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States such as South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Loiusiana, and Texas secede from the Union
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The Constitution of the Confederate States of America is signed in Montgomery, Alabama
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Major Robert Anderson surrenders Fort Sumter to Confederate forces after two days of bombardment
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Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina also secede from Union
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The First Battle of Bull Run under Union General Irvin McDowell against the new Confederate army. McDowell is defeated travels back to Washington
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The Confederate USS Merrimack battles the Union USS Monitor in Chesapeake Bay. Battle ends in a draw but it makes wooden ships obsolete and starts the era of steel warships, changing naval warfare forever.
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Union General Ulysses S. Grant's forces are surprised at the town of Shiloh in Tennessee. The ensuing battle results in 13,000 Union and 10,000 Confederate casualties.
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The Second Battle of Bull Run is a resounding victory for Confederate General Stonewall Jackson. Union General John Pope is blamed for the loss and is relieved of his duties after the battle.
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The Battle of Antietam is the bloodiest day in United States history. Over 26,000 men are killed, wounded or missing in action on both sides. Battle ends in a draw which the stops General Robert E. Lee's invasion of Maryland and he retreats back to Virginia.
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The Union Army under General Ambrose E. Burnside suffers a horrible defeat at the Battle of Fredericksburg in Virginia. Fourteen individual assaults on an entrenched Confederate position cost the Union 13,000 casualties.
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Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation. It frees all slaves in territory captured by the Union Army, and orders the enlistment of black soldiers. From this point forward, the Civil War is a war over slavery.
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Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation. It frees all slaves in territory captured by the Union Army, and orders the enlistment of black soldiers. From this point forward, the Civil War is a war over slavery.
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Union defeats confederates in one of the bloodiest battles in America history
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President Lincoln delivers the two-minute Gettysburg Address at the dedication of the National Cemetery at the battlefield in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
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Beginning a drive to try and end the war, Ulysses S. Grant and 120,000 troops march south towards Richmond, the Confederate capital. Over the course of the next six weeks, a brutal war of attrition results in the deaths of nearly 50,000 Union soldiers
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The United States Congress approves the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which will abolish slavery.
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Lincoln serves second term as President of the United States
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General Robert E. Lee surrenders to General Ulysses S. Grant in a farmhouse in the town of Appomattox Court House, Virginia. The war is over.
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Abraham Lincoln is shot by John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C
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General Joe Johnston, leading the largest Confederate Army still in existence, surrenders in North Carolina
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The Thirteenth Amendment is ratified by the States. Slavery is abolished.