January 12
January 12
General Kilpatrick is promoted
On this day in 1865, General Hugh Judson Kilpatrick is promoted to major general in the Union Army. Kilpatrick served in both the Eastern and Western theaters of war and…
A Year In History: 1865
Also Within This Year in History:
1865
In 1865, the American Civil War came to an end, President Lincoln was assassinated and the 13th amendment was ratified, abolishing slavery in the U.S. The Secret Service came into being, originally created to prevent widespread counterfeiting that plagued the financial system. Elsewhere in the world, rebels in the Dominican Republic forced out Spanish occupiers to restore their country’s independence, and in England, Lewis Carroll published “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.”
January 15
January 15
Fort Fisher falls
On this day in 1865, Fort Fisher in North Carolina falls to Union forces, and Wilmington, North Carolina, the Confederacy’s most important blockade‑running port, is closed. When President Abraham Lincoln…
January 17
January 17
Heavy rain traps Union Army
On January 17, 1865, Union General William T. Sherman’s army is rained in at Savannah, Georgia, as it waits to begin marching into the Carolinas. In the fall of 1864,…
January 23
January 23
Hood removed from command
On this day in 1865, Confederate General John Bell Hood is officially removed as commander of the Army of Tennessee. He had requested the removal a few weeks before; the…
January 24
January 24
Confederate Congress to resume prisoner exchanges
On this day in 1865, the Confederate Congress agrees to continue prisoner exchanges, opening a process that had operated only sporadically for three years. In the first year of the…
January 31
January 31
House passes the 13th Amendment
On January 31, 1865, the U.S. House of Representatives passes the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery in America. The amendment read, “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude…shall exist within…
February 3
February 3
Hampton Roads Conference
On this day in 1865, President Abraham Lincoln meets with a delegation of Confederate officials at Hampton Roads, Virginia, to discuss a possible peace agreement. Lincoln refused to grant the…
February 5
February 5
Battle of Dabney’s Mill (Hatcher’s Run)
On this day in 1865, at the Battle of Dabney’s Mill (also known as Hatcher’s Run), Union and Confederate forces around Petersburg, Virginia, begin a three‑day battle that produces 3,000…
February 6
February 6
Confederate general John Pegram killed
On February 6, 1865, Confederate General John Pegram, age 33, is killed at the Battle of Hatcher’s Run (also called Dabney’s Mill), Virginia. Pegram graduated from West Point in 1854,…
February 12
February 12
Garnet preaches to House on slavery and Civil War
The Rev. Dr. Henry Highland Garnet, the first African American to address the U.S. House of Representatives, delivers a sermon to a crowded House chamber. His sermon commemorated the victories…
February 17
February 17
Union army sacks Columbia, South Carolina
On February 17, 1865, the soldiers from Union General William Tecumseh Sherman’s army ransack Columbia, South Carolina, and leave a charred city in their wake. Sherman is most famous for…
March 2
March 2
Battle of Waynesboro, Virginia
On this day in 1865, at the Battle of Waynesboro, Virginia, Union General George Custer’s troops rout Confederate General Jubal Early’s force, bringing an end to fighting in the Shenandoah…
March 3
March 3
Freedmen’s Bureau created
On March 3, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln signs a bill creating the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands. Known as the Freedmen’s Bureau, this federal agency oversaw the difficult…
March 10
March 10
William H. C. Whiting dies
On this day in 1865, Confederate General William Henry Chase Whiting dies in prison from wounds suffered during the fall of Fort Fisher, North Carolina. Born in 1824 in Biloxi,…
March 13
March 13
Confederacy approves Black soldiers
On March 13, 1865, with the main Rebel armies facing long odds against much larger Union armies, the Confederacy, in a desperate measure, reluctantly approves the use of Black troops.…
March 16
March 16
Battle of Averasboro, North Carolina
On this day in 1865, the mighty army of Union General William T. Sherman encounters its most significant resistance as it tears through the Carolinas on its way to join…
March 19
March 19
Battle of Bentonville begins in North Carolina
On March 19, 1865, at the Battle of Bentonville, North Carolina, Confederate General Joseph Johnston makes a desperate attempt to stop Union General William T. Sherman’s drive through the Carolinas…
March 25
March 25
Confederate forces attack Fort Stedman in final weeks of Civil War
On this day in 1865, Confederate General Robert E. Lee makes Fort Stedman his last attack of the war in a desperate attempt to break out of Petersburg, Virginia. The…
March 27
March 27
Lincoln, Sherman and Grant plan final stages of Civil War
On March 27, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln meets with Union generals Ulysses S. Grant and William T. Sherman at City Point, Virginia, to plot the last stages of the Civil…
March 29
March 29
Appomattox, the final campaign in the Civil War, begins
On March 29, 1865, the final campaign of the Civil War begins in Virginia when Union troops under General Ulysses S. Grant move against the Confederate trenches around Petersburg. General…
