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April 19, 1861 - President Lincoln issues a Proclamation of Blockade
Southern ports. For the duration of the war the blockade limits the ability of the rural South to stay well supplied in its war against the industrialized North. -
Abraham Lincoln elected 16th President of the United States
President Lincoln gives his first Inaugural Address to a divided nation stating why they should not seceded. -
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Robert E. Lee becomes commander of Virginia forces
He served as military advisor to President Jefferson Davis until June 1862 when he was given command of the wounded General Joseph E. Johnston's embattled army on the Virginia peninsula. -
Jefferson Davis
Jefferson Davis inaugurated as provisional President of the C.S.A. -
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The Union Arm
The Union Army under Gen. Hooker is decisively defeated by Lee's much smaller forces at the Battle of Chancellorsville in Virginia as a result of Lee's brilliant and daring tactics. Confederate Gen. Stonewall Jackson is mortally wounded by his own soldiers. Hooker retreats. Union losses are 17,000 killed, wounded and missing out of 130,000. The Confederates, 13, 000 out of 60,000. -
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The tide of war t
The tide of war turns against the South as the Confederates are defeated at the Battle of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania. -
South suffers
The South suffers a huge blow as Stonewall Jackson dies from his wounds, his last words, "Let us cross over the river and rest under the shade of the trees." -
Gen. Lee
Gen. Lee with 75,000 Confederates launches his second invasion of the North, heading into Pennsylvania in a campaign that will soon lead to Gettysburg. -
President Lincoln appoint
President Lincoln appoints Gen. Grant to command all of the armies of the United States. Gen. William T. Sherman succeeds Grant as commander in the wes -
Lincoln, in a speech
Congress, states the war is..."a People's contest...a struggle for maintaining in the world, that form, and substance of government, whose leading object is, to elevate the condition of men..." The Congress authorizes a call for 500,000 men. -
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beginning of an international diplomatic
The beginning of an international diplomatic crisis for President Lincoln as two Confederate officials sailing toward England are seized by the U.S. Navy. England, the leading world power, demands their release, threatening war. Lincoln eventually gives in and orders their release in December. "One war at a time," Lincoln remarks.
