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Jefferson Davis supports the succession of southern states for the first time.
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Abraham Lincoln delivered one of his longest speeches at the Copper Institute. He showed that he intended for Congress to regulate slavery.
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The Union party selects its President and Vice President.
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Due to the different views between the north and the south at this time, South Carolina is considering to leave the United States.
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Abraham is elected President of the United States. He received 103 electoral votes.
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South Carolina held a convention to decide if the state should leave the Union.
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Senator James Chestnut is the first southern senator to resign from the Senate.
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Robert Anderson reports Fort Sumter is being threatened in Charleston.
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Georgia calls for a convention of Southern states to form an independent nation.
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South Carolina secedes from Union. Followed by Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas.
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The southern states form the Confederate States of America. Jefferson Davis is selected as president.
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Lincoln was sworn in as the United States 16th President. He was the first Republican to take office.
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The Confederate forces launch an attack against Fort Sumter. This marks the start of the Civil War.
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Lincoln issued a proclamation for 75,000 troops to suppress the rebellion.
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Virginia secedes from the Union, followed by Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina.
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President Lincoln issues proclamation to block all Southern ports to prevent the south from receiving supplies for the war.
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Lincoln calls 500 thousand men to support the Union army.
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The Union army with General Irvin McDowell gets defeated at Bull Run. Confederate Thomas J. Jackson earns the nickname "Stonewall,"
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Lincoln appoints George B. McClellan as commander of the department of Potomac
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Lincoln promotes McClellan to General-in-Chief of the entire Union army.
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Ulysses S. Grant captures Fort Henry, and ten days later Fort Donelson.
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The confederates surprise attack on Ulysses S. Grant's and his troops at Shiloh on the Tennessee River. 13,000 Union killed and wounded and 10,000 Confederates.
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Lee attacks McClellan near Richmond, resulting in losses for both armies.
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Joseph E. Johnston's Army attacks McClellan's troops in front of Richmond and almost defeats them.
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The Union army is defeated by 55,000 Confederates under Stonewall Jackson and James Longstreet at the second battle of Bull Run in northern Virginia.
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Robert E. Lee invades the North with 50,000 Confederates and heads for Harpers Ferry, northwest of Washington.
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The bloodiest day in U.S. military history as Robert E. Lee is stopped at Antietam in Maryland by McClellan and his troops. 26,000 men are dead, wounded, or missing.
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President Lincoln issues Emancipation Proclamation freeing slaves.
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Lincoln grows impatient with McClellan and his slowness, He replaces him with Ambrose E. Burnside.
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The Battle of Fredericksburg was an early battle of the civil war and stands as one of the greatest Confederate victories.
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President Lincoln issues the final Emancipation Proclamation freeing all slaves in territories held by Confederates and emphasizes the enlisting of black soldiers in the Union Army.
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Grant is placed in command of the Army of the west and given orders to capture Vicksburg.
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The U.S. Congress enacts a draft, affecting male citizens aged 20 to 45, but exempts those who pay $300 or provide a substitute.
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The Union Army lead by Hooker is defeated by Robert E. Lee's smaller forces at the Battle of Chancellorsville in Virginia.
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Stonewall Jackson dies from his wounds suffered at Chancellorsville
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Lee with 75,000 Confederates leads his second invasion of the North, heading into Pennsylvania.
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The war turns as the Confederates are defeated in Gettysburg Pennsylvania.
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Vicksburg surrenders to Grant. It was the Confederates last stronghold.
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The president appoints Grant to command all operations in the west.
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President Lincoln delivers a two minute Gettysburg Address at a ceremony dedicating the Battlefield as a National Cemetery.
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President Lincoln appoints Grant to command all of the armies of the United States.
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A mistake by Grant results in 7,000 Union casualties in twenty minutes during a battle against fortified Rebels at Cold Harbor in Virginia.
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Union forces miss an opportunity to capture Petersburg and cut off the Confederate rail lines. A nine-month siege of Petersburg begins with Grant's forces
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At Atlanta, Sherman's forces battle the Rebels.
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Democrats nominate George B. McClellan for President to run against Abraham Lincoln.
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Atlanta is captured by Sherman's Army.
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Abraham Lincoln is re-elected president, defeating Democrat George B. McClellan.
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After destroying Atlanta Sherman, with 62,000 men begins a March to the Sea.
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Hood's Rebel Army is defeated at Nashville.
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Sherman reaches Savannah in Georgia leaving behind a destroyed Atlanta
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The U.S. Congress approves the Thirteenth Amendment.
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A peace conference occurs as President Lincoln meets with Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens in Virginia, but the meeting ends in failure, the war continues
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The last offensive for Lee's Army of Northern Virginia begins with an attack of Grant's forces at Petersburg.
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Grant's forces begin a general advance and break through Lee's lines at Petersburg.
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Robert E. Lee surrenders his Confederate Army to Ulysses S. Grant at the village of Appomattox Court House in Virginia.
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The remaining Confederate armies surrender. This leads to the end of the war.
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Lincoln and his wife see a play at Ford's Theater. At the play, John Wilkes Booth shoots the president in the head.
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President Abraham Lincoln dies in the morning due to his injuries. Vice President Andrew Johnson takes over.
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John Wilkes Booth is shot and killed in a tobacco barn in Virginia.
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Abraham Lincoln is buried in Oak Ridge Cemetery in Illinois.
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New Freedman's Bureau bill passed by Congress.
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Texas repeals the actions of the Secessionist Convention.
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President Johnson vetos the Civil Rights Act of 1866 because it was unconstitutional.
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The United States at peace with Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia
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Congress appropriates $100,000 to buy Ford's Theater.
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Congress overrides President Andrew Johnson's veto of the Civil Rights Act.
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Winfield Scott died in West Point, New York
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Congress overrides Andrew Johnson's veto of the Freedman's Bureau bill.
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Congress establishes "general of the armies".
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The U. S. Secret Service begins an investigation into the Ku Klux Klan.
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African Americans in Washington D. C. gain the right to vote in a bill passed over President Andrew Johnson's veto.
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Nebraska becomes a state
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Congress passes the Tenure of Office Act.
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Virginia rejects votes cast by Negroes, who were granted universal suffrage under the Reconstruction Act.
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Congress passes the 2nd Reconstruction Act.
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William P. Seward signs a treaty with Russia buying Alaska for 2 cents an acre.
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President Andrew Johnson demands the resignation of Edwin Stanton, Secretary of War.
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Ulysses S. Grant becomes ad interim Secretary of War.
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Edwin Stanton suspended by President Andrew Johnson after he clashed with Johnson over his lenient treatment of the former Confederate states.
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Russia turns over Alaska to the United States
