Background, 1854-1859

May 22, 1854 - Congress passes the Kansas-Nebraska Act

March 1855 - armed proslavery "border ruffians" steal the election in Kansas*
(*The vote was 5,247 to 791 in favor of slavery despite the fact that bona fide Free Soil settlers were in the majority. A congressional election later determined that 95% of the proslavery votes were fraudulent.)

May 17, 1856 - a proslavery mob sacks Lawrence, Kansas

May 20, 1856 - Senator Charles Sumner delivers a speech on "The Crime Against Kansas"

May 22, 1856 - Sitting at his desk in the Senate chamber, Sumner is savagely beaten with a cane by Congressman Preston Brooks of South Carolina

May 25, 1856 - Radical abolitionist John Brown and several other men murder five proslavery settlers in Pottawatomie, Kansas

March 6, 1857 - Led by Chief Justice Roger Taney, the Supreme Court rules in the Dred Scott case, denying the power of a territorial legislature as well as Congress to exclude slavery

December 21, 1857 - proslavery voters in Kansas pass a referendum to petition Congress for admission as a slave state

January 4, 1858 - antislavery voters in Kansas pass a referendum calling for admission as a free soil state

February 2, 1858 - President James Buchanan, under the threat of secession by proslavery Southerners, sends Congress a message requesting admission of Kansas as a slave state

March 23, 1858 - the Senate approves a bill that would admit Kansas as a slave state; on April 1, the House of Representatives rejects the admission of Kansas

June 16, 1858 - Abraham Lincoln of Illinois, nominated for the U.S. Senate, delivers his famous "House Divided" speech

October 16, 1859 - John Brown attacks the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia

December 2, 1859 - John Brown is hung for treason

1860

November 6, 1860 - Lincoln is elected President

November 9, 1860 - South Carolina calls a secession convention

November 15, 1860 - Major Robert Anderson is sent to take command of federal defenses at Charleston, SC. Anderson repeatedly asks for reinforcements (November 23, November 28, December 1...)

December 4, 1860 - President Buchanan delivers his annual message to Congress, paradoxically declaring that secession is unconstitutional but that the federal government does not have the power to force states to remain in the Union

December 18, 1860 - Senator John Crittenden of Kentucky proposes amending the Constitution to protect slavery and reinstating the 36-30 line between slavery and free soil in the territories

December 20, 1860 - South Carolina secedes from the Union

December 24, 1860 - Lincoln and a Senate committee reject the Crittenden Compromise

December 26, 1860 - Anderson withdraws federal forces in Charleston to Fort Sumter.

December 31, 1860 - Buchanan orders reinforcements for Anderson; a ship with men and supplies sets sail on January 5, 1861

1861

January 9, 1861 - Confederate artillery prevents the reinforcement of Fort Sumter; in effect, the first shots of the war have been fired; Mississippi secedes from the Union, followed by Florida on January 10 and Alabama on January 11.

January 19, 1861 - Georgia secedes from the Union

January 26, 1861 - Louisiana secedes from the Union, followed by Texas on February 1

January 29, 1861 - Kansas is admitted to the Union

February 4, 1861 - the 7 seceded states open a convention in Montgomery, Alabama, to organize a new government

February 8, 1861 - the Constitution for a provisional Confederate government is adopted; Jefferson Davis of Mississippi is elected provisional president (inaugurated on February 18).

February 15,1861 - The Montgomery convention, acting as the provisional Confederate Congress, resolves to take Fort Sumter by force if necessary

March 4, 1861 - Lincoln is inaugurated

March 6, 1861 - The Confederacy calls for 100,000 volunteers

March 11, 1861 - The Confederate States of America formally adopts a permanent Constitution

April 4, 1861 - Lincoln orders a relief shipment of food to Fort Sumter; the expedition sails from New York on April 8

April 12, 1861 - Confederate forces open fire on Fort Sumter; Anderson surrenders on April 13

April 15, 1861 - Lincoln calls for 75,000 volunteers, consisting of militia units from the loyal states, to put down the rebellion

April 17, 1861 - Virginia rejects Lincoln's call for volunteers and votes for secession

April 18, 1861 - Robert E. Lee of Virginia is offered command of the U.S. Army; he declines and resigns from the Army on April 20

April 19, 1861 - Lincoln proclaims a blockade of Confederate ports

May 3, 1861 - Lincoln calls for 42,000 three-year volunteers and enlarges the regular army and navy

May 6, 1861 - Arkansas secedes from the Union

May 7, 1861 - Tennessee forms an alliance with the Confederacy (in effect seceding from the union)

May 13, 1861 - Britain proclaims its neutrality

May 16, 1861 - The Confederate Congress authorizes the recruitment of 400,000 men

May 20, 1861 - North Carolina secedes from the Union; Kentucky proclaims its neutrality

May 21, 1861 - The Confederate Congress votes to move the capital to Richmond, Virginia; two days later Virginia formally votes to join the Confederacy

May 24, 1861 - 10,000 Federal troops enter Virginia and occupy Alexandria

May 28, 1861 - Brig. Gen. Irvin McDowell is appointed Union commander of the Department of Northeastern Virginia

June 3, 1861 - Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan's Union army invades western Virginia and routs Confederates at Philippi (about 75 miles south of Wheeling), in the first major skirmish of the war

June 10, 1861 - France proclaims its neutrality

June 11, 1861 - Western Virginia counties refuse to go along with secession and set up a state government loyal to the Union (West Virginia is not formally admitted to the Union until June 20, 1863)

July 16, 1861 - McDowell's Union army advances upon Manassas Junction, Virginia

July 21, 1861 - Confederate forces commanded by Brig. Gen. Pierre Gustave T. Beauregard and Maj. Gen. Joseph E. Johnston rout McDowell's army in the First Battle of Bull Run (Manassas Creek)

July 27, 1861 - McClellan replaces McDowell as Union army commander in the Washington area

August 6, 1861 - The U.S. Congress passes a Confiscation Act, providing for the seizure of property, including slaves, used for insurrectionary purposes

August 10, 1861 - Brig. Gen. Nathaniel Lyon is killed and his army defeated by Confederates at Wilson's Creek, MO

September 20, 1861 - Rebels under Sterling Price capture the Union garrison at Lexington, MO

October 21, 1861 - Federal troops are defeated at Ball's Bluff, VA

1862

January 19, 1862 - In the first major Union victory of the war, Brig. Gen. George Thomas defeats the Confederates at Mill Springs, securing Union control of eastern Kentucky

February 6, 1862 - Brig. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and Flag Officer Andrew Foote lead a successful joint army-navy attack upon Fort Henry on the Tennessee River

February 7, 1862 - Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston orders a Confederate retreat from southwestern Kentucky

February 16, 1862 - 15,000 Confederates are captured as Brig. Gen. Simon B. Buckner surrenders Fort Donelson to Grant (thereafter nicknamed "Unconditional Surrender" Grant)

February 25, 1862 - Confederates abandon Nashville, TN

March 8, 1862 - Confederates lose the two-day battle of Pea Ridge, Ark., ensuring Union control of Missouri

March 9, 1862 - Ironclads Merrimac (CSA) and the Monitor (USA) meet in an indecisive battle at Hampton Roads

March 17, 1862 - McClennan begins to transport the Army of the Potomac to Fort Monroe, preparatory to the Peninsular Campaign against Richmond.

March 23, 1862 - Maj. Gen. Thomas J. (Stonewall) Jackson is defeated at Kerntown, VA by Federal Brig. Gen. James Shields in the first Battle of the Shenandoah Valley Campaign.

March 29, 1862 - A. S. Johnston reassembles Confederate Western forces at Corinth, Mississippi. Grant takes command of the Union army at Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee, in preparation for an assault on Corinth.

April 4, 1862 - McClellan's army on the Peninsula begins its advance on Richmond, VA, besieging the Confederate defenses at Yorktown on April 5

April 6, 1862 - Confederates surprise Grant's army at Shiloh, Tennessee (near Pittsburg Landing); A. S. Johnston is killed and P. G. T. Beauregard takes command in his place; Federal reinforcements arrive on April 7, forcing Beauregard to retreat back to Corinth

April 16, 1862 - the Confederate Congress votes conscription of able-bodied men aged 18-35 (subsequent acts provide exemptions for owners of twenty or more slaves, by hiring a substitute, or payment of $500); also on this date, Lincoln signs a bill abolishing slavery in the District of Columbia

April 25, 1862 - Federal naval forces capture New Orleans

April 29, 1862 - Major Gen. Henry W. Halleck takes over Grant's army and advances on Corinth (having relieved Grant from command); after a slow advance (20 miles in 26 days), Halleck reaches Corinth on May 25 and Beauregard evacuates the city on May 30

May 4, 1862 - Confederate forces commanded by Gen. Joseph E. Johnston retreat from Yorktown after McClellan's month-long siege; the Confederates abandon Norfolk on May 9

May 8, 1862 - Stonewall Jackson begins his Shenandoah Valley campaign, winning small Confederate victories at McDowell (May 8), Front Royal (May 23), and Winchester (May 25).

May 31, 1862 - Joseph E. Johnston is severely wounded at the Battle of Seven Pines (Fair Oaks) on the Virginia Peninsula; on June 1, Robert E. Lee takes command of Confederate forces defending Richmond

June 6, 1862 - Federal forces capture Memphis, Tennessee

June 17, 1862 - Jackson's army leaves the Shenandoah Valley to join Lee's Army of Northern Virginia defending Richmond

June 19, 1862 - Slavery is abolished in the U.S. Territories

June 25, 1862 - McClellan starts the Seven Days Battles by attacking at Oak Grove, VA; Lee counterattacks on June 26, forcing McClellan to retreat back toward the James River on June 27

July 1, 1862 - Lee attacks McClellan's retreating army at Malvern Hill; D. H. Hill's division of Confederate infantry suffers 5,500 casualties in one of Lee's worst tactical failures

July 2, 1862 - Lincoln calls for 300,000 three-year enlistments

July 11, 1862 - Halleck becomes general in chief of the Union armies

July 14, 1862 - Maj. Gen. John Pope, who assumed command of the Union Army of Virginia on June 26, leads an advance upon Gordonsville, VA

July 17, 1862 - the U.S. Congress passes a second Confiscation Act, freeing the slaves of those who support rebellion

July 22, 1862 - Union and Confederate negotiators reach an agreement ("cartel") for prisoner exchanges

August 4, 1862 - After a weak response to the July 2nd appeal for three-year enlistments, Lincoln issues a new call for 300,000 nine-months militia

August 14, 1862 - McClellan begins to withdraw the Army of the Potomac, ending the Peninsula campaign; meanwhile, Maj. Gen. Edmund Kirby Smith opens a Confederate invasion of Kentucky from Tennessee

August 26, 1862 - Jackson destroys Pope's supply depot at Manassas Junction

August 29, 1862 - Pope attacks Jackson, beginning the Second Battle of Manassas (Bull Run); repulsed by Confederate reinforcements from Gen. "Pete" Longstreet, Pope withdraws as Union forces suffer a second rout at Manassas (Pope is replaced by McClellan on September 2)

September 2, 1862 - Confederate forces led by Kirby Smith occupy Lexington, KY

September 5, 1862 - Lee crosses the Potomac into Maryland, opening his first invasion of the North

September 9, 1862 - Lee splits his army, sending Jackson to capture Harpers Ferry (Jackson captures Harpers Ferry on the 15th, taking 12,000 Union troops prisoner)

September 13, 1862 - McClellan receives a copy of Lee's orders, found on the road by two Union soldiers, revealing the Confederate troop deployment.

September 16, 1862 - McClellan moves into position at Antietam Creek near Sharpsburg; Jackson rejoins Lee

September 17, 1862 - McClellan repeatedly attacks Lee's army in the Battle of Antietam (Sharpsburg) in the bloodiest single day of the war (25,000 men were slaughtered in the cornfield by a Dunker church, and along a sunken road thereafter known as "Bloody Lane"); Lee retreats on September 18 but McClellan fails to pursue, allowing Lee's army to escape to Virginia

September 22, 1862 - Lincoln issues the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation

October 8, 1862 - Confederate troops led by Kirby Smith and Maj. Gen. Braxton Bragg, thwarted by Gen. Don Carlos Buell in a bloody but indecisive battle at Perryville, retreat back toward Tennessee, ending their joint invasion of Kentucky

October 30, 1862 - Criticized for failing to pursue the retreating Confederates after Perryville, Buell is replaced by Gen. William "Old Rosy" Rosecrans as commander of the Union Army of the Cumberland

November 2, 1862 - Grant launches a campaign from the Tennessee border to capture Vicksburg, Mississippi

November 7, 1862 - Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside replaces McClellan as commander of the Army of the Potomac

November 17, 1862 - Burnside reaches the north bank of the Rappahannock River, opposite Fredericksburg, VA

November 21, 1862 - Lee's army entrenches in a defensive position at Fredericksburg

November 30, 1862 - Jackson arrives at Fredericksburg from the Shenandoah Valley

December 11, 1862 - Burnside's troops start to cross the Rappahannock at Fredericksburg

December 13, 1862 - Burnside's repeated frontal assaults on Lee's lines are repulsed with heavy loss in the Battle of Fredericksburg

December 15, 1862 - The defeated Army of the Potomac withdraws across the Rappahannock River

December 31, 1862 - Rosecrans and Bragg square off in the Battle of Stones River (near Murfreesboro, TN); After two days of heavy fighting, Bragg achieves a tactical victory but withdraws on January 3

1863

January 1, 1863 - Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation

January 26, 1863 - Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker replaces Burnside as commander of the Army of the Potomac

March 3, 1863 - The U.S. Congress passes a conscription act applicable to all men ages 20-45; exemptions are provided for by the payment of $300 or the hiring of a substitute

March 25, 1863 - Burnside is appointed commander of Union forces in eastern Tennessee

April 30, 1863 - After crossing the Rappahannock and Rapidan rivers, Hooker concentrates his Union forces at Chancellorsville, VA

May 2, 1863 - Jackson routs Hooker's exposed right flank at Chancellorsville; Jackson is accidentally shot by his own men; he dies eight days later

May 3, 1863 - Stuart replaces Jackson; he and Lee push Hooker back toward the Rappahannock River

May 6, 1863 - Hooker retreats across the Rappahannock after his defeat at Chancellorsville

May 16, 1863 - Grant defeats Lt. Gen. John C. Pemberton at the Battle of Champion's Hill as he continues his advance on Vicksburg

May 17, 1863 - Grant routs Pemberton's rear guard at the Battle of the Big Black River; on May 18 Pemberton withdraws into Vicksburg defenses

May 19 - After a 17-day campaign during which his army marched 180 miles through enemy territory, fought and won five engagements, Grant tastes victory and launches an assault on Vicksburg

May 22, 1863 - Like the first one, second assault on Vicksburg is repulsed, and Grant opens the siege of Vicksburg

June 3, 1863 - Lee launches a second invasion of the North from Fredericksburg

June 15, 1863 - Lt. Gen. Richard S. Ewell, leading Lee's invasion, destroys the Union garrison at Winchester, VA

June 28, 1863 - Maj. Gen. George Gordon Meade replaces Hooker as commander of the Army of the Potomac, now positioned north of the Potomac to block Lee's advance

July 1, 1863 - Confederates A. P. Hill and Ewell rout Meade's advance forces north of Gettysburg but Ewell elects not to follow Lee's discretionary orders to attack Cemetery Hill "if practicable" (thus allowing Meade to reinforce the Union position with four corps during the night)

July 2, 1863 - Longstreet concentrates on Seminary Ridge, facing Meade and Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock, now in a formidable position on Cemetery Hill; that evening some of the war's bloodiest fighting takes place in a peach orchard, a wheat field, at Devil's Den, and on Little Round top, as Longstreet's attacks on both ends of Meade's Gettysburg lines are repulsed

July 3, 1863 - Lee directs Longstreet to order an attack on Meade's center; "Pickett's Charge" is broken, ending in the three-day Battle of Gettysburg; his army badly beaten, Lee retreats from Gettysburg on July 5

July 4, 1863 - After more than a month under siege, Vicksburg (with 30,000 troops) surrenders to Grant

July 13, 1863 - In New York City a mob of 50,000 begins four-day draft riots; Lincoln's send in federal troops from Gettysburg to restore order

August 15, 1863 - Burnside opens his drive on Knoxville, TN

August 16, 1863 - Rosecrans begins to move on Chattanooga

September 2, 1863 - Burnside occupies Knoxville

September 4, 1863 - Bragg retreats as Rosecrans crosses the Tennessee River in his advance upon Chattanooga

September 9, 1863 - Federals enter Chattanooga after Bragg retreats into Georgia

September 17, 1863 - Rosecrans concentrates his dispersed troops near Chickamauga Creek in northern Georgia

September 18, 1863 - Longstreet's corps arrives by rail from Virginia to reinforce Bragg

September 19, 1863 - The Battle of Chickamauga opens as the Union left under Gen. Thomas absorbs Confederate assaults; on September 20, Thomas holds the line long enough for Rosecrans' beaten army to escape to Chattanooga (Thomas is thereafter known as the "Rock of Chickamauga")

September 23, 1863 - Bragg occupies Missionary Ridge and Lookout Mountain to begin the Confederate siege of Chattanooga

October 17, 1863 - Grant is made supreme commander of the Federal forces in the West; Thomas replaces Rosecrans as commander of the Union Army of the Cumberland (under siege at Chattanooga)

October 23, 1863 - Grant arrives at Chattanooga to take personal command of the Union defensive forces

November 19, 1863 - Lincoln delivers his "Gettysburg Address"

November 20, 1863 - Grant's comrade in arms from the Vicksburg campaign, Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman, arrives in Chattanooga with reinforcements

November 23, 1863 - Thomas opens the Battle of Chattanooga by taking Orchard Knob in front of Missionary Ridge

November 25, 1863 - Thomas' army charges up Missionary Ridge ("like a swarm of bees," an astonished Grant observes) and routs the Confederates; Bragg's army retreats into Georgia

November 26, 1863 - Meade crosses the Rapidan River to probe Confederate defenses west of Chancellorsville; on December 1 he withdraws the Army of the Potomac into winter quarters at Culpeper, VA

December 8, 1863 - Lincoln issues his first Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction

1864

March 12, 1864 - Grant is promoted to the rank of Lt. General and becomes general in chief of the Union army.

March 18, 1864 - Grant assigns Sherman to take command of Union armies in the West

April 12, 1864 - Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest captures Fort Pillow, TN; 270 black federal soldiers (mostly escaped slaves) are massacred by Forrest's cavalry

April 17, 1864 - Because the Confederate government refuses to treat captured black soldiers as prisoners of war, and in order to exacerbate the Confederate manpower shortage, Grant halts the prisoner exchange cartel

May 4, 1864 - Grant crosses the Rapidan River to attack Lee's Army of Northern Virginia

May 5, 1864 - The armies of Lee and Grant collide in the Wilderness; fighting is indecisive; the next day (May 6), Longstreet's arrival halts Grant's offensive in the Wilderness; Rebel counterattacks push in both Union flanks; in the fighting Longstreet is wounded by his own men

May 6, 1864 - Sherman opens the Atlanta Campaign against Johnston's Army of Tennessee

May 7, 1864 - Grant, resuming his offensive despite the Wilderness defeat, races Lee for the crossroads at Spotsylvania Court House

May 9, 1864 - The Army of Northern Virginia entrenches at Spotsylvania; Union Maj. Gen. John Sedgwick is killed by a sharpshooter; the next day (May 10) Grant attacks Lee's lines at Spotsylvania lines and is repulsed

May 12, 1864 - After a day-long fight at the "Bloody Angle", Lee mends the break in his Spotsylvania lines

May 15, 1864 - Over in the Shenandoah Valley campaign, Confederate troops (including cadets from the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington) rout federal troops commanded by Gen. Franz Sigel in the Battle of New Market

May 17, 1864 - Grant continues his effort to flank Lee at Spotsylvania

May 20, 1864 - Grant leaves his Spotsylvania lines in an attempt to flank Lee

June 1, 1864 - Lee begins to entrench at Cold Harbor, VA; Grant takes up a position facing him; two days later (June 3) Grant's army is severely repulsed in the Cold Harbor assault; the Federals entrench after the battle

June 14, 1864 - Grant, having moved his army across the Peninsula, begins to cross the James River in order to attack Petersburg, VA

June 18, 1864 - Lee's troops begin to arrive in the Petersburg lines, and Grant opens the siege of Petersburg after further assaults fail

June 23, 1864 - Early opens a Confederate offensive in the Shenandoah Valley

July 6, 1864 - Early crosses the Potomac River into Maryland

July 11, 1864 - Reinforcements from the Army of the Potomac arrive in Washington to protect the capital; after reaching the outskirts of Washington, Early is forced to withdraw on July 12 to the Shenandoah Valley

July 17, 1864 - General John Bell Hood replaces Johnston in command of the Confederate Army of Tennessee as Sherman nears Atlanta

July 30, 1864 - A federal mine breaches Lee's Petersburg lines, but the Rebels halt the Union breakthrough at the Battle of the Crater

August 7, 1864 - Sheridan assumes command of Union forces in the Shenandoah Valley

September 1, 1864 - Hood evacuates Atlanta after Sherman reaches Jonesboro, south of the city; Sherman occupied Atlanta on September 2

September 19, 1864 - Sheridan defeats Early at Winchester, VA in the Shenandoah Valley

September 22, 1864 - Sheridan routs Early at Fisher's Hill, VA

October 6, 1864 - After pursuing Early to Harrisonburg, VA, Sheridan devastates the Shenandoah Valley as he withdraws toward Winchester

October 19, 1864 - Sheridan defeats Early at Cedar Creek, VA, driving the Confederates from the Shenandoah Valley

November 8, 1864 - Lincoln and Johnson are elected President and Vice-President

November 15, 1864 - After partially burning Atlanta, Sherman starts his March to the Sea

December 15, 1864 - Thomas assaults Hood's Army of Tennessee in front of Nashville

December 16, 1864 - Hood suffers a crushing defeat at Nashville and retreats into Mississippi

December 21, 1864 - Threatened by an assault from Sherman, Lt. Gen. William J. Hardee evacuates Savannah; Sherman occupies the city

1865

February 1, 1865 - Sherman begins his invasion of the Carolinas

February 6, 1865 - Lee is appointed commander in chief of the Confederate armies

February 17, 1865 - Sherman occupies Columbia, SC (the Federals also seize Charleston on the 18th)

February 22, 1865 - Joe Johnston is recalled by Jeff Davis to command the Confederate Army of Tennessee (replacing Hood) and black Sherman's advance into North Carolina ("I can do no more than annoy him," Johnston tells Davis)

March 2,1865 - Gen. Phil Sheridan destroys what remains of Early's troops in the Shenandoah Valley at Waynesboro, VA; Sheridan later rejoins the Army of the Potomac besieging Petersburg

March 3, 1865 - Congress establishes the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands ("the Freedmen's Bureau")

March 4, 1865 - Lincoln is inaugurated for a second term

March 13, 1865 - in a last act of desperation, the Confederate Congress authorizes the use of slaves as combat soldiers

April 1, 1865 - Grant finally breaks through Lee's defenses at Petersburg when Sheridan defeats Maj. Gen. George Pickett at Five Forks

April 2, 1865 - Lee abandons Petersburg and the Confederate government flees from Richmond; fires set to destroy supplies left behind quickly spread out of control and burn much of the city before Federal troops arrive

April 3, 1865 - Federal troops enter Richmond; Lincoln visits the city on April 4

April 5, 1865 - Sheridan blocks Lee's escape route South from Amelia Court House; Lee moves west toward Lynchburg

April 6, 1865 - Union cavalry led by Gen. George Armstrong Custer, plus three Union corps, cut off and capture Lee's rear guard (8,000 men, including Lee's son Custis and Gen. Richard Ewell) at Sayler's Creek

April 7, 1865 - Lee's army successfully fends off an attack by Grant's advance troops in Farmville; Lee continues toward Lynchburg with Grant in pursuit; that evening Grant sends Lee an invitation to discuss terms of surrender

April 8, 1865 - Sheridan reaches Appomattox to cut off Lee's retreat

April 9, 1865 - (Lee tells his staff, "there is nothing left for me to do but to go and see General Grant, and I would rather die a thousand deaths.") Lee surrenders the Army of Northern Virginia to Grant at Appomattox Court House

April 12, 1865 - Federal troops capture Montgomery and Mobile, Alabama

April 14, 1865 - Lincoln is assassinated by John Wilkes Booth; Lincoln dies the next morning (Booth is captured and killed on April 26)

April 15, 1865 - Andrew Johnson becomes president upon the death of Lincoln

April 18, 1865 - Joe Johnston and Bill Sherman meet near Raleigh, NC; Sherman offers a generous armistice agreement (repudiated by President Johnson and the cabinet)

April 26, 1865 - Johnston surrenders his army, accepting the same terms Grant offered to Lee

April 21, 1865 - John Mosby disbands his Confederate rangers

May 9, 1865 - Near Gainesville, Alabama, N. B. Forrest instructs his men to lay down their arms, ending the last serious threat of partisan (guerilla) fighting after the war

May 10, 1865 - Jefferson Davis is captured by Union cavalry at Irwinsville, GA

May 13, 1865 - the last fighting of the war takes place near Brownsville, TX

May 26, 1865 - Kirby Smith surrenders Confederate troops west of the Mississippi, ending the war

May 29, 1865 - President Andrew Johnson issues his Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction

December 18, 1865 - the Thirteenth Amendment, abolishing slavery, becomes part of the Constitution

1866

April 9, 1866 - Civil Rights bill passed over the President's veto

July 16, 1866 - Supplementary Freedmen's Bureau Act passed over the President's veto

July 24, 1866 - Tennessee restored to the Union

1867

January 7, 1867 - Congressional investigation of Johnson begins

January 8, 1867 - Negroes in District of Columbia enfranchised

March 2, 1867 - First Reconstruction Act becomes law; Tenure of Office Act passed

March 23, 1867 - Second Reconstruction Act becomes law

July 19, 1867 - Third Reconstruction Act becomes law

1868 - 1877

March 4, 1868 - Impeachment trial of Johnson begins

March 11, 1868 - Fourth Reconstruction Act becomes law

May 16, 1868 - Impeachment vote fails to convict Johnson

June 22, 1868 - Arkansas readmitted

June 25, 1868 - Omnibus bill readmits North Carolina, South Carolina, Louisiana, Alabama, and Florida

July 28, 1868 - Fourteenth Amendment, essentially establishing civil rights for blacks, becomes a part of the Constitution

November 1868 - Ulysses S. Grant elected President

January 26, 1870 - Virginia readmitted

February 23, 1870 - Mississippi readmitted

March 30, 1870 - Fifteenth Amendment, essentially guaranteeing voting rights for blacks, becomes part of the Constitution; Texas readmitted on this date

July 15, 1870 - Georgia readmitted

November 1872 - Grant elected to a second term

March 1, 1875 - Civil Rights Act passed

November 7, 1876 - Outcome of presidential election between Rutherford B. Hayes and Samuel Tilden is disputed

February 8, 1877 - Electoral commission decides the presidential election in favor of Hayes

April 10, 1877 - the last Federal troops are withdrawn (from South Carolina, where it all started), ending Reconstruction; between 1869 and 1877, conservatives in each former Confederate state regained political control, ousting Republicans and blacks from power.