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The senator Jefferson Davis from Mississippi presents resolutions to the Senate to affirm that the Federal government cannot only prohibit slavery in the territories, but must actually protect slaveholders there.
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Former members of the American and Whig parties meet in Baltimore, Maryland to form the Constitutional Union party. The delegates nominate John Bell of Tennessee for president and Edward Everett of Massachusetts for vice-president.
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Abraham Lincoln is elected as President of the United States.
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In Washington, seven senators and twenty-three representatives from the southern states issue a manifesto urging secession and the organization of a Southern Confederacy.
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On this date the first southern state to secede from the Union was South Carolina.
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Jefferson Davis is inaugurated as provisional president of Confederacy.
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The confederates fire on Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor.
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The confederates seize the navy yard in Norfolk, Virginia.
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The confederate legislators vote to move the capital to Richmond, Virginia.
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The first battle of Bull Run occurs right near Washington, D.C. The Confederates win this battle.
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The confederates surrender Fort Donelson on the Cumberland River in Tennessee to Ulysses S. Grant.
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The Battle of Shiloh took place. The Union won this battle and was led by Ulysses S. Grant.
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David C. Farragut leads the Union to New Orleans. The navy successfully captures the port of New Orleans.
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The Confederate General Robert E. Lee defends the capital of Richmond, Virginia. He then marches the army towards Washington, D.C after being successful.
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The Union forces fought Lee's army at Antietam, Maryland. It was the bloodiest battle of the war.
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The Emancipation Proclamation is put into effect. This was an order made by Lincoln to free slaves behind Confederate lines.
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Due to high prices on food, an angry mob of women demanded relief. However, they did not get what they wanted and wound up breaking into shops in order to obtain bread.
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West Virginia is admitted to the Union as the 35th state.
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This was known as the turning point of the war. The Union army defeated Confederate General Lee.
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This was given by Lincoln and was a speech dedicated to all that had passed in the Battle of Gettysburg. Lincoln brought everyone's hopes up about the government surviving.
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In Tennessee at Fort Pillow, Confederates murdered over two hundred African Americans.
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This was the first battle of General Ulysses S. Grant's 1864 Virginia Overland Campaign against General Robert E. Lee and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. This battle continued through May 7th and both sides suffered.
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The Union started this battle by blowing up a mine. However, under the leadership of Major General William Mahone, the Confederates performed a series of counter-attacks and won the battle.
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Abraham Lincoln was elected for a second term as President of the United States.
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Union General William Tecumseh Sherman leads his troops to Savannah, Georgia where they successfully capture the port city.
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The capital of Richmond falls to the Union and the Confederate government evacuates.
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General Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant met in Appomattox, Virginia and the Confederate surrender was arranged.
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While Lincoln is watching a play at Ford's Theatre he is shot from behind by John Wilkes Booth.
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After a long search for Lincoln's killer, the government finally gets ahold of him and kills him.
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General Edmond Kirby Smith surrenders the Trans-Mississippi Confederate army and the Civil War is finally over.
