| |
| 1865, Feb. 1 |
| |
| Resolution in Congress to submit to the states the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, prohibiting slavery within the United States. The amendment was ratified by two-thirds of the states by Dec. 18. | 1 |
| LAST CAMPAIGNS. The Confederate armies, caught between Grant in the north and Sherman in the south and deprived of food supply, were no longer able to withstand the pressure. Sheridan won the Battle of Five Forks (April 1) and thus forced the evacuation of Petersburg (April 2) and the surrender of Richmond (April 3). Grant with all his forces then pursued and surrounded Lee. | 2 |
| |
| March |
| |
| The Confederacy, experiencing a critical manpower shortage, moved to arm slaves and allow them to serve in the Confederate army. In an executive order, Davis granted freedom to all blacks who served. The move came too late for African Americans to actually enlist in the service. | 3 |
| By war's end, more than 186,000 blacks had enlisted in the Union army. At the same time, as black men enlarged the Union army and others labored behind Confederate lines, black women and their children had swelled the ranks of contraband camps or took on double duty on southern plantations. | 4 |
| |
| April 9 |
| |
| LEE'S CAPITULATION AT APPOMATTOX COURT HOUSE. Johnston, with the Southern army, surrendered to Sherman (April 26), and the last Confederate army, under Gen. Kirby Smith, surrendered at Shreveport, La., on May 26. Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy, fled to Georgia, but was captured (May 10) and imprisoned. | 5 |
| |
| April 14 |
| |
| Lincoln was mortally shot by John Wilkes Booth and died the next day. Andrew Johnson, vice president, succeeded to the office of president. | 6 |
| Cost of the war. National debt in 1860 was $64,842,287; in 1866, $2,773,236,173. This great increase was in addition to the debts incurred by the states and municipalities. | 7 |
| Freedom. Thousands of newly freed people exercised their new status by moving around the country, formalizing long-standing relationships with marriage, searching for loved ones in an effort to recombine families sundered by slavery, seeking education, and establishing churches free of white control. The freed people also held conventions in a variety of cities, calling for access to full citizenship rights, fair wages, and immediate relief of widespread suffering. | 8 |
| |
| |
