Civil+War+Timeline

1860
**November 6 ** Abraham Lincoln is elected the 16th president of the United States. **December 20** South Carolina secedes from the Union, soon to be followed by Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas.

1861
**January 29 ** Kansas become the 34th state in the Union. Delegates from the seceded states meet in Montgomery, Alabama to draw up a constitution and form the Confederate States of America. Jefferson Davis is inaugurated as president.
 * Fe  bruary [[image:http://www.moc.org/images/content/pagebuilder/10330.jpe caption="lincoln"]] **
 * [[image:http://www.moc.org/images/content/pagebuilder/10331.jpe caption="general"]] ||

 ** April 12-14 ** Confederate forces under General P.G.T. Beauregard fire on Fort Sumter, South Carolina. Major Robert  Anderson surrenders the fort without the loss of a single life.

 ** April-June ** Lincoln calls for 75,000 volunteers, prompting Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina and Tennessee to leave the Union.
 * [[image:http://www.moc.org/images/content/pagebuilder/10332.gif caption="lincoln"]] ||

 ** May ** Richmond is made the capital of the Confederacy.

 **July 21** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The Battle of First Manassas (Bull Run): Confederates win the first major battle of the war, but illusions of a short war are shattered.

**November 8** Confederate commissioners James Mason and John Slidell are arrested aboard the //HMS Trent// sparking Confederate hopes that England would declare war on the United States.



1862
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Forts Henry and Donelson fall to General Ulysses S. Grant, resulting in the Confederacy's first major losses. <span style="color: #000080; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**March 9** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The first battle between ironclad ships ends in a draw when the //Monitor// and the //Virginia// meet at Hampton Roads, Virginia. <span style="color: #000080; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**April 6-7** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Union troops gain a victory at Shiloh, Tennessee. With over 23,000 men killed, wounded, or missing, more casualties were suffered at Shiloh than in all previous American wars combined. ||
 * **<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">February 6 **<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">&**16**

|| <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">New Orleans falls to Union troops. <span style="color: #000080; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**May 5-July 1** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">General George B. McCellan begins his Peninsula Campaign to capture Richmond. At Seven Pines, Confederate General Joseph Johnston is wounded and Robert E. Lee is given command of the Army of Northern Virginia. After heavy fighting outside of Richmond during the Seven Days Battles, McCellan is forced to withdraw. <span style="color: #000080; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**August 28-30** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Confederates win a Second victory at Manassas. ||^  || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Lee's campaign into Maryland ends in the bloodiest day of the war as both armies battle at Sharpsburg (Antietam). Lincoln, with the victory for which he has been waiting, announces plans to issue the Emancipation Proclamation**.** <span style="color: #000080; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**October 3-4** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Union troops win the battle for Corinth, Mississippi. <span style="color: #000080; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**December 13** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The Battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia is a Confederate victory. ||^  || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Lincoln signs a bill approving the creation of West Virginia ||^   ||
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> ** April 29 **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> ** September 17 **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> ** December 31 **

1863
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation, which frees slaves in states in rebellion to the United States. <span style="color: #000080; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**May 2-3** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The Battle of Chancellorsville, Virginia: Although a Confederate victory, the South mourns the loss of Stonewall Jackson, who is mortally wounded. <span style="color: #000080; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**May 22** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Grant lays siege to Vicksburg, Mississippi**.** || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The first U.S. Colored Troops are mustered into service. || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The Battle of Gettysburg becomes the largest battle fought on American soil with over 51,000 casualties. Lee loses a third of his army and is forced to retreat back across the Potomac. <span style="color: #000080; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**July 4** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Vicksburg falls to Grant. With the Union in control of the Mississippi, the Confederacy is split in half. || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Confederates win a victory at the Battle of Chickamauga, Georgia <span style="color: #000080; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**November 24-25** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Union troops win a victory in the Battle of Lookout Mountain, Tennessee. ||  ||
 * **<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">January 1 **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> ** June 30 **
 * <span style="color: #000080; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**July 1-3**
 * <span style="color: #000080; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> **September 19-20**

1864
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The //Hunley// sinks the //USS Housatonic//, becoming the first submarine to sink an enemy vessel. <span style="color: #000080; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**March 9** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Grant is confirmed lieutenant general and commander of all U.S. forces. <span style="color: #000080; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**May-June** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Bloody battles are fought in the Wilderness, at Spotsylvania, and at Cold Harbor as Lee attempts to keep Grant from taking Richmond. || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">JEB Stuart is mortally wounded at Yellow Tavern. || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Grant lays siege to Petersburg, Virginia.
 * **<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">February 17 **
 * <span style="color: #000080; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**May 11**
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> ** June 18 **

<span style="color: #000080; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**September 2** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">General William T. Sherman occupies Atlanta, Georgia after General John Bell Hood is forced to evacuate. || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Lincoln is re-elected. <span style="color: #000080; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**December 16** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Hood retreats into Mississippi after his army is decimated in the battles of Franklin and Nashville. <span style="color: #000080; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**December 22** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Sherman occupies Savannah. ||  ||
 * <span style="color: #000080; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**November 8**

1865
**<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">February 17 ** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Columbia, South Carolina falls to Sherman's troops and is burned.

<span style="color: #000080; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**March 13**

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> The Confederate Congress authorizes the use of slaves as troops. <span style="color: #000080; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**April 2**

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Lee is forced to abandon Petersburg after the Union army breaks though his lines. The Confederate government flees Richmond, which is occupied by Union troops the next day. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> April 9 ** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Lee surrenders to Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia. <span style="color: #000080; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**April 14** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Lincoln is assassinated at Ford's Theatre. <span style="color: #000080; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**May 10** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Jefferson Davis and his family are captured outside of Irwinville, Georgia. <span style="color: #000080; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**December 18** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The Thirteenth Amendment abolishing slavery is adopted.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Timeline from: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">http://www.moc.org/site/PageServer?pagename=edu_kids_time