| 1861 | - Attack on Fort Sumter.
- Four Upper South states join Confederacy.
- First battle of Bull Run (Manassas).
- First Confiscation Act.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 1864 | - Grant appointed Union general in chief.
- Wilderness campaign.
- Fall of Atlanta.
- Lincoln reelected.
- Fall of Savannah.
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| 1865 | - Fall of Petersburg and Richmond.
- Lee surrenders to Grant.
- Lincoln assassinated; Vice President Andrew Johnson becomes president.
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