| Timeline for Civil War |
| 1861 |
| (01/09)
|
South Carolinians fire upon The Star of the West, a federal supply ship, preventing it from re-supplying Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor. (Digital History ID 464)
|
| (04/12)
|
At 4:30 a.m. South Carolina forces begin to fire on Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor, beginning the Civil War. (Digital History ID 490)
|
| (04/13)
|
Major Robert Anderson surrenders Fort Sumter after a 34-hour bombardment. (Digital History ID 494)
|
| (04/15)
|
President Abraham Lincoln issues a proclamation that declares that an insurrection exists and calls for 75,000 volunteers to enlist for three-month terms to put down the rebellion. (Digital History ID 501)
|
| 1863 |
| (05/02)
|
Confederate General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson is accidentally wounded by his own men at Chancellorsville, Virginia; he dies eight days later. (Digital History ID 558)
|
| 1865 |
| (03/03)
|
The Freedmen’s Bureau is established to care for war refugees and freedmen. (Digital History ID 613)
|
| (04/09)
|
Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered his army to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House in Virginia. (Digital History ID 479)
|
| (04/14)
|
President Lincoln was shot and mortally wounded by John Wilkes Booth while attending the comedy "Our American Cousin" at Ford's Theater in Washington. (He died the following morning.) (Digital History ID 498)
|
| (04/26)
|
John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of President Abraham Lincoln, is surrounded by federal troops in a barn near Bowling Green, Virginia, shot, and killed. (Digital History ID 534)
|
| (04/27)
|
The steamer Sultana explodes on the Mississippi River near Memphis, Tenn., killing more than 1,400 Union prisoners of war. (Digital History ID 538)
|
| (05/10)
|
Confederate President Jefferson Davis is captured by Union troops near Irwinville, Georgia, and is imprisoned for two years at Fortress Monroe, Virginia. (Digital History ID 581)
|
| 1884 |
| (06/05)
|
Civil War hero General William T. Sherman refuses the Republican presidential nomination, saying, "I will not accept if nominated and will not serve if elected." (Digital History ID 1523)
|
