Chronology of the American Civil War 1861 - 1865

1860

November 6: Slave states call conventions to consider secession, following Abraham Lincoln's election as the first antislavery president
December 20: South Carolina is the first of seven states to secede in the next six weeks

1861

February 4: Convention of seceded states in Montgomery, Alabama
February 8: Constitution of Confederate States of America (SA) adopted
February 9: CSA elects Jefferson Davis provisional president
February 18: Inauguration of Jefferson Davis
March 4: Inauguration of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States
April 8: U.S. fleet departs new York to resupply Fort Sumpter, South Carolina
April 12: Confederates attack Fort Sumer
April 13: Fort Sumer surrenders
April 15: Lincoln calls out militia to suppress insurrection
April 17: Virginia is the first of four more slave states to secede
July 21: First Battle of Bull Run (Manassas)

1862

February 6: Union capture of Fort Henry, Tennessee
February 16: Union Capture of Fort Donelson, Tennessee
February 22: Jefferson Davis inaugurated President of the Confederacy for six-year term
February 25: Nashville is first Confederate state capital to fall to Union forces
April 6-7: Battle of Shiloh
April 16: Confederates enact conscription
April 25: New Orleans falls to Union navy
June 1: Robert E. Lee takes command of the army of northern Virginia after Joseph E. Johnston is wounded in Battle of Seven Pines
June 25-July 1: Seven Days Battles drive the Union forces away from Richmond
August 29-30: Second Battle of Bull Run (Manassas)
September 4: Army of northern Virginia crosses Potomac river to invade Maryland
September 17: Battle of Antietam
September 22: Lincoln issues preliminary Emancipation Proclamation
December 13: Battle of Fredericksburg

1863

January 1: Lincoln issues final Emancipation Proclamation
March 3: Union government enacts conscription
May 1-6: Battle of Chancellorsville
May 10: Stonewall Jackson dies of pneumonia following amputation of his arm at Chancellorsville
May 15: Confederate government approves Lee's plan to invade Pennsylvania
June 6: Lee's army begins to move north
June 16: First Confederate units cross the Potomac
June 25: Jeb Stuart's cavalry begins raid in rear of Union army
June 28: George G. Meade replaces Joseph Hooker as commander of the Army of the Potomac
June 30: John Buford's union cavalry enters Gettysburg
July 1, early morning: Advance units of Henry Heth's infantry division of the Army of Northern Virginia clash with Buford's cavalry
July 1, midmorning: John Reynolds' 1st corps of the Army of the Potomac arrives; stops Confederate advance; Reynolds killed
July 1, early afternoon: Confederates renew attack; Ewell's corps arrives and attacks Union 11th corps; Lee arrives on battlefield
July 1, late afternoon: Union line breaks; survivors retreat through town to Cemetery Hill; Lee gives Ewell discretionary orders to attack Cemetery Hill; Ewell does not attack
July 1, midnight: Meade arrives on battlefield; decides to stay and fight
July 2, morning: Longstreet recommends maneuver to south; Lee disagrees and orders Longstreet to attack Union left on Cemetery Ridge
July 2, 4:00 p.m. to dark: Longstreet's attack; heavy fighting in peach orchard, wheat field, Devil's Den, Little Round Top, Cemetery Ridge
July 2, dusk: Units of Ewell's corps attack Cemetery and Culp's Hills with limited success; Stuart's cavalry and George Pickett's infantry division arrive on battlefield
July 2, midnight: After counsel with subordinates, Meade decides to stay and fight
JJulyl 3, morning: Union 12th corps attacks and retakes trenches on Culp's Hill
July 3, afternoon: Cavalry Battle three miles east of Gettysburg blocks Stuart's advance toward Union rear
July 3, 1:07 p.m.: Confederate artillery barrage begins, preceding Pickett's assault
July 3, 3:00-4:00 p.m.: Attack on Union center, spearheaded by Pickett's division; repulsed, with heavy Confederate loss
July 4: Confederates begin retreat to Virginia; Vicksburg surrenders to Ulysses S. Grant's Army
July 13-16: New York City draft riots
July 14: Confederates recross Potomac to Virginia
July 18: Union assault on Fort Wagner, South Carolina, spearheaded by 54th Massachusetts infantry; repulsed, with heavy loss; black soldiers praised
September 19-20: Battle of Chickamauga
November 19: Lincoln's Gettysburg Address
November 23-25: Battles of Chattanooga open Union gateway to Georgia

1864

May 5-June 18: Campaign from Wilderness to Petersburg, Virginia; siege of Petersburg begins
May 7-September 2: Sherman's Atlanta campaign, culminating in surrender of Atlanta
November 15-December 20: Sherman's march from Atlanta to the sea
November 30: Battle of Franklin
December 15-16: Battle of Nashville destroys Confederate army of Tennessee

1865

February 1-March 23: Sherman's march through the Carolinas
April 2: Fall of Richmond and Petersburg
April 9: Lee surrenders at Appomattox
April 14: Assassination of Lincoln
June 23: Last Confederate army surrenders
December 18: Thirteenth Amendment to Constitution ratified, abolishing slavery