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The Pony Express was an American express mail service that used relays of horse-mounted riders. This was extremely beneficial during the first year of the war, being able to communicate back with the president as well as family. -
On November 6, 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected the 16th president of the United States with the goal of abolishing slavery. -
On November 10, 1860, South Carolina Senator James Chestnut Jr. resigns his seat in the U.S. Senate. He feared his position would be affected when Lincoln took office -
On November 11, 1860, South Carolina Senator James Henry Hammond resigns his seat in the U.S. Senate. He did not agree with the views of the new president and did not want to work for him. -
On November 18, 1860, Georgia legislature appropriates $1,000,000 to arm the state because of the issues which have been occurring since Lincoln won the election. -
On December 17, 1860, the first Secession Convention was held in South Carolina. This dissolved the connection between South Carolina and the United States. -
The Crittenden Compromise was created by John J. Crittenden who emerged with a compromise that he claimed would end the arguments over slavery and avert a Civil War between the North and South. -
On December 20, 1860 South Carolina became the first state to secede from the union after Lincoln's victory as president. They feared that he would end slavery which would cause their economy to drastically decrease. -
On December 20, 1860, the convention meeting at Charleston, unanimously adopted the Ordinance of Secession, a brief statement declaring that "the union now subsisting … is hereby dissolved." -
On December 26, 1860, Major Robert Anderson evacuates Fort Moultrie for Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor. He does this in preparation for the possible war, after South Carolina secedes. -
Representatives of seceded states meet in Montgomery, Alabama, and form the Confederate States of America, electing Jefferson Davis as president. -
The Crittenden Compromise, which was created in December of 1860 was ultimately defeated and shut down in the Senate on March 2, 1861. -
Right before the president's inauguration, the Anaconda plan was produced the Anaconda plan. It's strategy was to capture and strangle their opponent to ultimately get the win -
As president, Lincoln uses his time to address the seceding states, asking for peace and for the opportunity to stay together as a whole union. Doing this was his attempt to avoid war and keep the peace. -
Now that Lincoln is officially in office, he plans to restore the union and get all of the states back to being united and one country together. -
The Battle of Fort Sumter was the attack of Fort Sumter near Charleston, South Carolina by the South Carolina militia. It ended with the surrender by the United States Army. This was the official start of the war. -
Lincoln call on the Northern states for a total of 75,000 men that would ultimately serve for 3 months, which was what he believed to have been enough time to get the union back together. -
Starting on April 6, going through May 21, the border states begin to secede the union in attempts to win the war against Lincoln to keep slavery in the southern states. -
Lincoln announces the union blockade which is his plan that the Union will try to prevent any supplies from leaving or entering the Confederacy. This weakens the Confederacy later in the war. -
The First Battle of Bull Run, or the First Battle of Manassas, takes place near Manassas in northern Virginia and ends in a Confederate rout of Union forces. This was the first major battle of the war. -
On January 18, 1862, The Confederate Congress votes to formally organize the Confederate Territory of Arizona in hopes to help with the South's side in the war. -
On February 3, 1862, President Lincoln declines an offer of war elephants from the King of Siam. -
On February 6, 1862, there was a surrender of Fort Henry, Tennessee when the Union took a huge victory over the confederate forces. -
The Battle of Fort Henry was fought on February 6, 1862, in Tennessee, during the American Civil War. It was the first important victory for the Union -
On March 6, 1862, Lincoln asks Congress to provide funds to states willing to begin the gradual abolition of slavery, starting with the Northern countries and hopefully, by the end of the war, abolish it in the Southern states. -
The Battle of Shiloh was an early battle in southwestern Tennessee. The battle is named after a small church in the vicinity named Shiloh which translates to "place of peace" -
Slavery is official ended in the District of Columbia and the CSA initiates their first military draft to help in the fight to abolish slavery. -
The battle of Antietam was a battle of the American Civil War fought on September 17, 1862, between Confederate Lee's Army of and Union George B. McClellan's Army. This was the bloodiest single day battle of the war. -
Thomas J. ‘Stonewall’ Jackson and Robert E. Lee defeat the Union army and send them back to Washington D.C. once again. Union troops begin to loose hope, wondering how many more men they will have to loose to end the war. -
With nearly 200,000 combatants, the greatest number of any Civil War engagement, Fredericksburg was one of the largest and deadliest battles of the Civil War. -
President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation as the nation approached its third year of bloody civil war. The proclamation declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free." -
On January 17, 1863 Lincoln approves Congressional resolution authorizing the Treasury to issue $100,000,000 in new notes in order to pay Union soldiers and sailors. President Lincoln also calls for regulation of the national currency. -
Cherokee Nation abolishes slavery and decide that they will declare support for the Union. They also disagree with the ideas of slavery and agree it should be abolished everywhere as soon as possible. -
The first Federal Draft or the Civil War Military Draft Act, was an Act passed by the United States Congress during the American Civil War to provide fresh men for the Union Army. -
On May 10, 1863, Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson sadly passed away. Jackson was hit by two bullets in his left arm, which was then amputated. Eight days later Jackson died of complications from pneumonia -
The Battle of Gettysburg began on July 1, 1863, in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, by Union and Confederate forces during the American Civil War. This was known as the turning point of the war, as the Union defeated. -
On July 4, 1863, Lee's forces begin to retreat from Gettysburg. This is a huge victory and will ultimately cause Gettysburg to be the turning point of the war. -
On August 8, 1863, Robert E. Lee offers to resign as commander of the Army of Northern Virginia.
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On September 10, 1863, Little Rock, Arkansas captured by Union forces. Confederate general Price ordered major supply caches to be moved sixty-five miles from Little Rock, to avoid their capture in case of Union success. -
The Gettysburg Address is a speech that U.S. President Abraham Lincoln delivered during the American Civil War at the dedication of the soldiers. It was a short speech, around 2 minutes long, but very moving and powerful. -
On February 2, 1864 Southern navy captures U.S. gunboat Underwriter but is forced to burn and flee. -
On March 5, 1864 Confederate government orders all vessels to give half freight capacity to government shipments. -
The Battle of the Wilderness began on May 5, 1864, during the American Civil War. It was the first battle of Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant's 1864 Virginia Overland Campaign against General Robert E. Lee and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. -
On May 7, 1864, the The Battle of the Wilderness, Virginia finally came to and end. -
On May 11, 1864, the Battle of Yellow Tavern, Virginia on Sheridan's Richmond Raid. Union cavalry under Gen. was detached from Grant’s Army of the Potomac to conduct a raid on Richmond, Virginia, and challenged Confederate cavalry commander -
The Battle of Cold Harbor was fought during the American Civil War near Mechanicsville, Virginia, from May 31 to June 12, 1864, with the most significant fighting occurring on June 3. -
On June 21, 1864, Christopher Memminger resigns as Confederate Secretary of the Treasury. He was the principal author of the Provisional Constitution as well as the founder of the Confederate financial system. -
On July 17, 1864, Confederate General J.B. Hood replaces J. Johnston as commander of the Army of Tennessee -
The Battle of Atlanta was a battle of the Atlanta Campaign fought during the American Civil War on July 22, 1864, just southeast of Atlanta, Georgia. -
On November 8, 1864, Northern voters overwhelmingly endorse the leadership and policies of President Abraham Lincoln when they elect him to a second term. He was up against former General George B. McClellan. -
The Battle of Five Forks was fought on April 1, 1865, southwest of Petersburg, Virginia, around the road junction of Five Forks, Dinwiddie County, at the end of the Siege of Petersburg, near the conclusion of the Civil War. -
On January 12, 1865, Francis Preston Blair Sr. attempts to negotiate peace with Jefferson Davis which unfortunately, does not work. -
On March 6, 1865, Lincoln appoints Hugh McCulloch as United States Secretary of the Treasury. -
On March 7, 1865, the Battle of Kinston, North Carolina. It was an was an attempt by Confederates to delay or halt a Federal advance on Goldsboro. -
On March 27, 1865, Lincoln meets with Generals U.S. Grant and William T. Sherman at City Point, Virginia
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On April 9, 1865, General Lee surrendered his Confederate troops to the Union's Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, marking the beginning of the end of the American Civil War -
On April 14, 1865, President Lincoln is shot in Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C., by John Wilkes Booth. -
The president dies on April 15 after his fatal gunshot. Vice President Andrew Johnson becomes president. -
On April 26, 1865, General Joseph Johnston surrenders to General William T. Sherman at Durham Station, North Carolina -
After a huge war, physically and politically, the 13th amendment is finally ratified. This amendment officially abolishes slavery all across the United States -
On January 1, 1866, Fisk University, a historically black university, is established in Nashville, Tennessee. -
On January 1, 1866, The last issue of the abolitionist magazine The Liberator is published. -
Ottoman troops clash with supporters of Maronite leader Youssef Bey Karam, at St. Doumit in Lebanon -
The first daylight bank robbery in United States history during peacetime takes place in Liberty, Missouri. This is considered to be the first robbery committed by Jesse James and his gang, although James's role is disputed. -
On February 21, 1866 Lucy B Hobbs (Taylor) becomes 1st U.S. woman to earn a DDS degree.
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On February 26, 1866 New York Legislature forms New York City Metropolitan Board of Health -
On March 13, 1866, The United States Congress overwhelmingly passes the Civil Rights Act of 1866, the first federal legislation to protect the rights of African-Americans -
U.S. President Andrew Johnson vetoes the bill on March 27, and Congress overrides the veto on April 9.[2] -
President Johnson ends war in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia -
Congress authorizes nickel 5 cents piece (replaces silver half-dime) on May 16, 1866 -
On January 1, 1867, The John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge opens between Cincinnati, Ohio and Covington, Kentucky, becoming the longest suspension bridge in the world. -
On January 8, 1867, African-American men are granted the right to vote in the District of Columbia. -
On February 7, 1867, West Virginia University is established in Morgantown, West Virginia. -
On March 1, 1867, Nebraska is admitted as the 37th U.S. state. -
On march 1, 1867, The University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign is established (it opens for classes on March 2, 1868) -
On June 29, 1867, A Sioux and Cheyenne war party kills U.S. Second Lieutenant Lyman Kidder, along with an Indian scout and ten enlisted men in Kansas. -
On July 2, 1867, The first elevated railroad in USA begins service in New York -
On July 17, 1867, In Boston, Massachusetts, the Harvard School of Dental Medicine is established as the first dental school in the United States. -
On October 18, 1867, U.S. takes formal possession of Alaska from Russia, paying $7.2 million. -
On December 2, 1867, In a New York City theater, British author Charles Dickens gives his first public reading in the United States.
