1861 Attack on Fort Sumter.
Four Upper South states join Confederacy.
First battle of Bull Run (Manassas).
First Confiscation Act.
1862 Grant captures Fort Henry and Fort Donelson.
Battle of Glorieta Pass.
Battle of Pea Ridge.
Battle of Shiloh.
Confederate Congress authorizes draft.
Homestead Act.
Virginia peninsula campaign.
Second Confiscation Act.
Militia Act.
Battle of Antietam.
1863 Emancipation Proclamation.
National Banking Act.
Congress authorizes draft.
Fall of Vicksburg to Union forces.
Lee defeated at battle of Gettysburg.
New York City draft riots.
1864 Grant appointed Union general in chief.
Wilderness campaign.
Fall of Atlanta.
Lincoln reelected.
Fall of Savannah.
1865 Fall of Petersburg and Richmond.
Lee surrenders to Grant.
Lincoln assassinated; Vice President Andrew Johnson becomes president.