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Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln is elected president, the first Republican, receiving 180 of 303 possible electoral votes and 40 percent of the popular vote. -
Secessions
South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas secedes from the Union from Dec 20, 1860 to Feb 1, 1861. -
Civil War Begins
Confederate forces under General P.G.T. Beauregard bombard Major Robert Anderson and his Union soldiers at Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina. The Civil War official begins. -
Union Surrender at Ft. Sumter
Early in the morning of April 12, 1861, Confederate guns around the harbor opened fire on Fort Sumter. At 2:30pm on April 13th, Major Robert Anderson surrended the fort and was evacuated the next day. The Union would not recapture Fort Sumter for nearly four years. -
First Battle of Bull Run
The First Battle of Bull Run pits Union General Irvin McDowell against the new Confederate army. McDowell is defeated causing a panicked retreat back to Washington, which is forty miles away. A large number of spectators came there to see the battle. -
Moniter vs. Merrimack
The Confederate ironclad USS Merrimack battles the Union ironclad USS Monitor in Chesapeake Bay. The battle is a draw but it makes wooden ships obsolete and ushers in the era of steel warships, changing naval warfare forever. -
Battle of Shiloh
Union General Ulysses S. Grant's forces are surprised at the town of Shiloh in Tennessee. The ensuing battle results in 13,000 Union and 10,000 Confederate casualties, more than in all previous American wars combined. -
The Seven Days
Over the course of seven days of fighting, General Robert E. Lee attacks George McClellan's Union Army at the Potomac near Richmond, Virginia. Huge casualties cause McClellan to withdraw north towards Washington. -
Fredricksburg
The Union Army under General Ambrose E. Burnside suffers a horrible defeat at the Battle of Fredericksburg in Virginia. Fourteen individual assaults on a entrenched Confederate position cost the Union 13,000 casualties. -
Emancipation Proclamation
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 forward, the Civil War is a war over slavery. -
Chancellorsville
Over the course of three days, General Robert E. Lee divides his army in the face of a larger enemy, and manages to defeat the Union Army led by "Fighting" Joe Hooker. The North suffers 17,000 casualties, the South 13,000. -
Gettysburg
From July 1st to July 4th, the Union Army under General Meade defeats Robert E. Lee's Confederate Army at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. It was 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. -
Vicksburg
Far to the West on the Mississippi River, General Ulysses S. Grant takes Vicksburg after a long siege. At this point, the Union controls the entire river, cutting the Confederacy in two. -
13th Amendment Ends Slavery
The United States Congress approves the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, which will abolish slavery. -
Lee Surrenders
General Robert E. Lee surrenders to General Ulysses S. Grant in a farmhouse in the town of Appomattox Court House, Virginia. The Civil War is over. -
Lincoln Shot
Abraham Lincoln is shot by John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C.
