American Civil War

Ft. Sumter

This U.S. military fort in South Carolina was the site where the first shots of the Civil War were fired in April 1861. A Confederate attack on the fort officially began the war between the North and South.

Confiscation Act I (and Gen. Butler’s Role)

This law allowed the Union army to seize enslaved people who were being used to support the Confederate war effort. A Union general labeled these individuals “contraband of war” and refused to return them to slaveholders.

Confiscation Act II (and Gen. Butler’s Role)

This law declared enslaved people belonging to Confederate supporters to be free, expanding the reach of earlier wartime policies. A Union general enforced this by protecting formerly enslaved people who escaped to Union lines.

Greeley

This influential newspaper editor publicly pressured President Lincoln to take action against slavery during the war. His writings helped push emancipation into the national conversation.

Antietam

This 1862 battle was the bloodiest single day in American history. Although it ended without a clear military winner, it gave the Union the opportunity to move toward emancipation.

Emancipation Proclamation

This 1863 order declared enslaved people free in areas controlled by the Confederacy. It transformed the war into a fight against slavery and weakened Confederate support abroad.

Chancellorsville

This 1863 battle was a major victory for the Confederacy despite being outnumbered. The win came at a great cost with the loss of one of its most important generals.

Gettysburg

This 1863 battle marked a major turning point in the war. It stopped a Confederate invasion of the North and greatly weakened Southern forces.

Lincoln’s Second Election

This 1864 event showed Northern voters supported continuing the war and ending slavery. It ensured the Union would not negotiate peace with the Confederacy.

13th Amendment

This constitutional change permanently abolished slavery throughout the United States. It ensured freedom could not be reversed after the war ended.

Appomattox

This April 1865 surrender by the Confederate army to Union forces effectively ended the Civil War. It marked the collapse of Confederate resistance.

Lincoln’s Assassination

This April 1865 event shocked the nation when the president was killed shortly after the war’s end. It complicated the process of rebuilding the country during Reconstruction.

Tennessee

The only Confederate State that was readmitted to the Union and not put under the control of the military.