Pre-Civil War

1854 – Congress passes Kansas-Nebraska Act, establishing Kansas as a free state and Nebraska as a slave state (May 30).

1857 – Because of the Dred Scott vs. Sanford case, Supreme Court decided that Congress doesn’t have the right to ban slavery in states and that slaves shouldn’t be considered citizens (March 4).

1859 – Abolitionist John Brown and 21 followers captured federal arsenal at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia, trying to start a slave revolt (October 16).

1860 – Abraham Lincoln, the Republican’s nominee, is elected president (November 6) which horrifies Southerners and eventually causes South Carolina to secede from the Union (December 20).

1861 – Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana (January), Texas (March 2), Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina (April-June) all eventually secede from the Union and become Confederate States.

Civil War

1861 – Confederates attack Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina which marks the first attack of the Civil War (April 12).

1863 – The order of the Emancipation Proclamation abolishes slavery in the Confederate States (January 1).

1863 – Battle of Gettysburg is fought (July 1-3).

1863 – Gettysburg Address is delivered by Lincoln to dedicate Gettysburg as a national cemetery (November 19).

1864 – General William T. Sherman captures Atlanta for the Union States (September 2).

1865 – General Ulysses S. Grant captures the Confederacy capital, Richmond, Virginia (April 3).

1865 – Robert E. Lee surrenders to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia (April 9).

1865 – Lincoln is assassinated by John Wilkes Booth in Washington D.C. and is succeeded by Andrew Johnson (April 14).

1868 – The Thirteenth Amendment is approved, banning slavery (December 6).

1869 – Central and Union Pacific railroads are joined at Promontory, Utah, which creates the first transcontinental railroad (May 10).

1870 – The Fifteenth Amendment is approved, allowing black men the right to vote (February 3).

Works Cited

info please. 2003. 07 Apr. 2004
<http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0903595.html>.

The Civil War Homepage. 1997. 07 Apr. 2004
<http://www.civil-war.net/searchlinks.asp?searchlinks=Battles>.