||South Carolina secedes from the Union.
||Major Robert Anderson abandons Fort Moultrie and
occupies Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor.
||Fort Moultrie and Castle Pinckney seized by
South Carolina state forces.
commissioners demand immediate withdrawal of troops from Charleston Harbor.
||South Carolina troops seize U.S. arsenal at
Buchanan states he cannot and will not remove troops from Charleston Harbor
||Georgia state troops seize Fort Pulaski
||Alabama state troops seize U.S. arsenal at Mount
day, seized Fort Morgan and Fort Gaines on Mobile bay
||Florida state troops seize U.S. arsenal at
||Star of the West, unarmed merchant ship sent by government to
reinforce Fort Sumter, fired upon by South Carolina guns and
prevented from entering Charleston Harbor. Returns to New York;
Mississippi state convention adopts ordinance of secession.
||Louisiana state troops seize arsenal and
barracks at Baton Rouge,
Florida state convention adopts ordinance of secession.
||Alabama state convention adopts ordinance of
||Georgia state convention adopts ordinance of secession.
||Georgia state troops seize U.S. arsenal at
||Louisiana state convention adopts ordinance of
||Kansas enters Union, a free state under
||Louisiana seizes U.S. mint and customs house at
New Orleans; Texas state convention adopts ordinance of secession.
||Peace Convention called by Virginia.
||Convention of delegates of 6 seceded states
meets in Montgomery, Alabama, to form provisional government.
||Constitution for Provisional Government of
Confederate States of America adopted by Montgomery convention.
||Arkansas state troops seize U.S. arsenal at
||Confederate States elect Jefferson Davis
provisional President and Alexander H. Stephens provisional Vice-President Confederate Congress declares in force all laws of U.S. not inconsistent with Constitution of Confederate States.
||Virginia state convention at Richmond to
||Texas state troops seize U.S. arsenal at San
||General David E. Twiggs of U.S. Army surrenders
U.S. military posts in Texas to the state.
||Missouri state convention meets to consider
||Confederate flag of stars and bars adopted.
||Confederate Constitution unanimously adopted by
|| Secretary of State Seward presents to
President Lincoln “Some Thots for the Pres.’s Consideration,” suggesting that he, Seward, take over administration of government, and that U.S. engage in a European war in order to unite North & South.
||Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor fired upon by
General P. T.
||Fort Sumter surrendered to Confederacy.
||President Lincoln calls for 75,000 volunteers
for 5 months.
||North Carolina state troops seize Fort Caswell
and Fort Johnston.
||Virginia state convention adopts ordinance of
||Union commander abandons and burns U.S. arsenal
at Harpers Ferry.
||Blockade of ports of South Carolina, Georgia,
Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas declared by Lincoln; Apr.27
extended to Virginia and North Carolina; Baltimore riot.
Massachusetts 6th Regiment, passing through, attacked by
secessionist mob. First bloodshed in Civil War.
||Robert E. Lee resigns commission as colonel in
U.S. Army; Apr.23
accepts chief command of Virginia state forces.
||President Lincoln appeals for 42,054 volunteers
to serve 5 years or
|| Confederate Congress recognizes state of
war between U.S. & Confederate States; Arkansas convention adopts
ordinance of secession.
||Queen Victoria issues proclamation of neutrality
in American conflict.
||North Carolina convention adopts ordinance of
||Great comet appears, considered prophetic of war
||Union forces under General George B. McClellan
defeat Confederates at Philippi, in campaign in western Virginia.
||Tennessee secedes from Union by popular vote of
2 to 1.
Commission organized by Secretary of War, forerunner of Red Cross.
||France proclaims neutrality in American
||Union government organized at Wheeling by loyal
element in Virginia.
||Confederate Congress meets in Richmond,
Virginia, capital of Confederacy from this date.
||First battle of Bull Run, Northern army under
General Irvin McDowell routed by Confederates under Generals Joseph E. Johnston and P.T. Beauregard.
||Construction of 7 ironclad gunboats by J.B. Eads of St. Louis ordered by U.S. govt.
||Union forces under General Nathaniel Lyon
defeated at Wilson's Creek, Missouri.
||Forts Clark and Hatteras on
North Carolina coast captured by Union forces under General Butler.
||General John C. Fremont, in command of
Department of Missouri, institutes martial law and by proclamation declares that slaves of all Missourians taking up arms against U.S. are free. President Lincoln orders modification to conform with existing law.
|| General Ulysses S. Grant occupies Paducah,
Kentucky, countering Confederate occupation of Columbus.
||Battle of Ball's Bluff on Potomac. Union
||General George B. McClellan appointed
general-in-chief of U.S. Army to succeed General Winfield Scott.
||General John C. Fremont removed from command by
the President for insubordination and incompetence.
||Battle of' Belmont, Missouri, lost to
Confederates. General Grant retires to Cairo, Illinois. Port Royal on South Carolina coast taken in important victory by Federal fleet.
||Trent Affair opens when James M. Mason and John
Slidell, Confederate commissioners to Great Britain and France, are taken from British mail packet Trent
by Federal warship San Jacinto,
Charles Wilkes captain, precipitating crisis with Great Britain.
||South Carolina planters near coast burn their
year's crop of cotton to prevent seizure by Union troops.
|Top of Page
||"John Brown's Body" being sung and
whistled all over the North.
||Battle of Mill Springs, Kentucky, decisive
Union victory under General George H. Thomas.
Monitor launched, built by John Ericsson.
||War in the West begins with great flanking
movement by Union forces.
||Fort Henry on Tennessee River forced to
surrender to General U. S. Grant and Commodore A. H. Foote.
||Roanoke Island captured by Union Army under
General A.E. Burnside in expedition to North
||Fort Donelson, on Cumberland River, surrenders
with some 14,000 men to General Grant after 4 days’ siege.
||Convention at Wheeling adopts pro-Union
constitution for proposed state of West Virginia; Apr. 3 ratified by popular vote.
||Nashville, Tennessee, evacuated by Confederates
under General Albert Sidney Johnston.
||Shenandoah Valley Campaign, General Thomas J.
(“Stonewall”) Jackson seeks to divert attention from Richmond, Virginia.
||Columbus, Kentucky, occupied by Union forces,
beginning of opening of the Mississippi.
||Battle of Pea Ridge, Arkansas.
Confederates under General Earl Van Dorn defeated by Union force under General Samuel R. Curtis.
||Confederate ironclad frigate Virginia, formerly
the Merrimac, sinks the Cumberland and defeats the Congress in Hampton
||The Monitor, Federal ironclad with
revolving gun-turret, forces the Virginia (the Merrimac) to withdraw; First battle of
||General McClellan relieved of command of Union
forces except the
Army of the Potomac, by Presidential order. General Henry W. Halleck given command of armies in the West.
||General John Pope defeats Confederates at New
and occupies town.
||New Bern, North Carolina, captured by Union
force under General
Burnside, a base from which to threaten Richmond.
||General McClellan's Army of the Potomac begins
Alexandria, Virginia, for Peninsular Campaign.
||General McClellan begins siege of Yorktown,
Virginia, occupies it May 4.
||Battle of Shiloh on Tennessee River, in which
both sides claim
victory. General A.S. Johnston killed. Confederates driven back by
||Treaty signed with Great Britain for efficient
suppression of slave
trade. Island No. 10, Confederate fort in Mississippi River, taken by
Commodore Foote and General Pope.
||Fort Pulaski, Georgia, commanding approaches to
Savannah, surrenders to Union force.
||Confederate Congress calls into military service
every white man 18-35 for 3 years service, its first Conscription Act;
Slavery abolished in District of Columbia by act of Congress.
||Forts St. Philip and Jackson on the Mississippi,
guarding approach to New Orleans, passed by Flag-officer David G. Farragut with 13 of his 17 ships.
||Farragut occupies New Orleans.
||Forts St. Philip and Jackson surrender to Commander
||New Orleans turned over to General Benjamin F.
||Battle of Williamsburg, Virginia; Confederates
retire toward Richmond.
||Confederates blow up the Virginia (Merrimac)
to prevent capture.
||Battle of Winchester, Virginia; Union forces
under General Banks
forced across the Potomac by General Jackson.
||Corinth, Mississippi, evacuated by Confederates
under General Beauregard; is occupied by General Halleck.
||Battle of Fair Oaks (Seven Pines), Virginia;
Victory for Union army. Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston severely
||General Robert E. Lee takes command of
Confederate Army of Eastern Virginia and North Carolina.
||Fort Pillow, Tennessee, evacuated by
Confederates after 2 months' land and river siege.
||Memphis, Tennessee, surrenders to Union gunboat
fleet under Captain Charles H. Davis.
||Slavery abolished in territories of U.S. by act
|June 25-July 1
||Seven Days Battles, Virginia, in which General Lee forces
General McClelland to withdraw from the Peninsula to protection of Union gunboats on James River.
||Battle of Mechanicsville; Confederates repulsed.
||Gaines' Mill; Union force retreats.
||On the Chickahominy, Confederates unsuccessful
in holding General McClellan's Army.
||Savage's Station. Confederate attempt to stop
||In crossing White Oak Swamp, Confederate pursuit
||Malvern Hill taken by Union Army, within sight
of James River, one of terrible conflicts of the war. End of Peninsular Campaign.
||Major General Halleck appointed general-in-chief of
all land forces
of U.S. Army, with headquarters at Washington. U.S. Grant left in
command of Army of West Tennessee.
||President Lincoln authorized by Congress to
between 18 and 45 for period not to exceed 9
months, the so-called "Draft of 1862."
Confiscation of rebel property authorized by Congress. Freed Negroes may be used in the Army.
||President Lincoln submits first draft of
to Cabinet, received with surprise
amid partial approval.
||Confederate cruiser Alabama leaves Liverpool where it was built.
term of opprobrium applied to Northern
sympathizers with the South, first appears in Cincinnati Gazette,
referring to Indiana state Democratic Convention.
||At Cedar Mountain, Virginia, General "Stonewall"
||Sioux uprising begins in Minnesota under Little
||Horace Greeley's editorial "The Prayer of Twenty
appears in New York Tribune, demanding that
commit himself to emancipation of slaves.
||President Lincoln replies to Greeley's editorial
object in this struggle is to save the Union, and it is not either to
save or to destroy slavery."
||Second Battle of Bull Run, or Manassas. Union
Army under General Pope defeated.
||Battle of Chantilly, Virginia. "Stonewall"
Jackson defeated at
||Lee's Confederate Army crosses Potomac for
campaign, occupies Frederick,
Maryland, Sept. 7.
||Battle of South Mountain, Maryland. General
||Harpers Ferry, Maryland, captured by "Stonewall" Jackson.
||Munfordville, Kentucky, taken by Confederates
Braxton Bragg; Antietam, Maryland. Battle indecisive. General Lee
checked, retreats across the Potomac Sept.18.
||At Iuka, Mississippi, General William Starke Rosecrans
defeats Confederate General Sterling Price.
||President Lincoln's preliminary Emancipation
Proclamation, presented to Cabinet, is approved.
||Emancipation Proclamation broadcast by press.
||Second Conscription Act passed by Confederate
authorizes president to call
out men between 35 and 45.
||Grant's Vicksburg campaign begins. Ends July
||Battle of Corinth, Mississippi. General Rosecrans
Confederate forces of Generals Price and Van Dorn.
||Battle of Perryville, Kentucky. Confederates
under General Bragg
defeated by General Don Carlos Buell. Philip H. Sheridan, commanding a center brigade, gains recognition.
||First regiment of South Carolina Volunteers
organized, first slave regiment in U.S. service. Colonel Thomas Wentworth Higginson,
of Boston, commander.
||General McClellan relieved of command of Army of
the Potomac and ordered to turn command to General Ambrose E.
Burnside, by order of the President.
||Brigadier General Andrew J. Hamilton appointed
governor of Texas.
||Battle of Prairie Grove, Arkansas, Union
||Battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia. General
defeated by General Lee.
||Holly Springs, General Grant's main depot in
taken by Confederates.
Bayou, Mississippi, General Sherman repulsed with
great loss by Confederates.
|Dec. 31-Jan. 2
||Battle of Murfreesboro, or Stone's River,
Tennessee. Neither side can claim victory. Union advance toward Chattanooga
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||Emancipation Proclamation issued by President
||General Burnside renews advance upon
Fredericksburg, Virginia, which rain turns into a mud march, resulting in failure and
||General Joseph Hooker succeeds
General Burnside in command
of Army of the Potomac.
||General Grant takes command of
expedition against Vicksburg, grand objective being the opening of the Mississippi River.
||Conscription Act adopted in
North by Congress. Exemption allowed by payment of $500.
||At Port Hudson, Louisiana, Admiral Farragut
carried the Hartford and the Albatross past Confederate batteries.
||Bread riot in Richmond, Virginia,
one of many.
||Fleet of Union monitors under
Admiral Samuel F. Dupont fails in
attack upon Fort Sumter.
||Confederacy urged by President Davis
to plant corn, peas, and
beans instead of cotton and tobacco.
||Admiral David D Dixon Porter, in
downstream run, passes
Confederate batteries at Vicksburg, Mississippi
|Apr. 29May 8
||General George Stoneman's cavalry raid in Virginia cuts
General Lee's communications and rips up Virginia Central Railroad.
||General Grant begins transfer of
troops across the Mississippi to
left bank below Vicksburg.
||Battle of Chancellorsville, Virginia. Union forces under General Hooker defeated by General Lee. General "Stonewall" Jackson
||Union victory at Port Gibson,
Mississippi, first engagement in General Grant's campaign against Vicksburg.
||General Joseph E. Johnston ordered
to command of
Confederate forces in Mississippi.
||Jackson, Mississippi captured by
General Sherman and General
James B. McPherson, defeating General J. E. Johnston.
||Battle of Champion's Hill,
Mississippi. General Grant with 2 corps
under Generals McClernand and McPherson defeats
Confederates under General John C. Pemberton.
||Union troops seize Big Black River
Bridge, an outpost of
Vicksburg, from General Pemberton, who retires within defenses
|May 18July 4
||Siege of Vicksburg. Union assaults repeatedly repulsed
in skillful but losing defense of General Pemberton who surrenders July 4 to General Grant.
||Chicago Times, anti-Lincoln newspaper,
ordered suppressed by
General Burnside. Order rescinded by President Lincoln, June 4.
||Peace party meeting at Cooper Union
in New York under
direction of Fernando Wood, mayor.
||Battle of Winchester, Virginia.
Confederate General Richard S. Ewell defeats General R.H. Milroy.
||President Lincoln calls for 100,000
volunteers for 6 months'
||West Virginia enters the Union with
constitution providing for
gradual emancipation of slaves.
||General Lee with about 80,000 men
crosses the Potomac at Harpers Ferry for invasion of Pennsylvania.
||Confederate General James E.B. Stuart makes useless
eastward from Lee's army to neighborhood of Washington.
||Union army under General Hooker
crosses the Potomac in
pursuit of General Lee.
||Confederate General Jubal A. Early captures York,
Major General George Gordon Meade replaces General Hooker in command of
the Army of the Potomac
||Confederate General John H. Morgan and his
cavalry begin raids
through Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana. July 26, Morgan captured.
||Battle of Gettysburg. Turning point
of the war.
||First day: General John Buford with
2 brigades of Union cavalry driven back by Confederate
advance guard under General
Ambrose P. Hill. Reinforced by noon, Union force stems
Confederate advance and establishes lines on Cemetery Ridge.
||Second day: Union Army on Cemetery
Ridge attacked by
Confederates but General Lee makes no decisive gains. Great
loss on both sides.
||Third day: Union counterattack
regains Culp's Hill, lost on previous day. In afternoon, Confederate attack breaks General
Meade's first line at the center, but, lacking support, gives way
to retreat and end of battle.
||General Lee begins retreat from
Gettysburg to Virginia. 10 A.M.
Lincoln announces victory.
Vicksburg surrendered to General
Grant by Confederate General Pemberton. Key to control of
Mississippi River. 10:50 A.M. Grant from Vicksburg to Major
General Halleck: "The enemy surrendered this morning".
||Port Hudson, Louisiana, 500 miles
down the Mississippi from
Vicksburg, falls to Union Army
after 6-week siege. Entire River now open to the Union.
||Anti-draft mob takes over New York
City; Killed and wounded, 1,000.
||Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, commander
of the 54th
Massachusetts, first Negro
regiment from the North, killed in attack upon Fort Wagner in Charleston Harbor.
||Fort Wagner in Charleston Harbor
taken by Union force.
||Chattanooga, Tennessee, taken by
Union forces under General Rosecrans.
||At Chickamauga, Georgia, General Rosecrans and Union forces
||General Grant given command of
||President Lincoln calls for 500,000
volunteers to serve 5 years.
||President Lincoln's Gettysburg
Address delivered at dedication of national cemetery on Gettysburg
||Battle of Chattanooga, in which four
Union Generals, Grant, Sherman, Hooker, and Thomas,
defeat Confederates under
General Bragg. On second
day of battle, General Hooker drives
Confederates from Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge. On third
day of battle carried by General George H. Thomas and Army of the Cumberland. Confederates driven from Tennessee.
||Confederate General James Longstreet abandons siege
Knoxville, Tennessee, and retreats.
||Proclamation of Amnesty and
Reconstruction issued by
President Lincoln. Offers pardon to all Southerners who take a prescribed oath and provides for
restoration of loyal
governments in seceded states when a number, equal to one
tenth of those qualified to vote in a state in 1860, "shall take a
prescribed oath" and organize a government.
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||Joint resolution proposed in Senate
by John B. Henderson of Missouri to abolish slavery throughout U.S. by amendment to
Constitution. Passed in Senate April 8; rejected in House June
||Arkansas in convention adopts anti-slavery
||Union prisoners begin to arrive at Andersonville
||President Lincoln calls for 500,000
men to serve 3 years or for duration. General Sherman occupies
followed by destruction of railroads and supplies.
||Ulysses S. Grant commissioned
Lieutenant-General and, Mar. 10, assigned to command of all Union armies.
||General Nathaniel Prentiss Banks and
his Union Army start up
Red River in Louisiana with Admiral Porter's gunboats on their
||President Lincoln calls for another
draft of 200,000 for 3 years. General Banks, in advance up Red
River, turned back at Sabine
Cross Roads, Louisiana, by
||Generals Grant and Meade, with Army
of the Potomac, start
across Rapidan River in their advance into the Wilderness.
||First Battle of the Wilderness, near Chancellorsville, Virginia; Generals Grant and Meade come to grips with General Lee; Indecisive.
||General Sherman sets forth from
Chattanooga with 100,000 troops to march through Georgia.
||Battle around Spotsylvania Court House. General Grant
to defeat General Lee, but on May
11, sends word to General Halleck, "I propose to fight it
out along this line if it takes all
||General Sherman defeats General
Johnston at Resaca, Georgia
||Battle of Cold Harbor, Virginia.
General Grant defeated by General Lee in one of severest engagements of the war.
||General Grant makes unsuccessful
assault upon Petersburg, 20 miles below Richmond.
||Siege of Petersburg begun by Union
Army. Confederate cruiser Alabama destroyed off Cherbourg, France, by the Kearsarge.
||Battle of Kenesaw Mountain, Georgia, defeat for
||Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 repealed
by act of Congress.
||General Jubal A. Early's attempted raid upon
Washington blocked at Monocacy River, Maryland, by General Lew Wallace who loses battle but wins time for approach of General Grant's troops, saving the Capital.
||Jaquess-Gilmore unofficial peace mission confers
with President Davis, with no result. Confederate leaders declare the South
must be independent. Horace Greeley at Niagara Falls, with President Lincoln's approval, confers with alleged Confederate peace commissioners.
||Battle of Atlanta. Confederate
General Hood defeated by General Sherman. Union General McPherson killed.
||Louisiana in convention adopts
anti-slavery constitution. Ratified by popular vote.
||Second battle of Atlanta, or Ezra
Church. General Hood again defeated.
||Union men explode a mine beneath
Confederate fort at Petersburg, Virginia, but are repulsed.
||Americans participate in punitive
bombardment of Shimoneseki,Japan, in first step toward policy of cooperation with European
powers in Far East.
||General Grant again refuses exchange
of prisoners as prolonging
||Weldon Railroad south of Richmond
seized by General Grant
after 5 days' battle.
||Port of Mobile closed to blockade
runners with capture of Fort
Morgan by Admiral Farragut.
||Atlanta evacuated by General Hood
and occupied by General
Sherman, Sept. 2
||General Sheridan and Union troops
victorious over General Early's cavalry at Winchester, Virginia. Lieutenant Charles Russell
||At Fisher's Hill, Virginia, General
Sheridan victorious over General Early's cavalry.
||Maryland adopts anti-slavery
constitution by popular vote.
||Battle of Cedar Creek, Virginia.
Confederates under General Early
defeated by General Sheridan, forced to leave Shenandoah Valley and their threat to Washington.
||The Albemarle, last of Confederate rams,
Roanoke River by Lieutenant W.B.Cushing.
||Abraham Lincoln re-elected
||General Sherman with army of 60,000
starts from Atlanta on "march to the sea".
||Sand Creek, Colorado, massacre of Cheyennes, by
under Colonel J.M. Chivington, ends year of Indian uprising.
||Battle of Franklin, Tennessee. Union
General John M. Schofield
wins victory over classmate, Confederate General Hood.
||Salmon P. Chase appointed Chief
Justice of Supreme Court.
||General Sherman and Union Army
arrive before Savannah after ravaging march across Georgia.
||Battle of Nashville, Tennessee.
General Thomas defeats
Confederates under General Hood, after which cavalry of
General James H. Wilson sweeps all trace of Confederate power
||Savannah abandoned by Confederate
||General Sherman occupies Savannah,
Georgia, sends dispatch
to President Lincoln, "I beg to present you as a Christmas gift the
city of Savannah."
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||Tennessee, in convention, adopts
anti-slavery amendments to
||Francis P. Blair, with permission of
President Lincoln, meets
President Davis in Richmond to explore possibilities of peace.
President Davis writes a letter to be shown to President Lincoln,
saying that he is willing "to enter into negotiations... with a view
to secure peace to the two countries."
||Fort Fisher, North Carolina,
captured by Union forces under General Alfred Howe Terry and Admiral Poreer.
||President Lincoln, upon seeing
President Davis's letter of Jan.12, writes to Francis P. Blair of his readiness to bring "peace to the
people of our one common country." Leads to Hampton Roads Conference.
||General Robert E. Lee appointed
commander of all Confederate
Armies by President Jefferson Davis;
House resolves to submit
to states an amendment to Constitution, prohibiting slavery in
the U.S. Resolution was adopted by Senate April 8, 1864.
||General Sherman leaves Savannah for
his march northward
through the Carolinas.
||Hampton Roads Conference on board
River Queen. President Lincoln and Secretary Seward confer with
Alexander H. Stephens and 2 other confederate agents
concerning peace. No result.
||Columbia, South Carolina, occupied
by General Sherman. City is burned, by whom is still a question.
||Charleston falls to the Union.
Wilmington, North Carolina, captured by Union forces under General Schofield. Last open
port of Confederacy.
||General George Custer of Sheridan's
cavalry defeats General
Early and captures 1600 prisoners near Waynesboro, Virginia.
||Freedmen's Bureau established by
||Confederate Congress authorizes use
of slaves in army. Slaves given their freedom by enlisting.
|| Armies of General Sherman and
General Schofield join at Goldsboro, North Carolina
||General Sheridan joins General Grant
and Army of the Potomac
before Petersburg, Virginia, with 10,000 cavalry, after winter's raid of Confederate communications.
||President Lincoln meets General
Grant and General Sherman (up from North Carolina by steamboat), in conference on River
Queen in James River at City Point.
President Lincoln deplores
further bloodshed and urges offer
of generous terms to the
||Grant moves southwest of Petersburg,
||Battle of Five Forks near Petersburg
won by General Sheridan;
Last important battle of the war.
||General Grant takes fortified lines
Confederate General Ambrose P. Hill killed. President Davis and all of his Cabinet, except Secretary of War Breckinridge, leave
Richmond. Richmond and Petersburg abandoned by General
||Union Army occupies Richmond and
Petersburg. Fire breaks out
||President Lincoln arrives in
Richmond and walks to center of the
city; Makes clear his wish for peaceable settlement.
||General Grant requests surrender of
General Lee. General Lee
asks General Grant for terms.
||General Grant meets General Lee at
Terms are discussed and Lee surrenders with 28,000 men, who
are allowed to retain private horses and side arms. By noon,
word of surrender reaches Washington.
||President Lincoln makes last public
address before a company at
the White House, treats problem of reconstruction in spirit of generous conciliation.
|| General Sherman takes Raleigh,
North Carolina, ending his
||President Lincoln holds Cabinet
meeting, expresses wish that
there may be no persecution after the war.
President Lincoln shot by John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theater,
Washington. Secretary Seward, ill in bed, stabbed by fellow
conspirator of Booth.
||President Lincoln dies at 7:22 A.M.
||Funeral services for President
Lincoln at Washington and
Springfield, Illinois. Burial at Springfield, May 4.
||General Johnston surrenders to
General Sherman at Hillsboro, North Carolina. John Wilkes
Booth, assassin of President Lincoln,
discovered in barn near Bowling Green, Virginia, is shot.
||President Johnson proclaims offer of
reward of $100,000 for
arrest of Jefferson Davis, charged with complicity in
assassination of President Lincoln.
||President Davis captured at Irwinsville, Georgia, and imprisoned
in Fortress Monroe.
||Confederate force under General
Slaughter defeats Union force
under Colonel Barrett at Palo Pinto, Texas; Last military
engagement of the war.
||General Kirby Smith at New Orleans
surrenders to General
Canby remaining Confederate forces west of the Mississippi,
ending Southern resistance.
||President Johnson issues
proclamation of amnesty to all
ordinary persons who were in the rebellion and who will take
oath of allegiance to U.S., exceptions being Confederate officers
and persons worth over $20,000.
||Galveston, Texas, last seaport held
by Confederates, surrenders, a final act in naval war; Missouri ratifies new
constitution; General Carl Schurz returns from 5 months tour
in the South, with report in support of radical reconstruction
||Mississippi passes a vagrant act,
beginning "black codes" of the
||All seceded states except Texas have
requirements, have elected Federal representatives and
senators and are ready for recognition by this date.
||Thirteenth Amendment of
Constitution, abolishing slavery in the
U.S., ratified by 27 states, formally proclaimed in effect by
Secretary of State Seward; Ku Klux Klan organized at Pulaski,
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||President Johnson vetoes bill to
extend life of Freedmen's
Bureau. Widens breach between President and Congress.
||President Johnson, speaking from
steps of White House,
violently denounces Joint Committee on Reconstruction. Loses
support for himself.
||Concurrent resolution, reported from
Joint Committee on
Reconstruction, declares that no senator nor representative
shall be admitted from any of late Confederate states until
Congress shall have declared the state entitled to
||Proclamation by President Johnson
declares the insurrection
"which heretofore existed in the States of Georgia, South
Carolina, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Florida is at an end."
||Texas, last of Confederate states to
do so, completes her reconstruction in conformity with President Johnson's plan.
||Civil Rights Bill passed by Congress
over President Johnson’s
||New Freedmen's Bureau Bill passed
over President’s Veto of
||Race riot in New Orleans results from
effort to introduce
Negro suffrage into Louisiana constitution.
||Grand Army of the Republic holds
first national encampment
at Indianapolis. First post organized at Decatur, Illinois, Apr.6.
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