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civil war
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The Constitution Union Party, meeting in Baltimore, creates a platform taken heavily from the U. S. Constitution and selects John Bell of Tennessee for President and Edward Everett of Massachusetts for Vice-President. It represents southern Whigs and Know-nothings (American Party). Sometimes called the Bell-Union Party
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James Chesnut becomes the first Southerner to resign from the Senate. He is quickly followed by James H. Hammond
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Major Robert Anderson reports Fort Sumter is being threatened in Charleston as federal forces begin to improved Fort Moultrie and Fort Sumter in the harbor.
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Outgoing President James Buchanan sends a distressed State of the Union message to Congress. In it he states that secession is unconstitutional, says the federal government lacks the authority to prevent it and calls for a constitutional amendment allowing Southern states to retain slaves as property.
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Lewis Cass tenders his resignation as Secretary of State over President Buchanan's refusal to reinforce federal troops in Charleston.
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Pro-Union Senator John Crittenden of Kentucky proposes the Crittenden Compromise, which allowed states south of the old Missouri Compromise line to determine for themselves whether they entered the Union slave or free.
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South Carolina succeeds from the union
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Major Robert Anderson transfers his command from Fort Moultrie to Fort Sumter on his own initiative. He felt it was impossible to hold Fort Moultrie against South Carolina militia.
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As requested, John Floyd tenders his resignation as Secretary of War. Charges come out later in the day that he had misdirected funds to contractors and guns to the South. Neither charge will be fully investigated and his guilt (or innocence) is still a hotly debated subject
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Federal arsenal at Charleston falls into the hands of the Rebels
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Mississippi secceeds from the union
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Florida succeds from the union
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Alabama succeeds from the union
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Georgia succeeds from the union
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Louisiana succeeded from the union
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Texas succeeds from the union
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Lincoln officially becomes the 16th president of the United States of America
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Virginia succeeds from the union
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Arkansas succeeds from the union
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North Carolina succeeds from the union
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Battle of Seven Pines
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Battle of Gaines Mill
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Battle of Malvern Hill
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Battle of Harpers Ferry
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Stonewall Jackson takes 12,000 prisoners
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Battle of Sharpsburg
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Following the preemptive strike at Antietam President Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing slaves in states or portions of states still in rebellion on January 1, 1863
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Ambrose E. Burnside assumes command of the Army of the Potomac, relieving George B. McClellan
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Battle of Fredericksburg
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Battle of Stone's River
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Battle of Kelly's Ford.
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Battle of Lookout Mountain
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Battle of Missionary Ridge, Chattanooga
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Battle of Ringgold Gap
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Battle of Fort Sanders (earlier known as Ft. Loudon or Loudoun)
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Battle of Ripley
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William Tecumseh Sherman enters Knoxville, formally ending the siege
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Ambrose Burnside is relieved of command (Department of the Ohio)
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Leonidas Polk ordered to take command of the Army of Mississippi.
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Joe Johnston takes command of the Army of Tennessee in Dalton
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Battle of Olustee
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Battle of Westport
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Battle of Burgess Mill
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Battle of Johnsonville
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Battle of Griswoldville
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Battle of Buckhead Creek
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Battle of Franklin
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Battle of Waynesborough
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Battle of Stoney Creek
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Battle of Nashville
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Battle of Kinston
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Battle of Bentonville
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Battle of Five Forks
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Battle of Selma
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Battle of Fort Blakely
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James Johnston, a pro-Union politician, is appointed provisional governor of Georgia.
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General Robert S. Granger declares Emancipation Day in Texas, the date when all Negroes are officially set free. Now celebrated as Juneteenth
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Conspirators Lewis Payne, George A. Atzerodt, David Herold and Mary Surratt are hung in Washington, D. C. for the assassination of President Lincoln
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President Andrew Johnson appoints the Joint Committee on Reconstruction to determine which Southern states are entitled to representation in Congress
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The Ku Klux Klan is organized at the law offices of Thomas M. Jones in Pulaski, Tennessee. The name derives from the Greek word kykos (circle) and was suggested by John B. Kennedy, who anglicized it to Ku Klux. James R. Crowe added the word Klan because of the predominant Scottish-Irish population of the area
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The first formal observation of President Lincoln's birthday is held in Washington, D. C. President Andrew Johnson attends
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New Freedman's Bureau bill passed by Congress. President Andrew Johnson vetoes the bill that authorized military trial for those accused of "depriving Negroes of the Civil Rights" on the same day
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Texas repeals the actions of the Secessionist Convention
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President Johnson vetos the Civil Rights Act of 1866 on the grounds that it was unconstitutional
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The United States declares that a state of peace exists with Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia
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Congress appropriates $100,000 to buy Ford's Theater. It will house the Army Medical Museum, the Office of the Surgeon General and War Department records until 1893
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New Jersey ratifies the 14th Amendment
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North Carolina rejects the 14th Amendment
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A fire in the Philadelphia ship-yard accidently destroys a number of ships used during the Civil War
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On the 6th anniversary of secession, South Carolina rejects the 14th Amendment
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Blacks in Washington D. C. gain the right to vote in a bill passed over President Andrew Johnson's veto
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Alexandria, Virginia rejects thousand of votes cast by Negroes, who were granted universal suffrage under the Reconstruction Act.
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General Philip Sheridan assumes command of the 5th Military district encompassing Louisiana and Texas. He designates New Orleans as his headquarters.
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Massachusetts ratifies the 14th Amendment
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William P. Seward signs a treaty with Russia buying Alaska for 2 cents an acre. Democrats called it "Seward's Folly"
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Senate ratifies treaty purchasing Alaska
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Nebraska ratifies the 14th Amendment
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Congress passes a bill admitting Arkansas, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, and South Carolina into the Union. Virginia, Mississippi, and Texas, having refused to ratify the fourteenth amendment, were refused admission into the Union
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President Andrew Johnson demands the resignation of Edwin Stanton, Secretary of War.
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Ulysses S. Grant becomes ad interim Secretary of War
