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During the Constitutional Convention the south wanted slaves to be counted as human beings due to legislative representation and tax reasons. The north did not agree, so they settled on a compromise.
Slaves would therefor be counted as three-fifths of a human being. -
No new slaves were permitted to be imported into the United States.
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New states in the west, north of the 36°30 parallel (above Missouri’s southern border), would be slave free.
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A slave uprising, under the leadership of Nat Turner, that killed about 60 white men, women and children.
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Reverend Elijah P. Lovejoy is killed by an angry mob.
A white man had been killed over the matter of black slavery. -
Book written By Harriet Beecher Stowe. The portrayal of the cruelty of slavery is moving. In one year 300.000 copies are sold in the US.
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The old border between slave/free (defined in the Missouri Compromise) is ignored. Settlers in the new territories get to choose if they want slavery to be barred.
Slavery’s progress to extinction seemed to have stopped.
Out of the Kansas-Nebraska Act a new political organization grew. First known as the “Anti-Nebraska men”, later as the Republican Party. -
John Brown and his men seized the federal armory at Harpers Ferry, taking hostages as he did (among them the great-grand-nephew of George Washington).
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General Robert E. Lee and his men storm the engine house. Brown was killed for treason against the state.
Herman Mellville would call him: “the meteor of the war.”
Admiration for Brown is strong, even by northerners who weren’t known for being anti-slavery. -
For Democrats: Stephen Douglas.
For Republicans: Abraham Lincoln (a compromise candidate, everyone’s second choice in a convention dominated by more celebrated politicians). Lincoln wins the election. -
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Jefferson Davis is elected President of the Provisional Government of the Confederate States of America.
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Lincoln promised that he would not interfere with slavery where it already existed. He denied the right of any state to separate from the Union.
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Confederate Commander Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard orders his men to open fire on Fort Sumter. The only fatality was a horse. No men were seriously wounded. After 34 hours, Union Major Anderson called for a truce.
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A celebrity soldier at the age of 24. He had been an apprentice lawyer at Lincoln’s law office and was close to the President’s whole family. Ellsworth was the first Northern martyr.
Following this Northern loss, Lincoln ordered General George Brinton McClellan to invade Western Virginia. This lasted till December and was a success. Southern general Robert E. Lee would be blamed for the Confederate defeat. He would be called “Evacuating Lee” and “Granny Lee” by southern newspapers. -
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Robert Patterson defeats Thomas J. Jackson in the Battle of Hoke's Run
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The Confederacy proved victorious in the First Battle of Manassas (South) or First Battle of Bull Run (North). Thomas J. Jackson receives his nickname “Stonewall”.
“Look, there is Jackson with his Virginians, standing like a stone wall!” – General Bernard Bee (Confederate Army) -
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The ironclads USS Monitor and CSS Virginia battle to a draw at Hampton Roads, VA. The potential for steel vessels is confirmed.
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Opening battle for Stonewall Jackson’s Shenandoah Valley’s Campaign. The battle markes the first and only time that Jackson was defeated during the war.
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McClellan leads the Army of the Potomac toward
Yorktown, VA.
This was the first large-scale offensive in the Eastern Theater by Union forces. -
Union General Ulysses S. Grant prevails at the Battle of Shiloh in Tennessee, but not without
enormous losses. Close to 25.000 men (both sides combined) were either killed, wounded or taken capture. Battle was fought in the Western Theater. Pierre Gustave Toutant-Beauregard fought as second-in-command on the Confederate side. -
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Stonewall Jackson’s Shenandoah Valley (known as the breadbasket of the Confederacy) campaign begins successfully with a victory at the Battle of McDowell in Virginia
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Robert E. Lee takes command over the Army of Northern Virginia after Joseph E. Johnston is wounded. This happened during the Battle of Seven Pines in Virginia.
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Final battle in Jackson’s (Shenandoah) Valley Campaign. The Union army retreated after this battle, giving Jackson the opportunity to join Robert E. Lee in the Seven Days’ Campaign. This battle was the most costly battle of Jackson's Valley Campaign (approximately 800 of his men died).
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Lee is able to force McClellan’s army to retreat. This ended McClellan’s Peninsular Campaign to Richmond and forced him to retreat.
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During the Second Battle of Manassas, the South is once again victorious. This time under the leadership of Robert E. Lee.
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Stonewall Jackson captures 12.000 Union soldiers. The casualties on both sides were minor, but it was a major victory for the South.
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The first field-army battle fought on Union side. About 3500 men die in this battle and about 17.000 are wounded. General Robert E. Lee (Army of Northern Virginia) fought against General George B. McClellan (Army of the Potomac). It turned out to be a Union victory.
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With 200.000 men, this battle saw more troops engaged than any other battle during the Civil War.
Union General Burnside wanted to make an attack on the Confederate capital via Fredericksburg. Lee’s forced were entrenched on higher ground. Burnside ordered one frontal attack after another on the high ground. The number of Union casualties reached twice the number than that of the Confederacy.
The battle proved a definitive win for the South and it lifted the Confederate morale. -
The Confederate cavalry destroys a Union supply depot in Mississippi. The southern victory, led by General Nathan Bedford Forrest, was a big factor in causing Ulysses S. Grant to abandon his siege of Vicksburg.
This Southern victory impacts Northern morale just before the war extends into a new year. -
Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation, which declares that slaves in the seceded
states are now free. -
Confederate General Wheeler takes position at the Cumberland River to intercept Union ships. This failed, leading him to attack the garrison at Dover, Tennessee. This failed as well. Nathan Bedford Forrest denounced Wheeler after this Confederate defeat and said he would not serve under him again.
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Union Colonel Streight is attacked in his read guard by Nathan Bedford Forrest’s forces. Streight is able to repulse the attack and march on.
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Lee hands the Union another serious loss at the Battle of Chancellorsville. Despite having half the number of soldiers than that of the Union, Lee is able to split his army in two and win the battle. His win influences him to go up north.
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“Stonewall” Jackson dies of pneumonia. He had developed it after accidentally being shot by his own men at the Battle of Chancellorsville.
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The battle was caused by accident. The Union and Confederate armies converged on Gettysburg. Reinforcements are called by both armies. Lee’s army can defeat the Northern army. The Union falls back to the hills south of town: Cemetery Hill and Culp’s Hill.
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The Union’s forces defend a fishhook-shaped range of hills and ridges. The southern forces wrap themselves around the Union’s position. The north has a bigger number of soldiers: 90.000 vs. the south’s 70.000. The confederates are able to gain ground, but the Union’s positions hold strong.
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The biggest event of the day is what we know as “Pickett’s Charge.” It was an infantry assault by 12.000 confederate soldiers against the center of the Union’s line on Cemetery Hill. By using rifle and artillery fire, the Union can repulse the attack, dealing massive damage to the Confederate army. The Battle of Gettysburg caused 51.000 soldiers, from both sides of the war, to be either killed, wounded or captured.
Robert E. Lee led his army on a torturous retreat to Virginia. -
After a long siege, Confederates surrender Vicksburg to Ulysses S. Grant. This secured the
Mississippi River for the Union. -
Lincoln delivers his Gettysburg Address. In his speech, he states again that the country’s ultimate principle is that “all men are created equal.”
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After three days of battle, the Union is victorious. This opens the way for Union advancement into the heart of the Confederacy.
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General Nathan Bedford Forrest attacks the - 3 times bigger - Union forces to end General Sherman’s expedition in Alabama.
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From Vicksburg, Sherman launches a campaign to take the important railroad hub at Meridian. It resulted in a Confederate victory.
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Nathan Bedford Forrest arrives at Paducah to raid the town and destroy Union supplies. The Union forces retreat into the fort while Forrest raids and destroys the town.
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Nathan Bedford Forrest captures Fort Pillow, TN. The Union troops surrender and the black Union troops are slaughtered by Forrest
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This battle is the first of a bloody series of month-long engagements between Grant and Lee.
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The last big battle between the northern general Ulysses S. Grant and the southern general Robert E. Lee. It would be the last victory of Lee’s army.
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By detonating a mine, a crater was created and the Union troops fell into the crater. The Confederates launched a counterattack which killed many Union soldiers who were sitting ducks.
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Nathan Bedford Forrest starts a raid. His goal is to capture three Union generals (who were stationed in the city), release Southern prisoners and cause the recall of Union forces.
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After forcing the Confederate army of John Bell Hood out of Atlanta, General
William T. Sherman captures the city. It was a major munitions center for the South. -
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Sherman leaves Atlanta and begins his “march to the sea,” an attempt to demoralize the
South and hasten surrender. -
Savannah falls to Sherman’s army without resistance. Sherman gives the city to Lincoln as a Christmas present.
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James H. Wilson follows Nathan Bedford Forrest when he evacuates. Wilson believed this to be an easy capture. The army of Forrest was good in defensive warfare and they managed to flee across the Tennessee River.
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Slavery is abolished throughout the United States.
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Lee is now the senior-most officer in the army.
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Columbia in South Carolina, is almost totally destroyed by fire.
The fire is most likely lit by Sherman’s troops. -
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This campaign was a Union offensive.
Ulysses S. Grant moves against Robert E. Lee’s defenses at Petersburg, Virginia. -
The Confederate government evacuates Richmond.
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Nathan Bedford Forrest is defeated. Upon hearing the news that Robert E. Lee has surrendered, Forrest does so as well.
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Vice-President Andrew Johnson is inaugurated as President.
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John Wilkes Booth is shot in a barn in Virginia and dies.
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