Civil War Timeline

By Kush P

  • The Battle of Fort Sumter

    The Battle of Fort Sumter
    At 4:30 AM on April 12, 1861, the Confederates began firing upon Fort Sumter. The Civil War had officially begun. The attack lasted 34 hours. The Union soldiers fired back, but they were forced to surrender and the Confederates won. Surprisingly, not one soldier on either side was killed in battle.

  • Battle of Antietam

    Battle of Antietam
    September 17, 1862 - The bloodiest day in U.S. military history as Gen. Robert E. Lee and the Confederate Armies are stopped at Antietam in Maryland by McClellan and numerically superior Union forces. By nightfall 26,000 men are dead, wounded,making it the bloodiest day in American history.In the end the Union troops had won.

  • Emancipation Proclamation

    Emancipation Proclamation
    On 9/22/1862 Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation that freed all slaves in the Confederacy but this did not free all slaves because border slave states that had stayed with the union (Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, and Missouri) were able to keep their slaves.The reason being for this was so Lincoln could keep these states that stayed in the union loyal to it.

  • The Battle of Gettysburg:The Turning Point

    The Battle of Gettysburg:The Turning Point
    On July 1, 1863, Lee’s army met Union troops under General George Meade in the small farm town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Neither army had planned to fight there. For three days, the armies fought each other. Neither side was able to win.
    In all, about 51,000 soldiers were killed or wounded at the Battle of Gettysburg. It was the bloodiest battle ever fought in North America. Union victories at Gettysburg and later Vicksburg turned the war in favor of the North.

  • Battle of Vicksburg:The Fall of Vicksburg

    Battle of Vicksburg:The Fall of Vicksburg
    Vicksburg, the last Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi River, surrenders to Gen. Grant and the Army of the West after a six week siege. With the Union now in control of the Mississippi, the Confederacy is effectively split in two, cut off from its western allies.

  • The Gettysburg Address

    The Gettysburg Address
    The Gettysburg Address is a speech delivered by Abraham Lincoln at the November 19, 1863 to honor the fallen union soldiers.The Gettysburg Address inspired the union to keep fighting. The speech made it clear that a united nation and the end of the slavery were worth fighting for.

  • Appomattox Courthouse: The South Surrenders

    Appomattox Courthouse: The South Surrenders
    On April 9, 1865, General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House in Virginia.