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  The Pemberton Mill collapsed in Lawrence, Massachusetts, killing 145 workers
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  Shoe factory workers go on strike for higher wages in Lynn, Massachusetts involving 20,000 workers
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  Abraham Lincoln delivers his Cooper Union speech.
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  Abraham Lincoln during a campaign speech for president defended the right to strike.
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  The Pony Express has its first run from St. Louis, Missouri to Sacramento, California.
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  The U.S. Constitutional Union Party holds its convention and nominates John Bell as president of the United States.
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  Abraham is selected as the president of the United States candidate for the Republican party.
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  Abraham Lincoln is elected President of the United States.
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  South Carolina is the first state to secede from the Union.
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  South Carolina issues the "Declaration of the Immediate Causes Which Induce and Justify the Secession of South Carolina from the Federal Union"
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  Delaware chooses not to secede from the Union
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  Mississippi becomes the second state to secede from the Union
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  Jefferson Davis resigns from the United States senate
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  Louisiana secedes from the Union
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  Kansas is the 34th state admitted to the United States.
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  Battle of Fort Sumter starts the Civil War
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  Virginia secedes from the Union
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  Battle of Bull Run actually starts the war, The confederacy wins
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  Abraham Lincoln appoints George McClellan as commander for the Union Army.
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  Jefferson Davis is elected president of the Confederate states.
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  Ulysses S. Grant captured Fort Henry in Tennessee.
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  U.S. Grant attacked Fort Donelson in Tennessee and captured it a day later.
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  Jefferson Davis inaugurated to Richmond, VA
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  The Battle of Yorktown. Victor unannounced
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  The battle of Shiloh begins.
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  Battle of Shiloh finished and the union defeat the Confederates thanks to supplies.
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  Robert E. Lee commands the confederate army of Northern Virginia.
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  David G. Farragut becomes the first United States Navy rear admiral.
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  The battle of Fredericksburg. Union suffer many casualties.
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  Abraham Lincoln signs act to admit West Virginia to the Union
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  Abraham Lincoln Issues the second executive order of the Emancipation Proclamation.
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  Arizona is organized as a United States territory.
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  Battle of Chancellorsville. Robert E Lee defeats the Union.
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  Battle of Gettysburg. Three day war. Largest battle of the War. Union defeats Confederate.
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  Battle of Vicksburg. Union capture the town of Vicksburg.
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  In Charlestown, South Carolina, Union attacks Confederate- held Fort Sumter.
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  Battle of Wauhatchie. Forces under Union General Ulysses S. Grant.
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  The Confederates attempt to siege Knoxville started.
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  Abraham Lincoln delivers the Gettysburg Address at the military cemetery dedication ceremony in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
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  Battle of Missionary Ridge. Union defeats Confederate.
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  Libby Prison Escape. 109 Union soldiers escape from the Confederate prison in Richmond, Virginia.
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  The first Northern prisoners arrive at the Confederate prison at Andersonville, Georgia.
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  President Abraham Lincoln appoints Ulysses S. Grant commander in chief of all Union armies.
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  Battle of Piedmont: Union forces under General David Hunter. Union defeats Confederacy.
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  President Abraham Lincoln signs a law that abolishes the commutation fee that could be paid to in lieu of conscription
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  William T. Sherman launch an assault on Atlanta, Georgia.
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  U.S. presidential election, 1864: Abraham Lincoln is reelected in an overwhelming victory over George B. McClellan.
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  Sherman's March to the Sea begins: Union General Sherman burns Atlanta and starts to move south.
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  Battle of Nashville. Union defeats the Confederacy.
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  Sherman's March to the Sea finally ends when Sherman captured Savannah, Georgia.
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  Confederate General Robert E. Lee becomes general-in-chief.
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  Union attacks Columbia, South Carolina and forces Confederates out.
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  U.S. President Abraham Lincoln is inaugurated for a second term; Andrew Johnson becomes Vice President.
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  General Robert E. Lee surrenders to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House
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  Abraham Lincoln gets assasinated by John Wilkes Booth
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  Andrew Johnson becomes the 17th president of the United States.
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  John Wilkes Booth is found and shot dead for killing the president.
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  The steamboat, Suitana, explodes and kills 2700 passengers, more than half being Union survivors from Andersonville war prison.
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  Jefferson Davis meets with his Confederate cabinet for the last time.
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  The Ku Klux Klan is created by six Confederate army veterans.
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  The Civil Rights Act of 1866 is passed, overriding a presidential veto, granting further rights to freed slaves.
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  The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) is founded in New York City by Henry Bergh
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  The U.S. Congress approves the minting of a nickel 5-cent coin (nickel), eliminating its predecessor, the half dime.
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  US General Winfield Scott dies, West Point, New York.
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  The Great Fire of Portland, Maine kills two and leaves 10,000 homeless in the worst fire in an American city at the time.
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  The Judicial Circuits Act reduces the number of United States circuit courts to nine and the number of Supreme Court justices to seven.
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  The Metric Act of 1866 becomes law and legalizes the use of the metric system for weights and measures in the United States.
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  President Andrew Johnson goes on his Swing Around the Circle speaking tour to gain support for his Reconstructionist policies and Democratic Party candidates in the upcoming elections.
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  The Second Plenary Council of American Roman Catholic bishops is held in Baltimore.
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  House of Representatives elections: Despite President Andrew Johnson's Swing Around the Circle tour, the Republican Party wins in a landslide.
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  The University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign is established
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  Nebraska is admitted as the 37th U.S. state
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  Alaska is purchased for $7.2 million from Alexander II of Russia
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  The Atlantic Cable Quartz Lode mine is named in Montana.
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  The first elevated railroad in USA begins service in New York.
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  In Boston, Massachusetts, the Harvard School of Dental Medicine is established as the first dental school in the United States.
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  The United States takes control of Midway Island.
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  Medicine Lodge Treaty. Near Medicine Lodge Creek, Kansas, a landmark treaty is signed by southern Great Plains Indian leaders. The treaty requires Native American Plains tribes to relocate to a reservation in western Oklahoma.
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  Former Minnesota farmer Oliver Hudson Kelley founds the Order of the Patrons of Husbandry (better known today as The Grange)
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  In a New York City theater, British author Charles Dickens gives his first public reading in the United States.