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Abraham Lincoln elected president
Lincoln took office following the 1860 presidential election, in which he won a plurality of the popular vote in a four-candidate field. Almost all of Lincoln's votes came from the Northern United States, as the Republicans held little appeal to voters in the Southern United States. -
South Carolina votes to secede from the United States
The victory of Abraham Lincoln in the 1860 presidential election triggered cries for disunion across the slave holding South. -
Jefferson Davis elected president of the confederacy
Davis was unanimously elected to the provisional presidency of the Confederacy by a constitutional convention in Montgomery, Alabama -
Confederate forces fire on Fort Sumter
Confederate troops fired on Fort Sumter in South Carolina's Charleston Harbor. -
Anaconda plan
A naval blockade of the Confederate littoral, a thrust down the Mississippi, and the strangulation of the South by Union land and naval forces. -
First Battle of Bull Run is fought
The first major battle of the American Civil War. Fought in Prince William County in Virginia -
Richmond becomes the capital of the Confederacy
The Confederate capital was moved to Richmond in recognition of Virginia's strategic importance. -
The Merrimac and the Monitor fight of the Virginia coast
The Battle of Hampton Roads was the first meeting of two American-made ironclads, the Merrimack and the Monitor. The Confederate, Merrimack, and the Union, Monitor, fought for control of the Hampton Roads. The battle ended in a stalemate. -
Battle of Shiloh
The Battle of Shiloh fought was the bloodiest battle fought during the American Civil War up to that point in the conflict. Fought on April 6-7, 1862, the two days of carnage led to around 23,000 casualties, making it the deadliest battle of the Civil War up to that point. -
Robert E. Lee is named commander of the Army of Northern Virginia
Lee is given command of the Army of Northern Virginia, the main Confederate army in the eastern theater of the war. Union troops are poised at the gates of Richmond. Lee commences a series of counterattacks at the Seven Days Battle that drives the enemy away from the Confederate capital. -
Battle of Antietam
Union victory at Antietam provided President Abraham Lincoln the opportunity he had wanted to announce the Emancipation Proclamation, -
Battle of Fredericksburg
This was a massive win for the confederate. The Union Army of the Potomac suffered more than 12,500 casualties. Lee's Confederate army counted approximately 6,000 losses -
Emancipation Proclamation is announced
The proclamation declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free." -
Battle of Gettysburg
Gettysburg ended Confederate general Robert E. Lee's ambitious second quest to invade the North and bring the Civil War to a end. -
New York City draft riots
The draft riots were complex — anti-Black, anti-rich, anti-Republican. From an assault on draft headquarters, the rioters went on to attacks on wealthy homes, then to the murder of African Americans. They marched through the streets, forcing factories to close, recruiting more members of the mob. -
54th Massachusetts fighting a Second Battle of Ft. Wagner
After over eight hours of fighting, Union forces were forced to end their attempt to capture Fort Wagner. The confederates later abandoned the fort. -
Battle of Chancellorsville
Robert E. Lee made a risky decision to fight numbers twice his size. This was a huge victory for the Confederacy. -
Confederates surrender at Vicksburg
The war can never be brought to a close until that key is in our pocket.” The Vicksburg Campaign began in 1862 and ended with the Confederate surrender -
Lincoln suspends habeas corpus
Habeas corpus doesn't allow the government to throw someone in jail unlawfully. Taking this away allows the government to throw someone in jail without telling them why. -
Lincoln gives his Gettysburg Address
The main message of the Gettysburg Address is that ideals are worth dying for and that it is up to the living to carry on the work of those who died to protect ideals -
Congress passes the 13th Amendment
Lincoln and other leaders realized amending the Constitution was the only way to officially end slavery. The 13th Amendment forever abolished slavery as an institution in all U.S. states and territories. -
The Battle of the Crater
Confederate troops had rallied their strength and begun to fire rifles and artillery down into the crater, killing hundreds of the trapped men. Union reinforcements also came under intense fire until all withdrew. The successful detonation had created a death trap -
Atlanta is captured.
Atlanta was a major strategic city for the Confederacy that served as a railroad terminus, supply depot, and manufacturing hub. Given Atlanta's position south of the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia, capturing the city would severely threaten the stability of the Confederacy. -
Abraham Lincoln defeats George McClellan to win re-election
Near the end of the American Civil War, incumbent President Abraham Lincoln of the National Union Party easily defeated the Democratic nominee, former General George B. McClellan, by a wide margin of 212–21 in the electoral college, with 55% of the popular vote. -
Sherman begins his March to the Sea
Union Major General William Tecumseh Sherman led troops through the Confederate state of Georgia, pillaging the countryside and destroying both military outposts and civilian properties -
Freedmen's Bureau is created
Congress passed “An Act to establish a Bureau for the Relief of Freedmen and Refugees” to provide food, shelter, clothing, medical services, and land to displaced Southerners, including newly freed African Americans. -
Lincoln gives his second inaugural address
The main point of Lincoln's second inaugural address was to claim that both the South and North had to share some of the blame for the sin of slavery. -
Richmond falls to the Union Army
Richmond was important to the Union in that its capture would signal the end of the Confederacy -
Robert E. Lee surrenders at Appomattox
Trapped by the Federals near Appomattox Court House, Confederate general Robert E. Lee surrendered his army to Union general Ulysses S. Grant -
Appomattox Court House--Surrender of Lee’s forces
This was one of the last battles of the Civil War. Lee would rather surrender than destroy his army and sacrifice the lives of his soldiers to no purpose -
Lincoln Assassinated
Lincoln was assassination by John Wilkes Booth in Ford's Theater, while watching a play. He was killed over the topic of slavery. -
John Wilkes Booth is killed
After being racked down by the US Army. He was shot in the neck and killed for killing Lincoln.