Remembering the American Civil War

Table of Contents

References & Edit History

Images & Videos

Boy in Union army uniform, photograph by Robert W. Addis.

African American troops liberating slaves in North Carolina, 1864.

Learn about the debate on the legacy of the American Civil War

Did anyone in the U.S. government not support the Civil War?

The war

inRemembering the American Civil War inTimeline of events

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Article History

1861
April 12
Fort Sumter, 1861Interior view of Fort Sumter, South Carolina, under the Confederate flag, April 15, 1861.
After a bloodless bombardment, Robert Anderson and about 85 soldiers surrender Fort Sumter in the harbour of Charleston, South Carolina, to some 5,500 besieging Confederate troops and Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard. The Civil War has begun.
July
George McClellan
Union Gen. George B. McClellan is placed in command of what is to become the Army of the Potomac, charged with defense of the capital and destruction of the enemy’s forces in northern and eastern Virginia.
July 21
At Manassas, Virginia, the Union troops of Gen. Irvin McDowell are routed by those of Confederate Generals P.G.T. Beauregard and Joseph E. Johnston in the First Battle of Bull Run.
1862
Richard J. Gatling invents the crank-operated multibarrel Gatling gun, the first practical machine gun.
The bugle call “Taps” is composed by Union Gen. Daniel Adams Butterfield. It is first played as the signal for lights out at the end of the day, and then adopted as the farewell at military funerals.
February
Discover how an obscure Union brigadier general named Ulysses S. Grant won fame for demanding the unconditional surrender of Confederate Fort Donelson during the American Civil WarLearn how an obscure Union brigadier general named Ulysses S. Grant won fame during the American Civil War as “Unconditional Surrender” Grant for rejecting any other terms by which Confederate Gen. Simon Bolivar Buckner could surrender Fort Donelson.
See all videos for this article
Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant garners the first significant victories for the Union at the Battles of Fort Henry on the Tennessee River and Fort Donelson on the Cumberland River.
The Atlantic Monthly publishes Julia Ward Howe’s “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” to be set to an old folk tune for “John Brown’s Body.” Written during a visit to an army camp in 1861, it becomes the semiofficial song of the Union.
March
The Civil War is carried to the Southwest as Albuquerque and Santa Fe are taken by the Confederates, but at the Battle of La Glorieta the Confederates are routed and forced to retreat into Texas.
March 9
Battle of the Monitor and MerrimackIn the first battle of ironclad warships, the Confederate Virginia (the rechristened frigate Merrimack, said to resemble “a floating barn roof”) clashed with the smaller Union Monitor.
The Union ship Monitor engages the Confederacy’s Virginia (formerly Merrimack) in history’s first duel between ironclad warships, marking the beginning of a new era of naval warfare.
April 4
Union forces under Gen. George B. McClellan begin the unsuccessful Peninsular Campaign to capture the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia.
April 6–7
See how the Confederates' attack on the Union Army at Shiloh ended in large casualties for both sidesAt the Battle of Shiloh, Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's forces were surprised at his headquarters. Some 40,000 Confederates pressed them to the river's edge, but Federal forces arrived overnight to reinforce them, and they turned the tide. The Union held its ground but at great cost in human life.
See all videos for this article
The Battle of Shiloh (Pittsburgh Landing) is fought in southwestern Tennessee, resulting in a victory for the North under Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and heavy casualties on both sides.
September 17
Learn how General Robert E. Lee met George McClellan's forces at Antietam Creek in MarylandBattle of Antietam.
See all videos for this article
The Battle of Antietam, a decisive engagement, halts the Confederate advance on Maryland and one of the greatest Confederate threats to Washington, D.C.
October 3
The Battle of Corinth begins; it will end in a decisive Union victory over Confederate forces in northeastern Mississippi.
November
Lincoln relieves McClellan of his post as head of the Army of the Potomac in favour of Gen. Ambrose Everett Burnside.
December 13
American Civil War: Battle of FredericksburgBefore the Battle of Fredericksburg, the Confederate armies ranged themselves on one side of the Rappahannock River, and the Union armies were on the other.
Confederate forces under Gen. Robert E. Lee crush the Union army of Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside at the Battle of Fredericksburg in Virginia, immeasurably strengthening the Confederate cause.
1863
January 1
The Emancipation Proclamation is announced by President Lincoln.
The Battle of Stones River in Tennessee comes to an end; it has been a bloody but indecisive struggle.
May 1–4
Stone Mountain (Georgia) carvingGranite carving of Confederate leaders Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, and Thomas (“Stonewall”) Jackson, Stone Mountain, Georgia.
Confederate forces defeat the Union army of Gen. Joseph Hooker at the Battle of Chancellorsville, Virginia, but suffer the loss of Gen. Thomas J. (“Stonewall”) Jackson, who will die of wounds sustained in the battle.
June 2
West Virginia is admitted to the United States as the 35th state, created from antislavery counties of Virginia.
July 1–3
Pickett's ChargeThe few Confederate troops who reached the objective of Pickett's Charge on Cemetery Ridge were easily repulsed, though their progress at the Battle of Gettysburg marked the high-water mark of the Confederacy.
In a three-day battle at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, the Union army stops the advance of the Confederates, but the toll is high—23,000 casualties for the North and between 20,000 and 28,000 for the South.
July 4
Gen. Ulysses S. Grant captures the Confederate stronghold of Vicksburg, Mississippi. This, with the victory at Gettysburg, greatly heartens the North and marks the turning point of the war.
July 11–13
Draft Riot of 1863
The Draft Riot, three days of rioting to protest drafting of soldiers to fight for the Union, leaves 1,000 people dead in New York City.
August 21
Quantrill’s Raiders (among them future Wild West outlaw Jesse James, age 15), a Confederate force led by Capt. William C. Quantrill, raid Lawrence, Kansas, sacking and burning the town and killing 180 men, women, and children.
October 3
Lincoln declares the first Thanksgiving Day; Sarah Josepha Hale, editor of Godey’s Lady’s Book, has been campaigning for a national Thanksgiving Day observance.
November 19
At the dedication of a national cemetery at Gettysburg, Lincoln delivers his famous Gettysburg Address: “…this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom; and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.”
November 19–20
American Civil War: Battle of Chickamauga CreekSite of the second day of battle along the banks of Chickamauga Creek, near Chattanooga, Tennessee.
The Battle of Chickamauga in Georgia is won by the Confederates under Gen. Braxton Bragg, but with heavy casualties.
November 24
Union forces succeed in routing Confederates at the Battle of Chattanooga on the Tennessee River, a vital railroad junction for the Confederacy.
1864
March 10
The Red River Campaign begins. It is an unsuccessful Union effort to seize control of the important cotton-growing states of Louisiana, Arkansas, and Texas.
April 12
Confederates under Gen. Nathan B. Forrest capture Fort Pillow in Tennessee and kill all the black troops within; some are burned or buried alive. More than 300 black people, including women and children, are slain after the fort surrenders.
May 5–7
Gen. Ulysses S. Grant meets the Confederate army under Gen. Robert E. Lee in Virginia in the Battle of the Wilderness and, after two days, moves on to another frustrating battle at Spotsylvania Court House.
June
Clara Barton.
Clara Barton is appointed superintendent of nurses for the Union’s Army of the James. She has been aiding soldiers since the beginning of the war, sometimes passing through the battle lines to distribute supplies, search for the missing, and nurse the wounded.
June 3
Considered one of the worst Northern defeats of the war, the Second Battle of Cold Harbor (Virginia) begins. It will result in the loss of about 7,000 Union soldiers.
August 5
Battle of Mobile BayBattle of Mobile Bay, 19th-century print.
Union ships led by Adm. David Farragut succeed in closing Mobile Bay to Confederate blockade runners. During the Battle of Mobile Bay, he exhorts his men, “Damn the torpedoes: full speed ahead!”
September 2
William Tecumseh Sherman and his staffGen. William Tecumseh Sherman (leaning on the breech of the cannon) and staff at Union Fort No. 7, Atlanta, 1864, photograph by George N. Barnard.
The Atlanta Campaign comes to an end as Union forces occupy that Georgia city—a key depot, the site of Southern war industries and a keystone of Confederate rail transportation east of the Mississippi.
September 4
John Hunt Morgan, the Confederate guerrilla leader of Morgan’s Raiders, is killed by Union troops.
October 19
Confederate soldiers based in Canada cross into Vermont to carry out the St. Albans Raid, the robbery of three banks meant to agitate the Union.
November 8
Learn how Abraham Lincoln defeated George McClellan before ending the American Civil WarLincoln's reelection and the end of the Civil War.
See all videos for this article
Lincoln is reelected to a second term, defeating the Democratic challenger, Gen. George B. McClellan.
November 15
Union Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman commences his March to the Sea, laying waste to Georgia.
December 21
Sherman’s Union army captures the important Confederate port city of Savannah, Georgia.
1865
February 3
In a personal meeting with Confederate representatives, Lincoln offers liberal pardons in exchange for the South’s quitting the Civil War, with reunion as a precondition of peace. His offer is rejected.
March 2
Confederate forces under Jubal A. Early suffer a decisive defeat that ends Southern resistance in the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia.
April 9
American Civil War: Appomattox Court HouseFederal soldiers at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, photograph by Timothy H. O'Sullivan, April 1865.
Lee surrenders to Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, ending the Civil War. The cost of the war is staggering. Of the 618,000 dead, only a third died in battle; the rest succumbed to disease.
April 14
assassination of Abraham LincolnThe assassination of U.S. Pres. Abraham Lincoln by John Wilkes Booth, April 14, 1865, lithograph by Currier & Ives.
While watching a play at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C., Lincoln is shot and mortally wounded by John Wilkes Booth, a rabid advocate of slavery with ties to the South.
April 15
Lincoln dies. Andrew Johnson becomes the 17th president of the United States as the assassination of Lincoln throws the country into mourning. Johnson will have no vice president.
April 26
Booth is shot—either by himself or by Federal troops—in a barn in Virginia. Authorities will also round up a number of other “conspirators.” Four are hanged and others receive long prison terms.
May 10
Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy, is captured by Union troops near Irwinville, Georgia.
May 26
A large group of Confederates surrenders, and the port of Galveston, Texas, yields to the Union army on June 2, ending the last Confederate holdout of the Civil War.
December 18
Thirteenth AmendmentThe Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America.
The Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, outlawing slavery, officially enters into force, having been ratified by the requisite states on December 6.

Background

Further information on the war, its causes, and its consequences can be found in the following articles:

This article was most recently revised and updated by John M. Cunningham.