Unless otherwise noted, the individuals and organizations noted in the timeline were affiliated with the United States or Union military during the Civil War.
Abraham Lincoln elected president of the United States.
1860, Dec. 20
South Carolina became the first of eleven southern states to secede from the United
States. Ultimately Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia would follow.
1861, Feb.
Confederate States of America organized in Montgomery, Ala., and elected Jefferson Davis president. The Confederate capital moved to Richmond, Virginia, not long after Virginia seceded in April 1861.
1861, Mar. 2
Congress passed a joint resolution
proposing a thirteenth amendment to the United States Constitution which stated that "no amendment shall be made to the Constitution which will authorize or give to Congress the power to abolish or interfere, within any State, with the domestic institutions thereof, including that of persons held to labor or service by the laws of said State," in essence guaranteeing constitutional protection of slavery in those states wanting to retain slave systems. The amendment was sent to the states, but
not ratified.
1861, Mar. 4
Lincoln inaugurated
1861, Apr. 15
President Lincoln issued a call for troops after Confederates in Charleston, South Carolina, fired on Union-held Fort Sumter, initiating the Civil War.
1861, May
General Benjamin F. Butler declared escaped slaves who sought refuge at Fortress Monroe in Virginia to be "contraband of war"
whose labor could be used by the Union. "Contrabands" became a term applied to fugitive slaves during the Civil War.
1861, July 21
First Battle of Bull Run at Manassas, Virginia
1861, Aug. 6
Congress passed the First Confiscation Act which invalidated the claims of slave owners to escaped slaves who had been used on behalf of the Confederacy; Lincoln signed into law.
1861, Sept.
General John C. Frémont, in command of the Department of the West, issued an order emancipating the slaves of disloyal citizens in Missouri. Frémont refused Lincoln's request that he modify the order with regard to slavery, and in September President Lincoln demanded Frémont to do so.
1861, Nov.
Port Royal Sound in the Sea Islands of South Carolina captured by U. S. Captain Samuel F. Du Pont. Slave owners in the area fled to the mainland, leaving thousands of slaves behind. The area around Beaufort became the scene of the "Port Royal Experiment" in which former slaves, and military authorities, abolitionists and teachers from the North first tested emancipation and the transition to freedom.
1861, Dec.
Secretary of War Simon Cameron advocated emancipation and the military employment of fugitive slaves in a draft of his annual report made public without Lincoln's approval. The final report submitted to Congress omitted these recommendations. Lincoln's annual message instead proposed compensated emancipation and colonization measures.
1862, Mar. 6
Lincoln submitted to Congress a
joint resolution proposing a federally compensation emancipation plan. Both houses of Congress passed the resolution in April, but state legislatures in the effected states failed to respond.
1862, Mar. 13
Congress passed an article of war prohibiting the army from returning escaped slaves to their masters; Lincoln signed into law.
1862, Apr. 16
Congress abolished slavery in the District of Columbia with a compensated emancipation program; Lincoln signed into law.
1862, May
General David Hunter declared free slaves in South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. President Lincoln quickly revoked Hunter's proclamation.
1862, June
Congress
outlawed slavery in federal territories; Lincoln signed into law.
1862, July 12
Lincoln met with congressmen from the border states to encourage them to adopt gradual, compensated emancipation measures in their own states, but two days later they rejected his appeal.
1862, July 13
Lincoln discussed a possible emancipation proclamation with Secretaries William H. Seward and Gideon Welles.
1862, July 17
Congress passed the Second Confiscation Act, which included provisions that freed the slaves of disloyal owners, authorized the president to employ African Americans in the suppression of the rebellion, and called for exploring voluntary colonization efforts.
Congress
passed the Militia Act, which authorized the employment of African Americans in the military, freedom for those who were enslaved, and freedom for their families if owned by those disloyal to the Union. Lincoln signed into law.
1862, July 22
Lincoln presented a draft Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation to his cabinet. Secretary Seward suggested waiting for a Union
military victory before issuing a proclamation.
1862, Aug.
General Benjamin F. Butler incorporated into the Union military effort several African American "Native Guard" units organized in Louisiana.
1862, Aug. 20
1862, Aug. 25
War Department authorized recruitment of
African American soldiers in the South Carolina Sea Islands
1862, Sept. 17
Battle of Antietam considered a Union victory
1862, Sept. 22
President Lincoln issued the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, declaring that as of January 1, 1863 "all persons held as slaves within any State, or designated part of a State, the
people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free."
1862, Oct.
Confederate Congress passed "twenty-negro law," which exempted from military service one man per plantation with twenty or more slaves.
1862, Dec.
Confederate President Jefferson Davis proclaimed that captured African American soldiers and their white officers would not be
treated as prisoners of war.
1863, Jan. 1
Lincoln signed the Final Emancipation Proclamation, which freed all slaves not residing in specified Union-controlled areas of the Confederacy, and authorized enrollment of African Americans into the military.
1863, Apr.-May
Chancellorsville campaign in Virginia
1863, May
Bureau of Colored Troops established
1863, May-June
Black troops participated in the Battles of Port Hudson and Milliken's Bend in Louisiana
1863, July
Union victories at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and Vicksburg, Mississippi
Targets of draft rioters in New York City include African Americans
Assault on Fort Wagner near Charleston, S.C.
led by black troops
1863, Aug. 10
Lincoln met with Frederick Douglass to discuss recruitment of black troops
1863, Aug. 26
Lincoln wrote public letter for James C. Conkling in which he defended his emancipation policies. The letter was read at a mass Union meeting in Springfield, Illinois.
1863, Nov. 19
Lincoln delivered his Gettysburg Address at the dedication of the national cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
1863, Dec. 8
Lincoln issued his Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction, which established lenient terms for the return to the Union
of former Confederates, but required them to "abide by and faithfully support all proclamations of the President made during the existing rebellion having reference to slaves."
1864, Apr. 4
1864, Apr.8
United States Senate passed a joint resolution proposing a constitutional amendment abolishing slavery
1864, Apr. 12
Massacre of African American
soldiers captured by Confederate troops led by General Nathan Bedford Forrest at Fort Pillow, Tennessee
1864, May-June
Overland Campaign in Virginia
1864, June
Petersburg campaign began in Virginia
1864, Sept. 1
Fall of Atlanta, Georgia
1864, Nov. 8
Lincoln re-elected president
1865, Jan. 16
General William T. Sherman issued Special Field Order 15, reserving confiscated land in coastal South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida for settlement by former slaves freed during the war.
1865, Jan. 31
United States House of Representatives passed the joint resolution proposing a thirteenth constitutional amendment
abolishing slavery, which the Senate had passed in April 1864. The proposed amendment was sent to the states for ratification.
1865, Mar.
Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands ("Freedmen's Bureau") established within the War Department in March
Confederate Congress authorized recruitment of slaves as soldiers with permission of owners
1865, Apr. 9
Confederate General
Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, effectively ending the Civil War.
1865, Apr. 11
In what was his final speech, Lincoln suggested limited voting rights for "very intelligent" African-American men and those who had served in the military.
1865, Apr. 14
Abraham Lincoln shot at Ford's Theatre by John Wilkes Booth. Lincoln died at 7:22 a.m. on
April 15 (further details available in Lincoln assassination timeline).
1865, Dec. 18
Ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
What did the First Confiscation Act of 1861 do quizlet?
What did the First Confiscation Act of 1861 accomplish? It allowed the North to seize any property that belonged to Confederates used in the war effort.
What did Confiscation Act do?
Calhoun, who opposed the federal imposition of the tariffs of 1828 and 1832 and argued that the U.S. Constitution gave states the right to block the enforcement of a federal law. In November 1832 South Carolina adopted the Ordinance of Nullification, declaring the tariffs null, void, and nonbinding in the state.
What is the difference between the 1st and 2nd Confiscation Acts?
While the first act did not make any determination on the final outcome of escaped slaves after the war was over, the second act stated the all slaves owned by people who supported or participated in the rebellion, and all slaves in rebel territory captured by the Union, "shall be forever free of their servitude, and ...
What was the result of the Confiscation Acts quizlet?
In the Confiscation Act of August 1861, Congress provided that slaves used for military purposes by the Confederacy would become free if they fell into Union hands.