January 11

Missouri adopts a resolution abolishing slavery

January 15

Fort Fisher, which protects Wilmington, North Carolina, is captured by a combination of Union army and navy forces

January 31

The U.S. House of Representatives passes the Thirteenth Amendment abolishing slavery and goes to the states for ratification

February 1

Lincoln's home state of Illinois is the first to ratify the Thirteenth Amendment

February 22

Wilmington, North Carolina, is the last Confederate port to be taken by Union forces

March 3

Congress establishes the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands to aid former slaves and white refugees

March 4

Lincoln is inaugurated for a second term

March 13

Davis signs a bill allowing blacks to join the Confederate army

April 1

The Battle of Five Forks, Virginia, results in a sound victory for the Union

April 2

Lee withdraws from Petersburg after ten months of fighting; he wires Davis that Richmond will soon fall

April 3

Union troops march into Petersburg and Richmond

April 6

The Army of Northern Virginia and the Army of the Potomac engage in their last battle at Sayler's Creek, Virginia

April 9

Confederate general Robert E. Lee formally surrenders to Union general Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia

April 14

President Abraham Lincoln is shot by John Wilkes Booth; Lincoln dies the next morning

April 15

Vice President Andrew Johnson is sworn in as the nation's seventeenth president

April 18

Confederate general Joseph Johnston surrenders to General William Sherman, signaling the formal end to Confederate resistance