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The war that ended slavery and the struggle to rebuild the Union.

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Civil War & Reconstruction · 1861-1877
A House Divided · 1861-1877

The Civil War & Reconstruction

From the guns over Fort Sumter through the bloodiest battles in American history, the Emancipation Proclamation, and Lincoln's assassination, to the constitutional amendments that abolished slavery and promised equality — and the fraught decade that tried, and largely failed, to secure it. Slide across the years to relive the nation's defining ordeal.

1861 AD
The War Begins
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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.

1861 AD

The War Begins
  • Military

    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.

7 milestones

Meanwhile

Around 1861 AD

Full Chronicle

The Civil War & Reconstruction

From the guns over Fort Sumter through the bloodiest battles in American history, the Emancipation Proclamation, and Lincoln's assassination, to the constitutional amendments that abolished slavery and promised equality — and the fraught decade that tried, and largely failed, to secure it. Slide across the years to relive the nation's defining ordeal.

  1. The War Begins

    • 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.

  2. Total War

    • 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.

  3. A New Birth of Freedom

    • 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.

  4. Victory and Tragedy

    • 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.

  5. Reconstruction

    • 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.

  6. The Vote

    • 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.

  7. Reconstruction Abandoned

    • 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.