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Lincoln wins a four-way race to be President of the U.S. Even though he wasn’t a favorite and isn’t even on the ballot for nine of the states. He then earns enough votes to win the election.
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South Carolina secedes and is the first state to do so. They were the first slave state to secede. The president at the time declared it illegal but didn’t stop it.
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Lincoln is inaugurated as the 16th President of the U.S. In his inaugural address he give a strict warning to the South that he will not be tolerating secession
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Confederate forces under General P.G.T. Beauregard bombard Major Robert Anderson and his Union soldiers at Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina. Lincoln declared that he would be keeping troops in the fort.
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Virginia seceded from the Union. Virginia's delegates declared the next day that 88-55 with the south and join the Confederacy. Lincoln make a proclamation calling for 75,000 people to end the rebellion. After May 1861 Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina all secede.
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Lincoln contacted Congress and sent requests to some people from the Union Army. Congress calls in 500,000 of them. The war will not be short.
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The First Battle of Bull Run puts Union General Irvin McDowell against the new Confederate army. McDowell is defeated causing a panicked retreat back to Washington. The withdrawal is hampered by the large numbers of spectators who are there to see the battle.
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The Confederate ship USS Merrimack and the Union ship USS Monitor in Chesapeake Bay. The battle ends in a tie. Virginia tries to lead Monitor back into Hampton's Road Harbor to fight another war but was unsuccessful.
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The war was a big victory for Confederate General Stonewall Jackson. Union General John Pope was blamed for the loss and was fired from his General duty
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The 13th Amendment is created. It abolishes slavery everywhere making it illegal in all states. Nothing including servants is legal.
