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Written Expressly for Rapid Reference: Scott
Anna.
1847-April 18, General Scott won the battle of Cerro Gordo, defeating Santa
1847-August 20, General Scott captured Contreras, within fourteen miles of Mexico. The same day the height of Churubusco was stormed and the defences leading to the city were laid bare.
1847-On September 13 General Scott carried Chapultepec by storm.
1847-Surrender of the Mexican capital to General Scott, September 14.
1848-A treaty of peace was concluded with Mexico, February 2, whereby the United States acquired the immense territory extending south to the Gila, and west to the Pacific.
1848-Gold discovered in California. A workman in digging a mill race discovered particles of gold, in the month of February, and the news having spread, a further search was made, when it was found that the soil contained untold quantities of the precious metal. A tide of immigration set in from Europe, Asia, Australia, South America, and all parts of the United States. Towns, settlements and mining camps soon dotted the entire gold producing region. In less than a year and a half from the discovery of the precious metal, more than a hundred thousand persons flocked to the mines from various parts of the Union.
1849-General Zachary Taylor, the twelfth President of the United States, was inaugurated March 5. His nomination caused a split in the Whig party, and resulted in the formation of the Free Soilers.
1850-President Taylor died, July 9.
1850-Millard Fillmore, the vice-President, was inaugurated thirteenth Presi dent of the United States, in accordance with the Constitution, July 16.
1850-California, the thirty-first state, was received into the Union September 9. 1853-Franklin Pierce, the fourteenth President of the United States, was inaugurated March 4.
1854-In May 1854, the Kansas-Nebraska bill became a law. This bill was a virtual repudiation of the Missouri Compromise bill. It admitted the right of the inhabitants of each territory to decide whether the state should enter the Union free or slave. It created a bitter contest, and Kansas was for a time the scene of bloodshed and strife, almost amounting to civil war.
1854-In May 1854, Commodore Perry led an expedition to Japan, until then closed to civilization, which excited the attention of the world. The result of this expedition was to obtain two ports of entry for the merchants of the United States in that exclusive country, and to bring Japan into the family of civilized nations.
1859-The territory of Oregon was admitted as a state of the Union, February 14. Its name is said to be derived from the Spanish oregano (wild marjoram), which grows abundantly on its coast. It formed a part of the Louisiana purchase, and when organized as a territory in 1848, it embraced all the possessions of the United States west of the Rocky Mountains.
1860-South Carolina seceded from the Union, December 20. The question of slavery had become so accentuated during Buchanan's administration, that there seemed no hope of a peaceful settlement. The Democratic party devided in the elections of 1860, and placed two candidates in the field, Stephen A. Douglas and John C. Breckenridge. The Republicans nominated Abraham Lincoln, whose doctrine was that while slavery should not be interfered with where it existed, it should not be allowed into free territory. Douglas favored the Kansas-Nebraska bill or "squatter sovereignty," Breckenridge the doctrine that slavery could be carried into any territory. The southern leaders threatened to secede in case Lincoln was elected. Accordingly, on December 20, South Carolina withdrew from the Union of States, and Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas soon followed.
1861-Kansas, the thirty-fourth state, was admitted to the Union, on January 29. Its name is of Indian origin, and signifies "Smoky Water."
1861-Inauguration of the Southern Confederacy. February 4, 1861, delegates from the seceded states mentioned assembled at Montgomery, Alabama, and formed a government which they termed "The Confederate States of America." Jefferson Davis, who until the secession of the states, had been United States Senator from Mississippi, was chosen president, and Alexander H. Stevens, of Georgia, vicepresident. All the forts, arsenals, custom houses, and national property of the Federal government were seized by the seceded states in which they were situated and held. Buchanan's cabinet was largely secessionist; and the navy had been designedly scattered all over distant seas, and the arms and munitions of the army transferred to southern forts and arsenals.
1861-Fort Sumter fired upon April 12. The Star of the West, an unarmed vessel carrying troops and supplies to Major Anderson, who held Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor, was fired upon by the Confederates from the forts and compelled to turn back. General Beauregard, commanding the Confederate troops at Charleston, demanded the surrender of the Fort from Major Anderson. He refused; whereupon the Confederate forts and batteries opened fire on Sumter. The first shot of the great conflict, that was to last four years, was fired at half-past four o'clock Friday morning, April 12, 1861. Major Anderson had seventy men; the Confederates numbered seven thousand; and the strange contest lasted for thirty-seven hours, without loss of life on either side. The garrison of Fort Sumter was finally compelled to capitulate.
1861-Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth President of the United States, inaugurated March 4.
1861-A requisition for seventy-five thousand troops was issued by President Lincoln to suppress the rebellion, April 15. Three hundred thousand volunteers responded to the call. Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee now joined the Confederacy.
1861-The Confederates seize Harper's Ferry, April 18.
1861-The Confederates seized the navy yard at Norfolk, April 20, where they found two thousand cannons, two hundred and fifty thousand pounds of gunpowder, vast quantities of shot and shell, and twelve ships of war. The war vessels they scuttled or fired, but the military stores at such a juncture proved of inestimable value to them.
1861-A Massachusetts regiment hurrying to the defence of Washington was attacked in the streets of Baltimore, April 19, and several men were killed. This was the first bloodshed during the war, and it was on the anniversary of Concord and Lexington.
1861-The Confederate Congress met at Richmond, Virginia, July 20.
1861-The battle of Bull Run was fought July 21, between the forces of Mc- Donnell and Beauregard. Bull Run is near Manassas Junction, about twenty-seven miles from Alexandria. The Union troops at first drove the Confederates from the field; but they were rallied by General T. J. (Stonewall) Jackson. Meantime the Federals were attacked in the flank by General Kirby Smith and thrown into a panic, which soon changed to a wild rout. Everything was abandoned, and many of the fugitives did not halt in their flight until they reached Washington. The effect of this battle was to convince the northern people that they were face to face with a great conflict, and not a movement that could be put down by a mere display of force. Congress accordingly voted $500,000,000 and 500,000 men; and General McClellan was appointed to the command of the Army of the Potomac.
1862-February 16, General Grant captured Fort Donelson with its garrison of fifteen thousand men. The effect of this victory was highly important, as it secured the Union forces another section of the Mississippi River. 862-March 7-8, General Curtis having driven General Price out of Missouri into Arkansas, the Confederates, by great exertion, increased their army there to twenty thousand men, giving the command to the General Van Dorn. In a desperate battle at Pea Ridge General Curtis defeated him, and thus put an end to further Confederate efforts in Arkansas.
1862-Battle of Shiloh (Pittsburg Landing) April 6 and 7.- The Confederates won a substantial victory on the first day, capturing thirty flags, a large amount of military stores, and three thousand prisoners; but Buell having come to Grant's assisstance on the second day, the Confederates were driven from the field, with heavy loss.
1862-Battle of the Merrimac and Monitor, March 9 in Hampton Roads. This was the first battle between iron turreted ships; and it changed the conditions of naval warfare. The Merrimac was roofed with railroad iron, and had a huge iron beak. She ran into the Cumberland, and sunk her with all on board. The captain of the frigate Congress, seeing the fate of the Cumberland, ran his vessel ashore, but under a heavy fire was compelled to surrender. Night came, and the Merrimac drew off until morning. All was dismay in the Union fleet. During the night the Monitor "the Yankee Cheese Box "-glided silently into the harbor. In the morning the Merrimac moved to run down the frigate Minnesota, when the Monitor darted out, and then began the first battle between iron ships in the history of the world. Five times the Merrimac ran her iron beak into the Monitor, but it only grated over her iron sides. Unable to do her any damage, the Merrimac withdrew, and steamed to Norfolk. Had the Merrimac not been stopped, she would have destroyed the rest of the Union fleet in Hampton Roads, reduced Fortress Monroe, terrified Washington, broken the blockade to New York, opened a way for foreign supplies, made an egress for cotton, and afforded a pretext for the acknowledgment of the Confederacy by France and England.
1862-September 5, Gen. Lee invaded Maryland. McClellan found a copy of Lee's order to march, and knowing that he divided his forces, he pursued the Confederate rear, and defeated it at South Mountain.
Battle of Antietam, September 17. - This was one of the bloodiest contests of the war. The result was indecisive; but it was a Union victory, inasmuch as it saved the North from invasion, and Washington from danger of attack.
1862-Battle of Fredericksburg, December 13. Gen. Burnside having succeeded McClellan, tried to carry Fredericksburg by assault. The Confederates were impregnably intrenched, and Burnside was defeated, with a loss of twelve thousand men.
1862-The Sioux Indians took to the war path, and perpetrated fearful atrocities in Minnesota, Iowa and Dakota. Col. Sibley after a month's pursuit, scattered them, and took five hundred prisoners, thirty-nine of whom were hanged on one scaffold, at Mankato, Minn. 1862-Battle of Murfreesboro, December 31, and January 2, 1863. The effect of the campaign was to open a way for the Union army to Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia and Alabama.
1863-January 1, President Lincoln issued his proclamation freeing four million slaves.
1863-Battle of Chancellorsville, Va., May 2 and 3. Stonewall Jackson mortally wounded, having been fired on by his own men, who mistook his escort for Federal cavalry.
1863-West Virginia, the thirty-fifth state, was received into the Union June
This portion of Virginia remained loyal to the Union during the war, and was in consequence formed into a separate State. 20.
1863-Battle of Gettysburg, July 1, 2 and 3. Gen. Lee with the flower of the Confederate army, undertook the second invasion of the North, thinking to dictate terms of peace in Philadelphia, or New York. Both armies met a Gettysburg, though neither Gen. Meade nor Gen. Lee had planned to fight at that place. The battle lasted three days. The Union army lost twenty-three thousand; the Confederate loss was not officially reported, but was probably larger. Lee recrossed the Potomac, and all further thought of Northern invasion was at an end. It was the turning point of the war. Lee's losses could not be replaced, and all his subsequent efforts were defensive.
1863-July 4. Vicksburg surrendered to Gen. Grant. In this campaign five battles had been fought, thirty-seven thousand Confederate prisoners taken, and ten thousand killed and wounded. This victory resulted in opening the Mississippi to the Gulf, and cutting the Confederacy in two.
1863-Battle of Chickamauga, September 19 and 20. The first day's engagement was indecisive. On the second day, the Union troops were defeated; but Gen. Thomas-" the rock of Chickamauga"-held the left during the afternoon, and saved the army from rout. At night he withdrew to Chattanooga, picking up five hundred prisoners on his way.
1863-Battle of Chattanooga, November 24 and 25. This was the most picturesque battle of the war-" the fight above the clouds "-on Missionary Ridge. Its effect was to open East Tennessee, and to lay bare the heart of the Confederacy.
1864-Battle of the Wilderness, May 5 and 6. The two armies ran against one another by accident, very nearly on the battle ground of Chancellorsville, fought a year before. There was no strategy or tactics, as the fight occured in the dense woods.