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Abraham Lincoln gives speech at Cooper Union, NY. Some historians argue that this speech is responsible for his election later that year.
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The Pony Express debuts. It improves postal service.
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A chondrite meteorite falls in Muskingum County, Ohio. It falls near the town of New Concord
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The Paiute War begins, between the Paiute and American vigilantes. The vigilantes were defeated, nearly all of them being killed
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Lincoln is nominated as the Republican Candidate for the election of 1860.
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Riots take place Plainville, Illinois. They erupt between Republicans and Democrates
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Abraham Lincoln is elected president. He belongs to the Republican Party and opposes slavery.
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The first Secession Convention is held in Columbia, South Carolina. States discuss the possibility of seceding from the United States
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Senator John J. Crittenden proposes the Crittenden Compromise. This is was an attempt to solve the secession crisis
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South Carolina Secedes from the Union. They are the first state to do so.
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Jefferson Davis is elected the first and only president of the Confederacy. He is a Democrat senator from Mississippi.
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Abraham Lincoln is officially sworn in as the 16th President of the United States.
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The six secedes states meet. They formally establish the Confederacy
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The first shots of the Civil War are fired at Union Naval Base Fort Sumter. North Surrenders the fort
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Virginia secedes from the Union. Other states soon follow
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Blockades are set to block off Southern Ports. This is a way of starving the South of supplies.
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General Robert E. Lee refuses the offer to command the Union Army because he will not fight against his home state of Virginia. He goes to Richmond and accepts an offer as a Confederate General.
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Lincoln gives a speech to Congress about war. Congress authorizes a call for 500,000 men.
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The first official battle of the Civil War is fought at Bull Run. The Union suffers a crushing, and unexpected defeat.
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Lincoln appoints General George McClellan as Commander of the Union Army. McClellan arrogantly accepts saying "I can do it all"
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Battle fought in western Tennessee. It was the first major victory for Ulysses S. Grant in the Western Theatre
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The capture of Fort Donelson was another Union Victory in the Western Theater. Ulysses S. Grant earned his name "unconditional surrender" after this battle.
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Abraham Lincoln's son, Willie, dies from fever. Abraham is in grief.
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The Union victory loosened the Confederate hold on Missouri and disrupted southern control of a portion of the Mississippi River.
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The Confederate Ironclad Merrimack sinks two wooden Union ships.
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The Confederate Merrimack battles the Union ironclad "Monitor." The ships battle to a draw. Naval warfare is revolutionized, as wooden ships are obsolete.
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Confederate troops surprise attack Union troops at Shiloh. There are more casualties than in any other American wars.
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Confederate general, Joseph E. Johnston attacked McClellan's troops in front of Richmond. The result of the battle is inconclusive.
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The bloodiest single day of the Civil War. The result of the battle ends General Lee's first invasion of the North.
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The Army of the Potomac, under General Ambrose Burnside, is soundly defeated by Lee's forces after a risky river crossing and sacking of the city.
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The Emancipation Proclamation goes into effect. Applauded by many abolitionists including Frederick Douglass, there are others who feel it does not go far enough to totally abolish slavery.
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Union victory in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Often considered the most important victory in the Civil War.
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The capture of Vicksburg gives the Union complete control of the Mississippi River, a vital supply line for the Confederate states in the west.
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The president meets with abolitionist Frederick Douglass who pushes for full equality for Union Negro troops.
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Confederate forces under Braxton Bragg surround the occupied city. General Ulysses S. Grant is assigned to command the troops there and begins immediate plans to relieve the besieged Union army.
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The Union Army of the Cumberland under General William Rosecrans is defeated and nearly routed by the Confederate Army of Tennessee commanded by General Braxton Bragg. Rosecrans' army retreats to the supply base at Chattanooga, Tennessee.
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Dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery at Gettysburg. President Abraham Lincoln delivers the Gettysburg Address.
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Union forces break the Confederate siege of the city in successive attacks. The most notable event is the storming of Lookout Mountain on November and Battle of Missionary Ridge the following day.
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The Mine Run Campaign. Meade's Army of the Potomac marches against Lee's Army of Northern Virginia south of the Rapidan River, east of Orange Court House. Lee reacts and throws up a line of defenses along the banks of Mine Run Creek. After several days of probing the defenses, Meade withdraws north of the Rapidan and goes into winter quarters.
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Siege of Knoxville, Tennessee. Confederate troops under General James Longstreet lay siege to the city of Knoxville held by Union forces under General Ambrose Burnside. Longstreet finally attacks but is repulsed with heavy losses.
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Lincoln Issues his Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction, which would pardon those who participated in the "existing rebellion" if they take an oath to the Union.
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First Successful Submarine Attack of the Civil War. The CSS H.L. Hunley, a seven-man submergible craft, attacked the USS Houstonic outside of Charleston, South Carolina. Struck by the submarine's torpedo, the Housatonic broke apart and sank.
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In Georgia, Camp Sumter Prison Camp opens. Universally referred to as Andersonville Prison Camp, it will become notorious for overcrowded conditions and a high death rate among its inmates.
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Ulysses S. Grant is appointed lieutenant general, a rank revived at the request of President Lincoln. Grant assumes command of all Union Armies in the field the following day.
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In spite of being outnumbered almost two to one, Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest attacks and routs the Union command under General Samuel Sturgis.
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Battle of Peachtree Creek, Georgia, the first major battle around the city of Atlanta. General Hood sends his army out of the city's defenses to attack the approaching Federal troops under George Thomas. After several hours of fierce fighting, Hood withdrew back to his own defensive works.
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Fall of Atlanta, Georgia. Confederate troops under General Hood evacuate the city of Atlanta. General Sherman's army occupies the city and its defenses the following day.
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In an early morning surprise attack, Jubal Early's Confederates successfully attack and drive troops of the Army of the Shenandoah from their camps on the banks of Cedar Creek south of Middletown, Virginia. Hearing the fight from his headquarters at Winchester, General Philip Sheridan rides southward, rallying dispirited troops who return to the battlefield.
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Abraham Lincoln is reelected president of the United States. He wins in a landslide
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General Sherman's Army of Georgia begins the "March to the Sea." This campaign would leave destruction in the south in its path.
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Harassed only by scattered Georgia militia, Sherman's Army of Georgia arrives at Savannah, Georgia, completing the famous "March to the Sea". At Savannah, his troops will take Fort McAllister and force Confederate defenders to evacuate the city.
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Assault and capture of Fort Fisher, North Carolina. Union occupation of this fort at the mouth of the Cape Fear River closes access to Wilmington, the last southern seaport on the east coast that was open to blockade runners and commercial shipping.
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Sherman's Army captures Columbia, South Carolina. Confederate defenders evacuate Charleston, South Carolina.
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The Fall of Petersburg and Richmond. General Lee abandons both cities and moves his army west in hopes of joining Confederate forces under General Johnston in North Carolina.
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The Battle of Sailor's Creek, Virginia. A portion of Lee's Army- almost one-third of it- is cornered along the banks of Sailor's Creek and annihilated.
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After an early morning attempt to break through Union forces blocking the route west to Danville, Virginia, Lee seeks an audience with General Grant to discuss terms. That afternoon in the parlor of Wilmer McLean, Lee signs the document of surrender. On April 12, the Army of Northern Virginia formally surrenders and is disbanded.
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President Abraham Lincoln is assassinated by actor John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theater in Washington, DC.
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Virginia. Touted as "Lee's last offensive", Confederate troops under General John B. Gordon attack and briefly capture the Union fort in the Petersburg siege lines in an attempt to thwart Union plans for a late March assault. By day's end, the southerners have been thrown out and the lines remain unchanged.
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General Joseph Johnston signs the surrender document for the Confederate Army of the Tennessee and miscellaneous southern troops attached to his command at Bennett's Place near Durham, North Carolina.
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Confederate President Jefferson Davis is captured. He is captured near Irwinville, Georgia.
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The final battle of the Civil War takes place at Palmito Ranch, Texas. It is a Confederate victory.
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The last issue of the abolitionist magazine The Liberator is published in Boston.
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The second United States Capitol dome is completed in Washington, D.C. after 11 years of work. It still survives to the modern day.
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The United States Congress overwhelmingly passes the Civil Rights Act of 1866, the first federal legislation to protect the rights of African-Americans.
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The John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge opens between Cincinnati, Ohio and Covington, Kentucky, becoming the longest suspension bridge in the world.
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The U.S. Congress approves the minting of a nickel 5. This replaces the half-dime
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The Great Fire of Portland, Maine kills two and leaves 10,000 homeless. It was the worst fire in an American city at this time.
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The U.S. Congress passes legislation authorizing the rank of General of the Army. Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant becomes the first to have this rank.
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The Metric Act of 1866 becomes law and legalizes the use of the metric system for weights and measures in the United States.
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The National Union Convention is held in Philadelphia with hopes to reconcile the Radical Republicans in Congress with the Reconstructionist policies of President Andrew Johnson.
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Western Union Telegraph Expedition to Alaska begins its second season.
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Yellow Fever Sweeps through New Orleans. Kills 3,093.
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The Prohibition National Committee is formed in the United States
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The John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge opens between Cincinnati, Ohio and Covington, Kentucky, becoming the longest suspension bridge in the world.
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African-American men are granted the right to vote in the District of Columbia.
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Nebraska is admitted to the U.S. It is the 37th State
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Alaska is purchased for $7.2 million from Alexander II of Russia, about 2 cents an acre, by United States Secretary of State William H. Seward
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The first elevated railroad in USA begins service in New York.
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In Boston, Massachusetts, the Harvard School of Dental Medicine is established. It is the first dental school in the United States.
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The United States takes control of Midway Island.
October–December -
In a New York City theater, British author Charles Dickens gives his first public reading in the United States.
