The War BeginsMilitary
Fort Sumter and the outbreak of war
Confederate guns fire on Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, opening the Civil War. Eleven Southern states form the Confederacy to defend slavery and states' rights.
American History · Chronicle VI of X
The Civil War & Reconstruction
A House Divided · 1861-1877
The war that ended slavery and the struggle to rebuild the Union.
- Span
- 1861 – 1877
- Entries
- 7
Entry 1 of 7
Total WarMilitary
Antietam, the bloodiest day
The Battle of Antietam becomes the single bloodiest day in American history, with over 22,000 casualties, and gives Lincoln the victory he needs to act against slavery.
A New Birth of FreedomPolitical
Emancipation Proclamation and Gettysburg
Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation frees enslaved people in the rebel states and makes ending slavery a war aim; the Union victory at Gettysburg turns the tide of the war.
At the dedication of the battlefield cemetery, Lincoln's brief Gettysburg Address redefined the war as a struggle for human equality and 'government of the people, by the people, for the people.'
Victory and TragedyPolitical
Appomattox, the 13th Amendment, and Lincoln's death
Lee surrenders at Appomattox, ending the war; the Thirteenth Amendment abolishes slavery. Days later, Lincoln is assassinated, leaving Reconstruction to lesser hands.
ReconstructionPolitical
The Fourteenth Amendment
The Fourteenth Amendment grants citizenship and equal protection under the law to all born in the United States, a cornerstone of American civil rights.
The VotePolitical
The Fifteenth Amendment and Black officeholders
The Fifteenth Amendment bars denying the vote on grounds of race; Black men are elected to Congress and state legislatures across the South.
Reconstruction AbandonedPolitical
The Compromise of 1877
A disputed election is settled by withdrawing federal troops from the South, ending Reconstruction and opening the way to disenfranchisement and Jim Crow segregation.