Introduction: for the sake of argument and understanding
May 22, 1856: the gentleman from South Carolina canes the gentleman from Massachusetts
March 4, 1861: Black Lincoln is inaugurated
April 12, 1861: General Beauregard opens fire on Fort Sumter
September 22, 1862: Lincoln issues the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation
April 9, 1865: Lee surrenders to Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia
November 19, 1863: two minutes at Gettysburg
November 4, 1864: Lincoln wins reelection
July 13, 1863: New York draft rioters set fire to the Orphan Asylum for Colored Children
April 14, 1865: John Wilkes Booth assassinates Abraham Lincoln
July 21, 1861: the rebels win at Bull Run
June 1, 1862: Lee rises to top command in the Confederacy
July 4, 1863: Vicksburg falls to Grant
May 7, 1864: defeated, Grant advances
April 8, 1862: Shiloh creates a new American reality
May 20, 1862: Congress passes the Homestead Act of 1862
May 2, 1863: Stonewall Jackson falls to friendly fire at Chancellorsville
November 7, 1862: Lincoln chooses Burnside to lead the Army of the Potomac
August 28-30, 1862: Lee divides and conquers at the Second Battle of Bull Run
October 16-18, 1859: John Brown raids Harpers Ferry
March 8, 1862: the ironclads clash at Hampton Road
Lest we forget: the 20 most significant Civil War books.
