OT - Civil War timeline

pharmseller · Post by **pharmseller** » Sun Dec 23, 2007 3:08 pm

In cleaning out some old files due to the job transition I cam across a Civil War timeline from when my wife finished her B.A. Kinda neat. It's long, so my apologies if it proves unwieldly to post.

"In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The government shall not assail you. You can have no conflict, without being yourselves the aggressors. You have no oath registered in heaven to destroy the government, while I have the most solemn one to 'preserve, protect and defend' it.
Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone, all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely will be, by the better angels of our nature."
President Abraham Lincoln, March 4, 1861 â€“

1860

Dec 20: South Carolina secedes from the Union

Dec 26: Maj. Anderson secretly moves his garrison from Fort Moultrie to Fort Sumter to avoid bloodshed. The S.C. government is outraged at this act. Construction to build other batteries that could fire at Fort Sumter begins immediately. [map]

1861

Jan 1: South Carolina seizes Fort Johnson [previously abandoned] in Charleston Harbor.

Jan 3: Delaware rejects a proposal that it join the South in seceding.

Jan 6: The Governor of Maryland sends a message to the people of that state strongly opposing Maryland's secession from the Union.

Jan 9: Union supply ship, Star of the West, is fired on by Confederate batteries on Morris Island as she tries to re-supply the garrison at Fort Sumter. Fort Sumter does not provide fire support, so the merchant vessel returns the way it came. A Mississippi State Convention votes [84 to 15] to secede.

Jan 10: Florida Convention votes [62 to 7] for secession. W.T. Sherman resigns his post in Louisiana because he considers that state's seizure of military forts and arsenals to be an act of war. He does, however, yield to school authorities to remain for a few days to turn over monies and so forth to his successor.

Jan 11: Alabama votes [61 to 39] for secession. Votes against secession are higher here due to a large pro-union contingent in Northern Alabama (as in Eastern Tennessee).

Jan 19: At a State Convention in Milledgeville, Georgia votes [208 to 89] to leave the Union.

Jan 26: Louisiana votes [113 to 17] to secede from the Union.

Jan 29: Kansas is admitted to the Union as a free state.

Feb 1: Texas, against the wishes of Governor Sam Houston, votes [166 to 7] for secession - which will take effect on 23 Feb. Lt. Col. R.E. Lee departs his military assignment in Texas and returns to his home in Arlington, Virginia to await developments.

Feb 4: Seceding states meet in Montgomery, Alabama to form the Confederate government.

Feb 7: The Choctaw Indian Nation declares itself for the Confederacy.

Feb 9: Voters in Tennessee reject the proposal to call a convention to consider secession by nearly 10,000 votes. Jefferson Davis is elected President of the new Confederacy.

Feb 17: William T. Sherman departs his posting at the Louisiana State Seminary of Learning and Military Academy. He attends a farewell tea in New Orleans with Braxton and Mrs. Bragg before returning north.

Feb 18: Jefferson Davis is inaugurated in Montgomery, Alabama as the provisional president of the Confederate States.

Feb 23: Voters in Texas approve secession [34,794 to 11,235]

Feb 28: U.S. Congress votes to form the Territory of Colorado as a part of the Union. The House passed an amendment, approved by President-elect Lincoln, not to interfere with slavery where it already exists. In Raleigh, North Carolina, a majority of 651 votes showed the state rejecting a state convention on secession.

Mar 1: P.G.T. Beauregard is assigned the Charleston, S.C. area command for the Confederacy.

Mar 2: The Territories of Nevada and Dakota are added to the Union. Texas is admitted to the Confederacy.

Mar 4: Abraham Lincoln is inaugurated as president of the United States. The Stars and Bars [the first Confederate flag] is flown for the first time over the Alabama State House.

Mar 11: The Confederate Constitution is adopted [to be ratified by the end of April] in Montgomery, Alabama.

Mar 16: The territory of Arizona declares itself out of the Union. President Lincoln promotes Lt. Col. Lee to Col. of the 1st U.S. Cavalry.

Mar 29: Governor Sam Houston, having been disposed after refusing to take an oath of loyalty to the Confederacy, refuses an offer by the Federal Government to re-establish him to that post. He quietly retires.

Apr 4: The Virginia State Convention rejects [89 to 45] a motion to pass an ordinance of secession and have it voted on by the state residents.

Apr 8: William Sherman rejects Montgomery Blair's offer of a post in the War Department, leading several Cabinet members to believe Sherman would join the Confederacy if war comes.

Apr 12: Fort Sumter is fired upon at 4:30 am. Edmund Ruffin - a civilian, fires the first shot. Approximately 2 and a half hours later, Abner Doubleday fires the first Union shot. Fort Pickens, Pensacola, Florida is re-enforced with Federal troops. The South is unable to take the installation.

Apr 13: Fort Sumter surrenders. One Federal soldier is killed on the 50th shot during a ceremonial 100-gun salute.

Apr 14: The Union evacuates Fort Sumter.

Apr 15: Lincoln calls for 75,000 volunteers to serve for ninety days. The Northern States affirm their commitment. Kentucky and North Carolina refuse just as quickly.

Apr 16: Governor Harris of Tennessee refuses to supply troops to the North and calls on the Confederacy for the protection of Tennessee.

Apr 17: Missouri refuses the President's requisition. Virginia refuses to supply troops to Lincoln. A Secession Convention in Virginia votes by secret ballot [88 to 55] to join the Confederacy.

Apr 18: Francis P. Blair offers Col. Robert E. Lee, on behalf of the President, command of all Union forces. Lee declines saying that he cannot raise his sword against his home state. Maj. Anderson and his command arrive in NY Harbor and are hailed as heroes.

Apr 19: The 6th Massachusetts, passing through Baltimore, Maryland are pelted with stones. The soldiers react by firing on the angry mob. Four soldiers and 12 civilians are killed before the troops can be whisked away. Lincoln orders the Union blockade of all Southern ports. Lee learns of Virginia's secession.

Apr 20: Col. Robert E. Lee forwards his resignation to the United States War Dept. Gosport Navy Yard is abandoned by the Federals, leaving the burned and scuttled USS Merrimack behind. Thomas J. Jackson is ordered, together with his VMI cadets to Richmond.

Apr 21: The Governor of Virginia asks Lee to take charge of Virginia's defenses. Lee accepts.

Apr 23: Lee assumes command of all State troops [for Virginia]. He is not at this point in charge of the Army of Northern Virginia.

Apr 26: Gen. Joseph E. Johnston is assigned command of all Virginia State forces in and around Richmond.

Apr 27: The Northern blockade is extended to cover the ports of North Carolina and Virginia. Lincoln suspends the writ of Habeas Corpus for reasons of public safety. Col. T.J. Jackson is assigned command of the lower Shenandoah Valley and Harperâ€™s Ferry.

Apr 29: Annapolis, Maryland, the House of Delegates votes [53 to 13] against secession. The eastern part of the state, however, is Pro-Southern and is considered a possible problem area.

May 3: Lincoln calls for an addition 42,000 volunteers to serve for three years. Governor Clairbourne Jackson [Missouri] declares that state to be for the South.

May 4: Pro-Union groups in western Virginia meet to discuss a possible secession from their home state.

May 6: The states of Tennessee and Arkansas pass ordinances of secession and formally leave the Union. Jefferson Davis approved a bill [from May 3] declaring a state of war. England recognizes the Confederacy as a belligerent but not separate nation.

May 7: Governor Harris (Tennessee) takes action within the State Legislature to join the state to the Confederacy. In Knoxville pro-Union and secessionist factions of Tennessee riot.

May 10: Captain Lyon captures Missouri State militia troops and parades them off to jail in St. Louis. This causes a disturbance in the populace and shots are exchanged. Two of the observers to this display are William T. Sherman, walking with his son and brother-in-law; and U.S. Grant, now a Col. of the 21st Illinois Volunteer Infantry.

May 11: Mob actions in St. Louis continue but eventually quiet down. People begin to discuss which direction - North or South - the state should take.

May 13: Lincoln devises a plan with William Nelson to arm the pro-Union factions of Kentucky without the arms falling into the [Pro-Southern] state government's control.

May 14: William Sherman returns to the Army accepting a commission as the commander of the 13th Infantry (Regulars).

May 15: Nathaniel Lyon in St. Louis dispatches troops to Potosi, Missouri to aid pro-Union citizens.

May 16: Tennessee is accepted into the Confederacy. Lyon, now a Brigadier General in the Union Army, mounts a campaign to drive the Pro-Southern forces from Missouri.

May 17: North Carolina is admitted to the Confederacy contingent upon her ratification of the Confederate Constitution.

May 18: Arkansas is admitted to the Confederacy.

May 20: North Carolina officially secedes from the Union. Kentucky declares its neutrality and forbids any movement of troops on its soil. The Confederate Congress votes to move the Confederate capital to Richmond, Virginia.

May 23: Virginia voters ratify secession ordinance by a 3 to 1 margin in the eastern and central portions of the state.

May 24: Federal troops capture Alexandria, Virginia. Col. Elmer Ellsworth (11th New York Fire Zouaves) is killed as he removes a Confederate flag from a hotel roof.

May 30: The South raises the USS Merrimack.

May 31: P.G.T. Beauregard is named to command the forces along the "Alexandria Line" in Northern Virginia.

Jun 5: Gen. Beauregard consolidates his forces around Manassas Junction, Virginia.

Jun 8: Voters in western Tennessee approve secession by at 2-1 margin. This same ratio is reversed in eastern Tennessee, however the state has already been admitted to the Confederacy. R.E. Lee is now without a command since all Virginia State forces have been transferred to Confederate government control.

Jun 11: Wheeling, Virginia is the scene of a meeting of pro-Unions to organize a separate state government loyal to the Union.

Jun 17: Gen. Lyon occupies Jefferson City, Missouri. The forces of Governor Jackson depart. This leaves most of the northern part of the state and the Missouri River in the hands of the Union.

Jun 29: Gen. Irvin McDowell, pressured for action by both the public and the Federal government, outlines his plan for attacking Confederate forces at Manassas Junction in a staff meeting with the Cabinet. [map]

Jul 16: McDowell sets out from Alexandra to Centreville to find Beauregard's Rebel force.
Jul 20: Gen. Johnson arrives in Manassas with his army to reinforce Gen. Beauregard.

Jul 21: Confederate Army wins at First Manassas (Bull Run); Gen. Thomas Jonah Jackson gains his reputation and nickname of "Stonewall." Union forces are routed and 'skedaddle' all the way back to Washington. [map]

Jul 27: Gen. George B. McClellan takes command of the forces around Washington.

Jul 31: The State Convention in Missouri formally elects pro-Union H.R. Gamble as governor. Lincoln nominates Grant to be Brigadier General of Volunteers.

Aug 5: Congress voted to impose a 3% income tax effective 1 Jan 1862.

Aug 10: Gen. Lyon is killed during the Battle of Wilson's Creek, Missouri. The Confederates are victorious.

Aug 16: Lincoln declares the Southern states to be in a state of rebellion and forbids all commerce with them.

Aug 17: The Union Army of the Potomac is formed by merging commands around Washington, the Shenandoah and northern Virginia.

Aug 19: In Richmond, Confederate Congress admits the Confederate government of Missouri into the Confederacy.

Aug 20: McClellan assumes command of the Army of the Potomac. "Little Mac" begins the process of reorganizing and training.

Sep 3: Confederate forces under Gen. Gideon Pillow march into Kentucky ending the state's neutrality. Pillow is ordered to withdraw immediately by the Confederate Secretary of War, but the Secretary is overruled by Jeff Davis.

Sep 11: The Kentucky legislature calls for the Governor to expel all Confederate troops in the state. A resolution to expel all troops is defeated.

Sep 12: The Federal government orders the arrest of Maryland legislators who were scheduled to meet in Frederick on Sep 17 for disloyalty. The prisoners are sent to Fort Warren in Boston Harbor. Maryland remains loyal to the Union.

Oct 8: The Army of the Cumberland is given to Brig Gen. Sherman. Its commander, Gen. Anderson [Fort Sumter], has been in ill health.

Nov 1: Gen. Winfield Scott goes into voluntary retirement somewhat disheartened about his replacement, Gen. G.B. McClellan, who had been complaining about the elderly warrior both to the press and at public gatherings.

Nov 3: Gen. David Hunter replaces Gen. Fremont in Missouri. The latter had been the cause of much embarrassment and uneasiness in Missouri. Fremont is sent east.

Nov 7: Union Admiral Du Pont and Gen. Thomas Sherman capture Port Royal in South Carolina. [map]

Nov 8: The pro-Union population in eastern Tennessee, tired of waiting for Federal help, begin their own local campaign against the Confederacy.

Nov 9: Gen. Henry [Old Brains] Hallack is assigned command of the Dept of Missouri. This encompassed the states of Missouri, Arkansas, Illinois and Kentucky west of the Cumberland River, and included Grant's command. Gen. William Sherman is replaced as the commander of the Army of the Cumberland by Gen. Don Carlos Buell -- Sherman is leaving under a cloud.

Nov 18: Russellville, Kentucky. A convention passes an ordinance of secession and forms a Confederate government for the state.

Nov 20: A convention held in Hatteras, North Carolina repudiates the secession of the state from the Union and establishes a provisional government. This now makes three states with two governments -- Missouri, Kentucky and North Carolina.

Dec 10: In Richmond, the state of Kentucky was admitted to the Confederacy. The Confederate government of Kentucky had no permanent home and moved around frequently.

"It was a pitiful and sickening sight to see such a mass of mangled limbs and mutilated bodies, but the patience with which they bore their injuries excited our admiration. Of the twenty which I helped carry on the boat, not one uttered a complaint, even though a leg or an arm were missing. The next day we took a stroll over the battlefield. We saw sights that fairly froze the blood in our veins. The dead lay as they had fallen, in every conceivable shape, some grasping their guns as though they were in the act of firing, while others, with a cartridge in their icy grasp, were in the act of loading. Some of the countenances wore a peaceful, glad smile, while on others rested a fiendish look of hate."
-- Pvt. Barber, Co. D, 15th Illinois Volunteer Infantry, Fort Donnelson, Tennessee, 18 February 1862 --

1862

Jan 11: Simon Cameron resigns as Secretary of War. There had been increasing charges of corruption against the War Department.

Jan 13: Lincoln indicates that he will nominate Edwin M. Stanton as the new Secretary of War.

Jan 15: Stanton is confirmed by the Senate as the new Secretary of War.
Jan 19: The battle of Mill Springs, Kentucky is won by the Federals, breaking the Confederate defense in that state.

Jan 26: Gen. Beauregard is ordered to Tennessee as second in command under A.S. Johnston.

Jan 27: Lincoln, weary with McClellan's inactivity, issues General War Order No. 1, proclaiming that on 22 Feb all land and sea forces would attack the Rebels. This prods "Little Mac" into what will become known as the Peninsular Campaign. [map]

Jan 30: The USS Monitor is launched at Greenpoint, Long Island.

Feb 6: Andrew Footeâ€™s gunboats capture Fort Henry on the Tennessee River. Grant's land forces arrive too late to take a part in the battle.

Feb 3: Lincoln turns down the offer of War Elephants from the King of Siam.

Feb 13: Gen. Grant mounts an offensive against Fort Donelson.

Feb 16: Fort Donelson on the Cumberland River surrenders after most of its garrison escapes to safety. Gen. Grant gains the nickname of 'Unconditional Surrender' Grant due to the terms that he offers the remaining defenders. [map]

Feb 17: The CSS Virginia is commissioned.

Feb 18: First meeting in Richmond of the Confederate Congress.

Feb 22: Jeff Davis is inaugurated in Richmond as president of the permanent Confederate States.

Feb 25: the Confederates evacuate Nashville, Tennessee. The city would remain in Federal hands for the rest of the war.

Feb 26: Lincoln signed legislation creating a national paper currency.

Mar 6: The USS Monitor departs New York Harbor for Hampton Roads, Virginia under tow.

Mar 8: Ironclad CSS Virginia (Merrimack) sinks the USS Cumberland and USS Congress at Hampton Roads, Virginia. The USS Minnesota is run aground. The USS Monitor arrives that evening.

Mar 8: Confederate forces are defeated at Pea Ridge (Elkhorn Tavern), Arkansas.

Mar 9: The CSS Virginia returns to Hampton Roads to finish off the USS Minnesota and finds the USS Monitor waiting. The resulting battle ends in a draw.

Mar 11: McClellan is relieved as General-in-Chief but remains as the commander of the Army of the Potomac. Lincoln appoint Gen. "Old Brains" Hallack to command of all troops in the western theater. Almost immediately Hallack orders Gen. Buell to join forces with Gen. Grant at Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee.

Mar 13: Gen. Pope begins attacking Island No. 10 on the Mississippi River.

Mar 17: Troops under Gen. George B. McClellan begin arriving at Fort Monroe, Virginia as the Peninsula Campaign begins. Rain and mud delay the Union Army. McClellan is outfoxed by Confederate Gen. Magruder with 'Quaker' guns and deception tactics.

Mar 23: 'Stonewall' Jackson begins his Shenandoah Valley Campaign to prevent Gen. Nathaniel Banks and Gen. McDowell from reinforcing McClellan on the Virginia Peninsula.

Apr 6-7: Confederate forces surprise Gen. Grant at Shiloh meeting house. Confederate Gen. A.S. Johnson is killed at the 'Hornet's Nest'. Initial failure turns into victory for the Union with the arrival of Don Carlos Buell's forces. Gen. Beauregard retreats to Corinth, Mississippi.

Apr 8: Island No. 10 formally surrenders to Gen. Pope.

Apr 11: Gen. Hallack arrives at Pittsburg Landing [Shiloh], Tennessee to take direct command of the troops. This places Grant as second in command. Grant considers resigning his commission. Hallack follows Gen. Beauregard to Corinth, Mississippi, albeit very slowly - hesitant to attack.

Apr 18: Commander David Porter's mortar boats begin shelling Forts Jackson and St. Philip on the Mississippi below New Orleans.

Apr 24: Farragut, deciding that the mortar boats were making no headway determines to try to run past the forts with his fleet to New Orleans. [map]

Apr 25: the Union forces of Farragut occupy New Orleans.

Apr 28: Forts Jackson and St. Philip formally surrender to the Union.

May 1: Gen. Ben Butler and his troops assume control of New Orleans.

May 5: In the rearguard action at Williamsburg, Virginia, Rebel forces fall back toward Richmond; eight days later Jeff Davis sends his family to safety in North Carolina. Gen. Joe Hooker gets his nickname ['fighting'] through a punctuation error by newspaper reporter.

May 9: The Ironclad, CSS Virginia is blown up to keep her from falling into Federal hands.

May 15: Gen. Benjamin "Beast" Butler issues his infamous General Orders no. 28 in retaliation for the women of New Orleans treating Union soldiers with disrespect.

May 29: Gen. Beauregard evacuates Corinth, Mississippi. Hallack does not even realize he is gone.

May 31: Confederate forces under Gen. Joe E. Johnston attack McClellan's forces at Seven Pines (Fair Oaks). Gen. Johnston is severely wounded and is replaced by Gen. Lee the following day. [map]

Jun 6: Memphis, Tennessee falls to the Union Naval forces two days after the evacuation of Fort Pillow, Tennessee by the Confederates.

Jun 9: 'Stonewall' Jackson concludes his successful Shenandoah Valley Campaign having marched 679 miles in 48 days taking part in six major battles (Kernstown, McDowell, Front Royal, Winchester, Cross Keys, Port Republic) and several serious skirmishes.

Jun 12: J.E.B. Stuart begins his famous ride around McClellan's army pursued by his father-in-law, Philip St. George Cooke.

Jun 17: Gen. Fremont [formally in Missouri, lately in the Shenandoah] resigns as he learns of Gen. Pope's coming east to take command of his and Gen. Banks's commands - to be consolidated into the new Federal Army of Virginia. In the west Gen. Bragg is named to replace Gen. Beauregard with the latter's failure to stop the Union army under Gen. Hallack at Corinth.

Jun 26: Gene Pope is designated the commander of the Army of Virginia. This particular army is a consolidation of Union forces scattered around Virginia (other than McClellan's AOP which is engaged with Lee at this time). In July Pope takes his new command and begins to march it south towards Gordonville, VA in July to take possession of the Virginia Central RR and cut the Confederate Capital off from the Shannendoah Valley. Lee, having forced McClellan back to the James River after the Seven Days Battles, sends Gene Jackson to counter the new threat. Maneuvering of the two forces will continue through July and most of August, culminating in the Battle of 2nd Manassas.

Jun 25 - Jul 1: The Seven Days' Battles. [map] Considered Southern victories since McClellan continues to retreat. His retreat ends at Malvern Hill, where he holds off further Rebel assaults. After this victory, however, he loads his army back into their ships and returns North.

Jul 11: Gen. Hallack is promoted to General-in-Chief of all U.S. land forces and recalled to Washington. It is a desk job.

Jul 17: U.S. Grant assumes command of all western troops.

Aug 29-30: The battle of 2nd Manassas is fought - a Confederate victory over the Union forces under Gen. Pope.

Sep 1: Gen. Phil Kearny is killed during a skirmish at Chantilly, Virginia. Pope continues to retreat.

Sep 2: Gen. John Pope is relieved of his command. Lincoln reluctantly re-instates McClellan as commander of all armies in northern Virginia.

Sep 4: Lee begins to move into Maryland, thinking many of the Pro-Southern population will join him. He is disappointed.

Sep 13: Billy Mitchell [27th Indiana Volunteers] finds three cigars wrapped in a paper. The paper is Lee's Special Order 191, which defined his Maryland campaign strategy. The order is transmitted to McClellan who begins to move toward South Mountain to engage Lee.

Sep 15: Lee, alarmed at McClellan's movements, begins to concentrate his forces at Sharpsburg, Maryland.

Sep 17: Antietam (Sharpsburg) is fought - the single most bloody day of the war. The battle ends in a draw, with McClellan refusing to commit his reserve forces to claim victory. Gen. Lee returns to Virginia on the 19th.

Sep 22: Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation based on the Union 'victory' at Antietam.

Oct 1: Gen. Pemberton is given command of the defenses at Vicksburg - replacing Earl Van Dorn.

Oct 8: Gen. Don Carlos Buell confronts Gen. Braxton Bragg at Perryville, Kentucky - it's a spotty victory for the North. The state will never again be threatened by invasion from the South. Bragg disengages and retreats back to Chattanooga, Tennessee. Gene Buell fails to pursue the retreating Confederates.

Oct 24: Don Carlos Buell is removed from command in Kentucky and replaced with Gen. William Rosecrans.

Oct 26: The Army of the Potomac begins to slowly cross the river into Virginia. Lincoln is annoyed at McClellan's lack of energy.

Oct 27: Southern troops begin to arrive at Murfreesburo, Tennessee.

Oct 28: Gen. Bragg visits his old friend, President Jeff Davis, in Richmond to report on the status of his army. Bragg has been under attack within the military for his failure at Perryville, Kentucky.
Nov 1: Gen. Rosecrans prepares his new command to leave Kentucky and head for Tennessee in search of Braxton Bragg's Army of the Tennessee.

Nov 7: Rosecrans' army is moving into Nashville, Tennessee.

Nov 5: Lincoln finally has McClellan replaced with Gen. Ambrose Burnside as the commander of the Army of the Potomac. Gen. Burnside protested his ability to command the army but the assignment sticks. Gen. Fitz-John Porter is replaced with Gen. Joe Hooker because of Gen. Pope's accusations of his disloyalty and misconduct at 2nd Manassas.

Nov 15: Burnside begins to move his army from Warrenton to Fredericksburg, Virginia.

Nov 20: Lee arrives at Fredericksburg and resumes command.

Nov 21: Burnside, outside of Fredericksburg, demands the town's surrender. The town refuses and is threatened with bombardment. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest is sent into western Tennessee by Gen. Bragg to cut Grant's and Rosecran's supply lines.

Dec 4: Recovered from his wound at Fair Oaks, Gen. Joseph Johnson assumes command of all Confederate armies in the west.

Dec 7: Federal forces win the engagement at Prairie Grove, Arkansas.

Dec 11: Union forces shell Fredericksburg to dislodge Barksdale's Confederate snipers who are holding up bridging operations across the Rappahannock River.

Dec 12: Gen. Burnside's army occupies the town of Fredericksburg and prepares to assault the Confederates on Marye's Heights.

Dec 13: Lee wins a major victory over Gen. Burnside at Fredericksburg, Virginia. Six separate Federal charges are decimated by entrenched Southern forces resulting in over 12,000 Union casualties. In the west, President Jeff Davis reviews Bragg's troops, now located at Murfreesburo, Tennessee.

Dec 21: By act of Congress, the Medal of Honor is authorized as the nation's highest award.

Dec 26: Rosecrans, under pressure from Gen. Hallack, departs Nashville, Tennessee to find Gen. Bragg's army.

Dec 30: Rosecrans Army of the Cumberland arrives opposite Bragg's Army of Tennessee. Both commanders plan an almost identical attack for the next day -- the South will attack first, however, seizing the initiative.

Dec 31: The battle of Stone's River (Murfreesburo, Tenn.) begins with an attack by Gen. Hardee's Corps in the Union right. The Federals are driven back against the river -- ninety degrees from their original lines. The USS Monitor founders and sinks in heavy seas off of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.

"Our division General Lauman, now made a blunder which lost him his command. In his strong desire for popularity and promotion, he overdid the thing. He misinterpreted an order to move forward our line for a charge on the rebel works. The charge was made and the rebels finding it unsupported, concentrated their whole available force against us. Unfalteringly we swept up to within a few rods of their works, but their fire was too terrific for flesh and blood to stand. We were forced to retire with fully one-forth of the boys placed hors de combat. "
-- Cpl. Barber, Co. D, 15th Illinois Volunteer Infantry, Jackson, Mississippi, 14 July 1863

1863

Jan 1: Emancipation Proclamation takes effect, changing the face of the war, but only affecting those slaves held in areas not under control of the Federal government.

Jan 2: Battle of Murfreesburo ends in a draw as Gen. Bragg determines that he cannot hold the positions at Stone's River and withdraws. Gen. Rosecrans is too badly damaged to pursue. [map]

Jan 3: Bragg retreats southward to Manchester, Tennessee setting up winter quarters.

Jan 22: Burnside conducts his famous "Mud March". This fiasco will cost him the command that he never wanted in the first place.

Jan 26: Gen. â€œFightingâ€

pharmseller · Post by **pharmseller** » Sun Dec 23, 2007 3:11 pm

page 2

the last link by which Gen. Lee can get supplies for his army from the outside.

Dec 25: Butler begins a conventional advance on the Fort, but learns of a Confederate force to his rear. He calls off the attack and loads his command back on their ships. Butler will be relieved from command of the Army of the James for this.

Dec 27: The remnants of the Confederate Army of Tennessee enters Mississippi and goes into camp -- and history.

"The result of the last week must convince you of the hopelessness of further resistance on the part of the Army of Northern Virginia in this struggle. I feel that it is so, and regard it as my duty to shift from myself the responsibility of any further effusion of blood, by asking of you the surrender of that portion of the C.S. Army known as the Army of Northern Virginia."
-- Lt. Gen. Grant to Gen. Lee, 7 Apr, 1865 --

1865

Jan 6: The Thirteenth Amendment, banning slavery throughout the nation, had passed the Senate and was now before the House. Lincoln pressed for it's passage.

Jan 7: Lincoln removes Butler from active duty at Grant's request. Butler's named replacement is Gene E.O.C. Ord.

Jan 11: Missouri -- A Constitutional Convention adopted a resolution abolishing slavery within that state.

Jan 13: Porter begins a renewed attack on Fort Fisher from the sea knocking out more than 50% of the gun emplacements there. In Mississippi, Gen. John Bell Hood resigns as commander of the Army of Tennessee.

Jan 15: Confederate Col. William Lamb's forces are overwhelmed by a two-fronted assault on Fort Fisher. Fort Fisher falls and with it the last of the major ports of the Confederacy. Lee's supply line to Petersburg is now cut.

Jan 19: Sherman's army is ordered to begin its march north into the Carolinas.

Jan 23: Hood is replaced by Gen. Richard Taylor as commander of what is left of his command at Tupelo, Mississippi. Most of these troops would be sent east to the Carolinas to try and stop Sherman.

Jan 24: Exchange of Prisoners of War is resumed between the North and the South.

Jan 30: Gen. Lee is appointed commander-in-chief of all Confederate forces. Sherman turns his forces towards Columbia, S.C.

Jan 31: The U.S. House of Representatives passes the Thirteenth Amendment [119 to 56]. It will be 18 December however, until two thirds of the states approve the amendment making it law.

Feb 1: Illinois becomes the first state to ratify the 13th Amendment.

Feb 3: A peace commission led by Confederate Vice President Stevens meets with President Lincoln on a yacht, River Queen, in Hampton Roads, Virginia. No results.

Feb 5: Grant extends his lines at Petersburg south and west, increasing the line which Lee's already stretched lines must cover. Sherman is still marching on Columbia, burning everything he comes across.

Feb 7: Maine and Kansas ratify the 13th Amendment. In Delaware, the Amendment fails by one vote.

Feb 8: Massachusetts and Pennsylvania ratify the 13th Amendment.

Feb 9: Virginia Unionists approve the 13th Amendment.

Feb 10: Ohio and Missouri ratify the 13th Amendment.

Feb 14: Sherman's Federal cross the Congaree River. Columbia, South Carolina is within sight.

Feb 17: Charleston, So Carolina falls to Gen. Sherman. That same day Sherman's army burns the city of Columbia, S.C. Forts Sumter, Johnson, Moultrie, Beauregard and Castle Pickney were abandoned by the Confederates -- the troops marching north to join Gen. Lee at Petersburg.

Feb 20: Sherman's columns leave Columbia for North Carolina.

Feb 21: Gene Bragg orders the evacuation of Wilmington, North Carolina in the face of the Union advance.

Feb 22: Kentucky rejects the 13th Amendment. Confederate forces depart the city of Wilmington.

Feb 23: Jeff Davis restores Joseph E. Johnston to command of the Southern forces in the Carolinas.

Feb 25: Johnston assumes command at Charlotte, North Carolina and notifies Lee that his forces are too small to face Sherman. he recommends that he join with Bragg in North Carolina.

Mar 1: News reaches Washington -- the 13th Amendment was ratified in Wisconsin; rejected by New Jersey.

Mar 2: Lee tries to parley with Grant but is rejected. In the Shenandoah Valley at Waynesborough, the last battle of any significance is won by the Union. Early's Confederate forces are crushed -- most are captured, though Gen. Early and his staff escape.

Mar 4: Lincoln is inaugurated for his second term in office.

Mar 6: Sherman's army crosses the Pee Dee River and marches into North Carolina.

Mar 9: Vermont ratifies the 13th Amendment.

Mar 11: Sherman's army arrives at Fayetteville, North Carolina.

Mar 13: The Confederate Congress finally passes legislation to use Negro troops in the Confederate army. Gen. Phil Sheridan's cavalry is enroute from the Shenandoah Valley to join Grant's army.

Mar 18: Last Confederate Congress in Richmond adjourns.

Mar 19 - 21: At Bentonville, North Carolina, Gen. Slocum [Sherman] runs into Gen. Johnston's entrenched Confederates. Slocum's advance is held up by stubborn Confederate resistance.

Mar 22: Sherman is informed that the Confederates have abandoned Bentonville.

Mar 25: Gen. Lee fails an attempt to take Ft. Stedman at Petersburg. It's his last attack of the war.

Mar 26: Sheridan rejoins Grant's army around Petersburg adding some 15,000 troopers to the Federal numbers. Lee prepares to evacuate Petersburg and attempt to join up with Joe Johnston in North Carolina.

Mar 27: Gene Sherman and Admiral Porter arrive at City Point [Grant's Headquarters] from Wilmington, North Carolina.

Mar 28: Generals Sherman, Grant, Admiral Porter and President Lincoln meet aboard the River Queen at City Point to confer about concluding the war.

Mar 29: Gen. Sherman returns to his army in North Carolina to begin his drive on Raleigh. Lincoln remains with Grant at City Point. Sheridan's cavalry force begins to move south and west towards Dinwiddie C.H. The overall goal is to bring Lee out of his entrenchments and into the open where he can be defeated by the larger Federal force.

Apr 1: Gen. Phil Sheridan's cavalry attacks and defeats Confederate forces at the Battle of Five Forks crumpling the Confederate right wing.

Apr 2: Grant breaks through Lee's forces outside of Petersburg. Gen. A.P. Hill is killed near Hatcher's Run. That evening, Lee abandons Petersburg to attempt to link-up with Gen. Johnston's army; Confederate forces burn the city of Richmond as the citizens evacuate.

Apr 3: Richmond is occupied by Federal forces.

Apr 4: Lincoln visits Richmond. Lee is retreating towards Amelia Court House, Virginia -- Phil Sheridan hot on his heels.

Apr 5: Lee's AoNV arrives at Amelia C.H. to find that the expected supplies were not there and that Sheridan' cavalry was at Jetersville to his front.

Apr 6: The 1st Maine Heavy Artillery, acting as skirmishers, made seven distinct charges into Lee's retreating columns. Gen. Ewell's entire corps was captured at the Battle of Saylor's Creek - the last battle between the AoP and the AoNV.

Apr 7: U.S. Grant proposes, via message, the surrender of Lee's army. Lee refuses, but asks about terms.

Apr 8: Lee holds a last war council in the evening and decides to try to break out of the box he is being placed in to join with Johnston's army.

Apr 9: After being pursued by Grant's Federal Army from Petersburg, Lee, his escape route blocked by Sheridan's cavalry, finally surrenders his army at Appomatox Court House, Virginia --effectively ending the war.

Apr 10: Gene Lee prepares his General Order No. 9, disbanding the Army of Northern Virginia.

Apr 12: The formal surrender ceremony is held at Appmatox C.H.

Apr 13: Sherman enters the city of Raleigh, North Carolina. In Washington Secretary Stanton stops the conscription of troops and the purchase of war material.

Apr 14: President Lincoln is assassinated in Ford's Theater, Washington, D.C. A nation mourns. The South's chances at a benevolent reconstruction period are dimmed. Sherman moves toward Durham Station, North Carolina.

Apr 14: Gen. Robert Anderson raises the United States flag - the same one he lowered four years earlier -- over Fort Sumter.

Apr 15: President Lincoln dies at 7:22 am.

Apr 16: Andrew Johnson assumes the office of President of the United States.

Apr 17: Gen. Sherman and Gen. Johnston meet at the Bennett House, close by Durham Station, to discuss the surrender of all Confederate forces east of the Mississippi River.

Apr 18: Sherman and Johnston sign an 'agreement' on an armistice which will become very controversial, stipulating matters which went well beyond the military.

Apr 20: Arkansas ratified the 13th Amendment.

Apr 24: Gen. Grant meets with Sherman and tells him that the terms Sherman gave Johnston were not acceptable to President Johnson. Unless Johnston surrendered unconditionally, hostilities would be resumed in 48 hours.

Apr 26: John W. Booth is trapped in a tobacco barn on the Garrett farm north of Bowling Green, Virginia. Refusing to surrender, the barn is set ablaze by Federal soldiers and Booth is mortally shot as he comes out. Gen. Johnston surrenders to Gen. Sherman near Durham Station, North Carolina. The terms are the same as those between Grant and Lee.

Apr 27: The steamer Sultana, making it's way up the Mississippi River and carrying 2,000 passengers, blew up due to a faulty boiler just north of Memphis, Tennessee. 1,400 of the 1,450 dead were Union prisoners of war who were returning home.

May 4: Abraham Lincoln is interred at Springfield, Illinois.

May 8: Gen. Taylor surrenders to Gen. Edward Canby at Citronell, Alabama.

May 10: President Andrew Johnson declares the armed resistance to the government officially over. William Quantrill is fatally wounded near Taylorsville, Kentucky. Jefferson Davis is captured near Irwinville, Georgia.

May 22: President Johnson lifts the Union blockade from most major Southern ports. Jefferson Davis is imprisoned at Fort Monroe, Virginia.

May 23 - 24: The Army of the Potomac marches in The Grand Review down Pennsylvania Ave in Washington.

May 29: General amnesty and pardon were granted by Andrew Johnson to all but a few who had participated in the 'existing rebellion'.

Aug 23: Confederate surgeon Maj. Aaron Brown surrenders wounded in Upson County, Georgia - the last Rebel ground forces to surrender.

Nov 6: Confederate Capt. James Waddell of the CSS Shenandoah surrenders to the British in Liverpool, England - preferring not to hand over his ship to the U.S. government. It is the final surrender of the war.

Dec 18: The 13th Amendment is ratified by the requisite number of states and becomes the law of the land.

"Fondly do we hope -- fervently do we pray -- that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away ... With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan -- to do all which may achieve and cherish a just, and a lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations."
-- President Abraham Lincoln -- 2nd Inaugural address, 4 Mar, 1865 --

Quinn

Kansas Ed · Post by **Kansas Ed** » Sun Dec 23, 2007 3:22 pm

That's great! Thanks for posting. I may file that away for future use...

BTW, I didn't realize until about an hour ago that "Dam* the torpedoes, full speed ahead!!" was a Civil War quote...

Ed

24thMICH · Post by **24thMICH** » Sun Dec 23, 2007 3:35 pm

Wow!

Say thanks to your wife from all of us.

Can you PM me her name, as I'm sure my oldest daughter will want to be able to reference it at some point in her history/social studies class.

I never had to do anything this extensive for my BA! I guess the professors at the U. of Michigan just had lower standards!

.

1886 · Post by **1886** » Sun Dec 23, 2007 3:44 pm

Great post/ history lesson. 1886.

Post by **Old Savage** » Sun Dec 23, 2007 4:04 pm

Thanks for that post.

DDude · Post by **DDude** » Sun Dec 23, 2007 4:12 pm

"In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The government shall not assail you. You can have no conflict, without being yourselves the aggressors. You have no oath registered in heaven to destroy the government, while I have the most solemn one to 'preserve, protect and defend' it.

President Abraham Lincoln, March 4, 1861

Ol' Abe seemed more intent on preserving the government than the Constitution. That's always been my take on the subject. Wonder where we'd be today if the South had triumped?

Andrew · Post by **Andrew** » Sun Dec 23, 2007 4:19 pm

DDude wrote: Wonder where we'd be today if the South had triumped?

There's no telling what a north and south "America" would be like. I can't see it being any better than it is now.

Heck, if they'd split it so that kaliforea and the the east coast were another country I'd be just fine w/ that.

J Miller · Post by **J Miller** » Sun Dec 23, 2007 4:19 pm

This is incredible. Tell you wife thanks for me. This makes everything I thought I knew worthless. And it puts things in perspective.

Joe

Post by **Ysabel Kid** » Sun Dec 23, 2007 5:02 pm

What a fantastic post!!! Thanks Quinn!

pharmseller · Post by **pharmseller** » Sun Dec 23, 2007 5:20 pm

Whoa Nelly!
I'd love for my wife to take credit for creating the timeline but that would be unfair. If I recall correctly it came with her textbook.
I think this is the correct citation:

Ward, Geoffrey C. The Civil War: An Illustrated History. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1990.

She will take credit for the following:

THE BETTER ANGELS OF OUR NATURE:
THE UNITED STATES AFTER THE CIVIL WAR

HST 209
American History: Civil War
February 1999

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, upon this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived, and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met here on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of it as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But in a larger sense we can not dedicate - we can not consecrate - we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled, here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they have, thus far, so nobly carried on. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us - that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion - that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation shall have a new birth of freedom; and that this government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
November 19, 1863

When President Abraham Lincoln delivered this brief speech he believed that his words would be lost by Time. To him, the Civil War was more than slavery, more than statesâ€™ rights, more than North against South. The Civil War was a true trial by fire of the founding principles of the very country itself. How could he have known that the great Civil War that tested a concept would be the catalyst that turned a loosely joined group of states into the worldâ€™s largest superpower? For the country that returning soldiers came home to was far from the country they left nearly five years earlier. As a result of the Civil War, the United States became a cohesive nation able to harness the spirit of individuality and strength that has become its hallmark.
Prior to the Civil War, the United States could be characterized as a nation in expansion. Much of the country had yet to be settled during this period of rapid growth. Most of the people lived on farms or in small towns and the center of government seemed far away. The country was less than two generations removed from its own birth.
As a young country, the United States was still coming to grips with its own nature. The lessons of tyranny still loomed large in the character of the nation and many viewed centralized government as one step closer to oppression. Citizens were content with politics from a distance.
The Civil War changed the face of politics forever. The South learned the necessity of centralized control during a crisis when Jefferson Davis was unable to draft troops or develop solidarity with his governors. The South was so adamant about the statesâ€™ rights issue that the governor of Georgia even threatened to secede from the secession. Jefferson Davis longed for the control Abraham Lincoln enjoyed, as it enabled the North to come together cohesively to fight a common enemy. The nation learned the truth behind Lincolnâ€™s theory that a house divided against itself cannot stand.
The outward changes in the nation are an important aspect of the differences between pre-and post-Civil War America, but they do not capture the essential quality of the change. Of course the nature of the South changed, from great plantations to smaller farms and sharecroppers. Cities became more important in the post-Civil war era, and many of the major industrial areas that sprang up during the war continued to produce even after the need for military goods had subsided. Some small towns ceased to exist altogether, as the young men who represented the future failed to return home. The manifest and readily apparent changes to the social structure, economy, and politics of the South after the Civil War, while important to our understanding of the impact of the conflict, are secondary to the fundamental changes that shaped the nation.
The key essence of the change in the nation can be found in a few words written by Francis Bellamy in 1892. As the writer Shelby Foote stated in the Civil War series, prior to the Civil War the United States was an â€œare.â€

24thMICH · Post by **24thMICH** » Sun Dec 23, 2007 6:12 pm

As much as I appreciate your wife's scholarship and her generosity in sharing this, the libertarian and historian in me feels compelled to do a friendly point-counterpoint posting of L. Neil Smith's essay on Lincoln to balance out your wife's collegiate praise of "honest Abe."

from http://www.lneilsmith.org/abelenin.html

The American Lenin
by L. Neil Smith
lneil@lneilsmith.org

It's harder and harder these days to tell a liberal from a conservative -- given the former category's increasingly blatant hostility toward the First Amendment, and the latter's prissy new disdain for the Second Amendment -- but it's still easy to tell a liberal from a libertarian.

Just ask about either Amendment.

If what you get back is a spirited defense of the ideas of this country's Founding Fathers, what you've got is a libertarian. By shameful default, libertarians have become America's last and only reliable stewards of the Bill of Rights.

But if -- and this usually seems a bit more difficult to most people -- you'd like to know whether an individual is a libertarian or a conservative, ask about Abraham Lincoln.

Suppose a woman -- with plenty of personal faults herself, let that be stipulated -- desired to leave her husband: partly because he made a regular practice, in order to go out and get drunk, of stealing money she had earned herself by raising chickens or taking in laundry; and partly because he'd already demonstrated a proclivity for domestic violence the first time she'd complained about his stealing.

Now, when he stood in the doorway and beat her to a bloody pulp to keep her home, would we memorialize him as a hero? Or would we treat him like a dangerous lunatic who should be locked up, if for no other reason, then for trying to maintain the appearance of a relationship where there wasn't a relationship any more? What value, we would ask, does he find in continuing to possess her in an involuntary association, when her heart and mind had left him long ago?

History tells us that Lincoln was a politically ambitious lawyer who eagerly prostituted himself to northern industrialists who were unwilling to pay world prices for their raw materials and who, rather than practice real capitalism, enlisted brute government force -- "sell to us at our price or pay a fine that'll put you out of business" -- for dealing with uncooperative southern suppliers. That's what a tariff's all about. In support of this "noble principle", when southerners demonstrated what amounted to no more than token resistance, Lincoln permitted an internal war to begin that butchered more Americans than all of this country's foreign wars -- before or afterward -- rolled into one.

Lincoln saw the introduction of total war on the American continent -- indiscriminate mass slaughter and destruction without regard to age, gender, or combat status of the victims -- and oversaw the systematic shelling and burning of entire cities for strategic and tactical purposes. For the same purposes, Lincoln declared, rather late in the war, that black slaves were now free in the south -- where he had no effective jurisdiction -- while declaring at the same time, somewhat more quietly but for the record nonetheless, that if maintaining slavery could have won his war for him, he'd have done that, instead.

The fact is, Lincoln didn't abolish slavery at all, he nationalized it, imposing income taxation and military conscription upon what had been a free country before he took over -- income taxation and military conscription to which newly "freed" blacks soon found themselves subjected right alongside newly-enslaved whites. If the civil war was truly fought against slavery -- a dubious, "politically correct" assertion with no historical evidence to back it up -- then clearly, slavery won.

Lincoln brought secret police to America, along with the traditional midnight "knock on the door", illegally suspending the Bill of Rights and, like the Latin America dictators he anticipated, "disappearing" thousands in the north whose only crime was that they disagreed with him. To finance his crimes against humanity, Lincoln allowed the printing of worthless paper money in unprecedented volumes, ultimately plunging America into a long, grim depression -- in the south, it lasted half a century -- he didn't have to live through, himself.

In the end, Lincoln didn't unite this country -- that can't be done by force -- he divided it along lines of an unspeakably ugly hatred and resentment that continue to exist almost a century and a half after they were drawn. If Lincoln could have been put on trial in Nuremburg for war crimes, he'd have received the same sentence as the highest-ranking Nazis.

If libertarians ran things, they'd melt all the Lincoln pennies, shred all the Lincoln fives, take a wrecking ball to the Lincoln Memorial, and consider erecting monuments to John Wilkes Booth. Libertarians know Lincoln as the worst President America has ever had to suffer, with Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt, and Lyndon Johnson running a distant second, third, and fourth.

Conservatives, on the other hand, adore Lincoln, publicly admire his methods, and revere him as the best President America ever had. One wonders: is this because they'd like to do, all over again, all of the things Lincoln did to the American people? Judging from their taste for executions as a substitute for individual self-defense, their penchant for putting people behind bars -- more than any other country in the world, per capita, no matter how poorly it works to reduce crime -- and the bitter distaste they display for Constitutional "technicalities" like the exclusionary rule, which are all that keep America from becoming the world's largest banana republic, one is well-justified in wondering.

The troubling truth is that, more than anybody else's, Abraham Lincoln's career resembles and foreshadows that of V.I. Lenin, who, with somewhat better technology at his disposal, slaughtered millions of innocents -- rather than mere hundreds of thousands -- to enforce an impossibly stupid idea which, in the end, like forced association, was proven by history to be a resounding failure. Abraham Lincoln was America's Lenin, and when America has finally absorbed that painful but illuminating truth, it will finally have begun to recover from the War between the States.

Having posted that, I have to say I am proud of my great-grandfather who fought for the Union.

If only the Constitution were the actual limit on the Federal government that the Founding Fathers designed it to be!

Well, I can dream, can't I?

.

gregg · Post by **gregg** » Sun Dec 23, 2007 6:27 pm

DDude wrote:
"In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The government shall not assail you. You can have no conflict, without being yourselves the aggressors. You have no oath registered in heaven to destroy the government, while I have the most solemn one to 'preserve, protect and defend' it.

President Abraham Lincoln, March 4, 1861
Ol' Abe seemed more intent on preserving the government than the Constitution. That's always been my take on the subject. Wonder where we'd be today if the South had triumped?

I have wondered not being a student of the great war . I have wondered if it really had to be fought. State rights should of let the states cut out if they wanted to right?

Could it of been fought in a court of law?
I always thought CW was the sadest time in our history.

24thMICH · Post by **24thMICH** » Sun Dec 23, 2007 8:44 pm

I have wondered if it really had to be fought.

Thomas Sowell, in his book (I believe titled) "Race and Economics" makes a cogent argument that because of the self-defeating economics of cotton (it badly depleted the nitrogen in the soil, resulting in many plantations moving westwards as they wore out the soil), that he believes black slavery would have naturally and peacefully ended a decade or so after the Civil War, had that war never happened.

I agree that the War Between the States (technically it never was a "civil war," in that civil wars are fought for the control of a given country, and the South never fought to take over Washington DC and therefore control the North) was the most tragic of the wars the United States has ever entered into.

I'd generally place the Vietnam War second.

.

guido4198 · Post by **guido4198** » Mon Dec 24, 2007 7:53 am

Thanks for posting the timeline. I'm NOT trying to stir the pot or be argumentative here, I have an honest curiosity about one fundamental question concerning this terrible era. It occurs to me that there may be someone here who can provide an answer, so here goes...
What was Lincoln's basis for forcing the Southern Confederacy back into the union..??
Which of the founding documents for these United States provides the warning that this is a one-way deal, and should any of the states wish to pull out...the newly created Federal government retains the right to prevent their leaving by force of arms...???
Thanks,
G.

Post by **Ysabel Kid** » Mon Dec 24, 2007 8:28 am

Gentlemen -

I would submit to you that this is not simply an exercise in reviewing our own history, but rather, is pertinent to today's political climate just as much, for in many ways the questions still remain. In the here and now we are facing an-ever encroaching central government that has long since passed beyond its Constitutional limits. Each and every day yet another part of our liberties is consumed by its ravenous appetite. Should Hillary and others of her views take power, this trend will only accelerate.

What are free men to do? And if we do nothing, how do we look our children and grandchildren in the eyes? I am not suggesting revolution, but we do need to stop this march towards socialism before it becomes unstoppable without bloodshed. I fear we may already be too late.

gregg · Post by **gregg** » Mon Dec 24, 2007 1:11 pm

guido4198 wrote:Thanks for posting the timeline. I'm NOT trying to stir the pot or be argumentative here, I have an honest curiosity about one fundamental question concerning this terrible era. It occurs to me that there may be someone here who can provide an answer, so here goes...
What was Lincoln's basis for forcing the Southern Confederacy back into the union..??
Which of the founding documents for these United States provides the warning that this is a one-way deal, and should any of the states wish to pull out...the newly created Federal government retains the right to prevent their leaving by force of arms...???
Thanks,
G.

That was my point?

24thMICH · Post by **24thMICH** » Mon Dec 24, 2007 2:31 pm