Chronology of Emancipation during the Civil War

This brief chronology, adapted from the version published in Free at Last: A Documentary History of Slavery, Freedom, and the Civil War, lists important events in the history of emancipation during the Civil War. Unless otherwise specified, all entries pertain to the Union rather than the Confederacy.

1860

November
6  Abraham Lincoln elected president

December
20  South Carolina becomes the first Southern state to secede from the Union

1861

February
4  Convention of seceded states (South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana) meets in Montgomery, Alabama, adopts provisional constitution of the Confederate States of America (Feb. 8), and elects Jefferson Davis provisional president (Feb. 9); on March 2, the provisional Congress admits Texas to the Confederacy

March
2  U.S. Congress adopts and sends to the states a constitutional amendment (which ultimately failed of ratification) forbidding any subsequent amendment to “abolish or interfere . . . with the domestic institutions” of the states
4  President Lincoln inaugurated

April
12  Civil War begins with Confederate attack on federal garrison at Fort Sumter, South Carolina
15  President Lincoln issues proclamation calling for troops to put down the rebellion

May
20  Following Arkansas, Tennessee, and Virginia into the Confederacy, North Carolina becomes the last state to secede
24  Fugitive slaves at Fortress Monroe, Virginia, are received and put to work by Union general Benjamin F. Butler, who declares them “contraband of war”

July
21  Confederate victory at battle of Bull Run (Manassas) dashes Union hopes of quelling the rebellion quickly and without great loss of life

August
6  First Confiscation Act nullifies owners' claims to fugitive slaves who had been employed in the Confederate war effort
30  Invoking martial law, General John C. Frémont declares free the slaves of disloyal owners in Missouri; President Lincoln asks that he modify his order so as not to exceed congressional laws respecting emancipation

September
11  General Frémont having refused to modify his emancipation order, President Lincoln orders him to do so

December
1  Secretary of War Simon Cameron issues his annual report, from which President Lincoln had required the deletion of passages advocating emancipation and the employment of former slaves as military laborers and soldiers; Cameron is soon replaced by Edwin M. Stanton

1862

March
13  Congress adopts an additional article of war forbidding members of the army and navy to return fugitive slaves to their owners

April
3  General David Hunter, Union commander in the South Carolina Sea Islands, requests permission to arm black men for military service; receiving no response, he begins recruiting on his own authority in early May, but the War Department refuses to pay or equip the regiment and Hunter is therefore compelled to disband it
10  At Lincoln's request, Congress pledges financial aid to any state that undertakes gradual emancipation with compensation to owners
16  Congress abolishes slavery in the District of Columbia, with compensation to loyal owners, and appropriates money for the voluntary removal (“colonization”) of former slaves to Haiti, Liberia, or other countries

May
9  General David Hunter declares free all slaves in South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida
19  President Lincoln issues a proclamation nullifying General Hunter's emancipation edict and urging the border states (Kentucky, Missouri, Maryland, and Delaware) to embrace gradual, compensated emancipation

June
7  Congress adopts legislation enforcing the Direct Tax Act of 1861 in the seceded states; it provides for forfeiture to the government of land whose owners failed to pay the tax and for its subsequent lease or sale
19  Congress prohibits slavery in the territories

July
12  President Lincoln appeals to congressmen from the border states to support gradual, compensated emancipation, with colonization of freed slaves outside the United States, warning that if they do not act soon, slavery in their states “will be extinguished by mere friction and abrasion – by the mere incidents of the war”; two days later, a majority of the congressmen reject Lincoln's appeal
17  Second Confiscation Act frees the slaves of persons engaged in or assisting the rebellion and provides for the seizure and sale of other property owned by disloyal citizens; it also forbids army and navy personnel to decide on the validity of any fugitive slave's claim to freedom or to surrender any fugitive to any claimant, and authorizes the president to employ “persons of African descent” in any capacity to suppress the rebellion
17  Militia Act provides for the employment of “persons of African descent” in “any military or naval service for which they may be found competent,” granting freedom to slaves so employed (and to their families if they belong to disloyal owners)
22  President Lincoln announces to his cabinet his intention to issue a proclamation freeing slaves in the rebel states, but agrees to postpone it until after a suitable military victory

August
22  In New Orleans, General Benjamin F. Butler incorporates into Union forces several “Native Guard” units composed of free-black soldiers; soon thereafter he begins recruiting both free-black and ex-slave men for additional regiments
25  After having withheld its permission for months, the War Department authorizes recruitment of black soldiers in the South Carolina Sea Islands

September
17  Confederate invasion of Maryland repulsed at Antietam
22  Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation issued by President Lincoln; it announces that all slaves in those states or portions of states still in rebellion as of January 1, 1863, will be declared free, pledges monetary aid for slave states not in rebellion that adopt either immediate or gradual emancipation, and reiterates support for the colonization of freed slaves outside the United States

October
11  Confederate Congress exempts from conscription one white man on each plantation with twenty or more slaves

December
23  Confederate President Davis issues proclamation ordering that black Union soldiers and their officers captured by Confederate troops are not to be treated as prisoners of war; instead, they are to be remanded to Confederate state authorities

1863

January
1  Emancipation Proclamation issued by President Lincoln; it declares free all slaves in the Confederate states (except Tennessee, southern Louisiana, and parts of Virginia) and announces the Union's intention to enlist black soldiers and sailors. By late spring, recruitment is under way throughout the North and in all the Union-occupied Confederate states except Tennessee

March
16  American Freedmen's Inquiry Commission appointed by Secretary of War Stanton to investigate the condition of former slaves and recommend measures for their employment and welfare

May
22  Bureau of Colored Troops created within the War Department
27  Black soldiers play important role in failed assault on Port Hudson, Louisiana

June
7  Black soldiers repel Confederate attack at Milliken's Bend, Louisiana

July
1–3  Confederate offensive into Maryland and Pennsylvania repulsed at Gettysburg
4  Confederate surrender of Vicksburg, Mississippi
8  Confederate surrender of Port Hudson clinches Union control over the Mississippi River
18  Black soldiers spearhead failed assault on Fort Wagner, South Carolina
30  President Lincoln pledges that Union soldiers, black or white, are entitled to equal protection if captured by the enemy and threatens retaliation for Confederate enslavement of black prisoners of war

October
3  War Department orders full-scale recruitment of black soldiers in Maryland, Missouri, and Tennessee, with compensation to loyal owners

December
8  Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction issued by President Lincoln; it offers pardon and restoration of property (except slaves) to Confederates who take an oath of allegiance to the Union and agree to accept emancipation; it also proposes a plan by which loyal voters of a seceded state can begin the process of readmission into the Union

1864

March
16  New Arkansas state constitution, which abolishes slavery, is ratified by pro-Union voters

April
8  Senate approves constitutional amendment abolishing slavery
12  Confederate troops under General Nathan B. Forrest massacre black soldiers captured at Fort Pillow, Tennessee

June
7  Enlistment in Kentucky opened to slave men irrespective of their owners' consent, with compensation to loyal owners
15  House of Representatives fails to approve constitutional amendment abolishing slavery
15  Congress makes pay of black soldiers (which had been $10 per month for all ranks) equal to that of white soldiers ($13 per month for privates, larger amounts for higher ranks); the change is retroactive to January 1, 1864, or, for men who were free before the war, to the time of enlistment
20  Congress increases the pay of all privates, black and white, to $16 per month, with corresponding increases for higher ranks

September
5  New Louisiana state constitution, which abolishes slavery, is ratified by pro-Union voters

November
1  New Maryland state constitution, which abolishes slavery, takes effect, having been ratified in October
8  Abraham Lincoln is reelected president, defeating George B. McClellan

1865

January
11  Missouri state constitutional convention abolishes slavery
12  General William T. Sherman and Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton meet with twenty black leaders in Savannah, Georgia, to discuss the future of the ex-slaves
16  General Sherman issues Special Field Order 15 setting aside part of coastal South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida for settlement exclusively by black people, settlers to receive “possessory title” to forty-acre plots
31  House of Representatives approves constitutional amendment abolishing slavery, sending it to the states for ratification

February
22  Amendment to Tennessee state constitution abolishes slavery

March
3  Congress approves a joint resolution liberating the wives and children of black soldiers
3  Congress establishes Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands (Freedmen's Bureau) to oversee the transition from slavery to freedom
13  Confederate Congress authorizes President Jefferson Davis to recruit slave men as soldiers, with the permission of their owners; Confederate War Department issues order governing the enlistment on March 23.

April
9  Surrender of the army of Confederate General Robert E. Lee at Appomattox Court House, Virginia
14  President Lincoln assassinated; Vice-President Andrew Johnson succeeds to the presidency

December
18  Ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution announced by the Secretary of State; the amendment abolishes slavery throughout the United States