1809

February 12 -- Abraham Lincoln born in Hardin County, Kentucky; father a pioneer carpenter and farmer; Mother, Nancy Hanks Lincoln; both parents illiterate

1811

Lincoln family moved within Kentucky to another farm

1816

Family moves again, across Ohio River from Kentucky to Indiana

1818

Mother dies

1819

Father remarries a widow with three children

1824

Abraham achieves literacy with intermittent schooling of in all about three years

1827

17-year-old Lincoln works as a boatman on Ohio River

1828

Working on Mississippi River boats

1830

Moves with family to Illinois; becomes involved in politics as a supporter of river improvements

1831

Still engaged in boat transport on Mississippi, moves to New Salem, Illinois, outside Springfield; acquires a reputation as a wrestler by taking on town rowdy

1832

Stands for Illinois legislature and volunteers to fight in Black Hawk Indian War; sees no action and is defeated in run for political office

1833

A general store operated by Lincoln fails, leaving him in debt

1834

Tries his hand at surveying; elected as a Whig to Illinois House of Representatives; begins to study law

1836

Reelected to state legislature; receives license to practice law

1837

Becomes Whig leader in state legislature; supports internal improvements, especially as relate to navigating rivers; helps get state capital moved to nearby Springfield

1839

Legal practice underway; encountering vermont-born Democrat Stephen A. Douglas in legislative debates

1842

Leaves state legislature, narrowly averts a duel over a political matter, and marries Mary Todd

1843

Makes an unsuccessful run for US Congress as a Whig

1844

Lincoln opens legal practice in Springfield with a junior partner, William Herndon

1846

Elected to Congress as a Whig;

1847

Lincoln to Washington as Whig congressman in 30^th Congress; objects to Polk's plans to attack Mexico on basis on Mexican hostilities ["Spot Resolution"]

1849

Supports Taylor for the presidency; does not stand for a second term; supports Wilmot Proviso to keep slavery out of the Territories

1850

Returns to Illinois and his prospering law practice. Remains active in Whig politics.

1854

Runs for Illinois House of Representatives as critic of Kansas-Nebraska Act; elected but declines seat to be eligible for US Senate

1855

Illinois legislature passes up Lincoln for the US Senate

1856

Becomes a Republican and campaigns for Republican presidential candidate John C. Fremont

1857

Speaks out against Dred Scott Supreme Court decision; argues that the Court can not impose slavery where the citizenry reject it.

1858

Nominated for US Senate by Illinois Republicans; engages the Democratic nominee Stephen Douglas in a series of debates throughout the state. Debates attract national attention.

1859

Illinois legislature elects Douglas to the US Senate; Lincoln begins to be mentioned as possible Republican presidential nominee

1860

February -- Travels east to New York and New England in speaking tour opposing the spread of slavery; viewed as a moderate anti-slavery man

May -- Nominated on 3^rd ballot at the Republican convention in Chicago

November -- Receives winning plurality of 40% of the votes in a four-man race to be elected President; receives no support in South

December -- January -- Six southern states follow S Carolina's lead in leaving the Union in response to Lincoln's election

1861

February -- President-elect makes his way from Illinois to Washington, D.C., amidst assassination rumors

March 4 -- Abraham Lincoln inaugurated as 16^th president of the United States

April 12 -- South Carolina militia fires on federal Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor; Civil War underway when Lincoln calls for federal reinforcements and four more southern states . Four slave states (Del/Md/Ky/Mo) reject secession.

Civil War commences.

July -- First Battle of Bull Run, outside Washington, turns into rout of Union forces. Confederate generals, especially Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson make impressive battlefield debut.

1862

Union forces fare better in West; impose an effective naval blockade on Confederacy

September -- Union and Confederate armies battle to a draw at Antietam; 22,000 casualties

1863

January 1 -- Lincoln makes his Emancipation Proclamation, declaring all slaves behind Confederate lines to be freed.

January -- Lincoln replaces General Burniside with General Joseph Hooker as head of the Army of the Potomac, directing him to "go forward, and give us victories."

July -- Battle of Gettysburg ends with Lee's Confederate forces failing to breach Union lines; high water mark for Confederate incursion into Union territory. 50,000 casualties.

1864

May -- Battle of the Wilderness marks Ulysses S. Grant's emergence as Lincoln's "main man." Outcome indecisive. 30,000 casualties in three-day battle.

May - December -- Union General William T. Sherman scorching the landscape on his "March Through Georgia." Savannah fell to him on December 22^nd

November -- Lincoln handily won re-election on the strength of the Union's improving military situation. Andrew Johnson, Military Governor of Tennessee, elected VP.

1865

March 4 -- Lincoln's second inaugural address strikes a conciliatory note; "with malice toward none; with charity for all…"

April 9 -- Lee surrenders his Confederate army to Grant at Appomattox Court House

April 14 -- Abraham Lincoln shot by Southern sympathizer John Wilkes Booth

April 15 -- Lincoln dies; Andrew Johnson sworn in as nation's 17^th President.