1859  	   	John Brown is executed for treason against the state of Virginia after his unsuccessful attempt to incite a slave uprising at Harpers Ferry.
1860 	  	Abraham Lincoln is elected President of the United States.
1861 	  	February - The Confederate States of America is formed, with Jefferson Davis sworn in as president.
1861 	  	March 4 - Abraham Lincoln inaugurated as President of the United States.
1861 	  	April 12 – Confederates fires on Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina.
1861 	  	April 14 – Lincoln calls for 75,000 volunteers to put down the insurrection.
1861 	  	April 18 – Virginia’s Robert E. Lee rejects Lincoln’s request to command the Union army.
1861 	  	April 19 – Lincoln orders the blockade of ports in Confederate states.
1861 	  	July 21 – Battle of First Manassas (Bull Run) in Virginia; 4,878 casualties.

EPISODE TWO 1862
1862 		February 6 and 16 – Battles of Fort Henry and Donelson in Tennessee; 4,332 casualties.
1862 	  	February 20 – Willie Lincoln dies of typhoid fever in the White House.
1862 	  	March 9 – Battle of the Ironclads, the Confederate Merrimac vs. the Union Monitor, Hampton Roads, Virginia.
1862 	  	March 13 – George McClellan plans to move his 121,500 troops to Richmond. It takes three weeks and 400 boats to land at Fortress Monroe on the Virginia coast.
1862 	  	April 4 to 7 – Confederate General Jeb Magruder stages theatrical troop movements at Yorktown, with an army of only 11,000, creating the appearance of a much larger force.
1862 	  	April 6 to 7 – Battle of Shiloh at Pittsburgh Landing in Tennessee; 23,700 casualties.
1862 	  	April 16 – Lincoln signs into law a bill prohibiting slavery in the District of Columbia.
1862 	  	April 24 – Battle of New Orleans: Admiral David Farragut sails past forts at mouth of Mississippi River to take the city.

EPISODE THREE 1862
1862 		June 25 – The Seven Days (the Peninsula Campaign) for Richmond, Virginia; 36,000 casualties.
1862 	  	August 29 to 30 – The Battle of Second Manassas in Virginia (also known as Second Bull Run); 25,251 casualties.
1862 	  	September 17 – Battle of Antietam Creek near Sharpsburg, Maryland; 23,000 casualties in bloodiest day of combat in American history.
1862 	  	September 24 – Lincoln suspends the writ of habeas corpus for individuals deemed guilty of "Discouraging volunteer enlistments, resisting military drafts, or guilty of any disloyal practice offering comfort to Rebels."
1862 	  	October 11 – The Confederate Congress passes a bill exempting from army service anyone owning 20 or more slaves.
1862 	  	December 13 – The Battle of Fredericksburg in Virginia; 17, 900 casualties.
1863 	  	January 1 – Lincoln signs the Emancipation Proclamation.

EPISODE FOUR 1863
1862-3 		December 31 to January 3 – The Battle of Murfreesboro; 23,514 casualties.
1863 	  	March 3 – Congress passes the Conscription Act, calling for the enlistment in military service of all able-bodied males between 20 and 45 years of age for terms of three years.
1863 	  	March 10 – Faced with an estimated 125,000 deserters, Lincoln issues o general amnesty for all who will report back to duty.
1863 	  	April 21 to May 11 – The Battle of Chancellorsville in Virginia; 30,051 casualties.
1863 	  	May 19 – Ohio congressman Clement Vallandigham, an out-spoken critic of Lincoln and the war, is exiled to the South.
1863 	  	May 19 – In three weeks Grant’s army marches 180 miles through Mississippi, fights and wins five battles, and surrounds Vicksburg. After a failed attack on the city, Grant settles for a siege to "Out-camp the enemy."