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United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Timeline of Events
1862
1.30.1862
The first American ironclad warship, the USS Monitor is launched.
2.6.1862
American Civil War: Ulysses S. Grant gives the United States its first victory of the war, by capturing Fort Henry, Tennessee, known as the Battle of Fort Henry.
3.13.1862
American Civil War: The U.S. federal government forbids all Union army officers to return fugitive slaves, thus effectively annulling the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 and setting the stage for the Emancipation Proclamation.
5.12.1862
U.S. federal troops occupy Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
6.7.1862
The United States and Britain agree to suppress the slave trade.
9.2.1862
American Civil War: President Abraham Lincoln reluctantly restores Union General George B. McClellan to full command after General John Pope's disastrous defeat at the Second Battle of Bull Run.
11.9.1862
American Civil War: Union General Ambrose Burnside assumes command of the Army of the Potomac, after George B. McClellan is removed.
11.28.1862
American Civil War: In the Battle of Cane Hill, Union troops under General John Blunt defeat General John Marmaduke's Confederates.
12.31.1862
American Civil War: Abraham Lincoln signs an act that admits West Virginia to the Union, thus dividing Virginia in two.
1863
7.7.1863
United States begins its first military draft; exemptions cost $300.
8.17.1863
American Civil War: In Charleston, South Carolina, Union batteries and ships bombard Confederate-held Fort Sumter.
11.16.1863
American Civil War: Battle of Campbell's Station near Knoxville, Tennessee. Confederate troops unsuccessfully attack Union forces.
11.23.1863
American Civil War: Battle of Chattanooga begins – Union forces led by General Ulysses S. Grant reinforce troops at Chattanooga, Tennessee and counter-attack Confederate troops.
1864
2.29.1864
American Civil War: Kilpatrick-Dahlgren Raid fails – plans to free 15,000 Union soldiers being held near Richmond, Virginia are thwarted.
8.31.1864
During the American Civil War, Union forces led by General William T. Sherman launch an assault on Atlanta, Georgia.
11.15.1864
11.22.1864
American Civil War: Sherman's March to the Sea: Confederate General John Bell Hood invades Tennessee in an unsuccessful attempt to draw Union General William T. Sherman from Georgia.
11.30.1864
American Civil War: Battle of Franklin — The Army of Tennessee led by General John Bell Hood mounts a dramatically unsuccessful frontal assault on Union positions commanded by John McAllister Schofield around Franklin, Tennessee, with Hood lost six generals and almost a third of his troops.
1865
2.8.1865
In the United States, Delaware voters reject the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and vote to continue the practice of slavery. (Delaware finally ratifies the amendment on February 12, 1901.)
2.17.1865
American Civil War: Columbia, South Carolina, is burned as Confederate forces flee from advancing Union forces.
4.2.1865
American Civil War: The Siege of Petersburg is broken – Union troops capture the trenches around Petersburg, Virginia, forcing Confederate General Robert E. Lee to retreat.
4.4.1865
American Civil War: A day after Union forces capture Richmond, Virginia, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln visits the Confederate capital.
1866
5.5.1866
Memorial Day first celebrated in United States at Waterloo, New York.
6.3.1866
The Fenians are driven out of Fort Erie, Ontario, into the United States.
1867
8.28.1867
The United States takes possession of the, at this point unoccupied, Midway Atoll.
9.28.1867
The United States takes control of Midway Island.
10.18.1867
United States takes possession of Alaska after purchasing it from Russia for $7.2 million. Celebrated annually in the state as Alaska Day.
12.2.1867
At Tremont Temple in Boston, British author Charles Dickens gives his first public reading in the United States.
12.28.1867
United States claims Midway Atoll, the first territory annexed outside Continental limits.
1868
5.30.1868
Decoration Day (the predecessor of the modern "Memorial Day") is observed in the United States for the first time (By "Commander-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Republic" John A. Logan's proclamation on May 5).
7.9.1868
The 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified guaranteeing African Americans full citizenship and all persons in the United States due process of law.
1870
6.26.1870
The Christian holiday of Christmas is declared a federal holiday in the United States.
9.6.1870
Louisa Ann Swain of Laramie, Wyoming becomes the first woman in the United States to cast a vote legally after 1807.
11.1.1870
In the United States, the Weather Bureau (later renamed the National Weather Service) makes its first official meteorological forecast.
1872
12.4.1872
The crewless American ship ''Mary Celeste'' is found by the British brig ''Dei Gratia'' (the ship had been abandoned for nine days but was only slightly damaged).
1873
5.20.1873
Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis receive a U.S. patent for blue jeans with copper rivets.
1874
3.18.1874
Hawaii signs a treaty with the United States granting exclusive trading rights.
1876
1.31.1876
The United States orders all Native Americans to move into reservations.
11.25.1876
Indian Wars: In retaliation for the American defeat at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, United States Army troops sack Chief Dull Knife's sleeping Cheyenne village at the headwaters of the Powder River.
1877
5.6.1877
Chief Crazy Horse of the Oglala Sioux surrenders to United States troops in Nebraska.