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American Civil War

1861–1865 civil war in the United States between the North and the South over the enslavement of African-Americans

58 dated entries naming American Civil War, drawn from 19 separate years between 1784 CE and 1976 CE. Nothing here is written by us: each line is the sentence a Wikipedia year article used, and the link beside it opens the exact revision.

Also written as U.S. Civil War in the source articles; Wikipedia redirects those to the same subject, so their entries are on this page.

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18th century

  • 1784February 20 – John E. Wool, general officer in the United States Army, who served during the War of 1812, Mexican–American War, and the American Civil War (died 1869)source
  • 1793September 5 – John L. Burns, American veteran of the War of 1812, civilian combatant for the Union Army during the American Civil War. (died 1872)source

19th century

  • 1824May 23 – Ambrose Burnside, American Civil War general, inventor, politician from Rhode Island (died 1881)source
  • 1857March 6 – Dred Scott v. Sandford: The Supreme Court of the United States rules that blacks are not citizens and slaves can not sue for freedom, driving the U.S. further towards the American Civil War (the ruling is not overturned until the 14th Amendment is adopted in 1868).source
  • 1857March 6 – Dred Scott v. Sanford: The Supreme Court of the United States rules that Blacks are not citizens and slaves cannot sue for freedom, driving the country further towards the American Civil War (the ruling is not overturned until the Fourteenth Amendment in 1868).source
  • 1860December 18 – Senator John J. Crittenden proposes the so-called Crittenden Compromise hoping to resolve the U.S. secession crisis.source
  • 1860December 20 – American Civil War: South Carolina, led by Governor Francis Pickens, becomes the first state to secede from the United States.source
  • 1861March 4 – American Civil War: The "Stars and Bars" is adopted as the flag of the Confederate States of America.source
  • 1861March 11 – American Civil War: The Constitution of the Confederate States of America is adopted.source
  • 1861April 12 – The American Civil War begins with the bombardment of Fort Sumter, South Carolina.source
  • 186112 April – American Civil War breaks out, leading to the Lancashire Cotton Famine (1861–1865).source
  • 1861April 27 – American Civil War: President Abraham Lincoln suspends the writ of habeas corpus in the United States.source
  • 1861May 13 – American Civil War: Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom issues a "proclamation of neutrality", which recognizes the breakaway states as having belligerent rights.source
  • 1861May 23 – American Civil War: The state of Virginia's ordinance of secession from the United States is ratified in a referendum.source
  • 1861October 9 – American Civil War: Battle of Santa Rosa Island – Confederate forces are defeated in their effort to take the island.source
  • 1861October 21 – American Civil War: Battle of Ball's Bluff – Union forces under Colonel Edward Baker are defeated by Confederate troops, in the second major battle of the war. Baker, a close friend of Abraham Lincoln, is also killed in the fighting.source
  • 1861October 31 – American Civil War: Citing failing health, 75-year-old Union General Winfield Scott resigns as Commander of the United States Army.source
  • 1861November 2 – American Civil War: Western Department Union General John C. Frémont is relieved of command and replaced by David Hunter.source
  • 1861November 8 – American Civil War – Trent Affair: The USS San Jacinto stops the United Kingdom mail ship Trent and arrests two Confederate envoys, James Mason and John Slidell, sparking a diplomatic crisis between the U.K. and U.S.source
  • 1861December 1 – American Civil War: Trent Affair – The British government dispatches its response, partly drafted by Prince Albert (a fortnight before his death).source
  • 1861December 10 – American Civil War: A rebel government representing Kentucky is accepted into the Confederate States of America, although Kentucky officially remains part of the United States.source
  • 1862January 30 – American Civil War: The first U.S. ironclad warship, USS Monitor, is launched in Brooklyn.source
  • 1862March 13 – American Civil War: The U.S. federal government forbids all Union army officers from returning fugitive slaves, thus effectively annulling the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 and setting the stage for the Emancipation Proclamation.source
  • 1862April 25 – American Civil War: Capture of New Orleans – Forces under Union Admiral David Farragut occupy the Confederate city of New Orleans, Louisiana, securing access to the Mississippi.source
  • 1862June 26 – American Civil War: Battle of Mechanicsville – Confederate General Robert E. Lee defeats the troops of General George B. McClellan in the first of the Seven Days Battles.source
  • 1862July 23 – American Civil War: Henry Halleck takes command of the Union Army.source
  • 1862September 22 – American Civil War: The preliminary announcement of the Emancipation Proclamation is made by U.S. President Abraham Lincoln: From January 1, 1863, slaves in the Confederate States will be considered free.source
  • 1862September 22 – American Civil War: Preliminary announcement of the Emancipation Proclamation by President Abraham Lincoln: From January 1, 1863, slaves in the Confederate States will be considered free.source
  • 1862October 8 – American Civil War: Battle of Perryville – Union Army forces under General Don Carlos Buell halt the Confederate invasion of Kentucky by defeating troops led by General Braxton Bragg at Perryville, Kentucky.source
  • 1862October 11 – American Civil War: In the aftermath of the Battle of Antietam, Confederate General J. E. B. Stuart and his men loot Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, during a raid into the North.source
  • 1862December 12 – American Civil War: Yazoo Pass Expedition – Union ironclad gunboat USS Cairo is sunk by a remotely-detonated "torpedo" (naval mine) while clearing mines from the Yazoo River, the first armored ship sunk by mine.source
  • 1863January 1 – Abraham Lincoln signs the Emancipation Proclamation during the third year of the American Civil War, making the abolition of slavery in the Confederate States of America an official war goal. The signing proclaims the freedom of 3.1 million of the nation's four million slaves and immediately frees 50,000 of them, with the rest freed as the Union Army advances. This event marks the start of America's Reconstruction Era.source
  • 1863July 9 – American Civil War: The Siege of Port Hudson ends, and the Union controls the entire Mississippi River for the first time.source
  • 1863August 21 – American Civil War: Battle of Lawrence – Lawrence, Kansas is attacked by William Quantrill's raiders, who kill an estimated 200 men and boys. The raid becomes infamous in the North as one of the most vicious atrocities of the Civil War.source
  • 1863October 15 – American Civil War: The first successful submarine, the CSS Hunley sinks during a test, killing Horace Lawson Hunley (its inventor) and a crew of seven.source
  • 1864April 12 – American Civil War: Battle of Fort Pillow – Confederate forces kill most of the African American soldiers who surrender at Fort Pillow, Tennessee.source
  • 1864November 4 – American Civil War: Battle of Johnsonville – At Johnsonville, Tennessee, troops under the command of Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest bombard a Union supply base with artillery, and destroy millions of dollars' worth of material.source
  • 1864November 30 – American Civil War: Second Battle of Franklin – The Confederate Army of Tennessee, led by General Hood, mounts a dramatically unsuccessful frontal assault on Union positions around Franklin, Tennessee (Hood loses 6 generals and almost a third of his troops).source
  • 1864December 4 – American Civil War: Sherman's March to the Sea – At Waynesboro, Georgia, forces under Union General Judson Kilpatrick prevent troops, led by Confederate General Joseph Wheeler, from interfering with Union General Sherman's campaign of destroying a wide swath of the South, on his march to Savannah; Union forces suffer more than 3 times the casualties as the Confederates, however.source
  • 1864December 15–16 – American Civil War: Battle of Nashville – Union forces decisively defeat the Confederate Army of Tennessee.source
  • 1865January 13 – American Civil War: Second Battle of Fort Fisher – Union forces launch a major amphibious assault against the last seaport held by the Confederates, Fort Fisher, North Carolina.source
  • 1865February 17 – American Civil War: Columbia, South Carolina burns as Confederate forces flee from advancing Union forces.source
  • 1865April 1 – American Civil War – Battle of Five Forks: In Petersburg, Virginia, Confederate General Robert E. Lee begins his final offensive.source
  • 1865September 26 – Champ Ferguson becomes the first person (and one of only two) to be convicted of war crimes for actions taken during the American Civil War, found guilty by a U.S. Army tribunal on 23 charges, arising from the murder of 53 people. He is hanged on October 20, two days after the conviction of Henry Wirz for war crimes.source
  • 1865September 26 – Champ Ferguson becomes the first of two combatants to be convicted of war crimes for actions taken during the American Civil War, found guilty by a U.S. Army tribunal on 23 charges arising from the murder of 53 people as a Confederate guerilla. He is hanged on October 20, two days after the conviction of Henry Wirz.source
  • 1865November 6 – American Civil War: The CSS Shenandoah, last remnant of the Confederate States of America and its military, surrenders in Liverpool after fleeing westward from the Pacific.source
  • 18656 November – American Civil War: Surrender to HMS Donegal at Liverpool of the Confederate commerce raider CSS Shenandoah.source
  • 1865November 10 – Captain Henry Wirz, Confederate superintendent of Andersonville Prison (Camp Sumter) is hanged, becoming the second of two combatants, and only serving regular soldier, to be executed for war crimes committed during the American Civil War.source
  • 1866July 24 – Reconstruction: Tennessee becomes the first U.S. state to be readmitted to the Union following the American Civil War.source
  • 1868December 25 – U.S. President Andrew Johnson grants unconditional pardon to all Civil War rebels.source
  • 1869November 10 – John E. Wool, general officer in the United States Army, who served during the War of 1812, Mexican–American War, and the American Civil War (born 1784)source
  • 1879January 1 – The Specie Resumption Act takes effect. The United States Note is valued the same as gold, for the first time since the American Civil War.source
  • 1879January 1 – The Specie Resumption Act takes effect: the Greenback is valued the same as gold for the first time since the American Civil War.source
  • 1881September 13 – Ambrose Burnside, American Civil War general, inventor, politician from Rhode Island (born 1824)source
  • 1885July 23 – Ulysses S. Grant, 63, American Civil War general, 18th President of the United States (born 1822)source
  • 18864 November – Ole C. Johnson, soldier in the American Civil War (born 1838)source

20th century

  • 1949August 31 – Six of the last sixteen surviving veterans of the Union Army, in the American Civil War, meet in Indianapolis.source
  • 1976November 2 – 1976 United States presidential election: Jimmy Carter narrowly defeats incumbent Gerald Ford, becoming the first candidate from the Deep South to win since the Civil War.source

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