History Timeline / UnitedStates

* November 3, 2020: No clear winner is declared in the presidential election contest between the incumbent President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden due to the pandemic vastly increasing the amount of mail-in votes from citizens unwilling to risk exposure to COVID-19 by voting in person.

* February 4, 1789: George Washington is unanimously elected [[UsefulNotes/ThePresidents president of the United States]] in a vote by state electors.

September 6 to September 14 1901: President William McKinley is shot by anarchist Leon Czolgosz in Buffalo, N.Y. He later dies from his wounds and is succeeded by his vice president, Theodore Roosevelt.

* January 6, 2021: Spurred on by Trump's rhetoric denying his loss, many of his supporters storm the Capitol to try to overturn the election in his favor. After they are routed, Trump finally concedes defeat in the election but continues to insist it was rigged against him.

* March 30, 2023: Former President Trump becomes the first president to be indicted when he is indicted for a scandal involving hush money paid to adult film actress Stormy Daniels prior to the 2016 election, and is left with 34 felony counts. He is indicted again on June 8 for mishandling of classified documents after leaving office with a further 37 felonies, now with the distinction of being the first president to be federally indicted.

* September 17, 1862: The Battle of Antietam was fought between Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee and Union Gen. George B. McClellan as the bloodiest day in American history, with a combined tally of 22,727 dead, wounded, or missing.
* November 5, 1862: Lincoln orders that Major General George McClellan be replaced with Ambrose Burnside as commander of the Army of the Potomac.

April 22 to June 17 1954: Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy accuses army officials, members of the media, and other public figures of being Communists during highly publicized hearings.

* March 11, 2020: The World Health Organization declares [[UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic COVID-19 a pandemic]]. In the following days, the United States enacts numerous lockdowns and many businesses allow their employees to work from home.

July 19–20 1848: The first women’s rights convention in the United States takes place in Seneca Falls, New York. The main organizer was Elizabeth Cady Stanton with around 300 attendees debating issues surrounding women’s rights and opposition to slavery. It marks the start of a growing women’s suffrage movement.

1840s to 1860s: Harried Tubman, along with her two brothers, escape from the Poplar Neck Plantation in Maryland where she has been kept as a slave. Working as part of the Underground Railroad network, she becomes a leading abolitionist who helps hundreds of slaves to find freedom.

1851: Moby Dick is Published

1852: Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Toms Cabin" is published, widely praised by abolitionists and condemned by slave owners. The book sells several hundred thousand copies in its first few years of publication.

1853: Gadsden Purchase gave away land that is located on the southern border of Arizona. One of the key reasons for the U.S. to acquire the lands of the Gadsden purchase was to construct a transcontinental railroad.

1854: The Kansas-Nebraska Act repeals Missouri Compromise of 1820 and allows all territories to permit or prohibit slavery.

1854 to 1859: "Bleeding Kansas": A period of repeated outbreaks of violent guerrilla warfare between pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces.

1860: Abraham Lincoln is elected the 16th president of the United States.

December 20, 1860: South Carolina secedes from the United States.

February 4 1861: The Confederate States of America is formed.

April 12 1861: Confederate forces fire on Fort Sumter. This is the start of the American Civil War.

April 15 1861: President Abraham Lincoln sends 75,000 troops to quell the insurrection.

July 21 1861:The First Battle of Bull Run (the name used by Union forces), also known as the Battle of First Manassas(the name used by Confederate forces) was the first major battle of the American Civil War.The Union's forces were slow in positioning themselves, allowing Confederate reinforcements time to arrive by rail. Each side had about 18,000 poorly trained and poorly led troops. It was a Confederate victory, followed by a disorganized retreat of the Union forces.

August 5 1861: President Lincoln signs the Revenue Act of 1861 into law, creating the first national income tax in American history.

August 12 1861: Confederates were ambushed by Mescalero Apaches in Big Bend country south of Fort Davis, Texas.

August 30 1861: August 30 - Acting without higher approval, Major General John C. Frémont issues an edict freeing the slaves of all Confederate sympathizers in Missouri.

October 12 1861: First ironclad in the U.S. Navy, USS St. Louis, launched at Carondelet Missouri.

November 8 1861: The Confederate emissaries to England and France are removed from the British vessel RMS Trent, initiating the "Trent Affair" and endangering the United States' relationship with Great Britain.

February 22 1862: Jefferson Davis was inaugurated as President of the Confederate States of America. He was previously serving as the Confederacy's provisional president since February 1862.

April 6–7 1862:The Battle of Shiloh: Fighting took place in southwestern Tennessee, which was part of the war's Western Theater. The battlefield is located between a church named Shiloh and Pittsburg Landing, which is on the Tennessee River. Two Union armies combined to defeat the Confederate Army of Mississippi.. The battle was the costliest engagement of the Civil War up to that point, and its nearly 24,000 casualties made it one of the bloodiest battles in the entire war.

July 7, 1862: Lincoln’s Second Confiscation Act, which emancipates slaves in the federal territory and forbids the return of fugitive slaves.

August 27 1862: General Stonewall Jackson captures and plunders Union supply depots at Manassas Junction, Virginia.

September 17 1862:The Battle of Antietam was fought between Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee and Union Gen. George B. McClellan as the bloodiest day in American history, with a combined tally of 22,727 dead, wounded, or missing.

November 5 1862: Lincoln orders that Major General George McClellan be replaced with Ambrose Burnside as commander of the Army of the Potomac.

December 11 to 15 1862: The Battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia: One of the largest and deadliest battles of the Civil War. It featured the first opposed river crossing in American military history as well as the Civil War’s first instance of urban combat. Ended in Confederate victory.

January 1 1863: The Emancipation Proclamation goes into effect, freeing slaves in Confederate states.

January 17 1863: Lincoln approves Congressional resolution authorizing the Treasury to issue $100,000,000 in new notes in order to pay Union soldiers and sailors. President Lincoln also calls for regulation of the national currency.

February 18 to 21 1863: The Cherokee National Council meets at Cowskin Prairie to disavow pro-Confederate factions and abolish slavery.

February 26 1863: Confederate guerrillas attack a freight train near Woodburn, Tennessee.

March 3 1863: Abraham Lincoln signs the Conscription Act, creating the first national military draft in American history.

April 21 1863: Confederates raid on the B&O Railroad in Virginia (now West Virginia).

May 10 1863: Stonewall Jackson was accidentally shot by Confederate pickets. He lost his left arm to amputation; weakened by his wounds, he died of pneumonia eight days later.

July 1 to July 3 1863: The Battle Of Gettysburg occurs, with more than 50,000 estimated casualties, the three-day engagement was the bloodiest single battle of the conflict.

July 11 1863 to July 16 1863: Draft riots in New York City. White rioters attacked black people, with violence throughout the city. The official death toll was listed at either 119 or 120 individuals. Mobs had ransacked or destroyed numerous public buildings, two Protestant churches, the homes of various abolitionists or sympathizers, many black homes, and the Colored Orphan Asylum . A final confrontation occurred in the evening near Gramercy Park, where twelve people died in skirmishes between rioters, the police, and the Army.

September 20 1863: Union troops retreat to Chattanooga, Tennessee after the Battle of Chickamauga.

November 19 1863: President Lincoln delivers the "Gettysburg Address"

February 2 1864: Southern navy captures U.S. gunboat Underwriter but is forced to burn and flee.
May 5 to 6 1864: Battle of the Wilderness, Virginia, and General James Longstreet is seriously wounded in combat

May 7, 1864 to Sep 2, 1864: General William Tecumseh Sherman campaigns in Atlanta. Confederates withdrew from Atlanta in the face of successive flanking maneuvers by Sherman's group of armies. In July, Jefferson Davis, used the more aggressive General John Bell Hood, who began challenging the Union Army in a series of costly frontal assaults. Hood's army was eventually besieged in Atlanta and the city fell.

November 15 1864 to December 21, 1864: General William T. Sherman led some 60,000 soldiers on a 285-mile march from Atlanta to Savannah, Georgia. The purpose of Sherman’s March to the Sea was to frighten Georgia’s civilian population into abandoning the Confederate cause. Sherman’s soldiers did not destroy any of the towns in their path, but they stole food and livestock and burned the houses and barns of people who tried to fight back.

January 16, 1865: Field Order 15 redistributes 400,000 confiscated acres of land in Georgia and South Carolina to newly freed Black families (“40 acres and a mule”).

January 31 1865: U.S. House passes 13th Amendment abolishing slavery.

February 17 1865: Columbia South Carolina is burned.

February 17 1865: Civilians were evacuated from Charleston, South Carolina.

February 22 1865: Wilmington, North Carolina is captured.

April 8 1865: Battle of Appomattox Station, where General Robert E. Lee's hope of finding food and supplies in the immediate area and undoubtedly influenced his decision to surrender

April 9 1865: Lee surrenders to Grant at Appomattox Court House

April 14 1865: President Lincoln is assassinated.

[[folder: Reconstruction and Gilded Age 1865 to c.1900]]
May 29 1865: President Andrew Johnson’s reconstruction plan returns confiscated property, excluding slaves, to southern Whites, and pardons them, in exchange for swearing loyalty to the Union.

June 2 1865: Confederate General Simon Bolivar Buckner surrenders the last of the Confederate Army, the Army of the Trans-Mississippi. This is the end of the Civil War.

December 6 1865: The Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution abolishes slavery.

April 9 1866: The first Civil Rights Act is enacted to protect the civil rights of former slaves.

March 2 1867: The Reconstruction Act of 1867 outlines terms for rebel states to return to the Union.

July 9 1868: The 14th Amendment to the Constitution grants American citizenship to everyone born in the United States, including formerly enslaved persons.

February 3 1870: The Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution prohibits states from denying citizens the right to vote on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

March 1 1875: The Civil Rights Act guarantees African Americans equal rights in public transportation, public accommodations, and jury service. This would be overturned in 1883.

April 24 1877: “The Compromise.” 12 years after the close of the Civil War, federal troops still occupied three southern states. These states disputed the election of President Rutherford B. Hayes. In exchange for the withdrawal of federal troops, the states accepted Hayes’s win. This was the end of Reconstruction.

June to August 1878: The Bannock War: A two-month battle between Bannock warriors and the U.S. Military. An influx of aggressive settlers threatens this group of Native Americans living on the Snake River Plain in Idaho. They agree to move to a reservation near Boise. Terrible conditions on the reservation cause internal strife. A switch in U.S. policy toward closing reservation borders exacerbates tensions with the outside world. The murder of a federal agent by Fort Hill Indians sparks the violence that started the war.

1879: Thomas Edison creates the first lightbulb for commercial sale.

1880: Gold is discovered in Juneau, Alaska.

July 2 1881: President Garfield is shot by Charles Guiteau in Washington, D.C

September 19 1882: President Garfield dies from complications of his wounds in Elberon, New Jersey. His vice president, Chester Alan Arthur, succeeds him in office.

1850
The Apache Wars. Between 1849 and 1886, the U.S. Army would fight against various bands of Apache Indians, in an attempt to force them from their lands in the southwest (recently acquired from Mexico), according to the 1830 Indian Removal Act. Large-scale battles ended with the capture of Chiricahua leader Geronimo in 1886. Skirmishes would keep occurring until 1924.

The Navajo Wars between the U.S. Army and the Navajo of the southwest ran during the same years.

Between 1950 and 1953, the U.S. Army was also at war with the Quechan (Yuma) tribe in what is today southern Arizona and southern California.

The U.S. Army would also fight against the Ute people in a series of battles between 1849 and 1923.

June 3-11

The Nashville Convention takes place in Nashville, Tennessee. Representatives from nine slaveholding states — Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Texas, Arkansas, Florida, and Tennessee — attended. They agreed to secede from the Union if Congress banned slavery in the new territories acquired through the Louisiana Purchase and following the Mexican-American War.

July 9

President Taylor dies of gastroenteritis. He is succeeded by his vice president, Millard Fillmore. During Taylor’s presidency, the question of slavery in newly admitted states and territories bitterly divides Congress.

The Compromise of 1850, a package of five bills, is passed. These bills admit California to the Union as a free state, leave the slavery question in Utah and New Mexico to be decided by popular sovereignty, and prohibit the slave trade in Washington, D.C. It also sets a stricter fugitive slave law, than the original, which was passed in 1793.

November

The second session of the Nashville Convention meets. Representatives agree that, following the Compromise, their states will not leave the Union.

1851
A fire at the Library of Congress destroys 35,000 books.

1852
Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel, "Uncle Tom's Cabin" is published. It becomes one of the most influential works to stir anti-slavery sentiments.

1853
March 4

Franklin Pierce is inaugurated as the 14th president.

December 30

The Gadsden Purchase treaty is signed. The U.S. acquires border territory from Mexico for $10 million.

1854
The Sioux Wars. Between 1854 and 1891, the U.S. Army would fight against different groups of the Sioux people of the Great Plains. The first two battles came about when the Sioux attacked settlements after the U.S. violated their treaty. U.S. forces mounted several massacres in response.

May 30

Congress passes the Kansas-Nebraska Act, establishing the territories of Kansas and Nebraska. The legislation repeals the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which had struck a balance between northern states’ desire to abolish slavery, and southern states’ desire to expand it. This will fuel the existing tensions over this issue.

1855
1855 to 1856

The Rogue River Wars. This was a series of armed conflicts and massacres between the U.S. Army and different Native American tribes in the Rogue River area of Oregon. After the war, the United States removes the tribes to reservations in Oregon and California.

1855 to 1858

The Yakima War: several battles and massacres in the Washington Territory. The war was sparked by the rape and murder of two Yakima women and an infant by prospectors, who had invaded Yakima land to look for gold. The influx of prospectors into Yakima territory also violated the U.S. treaty with the Yakima. After the end of the war, the Yakima Indians were forced onto a reservation near Yakima, Washington.

November-December

The Warakusa War was the first of the violent confrontations between pro-slavery and anti-slavery settlers in the newly acquired Kansas territory. These conflicts would continue until 1859, and would come to be known collectively as “Bleeding Kansas.”

Also, this year would see the end of the Cayuse War with the Cayuse tribe in the Pacific Northwest. The Cayuse would cede most of their land, and this battle would mark the first step toward the reservation system.

1856
May

On May 21, pro-slavery settlers attack Lawrence, Kansas, which had been founded by anti-slavery settlers. Only one person is killed, but the incident fuels conflict in the Kansas territory.

Also in May Republican Party Senator Charles Sumner denounces the idea of slavery in Kansas on the Senate floor. South Carolina senator Andrew Butler takes exception to the language of Sumner’s denunciation. Two days later, Butler’s cousin, Preston Brooks, beats Sumner nearly to death with a cane on the Senate floor.

The Pottawatomie Massacre. On May 24, abolitionist John Brown, his sons, and his followers murder five pro-slavery men at the Pottawatomie Creek settlement, hacking them to death with broadswords.

July 4

President Pierce sends 500 federal troops to Kansas. The presiding colonel orders the dispersal of the Free State Legislature.

August 30

Thousands of pro-slavery men form armies and march into Kansas. John Brown and his followers fight some 400 pro-slavery men in the Battle of Osawatomie, which would continue for two months.

1857
James Buchanan is inaugurated as the 15th president.

Dred Scott v. Sanford. This Supreme Court decision holds that African-born slaves and their descendants are not U.S. citizens and that Congress does not have the right to ban slavery in states.

August 11

The Panic of 1857. This, the first worldwide economic crisis, is caused by the declining international economy and the over-expansion of the domestic economy. American banks would not recover until after the Civil War.

1858
1858 to 1859

The Mojave War. An influx of prospectors heading through Mojave territory in the southwest on their way to California sparked conflict with the Mojave people. The Mojave signed a peace treaty with the U.S., as well as with the Maricopa tribe, in 1859.

January to May

The Antelope Hills Expedition (part of the Comanche Wr, 1836 to 1877). The Federal 2nd Cavalry, along with members of the Tonkawa, Nadaco and Shawnee tribes, led a campaign against the Comanche and Kiowa tribes in Comanche-controlled parts of New Mexico and Texas. This battle continued into the Battle of Little Robe Creek, which also involved Comanche allies the Kiowa, and other tribes allied with the Texas Rangers.

These battles resulted in losses on both sides. The Texas Indian Wars, which began in 1836, would continue until 1877.

August to October

The Lincoln-Douglas Debates. Abraham Lincoln comes to national attention in a series of seven debates with Senator Stephen A. Douglas. The debates center on slavery and the moral, ethical, and logical arguments for and against it.

1859
Abolitionist John Brown and 21 followers capture the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia), in an attempt to spark a slave revolt.

Also during this year, Kansas rejects the Lecompton Constitution, a second attempt at a state constitution, which was strongly pro-slavery.

1860
The Paiute Wr: a series of battles between the U.S. Army and the Paiute and Shoshone tribes in Utah.

November 6

Abraham Lincoln is elected president.

Abraham Lincoln

November 10

The South Carolina legislature calls for a convention on December 17 to discuss secession.

November 14

The governors of Alabama and Mississippi call for conventions to discuss secession.

November 18

Florida and Georgia call for conventions to discuss secession.

December 8 to January 8, 1861

Members of President Buchanan’s cabinet from the southern states resign.

December 17

South Carolina’s secession convention begins.

December 20

South Carolina secedes from the Union. It demands the transfer of all federal property within the state, including Fort Sumter, Fort Moultrie, and Castle Pinckney in Charleston Harbor.

December 26-30

Major Anderson moves the federal garrison at Charleston, South Carolina from Fort Moultrie to Fort Sumter. The next day, South Carolina troops occupy Fort Moultrie and Castle Pinkney.

President Buchanan refuses toorder Major Robert Anderson and his troops to evacuate and turn over Fort Sumter to South Carolina forces, precipitating a crisis that would lead to Confederate forces firing on Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861 (and starting the Civil War).

December 28

South Carolina commissioners meet with President Buchanan to demand the withdrawal of federal troops. Buchanan refuses.

December 30

South Carolina troops sieze the Charleston arsenal.

1861
1861 to 1875

The Yavapai Wrs: a series of battles in the Arizona Territory between the U.S. government and the Yavapai and Tonto people.

January

Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana secede from the Union.

February 1

Texas holds a secession convention and votes to secede.

February 4-9

The states that have seceded send delegates to a conference in Montgomery, Alabama. There, they draft a constitution for the Confederate States of America and plan the provisional government.

February 16

Texan General David E. Twiggs surrenders the U.S. arsenal and barracks in San Antonio to replace Texan forces, avoiding armed conflict.

February 18

Jefferson Davis is elected provisional President of the Confederate States of America.

March 2

Texas secedes and is admitted into the Confederate States of America.

Abraham Lincoln is inaugurated as the 16th president.

March 11

The CSA approves the Constitution of the Confederate States of America. Confederate states ratify it.

April 12

Confederate forces fire on Fort Sumter. This is the start of the Civil War.

April 15 to May 23

President Lincoln declares an insurrection and sends 75,000 troops to quell it. As a result, Arkansas, Virginia, Tennessee, and North Carolina will later secede.

May 3

Lincoln expands the Regular Army with the addition of 43,000 volunteers. Virginia, Missouri, and Tennessee refuse to comply.

April 18

Pennsylvania answers Lincoln’s call for volunteers.

April 19-27

President Lincoln declares a blockade of the Confederate states.

May 13-June 13

The Wheeling Convention, when delegates from the northwest of Virginia met with the goal of repealing the Ordinance of Secession.

May 17

North Carolina enters the Confederacy.

May 18

Arkansas enters the Confederacy.

May 20

Kentucky Governor Beriah Magoffin declares Kentucky’s neutrality in the conflict and asks Confederate troops to leave.

May 24

Union forces cross the Potomac River and occupy Arlington Heights, Virginia, the home of General Robert E. Lee. The forces will also occupy nearby Alexandria, Virginia.

Later that month, Richmond, Virginia will become the capital city of the Confederacy.

June 3

The first skirmish in the east between Union and Confederate forces takes place near Philippi, Virginia.

June 8

Tennessee votes to secede.

June 13

The Wheeling Convention produces "A Declaration of the People of Virginia". This document states that the Secession Convention, its acts, and the subsequent secessionist government are illegal under the Virginia Declaration of Rights and therefore void.

June 19

The Wheeling Convention approves the "Declaration".

The Battle of Big Bethel takes place. This is the first land battle in Virginia.

June 20

The northwestern counties of secessionist Virginia break away to form Unionist West Virginia. West Virginia will be officially recognized as the 35th U.S. state on June 20, 1863.

July 16-21

The First Battle of Bull Run takes place near Manassas, Virginia. Confederate forces are victorious. The Second Battle of Bull Run, a year later, would also be a Confederate victory.

August 6

President Lincoln signs the Confiscation Act of 1861. This act allows court proceedings to confiscate personal property, including enslaved people, that is being used to support the Confederacy.

August 10

The Battle of Wilson’s Creek, Missouri, west of the Mississippi River. The U.S. Army attacks Confederate troops and state militia. Union forces are defeated.

August 28-29

Union forces capture Fort Hatteras at Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. This victory will spawn additional Federal efforts to take southern ports.

September 20

Confederate forces capture Lexington, Missouri.

October 21

The Battle of Ball’s Bluff, Virginia. Colonel Edward D. Baker takes troops across the Potomac River but is forced to withdraw.

November 18

Confederate soldiers in Kentucky adopt an Ordinance of Secession and create an alternate Confederate government, even though the state is officially on the Union side.

1862
January 3

The Battle of Cockpit Point, Virginia. This battle breaks the Confederacy’s blockade of the Potomac River.

February 6

General Ulysses S. Grant captures Fort Henry, Tennessee. This is the first victory for the Union Army.

February 22

Jefferson Davis is inaugurated President of the Confederate States of America.

March 8-9

The Battle of Hampton Roads was the first battle between ironclad warships, called the CSS Virginia and the USS Monitor.

March 13

The U.S. Federal Government forbids Union army officers from returning fugitive slaves.

March 26-28

The Battle of Glorieta Pass. Union forces repel the Confederate invasion of the New Mexico Territory.

April 5

The Battle of Yorktown. Union General George B. McClellan lays siege to the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia. Confederate forces will escape.

April 6-7

The Battle of Shiloh. Union forces under Grant defeat Confederate forces near Shiloh, Tennessee.

April 10

Use of the Parrott Rifle, a rifled canon, at the Battle of Fort Pulaski demonstrates the obsolescence of masonry forts.

April 16

The District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act becomes law. This act outlaws slavery in the District of Columbia and compensates slave oners for economic loss.

April 26

Union forces under Admiral David Farragut take the city of New Orleans, Louisiana. Union Forces now have secure access to the Mississippi River.

Also on this day, the Confederate garrison at Fort Macon, North Carolina, surrenders to Union Forces.

May 20

President Lincoln signs the Homestead Act. It will go into effect on January 1, 1863.

June 4

Confederate troops evacuate Fort Pillow, which will allow Union forces to capture Memphis, Tennessee. Two years later, this would be the site of the Fort Pillow Massacre.

June 6

Union forces capture Memphis, Tennessee following the Battle of Memphis.

June 19

The U.S. Congress passes legislation to outlaw slavery in U.S. territories.

June 26

In the first of the Seven Days’ Battles, Confederate General Robert E. Lee defeats Union General George McClellan near Richmond, Virginia.

August. 9

Confederate General Stonewall Jackson defeats Union forces at Cedar Mountain, Virginia. This was the first combat of the North Virginia campaign.

August 28-30

The Second Battle of Bull Run. Confederate forces win decisively.

September 5

Confederate General Lee leads 55,000 troops across the Potomac River into Maryland. This is the first Confederate invasion of the North.

September 17

The Battle of Antietam. Union forces defeat Confederate soldiers at Sharpsburg, Maryland. This would be the bloodiest battle in U.S. history, with a total of more than 22,000 casualties.

September 22

President Lincoln announces at as of January 1, 1863, enslaved people in Confederate states will be free.

October 8

The Battle of Perryville, Kentucky. Union forces repel a Confederate invasion of Kentucky.

October 24

The Tonkawa Massacre. 300 members of the Confederacy-supporting Tonkawa tribe of Native Americans are attacked by Union-supporting Native Americans. 137 Tonkawa are killed.

December 1

President Lincoln’s State of the Union Address reaffirms the necessity of the end of slavery.

December 12

Union ironclad ship the USS Cairo is sunk by a remotely detonated naval mine, also called a “torpedo.” This is the first ship to be sunk by a torpedo.

December 13

The Battle of Fredericksburg. The Union Army, attempting to capture the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia, is repelled by Confederate forces.

December 26-29

The Battle of Chickasaw Bayou. The vastly outnumbered Confederate Army repels several assaults by Union forces under William T. Sherman.

December 31

President Abraham Lincoln admits West Virginia to the Union. Virginia and West Virginia are officially divided.

1863
January 1

Under the Emancipation Proclamation, President Lincoln frees enslaved people in ten Confederate states.

May 1-4

The Battle of Chancellorsville. General Lee defeats Union forces. Both sides sustain heavy casualties, and Stonewall Jackson dies.

May 14

The Battle of Jackson, Mississippi. Union General Grant defeats Confederate forces, which will allow Union forces to lay siege to Vicksburg.

May 18-July 4

The Siege of Vicksburg. One and a half months later, Confederate forces there will surrender.

May 28

The first African-American Union regiment, the 54th Massachusetts, leaves Boston.

June 20

West Virginia is officially admitted to the Union.

July 1-3

The Battle of Gettysburg. Union forces under the command of George G. Meade repel Robert E. Lee and his troops. This will be the largest battle of the war.

July 4

The Battle of Vicksburg. Union General Grant and his troops capture Vicksburg, Mississippi after a 47-day siege.

July 9

The Siege of Port Hudson. Union forces are victorious and now control the entire Mississippi River.

August 21

The Battle of Lawrence, Kansas. Confederate guerilla leader William Quantrill’s raiders massacre 200 men and boys.

October 29

The Battle of Wauhatchie. General Grant’s forces repel a Confederate attack, opening a supply line into Chattanooga, Tennessee.

November, 19

President Lincoln delivers the Gettysburg Address.

December 8

President Lincoln issues the Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction. This proclamation declared that all southerners, with the exception of high-ranking Confederate officers and government officials, would be offered full amnesty. In addition, all property would be returned, except for enslaved people.

1864
1864 to 1868

The Snake War between the U.S. Army and the Northern Paiute, Bannock, and Western Shoshone Indians in Oregon, Nevada, California, and the Idaho Territory.

February 17

The Confederate submarine Hunley sinks the USS Housatonic with a torpedo, becoming the first submarine to do so.

February 20

The Battle of Olustee. Union forces are defeated near Lake City, Florida. This would be one of the Union’s costliest defeats.

February 25

500 Northern prisoners of war arrive at the prison at Andersonville, Georgia. This is the first group of prisoners to arrive there.

March 10

Union Troops reach Alexandria, Virginia, kicking off the Red River Campaign.

May

Numerous inconclusive battles are fought, including:

The Battle of the Wilderness.

The Battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse.

The Battle of Resaca.

June 5

The Battle of Piedmont. Union forces are victorious and take nearly 1,000 prisoners.

June 9, 1864 to March 25, 1865

The Siege of Petersberg. This will be the last battle between Generals Grant and Lee. Petersburg was a crucial point of a major Confederate supply line. Lee’s defeat would lead to his later surrender at Appotomax Courthouse in 1865.

June 15

Arlington National Cemetery is established on 200 acres of the grounds of the home of Robert E. Lee.

July

Several unsuccessful Confederate attacks on Union targets, including:

The Battle of Peachtree Creek.

The Battle of Atlanta.

The Battle of Ezra Church.

August 5

The Battle of Mobile Bay. Union Admiral David Farragut leads an attack with ships, sealing off one of the last Confederate ports.

August 31

General William T. Sherman launches an assault on Atlanta, Georgia, finally capturing the city on September 2.

October 19

The Battle of Cedar Creek. Union forces repel a surprise Confederate attack, ending the Shenandoah Valley Campaigns.

October, 25

The Battle of Mine Creek. This is one of the largest cavalry battles of the war. Union forces are victorious.

October 28

The Second Battle of Fair Oaks. Union forces under Grant are repelled at Richmond, Virginia, and withdraw.

October 31

Nevada is admitted as the 36th state.

November 8

President Abraham Lincoln is re-elected.

November 15

General Sherman’s March to the Sea begins with the burning of Atlanta. The march will destroy wide swaths of the South.

December 15-16

The Battle of Nashville. Union forces defeat the Confederate Army of Tennessee at the Battle of Nashville.

December 21

Sherman’s March to the Sea ends when his forces capture the port of Savannah, Georgia.

1865
1865 to 1870

The Hualapai War takes place in the Arizona Territory, following incursions onto Hualapai land by white settlers. Weakened by disease, the Hualapai surrender in 1869, though small skirmishes would continue.

January 13-15

Union forces capture Fort Fisher, North Carolina following a massive amphibious assault.

February 22

Tennessee adopts a new state constitution that abolishes slavery.

March 3

The U.S. Congress establishes the Freedmen’s Bureau, an agency that aims to help freed people in the south.

March 4

Lincoln's second inauguration.

March 13

Confederate forces allow African-Americans to fight in their ranks for the first time.

March 25

Confederate forces capture Fort Steadman in Virginia. The high casualty cost, however, weakens Confederate forces to the point that their defeat is inevitable.

April 1

The Battle of Five Forks in Petersburg, Virginia. This will be General Lee’s last offensive.

April 3

General Ulysses S. Grant captures Richmond, Virginia, the capital of the Confederacy.

April 9

General Lee surrenders to General Grant at the Appomattox Courthouse. This is considered the end of the Civil War.

April 14

Abraham Lincoln is shot by Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth. Lincoln will die the next day. Vice President Andrew Johnson will become the 17th president of the United States.

April 26

Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston surrenders to Sherman at Durham Station, North Carolina.

May 4

Lieutenant General Richard Taylor, commander of the Confederate forces in eastern Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, surrenders. This is the end of Confederate activity east of the Mississippi River.

May 5

Confederate President Jefferson Davis and the Confederate Cabinet dissolve the Confederate government.

May 10

Jefferson Davis is captured by Union troops near Irwinville, Georgia.

May 12-13

The Battle of Palmito Ranch in south Texas. This is the last land battle of the Civil War.

June 2

Confederate forces west of the Mississippi River surrender at Galveston, Texas.

June 19

Union Major General Gordon Granger informs Texas of the Emancipation Proclamation. Today this is celebrated as Juneteenth.

June 23

The last Confederate army, under General Stand Watie, a Cherokee, surrenders at Fort Towson.

Summer

After President Andrew Johnson ordered lands confiscated from southern landowners to be returned, landowners are left with land but no one to work it. Many hire freedmen to work as sharecroppers. The practice becomes widespread at this time.

September 8-21

The Fort Smith Council. U.S. authorities informed representatives of the Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Seminole, Cherokee, Shawnee, Delaware, Wichita, Comanche, Great Osage, Seneca, and Quapaw tribes, who had supported the Confederacy, that previous treaties were null and void. The government set the terms for new treaties with these tribes.

December 13

Ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution abolishing slavery.

December 24

The Ku Klux Klan is established by six Confederate army veterans, with the support of the Democratic Party in Pulaski, Tennessee. The purpose was to repress newly freed Black men, as well as “carpetbaggers” (opportunistic northerners who had come to former Confederate states) and “scalawags” (white southerners who supported Reconstruction era measures).

Also starting this year, various southern states enacted the Black Codes, which aim to keep former slaves economically subjugated. Statutes vary from state to state but include separation of facilities, denial of the right to own property, and denial of the right to testify in court.

1866
March 13

Congress passes the Civil Rights Act of 1866, guaranteeing certain equal protection and civil rights for former slaves.

May 1-3

The Memphis Massacre. Following an altercation between white policemen and Black veterans, a white mob rampages through Black neighborhoods, murdering, robbing, and burning down buildings.

July 24

Tennessee becomes the first state to be readmitted to the Union.

[1867]

In this year, Russia sells Alaska to the United States for $7,200,000.

[1868]

February 24

The impeachment of President Johnson by the House of Representatives.

May 26

Johnson is acquitted at his trial in the Senate.

July 9

The 14th Amendment to the Constitution is ratified, guaranteeing African Americans citizenship, and guaranteeing due process to all citizens.

November 3

A new presidential election is held. Ulysses S. Grant is elected president.

December 25

Before Grant is inaugurated, President Johnson pardons all Civil War rebels.

[1869]

February 9

Authorities drop treason charges against Jefferson Davis.

March 4

Ulysses S. Grant is inaugurated as the 18th president.

[1870]

January 26

Virginia rejoins the Union.

February 3

The Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution is ratified, giving Black Americans the right to vote.

March 30

Texas is readmitted to the Union.

July 15

Georgia becomes the last state to rejoin the Union.

Also in 1870, radical Republicans in Georgia draft the Underwood Constitution, which expands the franchise to include males over the age of 21, as well as freedmen.

1871
April 20

President Grant signs the Ku Klux Klan Act, a congressional act allowing the suspension of Habeus Corpus in order to combat the Ku Klux Klan and other terrorist organizations.

October 8-10

The Great Chicago Fire kills 300, leaves 10,000 homeless, and destroys 17,000 buildings.

1872
1872 to 1873

The Modoc War between the Modoc People of northeastern California and the U.S. Army. The war is started by the murder of General Edward Canby and Rev. Eleazer Thomas by the Modoc during a peace conference. The murderers are tried and imprisoned. The remaining Modoc people are moved to Indian Territory in Oklahoma and held prisoner until 1909.

May 22

President Grant signs the Amnesty Act of 1872, which restored full civil rights to most Confederate sympathizers.

December 9

P.B.S. Pinchback, the first African American governor of Louisiana, takes office.

1873
In 1873, a financial panic causes the Long Depression, a period of financial depression that will last 65 months. Wages will contract by 45 percent, and in the winter of 1873 to 1874, New York will have an unemployment rate of 25 percent. Tensions from this period would be one of the factors leading to the 1877 Railroad Strike.

March 4

President Grant is inaugurated for the second time.

March 22

Emancipation Day in Puerto Rico. Enslaved people are freed.

1875
March 1

The second Civil Rights Act is passed. It prohibits racial discrimination in public accommodations and jury service.

March 3

The Page Act bans the immigration of Chinese women on the presumption that they will be used as prostitutes.

1876
1876-1877

The Great Sioux War. The discovery of gold in North Dakota’s Black Hills brings an influx of prospectors and settlers. Followers of Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse mount a defense of the sacred hills. Several battles ensue, the most famous of which is the Battle of Little Big Horn, which sees the defeat of U.S. General Custer and his forces. The war ended in 1877, with the surrender of Crazy Horse.

Sitting Bull

March 5

Rutherford B. Hayes is inaugurated as the 19th president. At this time, three southern states are still occupied by federal troops. These states dispute Hayes’s election. A year later, these states will recognize the results of the election in exchange for the withdrawal of federal troops. This is the end of Reconstruction.

1877


The Nez Perce War between U.S. forces and the Nez Perce and Palouse tribes. The war starts when the U.S., in violation of the 1855 Treaty of Walla Walla, attempt to remove the tribes to a reservation in the Idaho Territory. At the end of the war, 418 Nez Perce surrender, while others escape to Sitting Bull’s camp in Canada.

July 14

The Great Railroad Strike. In Martinsburg, West Virginia, Railroad workers strike for 52 days after their wages are cut. Railway workers in New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Illinois, and Missouri also strike. Strikers burn down buildings and vehicles. The strikes are put down by militia, and around 100 people die.

September

The Crow War in Montana. The Crow medicine man, Sword Bearer, leads a retaliatory raid against the nearby Blackfoot tribe. The Indian Agent assigned to the Crow reservation misinterprets their celebration as an attack and wires the U.S. Army at Fort Custer for help. Sword Bearer and his group flee to the Big Horn Mountains. Armed conflict ensues. Many Crow surrender. Sword Bearer is murdered by police during the march out of Big Horn.

1878
June to August

The Bannock War. A two-month battle between Bannock warriors and the U.S. Military. An influx of aggressive settlers threatens this group of Native Americans living on the Snake River Plain in Idaho. They agree to move to a reservation near Boise. Terrible conditions on the reservation cause internal strife. A switch in U.S. policy toward closing reservation borders exacerbates tensions with the outside world. The murder of a federal agent by Fort Hill Indians sparks the violence that started the war.

1879
Thomas Edison creates the first lightbulb for commercial sale.

1880
Gold is discovered in Juneau, Alaska. Over the next twenty years, discoveries in Nome, as well as in Klondike in neighboring Canada, would bring hordes of prospectors to Alaska.

March 16 1968: American soldiers kill 300 Vietnamese villagers in My Lai massacre.

April 4 1968: Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., is assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee.

July 20 1969: Astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Edwin Aldrin, Jr., become the first men to land on the Moon.

May 1 1970: U.S. troops invade Cambodia. Four students are shot to death by National Guardsmen during an antiwar protest at Kent State University.

July 1 1971: The Twenty-Sixth Amendment to the Constitution is ratified, lowering the voting age from 21 to 18.

February 21 to 27 1972: Nixon makes historic visit to Communist China.

May 26 1972: U.S. and Soviet Union sign strategic arms control agreement known as SALT I.

June 17 1972: Five men, all employees of Nixon's reelection campaign, are caught breaking into rival Democratic party headquarters at the Watergate complex in Washington, DC.

January 22 1973: Roe v. Wade: Landmark Supreme Court decision legalizes abortion in first trimester of pregnancy.

January 27 1973: Representatives of North and South Vietnam, the Viet Cong, and the U.S. sign a cease-fire agreement in Paris.

March 29 1973: Last U.S. troops leave Vietnam.

May 17 to August 7 1973: Senate Select Committee begins televised hearings to investigate Watergate cover-up.

October 10 1973: Vice President Spiro T. Agnew resigns over charges of corruption and income tax evasion.

July 27 to 30 1974: House Judiciary Committee recommends to full House that Nixon be impeached on grounds of obstruction of justice, abuse of power, and contempt of Congress.

August 9 1974: Nixon resigns; he is succeeded in office by his new vice president, Gerald Ford.

September 8 1974: Nixon is granted an unconditional pardon by President Ford.

October 15 1974: Five former Nixon aides go on trial for their involvement in the Watergate cover-up; Three aides eventually serve time in prison.

* March 11, 2020: The World Health Organization declares UsefulNotes/COVID19 a pandemic. In the following days, the United States enacts numerous lockdowns and many businesses allow their employees to work from home.

c. 10,000 BC: The first people would cross over the United States in the "Bering Strait" Ancestors of Native Americans hunt large mammals, catch fish, and gather fruits and nuts. The Unangan (Aleut) people settle the island chain stretching south and west from the Alaskan Peninsula.

c. 9000 BC: Celilo, a village on what is now called the Columbia River, bustles during salmon runs. Each year, salmon swimming upstream to spawn turn the river, between present-day Washington and Oregon, silver with fish. Fishermen standing on rocks spear or net fish that can weigh 40 to 50 pounds each. Women dry the catch for storage and trade, and Celilo becomes a market with exotic goods from hundreds of miles away for sale.

c. 4500 BC: The first mound builders would emerge in what is known as Watson Brake in northeastern Louisiana.

c. 3000 BC: People occupy large settlements in an area now known as Santa Barbara, California, hunting rabbits and deer on land, and waterfowl, seals, and sea lions in the Pacific Ocean, as well as crushing hard seeds and acorns.

c. 2600 BC: Gulf Coast peoples make canoes and pottery for trade.

c. 1000 BC: The Adena and Hopewell build large earthwork mounds at the center of their cities and community gardens.The Great Serpent Mound, in what is now Adams County, Ohio, stretches 4 football fields in length and is 20 feet high in some places.

c. 200 BC: Arctic Hunters in Alaska make sophisticated boats and gear to hunt animals.

c. 400 AD: The first people came to Hawaii.

800 to 1500: The Mississippian culture emerges as a a series of urban settlements and satellite villages (suburbs) linked together by a loose trading network, the largest city being Cahokia, believed to be a major religious center.

900 to 1350: Ancestral Pueblans travel to the southwestern part of the United States and establish Pueblo culture. Chaco Canyon and Pueblo Bonito becomes major centers of culture for the Ancestral Puebloans

1000 AD: Norse seaman Leif Ericsson lands in Newfoundland, which he calls Vinland. But
the settlement was small and did not last as long.

1200: Led by chief-priest Pa‘ao, Tahitian settlers in the Hawaiian Islands set up a stratified society of ali‘i (chiefs), kahuna (priests), koa (warriors), maka‘ainana (workers), and kaua (servants). The chiefdoms enforce kapu (taboos) and begin to extend their authority across the Hawaiian Islands.

1400: Tahitians, sailing double-hulled canoes, take over the oceanic trade routes between Hawai‘i and Tahiti.

1492: Christopher Columbus, financed by Spain, makes the first of four voyages to the New World. He lands in the Bahamas.

1513:Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León lands on the coast of Florida.

1565:Saint Augustine, Florida, settled by the Spanish, becomes the first permanent European colony in North America after raiding it from French Huguenots.

1607:Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in America, is established by the London Company in southeast Virginia.

1619: The House of Burgesses, the first representative assembly in America, meets for the first time in Virginia. The first African slaves are brought to Jamestown.

1620:The Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts is established by Pilgrims from England.

1614 - 1667: New Netherland is established by the Dutch, conceived by the Dutch West India Company (GWC) in 1621 to capitalize on the North American fur trade.The English would seize New Amsterdam (city and colony) from the Dutch and rename it New York.

1754 - 1763: French and Indian War: Final conflict in the ongoing struggle between the British and French for control of eastern North America. The British win a decisive victory over the French on the Plains of Abraham outside Quebec.With the Treaty of Paris, the British formally gain control of Canada and all the French possessions east of the Mississippi.

1770:Boston Massacre: British troops fire into a mob, killing five men and leading to intense public protests.

1773:Boston Tea Party: Group of colonial patriots disguised as Mohawk Indians board three ships in Boston harbor and dump more than 300 crates of tea overboard as a protest against the British tea tax.

1774:First Continental Congress meets in Philadelphia, with 56 delegates representing every colony except Georgia. Delegates include Patrick Henry, George Washington, and Samuel Adams.

July 4, 1776: Continental Congress adopts the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia.

1777: Continental Congress approves the first official flag of the United States.

December 19 1777 - July 19 1778: Battle-weary and destitute Continental army spends brutally cold winter and following spring at Valley Forge, Pa.

April 20 1778: John Paul Jones, in command of the Ranger, attacks Whitehaven in England, America's first naval engagement outside North America

June 1778: A Whaleboat attack on Flatbush, Brooklyn done to kidnap New York Mayor David Mathews and other British and Loyalist figures partially succeeds in securingfuture prisoner exchange.

December 29 1778: The British successfully capture Savannah.

October 19 1781: British general Charles Cornwallis surrenders to Gen. George Washington at Yorktown, Va.

September 3 1783: Great Britain formally acknowledges American independence in the Treaty of Paris, which officially brings the war to a close.

August 1786: Under the failed Articles Of Confederation, Shays's Rebellion erupts; farmers from New Hampshire to South Carolina take up arms to protest high state taxes and stiff penalties for failure to pay.

1787: Constitutional Convention, made up of delegates from 12 of the original 13 colonies, meets in Philadelphia to draft the U.S. Constitution.

Feburary 4 1789: George Washington is unanimously elected president of the United States in a vote by state electors.

April 30 1789: Washington is inaugurated as president at Federal Hall in New York City.

December 15 1791: First ten amendments to the Constitution, known as the Bill of Rights, are ratified.

February 13, 1793: George Washington was unanimously elected president again.

March 4, 1793: Washington's second inauguration is held in Philadelphia.

1793: Eli Whitney's invention of the cotton gin greatly increases the demand for slave labor.

March 4 1797: John Adams in inaugurated as the second president.

July 7, 1798 – September 30, 1800: The U.S. is in an undeclared naval war between the United States and the French First Republic, which ended in peaceful negotiations without a big giant war.

1800: The U.S. capital is moved from Philadelphia to Washington, DC and the U.S. Congress meets in Washington, DC, for the first time. Gabriel Prosser, an enslaved African American blacksmith, organizes a slave revolt intending to march on Richmond, Virginia. The conspiracy is uncovered, and Prosser and a number of the rebels are hanged. Virginia's slave laws are consequently tightened.

March 4 1801: Thomas Jefferson is inaugurated as the third president in Washington, DC.

February 24 1803: Marbury v. Madison: A landmark U.S. Supreme Court case that greatly expands the power of the Court by establishing its right to declare acts of Congress unconstitutional.

May 2 1803: Louisiana Purchase: The United States agrees to pay France $15 million for the Louisiana Territory.As a result, the U.S. nearly doubles in size.

1804: Following the United States doubling its territory with the Louisiana Purchase, an expedition is launched to explore the new land. President Thomas Jefferson commissions private secretary Meriwether Lewis and military captain William Clark to lead a team of 33 men on a ‘Corps of Discovery’. Setting out from St. Louis, Mo., the expedition to explore the West and find a route to the Pacific Ocean lasts more than two years.

November 15 1805: Lewis and Clark reach the Pacific Ocean.

1812 - 1815: The United States' declaration of war against the British follows long-standing tensions over territories, trade, and maritime rights. It marks the emergence of the U.S. as a military force on the world stage with much of the conflict focused on the British Empire’s territory in Canada. The war ended with the Treaty of Ghent in 1814. Lawyer Francis Scott Key is moved to write a poem after witnessing British forces bombarding Fort McHenry in Baltimore Harbour. This poem is later put to the tune of an English drinking song to become, "The Star-Spangled Banner".

1817 - 1825: The Eric Canal is being built, linking the Hudson River to Lake Erie in New York.

February 22 1819: A treaty with Spain is agreed that cedes Florida to the United States to resolve previous border disputes between the two countries. Known as the Adams-Onis Treaty or the Florida Treaty, Spain ceded Florida in return for settling a border dispute along the Sabine River in Spanish Texas.

March 30 1820: Missouri Compromise: In an effort to maintain the balance between free and slave states, Maine (formerly part of Massachusetts) was admitted as a free state so that Missouri can be admitted as a slave state; except for Missouri, slavery is prohibited in the Louisiana Purchase lands north of latitude 36°30'. The law is an attempt to tackle rising tensions over the issue of slavery.

1822:Denmark Vesey, an enslaved African American carpenter who had purchased his freedom, plans a slave revolt with the intent to lay siege on Charleston, South Carolina. The plot is discovered with Vesey and 34 co-conspirators hanged. Vessey had been able to purchase his freedom after winning $600 in a street lottery.

December 2 1823: Monroe Doctrine:President Monroe declares that the American continents are henceforth off-limits for further colonization by European powers. It warned that any outside intervention in the Americas would be regarded as a potentially hostile act.

1828: The first stone is laid to commence construction of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O), the first public railroad in the U.S.

March 4 1829: Andrew Jackson takes the oath of office to become the seventh President of the United States. A former general who took part in the War of 1812, he wins an overwhelming victory in the 1828 election. His inaugural speech includes a commitment to ensure the fair treatment of Native Americans.

May 28 1830: President Andrew Jackson signs the Indian Removal Act, which authorizes the forced removal of Native Americans living in the eastern part of the country to lands west of the Mississippi River. By the late 1830s, the Jackson administration has relocated nearly 50,000 Native Americans. The Cherokee were among the tribes to unsuccessfully challenge the legality of the act.

1831: Enslaved African American preacher, Nat Turner, leads the most significant slave uprising in American history. He and his band of around 80 followers launch a bloody, day-long rebellion in Southampton County, Virginia. The militia quells the rebellion, and Turner is eventually hanged. As a consequence, Virginia instituted much stricter slave laws. Anti-slavery "Liberator" newspaper is launched.

March 1 1836: The Texas Declaration of Independence was signed following the Texas Revolution. It declared Texas as being independent from Mexico, creating the Republic of Texas.

1836:The Alamo takes place during the Texas Revolution with Mexican troops laying siege to Texas rebels camped out at the Alamo Mission near San Antonio de Bexar. After 13 days, the Mexicans capture the fort and kill around 200 Texan defenders that include politician and soldier Davy Crockett.

February 24 – March 6 1836:Texan rebels continue to contest the territory with Mexican troops. The final and decisive battle takes place along the San Jacinto River with the Texan Army defeating the Mexican forces. It leads to the Mexican troops retreating from the area and ratifying the Independence of the newly formed republic.

March 1 1845:The Republic of Texas is annexed into the United States, making it the 28th state of the Union. The decision to accept Texas was controversial due to it being a slave state.

June 15 1846: The signing of the Oregon Treaty resolves a dispute between the United States and the United Kingdom over the territory around Oregon. After a negotiated settlement, the agreement fixes the U.S.-Canadian border along the 49th parallel of north latitude and the U.S. acquires the Oregon Territory.

May 13, 1846 to February 2 1848: The United States declares war on Mexico, triggering two years of conflict. The roots of the war are ongoing disputes over Texas and its recent annexation into the United States. It triggers the expansion west of the United States, adding states such as California, New Mexico, and Arizona.

January 24 1848: A carpenter from New Jersey, James Wilson Marshall, finds flakes of gold in a river near Coloma, California. Gold is discovered at Sutter's Mill in California. As word of the discovery spreads, it sparks a frenzied response with prospectors flooding into the area. The Californian Gold Rush reaches its peak the following year.

April 30 1975: Fall Of Saigon: South Vietnamese government surrenders to North Vietnam; U.S. embassy Marine guards and last U.S. civilians are evacuated.

September 7 1977: President Carter signs treaty agreeing to turn control of Panama Canal over to Panama on Dec. 31, 1999.

September 6 to 17 1978: President Carter meets with Egyptian president Anwar Sadat and Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin at Camp David. Sadat and Begin sign Camp David Accord, ending 30-year conflict between Egypt and Israel.

January 7 1979: the U.S. establishes diplomatic ties with mainland China for the first time since Communist takeover in 1949.

March 28 1979: Malfunction at Three Mile Island nuclear reactor in Pennsylvania causes near meltdown.

November 4 1979: Iranian students storm U.S. embassy in Teheran and hold 66 people hostage.

January 20 1980: President Carter announces that U.S. athletes will not attend Summer Olympics in Moscow unless Soviet Union withdraws from Afghanistan.

February 2 1980: FBI's undercover bribery investigation, codenamed Abscam, implicates a U.S. senator, seven members of the House, and 31 other public officials.

January 20 1981: U.S. hostages held in Iran are released after 444 days in captivity.

March 30 1981: President Reagan is shot in the chest by John Hinckley, Jr and survives.

September 25 1981: Sandra Day O'Connor is sworn in as the first woman Supreme Court justice.

June 30 1982: Deadline for ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution passes without the necessary votes.

January 28 1986: Space shuttle The Challenger explodes 73 seconds after liftoff, killing all seven crew members. It is the worst accident in the history of the U.S. space program.

November 1986: Iran-Contra scandal breaks when White House is forced to reveal secret arms-for-hostages deals.

May 5 to August 3 1987: Congress holds public hearings in Iran-Contra investigation.

June 12 1987 In a speech in Berlin, President Reagan challenges Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down this wall” and open Eastern Europe to political and economic reform.

December 8 1987: Reagan and Gorbachev sign INF treaty, the first arms-control agreement to reduce the superpowers' nuclear weapons.

March 24 1989: Oil tanker Exxon Valdez spills more than 10 million gallons of oil. It is the largest oil spill in U.S. history.

August 9 1989: President Bush signs legislation to provide for federal bailout of nearly 800 insolvent savings and loan institutions.

August 2 1990 to February 28 1991: Iraqi troops invade Kuwait, leading to the Persian Gulf War.U.S. leads international coalition in military operation (code named “Desert Storm”) to drive Iraqis out of Kuwait. Iraq accepts terms of UN ceasefire, marking an end of the war.

July 31 1991: U.S. and Soviet Union sign START I treaty, agreeing to further reduce strategic nuclear arms.

October 11 to 13 1991: Senate Judiciary Committee conducts televised hearings to investigate allegations of past sexual harassment brought against Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas by Anita Hill, a law professor at the University of Oklahoma.

December 26, 1991: Mikhail Gorbachev and President George H.W. Bush declared the end of the Cold War.

April 29 1992: The acquittal of four white police officers charged in the 1991 beating of black motorist Rodney King in Los Angeles sets off several days of rioting, leading to more than 50 deaths, thousands of injuries and arrests, and $1 billion in property damage.

February 26 1993: Bomb explodes in basement garage of World Trade Center, killing 6, injuring 1,000, and causing more than $500 million in damage.

December 8 1993: President Clinton signs North American Free Trade Agreement into law.

April 19 1995: Bombing of federal office building in Oklahoma City kills 168 people.

December 1995:8,000 of the first 20,000 U.S. troops are sent to Bosnia for 12-month peacekeeping mission.

January 17 1998: President Clinton denies having had a sexual relationship with a White House intern named Monica Lewinsky.

August 17 1998: In televised address, President Clinton admits having had a sexual relationship with Monica Lewinsky.

December 19 1999: House of Representatives votes to impeach President Clinton on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice.

April 20 1999: School shooting at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., leaves 14 students (including the 2 shooters) and 1 teacher dead and 23 others wounded.

2000: Year 2000 problem ("Y2K"), perceived as a major concern in the lead-up to the year 2000.

November 7 2000:No clear winner is declared in the close presidential election contest between Vice President Al Gore and Texas governor George W. Bush.

December 12 2000: More than a month after the presidential election, the U.S. Supreme Court rules against a manual recount of ballots in certain Florida counties, which it contends would violate the Constitution's equal protection and due process guarantees. The decision provokes enormous controversy, with critics maintaining that the court has in effect determined the outcome of the election.

September 11 2001: al-Qaeda terrorists the World Trade Center, resulting in the loss of thousands of innocent lives.

September 18 2001: President Bush signs the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists into law, beginning the War on Terror.

August 23-31 2005: Hurricane Katrina, a Category 5 storm, strikes the Gulf Coast of the United States. Catastrophic flooding takes place in New Orleans due to the levees failing.

November 4 2008: Barack Obama is elected as the first black President of the United States.

May 1 2011: President Obama announces the success of Operation Neptune Spear: UsefulNotes/OsamaBinLaden has been killed.

November 9 2016: Businessman Donald Trump is elected as the forty-fifth President of the United States, defeating former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in what is widely regarded as an upset victory.

December 18 2019: House of Representatives votes to impeach President Trump on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.

February 5 2020: Senate votes to acquit Trump.

March 11 2020: The World Health Organization declares UsefulNotes/COVID19 a pandemic. In the following days, the United States enacts numerous lockdowns and many businesses allow their employees to work from home.

May 25 2020: George Floyd is murdered by police while in handcuffs. The killing sparks worldwide protests against police brutality.

November 3 2020: No clear winner is declared in the presidential election contest between the incumbent President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden due to the pandemic vastly increasing the amount of mail-in votes from citizens unwilling to risk exposure to COVID-19 by voting in-person.

November 7 2020: Biden is declared winner of the 2020 election for the presidency. His running mate Kamala Harris will become the first female vice president. Trump refuses to concede and mounts numerous lawsuits aimed at overturning the results.

January 6 2021: Spurred on by Trump's rhetoric denying his loss, many of his supporters storm the Capitol to try to overturn the election in his favor. After they are routed, Trump finally concedes defeat in the election but continues to insist it was rigged against him.

January 13 2021: House of Representatives votes to impeach President Trump for a second time, this time on charges of incitement of insurrection for his role in the January 6 insurrection.

February 13 2021: Senate votes to acquit now-former President Trump of his second impeachment, notably the first trial to be had for a non-incumbent.

August 15 2021: After the United States had completely pulled its' troops out of Afghanistan as part of a peace treaty, Kabul falls to the Taliban solidifying their rule over Afghanistan.

May 5 2023: The World Health Organization declares the global health emergency of COVID-19 has ended.

August 15 2021: Kabul falls to the Taliban solidifying their rule over Afghanistan.

[[Early 20th Century c. 1900 to 1918]]

[[Mid 20th Century 1919 to 1945]]

[[Late 20th Century 1945 to 2000]]

[[folder: The American Civil War 1860 to 1865]]

May 7, 1864 – Sep 2, 1864: General William Tecumseh Sherman campaigns in Atlanta. Confederates withdrew from Atlanta in the face of successive flanking maneuvers by Sherman's group of armies. In July, Jefferson Davis, used the more aggressive General John Bell Hood, who began challenging the Union Army in a series of costly frontal assaults. Hood's army was eventually besieged in Atlanta and the city fell.

November 15 1864 – December 21, 1864: General William T. Sherman led some 60,000 soldiers on a 285-mile march from Atlanta to Savannah, Georgia. The purpose of Sherman’s March to the Sea was to frighten Georgia’s civilian population into abandoning the Confederate cause. Sherman’s soldiers did not destroy any of the towns in their path, but they stole food and livestock and burned the houses and barns of people who tried to fight back.

[[folder: The American Civil War]]

February 26 1863: Confederate guerrillas attack freight train near Woodburn, Tennessee

March 1 1845:The Republic of Texas is annexed into the United States, making it the 28th state of the Union.

March 1 1845:The Republic of Texas is annexed into the United States, making it the 28th state of the Union.

[[folder: Revolutionary War and Constitution Ratification 1776 to 1787]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Pre Colonial Times: 10,000 BC to 1492]]

[[Pre Colonial Times: 10,000 BC to 1492]]