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South Carolina became the first state to secede from the federal Union due to the victory of Abraham Lincoln in the presidential election. -
The speech was mainly directed at the people of the South, and it was meant to state Lincoln's intended policies and desires toward that region, where seven states had seceded from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America. -
Confederate forces attacked the United States military garrison at Fort Sumter, South Carolina. The fort surrendered less than two days later. There were no fatalities. However, the battle ignited the American Civil War, the bloodiest conflict in American history. -
Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus between Washington, D.C. and Philadelphia in order to give the military the authority they needed to silence dissenters and rebels. Commanders could arrest and detain individuals who were deemed a threat to military operations under this order. -
The Confederate government relocated the capital to Richmond, the South's second largest city, after Virginia seceded. -
Confederate troops forced the Union army to retreat and the First Battle of Bull Run showed that the war was real and the country's fate would not be decided after one fight. -
Jefferson Davis was elected president of the Confederate States of America and he was elected to a six-year term after running unopposed. -
The Confederate vessel Merrimac was used in the Battle of the Monitor and Merrimac, the first engagement between ironclad ships. -
The Battle of Shiloh was a two-day battle in Southern Tennessee between Union and Confederate armies.
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When Robert E. Lee took command of the Confederate forces on June 1, 1862, in a battle to defend Richmond from Union forces, the Army of Northern Virginia was renamed. -
It was an attempt by Lee to invade the North near Sharpsburg, Maryland. McClellan was tipped off to Lee’s plans when a soldier found secret orders wrapped around cigars. This is considered the single bloodiest day in American history. -
The Union suffered a crushing defeat at the Battle of Fredericksburg, despite the fact that their soldiers fought valiantly but were let down by their generals' mismanagement.
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President Lincoln announced that if the rebels did not end the fighting and rejoin the Union by January 1, 1863, all slaves in the rebellious states would be free. -
Due to Confederate General Robert E. Lee's superior tactics, the South defeated the North despite having a much smaller army.
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Lee crossed into Pennsylvania in June of 1863. He sent troops for supplies. Confederates encounter Union force outside Gettysburg. Confederates lost 28,000 men (one-third of army). The Union lost 23,000 men (one-quarter of army). The town was overwhelmed by the amount of dead and wounded soldiers. Lee was unable to rebuild his army. This was the turning point of the war - “beginning of the end” for the Confederacy.
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It captured the last confederate fortress on the Mississippi River, dividing the Confederacy in two, and giving the Union complete control of the river. -
Working-class New Yorkers' rage over a new federal draft law erupted into five days of some of the bloodiest and most destructive rioting in US history during the Civil War.
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Lincoln was invited to attend cemetery dedication. Lincoln gave a two minute speech and at the time, Lincoln’s two-minute speech was considered great by some, a failure by others. -
Democrat George B. McClellan was defeated by Abraham Lincoln. Because the election took place during the American Civil War, it was only contested by states that had not seceded from the Union. -
Union forces led by William Tecumseh Sherman overwhelmed and defeated Confederate forces led by John Bell Hood defending the city. -
Sherman begins his journey across Georgia by torching Atlanta's industrial district and withdrawing from his supply lines. -
The U.S. House of Representatives passes the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery in America. -
An act that provides food, shelter, clothing, medical services, and land to displaced Southerners, including newly freed African Americans. -
The Union captures the Confederacy's capital, Richmond, Virginia, in the most significant sign that the Confederacy is nearing its end. -
Abraham Lincoln speech offered Lincoln's most profound reflections on the causes and meaning of the war. -
Lee accepted responsibility for the decision to surrender in order to spare his men further suffering, which he then praised for their "constancy and devotion" to the Confederacy. -
In Washington, D.C., John Wilkes Booth entered the presidential box at Ford's Theatre and fatally shot President Abraham Lincoln. -
After the authorities set fire to the barn, Union soldier Boston Corbett shot him in the neck and killed him. He died a few hours later, paralyzed.
