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After being photographed by Matthew Brady, Abraham Lincoln speaks at the Cooper Institute in New York City.
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The Democratic National Convention, meeting in Charleston, South Carolina, cannot agree on a nominee. The only thing they can agree on is to continue the debate in Baltimore the next month
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The Constitution Union Party, meeting in Baltimore, creates a platform taken heavily from the U. S. Constitution and selects John Bell of Tennessee for President and Edward Everett of Massachusetts for Vice-President.
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Republican Convention is held in Chicago, Illinois. William H. Seward, Salmon P. Chase and Abraham Lincoln of Illinois are the leading contenders from a field of 12 candidates. Lincoln wins on the third ballot. Hannibal Hamlin of Maine, an outspoken, long-time abolitionist is chosen for vice-president.
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Southern delegates hold a National Democratic convention in Richmond. Party leaders urge a "wait and see" approach.
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The Democrats reconvene in Baltimore to select a nominee, but Douglas can't make the necessary 2/3 majority until the anti-Douglas delegates leave on June 22 and the floor rules are changed to require 2/3 vote of the members present. On June 23rd the Convention nominates Stephen Douglas and Herschal V. Johnson
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Republican Abraham Lincoln wins the Presidential election with 39.7% of the vote, defeating Stephen Douglas, John Breckinridge and John Bell.
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President James Buchanan sends a distressed State of the Union message to Congress. In it he states that secession is unconstitutional, says the federal government lacks the authority to prevent it and calls for a constitutional amendment allowing Southern states to retain slaves as property.
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Georgia calls for a convention of Southern states to form an independent nation.
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Union Senator John Crittenden of Kentucky,proposes the Crittenden Compromise, which allowed states south of the old Missouri Compromise line to determine for themselves whether they entered the Union slave or free.
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Artillery fires on the Star of the West from Morris Island as it crosses into the main entrance channel to Charleston Harbor. As the ship comes about, Fort Moultrie opens fire, also with cannon shot. A mile and a half from Fort Sumter, the ship withdraws.
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The Convention of Seceded States adopts a provisional constitution forming the Confederate States of America.
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After privately considering William Yancey, Howell Cobb, Robert Toombs, Alexander Stephens, and Robert Barnwell Rhett for President of the Confederate States of America, the Convention settles on Jefferson Davis. They select Alexander Stephens, both pro-Union and a friend of Abraham Lincoln, as vice-president
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Beginning at 4:30 am on the 12th and continuing until the morning of the 13th, Confederate batteries along the shore of Charleston Harbor fire on Fort Sumter under the command of Major Robert Anderson. Anderson arranges a surrender with Texas Senator Louis Wigfall on the morning of the 13th.
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President Lincoln issues a Proclamation calling for 75,000 militiamen, and summoning a special session of Congress for July 4.
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Virginia secedes from the Union, followed within five weeks by Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina, thus forming an eleven state Confederacy with a population of 9 million, including nearly 4 million slaves. The Union will soon have 21 states and a population of over 20 million.
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First land engagement of the Civil War between American and Confederate forces.
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About 25 miles southwest of Washington the first major battle of the Civil War pits Irvin McDowell against P. G. T. Beauregard and Joe Johnston.
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Winfield Scott relieved from duty as Supreme Comander of the United States.
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British mail packet Trent, carrying James M. Mason and John Slidell, Confederate commissioners to London and Paris, is halted in the Bahama Channel by the U.S. warship San Jacinto.
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General Ulysses S. Grant demands the unconditional surrender of the garrison from an old friend, Simon Bolivar Buckner.
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Ulysses S. Grant defeats Albert Sidney Johnston in southwest Tennessee. P. G. T. Beauregard assumed command following Johnston's death
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After a duel with Confederate ships at English Turn, Commadore Farragut's fleet weighs anchor at New Orleans and demands the surrender of the largest city and most important port in the South. By the time Farragut arrives the city was partially on fire.
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Jefferson Davis replaces wounded Army of Northern Virginia commander Joseph E. Johnston with Robert E. Lee
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John Bell Hood and George Pickett breakthrough Fitz John Porter's line, forcing Union troops south of the Chickahominy River and severing McClellan's supply line to Eltham's Landing.
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Robert E. Lee attacked George B. McClellan, whose men made a gallant stand in front of the James River. Lee called off his attack after failing to break the Union line.
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General John Pope lost to General Robert E. Lee. General James Longstreet's 28,000 man assault on August 30 was the largest simultaneous assault of the war in this Confederate victory.
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Army of the Potomac under McClellan defeats the Army of Northern Virginia under Lee, resulting in the bloodiest day in American history.
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Following the preemptive strike at Antietam President Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing slaves in states or portions of states still in rebellion on January 1, 1863
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Army of the Potomac under Gen. Burnside suffers a costly defeat at Fredericksburg in Virginia with a loss of 12,653 men after 14 frontal assaults on well entrenched Rebels on Marye's Heights.
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The Emancipation Proclamation goes into effect.
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Abraham Lincoln relieves General Ambrose Burnside from command of the Army of the Potomac, replacing him with General Joseph Hooker.
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General Hooker's Army of the Potomac is defeated by Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia as it crosses the Rappahannock on the way to Richmond.
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West Virginia becomes the 35th state to enter the United States, but the first to enter where the terms slave and free no longer mattered.
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General Robert E. Lee advances into Pennsylvania where he meets George Meade. First battling north of the city, by the second day Union forces had retreated south, forming a strong line as men arrived almost continuously. On the third day, the infamous Pickett's Charge marked the end of the Confederates hope for a victory.
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John Pemberton, commander of Confederate forces at Vicksburg asks Ulysses S. Grant for terms. Grant demands an unconditional surrender. Pemberton refuses. Late in the evening, Grant offers excellent terms and Pemberton accepts.
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At Lawrence, Kansas, pro-Confederate William C. Quantrill and 450 pro-slavery followers raid the town and butcher 182 boys and men.
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General Braxton Bragg tries to split General William Rosecrans forces as they try to return to the safety of Chattanooga. A second day breakthrough at the Brotherton Cabin forces the federals into a retreat, halted only by the Rock of Chickamauga, General George Thomas on Snodgrass Hill.
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At the dedication of the National Cemetery in Gettysburg President Lincoln delivers a two-minute speech. Immediately following the speech he calls it a "flat failure." The speech is known today as the Gettysburg Address.
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Three Union armies attacked the Army of Tennessee atop Missionary Ridge, east of downtown Chattanooga. Patrick Cleburne stopped William Tecumseh Sherman from the north, although outnumbered 10 to 1. Joe Hooker was seriously delayed by burnt bridges and failed to hit the southern end of Bragg's line near Rossville, Georgia.
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After weeks of digging, 109 Union officers made their escape from the notorious Libby Prison, the largest and most sensational escape of the war. Though 48 of the escapees were later captured and two drowned, 59 were able to make their way into Union lines.
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Union forces under William T. Sherman enter the city of Meridian, Mississippi after a successful month of campaigning through the central part of the state. The capture of this important southern town, well known for its industry and storage capabilities, severely hampers the efforts of Confederate commanders to sustain their armies in the deep south, Georgia and west of the Mississippi River.
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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, taking all but five of her crew with her.
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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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As part of an overall Union strategy to strike deep into various parts of the Confederacy, a combined force of army and navy commands under General Nathaniel Banks begins a campaign on the Red River in Louisiana.
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Battle of Sabine Crossroads or Mansfield, Louisiana, the first major battle of the Red River Campaign in Louisiana.
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The Union Army under Banks defeats the attempt by Confederate forces under General Richard Taylor to drive them out of Louisiana. Unfortunately, the result of the campaign would be less than desired as it drew to a close in the first week of May with Confederates still in firm control of most of the state.
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After a rapid raid through central and western Tennessee, Confederate cavalry under Nathan Bedford Forrest attacked and overwhelmed the Union garrison at Fort Pillow, located on the Mississippi River. Among those garrisoning the fort were African American troops, many of whom were murdered by Forrest's angered troopers after they had surrendered.
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Battle of the Wilderness, Virginia, the opening battle of the "Overland Campaign" or "Wilderness Campaign". General Ulysses S. Grant, accompanying the Army of the Potomac under General Meade, issued orders for the campaign to begin on May 3. Lee responded by attacking the Union column in the dense woods and underbrush of an area known as the Wilderness, west of Fredericksburg, Virginia.
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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 while Confederate defenders evacuate Charleston, South Carolina.
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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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Sherman's army is stalled in its drive northward from Fayetteville but succeeds in passing around the Confederate forces toward its object of Raleigh.
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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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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. On the same day, Fort Sumter, South Carolina is re-occupied by Union troops.
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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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General Simon Bolivar Buckner enters into terms for surrender of the Army of the Trans-Mississippi, which are agreed to on June 2, 1865.The Civil War officially ends.
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President Andrew Johnson vetoes the bill that authorized military trial for those accused of "depriving Negroes of the Civil Rights" on the same day.
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President Johnson vetos the Civil Rights Act of 1866 on the grounds that it was unconstitutional.
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The United States declares that a state of peace exists with Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.
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Congress appropriates $100,000 to buy Ford's Theater. It will house the Army Medical Museum, the Office of the Surgeon General and War Department records until 1893.
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Congress overrides President Andrew Johnson's veto of the Civil Rights Act.
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Thirty-ninth Congress approves the 14th Amendment to the Constitution.
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Congress establishes "general of the armies" and Ulysses S. Grant is immediately promoted to 4-star general and put in this position. William Tecumseh Sherman assumes the rank of Lt. General.
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The U. S. Secret Service begins an investigation into the Ku Klux Klan.
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A proclamation of peace with Texas is issued by United States President Andrew Johnson.
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A fire in the Philadelphia ship-yard accidently destroys a number of ships used during the Civil War.
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Blacks in Washington D. C. gain the right to vote in a bill passed over President Andrew Johnson's veto.
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Nebraska becomes an official 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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Alexandria, Virginia rejects thousand of votes cast by Negroes, who were granted universal suffrage under the Reconstruction Act.
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General Philip Sheridan assumes command of the 5th Military district encompassing Louisiana and Texas. He designates New Orleans as his headquarters.
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William P. Seward signs a treaty with Russia buying Alaska for 2 cents an acre. Democrats called it "Seward's Folly".
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Congress passes a bill admitting Arkansas, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, and South Carolina into the Union. Virginia, Mississippi, and Texas, having refused to ratify the fourteenth amendment, were refused admission into the Union.
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House Select Committee on Reconstruction is appointed.
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President Andrew Johnson demands the resignation of Edwin Stanton, Secretary of War.
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Russia turns over Alaska to the United States.
