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South Carolina votes to secede from the United States
South Carolina became the first state to secede from the federal Union. Charleston Mercury broadside proclaiming dissolvement of the Union between the State of North Carolina and other states united under the Constitution of the United States of America, December 20, 1860. -
Jefferson Davis elected President of the Confederacy
As a compromise between moderates and radicals he was confirmed by the voters for a full six-year term. He had been elected president of the Provisional Government of the Confederacy. -
Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address
Part of his taking of the oath of office for his first term. He is to become the sixteenth President of the United States. -
Confederate forces fire on Fort Sumter
The Battle of Fort Sumter was the bombardment of Fort Sumter near Charleston, South Carolina by the South Carolina militia, and the return gunfire. It is also the place of the subsequent surrender by the United States Army, that started the American Civil War. -
Lincoln suspends habeas corpus
Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus between Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia to give military authorities the necessary power to silence dissenters and rebels. Under this order, commanders could arrest and detain individuals who were deemed threatening to military operations. -
Richmond becomes the capital of the Confederacy
In the Confederate Capital City of Montgomery, Alabama, the decision was made to name the City of Richmond, Virginia as the new Capital of the Confederacy. The Confederate capital was moved to Richmond in recognition of Virginia's strategic importance. -
First Battle of Bull Run is fought
The First Battle of Bull Run, also known as the Battle of First Manassas, was the first major battle of the American Civil War. This battle forced both the North and South to face the reality that the war would be long and bloody. -
The Merrimac and the Monitor fight of the Virginia coast Confederates surrender at Vicksburg
Battle of the Monitor and Merrimack was also called the Battle of Hampton Roads. In the American Civil War, it's known as history’s first duel between ironclad warships and the beginning of a new era of naval warfare. -
Battle of Shiloh
The Battle of Shiloh, also known as the Battle of Pittsburgh Landing, allowed Union troops to penetrate the Confederate interior. The human toll was the greatest of any war on the American continent up to that date. -
Robert E. Lee is named commander of the Army of Northern Virginia
Robert E. Lee assumed command on June 1, 1862, in a battle to defend the city of Richmond from Union forces. The confederate forces were renamed the Army of Northern Virginia. -
Battle of Antietam
Antietam is the deadliest one-day battle in American military history. Showed that the Union could stand against the Confederate army in the Eastern theater. It also gave President Lincoln the confidence to issue the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation at a moment of strength rather than desperation. -
Battle of Fredericksburg
The Battle of Fredericksburg was fought in and around Fredericksburg, Virginia, in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. Battle was between the Union Army of the Potomac and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. -
Emancipation Proclamation is announced
President Lincoln announced the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, as the nation approached its third year of civil war. The proclamation declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free." -
Battle of Chancellorsville
The Battle of Chancellorsville was a major battle of the American Civil War. It was a huge victory for the Confederacy and General Robert E. Lee during the Civil War. This battle is famous for being the battle in which Confederate General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson was mortally wounded. -
Battle of Gettysburg
The Battle of Gettysburg was fought in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. This battle was fought by the Union and Confederate forces during the American Civil War. -
New York City draft riots
The anger of working-class New Yorkers over a new federal draft law during the Civil War created five days of some of the bloodiest and most destructive rioting in U.S. history. This was caused by civil war conscription. -
Lincoln gives his Gettysburg Address
President Lincoln delivered a short speech at the end of the ceremonies dedicating the battlefield cemetery at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. His speech has since been known as the Gettysburg Address. -
Atlanta is captured
During the Civil War, the fall of Atlanta proved to be a blow from which the Confederacy never recovered. "Atlanta is ours, and fairly won." -General William T. Sherman when he captured Atlanta. -
Abraham Lincoln defeats George McClellan to win re-election
During the American Civil War, President Lincoln of the National Union Party easily defeated the Democratic nominee, former General George B. McClellan. He beat him by 212–21 in the electoral college, with 55% of the popular vote. -
Sherman begins his March to the Sea
Union General Sherman's scorched-earth March to the Sea campaign began November 15, 1864. Union General William T. Sherman began his expedition across Georgia by torching the industrial section of Atlanta and pulling away from his supply lines. -
Congress passes the 13th Amendment
Passed by Congress on January 31, 1865, and ratified on December 6, 1865, the 13th amendment abolished slavery in the United States. The 13th amendment, which formally abolished slavery in the United States, passed the Senate on April 8, 1864, and the House on January 31, 1865. -
Freedmen's Bureau is created
Congress passed “An Act to establish a Bureau for the Relief of Freedmen and Refugees” to provide food, shelter, clothing, medical services, and land to displaced Southerners. This included newly freed African Americans. -
Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address
Abraham Lincoln gave his second inaugural address during his second inauguration as President of the United States. He spoke of mutual forgiveness, North and South, asserting that the true mettle of a nation lies in its capacity for charity. Lincoln presided over the nation's most terrible crisis. -
Richmond falls to the Union Army
The Confederate government fled the city with the army right behind them. Now, on the morning of April 3, blue-coated troops entered the capital. Richmond was the holy grail of the Union war effort, the object of four years of campaigning. -
Robert E. Lee surrenders at Appomattox
In Appomattox Court House, Virginia, Robert E. Lee surrendered his 28,000 Confederate troops to Union General Ulysses S. Grant, ending the American Civil War. On April 9, Lee sent a message to Grant announcing his willingness to surrender. -
President Lincoln Assassinated
President Lincoln died at 7:22 am. He was assassinated in Fords Theater. John Wilkes Booth became the first person to assassinate an American president. -
John Wilkes Booth is killed
John Wilkes Booth died of a gunshot wound on April 26, 1865. Union soldiers tracked him down to a Virginia farm 12 days after he assassinated President Abraham Lincoln. Twenty-six-year-old Booth was one of the most famous actors in the country when he shot Lincoln during a performance at Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C., on the night of April 14.