Civil War Timeline

Gadsden Purchase

Dec 30, 1853

Region of present-day southern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico that the United States purchased.

Kansas-Nebraska Act

May 30, 1854

It allowed people in the territories of Kansas and Nebraska to decide for themselves whether or not to allow slavery within their borders.

John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry

Oct 16, 1859

John Brown initiated an armed slave revolt in 1859 by taking over a United States arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia.

Abraham Lincoln elected the 16th President of the United States

Nov 6, 1860

Defeated the three other candidates: Southern Democrat John C. Breckinridge, Constitutional Union candidate John Bell, and Northern Democrat Stephen Douglas, a U.S. senator for Illinois.

Confederate States of America formed

1861

The Confederate States of America was a republic composed of eleven Southern states that seceded from the Union in order to preserve slavery, states' rights, and political liberty for whites.

Civil War begins at Fort Sumter

Apr 12, 1861

Fort Sumter is most famous for being the site of the first shots of the Civil War

North is defeated at the first battle of Bull Run

Jul 21, 1861

Union and Confederate armies clashed near Manassas, Virginia, in the first major battle of the American Civil War.

Battle of Antietam

Sep 17, 1862

Also known as the Battle of Sharpsburg.

Battle of Gettysburg

Jul 1, 1863

Considered the most important engagement of the American Civil War. July 1st to the 3rd.

Sherman's March to the Sea

Nov 15, 1864

From November 15 until December 21, 1864, Union General William T. Sherman led some 60,000 soldiers on a 285-mile march from Atlanta to Savannah, Georgia.

Lee surrenders at Appomattox Court House

Apr 9, 1865

Confederate General Robert E.LEe surrendered his Army of Northern Virginia to Union General Ulysses S. Grant.

KKK is Formed

Dec 24, 1865

White southern resistance to the Republican Party’s Reconstruction-era policies aimed at establishing political and economic equality for blacks.

President Johnson impeached

Feb 24, 1868

The U.S. House of Representatives votes 11 articles of impeachment against President Andrew Johnson, nine of which cite Johnson’s removal of Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, a violation of the Tenure of Office Act.

14th Amendment guarantees Civil Rights

Jul 9, 1868

It granted citizenship to "all persons born or naturalized​ in the United States."

15th Amendment forbids denial to vote on racial grounds

Feb 3, 1870

Granted African American men the right to vote.