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Trent Affair
From November 1861 through December 1861, the United States and Great Britain were in a diplomatic crisis after the USS San Jacinto ordered the arrest of two Confederate envoys on the British ship, the Trent, on November 8th. Great Britian was neutral in the war and was outraged at the US for seizing a neutral ship saying that it was against international law. President Lincoln decided to end the conflict by releasing the envoys to avoid an armed conflict with Britian. -
Battle of Shiloh
The Battle of Shiloh on the 6th and 7th of April 1862 took place in TN on Pittsburg Landing and resulted in a Union victory. Shiloh is significant because the Confederates launched a suprise attack on Union forces who were occupying a majority of TN and KY in TN but were unable to hold their position and fell back. Shiloh also resulted in Confederate General Johnston dying during the battle and forcing General Beauregard to take control. This battle ended in 23,000 total casualties. -
Battle of Antietam
Lasting from the 16th to the 18th, the battle of Antietam is significant because it was the bloodiest battle in American history. It was the first battle to be fought on Northern soil and was won by the Union. On the 18th, Lee withdrew the Confederates with 10,318 casualties out of 38,000 engaged to the Union's 12,401 out of 75,000 total. Antietam is an important battle because the Union victory was justification for issuing the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. -
Battle of Fredricksburg
Starting on December 11th and lasting until the 15th, Fredricksburg was a significantly important battle between Lee's Confederate forces and Burnside's Union forces. This battle was important in restoring energy to Confederate forces after the failure of Lee’s first Northern invasion in the Battle of Antietam the previous fall. It also crushed Union morale and caused tensions in Union politics and government. -
Emancipation Proclamation
Beginning on September 22, 1862, after the Union victory at the Battle of Antietam, President Lincoln issued a preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. It declared an executive order that all slaves in Confederate states would be freed forever on January 1st. Although, slaves weren't actually freed, it turned the Union army's motivation for fighting from keeping the nation together to human rights and freedom. -
Battle of Chancellorsville
Fighting from April 30th to May 6th, the Confederate army was victorious in the Battle of Chancellorsville. Lee forced the Union army which was twice the size of his troops to retreat across the Rappahannock River. However, the Confederates lost General Stonewall Jackson in the battle. Chancellorsville is considered to be Lee's greatest victory and gave him the confidence to invade the North a second time in the Battle of Gettysburg. -
Battle of Gettysburg
Lasting from the 1st of July until the 3rd, the battle of Gettysburg is a significant Union victory that put the Union in favor of winning the war. In May, the Confederates had delt a devestating blow to the Union forces at Chancellorsville and Lee wanted to invade at Gettysburg on the basis of this confidence. Confederates were winning until Pickett's Charge which lost two-thirds of the men in that division.Gettysburg killed the hope of Southern invasion of the North. -
New York Draft Riots
In 1863, Congress passed a law making all men between the ages of 20 and 45 eligible to be drafted for military service or they could be exempt by paying a fee that only the rich could afford. From July 13th to the 16th, the government's attempts to enforce this draft resulted in a very destructive round of riots in New York. Buildings were burned, people were killed and injured, troops were fought with,and people were racially targeted during the riots. -
Battle of Chickamauga
From the 19th to the 20th, the Battle of Chickamauga occurred ending in a Confederate victory by Braxton Bragg's Army of Tennessee. Although the Confederates won, Bragg let the Union forces retreat to Chattanooga without pursuing them leading to the Union victory in the Battle of Chattanooga later that year. The battle ended with almost 20,000 Confederate casualties and 16,000 for the Union. -
Gettysburg Address
On November 19, 1863, President Lincoln gave one of the most important speeches in American history on the soil of one of the bloodiest and most decisive battles of the Civil War. Lincoln's speech expressed the idea he had that the Civil War was the ultimate test of whether or not the Union would survive. -
Battle of Chattanooga
The Battle of Chattanooga occurred on November 23, 1863 lasting until the 25th. Chattanooga was a Union victory after the previous loss at the Battle of Chickamauga. the Union victory forced the Confederate forces back to Georgia and put the Chattanooga railway under Union control, which would cut the deep South off from Confederate supplies. This was an important factor in soldiers' morale and Sherman's March to the Sea. -
Battle of Fort Sanders
The Battle of Fort Sanders, lasting for only twenty minutes on November 29, 1863, was a devastating yet pivotal battle between Union and Confederate soldiers in East Tennessee. The battle is significant because Union occupation of the region disconnected railroad connections from the deep south to General Lee in Virginia. It also was important in the way this battle was fought with early signs of modern trench warfare leading to 813 Confederate casualities to only 13 for the Union. -
Lincoln's Ten Percent Plan
The Ten Percent Plan was one of the Union's options for dealing with the Confederate states when they rejoined the Union. The Ten Percent Plan was proposed by Lincoln and was lenient in dealing with the rebelling Southerners. Lincoln offered a presidential pardon and amnesty to rebels vowing loyalty to the US and its slavery laws. Also when 10% of a state's population vowed loyalty to the Union, a new government could be formed. Then he was allowing states to create policies dealing with blacks. -
Battle of Fort Pillow
The Battle of Fort Pillow was fought in Tennessee of April 12, 1864. This battle also known as the Fort Pillow Massacre infuriated the North at the Confederate's treatment of African-American soldiers. Confederates killed more than 300 African-American soldiers who should have been taken as prisoners of war, but the Confederate forces refused to treat these soldiers as traditional troops. This led to refusal by the Union to participate in prisoner exchanges. -
Wade-Davis Bill
The Wade-Davis Bill was the radical Republicans solution to punishing the South and allowing the Confederate states back into the Union proposed after the Civil War turned in favor of the Union. It was drafted by Senator Benjamin Wade and Congressman Henry Winter Davis. The bill called for the complete abolition of slavery, required 50% of rebellious voters to swear allegiance to the Union, and demanded that a constitutional convention occur before state officials were elected. -
Battle of Nashville
From December 15th to 16th, Nashville saw the Union forces facing Confederate forces half their size. The Union crushed the Army of Tennessee in this battle and drove the Confederates out of Tennessee. It also caused the Confederate's General Hood to resign from his position. -
Freedmen's Bureau Founded
Established in 1865, the Freedmen's Bureau was formed to help former slaves and poor whites in the South in the aftermath of the Civil War. It provided food, housing and medical aid, established schools and offered legal assistance to the former slaves and poor whites. It also tried to give the former slaves land. In 1872, the Bureau was shutdown, partially because of pressure from white southerners. -
Lincoln's Assassination
On April 14, 1865, actor and Confederate sympathizer, John Wilkes Booth, shot and killed President Lincoln at Ford's Theatre in Washington, DC. The assassination happened five days afte General Lee surrendered and ended the Civil War. -
Passage of Black Codes in States
In late 1865, Black Codes began to be passed by Southern states. A black code is "A body of laws, statutes, and rules enacted by southern states immediately after the Civil War to regain control over the freed slaves, maintain white supremacy, and ensure the continued supply of cheap labor." (The Free Dictionary) These black codes were used to oppress African-Americans so that Southerners still had control over them in the Era of Reconstruction. -
Ratification of the 13th Amendment.
The 13th Amendment which officially abolished slavery in the United States was ratified on December 6, 1865. It was passed in the Senate on April 8, 1864 and the House on January 31, 1865. -
KKK Founded
In Pulaski, Tennessee, a small number of veterans from the Confederate army form a secret society that they call the Ku Klux Klan. This small, secret society rapidly spreads across the South, ending uo in almost every Southern state by 1870. The organization was white southern resistance to the Reconstruction measures taken by the Republican government. -
1st Reconstruction Act
The 1st Reconstruction Act, also known as the Military Reconstruction Act, was passed over the veto of President Johnson. The act put separated all formerly Confederate states except for Tennessee into five military districts in order to protect life and liberty of all citizens. It also made all of these states ratify the 14th Amendment. -
Impeachment of Johnson
On February 24, 1868, the House of Representatives votes eleven articles of impeachment against President Johnson. This vote made Johnson the first president to be impeached. -
Ratification of the 14th Amendment
The 14th Amendment granting citizenship, equal civil rights, and legal rights to African-Americans was ratified on July 9, 1868. -
Ratification of the 15th Amendment
The 15th Amendment gave suffrage to African-American men and was adopted on March 30, 1870. However, even after the 15th Amendment legally gave African-Americans men the right to vote, barriers were put into place to prevent colored men from voting. It wasn't until the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that these barriers were combated to give African-American men an equal opportunity to vote. -
The 1875 Civil Rights Act
The 1875 Civil Rights Act protected all Americans, regardless of race, in their access to public places such as restaurants, theaters, and public transportation. It also protected the right of Americans to serve on juries. This act was not enforced though and was declared unconstitutional in 1883. -
Hayes-Tilden Compromise
The Hayes-Tilden Compromise was an informal and unwritten deal between Democrats and Republicans that solved the 1876 presidential election between Hayes and Tilden. It also released the formerly Confederate states from military districts, ending the Era of Reconstruction. The deal was that Hayes could be president and the Southern Democrats would recognize him as such if he fulfilled certain demands such as releasing the states from federal control. -
End of Reconstruction
When President Hayes was brought into office, he removed the federal troops from the South, ending the Era of Reconstruction. The order to remove the troops was given on May 1, 1877. The decision to end Reconstruction and give rule back to the Southern states led to the disenfranchisement of African-Americans in the South.
