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Abraham Lincoln gets elected
Only President in history to hold a patent.
Lincoln lost 5 seperate elections before being elected President.
Lincoln violated some civil liberties to further the war effort. -
South Carolina secedes
Voted unamiously to seceed 169-0.
South Carolina politicians fanned the flames of "popular excitment" over secession.
In December South Carolina announced South Carolina's secession. -
Fort Sumpter is attacked
Confederate forces around Charleston Harbor, opened fire on the Union garrison holding Fort Sumter.
At 2:30pm on April 13 Major Robert Anderson, garrison commander, surrendered.
The fort and was evacuated the next day. -
Robert E. Lee takes command of Confederate troops
Lee is appointed second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Corps.
Lee is promoted to captain of engineers, and moves on to his greatest engineering challenge, "moving" the Mississippi River.
Lee returns to West Point as the Academy's superintendent. -
George McClellan named commander of Union Troops
McClellan was called to Washington to take over Union forces in the East.
McClellan spent several months organizing and building what eventually became the Army of the Potomac.
While this was a Union victory, Lee was able to escape and gather his forces. -
1st Bull Run
This was the first major land battle of the armies in Virginia.
On July 16, 1861, the untried Union army under Brig.
Confederate reinforcements extended and broke the Union right flank. -
Battle between the Monitor and Merrimack
naval engagement at Hampton Roads, Virginia, a harbour at the mouth of the James River.
The two ironclads faced off once more, on April 11, 1862, but did not engage, neither being willing to fight on the other’s terms.
The Union side wanted the encounter to take place in the open sea. -
Shiloh
fought in southwestern Tennessee.
The battle was fought in the woods by inexperienced troops on both sides.
Despite a rallying of Northern troops and reinforcements for the South, the battle ended the next day. -
2nd Bull Run
Jackson ordered an attack on a Federal column.
The fighting at Brawner Farm lasted several hours and resulted in a stalemate.
Longstreet’s wing of 28,000 men counterattacked in the largest, simultaneous mass assault of the war. -
Antietam
The morning assault and vicious Confederate counterattacks swept back and forth.
Union assaults against the Sunken Road pierced the Confederate center after a terrible struggle.
The bloodiest single day in American military history ended in a draw. -
Emancimation Proclamation
Lincoln actually issued the Emancipation Proclamation twice.
The Emancipation Proclamation only applied to the states in rebellion.
The Emancipation Proclamation was a firm demonstration of the President’s executive war powers. -
54th Massachuchettes
After the July 11 assault on Fort Wagner failed, Gillmore reinforced his beachhead on Morris Island.
At dusk July 18, Gillmore launched an attack spearheaded by the 54th Massachusetts Infantry, a black regiment.
The Federals resorted to siege operations to reduce the fort. -
General Stonewall Jackson killed
Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson dies of pneumonia a week after his own troops accidentally fired on him during the Battle of Chancellorsville in Virginia.
Jackson terrorized Union commanders and led his army corps on bold and daring marches. He was the perfect complement to Robert E. Lee.
Despite poor preparation, Jackson worked hard and graduated 17th in a class of 59 cadets. -
Chancellorsville
Lee's victory at Chancellorsville is widely considered to be his greatest of the entire war.
Lee then defeated a separate Federal force near Salem Church that had threatened his rear.
Lee and Jackson conceived one of the boldest plans of the war. -
Gettysburg
On the final day, July 3rd, fighting raged at Culp’s Hill with the Union regaining its lost ground.
On July 1, early Union success faltered as Confederates pushed back against the Iron Brigade and exploited a weak Federal line at Barlow’s Knoll.
An estimated 51,000 soldiers were killed, wounded, captured, or listed as missing after Gettysburg. -
Vicksburg
John Pemberton. On July 4, Vicksburg surrendered after prolonged siege operations.
This was the culmination of one of the most brilliant military campaigns of the war.
With the loss of Pemberton’s army and this vital stronghold on the Mississippi, the Confederacy was effectively split in half. -
Gettysburg Address
On June 1, 1865, Senator Charles Sumner referred to the most famous speech ever given by President Abraham Lincoln.
In his eulogy on the slain president, he called the Gettysburg Address a "monumental act."
The battle itself was less important than the speech." -
Andersonville
Andersonville, or Camp Sumter as it was known officially, held more prisoners at any given time than any of the other Confederate military prisons.
The prison pen was surrounded by a stockade of hewed pine logs that varied in height from 15 to 17 feet.
Inside, about 19 feet from the wall, was the “deadline,” which prisoners were forbidden to cross. -
Fort Pillow
The Fort Pillow Massacre in Tennessee on April 12, 1864, in which more than 300 African-American soldiers were killed.
Though most of the Union garrison surrendered, and thus should have been taken as prisoners of war, the soldiers were killed.
The Confederate refusal to treat these troops as traditional prisoners of war infuriated the North, and led to the Union’s refusal to participate in prisoner exchanges. -
Sherman's March
From November 15 until December 21, 1864, Union General William T. Sherman led some 60,000 soldiers on a 285-mile march from Atlanta to Savannah, Georgia.
The purpose of this “March to the Sea” was to frighten Georgia’s civilian population into abandoning the Confederate cause.
General Sherman’s troops captured Atlanta on September 2, 1864. -
Appomattox
General Lee surrendered his remaining troops to General Grant at the McLean House on the afternoon of April 9.
Despite a final desperate attempt to escape, Lee’s army was trapped.
Lee headed west, eventually arriving in Appomattox County on April 8.
