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Brief description of the civil wars timeline.
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It was 1860, and the brew of Civil War was starting to boil in Kansas and Virginia, but in New England, it was apparent, that the wages that workers had been given, and the profits that the factory workers were making, well, the gap was becoming too large. -
The Pony Express begins. Overland mail between Sacramento, California and St. Joseph's, Missouri is carried over the Oregon Trail for eighteen months by this series of riders on horseback, then rendered obsolete when the transcontinental telegraph is completed. Service ended on October 24, 1861. -
The U.S. Constitutional Union Party holds its convention, and nominates John Bell for President of the United States. -
Emmanuel Leutze is commissioned by Congress and begins to paint the mural, "Westward Ho the Course of Empire Takes Its Way," in July 1861 for the U.S. Capitol. The mural represents frontier settlement. -
The American Civil War lasted from 1861 to 1865. The Paraguayan War (1864–1870) starts in South America, with the invasion of Paraguay by the Triple Alliance (Empire of Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay). -
Republican candidate Abraham Lincoln, running on an anti-slavery platform, defeats three opponents in the campaign for the presidency; Democrats Stephen A. Douglas and John C. Breckenridge, and John Bell, Constitutional Union Party, leading to ardent cries of potential rebellion in southern slave states. -
Abraham Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin are elected president
and vice president (Republican). -
The first Secession Convention meets in Columbia, South Carolina. -
The Crittenden Compromise was an unsuccessful proposal to permanently enshrine slavery in the United States Constitution, and thereby make it unconstitutional for future congresses to end slavery. It was introduced by United States Senator John J. -
In 1860, the state of South Carolina officially withdraws from the United States of America. -
The southern states that seceded create a government at Montgomery, Alabama, and the Confederate States of America are formed. -
Abraham Lincoln is inaugurated as the sixteenth president of the United States in Washington, DC. -
Six days after South Carolina Secedes from the Union, the commander of Charleston Forts decided to move his men to Fort Sumter. -
Southern forces fire upon Fort Sumter, South Carolina. The Civil War has formally begun. -
A fight near Philippi in western Virginia, is the first clash of Union and Confederate forces in the east. -
The Battle of Bull Run is fought near Manassas, Virginia. The Union Army under General Irwin McDowell initially succeeds in driving back Confederate forces under General Pierre Gustav Toutant Beauregard, but the arrival of troops under General Joseph E. Johnston initates a series of reverses that sends McDowell's army in a panicked retreat to the defenses of Washington. It is here that Thomas Jonathan Jackson, a professor at VMI, will receive everlasting fame as "Stonewall" Jackson. -
Battle of Wilson's Creek, Missouri.The Union Army under General Nathaniel Lyon, attack Confederate troops and state militia southwest of Springfield, Missouri, and after a disastrous day that included the death of Lyon, are thrown back. The Confederate victory emphasizes the strong southern presence west of the Mississippi River. -
Fort Hatteras at Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, falls to Union naval forces. This begins the first Union efforts to close southern ports along the Carolina coast. -
Lexington, Missouri falls to Confederate forces under Sterling Price. -
Colonel Edward D. Baker, senator from Oregon and a friend of President Lincoln, led troops across the Potomac River only to be forced back to the river's edge where he was killed. The ensuing Union withdrawal turned into a rout with many soldiers drowning while trying to re-cross the icy waters of the Potomac River. -
Battle of Mill Springs, Kentucky. The Union victory weakened the Confederate hold on the state. -
The loss of this southern fort on the Tennessee River opened the door to Union control of the river. -
A Confederate defeat, the battle resulted in Union occupation of eastern North Carolina and control of Pamlico Sound, to be used as Northern base for further operations against the southern coast. -
This southern fort on the Cumberland River left the river in Union hands. It was here that Union General Ulysses S. Grant gained his nickname "Unconditional Surrender". -
The Union victory loosened the Confederate hold on Missouri and disrupted southern control of a portion of the Mississippi River. -
the first major battle in Tennessee. Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston, a veteran of the Texas War of Independence and the War with Mexico considered to be one of the finest officers the South has, is killed on the first day of fighting. The Union victory further secures the career of Union General Ulysses S. Grant. -
Two weeks after of maneuvering and battles at Cross Keys and Front Royal, General "Stonewall" Jackson attacks Union forces at Winchester -
Commodore Charles Davis defeats a Confederate river force on the Mississippi River near the city and Memphis surrenders. The Mississippi River is now in Union control except for its course west of Mississippi where the city of Vicksburg stands as the last southern stronghold on the great river. -
The Battle of Second Bull Run is fought on the same ground where one year before, the Union army was defeated and sent reeling in retreat to Washington. Likewise, the result of this battle is a Union defeat. -
The Army of the Potomac, under General Ambrose Burnside, is soundly defeated by Lee's forces after a risky river crossing and sacking of the city. -
The Emancipation Proclamation goes into effect. Applauded by many abolitionists including Frederick Douglass, there are others who feel it does not go far enough to totally abolish slavery. -
Conscription, or the drafting of soldiers into military service, begins in the North. It had begun in the South the year before. -
General Lee's greatest victory is marred by the mortal wounding of "Stonewall" Jackson, who dies on May 10. Soon after, Lee asks Jefferson Davis for permission to invade the North and take the war out of Virginia. -
Union forces under General Ulysses S. Grant attack Confederate defenses outside the city on May 19-22. If Vicksburg falls, the Mississippi River will be completely controlled by the Union. -
Union cavalry forces cross the Rapidan River to attack General J.E.B. Stuart's cavalry and discover that Lee's men are moving west toward the Shenandoah Valley. The largest cavalry battle of the Civil War, it also marks the beginning of the Gettysburg Campaign. -
Confederate troops under General Richard Ewell defeat Union troops under General Robert Milroy, clearing the Shenandoah Valley of Union forces. -
June 28, 1863-Confederates pass through York and reach the bridge over the Susquehanna River at Columbia, but Union militia set fire to the bridge, denying access to the east shore. -
The bloodiest battle of the Civil War dashes Robert E. Lee's hopes for a successful invasion of the North. -
Lincolns reconstruction, which would pardon those who participated in the "existing rebellion" if they take an oath to the Union. -
Fought between the Union Army of the Cumberland under General William Rosecrans and the Confederate Army of Tennessee under General Braxton Bragg, the costly Union victory frees middle Tennessee from Confederate control and boosts northern morale. -
In Georgia, Camp Sumter opens. Universally referred to as Andersonville Prison Camp, it will become notorious for overcrowded conditions and a high death rate among its inmates. -
Ulysses S. Grant is appointed lieutenant general, a rank revived at the request of President Lincoln. Grant assumes command of all Union Armies in the field the following day. -
Capture of Fort Pillow, Tennessee. After a rapid raid through central and western Tennessee, Confederate cavalry under Nathan Bedford Forrest attacked and overwhelmed the Union garrison at Fort Pillow, located on the Mississippi River. Many of whom were murdered by Forrest's angered troopers after they had surrendered. -
The opening battle of the "Overland Campaign" or "Wilderness Campaign". Lee responded by attacking the Union column in the dense woods and underbrush of an area known as the Wilderness, west of Fredericksburg, Virginia. -
May 8-21, 1864- Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, Virginia. Lee successfully stalls Grant's drive toward Richmond. -
The Union attacks fail to dislodge Lee's army from its strong line of defensive works northeast of Richmond. -
In spite of being outnumbered almost two to one, Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest attacks and routs the Union command under General Samuel Sturgis. -
After withdrawing from the lines at Cold Harbor, the Army of the Potomac crossed the James River and with troops from the Army of the James attacked the outer defenses of Petersburg. After four days of bloody attacks, Grant accepts that only a siege can systematically isolate the city and cut off Confederate supplies to the capital of Richmond. -
Weeks of maneuvering and battles, Sherman's Army of the Cumberland and Army of the Tennessee smash headlong into Johnston's carefully planned defenses at Big and Little Kennesaw. -
In an attempt to draw Union troops away from the ongoing siege of Petersburg and Richmond, a Confederate force under Jubal Early quietly moved north into Maryland. -
The Union defeat of Nathan Bedford Forrest secured the supply lines to Sherman's armies operating against Atlanta, Georgia. -
In North Carolina the union occupation of this fort at the mouth of the Cape Fear River closes access to Wilmington. -
President Abraham Lincoln is inaugurated for his second term as president in Washington, DC. -
Sherman's army is stalled in its drive northward from Fayetteville but succeeds in passing around the Confederate forces toward its object of Raleigh. -
Known as "Lee's last offensive", Confederate troops under General John B. Gordon attack and briefly capture the Union fort in the Petersburg siege lines in an attempt to thwart Union plans for a late March assault. -
The Confederate defeat at Five Forks initiates General Lee's decision to abandon the Petersburg-Richmond siege lines. -
Union troops occupy Richmond and Petersburg, Virginia. -
Battle of Appomattox Court House and Surrender, Appomattox Court House, Virginia. After an early morning attempt to break through Union forces blocking the route west to Danville, Virginia, Lee seeks an audience with General Grant to discuss terms. On April 12, the Army of Northern Virginia formally surrenders and is disbanded. -
President Abraham Lincoln is assassinated by actor John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theater in Washington, DC. On the same day, Fort Sumter, South Carolina is re-occupied by Union troops. -
The final battle of the Civil War takes place at Palmito Ranch, Texas. It is a Confederate victory. -
General Simon Bolivar Buckner enters into terms for surrender of the Army of the Trans-Mississippi, which are agreed to on June 2, 1865. -
The Civil Rights Act of 1866 is passed by Congress, the first federal law protecting the rights of African Americans. It is vetoed by President Johnson, but the veto overridden by Congress. -
Alexander II of Russia narrowly escapes an assassination attempt in the city of St Petersburg. -
The first post of the Grand Army of the Republic forms in Decatur, Illinois, and subsequently became a major political force. The G.A.R. began the celebration of Memorial Day in the north. -
The United States Congress approves the minting of a nickel 5-cent coin (nickel), eliminating its predecessor, the half dime. -
Some devices, such as the grindstone, were old tools, but improved manufacturing and distribution systems enabled them to have a greater impact in the industries of the day. Most of the 15,269 patents granted in 1866, however, were more optimistic than useful. -
Tennessee becomes the first U.S. state to be readmitted to the Union following the American Civil War. -
The United States Congress passes legislation authorizing the rank of General of the Army (now called "5-star general"); Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant becomes the first to have this rank. -
Weights and measures are standardized in the United States when the Metric Act of 1866 passes Congress. -
The final Congressional elections of the year and election of additional Republicans lead to southern reconstruction being taken over by the federal government and freedman's rights backed. -
The Klu Klux Klan forms secretly to discourage blacks from voting, issuing in a brutal and shameful era of terror and crime amid southern states as civil rights for freed slaves emerged from the Civil War Era and made hesitant progress throughout the majority of the 20th Century. -
First of twelve installments of Ragged Dick by Horatio Alger is published and one year later expanded into a book in the "rags to riches" theme. -
African-American men are granted the right to vote in the District of Columbia. -
Two years after the Civil war ends Nebraska is admitted as the 37th U.S. state. -
Secretary of State William H. Seward consummates the sale of Alaska to the United States from Russia for $7.2 million dollars, approximately two cents per acre, by signing the Treaty of Cession of Russian America to the United States. -
The race was won by filly Ruthless at 1 5/8 mile with a winning purse of $1,850. The Belmont Stakes is the oldest of the three American Triple Crown races. -
The first elevated railroad in USA begins service in New York. -
In Boston, Massachusetts, the Harvard School of Dental Medicine is established as the first dental school in the United States. -
The United States takes control of Midway Island. -
In a New York City theater, British author Charles Dickens gives his first public reading in the United States. -
The Grange organizes to protect the interest of the American farmer.