-
Harriet Tubman and the underground railroad
Harriet Tubman escaped from slavery in the South to become a leading abolitionist before the American Civil War. She led hundreds of enslaved people to freedom in the North along the route of the Underground Railroad. See was one of the conductors on the underground railroad and the underground railroad was to help slaves escape to become free from slavery. -
The Kansas Nebraska Act
Known as the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the controversial bill raised the possibility that slavery could be extended into territories where it had once been banned. Its passage intensified the bitter debate over slavery in the United States, which would later explode into the Civil War. -
John Brown's Raid on Harpers Ferry
On the evening of October 16, 1859 John Brown, a abolitionist, and a group of his supporters left their farmhouse hide-out an route to Harpers Ferry. Descending upon the town in the early hours of October 17th, Brown and his men captured citizens and seized the federal armory. -
Election of 1860
The Election of 1860 demonstrated the divisions within the United States just before the Civil War. The election was unusual because four strong candidates competed for the presidency. Political parties of the day were in flux. Abraham Lincoln won the election of 1860 -
Confederate States of America is formed
The Confederate States of America was a collection of 11 states that seceded from the United States in 1860 following the election of President Abraham Lincoln. Led by Jefferson Davis and existing from 1861 to 1865, the Confederacy struggled and was never recognized as a nation. -
Civil War Begins
Confederate troops fired on Fort Sumter in South Carolina’s Charleston Harbor. Less than 34 hours later, Union forces surrendered. Traditionally, this event has been used to mark the beginning of the Civil War. -
Battle of Bull Run
Union and Confederate armies clashed near Manassas Junction, Virginia. The engagement began when about 35,000 Union troops marched from the federal capital in Washington, D.C. to strike a Confederate force of 20,000 along a small river known as Bull Run. This is where the battle began. -
Jefferson Davis Elected
Jefferson Davis was elected president, not of the United States of America but of the Confederate States of America. He ran unopposed and was elected to serve for a six-year term. Davis had already been serving as the temporary president for almost a year. -
Emancipation Proclamation
President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, as the nation approached its third year of bloody civil war. The proclamation declared that all people held as slave within the rebellious states are henceforward to be free. -
Gettysburg Battle
The Battle of Gettysburg is considered the most important engagement of the American Civil War. After a great victory over Union forces at Chancellorsville, General Robert E. Lee marched his Army of Northern Virginia into Pennsylvania in late June. -
Fort Sumter
After a 33-hour bombardment by Confederate cannons, Union forces surrender Fort Sumter in South Carolina's Charleston Harbor. The surrender concluded a standoff that began with South Carolina's secession from the Union on December 20, 1860. -
Sherman's March to the Sea
This is a movement of the Union army troops of General William Tecumseh Sherman from Atlanta, to the Georgia seacoast, with the object of destroying Confederate supplies. The march began after Sherman captured, evacuated, and burned Atlanta in the fall. -
13th Amendment
It was passed by congress and ratified on December 6. It abolished slavery in the United States and provides that "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States. -
Ulysses S. Grant Appomattox courthouse
The Battle of Appomattox Court House was fought on April 9, 1865, near the town of Appomattox Court House, Virginia, and led to Confederate General Robert E. Lee's surrender of his Army of Northern Virginia to Union General Ulysses S. Grant. -
Abraham Lincoln Assassination
While attending a special performance of the comedy, "Our American Cousin," President Abraham Lincoln was shot. Accompanying him at Ford's Theatre that night was his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln and a twenty-eight year-old officer named Major Henry R. -
14th Amendment
The 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified. The amendment grants people to all people born or naturalized in the United State which include former slaves who had just been freed after the Civil War. The amendment had been rejected by most Southern states but was ratified by the required three-fourths of the states. -
15th Amendment
This Amendment gives the rights of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.