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The Battle of Vicksburg was fought on May 18, 1863, at Vicksburg Mississippi where 75,000 Union troops under Ulysses S. Grant defeated 34,000 Confederate troops under General Pemberton to take full control over the Mississippi river cutting off a major supply route for the confederate troops leading to the end of the civil war with a Confederate surrender.

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Abraham Lincoln Gettysburg speech (Jeff Daniels)

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In Maryland on September 17, 1862. Near a creek in Antietam. This was the bloodiest battle in the civil war and it was also known as the battle of Sharpsburg. The Confederates tried to flank the union on the left and right side of the Bloody lane. The Bloody lane was also known as the the sunken road and it was in the middle of the battle where lots of men lost there lives. At one point in the battle the Union was able to gain power over the confederates causing 5,000 confederates to either be dead or injured. In the war there were 23,000 casualties and over 3,000 dead. The union had claimed victory over the confederates.

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Battle of Antietam - American Civil War - HISTORY.com

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Find out more about the history of Battle of Antietam, including videos, interesting articles, pictures, historical features and more. Get all the facts on HISTORY.com

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Fought on May 6, 1863, and was widely considered a victory for the confederacy led by general Jackson "Stonewall" against the Union General Hooker. However this battle came at great loss as while on patrol general Jackson was struck by friendly fire, taking his arm and eventually leading to his death.

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Coroner's Report: Stonewall Jackson Video - Stonewall Jackson - HISTORY.com

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The Confederate general Stonewall Jackson was accidentally shot by his own men during a major Civil War battle, but it wasn't his wounds that killed him eight days later. How exactly did the commander die?

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John Wilkes Booth - he support the South. He assassinated Abraham Lincoln.

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Took place in south western Tennessee, it went from April 6th to April 7th, 1862. This war was one of the earlier starts to the civil war. The Battle of Shiloh began the confederates attacked General Ulysses S. Grant. Even though the confederates surprise attacked the Union, the Confederates still lost the battle. With 23,000 deaths it was the third deadliest battle in the civil war.

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Contents

1. Yankees Score Key Victories Before Battle of Shiloh

2. Battle of Shiloh Begins: April 6-7, 1862

3. Battle of Shiloh: Grant Counterattacks

4. Battle of Shiloh: Casualties

Also known as the Battle of Pittsburg Landing, the Battle of Shiloh took place from April 6 to April 7, 1862, and was one of the major early engagements of the American Civil War (1861-65). The battle began when the Confederates launched a surprise attack on Union forces under General Ulysses S. Grant (1822-85) in southwestern Tennessee. After initial successes, the Confederates wereunable to hold their positions and were forced back,resulting in a Union victory. Both sides suffered heavy losses, with more than 23,000 total casualties, and the level of violence shocked North and South alike.

Yankees Score Key Victories Before Battle of Shiloh

In the six months prior to the Battle of Shiloh, Yankee troops had been working their way up the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers. Kentucky was firmly in Union hands, and the U.S. Army controlled much of Tennessee, including the capital at Nashville. General Ulysses S. Grant scored major victories at forts Henry and Donelson in February, forcing Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston (1803-62) to gather the scattered Rebel forces at Corinth in northern Mississippi. Grant brought his army, 42,000 strong, to rendezvous with General Don Carlos Buell (1818-98) and his 20,000 troops. Grant's objective was Corinth, a vital rail center that if captured would give the Union total control of the region. Twenty miles away, Johnston lurked at Corinth with 45,000 soldiers.

Johnston did not wait for Grant and Buell to combine their forces. He advanced on April 3, delayed by rains and muddy roads that also slowed Buell.

Battle of Shiloh Begins: April 6-7, 1862

In the early dawn of April 6, a Yankee patrol found the Confederates poised for battle just a mile from the main Union army. Johnston attacked, driving the surprised bluecoats back near Shiloh Church. Throughout the day, the Confederates battered the Union army, driving it back towards Pittsburgh Landing and threatening to trap it against the Tennessee River. Many troops on both sides had no experience in battle. The chances for a complete Confederate victory diminished as troops from Buell's army began arriving, and Grant's command on the battlefield shored up the sagging Union line. In the middle of the afternoon, Johnston rode forward to direct the Confederate attack and was struck in the leg by a bullet, severing an artery and causing him to quickly bleed to death. He became the highest ranking general on either side killed during the war. General Pierre G. T. Beauregard (1818-93) assumed control, and he halted the advance at nightfall. The Union army was driven back two miles, but it did not break.

Battle of Shiloh: Grant Counterattacks

Now, Grant was joined by the vanguard of the Buell's army. With an advantage in terms of troop numbers, Grant counterattacked on April 7. The tired Confederates slowly retreated, but they inflicted heavy casualties on the Yankees. By nightfall, the Union had driven the Confederates back to Shiloh Church, recapturing grisly reminders of the previous day's battle such as the Hornet's Nest, the Peach Orchard and Bloody Pond. The Confederates finally limped back to Corinth, thus giving a major victory to Grant.

Battle of Shiloh: Casualties

The cost of the victory was high. More than 13,000 of Grant's and Buell's approximately 62,000 troops were killed, wounded, captured or missing. Of 45,000 Confederates engaged, there were more than 10,000 casualties. The more than 23,000 combined casualties were far greater than the casualty figures for the war's other key battles ( First Battle of Bull Run, Wilson's Creek, Fort Donelson and Pea Ridge) up to that date. It was a sobering reminder to all in the Union and the Confederacy that the war would be long and costly.

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Yankees Score Key Victories Before Battle of Shiloh Battle of Shiloh Begins: April 6-7, 1862 Battle of Shiloh: Grant Counterattacks Battle of Shiloh: Casualties Also known as the Battle of Pittsburg Landing, the Battle of Shiloh took place from April 6 to April 7, 1862, and was one of the major early engagements of the American Civil War (1861-65).

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Clara Barton - Union nurse. She often cared for the sick and wounded at the front lines.

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Abraham Lincoln- president of the Union. He did want the south to leave the Union.

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Robert E. Lee - General for the Confederacy's. He took  over for General Joseph E. Johnton because he was wounded.

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Fought from July 1st to July 3rd, 1863 in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Considered to be the most important, and bloodiest  battles of the civil war. General Robert E. Lee marched his troops from Northern Virginia to Pennsylvania. On July 1st the Confederates clashed with the Union Army of the Potomac led by General Mead. General Lee ordered an attack on the union army of no more than 15,000 troops, this action was called Pickett's Charge.  The charge pierced Union lines but eventually failed leaving thousands of casualties, the retreat of the Confederate troops, and the turning of the civil war in favor of the Union.

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The Battle of Gettysburg Video - American Civil War History - HISTORY.com

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For three days in July 1863, Union and Confederate forces clash at Gettysburg in one of the most pivotal battles of the Civil War.

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David G. Farragut - leader of the Union. He was support seizing of New Orleans Confederate's largest city.

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Ulysses S.Grant - Union General. Grant forces captured two Confederate forts and important rivers.

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The first shots of the Civil War at Charleston Harbor, South Carolina April 12, 1861.  After a 34 hour battle Anderson and 86 men surrendered to the confederate army. This was the official start to the civil war finally dividing the North and the South.

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George McCellan - leader of the Union. Because the North lost at Bull Run. Washington appoint as New General for the Union.

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Stonewall Jackson - South General he won the first victory for the south at the battle of Bull Run.

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Took place in Virginia between Washington D.C and Richmond on July 21, 1861. This was the first major land battle of the civil war. The battle was along a small river called Bull Run 35,000 union troops vs 20,000 confederate troops. The South won which gave them confidence into other  battles but the North was shocked.

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In the first major land battle of the Civil War, a large Union force under General Irvin McDowell is routed by a Confederate army under General Pierre G.T. Beauregard.

Three months after the Civil War erupted at Fort Sumter, Union military command still believed that the Confederacy could be crushed quickly and with little loss of life. In July, this overconfidence led to a premature offensive into northern Virginia by General McDowell. Searching out the Confederate forces, McDowell led 34,000 troops-mostly inexperienced and poorly trained militiamen-toward the railroad junction of Manassas, located just 30 miles from Washington, D.C. Alerted to the Union advance, General Beauregard massed some 20,000 troops there and was soon joined by General Joseph Johnston, who brought some 9,000 more troops by railroad.

On the morning of July 21, hearing of the proximity of the two opposing forces, hundreds of civilians-men, women, and children-turned out to watch the first major battle of the Civil War. The fighting commenced with three Union divisions crossing the Bull Run stream, and the Confederate flank was driven back to Henry House Hill. However, at this strategic location, Beauregard had fashioned a strong defensive line anchored by a brigade of Virginia infantry under General Thomas J. Jackson. Firing from a concealed slope, Jackson's men repulsed a series of Federal charges, winning Jackson his famous nickname "Stonewall."

Meanwhile, Confederate cavalry under J.E.B. Stuart captured the Union artillery, and Beauregard ordered a counterattack on the exposed Union right flank. The rebels came charging down the hill, yelling furiously, and McDowell's line was broken, forcing his troops in a hasty retreat across Bull Run. The retreat soon became an unorganized flight, and supplies littered the road back to Washington. Union forces endured a loss of 3,000 men killed, wounded, or missing in action while the Confederates suffered 2,000 casualties. The scale of this bloodshed horrified not only the frightened spectators at Bull Run but also the U.S. government in Washington, which was faced with an uncertain military strategy in quelling the "Southern insurrection."

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In the first major land battle of the Civil War, a large Union force under General Irvin McDowell is routed by a Confederate army under General Pierre G.T. Beauregard. Three months after the Civil War erupted at Fort Sumter, Union military command still believed that the Confederacy could be crushed quickly and with little loss of life.

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Jan 1th, 1861
South Seceded - After many state conventions and the election of Lincoln, the southern states seceded to form the Confederation.

February 9, 1861 - The Confederate States of America is formed with Jefferson Davis, a West Point graduate and former U.S. Army officer, as president.

March 4th, 1861
Lincoln Inauguration - Abraham Lincoln was officially put into office as president and he began his crusade to reunite the nation.

April 12, 1861 - At 4:30 a.m. Confederates under Gen. Pierre Beauregard open fire with 50 cannons upon Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina. The Civil War begins.

April 15th, 1861
On the Verge of War - Lincoln declare a state of resurrection. Enlists 75,000 for upcoming war.

April 17, 1861 - Virginia secedes from the Union, followed within five weeks by Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina, thus forming an eleven state Confederacy with a population of 9 million, including nearly 4 million slaves.

September 22, 1682 Emancipation - Abraham Lincoln enstated the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation as one of his big steps to freeing the slaves.

JUL 13, 1863
Riots -  Citizens of New York City rose into a large riot over Lincoln's approval of the Draft.

NOV 19, 1863
Gettysburg -  Lincoln Delivers the Gettysburg Address, declaring the he believed that all people were equal which fundamentally proved to be another large step he took towards freeing the slaves.

JUL 1, 1864

Capitol Under Attack  -  Confederate forces under Jubal Early probe assault Washington D.C. forces, causing a high state of panic and alert in the capitol.

JAN 31, 1865
Free at Last - Congress passes the 13th amendment, Abolishing slavery for good in the U.S.

MAR 4, 1865
Re-elected - Lincoln is inagurated for his second term as president.

Apr 9, 1865
Surrender - General Lee surrenders to General Grant at Appomattix, ending the war.

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Jump To: - Fort Sumter Attacked First Bull Run - Shiloh - Second Bull Run - Antietam - Fredericksburg - Chancellorsville - Gettysburg - Chickamauga - Chattanooga - Cold Harbor - March to the Sea - Lee Surrenders - Lincoln Shot

November 6, 1860 - Abraham Lincoln, who had declared "Government cannot endure permanently half slave, half free..." is elected president, the first Republican, receiving 180 of 303 possible electoral votes and 40 percent of the popular vote.

December 20, 1860 - South Carolina secedes from the Union. Followed within two months by Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas.

Auction and Negro sales, Atlanta, Georgia.

1861

February 9, 1861 - The Confederate States of America is formed with Jefferson Davis, a West Point graduate and former U.S. Army officer, as president.

March 4, 1861 - Abraham Lincoln is sworn in as 16 th President of the United States of America.

Fort Sumter Attacked

Fort Sumter after its capture, showing damage from the Rebel bombardment of over 3000 shells and now flying the Rebel "Stars and Bars" - April 14, 1861.

April 15, 1861 - President Lincoln issues a Proclamation calling for 75,000 militiamen, and summoning a special session of Congress for July 4.

Robert E. Lee, son of a Revolutionary War hero, and a 25 year distinguished veteran of the United States Army and former Superintendent of West Point, is offered command of the Union Army. Lee declines.

April 17, 1861 - Virginia secedes from the Union, followed within five weeks by Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina, thus forming an eleven state Confederacy with a population of 9 million, including nearly 4 million slaves. The Union will soon have 21 states and a population of over 20 million.

Map of Allegiances of the States - 1861.

April 19, 1861 - President Lincoln issues a Proclamation of Blockade against Southern ports. For the duration of the war the blockade limits the ability of the rural South to stay well supplied in its war against the industrialized North.

July 4, 1861 - Lincoln, in a speech to Congress, states the war is..."a People's contest...a struggle for maintaining in the world, that form, and substance of government, whose leading object is, to elevate the condition of men..." The Congress authorizes a call for 500,000 men.

First Bull Run

July 21, 1861 - The Union Army under Gen.Irvin McDowell suffers a defeat atBull Run 25 miles southwest of Washington. Confederate Gen.Thomas J. Jackson earns the nickname "Stonewall," as his brigade resists Union attacks. Union troops fall back to Washington. President Lincoln realizes the war will be long. "It's damned bad," he comments.

Ruins of the Stone Bridge over which Northern forces retreated until it was blown up by a Rebel shell adding to the panic of the retreat, with the Federals returning to Washington as "a rain-soaked mob."

July 27, 1861 - President Lincoln appoints George B. McClellan as Commander of the Department of the Potomac, replacing McDowell.

McClellan tells his wife, "I find myself in a new and strange position here: President, cabinet, Gen. Scott, and all deferring to me. By some strange operation of magic I seem to have become the power of the land."

September 11, 1861 - President Lincoln revokes Gen. John C. Frémont's unauthorized military proclamation of emancipation in Missouri. Later, the president relieves Gen. Frémont of his command and replaces him with Gen. David Hunter.

November 8, 1861 - The beginning of an international diplomatic crisis for President Lincoln as two Confederate officials sailing toward England are seized by the U.S. Navy. England, the leading world power, demands their release, threatening war. Lincoln eventually gives in and orders their release in December. "One war at a time," Lincoln remarks.

1862

January 31, 1862 - President Lincoln issues General War Order No. 1 calling for all United States naval and land forces to begin a general advance by February 22, George Washington's birthday.

February 6, 1862 - Victory for Gen. Ulysses S. Grant in Tennessee, capturing Fort Henry, and ten days later Fort Donelson. Grant earns the nickname "Unconditional Surrender" Grant.

February 20, 1862 - President Lincoln is struck with grief as his beloved eleven-year-old son, Willie, dies from fever, probably caused by polluted drinking water in the White House.

The Monitor at dock, showing damage from the battle.

In March - The Peninsular Campaign begins as McClellan's Army of the Potomac advances from Washington down the Potomac River and the Chesapeake Bay to the peninsular south of the Confederate Capital of Richmond, Virginia then begins an advance toward Richmond.

President Lincoln temporarily relieves McClellan as general-in-chief and takes direct command of the Union Armies.

April 6/7, 1862 - Confederate surprise attack on Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's unprepared troops at Shiloh on the Tennessee River results in a bitter struggle with 13,000 Union killed and wounded and 10,000 Confederates, more men than in all previous American wars combined. The president is then pressured to relieve Grant but resists. "I can't spare this man; he fights," Lincoln says.

June 1, 1862 - Gen. Robert E. Lee assumes command, replacing the wounded Johnston. Lee then renames his force the Army of Northern Virginia. McClellan is not impressed, saying Lee is "likely to be timid and irresolute in action."

June 25-July 1 - The Seven Days Battles as Lee attacks McClellan near Richmond, resulting in very heavy losses for both armies. McClellan then begins a withdrawal back toward Washington.

Young Georgia Private Edwin Jennison, killed in the Seven Days Battles at Malvern Hill - the face of a lost generation.

Second Battle of Bull Run

August 29/30, 1862 - 75,000 Federals under Gen.John Pope are defeated by 55,000 Confederates under Gen. Stonewall Jackson and Gen.James Longstreet at the second battle of Bull Run in northern Virginia. Once again the Union Army retreats to Washington. The president then relieves Pope.

The Union Army, 90,000 strong, under the command of McClellan, pursues Lee.

Confederate dead by the fence bordering Farmer Miller's 40 acre Cornfield at Antietam where the intense rifle and artillery fire cut every corn stalk to the ground "as closely as could have been done with a knife."

September 22, 1862 - Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation freeing slaves issued by President Lincoln.

President Lincoln visits Gen. George McClellan at Antietam, Maryland - October, 1862

"It is well that war is so terrible - we should grow too fond of it," states Lee during the fighting.

1863

January 1, 1863 - President Lincoln issues the final Emancipation Proclamation freeing all slaves in territories held by Confederates and emphasizes the enlisting of black soldiers in the Union Army. The war to preserve the Union now becomes a revolutionary struggle for the abolition of slavery.

January 29, 1863 - Gen. Grant is placed in command of the Army of the West, with orders to capture Vicksburg.

March 3, 1863 - The U.S. Congress enacts a draft, affecting male citizens aged 20 to 45, but also exempts those who pay $300 or provide a substitute. "The blood of a poor man is as precious as that of the wealthy," poor Northerners complain.

May 1-4, 1863 - The Union Army under Gen. Hooker is decisively defeated by Lee's much smaller forces at the Battle of Chancellorsville in Virginia as a result of Lee's brilliant and daring tactics. Confederate Gen. Stonewall Jackson is mortally wounded by his own soldiers. Hooker retreats. Union losses are 17,000 killed, wounded and missing out of 130,000. The Confederates, 13, 000 out of 60,000.

"I just lost confidence in Joe Hooker," said Hooker later about his own lack of nerve during the battle.

Confederate soldiers at the Sunken Road, killed during the fighting around Chancellorsville.

May 10, 1863 - The South suffers a huge blow as Stonewall Jackson dies from his wounds, his last words, "Let us cross over the river and rest under the shade of the trees."

"I have lost my right arm," Lee laments.

June 3, 1863 - Gen. Lee with 75,000 Confederates launches his second invasion of the North, heading into Pennsylvania in a campaign that will soon lead to Gettysburg.

July 1-3, 1863 - The tide of war turns against the South as the Confederates are defeated at the Battle of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania.

Read about the Battle of Gettysburg -Battlefield Photos

Union soldiers on the Battlefield at Gettysburg.

July 13-16, 1863 - Anti-draft riots in New York City include arson and the murder of blacks by poor immigrant whites. At least 120 persons, including children, are killed and $2 million in damage caused, until Union soldiers returning from Gettysburg restore order.

July 18, 1863 -'Negro troops' of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment under Col. Robert G. Shaw assault fortified Rebels at Fort Wagner, South Carolina. Col. Shaw and half of the 600 men in the regiment are killed.

August 21, 1863 - At Lawrence, Kansas, pro-Confederate William C. Quantrill and 450 pro-slavery followers raid the town and butcher 182 boys and men.

October 16, 1863 - The president appoints Gen. Grant to command all operations in the western theater.

November 19, 1863 - President Lincoln delivers a two minute Gettysburg Address at a ceremony dedicating the Battlefield as a National Cemetery.

Page one of Gettysburg Address in Lincoln's handwriting
Page two of Gettysburg Address in Lincoln's handwriting

Lincoln among the crowd at Gettysburg - Nov 19, 1863

November 23-25, 1863 - The Rebel siege of Chattanooga ends as Union forces under Grant defeat the siege army of Gen. Braxton Bragg. During the battle, one of the most dramatic moments of the war occurs. Yelling "Chickamauga! Chickamauga!" Union troops avenge their previous defeat at Chickamauga by storming up the face of Missionary Ridge without orders and sweep the Rebels from what had been though to be an impregnable position. "My God, come and see 'em run!" a Union soldier cries.

1864

May 4, 1864 - The beginning of a massive, coordinated campaign involving all the Union Armies. In Virginia, Grant with an Army of 120,000 begins advancing toward Richmond to engage Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, now numbering 64,000, beginning a war of attrition that will include major battles at the Wilderness (May 5-6), Spotsylvania (May 8-12), and Cold Harbor (June 1-3).

In the west, Sherman, with 100,000 men begins an advance toward Atlanta to engage Joseph E. Johnston's 60,000 strong Army of Tennessee.

A council of war with Gen. Grant leaning over the shoulder of Gen. Meade looking at a map, planning the Cold Harbor assault.

Many of the Union soldiers in the failed assault had predicted the outcome, including a dead soldier from Massachusetts whose last entry in his diary was, "June 3, 1864, Cold Harbor, Virginia. I was killed."

June 15, 1864 - Union forces miss an opportunity to capture Petersburg and cut off the Confederate rail lines. As a result, a nine month siege of Petersburg begins with Grant's forces surrounding Lee.

The 13-inch Union mortar "Dictator" mounted on a railroad flatcar at Petersburg. Its 200-pound shells had a range of over 2 miles.

August 29, 1864 - Democrats nominate George B. McClellan for president to run against Republican incumbent Abraham Lincoln.

November 8, 1864 - Abraham Lincoln is re-elected president, defeating Democrat George B. McClellan. Lincoln carries all but three states with 55 percent of the popular vote and 212 of 233 electoral votes. "I earnestly believe that the consequences of this day's work will be to the lasting advantage, if not the very salvation, of the country," Lincoln tells supporters.

December 21, 1864 - Sherman reaches Savannah in Georgia leaving behind a 300 mile long path of destruction 60 miles wide all the way from Atlanta. Sherman then telegraphs Lincoln, offering him Savannah as a Christmas present.

1865

January 31, 1865 - The U.S. Congress approves the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, to abolish slavery. The amendment is then submitted to the states for ratification.

February 3, 1865 - Apeace conference occurs as President Lincoln meetswith Confederate Vice PresidentAlexander Stephens at Hampton Roads in Virginia, but the meeting ends in failure - the war will continue.

Only Lee's Army at Petersburg and Johnston's forces in North Carolina remain to fight for the South against Northern forces now numbering 280,000 men.

March 4, 1865 - Inauguration ceremonies for President Lincoln in Washington. "With malice toward none; with charity for all...let us strive on to finish the work we are in...to do all which may achieve and cherish a just, and a lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations," Lincoln says.

March 25, 1865 - The last offensive for Lee's Army of Northern Virginia begins with an attack on the center of Grant's forces at Petersburg. Four hours later the attack is broken.

At Petersburg, Virginia, well supplied Union soldiers shown before Grant's spring offensive.

A Confederate boy, age 14, lies dead in the trenches of Fort Mahone at Petersburg.

Lee Surrenders

"After four years of arduous service marked by unsurpassed courage and fortitude the Army of Northern Virginia has been compelled to yield to overwhelming numbers and resources," Lee tells his troops.

General Lee surrendered in the parlor of this house.

Lee posed for this photo by Mathew Brady shortly after the surrender.

April 10, 1865 - Celebrations break out in Washington.

Final portrait of a war weary president - April 10, 1865

April 14, 1865 - The Stars and Stripes is ceremoniously raised over Fort Sumter. That night, Lincoln and his wife Mary see the play "Our American Cousin" at Ford's Theater. At 10:13 p.m., during the third act of the play, John Wilkes Booth shoots the president in the head. Doctors attend to the president in the theater then move him to a house across the street. He never regains consciousness.

April 18, 1865 - Confederate Gen. Joseph E. Johnston surrenders to Sherman near Durham in North Carolina.

Funeral Procession on Pennsylvania Ave. - April 19, 1865

April 26, 1865 - John Wilkes Booth is shot and killed in a tobacco barn in Virginia.

May 4, 1865 - Abraham Lincoln is laid to rest in Oak Ridge Cemetery, outside Springfield, Illinois.

In May - Remaining Confederate forces surrender. The Nation is reunited as the Civil War ends. Over 620,000 Americans died in the war, with disease killing twice as many as those lost in battle. 50,000 survivors return home as amputees.

A victory parade is held in Washington along Pennsylvania Ave. to help boost the Nation's morale - May 23/24, 1865.

December 6, 1865 - The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, passed by Congress on January 31, 1865, is finally ratified. Slavery is abolished.

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The History Place - U.S. Civil War 1861-1865

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At The History Place, an easy to use Timeline with many photos and interesting quotes.

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Presidential Reformations
April 14th 1865 Lincoln was assassinated which put Andrew Johnson in charge of reconstructing the U.S. after the war. Johnson gave the land confiscated by the Union that was distributed to free slaves back to the prewar owners. The South was also forced to comply with the abolition of slavery (13th amendment), swear loyalty to the Union, and pay off war debts. Other than that, the south was granted freedom to rebuild themselves which gave them the ability to enact laws against freed slaves called the "black codes" which restricted activities and maintained them as a labor force. The deeply upset Congress passed bills that would allow the bureau, which was a temporary organization assisting with refugees and feed slaves, to have an extended life and the Civil Rights Bill to be passed which gave all U.S. Citizens had equality before the law. Johnson vetoed these bills which lead to his impeachment in 1868.
African-Americans in southern public life after 1867
Blacks were elected into southern state governments and into the U.S. Congress. State funded schools, more equitable taxation legislation, laws against racial discrimination, and accommodations and ambitious economic development programs were achieved.
The Ending of Reconstruction
The Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacist organizations began targeting local Republican leaders that challenged white authority. By the 1870s white supremacy reasserted its self in the South. By 1874 the south fell into an economic depression which put many people in poverty causing the Democratic Party to gain control of the House of Representatives for the first time since the Civil War. Democrats violently campaigned for control of Mississippi in 1875. Ulysses S. Grant did not send federal troops which marked the end of federal support for the Reconstruction-era state gov. in the South. In 1876, Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina we still controlled by Republicans. Rutherford B. Hayes offered acknowledgment of Democratic control of the South in exchange for certification of his election. This compromise marked the end of Reconstruction, however the repercussions of abolition and the social discrimination it brought would be dealt with long after this event.

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Reconstruction (1865-1877), the turbulent era following the Civil War, was the effort to reintegrate Southern states from the Confederacy and 4 million newly-freed people into the United States. Under the administration of President Andrew Johnson in 1865 and 1866, new southern state legislatures passed restrictive " Black Codes" to control the labor and behavior of former enslaved people and other African Americans. Outrage in the North over these codes eroded support for the approach known as Presidential Reconstruction and led to the triumph of the more radical wing of the Republican Party. During Radical Reconstruction, which began with the passage of the Reconstruction Act of 1867, newly enfranchised Black people gained a voice in government for the first time in American history, winning election to southern state legislatures and even to the U.S. Congress. In less than a decade, however, reactionary forces-including the Ku Klux Klan -would reverse the changes wrought by Radical Reconstruction in a violent backlash that restored white supremacy in the South.

Emancipation and Reconstruction

At the outset of the Civil War, to the dismay of the more radical abolitionists in the North, President Abraham Lincoln did not make abolition of slavery a goal of the Union war effort. To do so, he feared, would drive the border slave states still loyal to the Union into the Confederacy and anger more conservative northerners. By the summer of 1862, however, enslaved people, themselves had pushed the issue, heading by the thousands to the Union lines as Lincoln's troops marched through the South.

Their actions debunked one of the strongest myths underlying Southern devotion to the "peculiar institution"-that many enslaved people were truly content in bondage-and convinced Lincoln that emancipation had become a political and military necessity. In response to Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, which freed more than 3 million enslaved people in the Confederate states by January 1, 1863, Black people enlisted in the Union Army in large numbers, reaching some 180,000 by war's end.

Did you know? During Reconstruction, the Republican Party in the South represented a coalition of Black people (who made up the overwhelming majority of Republican voters in the region) along with "carpetbaggers" and "scalawags," as white Republicans from the North and South, respectively, were known.

Emancipation changed the stakes of the Civil War, ensuring that a Union victory would mean large-scale social revolution in the South. It was still very unclear, however, what form this revolution would take. Over the next several years, Lincoln considered ideas about how to welcome the devastated South back into the Union, but as the war drew to a close in early 1865, he still had no clear plan. In a speech delivered on April 11, while referring to plans for Reconstruction in Louisiana, Lincoln proposed that some Black people-including free Black people and those who had enlisted in the military-deserved the right to vote. He was assassinated three days later, however, and it would fall to his successor to put plans for Reconstruction in place.
READ MORE: How the Black Codes Limited African American Progress After the Civil War
Andrew Johnson and Presidential Reconstruction

At the end of May 1865, President Andrew Johnson announced his plans for Reconstruction, which reflected both his staunch Unionism and his firm belief in states' rights. In Johnson's view, the southern states had never given up their right to govern themselves, and the federal government had no right to determine voting requirements or other questions at the state level. Under Johnson's Presidential Reconstruction, all land that had been confiscated by the Union Army and distributed to the formerly enslaved people by the army or the Freedmen's Bureau (established by Congress in 1865) reverted to its prewar owners. Apart from being required to uphold the abolition of slavery (in compliance with the 13th Amendment to the Constitution), swear loyalty to the Union and pay off war debt, southern state governments were given free rein to rebuild themselves.

As a result of Johnson's leniency, many southern states in 1865 and 1866 successfully enacted a series of laws known as the " black codes," which were designed to restrict freed Black peoples' activity and ensure their availability as a labor force. These repressive codes enraged many in the North, including numerous members of Congress, which refused to seat congressmen and senators elected from the southern states.

In early 1866, Congress passed the Freedmen's Bureau and Civil Rights Bills and sent them to Johnson for his signature. The first bill extended the life of the bureau, originally established as a temporary organization charged with assisting refugees and formerly enslaved people, while the second defined all persons born in the United States as national citizens who were to enjoy equality before the law. After Johnson vetoed the bills-causing a permanent rupture in his relationship with Congress that would culminate in his impeachment in 1868-the Civil Rights Act became the first major bill to become law over presidential veto.

Radical Reconstruction

After northern voters rejected Johnson's policies in the congressional elections in late 1866, Radical Republicans in Congress took firm hold of Reconstruction in the South. The following March, again over Johnson's veto, Congress passed the Reconstruction Act of 1867, which temporarily divided the South into five military districts and outlined how governments based on universal (male) suffrage were to be organized. The law also required southern states to ratify the 14th Amendment, which broadened the definition of citizenship, granting "equal protection" of the Constitution to formerly enslaved people, before they could rejoin the Union. In February 1869, Congress approved the 15th Amendment (adopted in 1870), which guaranteed that a citizen's right to vote would not be denied "on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude."
READ MORE: When Did African Americans Get the Right to Vote?
By 1870, all of the former Confederate states had been admitted to the Union, and the state constitutions during the years of Radical Reconstruction were the most progressive in the region's history. The participation of African Americans in southern public life after 1867 would be by far the most radical development of Reconstruction, which was essentially a large-scale experiment in interracial democracy unlike that of any other society following the abolition of slavery.

Southern Black people won election to southern state governments and even to the U.S. Congress during this period. Among the other achievements of Reconstruction were the South's first state-funded public school systems, more equitable taxation legislation, laws against racial discrimination in public transport and accommodations and ambitious economic development programs (including aid to railroads and other enterprises).
READ MORE: The First Black Man Elected to Congress Was Nearly Blocked From Taking His Seat
Reconstruction Comes to an End

After 1867, an increasing number of southern whites turned to violence in response to the revolutionary changes of Radical Reconstruction. The Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacist organizations targeted local Republican leaders, white and Black, and other African Americans who challenged white authority. Though federal legislation passed during the administration of President Ulysses S. Grant in 1871 took aim at the Klan and others who attempted to interfere with Black suffrage and other political rights, white supremacy gradually reasserted its hold on the South after the early 1870s as support for Reconstruction waned.

Racism was still a potent force in both South and North, and Republicans became more conservative and less egalitarian as the decade continued. In 1874-after an economic depression plunged much of the South into poverty-the Democratic Party won control of the House of Representatives for the first time since the Civil War.
READ MORE: How the 1876 Election Effectively Ended Reconstruction
When Democrats waged a campaign of violence to take control of Mississippi in 1875, Grant refused to send federal troops, marking the end of federal support for Reconstruction-era state governments in the South. By 1876, only Florida, Louisiana and South Carolina were still in Republican hands. In the contested presidential election that year, Republican candidate Rutherford B. Hayes reached a compromise with Democrats in Congress: In exchange for certification of his election, he acknowledged Democratic control of the entire South.

The Compromise of 1876 marked the end of Reconstruction as a distinct period, but the struggle to deal with the revolution ushered in by slavery's eradication would continue in the South and elsewhere long after that date. A century later, the legacy of Reconstruction would be revived during the civil rights movement of the 1960s, as African Americans fought for the political, economic and social equality that had long been denied them.
READ MORE: Black History Milestones: A Timeline

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Reconstruction, the turbulent era following the U.S. Civil War, was an effort to reunify the divided nation, address and integrate African Americans into society by rewriting the nation's laws and Constitution. The steps taken gave rise to the Ku Klux Klan and other divisive groups.