of reconstructing the nation to others. John Wilkes Booth, a famous actor and Confederate sympathizer, fatally shot President Abraham Lincoln at a play at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C.
