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Civil War Timespan
Events that led to and happened during the American Civil War -
Jefferson Davis introduces a series of resolutions in the upper house
Jefferson Davis introduces a series of resolutions in the upper house which call for a federal code protecting slavery in the territories which further divides the party along sectional lines. -
Lincoln delivers Cooper Union Address
Abraham Lincoln delivers his famous Cooper Union Address in New York City, which presents a compelling case on the Founding Fathers’ objections to the spread of slavery. The speech is widely reprinted in northern newspapers and helps Lincoln secure his party’s presidential nomination. -
50 southern delegates storm out of Institute Hall
Fifty southern delegates to the Democratic national convention storm out of Institute Hall in Charleston, South Caroli na in order to protest their party’s unwillingness to endorse a federal code protecting slavery in the territories. -
Abraham Lincoln is elected president
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. -
Both of South Carolina’s senators resign
Both of South Carolina’s senators, James Chesnut, Jr. and James H. Hammond, resign their seats. The legislature of South Carolina orders a convention to meet in Columbia on December 17 to decide whether or not the state should remain in the Union. -
South Carolina's defense
The South Carolina legislature authorizes the raising of ten thousand men for the state’s defense. -
House members and senators speak out on the Confederacy.
Twenty-three House members and seven Senators from the South make a public announcement calling for the creation of a Southern Confederacy. -
The first Secession Convention meets in Columbia, South Carolina.
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. -
South Carolina Secedes from the Union
In 1860, South Carolina officially breaks away from the United States of America. -
South Carolinians seize the Federal Arsena
South Carolinians seize the Federal Arsenal at Charleston, making Fort Sumter the last piece of federal property in the state controlled by the United States government. -
The Confederate States of America is Formed
The Southern states that seceded create a government at Montgomery, Alabama, and the Confederate States of America are formed. -
The First President of the Confederacy is Appointed.
Jefferson Davis is appointed the first President of the Confederate States of America at Montgomery, Alabama, a position he will hold until elections can be arranged. -
The Battle of Fort Sumter
Opening scene of the Civil War. Forces from the Confederate States of America attacked the United States military garrison. No one was killed. -
Battle of Big Bethel
Battle of Big Bethel, the first land battle of the war in Virginia. This was a Confederate victory. -
Battle of Philippi
A Union victory, it was the first organized land action of the war, though generally viewed as a skirmish rather than a battle. -
Battle of Bull Run
The first major battle of the American Civil War. The end result of the battle was a Confederate victory and Federal forces retreated to the defenses of Washington, DC. -
Battle of Wilson's Creek, Missouri.
The Union Army under General Nathaniel Lyon, attack Confederate troops and state militia southwest of Springfield, Missouri, and after a disastrous day that included the death of Lyon, are thrown back. The Confederate victory emphasizes the strong southern presence west of the Mississippi River. -
Battle of Hatteras Inlet Batteries
The first combined operation of the Union Army and Navy in the American Civil War, resulting in Union domination of the strategically important North Carolina Sounds -
Battle of Ball's Bluff
Fought in Loudoun County, Virginia, on October 21, 1861, in which Union Army forces under Major General George B. McClellan suffered a humiliating defeat. -
Battle of Belmont
This was the first combat test in the American Civil War for Brig. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, the future Union Army general in chief, who was fighting Major General Leonidas Polk -
Battle of Mill Springs
(Union victory) led to the total collapse of the eastern sector of the Confederate defensive line established to defend the Upper South and hopefully secure Kentucky's allegiance to the Southern cause. -
Surrender of Fort Henry
Surrender of Fort Henry, Tennessee. The loss of this southern fort on the Tennessee River opened the door to Union control of the river. -
Battle of Roanoke Island
Battle of Roanoke Island, North Carolina. A Confederate defeat, the battle resulted in Union occupation of eastern North Carolina and control of Pamlico Sound, to be used as Northern base for further operations against the southern coast. -
Surrender of Fort Donelson
Surrender of Fort Donelson, Tennessee. This primary southern fort on the Cumberland River left the river in Union hands. It was here that Union General Ulysses S. Grant gained his nickname "Unconditional Surrender". -
Jefferson Davis' inauguration day
Jefferson Davis is inaugurated as President of the Confederate States of America -
Battle of Hampton Roads
While neither side could claim victory, the battle demonstrated the viability of ironclad technology and provided a glimpse into the future of naval warfare. -
Siege of Yorktown
Stalled Union Major General George B. McClellan's Peninsula Campaign for four weeks, enabling the Confederacy to shore up its defenses of Richmond, Virginia. -
The Battle of Shiloh
The Battle of Shiloh the first major battle in Tennessee. Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston, is killed on the first day of fighting. The Union victory further secures the career of Union General Ulysses S. Grant. -
Capture of New Orleans
Union troops officially take possession of New Orleans, completing the occupation that had begun four days earlier. this was a turning point in the war, which precipitated the capture of the Mississippi River. -
The Battle of Antietam
The Battle of Antietam, the bloodiest single day of the Civil War. The result of the battle ends General Lee's first invasion of the North. -
The Emancipation Proclamation goes into effect
The Emancipation Proclamation goes into effect. Applauded by many abolitionists including Frederick Douglass, there are others who feel it does not go far enough to totally abolish slavery -
Battle of Champions Hill
Union victory in Grant’s Vicksburg campaign that defeated General Pemberton’s mobile army defending Vicksburg. -
Battle of Brandy Station.
Largest cavalry battle of the war. A confederate victory in which a large Union cavalry force, sent on to find General Lee, was repulsed after some initial success. -
The Battle of Gettysburg
The battle lasts over three days, involving high casualties on both sides. The battle is considered the turning point in the war. Lee withdraws, and is forced to fight a defensive campaign for the rest of the war. -
The siege of Vicksburg
The siege of Vicksburg was the final major military action in the Vicksburg campaign of the American Civil War -
The North controls the Mississippi River.
Port Hudson surrenders after news of surrender of Vicksburg reaches the garrison. The North now controls the Mississippi River. -
Battle of Bayou Forche
Battle just outside Little Rock during the Union conquest of Arkansas that saw the Confederate defenders of the city forced to retreat south. -
Battle of Chickamauga, Georgia
The bloodiest battle of the western theatre. A Confederate victory, although not as decisive as it could have been, that resulted in the only Confederate siege of a city at Chattanooga. -
Battle of Missionary Ridge
Second Union attack outside Chattanooga that included one of the few occasions in the war where a frontal attack against a fortified position succeeded. The battle breaks the siege of Chattanooga. -
Battle of Knoxville
Failed Confederate assault on the Union positions at Knoxville. -
Battle of the Wilderness
The first battle of Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant's 1864 Virginia Overland Campaign against General Robert E. Lee and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. -
Battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse
second major battle in Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and Maj. Gen. George G. Meade's 1864 Overland Campaign of the American Civil War. -
Battle of Resaca
The Battle of Resaca was fought during the Civil War on May 14-15, 1864, in Gordon County. Confederate general Joseph E. Johnston's troops were able to slow, but not halt, the progress of Union general William T. Sherman's forces into Georgia. -
Battle of Cold Harbor
The Battle of Cold Harbor was fought during the American Civil War near Mechanicsville, Virginia, from May 31 to June 12, 1864, with the most significant fighting occurring on June 3 -
Battle of Atlanta
The Battle of Atlanta was a battle of the Atlanta Campaign fought during the American Civil War on July 22, 1864, just southeast of Atlanta, Georgia. This was a Union win. -
Second Battle of Kernstown
The Confederate Army of the Valley under Lt. Gen. Jubal A. Early soundly defeated the Union Army of West Virginia under Brig. -
Battle of Mobile Bay
The fall of Mobile Bay was a major blow to the Confederacy, and the victory was the first in a series of Yankee successes that helped secure the re-election of President Abraham Lincoln -
Battle of Cedar Creek
The Battle of Cedar Creek, or Battle of Belle Grove, was fought on October 19, 1864, during the American Civil War. The fighting took place in the Shenandoah Valley of Northern Virginia, near Cedar Creek, Middletown, and the Valley Pike. -
Sherman's March to the Sea
Sherman's March to the Sea was a military campaign of the American Civil War conducted through Georgia from November 15 until December 21, 1864, by William Tecumseh Sherman, major general of the Union Army. -
Battle of Nashville
The Battle of Nashville was a two-day battle in the Franklin-Nashville Campaign that represented the end of large-scale fighting west of the coastal states in the American Civil War. -
13th Amendment is passed
The 13th amendment to the United States Constitution is passed abolishing slavery. -
Lincoln is inaugurated 2nd term.
President Abraham Lincoln is inaugurated for his second term as president in Washington, DC -
"Negro Soldier Law,"
Davis signs a "Negro Soldier Law," authorizing the enlistment of slaves. -
Attack on Fort Stedman, Petersburg
known as "Lee's last offensive", Confederate troops under General John B. Gordon attack and briefly capture the Union fort in the Petersburg siege lines in an attempt to thwart Union plans for a late March assault -
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. -
General Lee surrenders.
General Lee is surrounded by Grant’s forces in Virginia. He finally surrenders to Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 9 -
Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
President Lincoln is shot in Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C., by John Wilkes Booth. The president dies on April 15. Vice President Andrew Johnson becomes president. -
The final battle of the Civil War occurs
The final battle of the Civil War takes place at Palmito Ranch, Texas. It is a Confederate victory. -
General Simon Bolivar Buckner surrenders
General Simon Bolivar Buckner enters into terms for surrender of the Army of the Trans-Mississippi, which are agreed to on June 2, 1865. The Civil War officially ends. -
Texas slaves freed
in Galveston, U. S. Maj. Gen. Granger issued General Orders No. 3, confirming those enslaved in Texas had been freed under the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation. -
Freedmen’s Bureau
The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, usually referred to as simply the Freedmen's Bureau, was an agency of early Reconstruction, assisting freedmen in the South. -
The Civil Rights Act is passed
The Civil Rights Act of 1866 declared all persons born in the United States to be citizens, "without distinction of race or color, or previous condition of slavery or involuntary servitude. -
The Civil Rights Act of 1866
The Civil Rights Act of 1866 was the first United States federal law to define citizenship and affirm that all citizens are equally protected by the law. -
Winfield Scott dies
Presidential candidate in 1853, Union Civil War General (born 1786; died at West Point, New York) -
14th Amendment is passed
U.S. Congress passes Fourteenth Amendment, affirming citizenship for African Americans -
Tennessee readmitted to the Union
Tennessee is the first to rejoin the United States. -
Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant
The United States Congress passes legislation authorizing the rank of General of the Army (now called "5-star general"); Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant becomes the first to have this rank. -
The National Union Convention is held
The National Union Convention is held in Philadelphia with hopes to reconcile the Radical Republicans in Congress with the Reconstructionist policies of President Andrew Johnson. -
President Johnson formally declares Civil War over.
"Order, tranquillity, and civil authority now exists in and throughout the whole of the United States of America." -
House of Representatives elections
Despite President Andrew Johnson's Swing Around the Circle tour, the Republican Party wins in a landslide. -
African-American men are given the right to vote
African-American men are granted the right to vote in the District of Columbia -
Nebraska joins America
Nebraska is admitted as the 37th U.S. state -
First Reconstruction Act passed
First Reconstruction Act passed by the U.S. Congress; overturning Johnson's veto -
2nd Reconstruction Act is passed
Congress passed a 2nd Reconstruction Act over President Johnson's veto. -
Confederate General, Nathan Bedford Forrest leads KKK
The Ku Klux Klan reorganizes into a paramilitary organization led by a former Confederate General, Nathan Bedford Forrest -
Reconstruction in the South
Reconstruction in the South began with black voter registration. -
Alaska joins the U.S.
pres. Andrew Johnson announced the purchase of Alaska. -
Johnson extends amnesty
President Andrew Johnson extended amnesty to all but a few of the leaders of the Confederacy. -
Howard University is created
Congress created the 1st all black university, Howard Univ. in Wash DC. -
Congress attempts to impeach Johnson
US Congress commission looked into impeachment of President Andrew Johnson.
