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Election Of Lincoln
The United States had been divided during the 1850s on questions surrounding the expansion of slavery and the rights of slave owners. In 1860, these issues broke the Democratic Party into Northern and Southern factions, and a new Constitutional Union Party appeared. In the face of a divided opposition, the Republican Party, dominant in the North, secured a majority of the electoral votes, putting Abraham Lincoln in the White House with almost no support from the South. -
TX Secedes From union
Texas becomes the seventh state to secede from the Union when a state convention votes 166 to 8 in favor of the measure.The Texans who voted to leave the Union did so over the objections of their governor, Sam Houston. A staunch Unionist, Houston's election in 1859 as governor seemed to indicate that Texas did not share the rising secessionist sentiments of the other Southern states. -
Houston Kicked Out Of Office
After statehood in 1845, Houston was elected Senator from Texas to the Congress of the United States. Still later, in 1859, Houston was elected to serve as Governor of the State of Texas.
As Governor in 1861, Houston was strongly opposed to the secession of Texas from the Union. Because he was much in the minority on this issue, Houston was removed from office in March of 1861, ending his illustrious carrier in public service. -
Battle Of Fort Sumter
"The crashing of the shot, the bursting of the shells, the falling of the walls, and the roar of the flames, made a pandemonium of the fort,"
On Saturday, April 13, Anderson surrendered the fort. Incredibly, no soldiers were killed in battle. -
Battle Of Galveston
Confederates entered Galveston on New Year's night, January 1, 1863, and opened fire before dawn. The Harriet Lane sank the Neptune when it tried to ram the Union ship, but men from the Bayou City boarded and seized the federal vessel despite the explosion of their own heavy cannon.
Magruder had retaken Galveston with a loss of twenty-six killed and 117 wounded. -
Battle Of Gettysburg
The Battle Of Gettysburg lasted 3 days.
Lee wanted to threaten Northern cities, weaken the North's appetite for war and, especially, win a major battle on Northern soil and strengthen the peace movement in the North. As many as 51,000 soldiers from both armies were killed, wounded, captured or missing in the three-day battle. -
Battle Of Sabine Pass
he battle of Sabine Pass, on September 8, 1863, turned back one of several Union attempts to invade and occupy part of Texas during the Civil War.
Finally at 3:40 P.M. the Union gunboats began their advance through the pass, firing on the fort as they steamed forward. -
Red River Campaign
The Red Ricer Campaign went on from March 10 - May 22, 1864.
The agricultural South had fought long and hard against the industrial North, but the zeal and military prowess of the Confederates was not enough to prevail against the vast resources of the North. The Red River Campaign, which included the largest combined army-navy operation of the war, was the last decisive Confederate victory of the war. -
End Of Civil War
Important battles, skirmishes, raids and other events of 1865. These led to additional Confederate surrenders, key Confederate captures, and disbandments of Confederate military units that occurred after Gen. Robert E. Lee’s surrender on April 9, 1865. -
Battle Of Palmito Ranch
The Battle of Palmito Ranch is generally reckoned as the final battle of the American Civil War, The battle was fought on the banks of the Rio Grande, east of Brownsville, Texas, and a few miles from the seaport of Los Brazos de Santiago, on May 12–13, 1865.Union and Confederate forces in Southern Texas had been observing an unofficial truce, when Union Colonel Theodore H. Barrett ordered an attack.The engagement is also known as the Battle of Palmito Hill or the Battle of Palmetto Ranch. -
Juneteenth
Juneteenth is the oldest known celebration commemorating the ending of slavery in the United States. Dating back to 1865, it was on June 19th that the Union soldiers, led by Major General Gordon Granger, landed at Galveston, Texas with news that the war had ended and that the enslaved were now free. -
Reconstruction Ends
In the 1870's, violent opposition in the South and the North's retreat from its commitment to equality, resulted in the end of Reconstruction. By 1876, the nation was prepared to abandon its commitment to equality for all citizens regardless of race.As soon as blacks gained the right to vote, secret societies sprang up in the South, devoted to restoring white supremacy in politics and social life.
