The American Civil War (1861-1865) was the pivotal event in United States history and the largest armed conflict in the Western world following the end of the Napoleonic Wars (1815) and prior to the beginning of the First World War (1914).
More about: American Civil WarDefinition
Timeline
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5 Mar 1820Congress approves the Missouri Compromise, setting the boundary between 'free' and 'slave' states at the 36°30′ parallel (except Missouri).
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Sep 1850The Compromise of 1850 admits California as a 'free state' and establishes popular sovereignty in the other territories of the Mexican Cession.
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9 Jan 1861The merchant ship *Star of the West* is fired upon by the South Carolina State Militia while attempting to resupply Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor. The event is understood as the opening salvo of the American Civil War, although the war would not actually begin until April.
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12 Apr 1861The American Civil War begins when Confederate forces fire on the Union Fort Sumter.
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12 Apr 1861The American Civil War begins when Confederate forces fire on Fort Sumter in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina.
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20 Apr 1861Robert E. Lee resigns from the US Army as Virginia secedes from the Union.
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3 Jun 1861The first land battle of the American Civil War takes place in Philippi, Virginia (now West Virginia), ending in a Union victory and afterwards referred to as the "Philippi Races" owing to the rapid retreat of Confederate forces. The engagement is often defined as more of a "skirmish" than a battle.
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5 Aug 1861The Revenue Act of 1861 establishes the first US Federal Income Tax in order to help pay for the American Civil War. The act was supposed to be temporary, lasting only until 1866, but was never repealed.
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19 Jan 1862Union General George H. Thomas commands victory at the Battle of Mill Springs in the American Civil War.
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9 Mar 1862The full engagement of the iron-clad ships the *USS Monitor* and the *CSS Virginia* (better known as the *Merrimack*) takes place during the second day of the Battle of Hampton Roads during the American Civil War, the first engagement of iron-clad ships in history.
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13 May 1862Enslaved man Robert Smalls commandeers a Confederate vessel, the Planter, piloting it to the Union blockade, freeing himself, his family, his crew, their families, and providing the Union with a new ship and significant intelligence on the Confederacy. He would later become a member of the US House of Representatives.
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1 Jun 1862Robert E. Lee is put in command of the Army of Northern Virginia.
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25 Jun 1862 - 1 Jul 1862The Seven Days' Battles; Lee launches a counteroffensive against McClellan, driving him away from Richmond.
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12 Jul 1862The award for valor now known as the Congressional Medal of Honor for the United States Army is established during the American Civil War by a resolution of the US Congress.
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28 Aug 1862 - 30 Aug 1862Battle of Second Manassas (aka Second Battle of Bull Run) results in a Confederate victory.
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17 Sep 1862Battle of Antietam; the culmination of Robert E. Lee's first invasion of the North, resulting in 22,000 casualties. After the battle, Lee withdraws back across the Potomac River.
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17 Sep 1862The Battle of Antietam (also known as the Battle of Sharpsburg) is fought during the American Civil War near Sharpsburg and Antietam Creek, Maryland, regarded as the "bloodiest single day in American history" with a casualty count of 23,000 in twelve hours of combat. The Union victory allowed President Lincoln to issue the first version of the Emancipation Proclamation freeing the slaves in Confederate states.
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15 Dec 1862The Battle of Fredericksburg, fought during the American Civil War, ends in a Confederate victory after four days of a mismanaged offensive by Union Major General Ambrose Burnside resulting in over 12,000 casualties for the Union army to over 5,000 for the Confederates.
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31 Jan 1863The 1st South Carolina Volunteer Infantry Regiment is officially mustered into military service of the Union army during the American Civil War, the first Union combat regiment made up of Black soldiers and commanded by the White abolitionist minister and politician, Colonel Thomas Wentworth Higginson.
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19 Mar 1863The *SS Georgiana* of the Confederate States Navy sinks on her maiden voyage while trying to run the blockade by Union ships in Charleston, South Carolina. The wreck of the ship was discovered 102 years later by underwater archaeologist E. Lee Spence in 1965.
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30 Apr 1863 - 6 May 1863Battle of Chancellorsville; Robert E. Lee wins another decisive victory.
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2 May 1863General Stonewall Jackson is wounded in the left arm and hand by friendly fire from his own troops during the Battle of Chancellorsville in Virginia. The left arm needed to be amputated and Jackson died of pneumonia on 10 May.
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28 May 1863The 54th Massachusetts Regiment, of over 1,000 Black soldiers and White officers, is deployed for the first time, marching through Boston toward the docks for transport to South Carolina during the American Civil War.
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1 Jul 1863 - 3 Jul 1863Battle of Gettysburg; Robert E. Lee's second invasion of the North ends in a Southern defeat.
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1 Jul 1863The Battle of Gettysburg begins in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania during the American Civil War. Considered the turning point in the conflict, the battle raged until 3 July, ending in a Union victory.
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4 Jul 1863The Siege of Vicksburg, Mississippi ends when Confederate forces under John C. Pemberton surrender to Union forces under Ulysses S. Grant. The Union victory splits the Confederacy in two and, coming directly after the victory at Gettysburg, is considered the turning point in the American Civil War.
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13 Jul 1863The New York City Draft Riots break out following the first federal lottery under the Enrollment Act of conscription for service in the Union Army of the American Civil War. Protestors were especially incensed that wealthy people could pay a $300 substitution fee. The revolt caused upwards of 120 deaths and was suppressed by federal troops, many of them quick-marched from Pennsylvania after the Battle of Gettysburg.
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19 Nov 1863The Gettysburg Address is delivered by President Abraham Lincoln at the formal dedication of a Soldiers' National Cemetery following the Battle of Gettysburg in July of the same year, now known as the Gettysburg National Cemetery. The famous speech was read in less than two minutes and has only 271 words in it but has come to be regarded as among the greatest in US history.
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17 Feb 1864The *H.L. Hunley* of the Confederacy, a hand-cranked combat submarine, fires a 135-pound spar torpedo at the Union warship *USS Housatonic* in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, sinking it but, caught in the blast, sank itself with its eight-man crew. The event marked the first time a submarine would sink an enemy ship in combat.
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9 Mar 1864Ulysses S. Grant is made general-in-chief of all Union armies.
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12 Apr 1864The Battle of Fort Pillow, during the American Civil War, ends in a Confederate victory when the forces under Major General Bedford Forrest overwhelm and massacre Union forces, many of them African American troops who were trying to surrender.
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4 May 1864 - 12 Jun 1864The Overland Campaign - Grant and Lee's armies struggle in some of the hardest fighting of the American Civil War.
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4 May 1864The Army of the Potomac crosses the Rapidan River, beginning the Overland Campaign.
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5 May 1864 - 6 May 1864The Battle of the Wilderness results in a stalemate.
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7 May 1864William Tecumseh Sherman begins his Atlanta Campaign.
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7 May 1864Despite the horrendous losses he sustained at the Wilderness, Grant continues pressing south and heads toward Spotsylvania.
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8 May 1864 - 21 May 1864Battle of Spotsylvania Court House.
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11 May 1864Battle of Yellow Tavern; J. E. B. Stuart is mortally wounded.
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23 May 1864 - 26 May 1864Battle of North Anna; Union and Confederate armies try to maneuver around one another as they take parallel routes toward Cold Harbor.
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31 May 1864 - 12 Jun 1864Battle of Cold Harbor.
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12 Jun 1864Grant abandons his entrenchments at Cold Harbor and heads for the James River. End of the Overland Campaign.
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14 Jun 1864Confederate General Leonidas Polk is killed in action near Marietta, Georgia.
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16 Jul 1864Joseph E. Johnston is removed from command of the Confederate Army of Tennessee; he is replaced by John Bell Hood.
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18 Jul 1864Sherman begins to lay siege to Atlanta, Georgia.
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22 Jul 1864Battle of Atlanta; Union victory. Union Major General James B. McPherson is killed.
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30 Jul 1864The Battle of the Crater takes place during the American Civil War during the Siege of Petersburg, Virginia, during which Union forces detonate underground mines intended to explode beyond enemy lines but inadvertently create an enormous "crater" in front of them, leading to a Confederate victory.
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2 Sep 1864Atlanta is occupied by Union soldiers; end of the Atlanta Campaign.
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29 Sep 1864Gen. John Bell Hood and the 40,000-man Army of Tennessee crosses the Chattahoochee River, beginning the Franklin-Nashville Campaign.
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19 Oct 1864The St. Albans Raid occurs in St. Albans, Vermont, when 21 Confederate soldiers out of Canada rob the banks of the town to raise money for the Confederacy and draw Union troops northward during the American Civil War. After the raid, the Confederates fled back into Canada, turning many Canadians against the Confederate cause as they felt they were being pulled into the American conflict against their will.
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13 Nov 1864 - 20 Nov 1864Gen. John Bell Hood crosses the Tennessee River, beginning his invasion of Tennessee.
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15 Nov 1864US Major General William T. Sherman burns Atlanta, begins his infamous 'March to the Sea'.
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23 Nov 1864Sherman captures Milledgeville, the state capital of Georgia.
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30 Nov 1864Battle of Franklin; the Confederate assault is repulsed with 6,000 casualties, including 14 generals. One of the worst Confederate defeats of the war.
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15 Dec 1864 - 16 Dec 1864Battle of Nashville; the Confederate Army of Tennessee is decisively defeated, ceases to exist as an effective fighting force.
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21 Dec 1864Sherman captures Savannah, Georgia, ending his 'March to the Sea'.
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3 Apr 1865Union forces capture the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia, signaling the end of the Confederacy and leading to Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House on 9 April.
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9 Apr 1865General Robert E. Lee surrenders to General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House.
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9 Apr 1865General Robert E. Lee surrenders the Army of Northern Virginia to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, essentially ending the American Civil War.
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12 May 1865The last land engagement of the American Civil War is fought 12-13 May in the Battle of Palmito Ranch near present-day Brownsville, Texas, ending in a Confederate victory, although the war, at that time, had been over for a little more than a month.
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3 Jul 1913During the Great Reunion of American Civil War veterans (29 June-4 July) at Gettysburg, Pickett's Charge of 3 July 1863 is reenacted as the old soldiers meet again at the "Bloody Angle" and exchange handshakes and hugs.
