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Second Emancipation Proclamation
Lincoln issues the second Emancipation Proclamation, emphasized as a war measure, which frees all slaves in states or parts of states that were still in rebellion against the United States. -
10 Percent Plan
Lincoln issues a Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction, which comes to be known as his 10 Percent Plan. -
Wade Davis Bill
Republicans in Congress propose the Wade Davis Bill as an alternative to Lincoln's 10 Percent Plan. Lincoln pocket-vetoes it. -
Military Gives 40 Acres
General William T. Sherman issues Special Field Order 15, setting aside confiscated plantation land in the Sea Islands and along the coast of South Carolina and Georgia for black families to settle in 40-acre plots. Some 40,000 freedmen and women are living on the land by June -
Freedmen Bureau Established
The temporary Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands (known as the Freedmen's Bureau) is established within the War Department. -
Freedmen Savings Bank
Congress also charters the Freedmen's Savings and Trust Company, commonly called the Freedmen's Savings Bank. -
Surrender at Appomattox
Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee surrenders his army to Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House in Virginia. -
Abraham Lincoln's Assassination
President Lincoln is shot and mortally wounded by John Wilkes Booth while attending the comedy "Our American Cousin" at Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C. He dies the next day.