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The Timespan for the timeline
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the case between Dred Scott and John Sandford.
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Abraham Lincoln wins the election for president.
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South Carolina secedes from the Union states
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Lincoln authorizes general Windfield Scott to arrest unruly citizens.
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President Lincoln issues General War Order No. 1 calling for all United States naval and land forces to begin a general advance by February 22, George Washington's birthday.
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Gen. Robert E. Lee assumes command, replacing the wounded Johnston. Lee then renames his force the Army of Northern Virginia. McClellan is not impressed, saying Lee is "likely to be timid and irresolute in action
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Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation freeing slaves issued by President Lincoln
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Vicksburg, the last Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi River, surrenders to Gen. Grant and the Army of the West after a six week siege. With the Union now in control of the Mississippi, the Confederacy is effectively split in two, cut off from its western allies.
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President Lincoln delivers a two minute Gettysburg Address at a ceremony dedicating the Battlefield as a National Cemetery.
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A costly mistake by Grant results in 7,000 Union casualties in twenty minutes during an offensive against fortified Rebels at Cold Harbor in Virginia.
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He runs for office and gets elected as president for his second term.
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The Stars and Stripes is ceremoniously raised over Fort Sumter. That night, Lincoln and his wife Mary see the play "Our American Cousin" at Ford's Theater. At 10:13 p.m., during the third act of the play, John Wilkes Booth shoots the president in the head. Doctors attend to the president in the theater then move him to a house across the street. He never regains consciousness.
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Confederate Gen. Joseph E. Johnston surrenders to Sherman near Durham in North Carolina.
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Abraham Lincoln is laid to rest in Oak Ridge Cemetery, outside Springfield, Illinois.
