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EPISODE ONE 1861
| 1787: |
 |
The
United States Constitution is ratified; slaves
are counted as three-fifths of a person and enjoy
no rights of citizenship. |
| 1793 |
|
Eli
Whitney, a northerner, invents the cotton gin. |
| 1803 |
|
Louisiana
Purchase roughly doubles the size of the United
States. |
| 1831 |
|
William
Lloyd Garrison begins publication of radical abolitionist
newspaper, The Liberator. |
| 1831 |
|
55
whites killed in Virginia slave revolt led by
Nat Turner. |
| 1837 |
|
Pro-slavery
mod kills abolitionist editor Elijah P. Lovejoy
in Alton, Illinois. |
| 1846-8 |
|
War
with Mexico adds territory to the United States. |
| 1852 |
|
Harriet
Beecher Stowe’s inter-national best-seller,
Uncle Tom’s Cabin, exposes the evils of
slavery. |
| 1854-5 |
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Anti-slavery
northerners found the Republican Party. |
| 1854 |
|
The Kansas-Nebraska Act allows incoming settlers
to decide for themselves whether to permit slavery. |
| 1857 |
|
The
Supreme Court decides that a slave, Dred Scott,
has no rights a white man is bound to respect. |
| 1858 |
|
Abraham
Lincoln and Stephen Douglas debate issues in the
campaign for Illinois United States Senate seat. |
| 1859 |
|
John
Brown is executed for treason against the state
of Virginia after his unsuccessful attempt to
incite a slave uprising at Harpers Ferry. |
| 1860 |
|
Abraham
Lincoln is elected President of the United States. |
| 1861 |
|
February
- The Confederate States of America is formed,
with Jefferson Davis sworn in as president. |
| 1861 |
|
March
4 - Abraham Lincoln inaugurated as President of
the United States. |
| 1861 |
|
April
12 – Confederates fires on Fort Sumter in
Charleston Harbor, South Carolina. |
| 1861 |
|
April
14 – Lincoln calls for 75,000 volunteers
to put down the insurrection. |
| 1861 |
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April
18 – Virginia’s Robert E. Lee rejects
Lincoln’s request to command the Union army. |
| 1861 |
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April
19 – Lincoln orders the blockade of ports
in Confederate states. |
| 1861 |
|
July
21 – Battle of First Manassas (Bull Run)
in Virginia; 4,878 casualties.
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EPISODE TWO 1862
| 1862 |
|
February 6 and 16 –
Battles of Fort Henry and Donelson in Tennessee;
4,332 casualties. |
| 1862 |
|
February 20 – Willie
Lincoln dies of typhoid fever in the White House. |
| 1862 |
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March 9 – Battle
of the Ironclads, the Confederate Merrimac vs.
the Union Monitor, Hampton Roads, Virginia. |
| 1862 |
|
March 13 – George
McClellan plans to move his 121,500 troops to
Richmond. It takes three weeks and 400 boats to
land at Fortress Monroe on the Virginia coast. |
| 1862 |
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April 4 to 7 – Confederate
General Jeb Magruder stages theatrical troop movements
at Yorktown, with an army of only 11,000, creating
the appearance of a much larger force. |
| 1862 |
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April 6 to 7 – Battle
of Shiloh at Pittsburgh Landing in Tennessee;
23,700 casualties. |
| 1862 |
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April 16 – Lincoln
signs into law a bill prohibiting slavery in the
District of Columbia. |
| 1862 |
|
April 24 – Battle
of New Orleans: Admiral David Farragut sails past
forts at mouth of Mississippi River to take the
city. |
EPISODE THREE 1862
| 1862 |
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June 25 – The Seven
Days (the Peninsula Campaign) for Richmond, Virginia;
36,000 casualties. |
| 1862 |
|
August 29 to 30 –
The Battle of Second Manassas in Virginia (also
known as Second Bull Run); 25,251 casualties. |
| 1862 |
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September 17 – Battle
of Antietam Creek near Sharpsburg, Maryland; 23,000
casualties in bloodiest day of combat in American
history. |
| 1862 |
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September 24 – Lincoln
suspends the writ of habeas corpus for individuals
deemed guilty of "Discouraging volunteer
enlistments, resisting military drafts, or guilty
of any disloyal practice offering comfort to Rebels." |
| 1862 |
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October 11 – The
Confederate Congress passes a bill exempting from
army service anyone owning 20 or more slaves. |
| 1862 |
|
December 13 – The
Battle of Fredericksburg in Virginia; 17, 900
casualties. |
| 1863 |
|
January 1 – Lincoln
signs the Emancipation Proclamation. |
EPISODE FOUR 1863
| 1862-3 |
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December 31 to January
3 – The Battle of Murfreesboro; 23,514 casualties. |
| 1863 |
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March 3 – Congress
passes the Conscription Act, calling for the enlistment
in military service of all able-bodied males between
20 and 45 years of age for terms of three years. |
| 1863 |
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March 10 – Faced
with an estimated 125,000 deserters, Lincoln issues
o general amnesty for all who will report back
to duty. |
| 1863 |
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April 21 to May 11 –
The Battle of Chancellorsville in Virginia; 30,051
casualties. |
| 1863 |
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May 19 – Ohio congressman
Clement Vallandigham, an out-spoken critic of
Lincoln and the war, is exiled to the South. |
| 1863 |
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May 19 – In three
weeks Grant’s army marches 180 miles through
Mississippi, fights and wins five battles, and
surrounds Vicksburg. After a failed attack on
the city, Grant settles for a siege to "Out-camp
the enemy." |
EPISODE FIVE 1863
| 1863 |
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July 1 to 3 – The
Battle of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania 51,000 casualties. |
| 1863 |
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July 4 - The Battle (Siege)
of Vicksburg in Mississippi; 50,000 casualties;
29,000 rebels surrender. |
| 1863 |
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July 13 – 50,000
people (mostly Irish) riot in New York City in
opposition to the draft, attacking and beating
blacks. |
| 1863 |
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July 18- 54th Massachusetts
Colored Infantry attacks Battery Wagner at Charleston
Harbor, South Carolina. |
| 1863 |
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August 1 – Jefferson
Davis offers amnesty to all Confederate deserters. |
| 1863 |
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August 21 – Confederate
William C. Quantrill’s guerilla raid on
Lawrence, Kansas; 150 civilian casualties. |
| 1863 |
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September 19 to 20 –
The battle of Chickamauga Creek in Georgia; 34,444
casualties. |
| 1863 |
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November 19 – Lincoln’s
Gettysburg Address dedicates a battlefield cemetery
at Gettysburg Pennsylvania. |
| 1863 |
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November 23 to 25 –
The Battle of Chattanooga in Tennessee; 12,491
casualties. |
EPISODE SIX 1864
| 1864 |
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March 2 – U.S. Grant
named General-in-Chief of Union armies. |
| 1864 |
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April 12 – The Massacre
at Fort Pillow on the Mississippi River in Tennessee;
431 casualties. |
| 1864 |
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May 5 to 19 – The
Battles of the Wilderness and Spotsylvania near
Chancellorsville, Virginia; 54,000 casualties. |
| 1864 |
|
May 31 – A group
of radical Republicans meets in Cleveland, Ohio
to nominate their own presidential candidate,
General John Charles Fremont. |
| 1864 |
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June 1 to 3 – The
Battle of Cold Harbor in Virginia; 13,500 casualties. |
| 1864 |
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June 14 – Naval battle
between CSS Alabama and USS Kearsarge near Cherbourg,
France; 33 casualties. |
| 1864 |
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June 27 – The Battle
of Kennesaw Mountain near Marietta, Georgia; 2,321
casualties. |
EPISODE SEVEN 1864
| 1864 |
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June 8 – Lincoln
is nominated by the Union Party for president.
Andrew Johnson, a Tennessee Union Democrat, is
nominated as vice-president. |
| 1864 |
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July 2 to 14 – Early’s
Raid on Washington, D.C.; 9,000 casualties. |
| 1864 |
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August 5 – Naval
Battle of Mobile Bay; 589 casualties. |
| 1864 |
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August 31 – General
McClellan is nominated as the Democratic candidate
for president. |
| 1864 |
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July 18 to September 3
– The Battles for Atlanta; 20,000 casualties. |
| 1864 |
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October 19 – The
Battle of Cedar Creek in the Shenandoah Valley:
8,665 casualties. |
| 1864 |
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October 19 – Confederate
raiders, based in Canada, steal $200,000 from
banks in the Vermont town of St. Albans. |
| 1864 |
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November 8 – Lincoln
is re-elected to a second term winning more than
55 percent of the popular vote.
|
| 1864 |
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December 16 – The
Battle of Nashville in Tennessee; 4,449 casualties. |
| 1864 |
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December 21 – Sherman
captures Savannah, Georgia. |
EPISODE EIGHT 1865
| 1865 |
|
January 15 battles for
Fort Fisher in North Carolina; 1,841 casualties. |
| 1865 |
|
February 3 – Lincoln
meets with Confederate Peace Commission at Hampton
Roads, Virginia. |
| 1865 |
|
February 19 – Confederates
abandon Charleston, South Carolina. |
| 1865 |
|
March 3 – Union Congress
creates the Freedmen’s Bureau. |
| 1865 |
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March 13 – The Confederacy
authorizes the arming of slaves as soldiers. |
| 1865 |
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March 25 to April 2 –
The Battle of Petersburg in Virginia; 17,000 casualties. |
| 1865 |
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April 3 to 4 – Davis
flees Richmond, hoping to escape to the South;
Lincoln arrives in the city. |
| 1865 |
|
April 9 – Lee surrenders
at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia. |
| 1865 |
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April 14 – Abraham
Lincoln is assassinated. |
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