Civil War Timeline

By Peter D
  • Republican Party is formed

    Republican Party is formed

    Republican Party is formed
  • Kansas-Nebraska Act passed

    Kansas-Nebraska Act passed

    The Missouri Compromise was repealed and two new territories were created (Kansas and Nebraska)
  • Abraham Lincoln elected president

    Abraham Lincoln elected president

    Abraham Lincoln becomes president
  • South Carolina votes to secede from the United States

    South Carolina votes to secede from the United States

    Southe Carolina secedes from the United States
  • Lincoln gives his second inaugural address

    Lincoln gives his second inaugural address

    Lincoln gets inaugurated
  • Confederate forces fire on Fort Sumter

    Confederate forces fire on Fort Sumter

    The Confederacy fires on the fort which ends up forcing the Union to surrender
  • Lincoln suspends habeas corpus

    Lincoln suspends habeas corpus

    This gave military authorities the power to silence the dissenters and rebels
  • First Battle of Bull Run is fought

    First Battle of Bull Run is fought

    The first major battle in the Civil War
  • Jefferson Davis elected president of the Confederacy

    Jefferson Davis elected president of the Confederacy

    The Confederacy elected Jefferson Davis as president
  • The Merrimack and the Monitor fight of the Virginia coast

    The Merrimack and the Monitor fight of the Virginia coast

    The first Navel battle in the Civil War
  • Battle of Shiloh

    Battle of Shiloh

    The Confederate Army Launched a ambush on the Union Army
  • Robert E. Lee is named commander of the Army of Northern Virginia

    Robert E. Lee is named commander of the Army of Northern Virginia

    Robert E. Lee assumed command in the battle to defend the city of Richmond from the Union
  • Battle of Antietam

    Battle of Antietam

    This battle showed that the Union could stand against the Confederate army.
  • Battle of Fredericksburg

    Battle of Fredericksburg

    One of the Civil War's earliest battles and one of the greatest Confederate victories.
  • Emancipation Proclamation is announced

    Emancipation Proclamation is announced

    Slaves were freed
  • Battle of Chancellorsville

    Battle of Chancellorsville

    The two armies meet each other unexpectedly
  • Battle of Gettysburg

    Battle of Gettysburg

    The Union and the Confederacy battle.
  • Confederates surrender at Vicksburg

    Confederates surrender at Vicksburg

    General John C. Pemberton surrenders to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Vicksburg, Mississippi.
  • New York City draft riots

    New York City draft riots

    Violent riots in Manhatten
  • Lincoln gives his Gettysburg Address

    Lincoln gives his Gettysburg Address

    Lincoln gives a speech about the Battle of Gettysburg.
  • Atlanta is captured

    Atlanta is captured

    General William T. Sherman and his army take Atlanta from the confederacy
  • Abraham Lincoln defeats George McClellan to win re-election

    Abraham Lincoln defeats George McClellan to win re-election

    Abraham Lincoln is reelected.
  • Sherman begins his March to the Sea

    Sherman begins his March to the Sea

    Union General William T. Sherman begins his expedition across Georgia by torching the industrial section of Atlanta and pulling away from his supply lines.
  • Congress passes the 13th Amendment

    Congress passes the 13th Amendment

    The 13th Amendment abolished slavery
  • Freedmen’s Bureau is created

    Freedmen’s Bureau is created

    An act that provides food, shelter, clothing, medical service, and land to displaced southerners
  • Richmond falls to the Union Army

    Richmond falls to the Union Army

    Confederate lines near Petersburg broke after a nine-month siege.
  • Richmond becomes the capital of the Confederacy

    Richmond becomes the capital of the Confederacy

    Once Virginia seceded, the Confederate government moved the capital to Richmond
  • Robert E. Lee surrenders at Appomattox

    Robert E. Lee surrenders at Appomattox

    Robert E. Lee surrenders his 28,000 troops to Ulysses S. Grant
  • President Lincoln Assassination

    President Lincoln Assassination

    President Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilksbooth.
  • John Wilkes Booth is killed

    John Wilkes Booth is killed

    He was shot and killed by Corporal Boston Corbett