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Civil War Timeline
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The 1st Pony Express arrives in Sacramento California. This was the fastest link of communication from east to west before the transcontinental telegraph was installed
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Gist warns southern states that South Carolina is considering leaving the Union
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Benjamin Tyler Henry patents the Henry Repeating Rifle, which works by improving the magazine in fire arms.
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Lincoln, representing the Republicans wins with 180 electoral votes and 1,865,593 votes. Breckenridge, the runner up, was a southern Democrat, had 72 electoral votes with 848,356.
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Men in Frederick County, Virginia met to discuss the possible results of secession and how to go about preventing it.
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South Carolina Secession Convention met in Columbia, South Carolina in the First Baptist Church. At the convention, they listed five grievances. The Missouri Compromise, federal government being supported by taxes from the South, Southerners did not get land claims over any of the new land from Mexico, Slave-owning settlers were attacked by abolitionists, and personal liberty laws that impede upon the Fugitive Slave act, and the admission of California as a free state.
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he Crittenden Compromise was an unsuccessful proposal introduced by United States Senator John J. Crittenden. It aimed to resolve the secession crisis of 1860–1861 by addressing the fears and grievances about slavery that led many slave-holding states to contemplate secession from the United States.
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South Carolina is the first state to secede from the Union.
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U.S. Major-General Robert Anderson moves his troops from Ft. Moultrie, in Charleston, South Carolina, to Ft. Sumter.
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The city of Charleston, South Carolina is notified that Union troops are incoming
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Mississippi becomes the second state to secede from the Union
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Florida becomes the third state to leave the Union.
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Alabama becomes the fourth state to secede from the Union.
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Georgia becomes the fifth state to secede from the Union
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Louisiana becomes the sixth state to secede from the Union
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Texas becomes the seventh state to secede from the Union.
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Abraham Lincoln wins with 180 electoral votes. He becomes the 16th President of the United States.
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At 4:30 a.m. Confederates under Gen. Pierre Beauregard open fire with 50 cannons upon Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina. The Civil War begins.
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Virginia becomes the eighth state to secede from the Union. Richmond, located in Virginia, becomes the capital of the Confederate States of America
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Arkansas becomes the ninth state to secede from the Union
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North Carolina becomes the tenth state to secede from the Union
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Tennessee becomes the eleventh and final state to secede from the Union
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War Order No. 1 called for all United States land and naval forces to begin a general advance by February 22.
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Victory for General Ulysses S. Grant in Tennessee, capturing Fort Henry, and ten days later Fort Donelson. Grant earns the nickname "Unconditional Surrender" Grant.
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William Wallace Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln's third son, dies. The cause of death is probably the polluted drinking water in the White House. Abraham Lincoln is struck with grief
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Confederate Ironclad "Merrimack" sinks two Union wooden ships. Later the next day, Merrimack engages with the Union Ironclad "Monitor," ending in draw. This battle proved that wooden ships were obsolete against ironclads
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Confederates launch a surprise attack on General Ulysses S. Grant at Shiloh on the Tennessee River. The battle leads into a second day. 13,000 Union soldiers are killed or wounded, and 10,000 Confederates
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17 Union ships under the command of Flag Officer David Farragut move up the Mississippi River then take New Orleans, the South's greatest seaport,
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General Joseph E. Johnston's Army attacks McClellan's troops in front of Richmond. Johnston nearly wins but is wounded
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After General Johnston is injured, Robert E. Lee assumes the command of the army. He renames his army "The Army of Northern Virginia." McClellan is not impressed and says that Lee is "likely to be timid and irresolute in action."
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75,000 Union troops, under command of General Pope, are defeated by 55,000 Confederate troops under General Longstreet and General Stonewall Jackson. Union Army retreats to Washington. Pope relieved of command
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Bloodiest single day battle in U.S Military history. General Robert E. Lee is stopped at Antietam by Union Forces, under the command of McClellan. By the end of the day, 26,000 soldiers are dead. Lee is forced to withdraw to Virginia
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President Lincoln replaces McClellan with General Ambrose Burnside. Lincoln grew impatient with McClellan slowness.
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President Lincoln issues the final Emancipation Proclamation freeing all slaves in territories held by Confederates and emphasizes the enlisting of black soldiers in the Union Army. The war to preserve the Union now becomes a revolutionary struggle for the abolition of slavery.
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The U.S. Congress enacts a draft, affecting male citizens aged 20 to 45, but also exempts those who pay $300 or provide a substitute. "The blood of a poor man is as precious as that of the wealthy," poor Northerners complain.
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The Union Army under Gen. Hooker is decisively defeated by Lee's much smaller forces at the Battle of Chancellorsville in Virginia as a result of Lee's brilliant and daring tactics. Confederate Gen. Stonewall Jackson is mortally wounded by his own soldiers. Hooker retreats. Union losses are 17,000 killed, wounded and missing out of 130,000. The Confederates, 13, 000 out of 60,000.
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The South suffers a huge blow as Stonewall Jackson dies from his wounds, his last words, "Let us cross over the river and rest under the shade of the trees."
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Gen. Lee with 75,000 Confederates launches his second invasion of the North, west towards the Shenandoah Valley (One month before the Battle of Gettysburg)
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The tide of war turns against the South as the Confederates are defeated at the Battle of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania.
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Vicksburg, the last Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi River, surrenders to Gen. Grant and the Army of the West after a six week siege. With the Union now in control of the Mississippi, the Confederacy is effectively split in two, cut off from its western allies.
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The president meets with abolitionist Frederick Douglass who pushes for full equality for Union 'Negro troops.'
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A decisive Confederate victory by Gen. Braxton Bragg's Army of Tennessee at Chickamauga leaves Gen. William S. Rosecrans' Union Army of the Cumberland trapped in Chattanooga, Tennessee under Confederate siege.
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President Lincoln delivers a two minute Gettysburg Address at a ceremony dedicating the Battlefield as a National Cemetery.
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The Rebel siege of Chattanooga ends as Union forces under Grant defeat the siege army of Gen. Braxton Bragg. During the battle, one of the most dramatic moments of the war occurs. Yelling "Chickamauga! Chickamauga!" Union troops avenge their previous defeat at Chickamauga by storming up the face of Missionary Ridge without orders and sweep the Rebels from what had been thought to be an impregnable position.
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President Lincoln appoints Gen. Grant to command all of the armies of the United States. Gen. William T. Sherman succeeds Grant as commander in the west.
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The beginning of a massive, coordinated campaign involving all the Union Armies. In Virginia, Grant with an Army of 120,000 begins advancing toward Richmond to engage Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, now numbering 64,000. In the west, Sherman, with 100,000 men begins an advance toward Atlanta to engage Joseph E. Johnston's 60,000 strong Army of Tennessee.
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A costly mistake by Grant results in 7,000 Union casualties in twenty minutes during an offensive against fortified Rebels at Cold Harbor in Virginia.
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Union forces miss an opportunity to capture Petersburg and cut off the Confederate rail lines. As a result, a nine month siege of Petersburg begins with Grant's forces surrounding Lee.
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Attack on the Defenses of Washington. Jubal Early's troops arrive on the outskirts of Washington, DC, and trade cannon fire with a token Union force remaining in the forts around the city. President Lincoln observes the skirmishing from Fort Stevens as reinforcements from the Army of the Potomac arrive and quickly fill in the works. Early withdraws that evening.
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Democrats nominate George B. McClellan for president to run against Republican incumbent Abraham Lincoln
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Atlanta is captured by Sherman's Army. "Atlanta is ours, and fairly won," Sherman telegraphs Lincoln. The victory greatly helps President Lincoln's bid for re-election.
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Abraham Lincoln is re-elected president, defeating Democrat George B. McClellan. Lincoln carries all but three states with 55 percent of the popular vote and 212 of 233 electoral votes. "I earnestly believe that the consequences of this day's work will be to the lasting advantage, if not the very salvation, of the country," Lincoln tells supporters.
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After destroying Atlanta's warehouses and railroad facilities, Sherman, with 62,000 men begins a March to the Sea. President Lincoln on advice from Grant approved the idea. "I can make Georgia howl!" Sherman boasts.
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Sherman reaches Savannah in Georgia leaving behind a 300 mile long path of destruction 60 miles wide all the way from Atlanta. Sherman then telegraphs Lincoln, offering him Savannah as a Christmas present.
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The U.S. Congress approves the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, to abolish slavery. The amendment is then submitted to the states for ratification.
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Wilmington, NC, falls to Union troops, closing the last important southern port on the east coast. On this same day, Joseph E. Johnston is restored to command the nearly shattered Army of the Tennessee, vice John B. Hood who resigned a month earlier.
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President Abraham Lincoln is inaugurated for his second term as president in Washington, DC
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Gen. Robert E. Lee surrenders his Confederate Army to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at the village of Appomattox Court House in Virginia. Grant allows Rebel officers to keep their sidearms.
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Celebrations break out in Washington. The final portrait of Abraham Lincoln is captured on this day, showing a very weary and tired looking Lincoln
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Lincoln got domed by John Wilkes Booth in Fords Theater. Booth was a famous actor and a confederate sympathizer
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President Abraham Lincoln dies at 7:22 in the morning. Vice President Andrew Johnson assumes the presidency.
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John Wilkes Booth is shot and killed in a tobacco barn in Virginia.
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Abraham Lincoln is laid to rest in Oak Ridge Cemetery, outside Springfield, Illinois
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The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, passed by Congress on January 31, 1865, is finally ratified. Slavery is abolished.
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The last issue of The Liberator, an abolitionist newspaper in Boston, is released.
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United States federal law to define citizenship and affirm that all citizens are equally protected by the law.
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White civilians and police kill 46 African Americans and destroy 90 houses, schools, and four churches in Memphis, Tennessee.
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Reorganized the United States circuit courts and provided for the gradual elimination of several seats on the Supreme Court of the United States.
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Tennessee becomes the first state to be readmitted to the Union after the Civil War
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U.S Congress passes legislation authorizing the rank of General of the Army. (Modern day 5-Star General.) Ulysses S. Grant becomes first to have this rank
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White Democrats including police and firemen attacked Republicans, most of them African American, parading outside the Mechanics Institute in New Orleans.
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Held in Philadelphia with hopes to reconcile the Radical Republicans in Congress with the Reconstruction policies of President Andrew Johnson.
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President Andrew Johnson goes on his Swing Around the Circle speaking tour to gain support for his Reconstructionist policies and Democratic Party candidates in the upcoming elections.
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House of Representatives elections: Despite President Andrew Johnson's Swing Around the Circle tour, the Republican Party wins in a landslide. (Shuyler Colfax wins)
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Ohio ratifies the 14th Amendment
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Congress votes to expand suffrage to Washington D,C
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Kentucky rejects the 14th Amendment
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Nevada ratifies the 14th Amendment
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Missouri ratifies the 14th Amendment
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Louisiana rejects the 14th Amendment
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Nebraska is admitted as the 37th U.S State
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Congress passes the Tenure of Office Act, denying the right of the President to remove officials who had been appointed with the consent of Congress.
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Federal army restores military rule to Mississippi
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Alaska is purchased for $7,200,000 from the Russian Empire. 2 cents per acre
