TUDOR PLACE HISTORIC HOUSE AND GARDEN Civil WarCivil War Directions: To use this timeline, we suggest first printing out this PDF.Notice that the event sheets do not have dates on

Civil War

Directions: To use this timeline, we suggest first printing out this PDF. Notice that the

event sheets do not have dates on them. Shuffle the event sheets and hand out them out,

one per student, to the class. (It is important not to hand them out in the order in which

they printed because they are already organized chronologically!) Once everyone has an

event, allow the students to move around the classroom, discussing their event with fellow

students, with the aim of arranging themselves in a line sequentially based on their event.

After several minutes, the students should be organized in one line across the classroom

with their event pages displayed from earliest to most recent. Once the students have com-

pleted this task, allow each student to read their event, and then guess the date at which it

occurred. Use the following answer key to assess the accuracy of the dates and to confirm

the correct order of the timeline. There may be more events than there are students in

your class. If this is the case, please feel free to pick and choose the events you use in or-

der to customize our timeline to your classroom’s needs. If you prefer, you may also give

each student two events to sort.

TUDOR PLACE HISTORIC HOUSE AND GARDEN

© 2012, EDUCATION DEPARTMENT, TUDOR PLACE

1644 31st Street Northwest, Washington, D.C. 20007-3071 Voice (202) 965-0400 • www.tudorplace.org • Fax (202) 965-3168

Answer Key:

Oct. 16–18, 1859 John Brown, an abolitionist, attacks the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia with the aim of arming enslaved workers and inspiring a rebellion. This action intensifies the hostilities between northern and southern states.

Dec. 2, 1859 John Brown, an abolitionist, is hanged for murder and treason following his attack on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia.

Nov. 6, 1860 Abraham Lincoln is elected President of the United States. Hannibal Hamlin is chosen as his Vice President.

Dec. 20, 1860 A special convention of the South Carolina legislature decides to secede from the United States of America, when news of Abraham Lincoln’s approaching presidency reaches them.

Jan. 9–Feb. 1, ‘61 Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas (listed here alphabetically) all secede from the United States within one month’s time.

Jan. 29, 1861 Kansas is admitted as a free state, a state in which the institution of slavery is

illegal.

Feb. 4-9, 1861 Representatives from the states that have seceded assemble in Montgomery,

Alabama. They create a new government, write an interim constitution, and elect

Jefferson Davis, a former Mississippi Congressman of the United States,

as their President. They decide to call themselves the Confederate States of

America.

March 4, 1861 Abraham Lincoln is inaugurated as President of the United States. He is the

sixteenth man to hold this position.




Answer Key:

April 12–13, 1861 Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina, is attacked. On the second day of assault, the men at the fort, led by Union Major Robert Anderson, surrender to South Carolina troops led by Confederate Brigadier General Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard.

April 15, 1861 Understanding that war is coming, President Abraham Lincoln asks for 75,000 men to sign on for three months of armed service to the United States.

Apr. 17–May 20, ‘61 Arkansas, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia (listed here in alphabetical order), all secede from the United States.

April 19, 1861 Lincoln issues a blockade of Confederate ports. April 20, 1861 Colonel Robert E. Lee resigns from the United States Army. May 29, 1861 Richmond, Virginia is named as the capital city of the Confederate States of

America. Richmond is only about 100 miles from Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States of America.

July 21, 1861 Despite Union, or Northern, confidence, the Confederacy is victorious the First Battle of Bull Run (also known as First Manassas by Confederate troops) in Virginia. At this battle, Confederate General Thomas Jackson earns the nickname “Stonewall” for his resolve in the battle, standing strong as though he were a stone wall. This is the first land battle of the Civil War. Nov. 1, 1861 George B. McClellan supersedes General Winfield Scott as General-in-Chief of the Union army.




Answer Key:

March 9, 1862 Two ironclad ships, a northern ship, the USS Monitor and a southern ship, the CSS Virginia, fight at Hampton Roads, Virginia. The battle ends in a stalemate, highlighting the superiority of ships made of steel rather than wood.

April 16, 1862 President Abraham Lincoln enacts the District of Columbia Emancipation Act. This act frees the enslaved persons in the District of Columbia., as well as compensates, or pays, the slave owners for their loss of property. Prior to this act, enslaved persons had been considered property.

May 8, 1862 Confederate General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson’s Shenandoah Valley campaign begins.

May 31–June 1, ’62 Robert E. Lee takes command of the Confederate army from Joseph E. Johnston during the Battle of Seven Pines.

June 25–July 1, ’62 Confederate General Robert E. Lee drives the Union army, led by General George B. McClellan, from Richmond, Virginia in what is called the Seven Days’ campaign.

Aug. 20, 1862 Horace Greeley, a newspaper editor, publishes The Prayer of Twenty Millions. This is an appeal to President Abraham Lincoln to free the enslaved workers in the Union.

Aug. 29–30, ’62 The Confederacy wins the Second Battle of Bull Run or Second Manassas, when referred to by Confederates.

Sept. 22, 1862 President Lincoln issues the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation.

Jan. 1, 1863 President Abraham Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation. This document

frees all enslaved persons in states currently in rebellion.




Answer Key:

March 3, 1863 President Lincoln signs the Conscription Act. This act makes it legal for all men between 20 and 45 years old to be called to military service. Time served, however, can be avoided by paying a fee or finding someone to serve in one’s place.

May 10, 1863 Confederate General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson dies from pneumonia. He contracts the disease after being wounded during the Battle of Chancellorsville in the month.

July 1–3, 1863 Union and Confederate forces collide at the Battle of Gettysburg, fought in Pennsylvania. The Union wins this battle.

July 4, 1863 The Confederates surrender the fort city, Vicksburg, Mississippi to Union General Ulysses S. Grant. This gives the Union control of the Mississippi River.

July 13–15, 1863 Violent riots break out in New York City protesting the Conscription Act. Many poor people feel it is unfair because one can pay a fee in exchange for not having to serve in the armed forces. Most of these poor people cannot afford to pay the fee.

Nov. 19, 1863 President Abraham Lincoln delivers his famous Gettysburg Address at a dedication of the National Cemetery at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

Nov. 25, 1863 The Union is victorious after the three day Battle of Chattanooga, in Tennessee. March 10, 1864 Union General Ulysses S. Grant is given official authority to command all of the

armies of the United States of America after being promoted to Lieutenant General.

June 28, 1864 President Abraham Lincoln signs a bill to repeal the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.

The act had allowed escaped enslaved persons to be returned to their owners

across state lines.




Answer Key:

Nov. 8, 1864 President Abraham Lincoln is reelected as President of the United States of America. Andrew Johnson is chosen as Vice President.

Nov. 16, 1864 Union General William Tecumseh Sherman begins his famous “March to the Sea” from Atlanta, Georgia to Savannah, Georgia.

Dec. 21, 1864 Savannah, Georgia falls to Union General William Tecumseh Sherman without opposition.

Jan. 31, 1865 Congress passes the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. This amendment abolishes slavery in all of the United States.

March 4, 1865 President Abraham Lincoln is inaugurated as President of the United States for a second term in office.

March 29, 1865 Union General Ulysses S. Grant and George G. Meade begin to pursue Confederate General Robert E. Lee along the Appomattox River.

April 2, 1865 Petersburg, Virginia falls to the Union. The Confederate government evacuates Richmond, Virginia.

April 9, 1865 Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrenders his Army of Northern Virginia to

Union General Ulysses S. Grant at the Appomattox Court House in Virginia. This

action ends the Civil War.

April 14, 1865 John Wilkes Booth, a popular actor at the time, shoots President Abraham Lincoln

at Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C. during a play. At about the same time,

Secretary of State William H. Seward is stabbed inside his home also in

Washington, D.C. The attacks are coordinated implying a conspiracy.




Answer Key:

April 15, 1865 President Abraham Lincoln dies.

April 15, 1865 Vice President Andrew Johnson is inaugurated as President of the United States. He is the seventeenth man to hold this position.

April 26, 1865 John Wilkes Booth, President Abraham Lincoln’s assassin, is shot and killed while on the run in Virginia.

May 10, 1865 Former President of the Confederate States, Jefferson Davis, is taken prisoner near Irwinville, Georgia.

June 2, 1865 General Kirby E. Smith, commander of the Trans-Mississippi Department, accepts the terms of surrender offered in late May officially ending Confederate resistance to the Union.

June 30, 1865 All of the accused conspirators of the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln

are found guilty, eight people in total. Four of the eight, including the only woman

accused, Mary Surratt, are sentenced to death.




John Brown, an abolitionist, attacks the federal arsenal

at Harpers Ferry, Virginia with the aim of arming

enslaved workers and inspiring a rebellion. This action

intensifies the hostilities between northern

and southern states.




John Brown, an abolitionist, is hanged for murder and treason following his attack

on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia.




Abraham Lincoln is elected President of the United States. Hannibal Hamlin is chosen as his Vice President.




A special convention of the South Carolina legislature decides to secede from the United States of America,

when news of Abraham Lincoln’s approaching presidency reaches them.




Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas (listed here alphabetically) all secede from the United States

within one month’s time.




Kansas is admitted as a free state, a state in which the institution of slavery is illegal.




Representatives from the states that have seceded assemble in Montgomery, Alabama. They create a new government, write an interim constitution,

and elect Jefferson Davis, a former Mississippi Congressman of the United States, as their President. They decide

to call themselves the Confederate States of America.




Abraham Lincoln is inaugurated as President of the United States. He is the sixteenth man to hold this position.




Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina, is attacked. On the second day of assault, the men at the fort, led by Union Major Robert Anderson, surrender

to South Carolina troops led by Confederate Brigadier General Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard.




Understanding that war is coming, President Abraham Lincoln asks for 75,000 men to sign on

for three months of armed service to the United States.




Arkansas, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia (listed here in alphabetical order), all secede

from the United States.




Lincoln issues a blockade of Confederate ports.




Colonel Robert E. Lee resigns from the United States Army.




Richmond, Virginia is named as the capital city

of the Confederate States of America. Richmond is

only about 100 miles from Washington, D.C.,

the capital of the United States of America.




Despite Union, or Northern, confidence, the Confederacy is victorious the First Battle of Bull Run (also known as

First Manassas by Confederate troops) in Virginia. At this battle, Confederate General Thomas Jackson

earns the nickname “Stonewall” for his resolve in the battle, standing strong as though he were a stone wall. This is the first land battle of the Civil War.




George B. McClellan supersedes General Winfield Scott as General-in-Chief of the Union army.




Two ironclad ships, a northern ship, the USS Monitor

and a southern ship, the CSS Virginia, fight at Hampton Roads, Virginia. The battle ends in a stalemate,

highlighting the superiority of ships made of steel rather than wood.




President Abraham Lincoln enacts the District of Columbia

Emancipation Act. This act frees the enslaved persons in the District of Columbia., as well as compensates, or pays, the slave owners for their loss of property.

Prior to this act, enslaved persons had been considered property.




Confederate General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson’s Shenandoah Valley campaign begins.




Robert E. Lee takes command of the Confederate army from Joseph E. Johnston during the Battle of Seven Pines.




Confederate General Robert E. Lee drives the Union army, led by General George B. McClellan, from Richmond, Virginia in what is called the Seven Days’ campaign.




Horace Greeley, a newspaper editor, publishes

The Prayer of Twenty Millions. This is an appeal to President Abraham Lincoln to free the enslaved workers in the Union.




The Confederacy wins the Second Battle of Bull Run or Second Manassas, when referred to by Confederates.




President Lincoln issues the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation.




President Abraham Lincoln issues

the Emancipation Proclamation. This document frees

all enslaved persons in states currently in rebellion.




President Lincoln signs the Conscription Act. This act makes it legal for all men between 20 and 45 years old to be called to military service. Time served,

however, can be avoided by paying a fee or finding someone to serve in one’s place.




Confederate General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson dies from pneumonia. He contracts the disease after being wounded during the Battle of Chancellorsville

earlier in the month.




Union and Confederate forces collide at the Battle of Gettysburg, fought in Pennsylvania.

The Union wins this battle.




The Confederates surrender the fort city, Vicksburg, Mississippi to Union General Ulysses S. Grant.

This gives the Union control of the Mississippi River.




Violent riots break out in New York City protesting the Conscription Act. Many poor people feel it is unfair because one can pay a fee in exchange for not having to serve in the armed forces. Most of these poor people

cannot afford to pay the fee.




President Abraham Lincoln delivers his famous Gettysburg Address at a dedication of the National Cemetery

at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.




The Union is victorious after the three day Battle of Chattanooga, in Tennessee.




Union General Ulysses S. Grant is given official authority to command all of the armies of the United States of America

after being promoted to Lieutenant General.




President Abraham Lincoln signs a bill to repeal

the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. The act had allowed

escaped enslaved persons to be returned to their owners

across state lines.




President Abraham Lincoln is reelected as

President of the United States. Andrew Johnson is chosen

as Vice President.




Union General William Tecumseh Sherman begins his famous “March to the Sea” from Atlanta, Georgia

to Savannah, Georgia.




Savannah, Georgia falls to Union General William Tecumseh Sherman

without opposition.




Congress passes the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. This amendment

abolishes slavery in all of the United States.




President Abraham Lincoln is inaugurated as President of the United States for a second term in office.




Union General Ulysses S. Grant and George G. Meade begin to pursue Confederate General Robert E. Lee

along the Appomattox River.




Petersburg, Virginia falls to the Union. The Confederate government evacuates Richmond, Virginia.




Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrenders his Army of Northern Virginia to Union General Ulysses S. Grant

at the Appomattox Court House in Virginia. This action ends the Civil War.




John Wilkes Booth, a popular actor at the time,

shoots President Abraham Lincoln at Ford’s Theater

in Washington, D.C. during a play. At about the same time,

Secretary of State William H. Seward is stabbed inside his home

also in Washington, D.C. The attacks are coordinated

implying a conspiracy.




President Abraham Lincoln dies.




Vice President Andrew Johnson is inaugurated as President of the United States.

He is the seventeenth man to hold this position.




John Wilkes Booth, President Abraham Lincoln’s assassin,

is shot and killed while on the run in Virginia.




Former President of the Confederate States, Jefferson Davis,

is taken prisoner near Irwinville, Georgia.




General Kirby E. Smith, commander of the

Trans-Mississippi Department, accepts the terms

of surrender offered in late May officially ending

Confederate resistance to the Union.




All of the accused conspirators of the assassination

of President Abraham Lincoln are found guilty,

eight people in total. Four of the eight,

including the only woman accused, Mary Surratt,

are sentenced to death.




Documents

TUDOR PLACE HISTORIC HOUSE AND GARDEN Civil WarCivil War Directions: To use this timeline, we suggest first printing out this PDF.Notice that the event sheets do not have dates on