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November 6, 1860
Abraham Lincoln is elected sixteenth president of the United States, the first Republican president in the nation who represents a party that opposes the spread of slavery in the territories of the United States. -
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Civil war Time Line
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December 17, 1860- The first Secession Convention
On this day, a secession convention meeting in Charleston, South Carolina, unanimously adopted an ordinance dissolving the connection between South Carolina and the United States of America.The convention had been called by the governor and legislature of South Carolina once Lincoln's victory was assured. Delegates were elected on December 6, 1860, and the convention convened on December 17. -
January 1861 - Six additional southern states secede from the Union.
The secession of South Carolina was followed by the secession of six more states—Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas–and the threat of secession by four more—Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina. -
March 4, 1861- Abraham Lincoln is inaugurated as the sixteenth president of the United States in Washington, DC.
Abraham Lincoln becomes the 16th president of the United States on March 4, 1861. In his inauguration speech, Lincoln extended an olive branch to the South, but also made it clear that he intended to enforce federal laws in the states that seceded. -
April 12, 1861- Southern forces fire upon Fort Sumter, South Carolina.
The battle of Fort Sumter is generally considered to be the event responsible for the start of the US Civil War. -
April 15, 1861-
President Lincoln issues a public declaration that an insurrection exists and calls for 75,000 militia to stop the rebellion. As a result of this call for volunteers, four additional southern states secede from the Union in the following weeks. Lincoln will respond on May 3 with an additional call for 43,000+ volunteers to serve for three years, expanding the size of the Regular Army. -
May 24, 1861
Union forces cross the Potomac River and occupy Arlington Heights, the home of future Confederate General Robert E. Lee. It is during the occupation of nearby Alexandria that Colonel Elmer Ellsworth, commander of the 11th New York Infantry and a close friend of the Lincolns, is shot dead by the owner of the Marshall House just after removing a Confederate flag from its roof. -
July 21, 1861-
The First Battle of Bull Run, also known as the Battle of Manassas, marked the first major land battle of the American Civil War. On July 21, 1861, Union and Confederate armies clashed near Manassas Junction, Virginia -
February 6, 1862: Battle of Fort Henry
The Battle of Fort Henry was fought on February 6, 1862, in Donelson, Stewart County, Tennessee, during the American Civil War. It was the first important victory for the Union and Brig. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant in the Western Theater -
April 6-7, 1862: Battle of Shiloh
The Battle of Shiloh was a crucial success for the Union Army, led by Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's Army of the Tennessee . It allowed Grant to begin a big operation in the Mississippi Valley later that year. -
May 31, 1862: Battle of Seven Pines
The Battle of Seven Pines, it was also known as the Battle of Fair Oaks, took place near Seven Pines and Fair Oaks, Virginia, on May 31 and June 1, 1862. The battle was an important turning point in Union General George B. McClellan's Peninsula Campaign. -
December 13, 1862: Battle of Fredericksburg
The Battle of Fredericksburg on December 13, 1862, involved nearly 200,000 combatants, the largest concentration of troops in any Civil War battle. Ambrose Burnside, the newly appointed commander of the Army of the Potomac, had ordered his more than 120,000 troops to cross the Rappahannock River, where they made a two-pronged attack on the right and left flanks of Robert E. Lee’s 80,000-strong Army of Northern Virginia at Fredericksburg -
December 31, 1862 - January 2, 1863: Battle of Stones River
Union and Confederate forces clashed at the Battle of Stones River, near Murfreesboro, Tennessee, during the American Civil War (1861-65). On December 31, Confederate General Braxton Bragg’s 35,000 troops successfully attacked the 42,000-strong Union force commanded by Major General William Rosecrans -
January 9-11, 1863: Battle of Arkansas PostPPP
P The Battle of Arkansas Post, also known as Battle of Fort Hindman, was fought from January 9–11, 1863, near the mouth of the Arkansas River at Arkansas Post, as part of the Vicksburg Campaign of the American Civil War. -
September 19-20, 1863: Battle of Chickamauga
On September 19-20, 1863, Braxton Bragg’s Army of Tennessee defeated a Union force commanded by General William Rosecrans in the Battle of Chickamauga, during the American Civil War. -
November 23-25, 1863: Battle of Chattanooga
The Battles for Chattanooga (November 23 to November 25, 1863) were a series of battles in which Union forces routed Confederate troops in Tennessee at the battles of Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge during the American Civil War (1861-65). -
May 5-7, 1864: Battle of the Wilderness
The bloody Battle of the Wilderness, in which no side could claim victory, marked the first stage of a major Union offensive toward the Confederate capital of Richmond, ordered by the newly named Union general-in-chief Ulysses S. Grant in the spring of 1864. -
May 31 - June 12, 1864: Battle of Cold Harbor
The battles of Cold Harbor were two American Civil War (1861-65) engagements that took place about 10 miles northeast of Richmond, Virginia, the Confederate capital. The First Battle of Cold Harbor, more commonly known as the Battle of Gaines’ Mill. -
July 22, 1864: Battle of Atlanta
The Union victory in the largest battle of the Atlanta Campaign led to the capture of that critical Confederate city and opened the door for Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman’s most famous operation the March to the Sea and the capture of Savannah. -
July 24, 1864: Second Battle of Kernstown
The Second Battle of Kernstown was fought on July 24, 1864, at Kernstown, Virginia, outside Winchester, Virginia, as part of the Valley Campaigns of 1864 in the American Civil War. The Confederate Army of the Valley under Lt. Gen. Jubal A. Early soundly defeated the Union Army of West Virginia under Brig. -
August 18-21, 1864: Battle of Globe Tavern
The Battle of Globe Tavern, also known as the Second Battle of the Weldon Railroad, fought August 18–21, 1864, south of Petersburg, Virginia, was the second try of the Union Army to sever the Weldon Railroad during the siege of Petersburg of the American Civil War. -
August 31 - September 1, 1864: Battle of Jonesborough
In late August, Sherman determined that if he could cut Hood’s supply lines—the Macon & Western and the Atlanta & West Point Railroads—the Rebels would have to evacuate Atlanta. Sherman, therefore, decided to move six of his seven infantry corps against the supply lines -
April 1, 1865: Battle of Five Forks
The Battle of Five Forks was fought on April 1, 1865, southwest of Petersburg, Virginia, around the road junction of Five Forks, Dinwiddie County, at the end of the Siege of Petersburg, near the conclusion of the American Civil War. -
April 9, 1865: Surrender at Appomattox Court House
Description
The Battle of Appomattox Court House, fought in Appomattox County, Virginia, on the morning of April 9, 1865, was one of the last battles of the American Civil War