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1860 | 24 December - South Carolina secedes from the Union |
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1861 | January - Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana secede from the Union |
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1861 | 1 February - Texas secedes from the Union |
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1861 | 9 February - Confederate States of America formed with Jefferson Davis as president |
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1861 | 4 March - Abraham Lincoln is sworn in as 16th President |
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1861 | 12 April - Confederates open fire on Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina |
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1861 | 15 April - Lincoln calls for 75,000 militiamen, and summons a special session of Congress; Robert E. Lee is offered command of the Union Army, he declines |
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1861 | 17 April - Virginia secedes from the Union, followed within five weeks by Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina |
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1861 | 19 April - Lincoln issues a Proclamation of Blockade against Southern ports |
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1861 | 20 April - Lee resigns his commission in the U.S. Army, he then accepts command of the military and naval forces of Virginia
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1861 | 4 July - Congress authorises a call for 500,000 men |
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1861 | 21 July - The Union Army suffers a defeat at Bull Run |
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1861 | 27 July - Lincoln appoints McClellan as Commander of the Department of the Potomac, replacing McDowell |
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1861 | 11 September - Lincoln revokes Gen. Frémont's unauthorised military proclamation of emancipation in Missouri |
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1861 | 1 November - Lincoln appoints McClellan as general-in-chief of all Union forces |
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1862 | 31 January - Lincoln issues General War Order No. 1 (calling for all U.S. naval and land forces to begin a general advance by February 22 |
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1862 | 6 February - Victory for Gen. Grant in Tennessee, capturing Fort Henry and then Fort Donelson |
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1862 | 8/9 March - 'Merrimac' & 'Monitor' naval engagement |
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1862 | March - Peninsular Campaign begins as McClellan advances from Washington toward Richmond
McClellan temporarily relieved, Lincoln takes direct command of the Union Armies |
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1862 | April 6/7 - Battle of Shiloh |
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1862 | 16 April - Confederates enact conscription |
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1862 | 24 April- 17 Union ships take New Orleans |
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1862 | 31 May - Battle of Seven Pines |
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1862 | 1 June - Lee assumes command, replacing a wounded Johnston |
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1862 | 25 June-1 July - Seven Days Battles, McClellan begins a withdrawal back toward Washington |
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1862 | 11 July - Lincoln appoints Gen. Henry W. (Old Brains) Halleck general-in-chief |
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1862 | 29/30 August - Second battle of Bull Run |
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1862 | 4-9 September - Harpers Ferry |
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1862 | 17 September - Antietam |
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1862 | 7 November - Lincoln replaces McClellan with Burnside as the new Commander of the Army of the Potomac |
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1862 | 13 December - Fredericksburg |
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1863 | 1 January - Lincoln issues Emancipation Proclamation |
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1863 | 25 January - Lincoln appoints Hooker as Commander of the Army of the Potomac, replacing Burnside |
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1863 | 29 January - Gen. Grant is placed in command of the Army of the West, with orders to capture Vicksburg. |
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1863 | 1-4 May - Battle of Chancellorsville, Stonewall Jackson is mortally wounded by his own soldiers |
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1863 | 28 June - Lincoln appoints Meade as commander of the Army of the Potomac, replacing Hooker |
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1863 | 1-3 July - Battle of Gettysburg |
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1863 | 4 July - Vicksburg surrenders to Grant |
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1863 | August 21 - Lawrence Massacre |
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1863 | 19/20 September - Chickamauga |
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1863 | 16 October - Lincoln appoints Grant to command all operations in the western theatre |
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1863 | 19 November - Lincoln delivers Gettysburg Address |
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1863 | 23-25 November - Chattanooga |
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1864 | 9 March - Lincoln appoints Grant to command all of the armies of the United States, Sherman succeeds Grant as commander in the west. |
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1864 | 5/6 May - Battles at the Wilderness |
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1864 | 8-12 May - Spotsylvania |
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1864 | 3 June - Cold Harbor |
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1864 | 15 June - Nine month siege of Petersburg begins |
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1864 | 20 July - Sherman's forces battle Hood's Rebels at Atlanta |
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1864 | 2 September - Atlanta captured by Sherman's Army |
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1864 | 19 October - Cedar Creek |
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1864 | 8 November - Lincoln is re-elected president |
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1864 | 15 November - Sherman's March to the Sea |
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1864 | 15/16 December - Nashville |
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1864 | 21 December - Sherman reaches Savannah |
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1865 | 31 January - Congress approves the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, it is passed to the states to ratify |
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1865 | 3 February - Peace conference, Lincoln meets with Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens, ends in failure |
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1865 | 4 March - Lincoln's inauguration |
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1865 | 25 March - Last offensive for Lee at Petersburg |
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1865 | 2 April - Grant breaks through at Petersburg, Lee evacuates Petersburg, Richmond is evacuated |
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1865 | 4 April - Lincoln tours Richmond where he enters the Confederate White House |
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1865 | 9 April - Lee surrenders his Confederate Army to Grant at the village of Appomattox Court House |
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1865 | 14 April - John Wilkes Booth shoots Lincoln |
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1865 | 15 April - President Abraham Lincoln dies, Vice President Andrew Johnson assumes the presidency |
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1865 | 18 April - Confederate Gen. Johnston surrenders to Sherman near Durham in North Carolina |
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1865 | May - Remaining Confederate forces surrender |
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1865 | 6 December - The Thirteenth Amendment is finally ratified - slavery is abolished |
