Civil War – Year by Year

Steps to Secession 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

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.)

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.

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 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

1862 SEPTEMBER Battle of Antietam (Maryland) is the bloodiest one-day of the Civil War – 26,000 casualties This was Lee’s first attempt to invade the North 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

First week of July = turning point of the war for the Union 1863 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. 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

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

Spring/Summer 1864 – The Atlanta Campaign The Union Led by Gen. William T. Sherman 100,000 troops “I will make Georgia howl.”

Spring/Summer 1864 – The Atlanta Campaign 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 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 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