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Prelude to the Civil War
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The Republican Party is formed
The Republican Party emerged as an antislavery political party to fight against the Kansas-Nebraska Act and the expansion of slavery into more of the American territories. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act Passed
This act repealed the Missouri Compromise, created two new states, allowed for popular sovereignty, and produced a violent uprising called "Bleeding Kansas" as proslavery and antislavery activists fought for the territories to sway the vote. -
Abraham Lincoln Elected as President
Abraham Lincoln's election was the start of the American Civil War due to his opposition of slavery, which the Southern States relied on. -
Period: to
Beginning to End of The Civil War
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The Confederates fire on Fort Sumter
The Battle of Fort Sumter was the first engagement between the Union and the Confederates, the Union tried their best to defend Fort Sumter, but a little over a day the Union surrendered the fort to the Confederates. -
Abraham Lincoln suspends habeas corpus
President Abraham Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus between Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia to give military authorities the power to silence dissenters and rebels who might be threatening military operations. -
Richmond becomes the capital of the Confederacy
The original capital city of the Confederacy was the City of Montgomery in Alabama. It was moved to Virginia due to Virginia's strategic importance and was called the City of Richmond. -
First Battle of Bull Run
Also known as the Battle of Manassas, the First Battle of Bull Run was the first major land battle in the Civil War, it ended with the Confederate forces as the victors. -
Jefferson Davis elected as President of the Confederacy
When the North and the South developed a schism, the Union had President Abraham Lincoln, and the Confederates unanimously chose Jefferson Davis to be President of the Confederacy. -
South Carolina votes to secede from the U.S.
A "Convention of the People of South Carolina" was held to consider secession, and a little over a month, the votes were in, 169 for, and 0 against, to declare secession from the U.S. -
Battle of the Monitor and Merrimack
This particular battle is notable as the first duel in history between ironclad warships and the beginning of a new era of naval warfare. The exact victor of the battle is inconclusive due the Monitor having been disabled and the Merrimack having retreated due to the damage it had sustained and almost out of ammunition. -
Battle of Shiloh
Also known as the Battle of Pittsburg Landing, it had the highest human toll of any war on the American continent up to that date, the Union had managed to breach Confederacy territory, but both sides were mentally scarred by the magnitude of the conflict due to tactical failure making it the longest and bloodiest battle after it was over. -
Robert E. Lee becomes commander of the Army of Northern Virginia
Robert E. Lee resigned his commission in the U.S. Army and became commander of the Army of Northern Virginia and was on the Confederacy side, serving minor combat operations and was a senior military advisor to Confederate President Jefferson Davis. -
Battle of Antietam
Also known as The Battle of Sharpsburg in the Southern United States, it was the first field army battle in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War that occurred on Union soil and it ended with the Union winning by a stalemate, and is the bloodiest one day battle in U.S history to date. -
Battle of Fredericksburg
The Battle of Fredericksburg took place in and around Fredericksburg, Virginia, the Union on the offensive and the Confederates on the defensive, this battle ended with the Union retreating the Eastern Theater. The Battle of Fredericksburg is known as one of the largest and deadliest battles in the Civil War. -
Emancipation Proclamation
The Emancipation Proclamation stated that all people who were slaves in the states that were against the Union were set free. -
Battle of Chancellorsville
This major battle was fought from April 30th to May 6th in 1863 and is considered to be Gen. Robert E. Lee's greatest military victory. -
Battle of Gettysburg
Southern General Robert E. Lee invades the Northern States a second time and the Union and Confederate forces clashed in the town of Gettysburg with the Union winning the battle, it was the bloodiest battle in the Civil War. -
Confederates surrender at Vicksburg
After Union Major General Ulysses S. Grant captured Fort Henry and Fort Donelson to give Union control of two of the three rivers connecting the North to the South he went after the city of Vicksburg where the Mississippi River was so the Confederacy would have no easy way of accessing supplies from the American West. The Union armies bombarded Vicksburg for weeks on end, and Vicksburg's only hope did not come, and eventually Vicksburg surrendered. -
New York City Draft Riots
The riots were initially intended to express the anger of the working class New Yorkers over a new federal law draft during the Civil War before it ended up turning into a (what do you know?) racial riot. -
The Gettysburg Address
The Gettysburg Address was a speech made by Abraham Lincoln to dedicate a national military cemetery to the Union soldiers who gave their lives at the Battle of Gettysburg a few months earlier. -
The Capture of Atlanta
This particular campaign had multiple generals from both sides and a lot of dead bodies from both sides as well, but the Union capturing Atlanta from the Confederates was an unrecoverable blow to them. -
Abraham Lincoln winning re-election against George McClellan
Abraham Lincoln's winning the re-election mean't that he would be able preside over the conclusion of the Civil War and he was the first President since Andrew Jackson to be re-elected as well the the first Northern President to ever be re-elected. -
Sherman begins his March to the Sea
Union General Sherman's March to the Sea campaign was a month long terraforming of Georgia to capture the Confederate seaport of Savannah, Georgia. -
Congress passes the 13th Amendment
The 13th Amendment abolished slavery in the United States. -
Creation of the Freedmen's Bureau
The Freedmen's Bureau was made to provide food, shelter, medical services, and land to displaced Southerners and newly freed African Americans. -
Abraham's Lincoln Second Inaugural Address
Abraham Lincoln delivered his second inaugural address during his second inauguration as President of the United States of America. -
Richmond falls to the Union Army
The Confederates had held the Union forces back for nine months until Confederate lines to the north of Richmond broke. The Confederates burned Richmond to the ground before fleeing, signally the end of Civil War was drawing near. -
Robert E. Lee surrenders at Appomattox
Robert E. Lee surrendered to the Federals when he and his army were trapped near the Appomattox Court House, and the rest of the Confederate forces soon followed, thereby ending the bloodiest conflict in U.S. history. -
President Lincoln's Assassination
On April 15th, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by famous actor and Confederate sympathizer, John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theatre. -
The Death of John Wilkes Booth
After having assassinated Abraham Lincoln, John Wilkes Booth fled into Southern Maryland towards Virginia and was tracked down and killed by Union soldiers in a Virginian farm 12 days after he shot Abraham Lincoln.