Milestones

Confederates attack Fort Sumter; Lincoln calls for

75,000 volunteers

First Battle of Bull Run (Virginia) boosts Confederate morale

Lincoln appoints George B. McClellan Union commander

Supreme Court rules against Lincoln’s suspension of habeas corpus in Ex parte Merryman Confederate Congress passes Conscription Act USS Monitor defeats Confederate Merrimack in first battle between ironclads Battle of Shiloh, Tennessee, leaves 23,000 dead, wounded, or missing

Robert E. Lee assumes command of Confederate Army of Northern Virginia Lee and Stonewall Jackson defeat huge Union army at Seven Days’ Battle for Richmond Lee and Jackson defeat Union army at Second Battle of Bull Run

Lee’s northern advance is stopped at Battle of Antietam; 22,000 casualties

Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation frees slaves in “areas of rebellion”

Congress passes Homestead, Morrill Land Grant, and Pacific Railway acts Congress passes Conscription and National Banking acts

Federal troops subdue draft riots in New York City Union army defeats Confederates at turning point Battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania Union siege and capture of Vicksburg, Mississippi, gives Union control of entire Mississippi River Grant pushes deep into Virginia in costly Battles of the Wilderness, Spotsylvania Court House, and Cold Harbor

Sherman captures Atlanta, Georgia; marches to sea; captures Savannah Lincoln is reelected president Grant takes Petersburg, Virginia, after ten-month siege

Sherman captures Columbia, South Carolina Lee surrenders to Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia