Civil War Timeline

  • The South Secedes

    Immediately after Abraham Lincoln is elected President, South Carolina calls a state convention to remove itself from the United States of America. South Carolina is quickly followed by Florida, Mississippi, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, and Texas. Later, Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina also secedes, forming the Confederate States of America.
  • Battle of Fort Sumter

    The bombardment/siege and ultimate surrender of Fort Sumter by Brig. General P.G.T. Beauregard was the official start of the Civil War.
  • First Battle of BullRun

    Also known as First Manassas, the first major engagement of the civil war.
  • Siege of Yorktown, Virginia

    this battle lasted almost a full month
  • Second Battle of Bull Run

    lasted from Aug. 28-30
  • Battle of Richmond, Kentucky

  • Battle of Antietam

    one of the bloodiest battles in the civil war
  • Battle of Franklin, Tennessee.

    Account of the bloody confederate slaughter in Franklin, Tennessee.
  • Battle of Chancellorsville, Virginia

    April 30- May 6
  • Battle of Gettyburg, Pennsylvania

    July 1- July 3. Grant gets a victory on lee. putting them further behind
  • Battle of Fort Pillow, Tennessee

    Nathan Bedford Forrest led a massacre in Tennessee
  • Battle of New Market

    The Confederates, along with cadets from VMI, drove Union General Franz Sigel out of the Shenandoah Valley.
  • Battle of Fisher’s Hill, Virginia

    Union Major General Philip H. Sheridan attacked the seemingly impregnable heights of Fisher’s Hill, grandly known as the ‘Gibraltar of the Shenandoah Valley.’
  • Battle of Nashville Nashville, Tennessee

    The battle of Nashville was the last major battle in the Western Theater and a major victory for the Union.
  • Appomattox Courthouse at Appomattox Station, Virginia

    General Robert E. Lee surrenders to General Ulysses S. Grant at the Appomattox Court House in Virginia