Includes name of battle, date, location, outcome, casualties/losses, commanders, and other important information.
Day: August 6, 2014
Timeline
- 1688: Quakers in Pennsylvania protest slavery in America
- 1716: First group of black slaves is brought to Louisiana Territory
- 1725: Population of black slaves in American colonies reaches 75,000
- 1739: Three separate slave uprisings occur in South Carolina
- 1740: Fifty black slaves are hanged in South Carolina for planning another revolt
- 1793: Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin
- 1800: U.S. Capital is moved from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C.
- 1800: John Adams is the first President to live in the White House
- 1800: Slavery ended in Northwest Territory
- 1801: New York passes the Emancipation Act
- 1802: Thomas Jefferson is accused of keeping one of his slaves, Sally Hemings, as his concubine.
- 1802: United States Military Academy at West Point is established
- 1803: Louisiana Purchase
- 1804: New Jersey becomes the last northern state to abolish slavery
- 1804: Lewis & Clark expedition begins
- 1806: Noah Webster publishes first American dictionary
- 1807: First practical steamboat journey by Robert Fulton
- 1808: Importation of slaves is outlawed (though slaves were illegally brought into the country until 1860)
- 1809: Supreme Court ruled that federal government has power over any state government
- 1812: War of 1812 (15% black sailors)
- 1814: British forces burn the White House in Washington, D.C.
- 1814: First photograph is taken (it took eight hours)
- 1818: Seminole War
- 1818: Flag of U.S. officially adopted by Congress (thirteen stripes and one star for every state)
- 1819: Alabama admitted to U.S. as a slave states; this brings the number of slave and free states to equal numbers
- 1820: Missouri Compromise (Missouri admitted as slave state, Maine as free state)
- 1821: New York gives free blacks the right to vote
- 1821: First women’s college is founded
- 1824: Mexico becomes a republic and outlaws slavery
- 1824: First fraternity in U.S. is formed at Princeton University
- 1827: New York outlaws slavery
- 1827: Modern matches are invented
- 1828: First passenger railroad in U.S. begins
- 1829: Georgia prohibits the education of slaves
- 1830: Underground Railroad established
- 1830: Mormon Church (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) established
- 1831: Nat Turner’s Rebellion (57 whites killed; Nat Turner hanged)
- 1831: First bank robbery in U.S. history occurs in New York City
- 1831: Alabama makes it illegal for blacks to preach
- 1832: Black Hawk War begins and ends
- 1832: Trail of Tears begins
- 1832: Oberlin College is founded in Ohio (admitted black students)
- 1834: Jacob Perkins invents an ether ice machine (predecessor to refrigerator)
- 1835: Texas declares independence from Mexico
- 1836: First revolver is patented by Samuel Colt
- 1843: First major wagon train of Oregon Trail leaves from Missouri
- 1844: Samuel Morse sent first telegraph message from Washington to Baltimore
- 1846: Mexican-American War begins
- 1846: First use of anesthesia for tooth extraction in Massachusetts
- 1848: Gold discovered in California
- 1848: Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo ends Mexican-American War
- 1849: First female doctor, Elizabeth Blackwell, receives degree
- 1850: Compromise of 1850 (California admitted as free state, Fugitive Slave Law enacted)
- 1852: Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin is published
- 1854: Kansas-Nebraska Act becomes law (slavery decided by popular vote)
- 1854: First graduating class of United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland
- 1855: Free Soilers establish government banning slavery and blacks from Kansas
- 1856: John Brown leads raid in Kansas that ends with five dead slavery supporters
- 1857: Dred Scott Decision
- 1857: First elevator installed in New York City
- 1859: Oregon admitted as a state
- 1859: John Brown’s Raid (Harper’s Ferry, Virginia)
- 1860: Abraham Lincoln elected President of United States
- 1861: Battle of Fort Sumter & beginning of American Civil War
- 1861: 11 states secede
- 1862: Slavery abolished in Washington, D.C.
- 1862: First man-made plastic created
- 1863: Draft/race riots in New York City
- 1864: Lee surrenders & end of American Civil War
- 1864: Abraham Lincoln assassinated
- 1865: 13th Amendment (abolishing slavery) takes effect
- 1866: Weights and measurements are standardized in the U.S.
- 1868: Southern states readmitted into Union
- 1868: Traffic lights created
- 1870: Ratification of 15th Amendment (gives blacks the right to vote, but not women)
- 1871: KKK members tried and convicted by federal courts
- 1871: Blacks elected to political office
- 1875: Jim Crow laws enacted in Tennessee
- 1875: Civil Rights Act passed
- 1883: Civil Rights Act of 1875 declared unconstitutional
Union Uniforms
- In the beginning of the war, many Northern militias wore gray instead of navy blue, often being mistaken for Southern troops.
- Uniforms were made standard in 1858.
- They adapted to local conditions during the war.
Union Flags
Thirty-Three Stars
Thirty-Three Stars
- Includes a star for every state up to Oregon (admitted February 14, 1859)
- Stars arranged in a 7-6-7-6-7 pattern
- Flown 1859-1861
Thirty-Four Stars
Thirty-Four Stars
- Includes a star for every state up to Kansas (admitted January 29, 1861)
- They still kept the stars for the seceded southern states, because the Union still considered them states and part of the country.
- Stars arranged in a 7-7-6-7-7 pattern
- Flown 1861-1863
Thirty-Five Stars
Thirty-Five Stars
- Includes a star for every state up to West Virginia (admitted June 20, 1863)
- Stars arranged in a 7-7-7-7-7 pattern
- Flown 1863-1865
Thirty-Six Stars
Thirty-Six Stars
- Includes a star for every state up to Nevada (admitted October 31, 1864)
- Stars arranged in a 6×6 pattern
- Flown from 1865-1867
Confederate Uniforms
- In early battles, some Confederate troops wore dark blue uniforms and were often mistaken for Union troops.
- Soldiers supplied their own uniforms (made to CSA regulations) until early 1862 when uniforms began to be mass-produced and supplied to the troops.
- Officers had to buy their own uniforms until March 6, 1864, when they were able to purchase them through the same source as the rest of the soldiers.
- The government-issued uniforms were often supplemented heavily by the soldiers with homemade, state-issued, and captured items, resulting in the often mismatched look of the Confederate forces.
Confederate Flags
First National Flag (“The Stars and Bars”)
First National Flag (“The Stars and Bars”)
- Flown from March 4, 1861 to May 1, 1863
- March 4, 1861 to May 21, 1861: Flag had 7 stars
- May 21, 1861 to June 2, 1861: Flag had 9 stars
- July 2, 1861 to November 28, 1861: Flag had 11 stars
- November 28, 1861 to May 1, 1863: Flag had 13 stars
- Designed by Prussian artist Nicola Marschall
- Many people criticized the flag for being too similar to the U.S.A.’s flag.
- They added the last two stars to reflect Kentucky and Missouri, even though they were never officially admitted into the Confederacy.
Second National Flag (“The Stainless Banner”)
Second National Flag (“The Stainless Banner”)
- Flown from May 1, 1863 to March 4, 1865
- It was called “the White Man’s Flag” by the editor of the Savannah Morning News, who said, “As a people we are fighting to maintain the Heaven-ordained supremacy of the white man over the inferior or colored race; a white flag would thus be emblematical of our cause.”
- It was initially received well, but then criticized because it could be mistaken for a white flag of truce if there was no wind.
Third National Flag (“The Blood-Stained Banner”)
Third National Flag (“The Blood-Stained Banner”)
- Flown from March 4, 1865 to the fall of the Confederacy
- The red bar was added to prevent the flag from looking like a white flag of truce.
- Very few of these flags were actually manufactured.
Confederate Battle Flag (Army of Northern Virginia)
Confederate Battle Flag (Army of Northern Virginia)
- This flag was widely popular, and was incorporated into the next design of the Confederate national flag.
- This flag was SQUARE—not rectangular! It was different sizes for different branches of service (52 inches for infantry, 38 inches for artillery, and 32 inches for cavalry).
Confederate Battle Flag (Army of Tennessee)
Confederate Battle Flag (Army of Tennessee)
- This flag is commonly referred to as the Confederate flag, but it was in fact just the battle flag for the Army of Tennessee. It is a rectangular version of the first square battle flag for the Army of Northern Virginia.
- It was designed by William Porcher Miles (head of the Flag and Seal committee) and proposed as the national flag, but it was rejected in favor of the “Stars and Bars” design. This flag is sometimes incorrectly referred to as “Stars and Bars.”
The Civil War at The Eagle Theatre 