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The Pony Express, in which mail was being transported across America, made its first travel on April 3, 1860. This would be important to the Civil War because soldiers stationed all around the country would be able to receive mail from their family members back home.
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Democratic politicians meet in Charleston, South Carolina to decide the fate of the Confederate territories.
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On June 23, 1860 the U.S. Government opens the Printing Office. This will begin all federal publication of important documents.
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Abraham Lincoln was accepted into office on November 6, 1860. Lincoln was a representative of the Republican political party.
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South Carolina is the first nation to secede from the Union, taking the risk of failing without the Union. In the next two months, the rest of Southern states such as Mississippi and Florida.
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After seceding from the Union, the southern population elected upon Jefferson Davis to rule the Confederate States.
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After winning the election of 1860, Abraham Lincoln is finally inducted into the White House.
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Fort Sumter (Union establishment) was attacked by Confederate commands, starting the Civil War. Lincoln refused to let the Union surrender to allow Jefferson Davis to be depicted as the aggressor.
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Rober E. Lee, who would later become the commander for the Confederate Army, resigns his position in the U.S. army. He did such an action because he could not fight against his hometown, Virginia, and by being in the U.S. army you were required to fight for the Union.
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The Union army, under the command of Irvin McDowell, suffered their first defeat of the Civil War. This event acts as the first indicator that the war will be a long and violent event.
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Confederate surprise attack on the Union Army at Shiloh near the Tennesse River. The Confederates killed 13,000 Union soldiers, resulting in a Confederate win.
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General Robert E. Lee takes command as the Confederate Army leader, replacing the wounded and feeble Johnston.
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Union soldiers, under the command of Stonewall Jackson, are defeated at the Second Battle of Bull Run in Northern Virginia. The Union Army retreats back to Washington to face their loss.
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Known as one of the bloodiest battles of history, the Union Army beat the Confederates in Maryland. General Lee and the Confederate soldiers flee to Virginia.
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Union suffers a defeat against the Confederates at Fredericksburg, Virginia with a loss of 12, 635 men as compared to the 5, 309 Confederate losses.
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Lincoln issues a document in which the slaves are officially free in the Confederate states. This stressed the enlistment of African American soldiers into the Union Army.
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From July 1-3, the Battle of Gettysburg acts as the turning point of the war as the Union Army makes a large come back from previous losses. The Union Army is now in the lead,
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One of the Confederates strongest locations surrenders to the Union. The Union Army now as a surplus of power along with control of the Mississippi River.
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Lincoln, in an effort to to push the abolition of slaves, meets with Douglass to push the efforts of "Negro Troops".
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Lincoln gives a two minute speech in which he recognizes all deaths from the war, both Union and Confederate.
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In Fort Pillow, Tennessee, there was an attack on the black Union soldiers by the Confederate Army. Many were captured and kept as prison slaves.
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General Grant made a huge mistake by entering this battle. In twenty minutes, 7,000 of his men were killed by Confederate soldiers.
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William Tecumseh Sherman, one of the most brutal war generals, captured the location of Atlanta, Georgia. His intent was to show the Southerners the true impact of this war by ruining all of their landscape and facilities, ultimately making their land unlivable.
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Lincoln faces one of his old generals (of whom he fired from the job), George McClellan in the election of 1864. There were many Americans on edge to vote for Lincoln after the way his first term went, but with a popularity vote of 55%, Lincoln reigned victorious.
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William Tecumseh Sherman showed his strength as a general by completely destroying all facilities and railroads in Atlanta, Georgia.
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The Confederate war leader, General Robert E. Lee finally surrenders to the Union war leader, General Ulysses S. Grant, under the command of Jefferson Davis. The official war document and terms of surrender were negotiated at the Appomattox Court House.
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President Lincoln, after finally bringing the Civil War to a close, went out to Ford's theatre with his wife Mary to see the show "Our American Cousin". During the play, the notorious southern actor John Wilkes Booth snuck into the President's viewing box and shot him and immediately fled from the scene.
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Although he was shot the day before, Lincoln did not officially die until April 15. At the announcement of his death, the Vice President Andrew Johnson takes the title of U.S. President.
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After what would go down in history as the longest manhunt, John Wilkes Booth is finally found in Virginia and shot to death.
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After the Civil War officially ends, Congress ratifies the thirteenth amendment to the Constitution which abolishes all slavery in the U.S.
