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In the year 1860 Abraham Lincoln became the 16th President of the United States of America.
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Delegates from the seceded states meet in Montgomery, Alabama to draw up a constitution and form the Confederate States of America. Jefferson Davis is inaugurated as president.
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Lincoln calls for 75,000 volunteers, prompting Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina and Tennessee to leave the Union.
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The Battle of Bull Run: Confederates win the first major battle of the war, but illusions of a short war are shattered.
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The first battle between ironclad ships ends in a draw when the Monitor and the Virginia meet at Hampton Roads, Virginia.
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Union troops gain a victory at Shiloh, Tennessee. With over 23,000 men killed, wounded, or missing, more casualties were suffered at Shiloh than in all previous American wars combined.
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The first U.S. Colored Troops are mustered into service.
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The Battle of Gettysburg becomes the largest battle fought on American soil with over 51,000 casualties. Lee loses a third of his army and is forced to retreat back across the Potomac.
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The Hunley sinks the USS Housatonic, becoming the first submarine to sink an enemy vessel.
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Hood retreats into Mississippi after his army is decimated in the battles of Franklin and Nashville.
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Lee surrenders to Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia.
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Lincoln is assassinated at Ford's Theatre shortly after the end of the Civil War.
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The Thirteenth Amendment abolishing slavery is adopted.
