American Civil War Events

1801 Jul 5 David Farragut Is Born
David Glasgow Farragut (July 5, 1801 – August 14, 1870) was a flag officer of the United States Navy during the American Civil War. He was the first rear admiral, vice admiral, and full a...
1807 Jan 19 Robert E. Lee is Born
Robert E. Lee was born January 19, 1807 at Stratford Hall Plantation in Westmoreland County, Virginia, the fifth child of Revolutionary War hero Henry Lee ("Light Horse Harry") and Anne H...
1808 Jun 3 Jefferson Davis is Born
Davis was the youngest of the ten children of Samuel Emory Davis (Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, 1756 – July 4, 1824) and wife (married 1783) Jane Cook (Christian County...
1809 Feb 12 Abraham Lincoln is Born
Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809, to Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks, two uneducated farmers, in a one-room log cabin on the 348-acre (1.4 km2) Sinking Spring Farm, in southea...
1812 The Davis Family Settles in Wilkinson County in southwestern Mississippi
During Davis' youth, the family moved twice; in 1811 to St. Mary Parish, Louisiana, and in 1812 to Wilkinson County, Mississippi near the town of Woodville. In 1813, Davis began his educa...
1813 Davis Attends Wilkinson County Academy
DAVIS, Jefferson, (son-in-law of President Zachary Taylor), a Representative and a Senator from Mississippi; born in what is now Fairview, Todd County, Ky., June 3, 1808; moved with his p...
1816 Jul 10 Davis Enters the Catholic School of Saint Thomas at St. Rose Priory
One thing Samuel preached to his children was “knowledge is power.” Perhaps as the result in the break in his own education, Samuel stressed the importance of studies. When he was six or ...
1816 Dec Lincoln's Family Relocates to Indiana
Abraham Lincoln spent 14 of his most formative years-from age 7 to 21-in Southern Indiana. Today, Indiana's Lincoln attractions include his boyhood home and some of the most extensive col...
1818 Davis Attends Jefferson College in Mississippi
Jefferson Davis was born in Christian County, Kentucky on June 3, 1808. He was the youngest of ten children. In 1818, Davis attended Jefferson College in Mississippi, before transferring ...
1818 Feb Frederick Douglass is Born
The son of a slave woman and an unknown white man, "Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey" was born in February of 1818 on Maryland's eastern shore. He spent his early years with his grand...
1818 Oct 5 Mother Nancy Hanks Lincoln Dies of Milk Sickness
Among the many obscure ailments that afflicted Midwestern pioneers, it is doubtful if one has been more shrouded in mystery than was milk sickness. The disease was unknown in Europe or an...
1819 Dec 5 Father Thomas Lincoln Remarries Widow Sarah Bush Johnston
Sarah Bush Johnston Lincoln (December 13, 1788 - April 12, 1869) was the second wife of Thomas Lincoln and stepmother of President of the United States Abraham Lincoln. She was born in El...
1820 Lee Enters Alexandria Academy
Lee's father died when Lee was eleven years old, leaving the family deeply in debt. When Lee was three years old, his older half-brother, the heir to the Stratford Hall Plantation, having...
1821 Davis Attends Transylvania University
Davis went on to Jefferson College at Washington, Mississippi, in 1818, and to Transylvania University at Lexington, Kentucky, in 1821. In 1824, Davis entered the United States Military A...
1822 Apr 27 Ulysses S. Grant Is Born
On April 27, 1822, military leader and U.S. president Ulysses S. Grant was born in Point Pleasant, Ohio. A quiet, unassuming, and keenly intelligent man, Grant rose to national prominence...
1824 Davis Secures an Appointment to West Point
Jefferson Davis attended West Point along with notable US Military Academy members of his Class and others Classes who would later play a major part during the "War of Northern Aggression...
1824 Douglass Moves to Plantation on Wye River
When Douglass was about six years old, his grandmother walked with him the twelve miles from his childhood cabin to the Wye House plantation where he would begin work as a slave. "Publ...
1825 Lee Enters the United States Military Academy
He entered the United States Military Academy in 1825 and became the first cadet to achieve the rank of sergeant at the end of his first year. When he graduated in 1829 he was at the head...
1826 Douglass is Sent to Baltimore to Live with Hugh Auld
Because Frederick had a natural charm that many people found engaging, he was chosen to be the companion of Daniel Lloyd, the youngest son of the plantation's owner. Frederick's chief fri...
1827 Sophia Auld Teaches Douglass to Read
It was here, under the instruction of Mrs. Auld that young Frederick first learned the alphabet. However it did not last long, for when Mr. Auld discovered these lessons he strictly forba...
1828 Jan 20 Lincoln's Elder Sister Sarah Lincoln Dies during Childbirth
Sarah Lincoln Grigsby, sister of Abraham Lincoln, would never know her younger brother's success and fame, nor how he would be remembered. As a result of her brother's fame, her own life ...
1828 Apr Lincoln Works on Cargo Flatboat Bound for New Orleans
When, in 1860, the Ship of State seemed like to run aground hopelessly, it was his determination and ingenuity that averted total wreck. As in his youth he saved the flatboat, so in his m...
1828 Jul Davis Commissioned as Second Lieutenant of the U.S. Army
As of the publication of Davis' appointment as second lieutenant of Dragoons on May 4, 1833, the "F." had disappeared from official documents as well. At the time the initial was in use, ...
1829 Davis Takes First Assignment on the Banks of the Red Cedar River
Davis was assigned to the 1st Infantry Regiment and was stationed at Fort Crawford, Wisconsin. His first assignment, in 1829, was to supervise the cutting of timber on the banks of the Re...
1829 Douglass Begins Work in Shipyard as General Assistant
Very soon after I went to Baltimore to live, Master Hugh [Auld] succeeded in getting me hired to Mr. William Gardiner, an extensive ship builder on Fell’s Point. I was placed here to lear...
1829 Dec 23 Lee Serves as Engineer at Fort Pulaski
Destined to be one of the most illustrious graduates of West Point, a young Virginian awaited assignment in the mid-summer of 1829 to his first tour of duty in the Army. The recent honor ...
1830 Mar Lincoln Family Relocates to Illinois
Abraham Lincoln arrived with his family in the area in 1830 to settle a section of government land bisected by the river. The site, now Lincoln Trail Homestead State Memorial, was selecte...
1831 Davis Contracts Pneumonia
After graduating from West Point in 1828, Jefferson Davis, future president of the Confederacy, was assigned to the 1st Infantry and stationed at Fort Crawford in Prairie du Chien. His fi...
1831 Douglass Learns of Abolitionist Movement
African-American abolitionist Frederick Douglass first encountered The Columbian Orator around the age of twelve, just after he learned to read. This book he so cherished, that he would c...
1831 Mar Lincoln Makes Second Flatboat Trip to New Orleans
In 1830 the Lincolns left Indiana for Illinois. Abraham made a second flatboat trip to New Orleans, and in 1831 he left home for New Salem, in Sangamon County near Springfield. The separa...
1831 May Lee is Stationed at Fort Monroe
Following the War of 1812, the United States again came to realize the importance of protecting Hampton Roads and the inland waters from attack by sea, and construction was begun in 1819 ...
1831 Jun 20 Lee Marries Mary Anna Randolph Custis
While he was stationed at Fort Monroe, he married Mary Anna Randolph Custis (1808–1873), great-granddaughter of Martha Washington by her first husband Daniel Parke Custis, and step-great-...
1831 Jul Lincoln Separates from Family
In 1831, Abraham Lincoln was a young man of 22 when he and a couple of companions floated down the Sangamon River in a flatboat on their way to New Orleans. In mid-April, he neared New Sa...
1831 Aug 21
to 1831 Aug 22
 Nat Turner's Rebellion
It was Sunday, August 21, deep in the woods near the Travis house at a place called Cabin Pond. Around a crackling fire Turner’s confederates feasted on roast pig and apple brandy. With t...
1832 Davis Sent to Deliver Black Hawk to Prison
The year after, Davis was dispatched to Galena, Illinois, at the head of a detachment assigned to remove miners from lands claimed by the Native Americans. Lieutenant Davis was home in Mi...
1832 Douglas Enrolls at Canandaigua Academy
Douglas moved to a farm near Clifton Springs, New York and studied at Canandaigua Academy in 1832-33 (where he was honored posthumously in 1996 as a "Graduate of Distinction".) He then mo...
1832 Mar Lincoln Becomes a Candidate for Illinois General Assembly
Lincoln began his political career in 1832 at age 23 with an unsuccessful campaign for the Illinois General Assembly as a member of the Whig Party. The centerpiece of his platform was the...
1832 Apr 21 Lincoln Makes First Enlistment in the Black Hawk War
His first enlistment was as elected captain of a company in the 4th Regiment of Mounted Volunteers, of Gen. Samuel Whiteside's Brigade. Lincoln enrolled on April 21, 1832, and mustered ou...
1832 May 29 Lincoln Re-enlists in the Black Hawk War
Lincoln re-enlisted on the same day he mustered out of his old company, and was mustered in on May 29 as a private in Captain Elijah Ises' Company, Twenty-Day Interim Regiment. He activel...
1832 Jun 20 Lincoln Enlists in Black Hawk War for a Third Time
Lincoln's third enlistment was as a private in Captain Jacob M. Early's "Spy Company." This unit mustered in approximately June 20, 1832, and served as part of General Atkinson’s army as ...
1832 Aug 6 Lincoln Becomes Postmaster of New Salem
Lincoln was appointed his postmaster's position by President Andrew Jackson, a Democrat, on May 7, 1833. In Lincoln's 1860 autobiography, he pointed out that the office was "too insignifi...
1833 Douglas Moves to Illinois at the Age of 20
"I have become a Western man, have imbibed Western feelings principles and interests and have selected Illinois as the favorite place of my adoption." —Stephen A. Douglas
1833 Frederick Douglass Works for Thomas Auld in St. Michaels, Maryland
Follow in the footsteps of Frederick Douglass during his teenage years in St. Michaels. Arriving as Frederick Bailey, a rebellious 15 year old, in 1833 and leaving in 1836 determined to a...
1833 Oct Lincoln Takes up Work as a Surveyor
‘In the fall of 1833 came Abraham Lincoln’s entry into the most highly technical and responsible work he had known. Writing of it later, he said, "The Surveyor of Sangamon [County] offere...
1834 Douglas Serves as Morgan County State's Attorney
Lincoln's arch-rival Stephen A. Douglas became Morgan County prosecuting attorney in 1835, and William Jennings Bryan, an Illinois College graduate, practiced law in Jacksonville from 188...
1834 Aug 4 Lincoln is Elected to the Illinois State Legislature
In 1834, he won an election to the state legislature and, after coming across the Commentaries on the Laws of England, began to teach himself law
1836 Douglass's First Attempt to Escape Slavery
After working for Covey for a year, Frederick was sent to work for a farmer named William Freeland, who was a relatively kind master. But by now, Frederick did not care about having a kin...
1836 Dec Douglas Becomes a Member of the Illinois State Legislature
Born Stephen Arnold Douglass in Brandon, Vermont,[3] Douglas dropped the second "s" from his name some years later[4]. He came to Illinois in 1833, was an itinerant teacher, studied law, ...
1837 Mar 1 Lincoln is admitted to the Bar
Admitted to the bar in 1837, he moved to Springfield, Illinois that same year and began to practice law with John T. Stuart. With a reputation as a formidable adversary during cross-exam...
1838 Sep 16 Douglass and Anna Murray Arrive in New Bedford
NEW BEDFORD — The arrival of Frederick and Anna Murray Douglass in New Bedford on Sept. 16 of 1838 was unexceptional, but their four-year stay in the city, as the history books tell, woul...