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Battle of Fort Sumter : South
The Battle of Fort Sumter was the first battle of the American Civil War. The South attacked a Union fort in South Carolina. Even though the fort was in the South, it was managed by the Union. The Confederates won. -
Emancipation Proclamation : North
This was the speech President Abraham Lincoln gave when he set all of the slaves free in the Confederacy. A preliminary warning was given to the South that slaves would be set free in the September before it was officially announced. The address was only for the rebelling states. -
Battle of Gettysburg : North
The Battle of Gettysburg was bloodiest battle in the war. It took place in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania and was from the first of July to the third. The Union won this battle but without heavy losses on both sides. In the end, around 51,000 soldiers casualties. -
Gettysburg Address : North
The Gettysburg Address was a speech by Abraham Lincoln in honor of the Union soldiers killed in the Battle of Gettysburg. Even though Lincoln wasn't supposed to be the main speaker, he wowed the audience in just 260 words. The Gettysburg Address is now one of the most well-known speeches by Abraham Lincoln. -
The War is Almost Over : South
General Lee surrendered the last major Confederate army to the Union at the Appomattox Courthouse in Virginia. The leader of the Union army was General Ulysses S. Grant. Before the surrender, Generals Lee and Grant exchanged letters discussing the surrender and truces. Though Lee surrendered, the war wasn't all the way over yet. It took time for news to travel and once other Confederate commanders started to hear of the news, they began to surrender as well. -
Abraham Lincoln is Assassinated : North
At Ford's Theater in D.C., Abraham Lincoln was shot in the back of the head by John Wilkes Booth while watching a play. Booth fled the scene and made his way to a farmhouse in Virginia. This was one of the biggest manhunts with 10,000 troops and detectives tracking him down. Soldiers tracked him down to a barn and then set it on fire. His co-conspirator surrendered but Booth stayed in and was then shot in the neck but couldn't be saved. He was paralyzed from the neck down like Abraham Lincoln. -
13th Amendment Ratified : North and South
The thirteenth amendment abolished slavery. This meant that all slaves were set free in the South. It was the first of the Reconstruction amendments. Congress finally had the power to enforce the abolition of slavery. -
KKK is established : South
The Ku Klux Klan was established in Tennessee. It was founded on the belief of white supremacy. Members would go around in white robes and hats to the homes of Republicans and former slaves terrorizing them. They had branches in almost every southern state and tried to restore the white supremacy in the South. -
Andrew Johnson Impeached : North
Andrew Johnson was the first president to be impeached in United States history. He was the vice president when Lincoln was president. When Lincoln was shot, Andrew Johnson was sworn in as president. He was impeached because he was too lenient on the reconstruction in the South. He allowed southern states to have local governments where black codes were legal. -
15th Amendment Ratified : North and South
This gave the right to vote to men and they couldn't be denied the right to vote based on their race. This was the last of the Reconstruction amendments. This didn't work as well as they thought. Southerners would implement a poll tax which meant that a voter had to pay a small fee to vote. They would have literacy tests and a grandfather clause. They would be asked to read a sentence or spell their name before they vote, or their grandfather had to have voted which ruled out African Americans.
