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Civil War Timeline
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Senator Jefferson Davis, from Mississippi, explains why slavery should still be allowed in the territories.
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20,000 New England shoe makers strike so they can get higher wages.
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Lincoln visits Five Points, the slum in America. There, he spent time with the children in Sunday school and later, the visit helped with his campaign.
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The Pony Express was a mail delivering service with 119 stations each 12 miles apart. This made it faster for people to communicate, via letter.
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The former members of the American and Whig parties meet and from the Constitutional Union Party with John Bell their elected president and Edward Everett as vice-president.
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Albert Hicks, who was a pirate, was convicted of murder. He was hanged at present day Liberty Island, New York in front of many people.
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Lincoln was elected president with 180 electoral votes and 1,865,593 popular votes. He led the Union soldiers through a tough Civil War.
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Robert Anderson says that Fort Sumter is being threatened in Charleston.
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Georgia calls to all the southern states to form an independent nation and drop from the Union.
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South Carolina succeeds from the Union because they wanted to keep slavery from being outlawed. Shortly after, many other southerns states dropped as well following South Carolina.
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Mississippi succeeds from the Union following South Carolina. Mississippi is the 2nd state succeed.
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After many states drop from the Union, the Confederate states are formed. They are led by President Jefferson Davis.
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Major Anderson sends Lincoln a message saying that southern troops are demanding a surrender. Lincoln refuses to surrender.
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Abraham Lincoln is inaugurated as the 16th President of the Unites States
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Lincoln becomes the 16th president of the United States. He represented the Republican Party.
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President Jefferson Davis is forced into being the aggressor and declares war. He begins firing on the fort and luckily, no one dies but 4,000 rounds were fired.
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Lee resigns from the United States Army saying that he can not raise his hand against his home. He goes back to Virginia and is offered the command of military and naval forces of Virginia.
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The Union troops are moving towards Richmond with 30,000 inexperienced soldiers. The Union army is disorganized and can't make an advancement on the Confederates. The Union troops retreat with the Confederates too tired to follow.
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Lincoln appoints McClellan Commander. He replaces Irvin McDowell.
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Jefferson Davis becomes the one and only president of the Confederate States. He led the Confederate Soldiers through a tough Civil War.
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Ulysses S. Grant invades Tennessee and took control over two forts, Fort Henry and Fort Donelson, which were near the Cumberland River. Grant earns the nickname "Unconditional Surrender."
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A Confederate boat, named Merrimac, sinks two wooden ships from the Union and then battled the Union soldiers. This ended in a draw but changed Naval warfare by making wooden boats, obsolete.
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Ulysses S Grant gathers his troops at a church, named Shiloh, near the Mississippi border. Grant did not think to send scouts out and the Confederates attack early in the morning. Grant surprises them back the next day. This mini attack showed everyone the importance of scouts, fortresses, and trenches.
Battle lasted from April 6-7, 1862. -
Seventeen Union boats sail up the Mississippi River and take New Orleans from the Confederates. This happened under David Farragut's command.
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A 7 day battle(June 25 - July 1) where Robert E. Lee moved against McClellan. This battle was fought between the York and James River
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Lincoln was his own general-in-chief for four months when he finally gave up that position so General Henry W. (Old Brains) Halleck.
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75,000 Union soldiers are defeated by 55,000 Confederate solders. This took place in Virginia where the Union Army retreated to Washington.
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The bloodiest, single day battle in the U.S. military history. Robert E. Lee and his army was stopped at Antietam, in Maryland, by George McClellan and his army. By night, 26,000 men are dead, hurt, or missing. Lee retreats to Virginia.
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The Emancipation Proclamation states that if the southern states did not stop rebelling, this document would go into effect.
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Abraham Lincoln fires McClellan because of his poor work strategies and vulnerability of his troops.
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The Confederates did not quit their rebellions, therefore, the Proclamation went into effect. This document freed the slaves from the southern states.
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Lincoln relieves General Ambrose Burnside from command of the Union Army of the Potomac. He replaces Burnside with General Joseph Hooker, also known as Fighting Joe.
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The Confederacy suffers a hard loss of Stonewall Jackson. He died from his wounds, which he got from battle. "Let us cross over the river and rest under the shade of the trees." Those were his last words.
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Union and Confederates meet by chance in a small farm town in PA. The shooting starts while reinforcements were requested by both sides. The Union, with 90,000 men, secures Cemetery Hill. Confederates, with 75,000 men, secure the town.
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Confederates push through Union troops who left Little Round Top unguarded. Joshua L. Chamberlain, from the Union side, stops the pushing of the Confederates. The Union had orders to protect the hill top at all costs.
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Robert E. Lee is confident he could break the Union lines by ordering his troops to advance. The troops are badly injured the by Union. Confederates lose and Union has a major morale boost. Lincoln produced a famous speech called "Gettysburg Address" which unified the nation.
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Confederate soldiers surrender to Grant at the Mississippi River. Since the Union now had control of the Mississippi, the Confederates were split into two.
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The Confederates defeat the Union in Tennessee. This leaves the Union army from Cumberland, trapped in Chattanooga.
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Lincoln gives the Gettysburg Address speech in order to try to unify the nation during the times of war.
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The Union get their revenge from the Confederates by storming up the Missionary Ridge without order. This surprised the Confederates and caused them to have a defeat.
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109 Union officers escaped from Libby Prison onto the banks of the James River in Richmond, Virginia.
59 Union officers reach Union lines. -
Lincoln appoints Ulysses S. Grant the Union Commander because Lincoln loved Grants war strategies and and how he worked. He soon became known as "Unconditional Surrender."
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The Capture of Fort Pillow took place in Tennessee after a raid through central and western Tennessee.
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Ulysses S. Grant leads his Union troops into Confederate territory, which happens to be in the woods. The battle, which lasted for two days, ended in a draw. Grant would not retreat and he ordered his troops to move even more south.
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Ulysses S. Grant is badly beaten by Robert E. Lee on the battle field. Grant only progresses forwards rather than retreating.
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Union army bombarded Confederate soldiers at New Hope Church. Surprise attacked surprised the Confederates.
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Grant made a 7,000 causality mistake in twenty minutes . This happened at Cold Harbor in Virginia.
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Lincoln is re-elected president defeating, democrat, George B. McClellan. Lincoln holds 55% popular vote and 212 out of 233 electoral votes.
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This battle took place is Tennessee where the Union troops stormed the Confederate trenches and battled them. Eventually, the Union troops defeated the Confederate troops.
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Sherman reached Savannah, Georgia leaving behind a 300 mile long path of destruction all the way from Atlanta. Sherman then send a telegraph to Lincoln offering Savannah as a Christmas Present.
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Union army captures Fort Fish, North Carolina. They cut off all access to Wilmington for the Confederates.
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The U.S. Congress approves the 13th Amendment to abolish slavery. The amendment was then submitted to the states for ratification.
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Sherman's Army captures Columbia, South Caroline and Confederates had to evacuate Charleston.
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Abraham Lincoln is once again inaugurated, for his second term, not knowing his tragic end would soon come:(
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Robert E. Lee fires his last attack of the war in desperation to break out of Petersburg. This attempt failed and within a week Lee was evacuating his positions around Petersburg.
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Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth in Ford's Theater. This happened during a play production while Booth, sneaked up behind Lincoln and shot him in the back of the head.
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General Joseph Johnston sign the surrender document on behalf of the Confederate Army of Tennessee and southern troops near Durham, North Carolina.
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General Richard Taylor surrenders Confederate forces in Alabama, Mississippi, and East Louisiana.
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President Jefferson Davis, of the Confederates, was captured near Irwinville, Georgia.
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The last battle of the Civil War took place at Palmito Ranch in Texas and ended with a Union loss and Confederate win.
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Jesse and Frank James turned to crime after being Confederate guerrillas. They preformed their first, of many, armed bank robbery in broad day light in Liberty, Missouri.
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An immigrant ship, Monarch of the Seas, sinks in Liverpool, England. The sinking caused 738 people to die.
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Civil Rights Act was one of the first United States federal law that defined citizenship and confirmed and equally protected every citizen of the United States.
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The Memphis Race Riots occurred in Memphis, Tennessee on May 1st through the 3rd. The riots broke out due to the fact that white soldiers believed that many African American soldiers killed multiple police officers because they were arresting other black soldiers. Because of these riots, the 14th amendment was passes to ensure equal rights between all citizens.
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The 14th Amendment is ratified which gives civil rights to all the free slaves.
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After the war, Tennessee is the first state to be accepted back into the Union.
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Congress creates the rank of General of the Us Army. The first, and proud General went to Ulysses S. Grant. He retired two years later in 1869 and General William T. Sherman took over his position.
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The Atlantic Cable allowed telegraph communication for the first time transatlantic! This made communication much easier.
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The U.S. Senate begins a search into the Ku Klux Klan, also known as the KKK. The Ku Klux Klan was an all white discrimination group against the African Americans.
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These riots also broke out due to segregation of the African American race. This riot took place outside the Mechanics Institute because the Louisiana state legislature banned African Americans right to vote. Democrats attacked Republicans, which were mostly black, because they were parading outside the Institute.
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In order for an amendment to be ratified, 3/4 of the states had to approve. On this date, the last state needed to ratify was Ohio and they did.
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After long, hard years of being sold and bought as a slave, the African American slaves were finally freed and finally able to vote!
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Blacks have the right to vote in Washington D.C. They gain this right to vote in a bill passed over by President Andrew Johnson's veto.
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Nebraska becomes a state!!
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The first reconstruction act, out of three, split the Confederate states into 5 different military districts all under the control of the of a Northern General. The districts responsibilities were to protect life and property.
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Virginia rejects any votes by African Americans. Which is not aloud due to the Reconstruction.
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America purchases Alaska from Russia. 586, 412 square miles was bought and negotiated by Andrew Johnson's Secretary of State, William Seward, for $7.2 million dollars. The United states was paying about 2 cents per acre of land.
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President Andrew Johnson announces to America the purchase of Alaska from Russia.
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A hurricane in the British Virgin Islands sinks the Royal Mail Ship. The hurricane destroys Derwent and Wye and damages Conway, Solent, and Tyne. The hurricane kills 166 people from the two ships.
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Congress wants to impeach him because he does not work very well and his lack of unwillingness with the reconstruction.
