Themes of the American Civil War

T
ime
line
Date
Warfare
Union
Confederacy
1860
November
6th
.Election of
Abraham
Lincoln
13th
.Special
Convention of
South
Carolina
(Republican)
legislature
18th
.Crittenden
Compromise comes
20th
.South
Carolina votes for secession before
House of
Representatives
December
24th
.Declaration of the
Immediate
Causes which
Induce and
Justify the
Secession of
South
Carolina from the
Federal
Union:
“We,
therefore,
the
People of
South
Carolina,
by our delegates in
Convention assembled,
appealing to the
Supreme
Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions,
have solemnly declared that the
Union heretofore existing between this
State and the other
States of
North
America,
is dissolved,
and that the
State of
South
Carolina has resumed her position among the nations of the world,
as a
separate and independent
State;
with full power to levy war,
conclude peace,
contract alliances,
establish commerce,
and to do all other acts and things which independent
States may of right do”

1861
January
9th
Star
of
the
West
attempts to
9th–February
2nd
.Secession of
Mississippi relieve
Fort
Sumter
(Charleston
(9th),
Florida
(10th),
Alabama
(11th),
harbor)
Georgia
(19th),
Louisiana
(26th),
Texas
(1st and
2nd
February).
Texas
Ordinance of
Secession adopted by
Secession
Convention)
February
4th–27th
.Peace
Convention
(Washington)
4th
.Montgomery
(Alabama)
Convention;
establishment of the
Confederate
States of
America.
Jefferson
Davis nominated as
President
March
4th
.Abraham
Lincoln inauguration and
11th
.Approval of draft
Confederate first passion constitution by
Montgomery
Convention may have strained,
it must not break our bond of affection.
The mystic chords of memory,
stretching from every battlefield,
and patriot grave,
to every living heart and hearthstone,
all over this broad land,
will yet swell the chorus of the
Union,
when again touched,
as surely they will be,
by the better angels of our nature”

Timeline on and surrender
15th
.Lincoln calls for
75,000
militia
17th
.Secession of
Virginia of
Fort
Sumter
“to cause the laws to be duly executed”
20th
.Robert
E.
Lee resigns his commission in
19th
.Lincoln announces blockade of
US
Army;
writes to his sister,
Mrs.
Anne
Southern ports
Marshall:
“With all my devotion to the
Union and the feeling of loyalty and duty of an
American citizen,
I
have not been able to makeup my mind to raise my hand against my relatives,
my children,
my home”
29th
.Jefferson
Davis delivers
Message to
Confederate
Congress:
“We feel that our cause is just and holy;
we protest solemnly in the face of mankind that we desire peace at any sacrifice save that of honor and independence;
we seek no conquest,
no aggrandizement,
no concession of any kind from the
States with which we were lately confederated;
all we ask is to be let alone;
that those who never held power over us shall not now attempt our subjugation by arms.
This we will,
this we must,
resist to the direst extremity.
The moment that this pretension is abandoned the sword will drop from our grasp,
and we shall be ready to enter into treaties of

amity and commerce that cannot but be mutually beneficial.
So long as this pretension is maintained,
with a
firm reliance on that
Divine
Power which covers with its protection the just cause,
we will continue to struggle for our inherent right to freedom,
independence,
and self-government”
May
24th
.Benjamin
Butler,
commanding at
20th
.Kentucky declares neutrality
Fortress
Monroe
(James peninsula)
29th
.Confederate capital moves to
Richmond,
declares runaway slaves to be
“contraband
Virginia of war,”
thereby preventing their return
6th
.Secession of
Arkansas to slaveowners
6th
.Ordinance of
Secession of
Tennessee adopted by
State
Legislature;
confirmed
8th
June
20th
.Secession of
North
Carolina
June
9th
.US
Sanitary
Commission created.
“As a
general rule four soldiers die of diseases incident to camp life for one that falls in battle.
Such is the average mortality among regular troops.
Among volunteers it will be found much larger.”
(USSC,
“Address to the
Citizens of the
United
States,”
New
York
Times
,
June
25th,
1861)

Timeline victory
(defeat of
4th
.Lincoln’s message to
Congress in
Union under
Irvin
N.
McDowell)
special session:
“This is essentially a
at
Manassas/First
Bull
Run
People’s contest.
On the side of the
27th
.George
B.
McClellan takes
Union it is a
struggle for maintaining in command of
Union forces in the world,
that form,
and substance of
Washington government,
whose leading object is,
to elevate the condition of men
.”
Congress authorizes raising of
500,000
men
August
10th
.Confederate victory at
6th
.First
Confiscation
Act:
frees slaves
Wilson’s
Creek
(Missouri)
who were being used in a
military/
29th
.Union victory at
Hatteras
Inlet supportive capacity against the
Union
(North
Carolina)
30th
.John
C.
Frémont declares martial law in
Missouri and frees slaves there
November'>September
11th
.Lincoln revokes
Frémont’s emancipation orders
October
November
1st
.McClellan appointed
Henry
W.
Halleck expels
African- general-in-chief of
Union armies
Americans from
Union lines
(replacing
General
Winfield
Scott)
7th
.Port
Royal
(South
Carolina)

falls to
Union
19th
.John
C.
Frémont replaced by
Henry
W.
Halleck as
Union commander in the west
December
20th
.Joint
Committee on the
Conduct of the
War established
1862
January
15th
.Stanton appointed
Secretary of
War
February
6th
.Union takes
Fort
Henry
20th
.Lincoln’s eleven-year-old son,
22nd
.Jefferson
Davis inaugurated as
(Tennessee river)
Willie,
dies
President of the
Confederate states
8th
.Union victory at
Roanoke
Island
27th
.Confederate
Congress enacts martial law
(North
Carolina)
and suspends
habeas
corpus
16th
.Union takes
Fort
Donelson
25th
.Confederates evacuate
Nashville
March
7th–8th
.Union victory at
Pea
Ridge/
6th
.Lincoln puts gradual emancipation
Elkhorn
Tavern
(Arkansas)
plan before
Congress
8th–9th
.Virginia
v.
Monitor
at
Hampton
Roads
(battle of the ironclads)
17th–April
2nd
.McClellan moves
Army of the
Potomac to the
James peninsula

Timeline lays siege
3rd
.Senate votes to abolish slavery in
16th
.Confederate
Congress passes to
Yorktown the
District of
Columbia
Conscription
Act
6th–7th
.Union victory under
11th
.House votes to abolish slavery in
DC
Ulysses
S.
Grant at
Shiloh
(Tennessee)
16th
.Lincoln’s
Message to
Congress:
24th–25th
.New
Orleans falls to
“I
have never doubted the constitutional
Union authority of congress to abolish slavery in this
District;
and
I
have ever desired to seethe national capital freed from the institution in some satisfactory way”
May
8th–9th
.“Stonewall”
Jackson’s
9th
.General
David
Hunter frees slaves
Shenandoah
Valley campaign.
in
South
Carolina,
Georgia,
and
Florida
31st–June
1st
.Battle of
Seven
Pines/
(revoked by
Lincoln)
Fair
Oaks
(Richmond).
20th
.Congress passes
Homestead
Act
Joseph
E.
Johnston
(Confederate)
attacks
McClellan outside
Richmond;
Johnston wounded.
Robert
E.
Lee put in charge of the
Army of
Northern
Virginia
June
6th
.Confederates evacuate
Memphis
1st
.Robert
E.
Lee replaces
Joseph
E.
Johnston.
(Tennessee)
Lee renames forces
Army of
Northern
Virginia
26th
.Army of
Virginia created;
commanded by
John
Pope

26th–July
2nd
.Seven
Days battles:
McClellan driven back from
Richmond
July
11th
.Halleck becomes
17th
.Second
Confiscation
Act general-in-chief of
Union armies
17th
.Militia
Act:
“And be it further enacted,
That the
President be,
and he is hereby,
authorized to receive into the service of the
United
States,
for the purpose of constructing entrenchments,
or performing camp service or any other labor,
or any military or naval service for which they maybe found competent,
persons of
African descent,
and such persons shall be enrolled and organized under such regulations,
not inconsistent with the
Constitution and laws,
as the
President may prescribe”
22nd
.Draft
Emancipation
Proclamation presented to
Cabinet
August
3rd
.Army of the
Potomac starts to
20th–22nd
.Horace
Greeley
(editor,
withdraw from
James peninsula
New
York
Tribune
)
and
Lincoln exchange
27th–28th
.Confederate invasion letters on emancipation of
Kentucky
29th–30th
.Confederate victory at
Second
Manassas/Bull
Run

Timeline assumes command
22nd
.Preliminary
Emancipation of defense of
Washington
Proclamation
4th–6th
.Lee invades
Maryland
24th
Habeas
corpus
suspended
17th
.Battle of
Antietam/Sharpsburg;
Union victory;
Lee retreats into
Virginia
19th
.Union victory at
Iuka
(Mississippi)
October
3rd–4th
.Union victory at
Corinth
October–November
.Mid-term elections
(Mississippi)
see swing away from the
Republicans
8th
.Battle of
Perryville
(Kentucky);
Braxton
Bragg
(Confederate)
retreats
November
7th
.Ambrose
Burnside replaces
McClellan as commander,
Army of the
Potomac
December
13th
.Burnside defeated by
Lee at
Fredericksburg
27th–29th
.William
T.
Sherman defeated at
Chickasaw
Bluffs
(Vicksburg)
31st–January
3rd
.Battle of
Stones
River/Murfreesboro;
Bragg retreats

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