-
The Election of 1860 demonstrated the divisions within the United States just before the Civil War. The Constitutional Union Party was also new; 1860 was the first and only time the party ran a candidate for president. The results of the 1860 election pushed the nation into war.
-
South Carolina became the first state to secede from the federal Union on December 20, 1860.The secession of South Carolina precipitated the outbreak of the American Civil War in Charleston Harbor on April 12, 1861
-
The Battle of Fort Sumter was the bombardment of Fort Sumter near Charleston, South Carolina by the South Carolina militia, and the return gunfire and subsequent surrender by the United States Army, that started the American Civil War.
-
On July 21, 1861, Union and Confederate armies clashed near Manassas Junction, Virginia. The Confederate victory gave the South a surge of confidence and shocked many in the North, who realized the war would not be won as easily as they had hoped.
-
The Merrimack was destroyed by Confederate soldiers when the Union took over the port at Norfolk, Virginia in 1862. The Monitor sank during a storm off the coast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina on December 31, 1862. The wreck of the Monitor was located in 1973 and some of the ship was salvaged
-
Battle of Antietam, also called Battle of Sharpsburg, in the American Civil War, a decisive engagement that halted the Confederate invasion of Maryland, an advance that was regarded as one of the greatest Confederate threats to Washington, D.C. The Union name for the battle is derived.
-
The fighting that took place in the houses and streets of Fredericksburg was the first major instance of urban warfare in the Civil War. Bitter Union troops set about pillaging the town after the Rebels were finally defeated on December 11.
-
President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, as the nation approached its third year of bloody civil war. The proclamation declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free."
-
The Battle of Chancellorsville was a huge victory for the Confederacy and General Robert E. Lee during the Civil War, though it is also famous for being the battle in which Confederate General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson was mortally wounded.\
-
The Siege of Vicksburg was a decisive Union victory during the American Civil War that divided the confederacy and cemented the reputation of Union General Ulysses S. Grant
-
The Battle of Gettysburg, was the turning point of the Civil War for one main reason: Robert E. Lee's plan to invade the North and force an immediate end to the war failed. The collision of two great armies at Gettysburg put an end to that audacious plan.
-
Pickett's Charge was the culmination of the Battle of Gettysburg. Taking place on July 3, 1863, the third and final day of battle, it involved an infantry assault of approximately 15,000 Confederate soldiers against Union Major General George Meade's troops' position along Cemetery Ridge, manned by some 6,500 Federals.
-
Lincoln's main purpose was to urge everyone to honor those who had died at Gettysburg by striving to maintain the kind of nation imagined by America's founders.
-
The purpose of Sherman's March to the Sea was to frighten Georgia's civilian population into abandoning the Confederate cause. Sherman's soldiers did not destroy any of the towns in their path, but they stole food and livestock and burned the houses and barns of people who tried to fight back
-
The Thirteenth Amendment, passed by the Senate on April 8, 1864.By the House on January 31, 1865, and ratified by the states on December 6, 1865, abolished slavery “within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.”
-
Apr 9, 1865. Trapped by the Federals near Appomattox Court House, Confederate general Robert E. Lee surrendered his army to Union general Ulysses S. Grant, precipitating the capitulation of other Confederate forces and leading to the end of the bloodiest conflict in American history.
-
John Wilkes Booth became the first person to assassinate an American president when he shot and killed Abraham Lincoln in his box at Ford's Theater in Washington.A supporter of slavery, Booth believed that Lincoln was determined to overthrow the Constitution and to destroy his beloved South.
Looking for a timeline maker?
Create timelines for projects, roadmaps, history, lessons, legal cases, and stories with Timetoast. Timetoast is a timeline maker for work, school, research, and stories.