Here are 10 key battles of the American Civil War.

1. Battle of Fort Sumter (12 – 13 April 1861)

The Battle of Fort Sumter marked the start of the American Civil War. Fort Sumter, located in Charleston, South Carolina, was under the charge of Union Major Robert Anderson when the state seceded from the Union in 1860.

On 9 April 1861, Confederate President Jefferson Davis ordered General Pierre G. T. Beauregard to attack Fort Sumter, and on April 12, Beauregard’s troops opened fire, marking the start of the Civil War. Outnumbered, and with supplies that would not last 3 days, Anderson surrendered the next day.

A photograph of the evacuation of Fort Sumter in April 1861.

Image Credit: Metropolitan Museum of Art / Public Domain

2. First Battle of Bull Run / the First Battle of Manassas (21 July 1861)

Union General Irvin McDowell marched his troops from Washington DC towards the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia, on 21 July 1861, intent on bringing a swift end to the war. However, his soldiers were not yet trained, resulting in an unorganised and messy battle when they met Confederate troops near Manassas, Virginia.

The larger Union forces, though inexperienced, were initially able to force a Confederate retreat, but reinforcements arrived for the southern army, and General Thomas ‘Stonewall’ Jackson launched a successful counterattack, leading to a Confederate victory in what is considered the first major battle of the war.

3. Battle of Shiloh (6 – 7 April 1862)

The Union army, under the command of Ulysses S. Grant, moved deep into Tennessee, along the west bank of the Tennessee River. On the morning of 6 April, the Confederate army launched a surprise attack in the hopes of defeating Grant’s army before more reinforcements arrived, initially driving them back over 2 miles.

However, the Union Army was able to stabilise due to the brave defense of the ‘Hornet’s Nest’ – divisions under the command of Benjamin Prentiss and William H. L. Wallace – and when Union aid arrived in the evening, a counterattack was launched with the Union emerging victorious.

4. Battle of Antietam (17 September 1862)

General Robert E. Lee had been installed as the leader of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in June 1862, and his immediate goal was to reach 2 northern states, Pennsylvania and Maryland, to sever railway routes to Washington DC. Union soldiers, under the leadership of General George McClellan, discovered these plans and were able to attack Lee along Antietam Creek, Maryland.

A powerful battle ensued, and the next day, both sides were too battered to continue fighting. On the 19th, the Confederates retreated from the battlefield, technically giving the Union a win in the single bloodiest day of fighting with 22,717 combined casualties.

A burial crew of Union soldiers after the Battle of Antietam, 1862.

Image Credit: Public Domain

5. Battle of Chancellorsville (30 April – 6 May 1863)

Facing a Union army of 132,000 men under the command of General Joseph T. Hooker, Robert E. Lee chose to divide his army on the battlefield in Virginia, despite already having half as many troops. On 1 May, Lee ordered Stonewall Jackson to lead a flanking march, which surprised Hooker and forced them into defensive positions.

The following day, he divided his army again, with Jackson leading 28,000 troops on a march against Hooker’s weaker right flank, destroying half of Hooker’s line. Intense fighting continued until 6 May, when Hooker retreated, facing 17,000 casualties to Lee’s 12,800. Though this battle is remembered as a great tactical victory for the Confederate Army, the leadership of Stonewall Jackson was lost, as he died from wounds sustained by friendly fire.

6. Battle of Vicksburg (18 May – 4 July 1863)

Lasting 6 weeks, the Confederate Army of Mississippi was under siege along the Mississippi River by Ulysses S. Grant and the Union Army of Tennessee. Grant surrounded the southern army, outnumbering them 2 to 1.

Several attempts to overtake the Confederates were met with heavy casualties, so on 25 May 1863, Grant decided to attack the city. Ultimately, the southerners surrendered on 4 July. This battle is marked as one of two crucial turning points of the Civil War, as the Union was able to interrupt critical Confederate supply lines in Vicksburg.

7. Battle of Gettysburg (1 – 3 July 1863)

Under the command of newly appointed General George Meade, the Union Army met with Lee’s Confederate Army of Northern Virginia from 1-3 July 1863 in the rural town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Lee wanted to get the Union army out of battle-worn Virginia, draw troops away from Vicksburg, and gain recognition of the Confederacy from Britain and France.

However, after 3 days of fighting, Lee’s troops failed to break the Union line and suffered great casualties, making this the bloodiest battle in US history. It is considered a key turning point in the American Civil War.

8. Battle of Chickamauga (18 – 20 September 1863)

In early September 1863, the Union army had taken over nearby Chattanooga, Tennessee, a key railroad centre. Determined to regain control, Confederate commander Braxton Bragg met William Rosecrans’ Union army at Chickamauga Creek, with the bulk of the fighting taking place on 19 September 1863.

Initially, the southerners could not break the northern line. However, on the morning of 20 September, Rosecrans was convinced there was a gap in his line and moved troops: there was not.

As a result, an actual gap was created, allowing for a direct Confederate assault. The Union troops scrambled, withdrawing to Chattanooga by nightfall. The Battle of Chickamauga resulted in the second most casualties in the war after Gettysburg.

9. Battle of Atlanta (22 July 1864)

The Battle of Atlanta occurred just outside of the city limits on 22 July 1864. Union soldiers, led by William T. Sherman, attacked Confederate soldiers under the command of John Bell Hood, resulting in a Union victory. Significantly, this victory allowed Sherman to continue his siege upon the city of Atlanta, which lasted the entirety of August.

On 1 September, the city was evacuated, and Sherman’s forces destroyed most of the infrastructure and buildings. The Union troops would continue through Georgia in what is known as Sherman’s March to the Sea, demolishing everything in their path to disrupt the southern economy. Lincoln’s re-election effort was bolstered by this victory, as it was seen to cripple the Confederacy and bring Lincoln closer to ending the war.

10. Battle of Appomattox Station and Courthouse (9 April 1865)

On 8 April 1865, the battle-worn Confederate Army of Northern Virginia was met by Union soldiers in Appomattox County, Virginia, where supply trains awaited the southerners. Under the leadership of Phillip Sheridan, Union soldiers were able to quickly disperse the Confederate artillery and gain control of the supplies and rations.

Lee hoped to retreat to Lynchburg, Virginia, where he could await his infantry. Instead, his line of retreat was blocked by Union soldiers, so Lee attempted to attack rather than surrender. On 9 April 1865, early fighting ensued, and Union infantry arrived. Lee surrendered, triggering a wave of surrenders across the Confederacy and making this the last major battle of the American Civil War.

After years of fighting, the southern landscape and economy had been decimated, and supports were needed for newly freed African Americans in the south. Reconstruction was first defined in 1863 and lasted until the election of President Rutherford B. Hayes in 1877.

Here are 15 moments that defined the Reconstruction era.

1. Abraham Lincoln issues the Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction (1863)

As the Civil War waged on, Lincoln issued the Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction on 8 December 1863 in an effort to entice Confederates to swear allegiance to the Union and put an end to the war.

This document offered pardon and restoration of property, and it introduced Lincoln’s ’10 Percent Plan’, asking for only 10% of voters in each Confederate state to pledge allegiance for readmission to the Union.

2. Former slaves are promised ‘forty acres and a mule’ (1865)

In the autumn of 1864, General William T. Sherman began what is now known as Sherman’s March to the Sea. As his troops marched, emancipated African Americans joined his troops, and Sherman, looking for the best option for resettlement, consulted with abolitionist leaders. Their recommendation was to provide land for growing crops.

A 19th-century engraving of Sherman’s March to the Sea.

Image Credit: Public Domain

A wartime order was issued, in January 1865, proclaiming that land was to be set aside and settled exclusively by black Americans, who were also to be provided with one mule per plot. ‘40 acres and a mule’ was the promise born out of Sherman’s order, but when Andrew Johnson became president after the war ended, he repossessed the land, leaving a legacy of false promises in Reconstruction still felt by black American families today.

3. The 13th amendment is approved by Congress (1865)

On 31 January 1865, the 13th amendment was approved in Congress, constitutionally abolishing slavery in the Union. 18 of the 34 states had ratified the amendment by the end of February. However, the south did not comply until the end of the year.

4. The Freedmen’s Bureau is founded (1865)

The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, commonly known as the Freedmen’s Bureau, was founded in March 1865 in an attempt to aid newly freed African Americans in the south. This group provided opportunities to aid in the transition out of slavery, providing food and shelter, helping negotiate labour contracts, and focusing on education.

The Bureau had many critics, mainly white southerners, and faced many challenges, including lack of funding. It operated until 1872.

5. Abraham Lincoln is assassinated (1865)

On 9 April 1865, the last major battle of the Civil War was fought at the Appomattox Station in Virginia. Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s surrender triggered a wave of surrenders across the south, effectively ending the war.

Five days later, on the evening of 14 April, President Lincoln went with his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, to see a play at Ford’s Theatre in Washington DC. John Wilkes Booth, a Confederate sympathiser, entered Lincoln’s private box and fired a bullet into the back of the president’s head, and the president died the next morning.

A colour lithograph of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination at Ford’s Theatre from 1865.

Image Credit: Public Domain

6. President Johnson announces his Presidential Reconstruction plan (1865)

After Lincoln’s assassination, Vice President Andrew Johnson became the second president of the Reconstruction era. In May 1865, he announced his plan for Presidential Reconstruction. His strategy called for amnesty and restoration of property to all southerners who swore loyalty. Further, it required Confederate leaders to petition individually for pardons and required that all states ratify the 13th amendment.

Johnson’s strategy for reconstruction became quite lenient to white southerners, and he ordered the restoration of land to owners including land from Sherman’s order in January and declared reconstruction complete by the end of the year. Johnson’s increased alignment with white southerners drew criticism from Republicans.

7. Southern leaders pass the ‘Black Codes’ (1865-1866)

Southern leaders passed the ‘Black Codes’ from the autumn of 1865. These laws restricted black citizens’ ability to work as anything more than field labourers, with punishments for those who refused to sign contracts or those who were unemployed. These laws effectively reinstated slavery by a different name, confirming that white supremacy was firmly implanted in post-Civil War America.

8. Congress passes the Civil Rights Act (1866)

In April 1866, Congress passed a civil rights bill, granting citizenship and rights to all male persons in the US. President Johnson vetoed this bill, and for the first time in American history, Congress overruled the president’s veto and installed the bill.

By June of that year, Republicans had drafted the 14th amendment, which guaranteed citizenship to anyone born or naturalised in the US, effectively granting freed African Americans citizenship. The amendment was controversial and would not be ratified for two years, on 28 July 1868, as it increased the federal government’s power over states.

9. Southern states are readmitted into the Union (1866)

Over the course of 1866, Confederate states were readmitted to the Union, with Tennessee first on 24 July. Congress wanted southern states to ratify the 14th amendment to be accepted back into the Union, another point of conflict in the Reconstruction era. Georgia was the last state to re-join the Union on 15 July 1870.

10. The Memphis Race Riots leave 46 African Americans dead (1866)

While politicians battled over the reconstruction of post-Civil War America, some southerners took matters into their own hands, with racial violence erupting. In 1866, the Memphis Race Riots left 46 African Americans dead in Tennessee, with hundreds of black houses, schools and churches destroyed.

In July, a white mob in New Orleans, Louisiana, attacked black people and white radical Republicans, killing 40 people and leaving 150 more wounded. Further, the Ku Klux Klan, founded in 1865, sought to reverse radical Republican Reconstruction policies through violence. Targets of the KKK during Reconstruction included black legislators, white southern Republicans and black institutions.

11. President Johnson is impeached (1868)

President Johnson began his presidency with support from Congress, but his vision for reconstruction and his veto of congressional bills lost him favour. In 1867, he fired the Secretary of War during a congressional recess for disagreements over reconstruction policy.

He then challenged the constitutionality of the Tenure of Office Act, so the Republican-led Congress pursued 11 articles of impeachment in February 1868. Ultimately, though the majority voted to impeach the president, they failed to reach the two-thirds majority required to convict.

12. Congress passes the 15th amendment (1869)

On 26 February 1869, Congress passed the 15th amendment to protect the right to vote, stating that no one can be denied this right based on race or previous status as an enslaved person. The amendment was ratified a year later.

13. Hiram Rhodes Revels becomes the first African American senator (1870)

For the first time in American history, black officials served in the House of Representatives and the Senate during Reconstruction. Hiram Rhodes Revels was the first African American senator, sent to fill a vacancy by Mississippi in 1870.

By 1871, there were five black members of the House of Representatives: Benjamin S. Turner, Josiah T. Walls, Robert Brown Elliot, Joseph H. Rainey and Robert Carlos DeLarge.

Hiram Rhodes Revels, the first African-American senator in the United States.

Image Credit: Library of Congress / Public Domain

In 1872, P. B. S. Pinchback served as acting governor of Louisiana, though his tenure was met with resistance from white southerners and was short-lived. Though African Americans sought leadership positions during Reconstruction, white supremacist resistance made such efforts dangerous.

14. Congress passes the Civil Rights Bill (1875)

In March 1875, Republican-led Congress passed the Civil Rights Bill. This addressed segregation, denouncing segregation in public facilities. However, this bill was highly controversial and was judged unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 1883.

15. Rutherford B. Hayes is elected president (1876)

In a highly controversial presidential election, Republican Rutherford B. Hayes was elected president in 1876. A deal between Republicans and Democrats was made to resolve the contestation, with Republicans agreeing to abandon Reconstruction to gain the presidency.

Upon his inauguration in 1877, President Hayes withdrew all remaining federal troops from the south and ended Reconstruction policies. Consequently, the Jim Crow era began, with policies like segregation being enforced until the 1960s.

On 20 December 1860, after the election of Abraham Lincoln, South Carolina seceded from the Union, with 6 more states to follow on 2 February 1861. On 4 February 1861, these states met and established the Confederate States of America, and it was only a matter of time before tensions reached a boiling point and the war began at Fort Sumter.

Here are 9 key facts about the Battle of Fort Sumter.

1. There were 3 forts in the area of Fort Sumter

Located in Charleston, South Carolina, Fort Sumter was one of three posts in the port city. Initially, Fort Sumter was empty, as it was still being constructed, but on 26 December 1860, in response to South Carolina’s secession, Union Major Robert Anderson moved his troops overnight from the sea-facing Fort Moultrie to Fort Sumter, where they could better ward off a land attack. This move was seen by secessionists as an act of aggression.

2. South Carolina requested the surrender of Fort Sumter

After South Carolina seceded, delegates travelled to Washington DC to demand the surrender of Fort Sumter and all military bases in the state, a request denied by President James Buchanan.

After Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated, he would maintain that the bases belonged to the federal government, insistent that if any were fired upon, the commencement of war would be at the hands of the Confederates.

3. The fortification was still being built in 1860

Though construction of Fort Sumter began in 1829, lack of funding slowed its progress, and much of the interior was left to complete as South Carolina seceded in 1860. A previous attempt had been made by newly inaugurated President Abraham Lincoln to send supplies to Fort Sumter, with no success.

In early April 1961, Lincoln sent word that he would try to send food only, with a copy of this message reaching the rebels. This message influenced Confederate President Jefferson Davis to order Pierre G.T. Beauregard to attack Fort Sumter on 9 April 1861.

4. Confederates demanded the surrender of Fort Sumter again on 11 April 1861

On 11 April, 3 Confederate representatives rowed out to Fort Sumter to demand the immediate evacuation of the garrison once more and met with Anderson.

Despite the inevitability of being starved out of the site in a matter of days, Anderson refused the envoy, citing his sense of honour and duty to the US government as preventing his acceptance of the terms laid out by the rebels. Consequently, it was inevitable that fighting was on the horizon.

5. The Union force was greatly outnumbered as fighting began on 12 April

At 4:30 am on 12 April 1861, shots were fired over Fort Sumter, and though Anderson withheld his fire until 7 am, the fight was unavoidable. Among the occupants of the fort were a total of 80 Union soldiers, construction workers and musicians.

The Confederate rebels, led by Beauregard, numbered 500. Further, the garrison was incredibly undersupplied, and Anderson had to make difficult decisions to protect the fort for as long as possible.

6. The Union soldiers had to be strategic

Anderson decided to divide his men into 3, each serving on 2-hour rotations, with only about 700 cartridges in the entire fort. With every possible Confederate position firing on the fort, Anderson decided not to use the guns on the barbette tier, where all the big guns lay. Firing continued back and forth until nightfall, with only the occasional Confederate mortar round overnight.

An April 1861 photograph of men on the northwest casemates.

Image Credit: Metropolitan Museum of Art / Public Domain

7. Union forces surrendered after a 34-hour bombardment by the rebels

Fort Sumter sustained substantial damage on the first day of the attack. On the second day, Fort Sumter was set on fire, which only encouraged the Confederates, who continued to fire into the afternoon of 13 April despite a cessation of fire from the Union garrison.

With ammunition depleted, a critically damaged exterior, and weary men, Anderson was forced to surrender. Several attempts to negotiate surrender were made between Confederate representatives and Anderson, and eventually accepted by Beauregard.

The Union would be allowed to leave the next day. Though no one was killed, the injured and weary men had sustained 3,000 shots in 34 hours.

8. There were no casualties during the bombardment

On 14 April, the Union troops were allowed to retreat north, where they were greeted as heroes despite the loss. On their way out, the soldiers performed a 100-gun salute to the American flag that had flown over the fort and been battered during the fighting.

During the exercise, there was a misfire that ultimately resulted in two casualties, though there had been no casualties on either side during the battle. The US flag stayed in Union possession and became a symbol throughout the war to boost morale.

An 1861 photograph of Fort Sumter after the bombardment.

9. Future attempts would be made to recapture Fort Sumter by the Union

The Confederate army was able to make the necessary repairs to the exterior and complete the interior building, using the fort as intended throughout the war.

The Union army would attack the site in 1863, but the Confederate soldiers held onto Fort Sumter until February 1865. It became a great symbol of rebellion for the Confederacy and was a critical interruption to the Union’s blockade of the Atlantic.

On 1 July 1863, Robert E. Lee’s Confederate Army and George Meade’s Union Army of the Potomac met in a rural town, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and for 3 days fought in the deadliest and most significant battle of the Civil War.

Here are 10 facts about the Battle of Gettysburg.

1. General Ulysses S. Grant was not at Gettysburg

General Ulysses S. Grant, leader of the Union Army, was not at Gettysburg: his troops were in Vicksburg, Mississippi, engaged in another battle, which the Union would also win on 4 July.

These two Union victories marked a change in the tide of the Civil War in favour of the Union. The Confederate Army would win future battles, but ultimately, none would bring them victory in the war.

2. President Lincoln appointed a new general days before the battle

General George Meade was installed by President Lincoln 3 days before the battle, as Lincoln had not been impressed by Joseph Hooker’s reluctance to pursue the Confederate Army. Meade, in contrast, immediately pursued Lee’s 75,000-strong army. Eager to destroy the Union Army, Lee arranged for his troops to assemble in Gettysburg on 1 July.

Union troops, led by John Buford, assembled on low ridges in the northwest of the town, but they were outnumbered and southern troops were able to drive the Union Army south through the town to Cemetery Hill on this first day of battle.

3. More Union troops assembled after the first day of battle

Commander of the Army of Northern Virginia’s Second Corps, Richard Ewell, declined General Robert E. Lee’s command to attack on Union troops at Cemetery Hill on the first day of the battle, as he felt the Union position was too strong. As a result, Union troops, under the command of Winfield Scott Hancock, had arrived by dusk to fill out the defensive line along Cemetery Ridge, known as Little Roundtop.

Three more Union corps would arrive overnight to strengthen its defenses. The estimated troops at Gettysburg were almost 94,000 Union soldiers and about 71,700 Confederate soldiers.

A map showing the main locations of the Battle of Gettysburg.

Image Credit: Public Domain

4. Robert E. Lee ordered an attack on Union troops on the second day of battle

The next morning, 2 July, as Lee assessed the filled-out Union troops, he decided against advice from his second-in-command James Longstreet to wait and play defence. Instead, Lee ordered an attack along Cemetery Ridge where Union soldiers stood. The intent was to attack as early as possible, but Longstreet’s men were not in position until 4 pm.

For several hours, bloody fighting ensued, with Union soldiers in a formation shaped like a fishhook that stretched from a nest of boulders known as Devil’s Den into a peach orchard, a nearby wheat field, and on the slopes of Little Roundtop. Despite significant losses, the Union Army was able to hold off the Confederate Army another day.

5. The second day was the bloodiest of the battle

With over 9,000 casualties on each side on 2 July alone, the 2-day total now stood at nearly 35,000 casualties. By the end of the war, casualties would be an estimated 23,000 northern and 28,000 southern soldiers dead, wounded, missing or captured, making the Battle of Gettysburg the deadliest engagement of the American Civil War.

A statue of a wounded soldier at Gettysburg Battlefield.

Image Credit: Gary Todd / CC

6. Lee believed his troops were on the brink of victory by 3 July

After a heavy second day of fighting, Lee believed his troops were on the brink of victory and renewed attacks on Culp’s Hill early in the morning of 3 July. However, Union forces pushed back a Confederate threat against Culp’s Hill during this 7-hour fight, regaining a strong position.

7. Pickett’s Charge was a disastrous attempt to break Union lines

On the third day of fighting, Lee ordered 12,500 troops, led by George Pickett, to attack the Union centre on Cemetery Ridge, requiring them to walk almost a mile across open fields to attack the Union infantry. As a result, the Union army was able to hit Pickett’s men from all sides, with the infantry opening fire from behind as regiments hit the Confederate army’s flanks.

Almost 60% of the soldiers involved in Pickett’s Charge were lost, with the survivors retreating to the defensive line as Lee and Longstreet scrambled to reassemble their men after this failed attack.

8. Lee withdrew his defeated troops on 4 July

Lee’s men had been hit hard after 3 days of battle, but they remained in Gettysburg, anticipating a fourth day of fighting that never arrived. In turn, on 4 July, Lee withdrew his troops back to Virginia, defeated, and Meade did not pursue them in their retreat. The battle was a crushing defeat for Lee, who lost over a third of his Army of Northern Virginia – some 28,000 men.

This loss also meant the Confederacy wouldn’t gain foreign recognition as a legitimate state. Lee offered his resignation to Confederacy president Jefferson Davis, but it was refused.

9. The Confederate Army would never again venture into the north

After this heavy defeat, the Confederate Army never attempted to cross into the north again. This battle is considered to be a turning point in the war, as the Confederate Army retreated back to Virginia and struggled to win any significant future battles, with Lee eventually surrendering on 9 April 1865.

10. The Union victory at Gettysburg renewed public spirit

There had been a string of losses leading up to the battle which had left the Union weary, but this victory bolstered public spirits. Despite enormous casualties on both sides, northern support of the war was renewed, and by the time Lincoln delivered his infamous Gettysburg Address in November 1863, the fallen soldiers were set to be remembered as fighting for freedom and democracy.

Here are 6 of the most prominent figures of the American Civil War.

1. Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, who successfully campaigned against the expansion of slavery in western territories. His election is considered a major factor in the onset of the American Civil War, as several southern states seceded afterwards.

Lincoln began his political career in 1834 as a member of the Illinois state legislature, before serving a single term as a member of the US House of Representatives. After losing re-election, Lincoln did not run for office again until 1858. He lost this race, but he and his opponent had engaged in several highly publicised debates across Illinois, and the attention led political operatives to organize for a Lincoln presidential bid.

Lincoln was inaugurated in March 1861, and on 12 April, the southern US military base Fort Sumter was attacked, marking the start of the American Civil War.

Lincoln’s most infamous act in the Civil War was the Emancipation Proclamation, which officially abolished slavery in the US. After the commander of the Confederate Army surrendered in April 1865, Lincoln intended to reunite the country as quickly as possible, but his assassination on 14 April 1865 meant he had little opportunity to impact the post-war landscape.

 2. Jefferson Davis

Jefferson Davis was the first and only president of the Confederate States of America. Graduating from West Point, he fought in the US Army from 1828 to 1835. He began his political career in 1843 and was elected to the House of Representatives in 1845. He became known for his passionate speeches and debates about tariffs and western expansion, and for his unwavering support of states’ rights.

On 18 February 1861, Davis was inaugurated as the president of the Confederate States of America, where he oversaw the war effort. In this role, he struggled to balance military strategy with the challenges of creating a new state, and these strategic failures contributed to the South’s defeat.

As the Union Army advanced on Richmond, Virginia, in April 1865, Davis fled the Confederate capital. In May 1865, Davis was captured and imprisoned. Upon release, he worked overseas and later published a book defending his politics.

3. Ulysses S. Grant

Ulysses S. Grant served as commander of the Union army. Shy and reserved as a child, his father arranged his training at West Point, where his military career began, though he did not intend to stay enlisted. When he returned to civilian life, he failed to find a successful career, but the start of the Civil War reignited a patriotic spirit.

Early in the war, after commanding troops through one of the bloodiest clashes at the Battle of Shiloh, Grant was initially demoted due to the number of casualties. He subsequently worked his way up the ranks to general, gaining a reputation as a relentless leader, battling Confederate General Robert E. Lee until he surrendered on 9 April 1865. As the two generals met to arrange a peace agreement, Grant allowed Lee’s army to leave, taking no prisoners of war.

Post-war, Grant oversaw the military portion of the Reconstruction Era and was elected the 18th President of the United States in 1868, despite being politically inexperienced.

Ulysses S. Grant, 18th President of the United States.

Image Credit: Library of Congress / Public Domain

4. Robert E. Lee

Robert E. Lee led the Southern army as an elite military strategist. A graduate of West Point, he was second in his class and achieved perfect scores in artillery, infantry and cavalry. Lee also served in the Mexican-American War and distinguished himself as a war hero, showcasing his tactical brilliance as a commander. In 1859, Lee was called upon to end a revolt at Harper’s Ferry, which he achieved in an hour.

Lee turned down an offer by President Lincoln to command the Union forces, as he was committed to his home state of Virginia, agreeing to lead them instead upon the state’s succession in 1861. Under Lee’s leadership, the Confederate troops found early success in the war, but key losses at the Battle of Antietam and the Battle of Gettysburg led to large casualties in Lee’s army, halting his invasion of the North.

By the end of 1864, General Grant’s army had overtaken much of the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia, but on 2 April 1865, Lee was forced to abandon it, officially surrendering to Grant a week later.

Lee remains one of the most contested figures of the American Civil War, with many monuments erected to this ‘heroic’ figure of the South. It was the decision to remove a statue of Lee in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017 that brought international attention to the debate over the continued commemoration of Confederate leaders.

5. Thomas ‘Stonewall’ Jackson

Thomas ‘Stonewall’ Jackson was a highly skilled military strategist, serving under Robert E. Lee in the Confederate army. His leadership was showcased at key battles in Manassas (AKA Bull Run), Antietam, Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. Jackson also attended West Point and participated in the Mexican-American War. Though he had hoped Virginia would remain a part of the Union, he enlisted in the Confederate Army when the state seceded.

He earned his famous nickname, Stonewall, at the First Battle of Manassas (Bull Run) in July 1861, where he charged his army ahead to bridge a gap in the defensive line during a Union attack. A general remarked, “there is Jackson standing like a stone wall,” and the nickname stuck.

Jackson met his end after an explosive display at the Battle of Chancellorsville in 1863, where his troops caused so many Union casualties, the army had no choice but to withdraw. He was shot by friendly fire from a nearby infantry regiment and died from complications two days later.

6. Clara Barton

Clara Barton was a nurse known as “the angel of the battlefield” for her assistance throughout the American Civil War. She collected and distributed supplies for the Union Army and later tended to soldiers on both sides of the battlefield.

A 1904 photograph of Clara Barton by James Edward Purdy.

Image Credit: Library of Congress / Public Domain

Barton provided critical assistance to wounded men in uniform, collected medical supplies for Union soldiers and distributed bandages, food and clothing through the Ladies’ Aid Society. In August 1862, Barton was granted permission by Quartermaster Daniel Rucker to attend to soldiers on the frontlines. She would travel to battlefields near Washington, DC, including Cedar Mountain, Manassas (Second Bull Run), Antietam and Fredericksburg to help both Union and Confederate soldiers by applying dressings, serving food and cleaning field hospitals.

After the war ended, Barton ran the Office of Missing Soldiers to answer thousands of letters from distraught relatives about the whereabouts of soldiers, many of whom had been buried in unmarked graves. Barton founded the American Red Cross in 1881 after a visit to Europe working with the International Red Cross.

The murder of prominent figures has historically sparked soul-searching, mass outpourings of grief and even conspiracy theories, as people struggle to come to terms with the consequences of assassinations.

Here are 10 assassinations from history that shaped the modern world.

1. Abraham Lincoln (1865)

Abraham Lincoln is arguably America’s most famous president: he led America through the Civil War, preserved the Union, abolished slavery, modernised the economy and bolstered the federal government. A champion of black rights, including voting rights, Lincoln was disliked by Confederate states.

His assassin, John Wilkes Booth, was a Confederate spy whose self-professed motive was to avenge the Southern states. Lincoln was shot at point-blank range whilst he was at the theatre, dying the following morning.

Lincoln’s death damaged relations between the North and South of the USA: his successor, President Andrew Johnson, presided over the Reconstruction era and was lenient on Southern states and granted amnesty to many former Confederates, to the frustration of some in the North.

2. Tsar Alexander II (1881)

Tsar Alexander II was known as the ‘Liberator’, enacting wide-ranging liberal reforms across Russia. His policies included the emancipation of serfs (peasant labourers) in 1861, the abolition of corporal punishment, the promotion of self-government and the ending of some of the nobility’s historic privileges.

His reign coincided with an increasingly volatile political situation in Europe and in Russia, and he survived several assassination attempts during his rule. These were mainly orchestrated by radical groups (anarchists and revolutionaries) who wanted to overthrow Russia’s system of autocracy.

He was assassinated by a group named Narodnaya Volya (The People’s Will) in March 1881, bringing an end to an era which had promised ongoing liberalisation and reform. Alexander’s successors, worried they would meet a similar fate, enacted much more conservative agendas.

An 1881 photograph of Tsar Alexander II’s body lying in state.

Image Credit: Public Domain

3. Archduke Franz Ferdinand (1914)

In June 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, was assassinated by a Serbian named Gavilo Princip in Sarajevo. Frustrated by the Austro-Hungarian annexation of Bosnia, Princip was a member of a nationalist organisation entitled Young Bosnia, which aimed to free Bosnia from the shackles of external occupation.

The assassination is widely believed to have been the catalyst for the outbreak of World War One in August 1914: underlying factors were exacerbated in the political fallout of the Archduke’s death and from 28 June 1914, Europe began an inexorable path to war.

4. Reinhard Heydrich (1942)

Nicknamed the ‘man with the iron heart’, Heydrich was one of the most important Nazis, and one of the main architects of the Holocaust. His brutality and chilling efficiency earned him the fear and loyalty of many, and unsurprisingly, many loathed him for his role in anti-Semitic policies across Nazi Europe.

Heydrich was assassinated on the orders of the exiled Czechoslovak government: his car was bombed and he was shot at. It took Heydrich a week to die from his injuries. Hitler ordered the SS to wreak revenge in Czechoslovakia in an attempt to hunt down the assassins.

Many consider Heydrich’s assassination a major turning point in Nazi fortunes, believing that had he lived, he may well have achieved major victories against the Allies.

5. Mahatma Gandhi (1948)

One of the earliest heroes of the civil rights movement, Gandhi spearheaded non-violent resistance to British rule as part of the Indian quest for independence. Having successfully helped campaign for independence, which was achieved in 1947, Gandhi turned his attention to trying to prevent religious violence between Hindus and Muslims.

He was assassinated in January 1948 by a Hindu nationalist, Nathuram Vinayak Godse, who viewed Gandhi’s stance as too accommodating towards Muslims. His death was mourned around the world. Godse was caught, tried and sentenced to death for his actions.

6. John F. Kennedy (1963)

President John F. Kennedy was America’s darling: young, charming and idealistic, Kennedy was welcome with open arms by many in the US, particularly due to his New Frontier domestic policies and staunchly anti-Communist foreign policy. Kennedy was assassinated on 22 November 1963 in Dallas, Texas. His death shocked the nation.

Despite serving less than 3 full years in office, he is consistently ranked as one of the best and most popular presidents in American history. His assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, was apprehended, but was killed before he could be tried: many have viewed this as symptomatic of a wider cover up and a sign of conspiracy.

JFK’s assassination cast a long shadow and had a huge cultural impact in America. Politically, his successor, Lyndon B. Johnson, passed much of the legislation set in place during Kennedy’s administration.

7. Martin Luther King (1968)

As the leader of the Civil Rights Movement in America, Martin Luther King met with plenty of anger and opposition over his career, including a nearly fatal stabbing in 1958, and he regularly received violent threats. Reportedly after hearing about JFK’s assassination in 1963, King told his wife that he believed he would die by assassination too.

King was shot dead on a hotel balcony in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1968. His killer, James Earl Ray, initially pled guilty to the charge of murder, but later changed his mind. Many, including King’s family, believe his assassination was planned by the government and/or the mafia in order to silence him.

8. Indira Gandhi (1984)

Another victim of religious tensions in India, Indira Gandhi was the 3rd Prime Minister of India and remains the country’s only female leader to date. A somewhat divisive figure, Gandhi was politically intransigent: she supported the independence movement in East Pakistan and went to war over it, helping create Bangladesh.

A Hindu, she was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards in 1984 after ordering military action in the Golden Temple at Amritsar, one of the most important sites for Sikhs. Gandhi’s death resulted in violence against Sikh communities across India, and it’s estimated over 8,000 were killed as part of this retaliation.

Indira Gandhi in Finland in 1983.

Image Credit: Finnish Heritage Agency / CC

9. Yitzhak Rabin (1995)

Yitzhak Rabin was the fifth Prime Minister of Israel: first elected in 1974, he was re-elected in 1992 on a platform that embraced the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process. Subsequently, he signed various historic agreements as part of the Oslo Peace Accords, winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994.

He was assassinated in 1995 by a right-wing extremist who opposed the Oslo Accords. Many view his death as also being the demise of the kind of peace he had envisaged and worked towards, making it one of the most tragically effective political assassinations of the 20th century, in that it killed off an idea as much as a man.

10. Benazir Bhutto (2007)

The first female Prime Minister of Pakistan, and the first woman to head a democratic government in a Muslim majority country, Benazir Bhutto was one of Pakistan’s most important political figures. Killed by a suicide bomb at a political rally in 2007, her death shook the international community.

However, many were not surprised by it. Bhutto was a controversial figure who had been tarred consistently by allegations of corruption, and Islamic fundamentalists opposed her prominence and political presence. Her death was mourned by millions of Pakistanis, particularly women, who had seen the promise of a different Pakistan under her tenure.

Lincoln is known primarily for his leadership during the American Civil War (1861 – 1865) and for signing the Emancipation Proclamation, an executive order changing the legal status of slaves to ‘free’.

What follows are 10 facts about Abraham Lincoln.

1. He was largely self-educated

Despite becoming a successful lawyer, Lincoln did not have a degree. His total schooling, obtained from travelling teachers, is estimated to total only around 1 year.

2. Before pursuing national politics, Lincoln served 4 consecutive terms in the Illinois state legislature

Though lawyers are often considered untrustworthy, his reputation for honesty and fairness helped ‘Honest Abe’ win local elections.

Abraham Lincoln in 1863

Image Credit: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

3. Lincoln was a ‘president of firsts’

He was the first bearded US President, the first to hold a patent and the first to be in an inaugural photograph. John Wilkes Booth can also be seen in the photo, standing on a balcony above.

4. Lincoln’s wife came from a wealthy slave-owning family

Lincoln married Mary Todd of Lexington Kentucky on 4 November 1842. Several of her half-brothers died serving in the Confederate Army during the Civil War.

5. Lincoln was not an abolitionist

Oil painting of Abraham Lincoln, 1869

Image Credit: George Peter Alexander Healy, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Lincoln was long allied with abolitionists and outlawed slavery by issuing the Emancipation Proclamation on 1 January 1863, legally freeing some 3 million slaves.

However, in his first inaugural address, Lincoln stated that he had ‘no lawful right’ to ‘interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists’.

6. His main purpose in the Civil War was to preserve the Union

There were abolitionists, slavery supporters, pro-unionists and neutral sentiments in both the North and South, but it was Confederate secessionists who began the war by firing on Fort Sumter on 12 April 1861.

Lincoln responded by sending troops to recapture lost forts and ‘preserve the Union’.

7. The bill to create US Secret Service was on the President’s desk the night of his assassination

One of the principal purposes of the Secret Service is to protect national leaders such as the President. It is possible that their presence would have saved Lincoln’s life.

8. During his assassination, Lincoln’s bodyguard was absent

John Wilkes Booth leaning forward to shoot President Abraham Lincoln as he watches ‘Our American Cousin’ at Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C

Image Credit: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The President’s security, John Parker, left his post to watch the play at Washington, DC’s Ford’s Theatre and went to the saloon next door during intermission. It was the same place that John Wilkes Booth was drinking.

No one knows where Parker was when Lincoln was killed.

9. The brother of John Wilkes Booth saved Lincoln’s son

Not long before the President was assassinated, Edwin Booth, a famous actor at the time, pulled Robert Lincoln to safety at a train station after he had fallen on the tracks. It was just as a train was about to leave the station.

10. Lincoln is consistently ranked as one of the ‘top 3’ Presidents of the United States

Along with George Washington and Franklin D. Roosevelt, most polls of academic historians, political scientists and the general public put Lincoln as one of the 3 all-time greats.

The Battle of Gettysburg is probably the most famous battle of the American Civil War and is widely viewed as a turning point. But why was this battle so significant?

What happened?

A string of Confederate victories before this point including Fredericksburg (13 December 1862), and Chancellorsville (at the beginning of May 1863) had encouraged General Robert E. Lee, the leader of the Southern forces to move forward with his plan to invade north of the Mason-Dixon Line.

The Union army was led by General George G. Meade who was newly appointed after his predecessor General Joseph Hooker was relieved of command.

Towards the end of June, the two armies realised that they were within a day’s march of one another and converged in the small town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The town of Gettysburg did not have military significance, rather it was the point where a number of roads converged. On a map, the town resembled a wheel.

On 1 July the advancing Confederates clashed with the Union’s Army of the Potomac. The next day saw even more intense fighting as the Confederates attacked the Union soldiers from both the left and the right.

On the final day of the battle, as the union paused their artillery fire, Lee ordered a confederate attack emerging from the treeline. The assault, known as “Pickett’s Charge” was devastating for the Southern army, resulting in thousands of casualties. Whilst they did manage to pierce the Union lines, Lee was forced to withdraw marking his invasion of the North as a failure.

Painting of Pickett’s Charge, from a position on the Confederate line looking toward the Union lines, Zieglers grove on the left, clump of trees on right. By Edwin Forbes, between 1865 and 1895.

Image Credit: Library of Congress print / Public Domain

Why was the battle so significant?

The main reason why the Battle of Gettysburg was so significant is that it marked a change in momentum within the course of the war. Due to the fact that the South lost this battle and subsequently the war, there is a perception that the Battle of Gettysburg decided the war. This would be an overstatement. However, the battle did indeed mark a tipping point where the Union gained an advantage.

The battle served as a transition from the South being well on their way to independence, to the Confederates beginning to cling to a declining cause.

Ultimately, the outcome of the war would be decided within the hearts and minds of the people. The Union needed the American public to stand behind Lincoln in order to be able to win the war. After a string of devasting defeats for the Union, victory at Gettysburg inspired confidence for their cause and prevented an invasion of the north. This was important for morale which was underscored and immortalised in the Gettysburg Address several months later.

The Battle of Gettysburg also emphasised the scale and cost of the war. The casualties on both sides and the scope of the battle demonstrated just how resource-heavy winning the war would be. It was the largest battle ever fought in North America with an estimated 51,000 casualties in total.

There were more casualties in the two years after the Battle of Gettysburg than in the two years before, so the war was far from over at this point, yet it was from here that the Union began to gather momentum that led to their eventual victory.

An entrenched way of life

Previous attempts to change the situation in the south – where there were over 4 million slaves in the 1860s – had come to little. It was an entrenched way of life in the southern states, dating back to a centuries-old colonial belief that white men could not work the fields in hot southern climates nearly as well as their black counterparts.

Then had come the idea that to save money these supposedly racially inferior workers need not be paid at all, and so the slave trade was born. The more temperate and liberal northern states had long since abandoned it, and this strict divide in culture and opinion lead the country into a bitter civil war from 1861, which was still unfinished when the amendment was signed.

‘Slaves Waiting for Sale: Richmond, Virginia’ by Eyre Crowe. Image credit: Eyre Crowe, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

By 1864, however, the north was coming out on top, and so plans were beginning to be made for the new America that would emerge from victory. In April 1864 the US senate passed a historic amendment to abolish slavery across the whole country, which was still growing into the vast superpower that it is today.

Lincoln’s strategy

President Lincoln, a founder of the new Republican Party and staunch opponent of slavery, had already released a proclamation promising its abolition a year earlier, but knew that constitutional reform would be necessary if this dream was to survive the rebuilding job that would follow the end of the war.

As a result, the radical language of racial equality that he had adopted was toned down as the proposal was sold to the more conservative Democrats on the lines that slavery in itself was unfitting with a civilised modern countries and had a pernicious social and economic effect on black and white people across America.

Achieving the dream

Getting the amendment through Congress proved more difficult, and nine months after it had been approved by the Senate Lincoln’s party were still short of the necessary vote of two thirds even without the southern delegates – who were almost uniformly pro-slavery – being present. It took an immense personal effort from Lincoln in persuading inspiring and cajoling wavering Congressmen to finally secure the numbers of 119 to 56 that he needed for it to pass.

Every single Republican supported the measure, after Lincoln had delayed the vote until 31 January 1865 so that he would have a higher chance of success. The following day, the President became the only one in history to personally sign a successful amendment. His dream of an emancipated America had been achieved.

The house then exploded into celebration, with people of all colours cheering in the visitors gallery on what they could all see was a historic chapter in US history. By the end of February the amendment had been ratified by 18 states and the process of freeing slaves was well underway as the end of the war approached.

Persisting problems

That is not to say, however, that everything simply ended happily. The effects of the amendment were as intended and instantaneous; for instance, when it was ratified in Kentucky on 18 December almost 100,000 slaves were freed overnight.

Oil painting of Abraham Lincoln, 1869. Image credit: George Peter Alexander Healy, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

A bill, however, could not change centuries of ingrained prejudice in the south, which – some might argue – remains to this day. New laws were introduced by southern states to deny land rights and basic freedoms to black people, who remained terribly mistreated and working in farm conditions that bore no striking difference to how they had been before emancipation.

The great visionary Lincoln also met a disappointingly grim fate. A speech promoting voting rights for black people on 11 April 1865 convinced Confederate sympathiser John Wilkes Booth to assassinate the President three days later as he watched a play in celebration of the surrender of the rebel armies.

His triumph in abolishing slavery lives on, however, and was another step on a long road towards equality.

It is considered one of the greatest political speeches of all time, explaining America’s critical challenges in their historical context succinctly while paying tribute to the men who had died in the face of those challenges. Here we review its meaning in context:

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

87 years prior, the America had overthrown British colonial rule and a new constitution had been written. It was a radical democracy without a monarchical legacy. ‘All men are created equal’ refers to slavery – a key cause of the American Civil War.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure.

Abraham Lincoln was elected President in 1860. He was the first US President to have won on purely northern electoral college votes.

President Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated on 4 March 1861 – by which time several southern states had already left the Union.

The southern states saw his election as a threat to their way of life – particularly in regard to the keeping of slaves. On 20 December 1860 South Carolina seceded from the Union. 10 other states followed, claiming they were creating a new nation – the Confederate States of America. Lincoln sought to reunify the country through military means – he did not declare war because of slavery specifically. 

We are met on a great battle-field of that war.

By 1863 the American Civil War had become a huge and costly struggle, with appalling casualties. Gettysburg was the biggest battle of the war and had occurred four months prior.  

We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

Lincoln was attending the dedication of a soldier’s cemetery. There were no battlefield cemeteries in America at this time, so it’s dedication was unique.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate—we can not consecrate—we can not hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract.

This claims that the struggle was beyond the power of politics – that it had to be fought over.

The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.

Gettysburg was a turning point in the Civil War. Previously the Union, despite a huge economic advantage, had been a recurring failure on the battlefield (and had regularly failed to make important strategic moves). At Gettysburg, the Union had finally gained a strategic victory.

Lincoln’s claims that ‘the world will little note, nor long remember what we say here’ are incredibly humble; people regularly learn the Gettysburg address by heart.

It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—

The men who died at Gettysburg made the ultimate sacrifice to the cause of liberty and freedom, but it was for the living to now continue that cause.

that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

One of the greatest conclusions in political history. Lincoln sums up that the struggle for unification of the country and political freedom must be continued. That is does so because the country is aiming for the very ideal of political democracy, and that this ideal must never disappear.