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South Carolina officially secedes from the Union, becoming the first state to do so.
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Mississippi secedes from the Union.
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Alabama secedes from the Union.
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Georgia secedes from the Union.
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Florida secedes from the Union.
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Abraham Lincoln is inaugurated as the sixteenth President of the United States. In his Inaugural Address he gives a stark warning to the South: he will not tolerate secession.
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Confederate forces under General P.G.T. Beauregard bombard Major Robert Anderson and his Union soldiers at Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina. The Civil War officially begins.
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Major Robert Anderson surrenders Fort Sumter to Confederate forces after two days of bombardment.
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Virginia secedes from the Union.
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Lincoln addresses Congress and requests the enlistment of a Union Army. Congress authorizes a call for 500,000 men. It is clear now that the war will not be short.
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The First Battle of Bull Run pits Union General Irvin McDowell against the new Confederate army. McDowell is defeated causing a panicked retreat back to Washington, which is about forty miles away. The withdrawal is hampered by the large numbers of spectators who are there to see the battle
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Union General Ulysses S. Grant's forces are surprised at the town of Shiloh in Tennessee. The ensuing battle results in 13,000 Union and 10,000 Confederate casualties, more than in all previous American wars combined.
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General Robert E. Lee assumes command of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia.
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Over the course of seven days of fighting, General Robert E. Lee attacks George McClellan's Union Army of the Potomac near Richmond, Virginia. Huge casualties cause McClellan to withdraw north towards Washington.
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The Second Battle of Bull Run is a resounding victory for Confederate General Stonewall Jackson. Union General John Pope is blamed for the loss and is relieved of his duties after the battle.
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The Battle of Antietam is the bloodiest day in United States history. Over 26,000 men are killed, wounded or missing in action on both sides. Though officially a draw, the battle stops General Robert E. Lee's invasion of Maryland and he retreats back to Virginia.
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Lincoln issues a preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, which declares his intention to free all slaves in any new territory captured by the Union Army.
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The Union Army under General Ambrose E. Burnside suffers a horrible defeat at the Battle of Fredericksburg in Virginia. Fourteen individual assaults on an entrenched Confederate position cost the Union 13,000 casualties.
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Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation. It frees all slaves in territory captured by the Union Army, and orders the enlistment of black soldiers. From this point forward, the Civil War is a war over slavery.
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Congress enacts the first draft in American history, requiring every man to serve in the army unless he can furnish a substitute or pay the government $300. These escape provisions are wildly unpopular with workers and recent immigrants, and lead to draft riots in New York and other northern cities.
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From July 1 to July 4, the Union Army under General Meade defeats Robert E. Lee's Confederate Army at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. One of the bloodiest battles of the war, Gettysburg is a turning point, and marks the farthest advance of the Confederate Army into northern territory.
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Far to the West on the Mississippi River, General Ulysses S. Grant takes Vicksburg after a long siege. At this point, the Union controls the entire river, cutting the Confederacy in two.
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When the government attempts to begin conscription, riots break out in New York and other northern cities. In New York, 120 men, women and children—mostly black—are killed before Union troops returning from Gettysburg restore order.
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Union General William Rosecrans is defeated by Confederate General Braxton Bragg at the Battle of Chickamauga, in Tennessee.
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President Lincoln delivers the two-minute Gettysburg Address at the dedication of the National Cemetery at the battlefield in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
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The Union Army captures Richmond, Virginia, which is nearly leveled by shelling and fire.
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the beginning of the Siege of Petersburg, south of Richmond, the mobile war of the past month ends, replaced by a nine-month siege.
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Union General Sherman captures Atlanta and burns it to the ground.
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The Confederate Army of the Tennessee is crushed by the Union Army of the Cumberland in Nashville. The war in the West is nearly over.
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The United States Congress approves the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which will abolish slavery.
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Lincoln is sworn in for his second term as President of the United States.
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General Robert E. Lee surrenders to General Ulysses S. Grant in a farmhouse in the town of Appomattox Court House, Virginia. The war is over.
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Abraham Lincoln is shot by John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C
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The Thirteenth Amendment is ratified by the States. Slavery is abolished.