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Republican Party is formed
In 1854, the Republican Party was founded in the Northern United States by forces opposed to the expansion of slavery, ex-Whigs, and ex-Free Soilers. The Republican Party quickly became the principal opposition to the dominant Democratic Party and the briefly popular Know Nothing Party. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act passed
The Kansas-Nebraska Act repealed the Missouri Compromise, created two new territories, and allowed for popular sovereignty. It also produced a violent uprising known as “Bleeding Kansas,” as proslavery and antislavery activists flooded into the territories to sway the vote. -
Abraham Lincoln is elected president
Abraham Lincoln, who was an anti-slavery advocate, is elected for president, which ultimately was the main cause of the south seceding. -
South Carolina votes to secede from the U.S.
South Carolina votes as the first state to secede from the U.S. on December 12, 1860. -
Confederate forces fire on Fort Sumter
At 4:30 a.m., Confederate troops fired on Fort Sumter in South Carolina's Charleston Harbor. Less than 34 hours later, Union forces surrendered. -
Richmond becomes the capital of the Confederacy
In the Confederate Capital City of Montgomery, Alabama, the decision was made to name the City of Richmond, Virginia as the new Capital of the Confederacy. The Confederate capital was moved to Richmond in recognition of Virginia's strategic importance. -
Robert E. Lee is named commander of Confederate army
Lee is given command of the Army of Northern Virginia, the main Confederate army in the eastern theater of the war. Union troops are poised at the gates of Richmond. Lee commences a series of counterattacks at the Seven Days Battle that drives the enemy away from the Confederate capital. -
First Battle of Bull Run is fought
the Battles of Bull Run are two engagements fought at a small stream named Bull Run, near Mananas in northern Virginia. -
Jefferson Davis elected president of the Confederacy
Jefferson Davis is elected as president of the Provisional Government -
The Merrimac and the Monitor fight of the Virginia coast
Battle between the Monitor and Merrimac--fought at Hampton Roads, near Norfolk, Va. Library of Congress. -
Battle of Shiloh
In Hardin County, TN, The Battle of Shiloh, also known as the Battle of Pittsburg Landing, allowed Union troops to penetrate the Confederate interior. The carnage was unprecedented, with the human toll being the greatest of any war on the American continent up to that date. -
Congress passes the 13th Amendment
Only through the Thirteenth Amendment did emancipation become national policy. It was passed by the Senate on April 8, 1864, and by the House on January 31, 1865. The joint resolution of both bodies that submitted the amendment to the states for approval was signed by President Abraham Lincoln on February 1, 1865. -
Confederates surrender at Vicksburg
The war can never be brought to a close until that key is in our pocket.” The Vicksburg Campaign began in 1862 and ended with the Confederate surrender on July 4, 1863. -
Battle of Antietam
23,000 soldiers were killed, wounded or were missing after this battle. The Battle of Antietam ended the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia's invasion into the North and led Abraham Lincoln to issue the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. -
Lincoln suspends habeas corpus
Presidential Proclamation 94 of September 24, 1862, by President Abraham Lincoln suspending the writ of Habeas Corpus. -
Battle of Fredericksburg
The Battle of Fredericksburg was fought December 11–15, 1862. The Battle was fought in and around Fredericksburg, Virginia. -
Emancipation Proclamation is announced
The Emancipation Proclamation was the declaration that "that all persons held as slaves are, and henceforward shall be free." -
Battle of Chancellorsville
The Battle of Chancellorsville, April 30 – May 6, 1863, was a major battle of the American Civil War and the principal engagement of the Chancellorsville campaign. -
Battle of Gettysburg
The Battle of Gettysburg was a fight between the Union and Confederacy that took place in/around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. -
New York City draft riots
The New York City draft riots, sometimes referred to as the Manhattan draft riots and known at the time as Draft Week, were violent disturbances in Lower Manhattan, widely regarded as the culmination of working-class discontent with new laws passed by Congress that year to draft men to fight in the ongoing American Civil War. -
Lincoln gives his Gettysburg Address
Lincoln delivered one of the most famous speeches in United States history, the Gettysburg Address, at the dedication of the Gettysburg National Cemetery. -
Atlanta is captured
The battle occurred midway through the Atlanta campaign, and the city did not fall until September 2, 1864, after a Union siege and various attempts to seize railroads and supply lines leading to Atlanta. -
Abraham Lincoln defeats George McClellan to win re-election
Abraham Lincoln wins re-election as president of the United States of America. -
Sherman begins his March to the Sea
The March to the Sea, the most destructive campaign against a civilian population during the Civil War (1861-65), began in Atlanta on November 15, 1864, and concluded in Savannah on December 21, 1864. -
Freedman’s Bureau is created
The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands (Record Group 105), also known as the Freedmen's Bureau, was established in the War Department by an act of Congress, -
Lincoln gives second inaugural address.
As the Civil War entered its final weeks, President Abraham Lincoln delivered his second inaugural address from the East Portico of the U.S. Capitol. -
Richmond falls to the Union Army
The Confederacy's capital of Richmond was a chief distribution center for weapons, supplies, and troops, and the city resisted repeated Union assaults before officially capitulating on April 3, 1865. -
Robert E. Lee surrenders at Appomattox
Appomattox County, VA, Trapped by the Federals near Appomattox Court House, Confederate general Robert E. Lee surrendered his army to Union general Ulysses S. Grant, precipitating the capitulation of other Confederate forces and leading to the end of the bloodiest conflict in American history. -
President Lincoln Assasinated
Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth whilst viewing the play, Our American Cousin, at Ford's Theater in Washington D.C. -
John Wilkes Booth is killed
Booth was captured and fatally shot while hiding in a barn near Bowling Green, Virginia.