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Abraham Lincoln's Inauguration
Abraham Lincoln was sworn into presidency, and gave his Inaugural Address. In order to deliver the right message in his speech, he had help from political advisors, including the future secretary of state, William H. Seward. The main idea in Lincoln’s speech was keeping the Union together. He even suggested compromising into keeping slaves in the states that already had them. Soon after, however, the events of Fort Sumter took place, and the civil war began. -
The Trigger: Fort Sumter
Fort Sumter, a fort in the mouth of the Charleston Harbor, was running low on ammunition, so the North sent a supply ship. The Confederacy took this as an act of war, and attacked the fort and the ship, which turned back. After some time of enduring the Confederacy’s bombardment, (and occasionally firing back), Major Robert Anderson agreed to surrender, and evacuated the fort. After, Abraham Lincoln called for 75,000 men to put down the rebellion, and four more states seceded. -
The First Battle of Bull Run
Also called First Manassas. Union troops led an attack against the confederates in Virginia. The confederates were going to attack the Union’s left flank, but the union, led by Brig. Gen. Irvin McDowell, gave them a disadvantage. A brigade of virginians, led by Thomas J. Jackson, stood their ground, and the confederates launched a counterattack forcing the union soldiers to retreat. General Jackson got his nickname Stonewall Jackson when a general remarked that he stood there like a stone wall. -
The Battle of Hartsville
Col. Absalom Moore, a union general, guarded the Hartsville river crossing. Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg ordered Col. John Morgan to prevent the Union from obttaining supplies from Nashville, close to Hartsville. Early in the morning, Morgan crossed the river, and attacked. There are two different opinions of how they bypassed the Union picket line. One says they dressed up in Union clothes, the other in civilian clothes. Either way, they surrounded Moore, and convinced him to surrender. -
The Battle of Stones River
Union gen. William Rosecrans led his troops from Nashville, to challenge the Confederate general Braxton Bragg. They planned to attack each others' right flanks, but Bragg attacked first, and drove the Union back. However, the Union took up a strong defensive position, and repelled the next salvo of attacks. On January 2, Bragg ordered a general to attack the Union again, but they suffered heavy losses when the Union withstood them. A day later, Bragg ordered his troops to retreat to Tennessee. -
The Emancipation Proclamation
President Abraham Lincoln gave this speech shortly preceding the third year of the Civil War. It stated that slaves in the rebellious states are free. However, in the Confederate states that were already captured by the Union, slaves weren't free. Also, states that had not seceded from the Union and owned slaves, were not required to release them. It also issued that black men were allowed to fight in the Union army, and by the time the war was over, around 200,000 black men had fought for them. -
The Battle of Gettysburg
Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee led his troops across Shenandoah valley, to attack the north. Maj. Gen. George Meade was assigned the task of stopping them. On the first day of battle, the Union was forced to retreat. On the second day, Lee led another attack. Despite losses, the Union stood their ground. On the next and last day, many soldiers attacked Cemetary Ridge, the center of the union lines. The attack was named Pickett's Charge, after a general who led it. It failed, and Lee retreated. -
The Treaty at the End
General Robert E. Lee led a final attack on the Union, at Appomattox, to try to breach the Union force. However, he misjudged the number of soldiers he would have to defeat. He had no choice but to surrender, and the documents of the surrender were signed at the Appomattox Court House. -
Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was watching a play at Ford’s Theater (in Washington D.C.), when he was shot in the head. John Wilkes Booth, an actor and a confederate sympathizer, originally planned to kidnap Lincoln, and exchange him for prisoners of war. However, Lincoln didn’t show up where they were expecting him. Soon after General Lee surrendered, Lincoln gave a speech supporting citizenship for black people, and that changed Booth’s mind, and he killed him instead. Booth escaped, but was shot later on. -
The 13th Amendment
This amendment finished the process of abolishing slavery throughout the country. It passed the Senate on April 8, 1864, and the House on January 31, 1865. It was then ratified by a sufficient number of states by December 6. This was the first of the three amendments that expanded the number of rights in the US.
