Robert A. Siegel Auction Galleries, Inc.

Civil War Timeline

This page outlines many dates of major events during The War Between the States. Contributions of additional dates are always welcome.

 

1860

Dec. 20: South Carolina is the first state to secede

1861

Feb. 4: Provisional Confederate Government formed at Montgomery, Ala

Feb. 9: Election of Jefferson Davis as Provisional President, and Alexander H. Stephens of Georgia as Vice-President

Feb. 21: Confederate post office established

Mar. 6: John H. Reagan appointed Postmaster-General

April 2: First proposal for postage stamps advertised

April 12: First shots of the War fired on Fort Sumter, S.C

Apr. 19: H. St. George Offutt appointed Chief of Contract Bureau; B. N. Clements of Appointment Bureau, and John N. Harrell, Chief of Finance Bureau

May 31: Last day of use of U.S. stamps in Confederacy

June 1: Severance of postal service between the Confederate and the United States

Act establishing the letter rate of five cents for 500 miles, and double that for distances exceeding 500 miles

June 5: Earliest known use of press-printed entire, Lynchburg, Virginia

June 7: Earliest known use of adhesive provisional stamps, Hillsboro, North Carolina, and Marion Virginia

July 1: First Battle of Manassas (Bull Run)

July 29: Act permitting officers, musicians and privates in the army of the Confederacy to send letters without prepayment of postage, but such postage to be collected upon the delivery of such letters

Oct. 16: Hoyer & Ludwig's 5c Green issued

Nov. 7: Port Royal, S.C. occupied by U.S. troops as permanent base

Nov. 8: Hoyer & Ludwig's 10c Blue issued

1862

Feb. 6: Fall of Fort Henry, Tenn

Feb. 23: Nashville, Tenn. occupied by U.S. troops

Feb. 28: Hoyer & Ludwig's 5c Blue issued

Mar. 10: Hoyer & Ludwig's 10c Rose issued

Mar. 11: St. Augustine, Fla, captured by Federal troops

Mar. 12: Jacksonville, Fla. evacuated by Confederates

Mar. i4: New Bern, N.C. occupied by Federal troops as permanent base

Mar. 14: New Madrid, Mo. captured by Federal troops

Mar. 21: Hoyer & Ludwig's 2c Green issued

Apr. 6-7: Battle of Shiloh

Apr. 16: Thos. de la Rue & Co. 5c Blue EKU

May 1: Fall of New Orleans, La

May 7: Fall of Baton Rouge, La

May 10: Fall of Pensacola, Fla

May 10: Norfolk, Va. occupied by Federal troops as permanent base

June 6: Fall of Memphis, Tenn

June 26: Beginning of the Seven Days Battles

July 1: Letter rate raised from 5c to 10c

July 25: J. T Paterson & Co., 10c Blue EKU

Aug. 13: 5c Richmond Print EKU

Aug. 23-25: Second Battle of Manassas

Sept. 16-17: Battle of Sharpsburg (Antietam)

Oct. 4: Fall of Galveston, Tex

Dec. 13: Battle of Fredericksburg

1863

Apr. 19: Archer & Daly's 10c Frameline EKU

Apr. 21: Archer & Daly's 2c Red and 10c Die A EKU

Apr. 23: Archer & Daly's "TEN" Cents EKU

May 1: Archer & Daly's 10c Die B EKU

May 1-4: Battle of Chancellorsville

May 14: Fall of Jackson, Miss

June 1: Archer & Daly's 20c Green EKU

June 27: The farthest north of the Confederacy.  Ewell's Second Corps, Army of Northern Virginia, reaches Carlisle, Pa

July 1-3: Battle of Gettysburg, Pa

July 4: Fall of Vicksburg, Miss

July 9: Fall of Port Hudson, La.  From this date communications between the States east and west of the Mississippi were cut and the Confederate postal service west of the river was directed from the Texas sub-office at Marshall, Tex

Sept. 9: Chattanooga, Tenn. evacuated by the Confederates

Sept. 19-20: Battle of Chickamaugua, Tenn

Sept. 23-25: Bragg's army driven from the heights around Chattanooga, Tenn

1864

Mar. 16: Alexandria, La. evacuated by the Confederates

May 5-7: Battle of the Wilderness

May 8-18: Battles around Spottsylvania Courthouse, Va

July 1: Siege of Petersburg, Va. begins, continuing to the end of the war

Sept. 2: Fall of Atlanta, Ga

Sept. 15: Federal troops begin march from Atlanta to the sea

Nov. 7: Keatinge & Ball's 10c EKU

Dec. 21: Fall of Savannah, Ga

1865

Feb. 17: Columbia, S.C. captured and burned. Stamp plates sunk in Congaree River

Feb. 18: Charleston, S.C., evacuated by Confederates

Feb. 22: Fall of Wilmington, N.C

Apr. 3: Fall of Richmond and Petersburg, Va

Apr. 9: Surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox, Va

Apr. 12: The City of Mobile, Ala. falls, a full year after the battle in the Bay

Apr. 13: Raleigh, N.C. occupied

Apr. 26: Surrender by Gen.  Johnston of the Army of Tennessee, near Durham, N.C

May 4: Surrender by Gen. Taylor of Alabama and Mississippi Department at Citronelle, Ala

May 10: Jefferson Davis and Postmaster-General Reagan captured at Irwinsville, Ga

May 26: Surrender by Gen. Kirby Smith of the troops of the Trans-Mississippi Department, the last armed forces of the Confederacy

June 2: Galveston, Tex., finally occupied by Federals

June 28: The last shot of the war fired by the Confederate Cruiser Shenandoah, isolated in the North Pacific

 

 

 

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