Abraham Lincoln

Assassination Conspirators Tried, Convicted & Executed

Mon, 05/01/1865 to Fri, 07/07/1865

On May 1, 1865, President Andrew Johnson orders a military tribunal to try eight suspects in the Lincoln assassination case.

Habeas Corpus Suspension Act

Tue, 03/03/1863

The Habeas Corpus Suspension Act authorizes the president of the United States to suspend the writ of habeas corpus, which normally enforces the right of a prisoner's case to be examined by a judge to determine if their detainment is lawful.

Homestead Act

Mon, 05/05/1862

To bolster the Free-Soil movement and westward expansion, Abraham Lincoln signs the Homestead Act of 1862 into law.

Lincoln's "House Divided Speech"

Thu, 06/17/1858

Former U.S. Representative Abraham Lincoln accepts the Republican Party's nomination for an Illinois seat in the United States Senate.

Frémont, John C.

By Zach Garrison, University of Cincinnati

John Charles Frémont became a popular national figure after leading a series of expeditions intended to survey the Far West in the 1840s. The newly formed Republican Party chose Frémont, an outspoken critic of slavery, as their first presidential candidate in 1856. During the first year of the Civil War, Frémont fervently and controversially attacked slavery and slaveholders in Missouri, culminating in his declaration of martial law, which directed that the property of any individual acting against the United States would be confiscated, including slaves. The order engendered outrage, causing President Lincoln to overturn it and relieve Frémont of his command.

Gamble, Hamilton R.

By Christopher Phillips, University of Cincinnati

When the elected governor and clandestine secessionist Claiborne Fox Jackson and pro-secession legislators were driven from Jefferson City by a federal foray under Nathaniel Lyon, the state's renewed constitutional convention declared the governor’s seat vacant and on August 1, 1861, chose Hamilton R. Gamble as the state’s provisional governor. As a wartime governor, Gamble found himself and his government caught between pressures of loyalty and disloyalty, national and state authority, military and civil imperatives, and unionist factions in his home state.

Abraham Lincoln Assassinated

Fri, 04/14/1865 to Sat, 04/15/1865

Just five days after General Robert E. Lee's surrender to Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant, President Abraham Lincoln is assassinated by John Wilkes Booth, a famous actor, while watching the play Our American Cousin at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C.

Sherman's March to the Sea

Tue, 11/15/1864 to Wed, 12/21/1864

In conjunction with General Grant's Siege of Petersburg, Major General William Tecumseh Sherman's "March to the Sea," or the Savannah Campaign, signals the death knell of the Confederacy.

Lincoln Reelected

Tue, 11/08/1864

President Abraham Lincoln is reelected, although his victory in the election was anything but assured earlier in the year.

Overland Campaign

Wed, 05/04/1864 to Fri, 06/24/1864

After being promoted to lieutenant general and overall command of all Union armies, Ulysses S. Grant directs the Army of the Potomac, under command of Major General George G. Meade, in a campaign against General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia.

Civil War on the Western Border: The Missouri-Kansas Conflict, 1854-1865