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South Carolina votes to secede from the United States
became the first state to secede from the federal Union on December 20, 1860. The victory of Abraham Lincoln in the 1860 presidential election triggered cries for disunion across the slaveholding South. -
Abraham Lincoln elected president
Lincoln took office following the 1860 presidential election, in which he won a plurality of the popular vote in a four-candidate field. -
Confederate forces fire on Fort Sumter
Confederate “hot shot,” heated round shot, started a huge fire in the barracks which spread to the hospital and the magazine. -
Anaconda Plan
military strategy proposed by Union General Winfield Scott early in the American Civil War. -
Richmond becomes the capital of the Confederacy
in the Confederate Capital City of Montgomery, Alabama, the decision was made to name the City of Richmond, Virginia as the new Capital of the Confederacy. -
First Battle of Bull Run is fought
The first land battle of the Civil War was fought on July 21, 1861, just 30 miles from Washington -
Jefferson Davis elected president of the Confederacy
Davis was unanimously elected to the provisional presidency of the Confederacy by a constitutional convention in Montgomery. -
The Merrimac and the Monitor fight of the Virginia coast
the Monitor's action's prevented the destruction of the Union navy. The Merrimack's machinery is restored, and her wooden superstructure is replaced with an iron-covered citadel mounting 10 guns. -
Battle of Shiloh
allowed Union troops to penetrate the Confederate interior. -
Lincoln suspends habeas corpus
In 1862, President Lincoln issued Presidential Proclamation 94 which suspended the writ of habeas corpus. -
Robert E. Lee is named commander of the Army of Northern Virginia
Lee is given command of the Army of Northern Virginia, the main Confederate army in the eastern theater of the war. -
Battle of Antietam
pitted Union General George McClellan's Army of the Potomac against General Robert E. Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia. -
Battle of Fredericksburg
Fredericksburg was one of the largest and deadliest battles of the Civil War. -
Emancipation Proclamation is announced
The proclamation declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free." -
Battle of Chancellorsville
bloody assault by the Union army in Virginia that failed to encircle and destroy the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. -
Battle of Gettysburg
fought July 1–3, 1863, in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, by Union and Confederate forces during the American Civil War. -
Confederates surrender at Vicksburg
The war can never be brought to a close until that key is in our pocket.” The Vicksburg Campaign began in 1862 and ended with the Confederate surrender on July 4, 1863. -
New York City draft riots
The New York City draft riots, sometimes referred to as the Manhattan draft riots and known at the time as Draft Week, were violent disturbances in Lower Manhattan, widely regarded as the culmination -
54th Massachusetts fighting a Second Battle of Ft. Wagner
The Second Battle of Fort Wagner served as the 54th Massachusetts's trial by fire. The all-Black volunteer regiment first experienced combat only two days prior in a comparatively minor skirmish. -
Abraham Lincoln defeats George McClellan to win re-election
It was held on Tuesday, November 8, 1864. Near the end of the American Civil War, incumbent President Abraham Lincoln of the National Union Party easily defeated the Democratic nominee -
Lincoln gives his Gettysburg Address
The Gettysburg Address was a speech given by President Abraham Lincoln on November 19, 1863, at the official dedication of the Soldiers National Cemetery (now called the Gettysburg National Cemetery) at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. -
Congress passes the 13th Amendment
Only through the Thirteenth Amendment did emancipation become national policy. -
The Battle of the Crater
Confederate troops had rallied their strength and begun to fire rifles and artillery down into the crater, killing hundreds of the trapped men. -
Atlanta is captured
William T. Sherman's troops at Atlanta was repulsed with heavy losses. -
Sherman begins his March to the Sea
the most destructive campaign against a civilian population during the Civil War (1861-65), began in Atlanta on November 15, 1864, and concluded in Savannah on December 21, 1864. Union general William T. -
Freedmen's Bureau is created
Congress passed “An Act to establish a Bureau for the Relief of Freedmen and Refugees” to provide food, shelter, clothing, medical services, and land to displaced Southerners, including newly freed African Americans. -
Lincoln gives his second inaugural address
as the Civil War entered its final weeks, President Abraham Lincoln delivered his second inaugural address from the East Portico of the U.S. Capitol. -
Richmond falls to the Union Army
Richmond was important to the Union in that its capture would signal the end of the Confederacy. Richmond fell when Lt. General Grant attacked Five Forks on March 31, 1865, to cut Lee's last remaining supply line. -
Robert E. Lee surrenders at Appomattox
Grant, realizing that Lee's army was running out of options, sent a letter to Lee on April 7 requesting the Confederate general's surrender. -
Appomattox Court House--Surrender of Lee’s forces
general Robert E. Lee surrendered his army to Union general Ulysses S. Grant, precipitating the capitulation of other Confederate forces and leading to the end of the bloodiest conflict in American history. -
Lincoln Assassinated
Abraham Lincoln assassinated at Ford Theater by John Wilkes Booth -
John Wilkes Booth is killed
One soldier, Boston Corbett, approached the barn and claimed to have seen Booth leveling his pistol at him, so Corbett fired a round from his revolver. The bullet severed Booth's spinal cord and paralyzed him.