December
20 South Carolina becomes the first Southern state to secede from
the Union
March
2 U.S. Congress adopts and sends to the states a constitutional
amendment (which ultimately failed of ratification) forbidding
any subsequent amendment to “abolish or interfere . . . with the
domestic institutions” of the states
4 President Lincoln inaugurated
April
12 Civil War begins with Confederate attack on federal garrison
at Fort Sumter, South Carolina
15 President Lincoln issues proclamation calling for troops to
put down the rebellion
May
20 Following Arkansas, Tennessee, and Virginia into the
Confederacy, North Carolina becomes the last state to secede
24 Fugitive slaves at Fortress Monroe, Virginia, are received and
put to work by Union general Benjamin F. Butler, who declares
them “contraband of war”
July
21 Confederate victory at battle of Bull Run (Manassas) dashes
Union hopes of quelling the rebellion quickly and without great
loss of life
August
6 First Confiscation Act nullifies owners' claims to fugitive
slaves who had been employed in the Confederate war effort
30 Invoking martial law, General John C. Frémont declares free
the slaves of disloyal owners in Missouri; President Lincoln asks
that he modify his order so as not to exceed congressional laws
respecting emancipation
September
11 General Frémont having refused to modify his emancipation
order, President Lincoln orders him to do so
December
1 Secretary of War Simon Cameron issues his annual report, from
which President Lincoln had required the deletion of passages
advocating emancipation and the employment of former slaves as
military laborers and soldiers; Cameron is soon replaced by Edwin
M. Stanton
March
13 Congress adopts an additional article of war forbidding
members of the army and navy to return fugitive slaves to their
owners
April
3 General David Hunter, Union commander in the South Carolina
Sea Islands, requests permission to arm black men for military
service; receiving no response, he begins recruiting on his own
authority in early May, but the War Department refuses to pay or
equip the regiment and Hunter is therefore compelled to disband
it
10 At Lincoln's request, Congress pledges financial aid to any
state that undertakes gradual emancipation with compensation to
owners
16 Congress abolishes slavery in the District of Columbia, with
compensation to loyal owners, and appropriates money for the
voluntary removal (“colonization”) of former slaves to Haiti,
Liberia, or other countries
May
9 General David Hunter declares free all slaves in South
Carolina, Georgia, and Florida
19 President Lincoln issues a proclamation nullifying General
Hunter's emancipation edict and urging the border states
(Kentucky, Missouri, Maryland, and Delaware) to embrace gradual,
compensated emancipation
June
7 Congress adopts legislation enforcing the Direct Tax Act of
1861 in the seceded states; it provides for forfeiture to the
government of land whose owners failed to pay the tax and for its
subsequent lease or sale
19 Congress prohibits slavery in the territories
July
12 President Lincoln appeals to congressmen from the border
states to support gradual, compensated emancipation, with
colonization of freed slaves outside the United States, warning
that if they do not act soon, slavery in their states “will be
extinguished by mere friction and abrasion – by the mere incidents
of the war”; two days later, a majority of the congressmen reject
Lincoln's appeal
17 Second Confiscation Act frees the slaves of persons engaged in
or assisting the rebellion and provides for the seizure and sale
of other property owned by disloyal citizens; it also forbids
army and navy personnel to decide on the validity of any fugitive
slave's claim to freedom or to surrender any fugitive to any
claimant, and authorizes the president to employ “persons of
African descent” in any capacity to suppress the rebellion
17 Militia Act provides for the employment of “persons of African
descent” in “any military or naval service for which they may be
found competent,” granting freedom to slaves so employed (and to
their families if they belong to disloyal owners)
22 President Lincoln announces to his cabinet his intention to
issue a proclamation freeing slaves in the rebel states, but
agrees to postpone it until after a suitable military victory
August
22 In New Orleans, General Benjamin F. Butler incorporates into
Union forces several “Native Guard” units composed of free-black
soldiers; soon thereafter he begins recruiting both free-black
and ex-slave men for additional regiments
25 After having withheld its permission for months, the War
Department authorizes recruitment of black soldiers in the South
Carolina Sea Islands
September
17 Confederate invasion of Maryland repulsed at Antietam
22 Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation issued by President
Lincoln; it announces that all slaves in those states or portions
of states still in rebellion as of January 1, 1863, will be
declared free, pledges monetary aid for slave states not in
rebellion that adopt either immediate or gradual emancipation,
and reiterates support for the colonization of freed slaves
outside the United States
October
11 Confederate Congress exempts from conscription one white man
on each plantation with twenty or more slaves
December
23 Confederate President Davis issues proclamation ordering that
black Union soldiers and their officers captured by Confederate
troops are not to be treated as prisoners of war; instead, they
are to be remanded to Confederate state authorities
January
1 Emancipation Proclamation issued by President Lincoln; it
declares free all slaves in the Confederate states (except
Tennessee, southern Louisiana, and parts of Virginia) and
announces the Union's intention to enlist black soldiers and sailors. By late spring, recruitment is under way throughout the
North and in all the Union-occupied Confederate states except
Tennessee
March
16 American Freedmen's Inquiry Commission appointed by Secretary
of War Stanton to investigate the condition of former slaves and
recommend measures for their employment and welfare
May
22 Bureau of Colored Troops created within the War Department
27 Black soldiers play important role in failed assault on Port
Hudson, Louisiana
June
7 Black soldiers repel Confederate attack at Milliken's Bend,
Louisiana
July
1–3 Confederate offensive into Maryland and Pennsylvania repulsed
at Gettysburg
4 Confederate surrender of Vicksburg, Mississippi
8 Confederate surrender of Port Hudson clinches Union control
over the Mississippi River
18 Black soldiers spearhead failed assault on Fort Wagner, South
Carolina
30 President Lincoln pledges that Union soldiers, black or white,
are entitled to equal protection if captured by the enemy and
threatens retaliation for Confederate enslavement of black
prisoners of war
October
3 War Department orders full-scale recruitment of black soldiers
in Maryland, Missouri, and Tennessee, with compensation to loyal
owners
December
8 Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction issued by President
Lincoln; it offers pardon and restoration of property (except
slaves) to Confederates who take an oath of allegiance to the
Union and agree to accept emancipation; it also proposes a plan
by which loyal voters of a seceded state can begin the process of
readmission into the Union
March
16 New Arkansas state constitution, which abolishes slavery, is
ratified by pro-Union voters
April
8 Senate approves constitutional amendment abolishing slavery
12 Confederate troops under General Nathan B. Forrest massacre
black soldiers captured at Fort Pillow, Tennessee
June
7 Enlistment in Kentucky opened to slave men irrespective of
their owners' consent, with compensation to loyal owners
15 House of Representatives fails to approve constitutional
amendment abolishing slavery
15 Congress makes pay of black soldiers (which had been $10 per
month for all ranks) equal to that of white soldiers ($13 per
month for privates, larger amounts for higher ranks); the change
is retroactive to January 1, 1864, or, for men who were free
before the war, to the time of enlistment
20 Congress increases the pay of all privates, black and white,
to $16 per month, with corresponding increases for higher ranks
September
5 New Louisiana state constitution, which abolishes slavery, is
ratified by pro-Union voters
November
1 New Maryland state constitution, which abolishes slavery, takes
effect, having been ratified in October
8 Abraham Lincoln is reelected president, defeating George B.
McClellan
January
11 Missouri state constitutional convention abolishes slavery
12 General William T. Sherman and Secretary of War Edwin M.
Stanton meet with twenty black leaders in Savannah, Georgia, to
discuss the future of the ex-slaves
16 General Sherman issues Special Field Order 15 setting aside
part of coastal South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida for
settlement exclusively by black people, settlers to receive
“possessory title” to forty-acre plots
31 House of Representatives approves constitutional amendment
abolishing slavery, sending it to the states for ratification
February
22 Amendment to Tennessee state constitution abolishes slavery
March
3 Congress approves a joint resolution liberating the wives and
children of black soldiers
3 Congress establishes Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and
Abandoned Lands (Freedmen's Bureau) to oversee the transition
from slavery to freedom
13 Confederate Congress authorizes President Jefferson Davis to
recruit slave men as soldiers, with the permission of their
owners; Confederate War Department issues order governing the enlistment on March 23.
April
9 Surrender of the army of Confederate General Robert E. Lee at
Appomattox Court House, Virginia
14 President Lincoln assassinated; Vice-President Andrew Johnson
succeeds to the presidency
December
18 Ratification of the
Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution announced by the Secretary of State; the amendment
abolishes slavery throughout the United States