-
The Confederates got word that Lincoln was going to resupply Fort Sumter, they went to fight for the fort in a battle that lasted 34 hours. The battle started on April 12, 1861 and lasted till April 13 when the Union army came out and surrendered. This event was so significant because it played a major role in causing the Civil War to break out. -
After the attack at Fort Sumter, the Union needed to retaliate. Lincoln set up the preliminary blockade on April 19 and by April 27 he extended it to North Carolina and Virginia ports. Then, by the time July came by, Lincoln had naval blockades in all major southern ports. This resulted in foreign countries having to take a stance with Great Britain granting belligerent status to the south on May 13, 1861. Spain, Brazil, and other foreign countries claimed neutrality in the matter. -
The First Battle of Bull Run was the first major land battle of the American civil war. The two sides clashed by Manassas Junction, Virginia. The 35,000 Union troops marched from the nation's capital to fight the 20,000 Confederate troops that were camped out along the river called Bull Run. The Union troops retreated after suffering more casualties than that of the confederate troops. This was significant because the Union troops thought they would easily win, but that was not the case. -
A Union Naval Officer, Charles Wilkes, captured two British Mail Ships carrying Confederate envoys. The British accused the United States of violating their stance of neutrality and it resulted in a diplomatic crisis between the United States and the British. Wilkes did not have approval from Washington to search the ship. This led to the United States having a poor diplomatic relationship with Great Britain throughout the Civil War. -
On April 6, 1862, the Confederate forces launched a surprise attack on the Union troops in the southwest of Tennessee. The fighting lasted into the next day on April 7, 1862. The Confederates took an early lead, but were eventually pushed back resulting in a Union victory. This battle saw very high casualties with over 23,000 deaths. It showed both sides that they were now in for a long and costly war. -
This bloody battle broke out at the Antietam Creek near Sharpsburg, Maryland. After the Confederates failed attempts at invading the North, the Union troops attempted to push back the Confederates farther south. This battle was a very key moment for how the country would end up because if the north failed the tide of the war may have changed drastically. This battle was the deadliest one-day battle in all of American Military history. -
As a result of the Union needing a little shove over the top of the Confederacy in terms of their foreign relations, Lincoln signed in the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. This freed all slaves that were rebelling as of January 1, 1863. This Proclamation only applied to the enslaved people of the Confederacy and the border states that remained in the Union would not have to set their slaves free. This would only go into effect if the Confederacy did not rejoin the Union within 100 days. -
This battle saw the largest concentration of combatants in all of the Civil War. The Union army split up in two and attacked on both the right and the left. The Union suffered extreme casualties with over 13,000 while the Confederates had about 5,000. This pushed the Union army back and lowered their moral while boosting that of the Confederates who really needed it after Lee's ill-fated attempt at pushing north in Maryland. -
This battle lasted from April 30-May 6, 1863. During this battle Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson was mortally wounded. The Confederate army was still able to pull off a major victory even thought they were faced against an army twice their size. This victory was Lee's most significant tactical victory. After this the Confederate army moved in an offensive back towards the north. -
The Union army tried to take over the Confederate stronghold of Vicksburg, Mississippi in a siege that lasted from May 18-July 4, 1863. For the Union's Anaconda Plan of blocking Confederate trading to work, they needed to control this stronghold that lies on the east bank of the Mississippi River. The Union army won and took control of the Mississippi River which Lincoln would say that the river go "unvexed to the sea" meaning free from disturbances. -
This battle is regarded as the most important engagement of the whole Civil War. It lasted for three days from July 1-July 3 1863 with the Union army taking the victory. The Union at first looked a little week with the Confederates charging in, but they were able to stand their ground and push back the Confederates for a second time as they tried to invade the north. This changed the tide of the war again and stopped the Confederate momentum they had gained in the past few battles. -
Lincoln addressed the 15,000 people in a speech that lasted for less than two minutes and was under 275 words. Lincoln discussed was a test to see if the Union that was created in 1776 would last through the Civil War with half the county pitted against each other. Lincoln pointed to the fact that the country was founded on the principle that all men were created equal. This was important because Lincoln said the was not just for the Union, but for the principle of equality of men. -
Ulysses S Grant started his 6-week campaign on May 4 when he crossed Virginia's Rapidan River with a force of over 100,000 troops and came to a conclusion on June 12, 1864. By the time that the whole campaign came to an end there were just under 100,000 union and confederate troops dead, missing, or wounded. Lincoln began to see that Grant was a commander he could trust and felt that Grant would succeed. This gave Lincoln new hope for the future of the Union. -
General Sherman led some 60,000 Union troops from Atlanta to Savannah, Georgia. It was a march just under 300 miles and on the way south, the troops did not destroy towns, but they tried to scare the citizens to drop the Confederate cause. If they fought back, the troops burned houses and barns in addition to stealing food and livestock. The march ended on December 21, 1864 when they reached Savannah. This was major because it was a big turning point where the union saw victory not far away. -
On March 29, 1865 the final campaign of the Civil war commenced. Lee's army numbers were dwindling as the Unions numbers were rising. Lee knew that the war was almost over but decided to make a final attempt to save his cause. Lee decided to take his army west as a last straw, but Grant and his army were right behind him. With nothing else to do, Lee surrendered on April 9, 1865. This last campaign brought an end to a long war with a large number of casualties. -
On April 9, 1865, Robert E. Lee surrenders his 29,000 troops to Grant at the Appomattox Court House which brought an end to the fighting of the Civil War. The terms of the surrender left all troops and officers from the Confederacy pardoned and given Union food rations. The horses would be used for the spring planting, and officers could keep their sidearms. Although the war wa technically over, there was still some resistance for several weeks. This now meant that the Union was reunited.