-
-
Abraham Lincoln addresses gathering at the Cooper Institute in New York, attacking slavery and insisting that the Federal government has "the power of restraining the extension of the institution."
-
The Pony Express began fast overland mail service, operating between St. Joseph, Mo., and Sacramento, Calif. It offered 8-10-day delivery, with an "emergency" time of 7 days, 7 hours.
-
The Constitutional Union Party, a short-lived political group, was a haven in the election of 1860 for Whigs and Know-Nothings unwilling to join northern or southern Democrats or the Republicans.
-
Abraham Linclon becomes the sixteenth president and the first republican president of the United States of America.
-
South Carolina becomes the first state to secede from the union.
-
The USS Star of the West was fired on in Charleston Harbor.
-
Davis was inaugurated as the provisional president of Confederate states.
-
Confederates fire on Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor and start the civil war.
-
This was the first major land battle of the armies in Virginia. On July 16, 1861, the untried Union army under Brig. Gen. Irvin McDowell marched from Washington against the Confederate army, which was drawn up behind Bull Run beyond Centreville.
-
Davis elected to a six-year term as president of Confederacy.
-
Lincoln relieves McClellan from position as General-in-Chief of the Federal Armies.
-
On this date The Battle of Yorktown, Virginia, begins.
-
The Battle of Shiloh, Pittsburg Landing Tennessee, begins.
-
Seven Days Battles begin at Oak Grove (French's Field), Virginia.
-
Abraham Lincoln presents the Emancipation Proclamation to his Cabinet.
-
Emancipation Proclamation signed on this date.
-
In December of 1862, Jackson commanded a victory at Fredericksburg, and then the famous flank march at Chancellorsville in May. The same night as that victory, May 2, 1863, Jackson was wounded by friendly fire while making a reconnaissance with a member of his staff. He died eight days later on May 10 from pneumonia, a complication of having his left arm amputated from the incident. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson was with his wife and only surviving daughter when he died, and is buried in Lexingto
-
Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee concentrated his army around Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, upon the approach of Union Gen. George G. Meade’s forces.
-
Robert E. Lee offers to resign as commander of the Army of Northern Virginia.
-
President Lincoln delivers the "Gettysburg Address".
-
General Ulysses S. Grant is given command of all of the armies of the United States by President Lincoln.
-
Grant’s first major offensive in the east. The Union suffer more losses than the Confederates, but unlike previous Union commanders, Grant did not retreat, instead moving on to Spotsylvania.
-
Ulysses S. Grant is badly beaten on the field by Robert E. Lee but rather than retreat, Grant advances to Spotsylvania Court House.
-
The main assault comes on 3 June, when Grant fails to break Lee’s line yet again.
-
The Republican party nominated President Abraham Lincoln as its presidential candidate, and Andrew Johnson for vice-president. The Democratic party chose General George B. McClellan for president, and George Pendleton for vice-president.
-
Congress passes the Thirteenth Amendment, the abolition of slavery.
-
Robert E. Lee surrenders the Army of Northern Virginia to Grant at Appomattox.
-
The Stars and Stripes is ceremoniously raised over Fort Sumter. That night, Lincoln and his wife Mary see the play "Our American Cousin" at Ford's Theater. At 10:13 p.m., during the third act of the play, John Wilkes Booth shoots the president in the head. Doctors attend to the president in the theater then move him to a house across the street. He never regains consciousness.
-
John Wilkes Booth is shot and killed in a tobacco barn in Virginia after being on the run from assassinating the president.
-
The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, passed by Congress on January 31, 1865, is finally ratified. Slavery is abolished.
