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Civil War Timeline
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Lincoln won presidency
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Lincoln: 180 electoral votes & 1,865,593 popular
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Breckenridge: 72 electoral votes & 848,356
popular votes -
Douglas: 12 electoral votes & 1,382,713
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Bell: 39 electoral votes & 592, 906 popular votes
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South Carolina calls for a convention on December 17 to decide if the state should secede from the Union
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Robert Anderson makes his third request for reinforcements at Fort Moultrie
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Georgia calls for a convention of Southern states to form an independent nation.
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South Carolina Succeeds from the union. Within 2 more months Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, and Texas did the same.
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President Buchanan, tipped to upcoming problems for Secretary of War John Floyd, requests his resignation.
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The Convention of Seceded States adopts a provisional constitution forming the Confederate States of America
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Confederate states of America is formed with Jefferson Davis who was a west point graduate and a former Army officer as the president.
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Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated as president
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Early in the morning the confederates opened fire with 50 cannons at fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina and that was the beginning of the civil war.
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Lincoln issues a proclamation and he called for 75,000 men for war.
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Virginia succeeded from the union and soon later so did Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina and that now formed an 11 state confederacy.
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Robert E. Lee resigns his commission in the united states army.
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In a speech Lincoln "a People's contest...a struggle for maintaining in the world, that form, and substance of government, whose leading object is, to elevate the condition of men..." and then congress called for 500,000 more men.
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Union army got defeated at bull run 25 miles south west of Washington.
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Thomas J. Jackson earns the nickname Stonewall.
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General Ulysses S. Grant invades west Tennessee.
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Victory for Gen. Ulysses S. Grant in Tennessee, capturing Fort Henry, and ten days later Fort Donelson. Grant earns the nickname "Unconditional Surrender" Grant.
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President Lincoln is struck with grief as his beloved eleven-year-old son, Willie, dies from fever, probably caused by polluted drinking water in the White House.
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President Lincoln is struck with grief as his beloved eleven-year-old son, Willie, dies from fever, probably caused by polluted drinking water in the White House.
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President Lincoln issues General War Order No. 1 calling for all United States naval and land forces to begin a general advance by February 22
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The Confederate Ironclad 'Merrimac' sinks two wooden Union ships then battles the Union Ironclad 'Monitor' to a draw. Naval warfare is thus changed forever, making wooden ships obsolete.
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The Battle of Seven Pines as Gen. Joseph E. Johnston's Army attacks McClellan's troops in front of Richmond and nearly defeats them. But Johnston is badly wounded.
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General Robert E. Lee assumes command, replacing the wounded Johnston. Lee then renames his force the Army of Northern Virginia.
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After four months as his own general-in-chief, President Lincoln hands over the task to General Henry W. Halleck.
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Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation freeing slaves issued by President Lincoln.
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The war to preserve the Union now becomes a revolutionary struggle for the abolition of slavery.
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The president appoints Gen. Joseph Hooker as Commander of the Army of the Potomac.
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General Grant is placed in command of the Army of the West, with orders to capture Vicksburg.
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The U.S. Congress enacts a draft, affecting male citizens aged 20 to 45, but also exempts those who pay $300 or provide a substitute. "The blood of a poor man is as precious as that of the wealthy," poor Northerners complain.
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The South suffers a huge blow as Stonewall Jackson dies from his wounds, his last words, "Let us cross over the river and rest under the shade of the trees."
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Gen. Lee with 75,000 Confederates launches his second invasion of the North, heading into Pennsylvania in a campaign that will soon lead to Gettysburg.
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The president meets with abolitionist Frederick Douglass who pushes for full equality for Union 'Negro troops.'
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The president appoints Gen. Grant to command all operations in the western theater.
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At Lawrence, Kansas, pro-Confederate William C. Quantrill and 450 pro-slavery followers raid the town and butcher 182 boys and men.
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President Lincoln delivers a two minute Gettysburg Address at a ceremony dedicating the Battlefield as a National Cemetery.
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President Lincoln appoints Gen. Grant to command all of the armies of the United States. Gen. William T. Sherman succeeds Grant as commander in the west.
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A costly mistake by Grant results in 7,000 Union casualties in twenty minutes during an offensive against fortified Rebels at Cold Harbor in Virginia.
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Union forces miss an opportunity to capture Petersburg and cut off the Confederate rail lines. As a result, a nine month siege of Petersburg begins with Grant's forces surrounding Lee.
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At Atlanta, Sherman's forces battle the Rebels now under the command of Gen. John B. Hood, who replaced Johnston.
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Democrats nominate George B. McClellan for president to run against Republican incumbent Abraham Lincoln.
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Atlanta is captured by Sherman's Army. "Atlanta is ours, and fairly won," Sherman telegraphs Lincoln. The victory greatly helps President Lincoln's bid for re-election.
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A decisive Union victory by Cavalry Gen. Philip H. Sheridan in the Shenandoah Valley over Jubal Early's troops.
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After destroying Atlanta's warehouses and railroad facilities, Sherman, with 62,000 men begins a March to the Sea. President Lincoln on advice from Grant approved the idea. "I can make Georgia howl!" Sherman boasts.
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Hood's Rebel Army of 23,000 is crushed at Nashville by 55,000 Federals including Negro troops under Gen. George H. Thomas. The Confederate Army of Tennessee ceases as an effective fighting force.
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Sherman reaches Savannah in Georgia leaving behind a 300 mile long path of destruction 60 miles wide all the way from Atlanta. Sherman then telegraphs Lincoln, offering him Savannah as a Christmas present.
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The U.S. Congress approves the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, to abolish slavery. The amendment is then submitted to the states for ratification.
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A peace conference occurs as President Lincoln meets with Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens at Hampton Roads in Virginia, but the meeting ends in failure - the war will continue.
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Inauguration ceremonies for President Lincoln in Washington. "With malice toward none; with charity for all...let us strive on to finish the work we are in...to do all which may achieve and cherish a just, and a lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations," Lincoln says.
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The last offensive for Lee's Army of Northern Virginia begins with an attack on the center of Grant's forces at Petersburg. Four hours later the attack is broken.
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Grant's forces begin a general advance and break through Lee's lines at Petersburg. Confederate Gen. Ambrose P. Hill is killed. Lee evacuates Petersburg. The Confederate Capital, Richmond, is evacuated. Fires and looting break out. The next day, Union troops enter and raise the Stars and Stripes.
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President Lincoln tours Richmond where he enters the Confederate White House. With "a serious, dreamy expression," he sits at the desk of Jefferson Davis for a few moments.
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Gen. Robert E. Lee surrenders his Confederate Army to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at the village of Appomattox Court House in Virginia. Grant allows Rebel officers to keep their sidearms and permits soldiers to keep horses and mules.
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Celebrations break out in Washington.
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President Abraham Lincoln dies at 7:22 in the morning. Vice President Andrew Johnson assumes the presidency.
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Confederate Gen. Joseph E. Johnston surrenders to Sherman near Durham in North Carolina.
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The first formal observation of President Lincoln's birthday is held in Washington, D. C. President Andrew Johnson attends
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New Freedman's Bureau bill passed by Congress. President Andrew Johnson vetoes the bill that authorized military trial for those accused of "depriving Negroes of the Civil Rights" on the same day
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Texas repeals the actions of the Secessionist Convention
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President Johnson vetos the Civil Rights Act of 1866 on the grounds that it was unconstitutional
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The United States declares that a state of peace exists with Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia
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Congress appropriates $100,000 to buy Ford's Theater. It will house the Army Medical Museum, the Office of the Surgeon General and War Department records until 1893
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Congress overrides President Andrew Johnson's veto of the Civil Rights Act
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Cholera epidemic begins in New York when an infected passenger arrives in New York.
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Winfield Scott dies, West Point, NY
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Thirty-ninth Congress approves the 14th Amendment to the Constitution
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Ohio ratifies the 14th Amendment
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Virginia rejects the 14th Amendment
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Congress passes the Tenure of Office Act, denying the right of the President to remove officials who had been appointed with the consent of Congress.
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Alexandria, Virginia rejects thousand of votes cast by Negroes, who were granted universal suffrage under the Reconstruction Act.
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General Philip Sheridan assumes command of the 5th Military district encompassing Louisiana and Texas. He designates New Orleans as his headquarters.
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William P. Seward signs a treaty with Russia buying Alaska for 2 cents an acre. Democrats called it "Seward's Folly"
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Senate ratifies treaty purchasing Alaska
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Congress passes a bill admitting Arkansas, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, and South Carolina into the Union. Virginia, Mississippi, and Texas, having refused to ratify the fourteenth amendment, were refused admission into the Union
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Edwin Stanton suspended by President Andrew Johnson
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Russia turns over Alaska to the United States
