Dates of the American Civil War
A tabular style has been used to demonstrate the American Civil War timeline for easier comprehension:
Dates |
Particulars |
Details |
---|---|---|
6 November, 1860 |
Abraham Lincoln was elected President |
Abraham Lincoln, a candidate for the Republican Party, was elected as the 16th President of the United States. Despite not receiving a single vote from the South, he wins the presidency. |
20 December, 1860 |
South Carolina secedes |
One of the wealthiest states in the union, South Carolina, is the first to declare its independence just after Lincoln’s election. South Carolina’s secession signaled the North American states’ animosity toward slavery. |
January- Febuary, 1861 |
Extension of secession and the formation of the Confederacy |
In 1861, the states of Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas all vowed to secede. These states united to form the Confederate States, chose Jefferson Davis to lead them, and penned a constitution that was modeled after the US one. Nevertheless, they made no provisions for the outlawing of slavery. |
4 March, 1861 |
Lincoln’s first inaugural address |
While acknowledging that “passions may have strained,” Lincoln urges peace with the seceding states, saying that the North and South “must not be enemies” but rather friends. |
12 April, 1861 |
Fort Sumter |
Off the coast of South Carolina, at Fort Sumter, a stronghold that had been taken by Kentucky Unionists, occurs the first gunfight of the Civil War. Lincoln informed the Secessionists of his plans in response to public pressure. That’s when Jefferson Davis decided to start shooting at the unarmed boat. |
15 April, 1861 |
Lincoln summons the troops |
In an effort to save the Union, Lincoln asks the Northern states to provide a 75,000-strong militia that would be ready to go into action in three months. Lincoln claimed that the problem had grown “too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings” in order to defend his use of force. |
17 April- 21 May, 1861 |
Border states secede |
Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina were forced to support the Confederacy due to the hostilities at Fort Sumter. Jefferson Davis battled to keep society together as the Confederacy grew, and its adherents broke away to defend their own liberties. |
21 July, 1861 |
The First Battle of Bull Run |
The Civil War’s first significant engagement took place in Virginia when an ill-prepared Union army was forced into combat by popular and political pressure. The Union troops quickly withdrew to Washington, D.C. as Confederate reinforcements arrived, giving the Confederate army the upper hand. |
8 November, 1861 |
The Trent Affair |
Though there are differences in British public opinion toward the Civil War, the country was eager to reclaim its dominance in the New World and had close commercial ties to the United States of America. A Union naval officer stopped two Confederate commissioners who were trying to convince the British to back the Southern cause. Strong action was taken by Britain, which threatened to enter a war that neither the Union nor Britain desired. |
17 July, 1862 |
Enlisting black soldiers |
In response to pressure to “use all the physical force” at their disposal, the Thirty-seventh Congress authorized the enlistment of African Americans in the Union Army. This was a significant change from the practice of rejecting black recruits who were eager to join the Union army. |
28-30 August, 1862 |
Second Battle of Bull Run |
The Union army was routed by Generals Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson and Robert E. Lee, forcing them to once more withdraw to Washington, D.C. |
17 September, 1862 |
The Battle of Antietam |
Although not very decisive from a military standpoint, the Civil War’s deadliest day is crucial to the Union cause. Both France and Britain withdrew their offer to broker a peace settlement based on Confederate independence. Lincoln issued a preliminary emancipation proclamation on September 22, having been waiting for a favorable opportunity that would have benefited the Union. If the rebelling Confederate states did not rejoin the Union by the new year, he threatened to mandate the eradication of slavery. |
1 January, 1863 |
The Emancipation Proclamation |
Approximately three million of the four million slaves in America at the time of the war were inside the states that were rebelling when Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared that slaves inside those states were “thenceforward, and forever free.” Only the Confederate states were covered by the Emancipation Proclamation; neither the slave states that remained part of the Union nor the territories governed by the Union Army were. |
American Civil War | History, Summary, Dates, Causes
The American Civil War began in 1861 due to tensions over slavery, states’ rights, and expansion. Seven southern states split to form the Confederate States of America after Abraham Lincoln was elected president in 1860, and four additional states later joined them. With the Confederate surrender in 1865, the conflict, also known as the War Between the States, came to an end. At 620,000 dead and many more injured, it was the bloodiest war to ever take place on American soil. There was serious damage to the South.
Table of Content
- History of the American Civil War
- When did the Civil War Start and End?
- Dates of the American Civil War
- Causes of the American Civil War
- Conclusion