Download Civil War – Year by Year

Civil War – Year by Year
Steps to Secession
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Nov. 1860 –
– 6th - Lincoln elected president. A
number of southern states had
threatened secession if he won.
– Later that month, the General Assembly
sets aside money to defend the state and
calls for secession convention
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December 1860
– 7th - Gov. Joseph Brown writes letter to
Georgians stating he was more concerned
about Republicans being in power than
Abraham Lincoln
– 20th – South Carolina becomes the first
state to secede (leave the Union.)
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January 1861
– 16th - delegates met in Milledgeville (by
now the 4th capital) for a secession
convention. 4 states had already seceded
– South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, and
Alabama
– 19th – Georgia officially seceded from the
United States.
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February 1861
– Delegates from 7 southern states –
including GA – met in Montgomery and
formed a new country named the
Confederate States of America or the
Confederacy.
– Jefferson Davis was president of the CSA
and Alexander Stephens (from Georgia)
was the vice-president.
1861
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April 12 - First shots of the Civil War
were fired at Ft. Sumter, South
Carolina
First actual battle – near railroad
junction of Manassas, Va., right
outside of Washington DC
1862
JUNE
Robert E. Lee
named commander
of Confederate
army, renaming it
the Army of
Northern Virginia
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1862
SEPTEMBER
Battle of Antietam (Maryland) is the
bloodiest one-day of the Civil War –
26,000 casualties
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– This was Lee’s first attempt to invade the
North
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Lincoln issues the Emancipation
Proclamation to take effect Jan. 1, 1863
1863
January
Emancipation Proclamation issued to
“free” all slaves; actually got rid of
loopholes that kept blacks from
enlisting in Union army
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1863
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First week of July = turning point
of the war for the Union
1st – 3rd – Battle of Gettysburg.
– Lee’s second – and last – attempted
invasion of the north. This battle had the
most casualties of any in the war.
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4th - Vicksburg (Miss.) surrenders to
Union forces after 6-week siege left
city in ruins
1863
September
Battle of Chickamauga (Georgia) –
Confederate forces hold off attempted
invasion of Georgia and send Union troops
retreating to Chattanooga. This was the
last decisive Confederate victory of the
war.
 November
Lincoln delivers Gettysburg Address
Rebels attempt to seize Chattanooga but
Union keeps the city in its control
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Spring/Summer 1864 – The
Atlanta Campaign
The Confederacy
Joseph E. Johnston
– commander
(replaced Braxton
Bragg)
60,000 troops made
up his strong Army
of Tennessee
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Spring/Summer 1864 – The
Atlanta Campaign
The Union
Led by Gen. William
T. Sherman
100,000 troops
“I will make
Georgia howl.”
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Spring/Summer 1864 – The
Atlanta Campaign
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Sherman captures Atlanta in Sept. and
telegraphs the president – “Atlanta is
ours and fairly won.”
With the capture of Atlanta, the Union
has gained control of the last supply
center of the south.
Spring/Summer 1864 – The
Atlanta Campaign
The March to the Sea
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Sept. – Nov. – Sherman and his troops
stay in Atlanta until November. They
stay long enough to have plenty of
supplies brought in before burning the
city – and for the 1864 presidential
election to be decided
Nov. 21 – Sherman begins the March
to the Sea with 62,000 troops
What was the March to
the Sea?

The March to the Sea was the Union’s
destruction of rural Georgia by
marching from Atlanta to Savannah –
a distance of 250 miles. Troops
attacked the civilian infrastructure
– homes, crops, animals. They cut a
path 60 miles wide, causing $100
million in damage.
The March to the Sea
The March to the Sea
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Sherman divided his troops into two
columns – each following a major rail line
through the state
One of the most famous souvenirs from the
march were “Sherman’s neckties”
Sherman arrived in Savannah on Dec. 21
and presented the city to President Lincoln
as a Christmas present.
1865
March
President Lincoln is inaugurated for his 2nd term;
Lee launches his last offensive against Grant but
it fails
 April
9th – Robert E. Lee surrenders to U.S. Grant at
Appomattox. Grant agrees to generous terms of
surrender for Confederate officers and soldiers
14th – Lincoln is assassinated by John Wilkes
Booth
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