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On November 3, 1860, the Charleston Mercury was published. On December 20, 1860, South Carolina became the first state to secede from the federal union. The election of Abraham Lincoln as president in 1860 sparked calls for secession from the slave-holding South. -
In his inaugural address, Lincoln swore not to interfere with the institution of slavery where it persisted, and to temporarily cease federal government activity in hostile areas. He was, nevertheless, a staunch opponent of secession and the theft of government property. -
Over 3,300 rounds and "hot shot" had been fired at the fort during the initial 34-hour bombardment by 43 Confederate cannons when Confederate forces marched into the fort on the afternoon of April 14, 1861. The parade field was riddled with shell holes, and the terreplein (upper level) was a shambles. -
Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus between Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia on April 27, 1861, in order to provide military authorities the right to quiet dissenters and rebels. Commanders might arrest and detain persons who were deemed a danger to military operations under this directive. -
Following Virginia's secession, the Confederate government relocated its capital to Richmond, the second biggest city in the South. By linking the conflict with the American Revolution, the move solidified Virginia's new Confederate identity and sanctified the revolt. -
The First Conflict of Bull Run, commonly known as the Battle of Manassas, was the American Civil War's first significant land battle. Union and Confederate soldiers battled in Manassas Junction, Virginia, on July 21, 1861. -
The Confederate States of America elects Jefferson Davis as president. He ran unopposed, and the election essentially validated the Confederate Congress' choice earlier in the year. -
The Battle of the Monitor and Merrimack, also known as the Battle of Hampton Roads, was a naval battle of the American Civil War that took place on March 9, 1862, in Hampton Roads, Virginia, a port at the entrance of the James River, and marked the beginning of a new era of naval warfare. -
The Battle of Shiloh was fought in southern Tennessee on April 6–7, 1862, as part of the American Civil War's Western Theater. The conflict is called after Shiloh, a tiny chapel in the area that ironically means "place of peace" or "heavenly peace." -
During the American Civil War, Robert E. Lee led the Army of Northern Virginia, the most effective of the Southern troops, and eventually commanded all Confederate armies. Lee became an icon of the American South as the military leader of the vanquished Confederacy. -
Most notably, the Union victory at Antietam gave President Abraham Lincoln the chance to issue the Emancipation Proclamation, making the battle one of the pivotal battles of the American Civil War. -
The Battle of Fredericksburg took place in and around Fredericksburg, Virginia, during December 11–15, 1862, in the American Civil War's Eastern Theater. -
On January 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation as the country entered its third year of civil war. "All individuals kept as slaves" within the insurgent states "are, and henceforth shall be free," the declaration said. -
The Action of Chancellorsville was a key Civil War battle in the United States, and the main combat of the Chancellorsville campaign. It took place in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, near the settlement of Chancellorsville, from April 30 to May 6, 1863. -
During the American Civil War, Union and Confederate soldiers fought in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, from July 1 to 3rd, 1863. -
The New York Draft Riots took place in July 1863, when working-class New Yorkers were outraged by a new federal draft legislation during the Civil War, resulting in five days of bloodshed and destruction. -
Vicksburg Surrender Summary. Lieutenant General John C. Pemberton abandoned Vicksburg and the Confederate force defending it to Major General Ulysses S. Granger on July 4, 1863. -
On November 19, 1863, at the opening of the Gettysburg National Cemetery, Lincoln gave one of the most renowned addresses in American history. The Union soldiers' triumph in repelling a Confederate invasion was a turning point in the Civil War. -
With 55 percent of the popular vote, incumbent President Abraham Lincoln of the National Union Party handily defeated the Democratic contender, retired General George B. McClellan, in the electoral college by a huge majority of 212–21 towards the conclusion of the American Civil War. -
During the Civil War, the loss of Atlanta proved to be a crippling blow to the Confederacy. -
The scorched-earth March to the Sea campaign of Union General Sherman starts. Union General William T. Sherman begins his campaign across Georgia on November 15, 1864, by torching Atlanta's industrial district and withdrawing from his supply lines. -
The 13th Amendment ended slavery in the United States when it was passed by Congress on January 31, 1865, and ratified on December 6, 1865. -
The "An Act to Establish a Bureau for the Relief of Freedmen and Refugees" was approved by Congress on March 3, 1865, to offer food, housing, clothes, medical services, and land to displaced Southerners, including recently liberated African Americans. -
On Saturday, March 4, 1865, at his second inauguration as President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln delivered his second inaugural address. -
Richmond, Virginia, falls to the Union, marking the most dramatic evidence that the Confederacy is reaching the end of its days. General Ulysses S. Grant had attempted unsuccessfully to penetrate the city for 10 months. -
Robert E. Lee surrenders his 28,000 Confederate forces to Union General Ulysses S. Grant in Appomattox, Virginia, on April 9, 1865, officially ending the American Civil War. -
President Abraham Lincoln was killed at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. by John Wilkes Booth, a well-known actor and Confederate sympathizer. Only five days before the invasion, Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered his enormous army at Appomattox Court House, Virginia.
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On April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth, an American stage actor, killed US President Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C.