Electronic library


read the book
eBooksRead.com books search new books russian e-books
Henry William Elson.

School history of the United States

. (page 1 of 32)
SOUTHERN BRANCH

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
LIBRARY

LOS \NGELES. CALIF.



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE
UNITED STATES



>9 -*" Q



UNITED STATES



BY



HENRY WILLIAM ELSOffL

AUTHOR OF "HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES," "SIDE
LIGHTS ON AMERICAN HISTORY," ETC., ETC.



ffork
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

LONDON : MACMILLAN & CO., LTD.
1906

All rights reserved



COPYRIGHT, 1906,
BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.

Set up and electrotyped. Published May, 1906.



J. 8. Gushing & Co. Berwick & Smith Co.
Norwood, Mass., U.S.A.



PREFACE

PROBABLY in no other civilized land are the intelligent
classes so unfamiliar with the history of their country as
In the United States. Why are we not a nation of history
readers? The answer lies partially, no doubt, in the fact
that our school histories too often have been written with
such mathematical precision as to render them dry and
insipid. Too often they repel rather than attract, and the
pupil learns to dislike the study of history. The defect
is a difficult one to overcome, owing to the necessity of
condensing and of leaving out so many interesting inci-
dents. The fault has in part been corrected, as attested
by various excellent school histories now in use, and my
belief that it could be corrected in a greater degree has
led to the writing of the present volume. From beginning
to end I have used the greatest care to make the book
interesting as well as instructive to the pupil. My object
has been twofold : first, to tell the great story of our coun-
try, with all its leading facts and their meaning; and,
second, to lead the pupil to love history.

In following this aim I have found no occasion to insert
matters of mere tradition or anecdotes that only amuse
the reader. The authentic story itself of our great coun-
try is one of absorbing interest, and to make it repelling
to the pupil by assuming a traditional text-book style is
to do an injury to American citizenship of the future. To



vi PREFACE

give the narrative accurately and naturally is the first duty
of the writer of the school history.

We may drop algebra and geology 4 - and many other
things when we leave school, but no one can afford to
drop history. The importance, therefore, of beginning
right in the study and teaching of history is obvious.

Like all other studies in the schools, history requires
the inspiration of a skillful teacher. The teacher should
enlarge upon matters that the writer has been obliged to
condense, and thus awaken an interest that the text alone
could not do. He should see that each pupil does some
collateral reading. The references given here and there
in this volume are to standard books ; but many school
libraries will contain other books equally suitable for the
purpose of outside reading. The object of collateral read-
ing, it is almost needless to say, is not only further to
elucidate the subject in hand, but also to lead the pupils
into the larger field of historical literature, with the hope
that they may become lifelong students of the subject.

In this volume the usual "helps," questions and topics
for discussion, have been omitted, on the supposition that
an intelligent teacher can prepare these better than the
writer and that he prefers to do it.

No pains have been spared to make this book historic-
ally accurate. It has been prepared in accordance with
the recognized authorities, including the most recent re-
searches of modern scholarship. But owing to the great
number of subjects to be treated, absolute accuracy is
scarcely possible, and the pointing out of any errors by
the reader will be deemed a kindness.

In the treatment of the subjects, I have in the main
followed the order of my larger " History of the United
States," published in 1904, and some of the notes at the



PREFACE



Vll



ends of the chapters are taken from that work. But it
must not be inferred that this work is merely a condensa-
tion of that one. On the contrary, it is a new work,
intended for the upper grades of the grammar schools and
for the lower grades of the high schools.

HENRY WILLIAM ELSON.

OHIO UNIVERSITY,
ATHENS, OHIO,
January, 1906.



NOTE TO THE TEACHER

No thoughtful teacher will require the pupils to remember
all the dates and facts found on the pages of the text-book in
history. The author must sift his multitudes of facts in writing
a history, and the reader must sift again, as, even in a condensed
history, many things are recorded in addition to that which is
salient and vital. It is better to drill a class thoroughly on
some important character or event than to give equal study to
every item in a chapter. It is better, for example, to study the
character of Columbus with care, though his contemporary
navigators can be noticed but lightly, than to give equal notice
to all at the risk of having them hopelessly mixed in the minds
of the pupils soon after leaving the subject. In studying the
founding of the colonies, it is well to choose out a few salient
features and to drill the class on these till they are fixed in the
minds of the dullest pupils.

The same is true of dates. Nothing in teaching history is
more unwise than to require the pupils to remember all the
dates given in the text. But some dates must be remembered.
They are to the student of history what the milestone is to the
traveler. The dates printed in black type in the Chronological
Table, beginning on page xxi, will aid in deciding what should
be remembered. In the early history of Virginia, for example,
the two dates that should be emphasized are 1607 and 1619,
with the meaning of each.

Again, in keeping the general order of events in mind, it
often aids the memory to group and compare. A few examples
follow : Cortez conquers Mexico at the same time that Magellan
sails round the world, and if the two events are fixed together



X NOTE TO THE TEACHER

in the mind, but one date need be remembered. The founding
of Jamestown, the founding of Quebec, and the discovery of the
Hudson River occurred in three successive years. George
Washington was born the year before the founding of Georgia
and a hundred years before the Nullification of South Carolina.
King Philip's War and Bacon's Rebellion were simultaneous,
exactly a hundred years after the voyage of Frobisher and a
hundred years before the Declaration of Independence was
passed. William Penn founded Philadelphia while La Salle
was floating down the Mississippi. Tennessee and Utah were
admitted into the Union a hundred years apart. Abraham
Lincoln was killed a hundred years after the Stamp Act was
passed, and so on. The teacher will find such recreation
diverting to a class as well as helpful.

At all events, the teacher should see that the pupils under-
stand the meaning and continuity of history, the underlying
causes and results of great movements of the past and their
influence in shaping the conditions of the present. In showing
the part that our great nation is playing in the development of
modern civilization, he should impress upon the pupils the vital
fact that each one is a very responsible factor in the great
body politic.



CONTENTS

CHAPTER

AMERICAN CHRONOLOGY

I. DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION

II. THE INDIAN . . .

III. COLONIZATION; THE SOUTHERN COLONIES .

IV. COLONIZATION; NEW ENGLAND . . .

V. NEW ENGLAND AFFAIRS ......

VI. THE MIDDLE COLONIES

VII. STRUGGLE FOR A CONTINENT

VIII. COLONIAL LIFE

IX. THE REVOLUTION

X. THE REVOLUTION (Continued)

XI. THE CONSTITUTION AND SELF-GOVERNMENT

XII. TWELVE YEARS OF FEDERAL SUPREMACY .

XIII. JEFFERSON AND THE DEMOCRACY ....

XIV. THE WAR OF 1812

XV. OPENING OF A NEW ERA

XVI. THE REIGN OF JACKSON, 1829-1837 ....

XVII. RISE OF THE SLAVERY QUESTION ....

XVIII. COMPROMISE MEASURES OF 1850; THE KANSAS-
NEBRASKA BILL .......

XIX. DRIFTING TOWARD WAR

XX. THE CIVIL WAR TO GETTYSBURG



xii CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

XXI. THE CIVIL WAR (Continued} 368

XXII. RECONSTRUCTION OF THE UNION .... 390

XXIII. RECUPERATING YEARS ...... 399

XXIV. INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS 410

XXV. WAR AND EXPANSION 426

XXVI. DAWN OF THE NEW CENTURY 444

APPENDIX :

Constitution of the United States 453

Table of the States 469

Table of the Territories 47

Table of the Presidents 471

Table of the Cities exceeding 25,000 Inhabitants . . . 472

INDEX 475



ILLUSTRATIONS

Congress voting Independence ....

The Fleet of Columbus .....

The Landing of Columbus .....

Americus Vespucius ......

Magellan . . . . ~ .

Pueblos of New Mexico .....

Discovery of the Mississippi River
Dakota Bow and Quiver, with Bow-sack
Indian Bows . . . . ...

Tomahawk and Stone-headed Club

Calumets, Indian Peace-pipes ....

An Indian Headdress . . . ' .
Snow Shoes made by Algonquin Indians .
Scalpi^' 'jKnife and Tomahawk ....

JonnAdfg of the Indians . .

Mount V|i Indian Face

Thomas ! st i ne

Alexander Rale i g h

Robert ty- Governor White to Roanoke Island .
The Clet, Jamestown t^

Monticeijorm Smith

James IV|i aware ' s Ships meeting the Colonists
General arre i between Berkeley and Bacon .

Battle batimore

Isaac Hjt o f Charleston, South Carolina

James Ij) g l e thorpe * .

Oliver B o f Savannah in 1734 ....

The V&yflower

James lading of the Pilgrims ....



xiv ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE

Plymouth Rock as it now Appears . . , . . . 70

Edward Winslow . -71

John Winthrop .......... 74

Roger Williams .......... 75

A Battle with Indians ... 84

Edmund Andros 86

The Half Moon in the Hudson River 92

Peter Stuyvesant ......... 94

New Amsterdam .......... 96

A New Jersey Farmhouse 99

William Penn 102

Washington returning from Fort Le Bceuf . . . . .114
General Braddock . . . . . . . . 1 1 7

The Fall of Braddock 118

Montcalm 120

Wolfe 122

Mrs. Washington persuades George not to go to Sea . . .126
A Colonial Child Robert Gibbs ...... 128

A Pumpkin Hood, 1800 . . . . . . . .129

The Good Girl and her Wheel . 130

Wool Spinning 133

An Old Tavern . 134

Illustrations from " Plain Things for Little Folks" . . 135

Betty Lamps .......... 137

A Flint-lock Musket .138

A Spinning Wheel . . . . . , . -138

A Foot Stove 139

A Flax-brake .......... 140

An Old Schoolhouse 141

Page from " The School of Manners " 142

Conestoga Wagon . . . .- 144

Advertisement of Express Fast Line 145

A Colonial Child Jane Bonner 147

Stamp Act Stamps 155

Samuel Adams . . 157

Faneuil Hall 158

The Minute Man at Concord 161

Old State House, Philadelphia 163



ILLUSTRATIONS



The Battle of Bunker Hill

The Washington Elm, Cambridge ....

Independence Hall, Philadelphia ....

The Liberty Bell . . . .

Facsimile of a Portion of the Declaration of Independence
General Burgoyne .......

John Stark . . . . . . . ...

The Surrender of Burgoyne . . : .

Sir William Howe .......

Washington's Headquarters at Valley Forge

Washington at Valley Forge .

Benjamin Franklin . . .

John Paul Jones . . . . . ...

Battle between the Serapis and Bon Homme Richard .

Major Andre

General Greene . . . . .

Lafayette .........

The Surrender of Cornwallis .....

Lord Cornwallis ........

First Fire Engine used in Brooklyn, 1785 . ;

The First Cotton Gin

George Washington .......

Federal Hall, New York ....

John Adams ........

Mount Vernori ........

Thomas Jefferson .......

Alexander Hamilton .......

Robert Fulton ........

The Clermont on the Hudson .....

Monticello . ...

James Madison ........

General Dearborn .......

Battle between the Guerriere and the Constitiition
Isaac Hull .........

James Lawrence ........

Oliver Hazard Perry .......

The Battle of New Orleans

James Monroe



xvi ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE

Emigrant Wagons 265

Lafayette's Visit to Boston 268

John Quincy Adams ......... 269

On the Erie Canal, 1825 . . . . . . . 271

An Early Railroad Train 272

Andrew Jackson 276

John C. Calhoun 277

Henry Clay 280

Martin Van Buren . . 283

William Henry Harrison ........ 289

John Tyler ........... 290

James K. Polk 292

General Winfield Scott 295

Zachary Taylor 297

Daniel Webster 304

Millard Fillmore 305

Franklin Pierce .......... 308

James Buchanan . . . . . . . . .318

John C. Fremont . . . . . . . . .319

John Brown . . . . . . . . . . 323

Abraham Lincoln 326

Jefferson Davis 331

Bombardment of Fort Sumter 334

Battle between the Monitor and Merrimac 344

General McClellan 351

General Robert E. Lee 361

Scene at Battle of Gettysburg 363

General Grant 371

General Sheridan 373

Farragut in Mobile Bay 376

General Sherman ......... 379

United States Capitol 384

Andrew Johnson ......... 391

Rutherford B. Hayes 407

Samuel J. Tilden . . 408

James A. Garfield 414

James G. Blaine 415

Chester A. Arthur . . 417



ILLUSTRATIONS xvii



Grover Cleveland

Benjamin Harrison

Harbor of Honolulu

Rice Fields in the Hawaiian Islands ......

William McKinley .........

A Street in San Juan, Cuba . . . . '

Admiral George Dewey ........

San Juan Blockhouse, showing Marks of Shot ....

The Oregon in Chase of the Cristobal Colon during the Battle of
Santiago ..........

Philippine Natives and Cattle

Theodore Roosevelt .

Panama Canal in Construction .......

Battleship Kentucky

Mining in the West

Slavic Immigrants

Modern Machinery in the Corn Belt ' .



MAPS

FULL-PAGE MAPS

PAGE

Great Voyages . . . . . . . . . -13

Early Distribution of Indian Tribes (colored) . . Facing 26
Indian Reservations (colored) ..... " 32

New England Colonies just before the French and Indian War

(colored) . ... Facing no

Middle Colonies just before the French and Indian War (colored)

Facing 114
Southern Colonies just before the French and Indian War

(colored) ........ Facing

Before and after the French and Indian War (colored) "

Scene of War in the Northern and Middle States (colored) "
Scene of War in the South (colored) .... "

The United States at the Close of the Revolution (colored) "

The United States in 1830 (colored) "

Relief Map of the United States "

Territorial Growth of the United States (colored) . Following

MAPS IN THE TEXT

Bunker Hill and Boston ........

Siege of Charleston . .

Long Island ..........

New Jersey and Trenton ........

Chaniplain and Saratoga ........

Valley Forge, Philadelphia, and Brandywine ....

Siege of Yorktown . . . . . . .

The Lake Region .

Washington and Vicinity ........

Battle of New Orleans



xx MAPS

PAGE

The Erie Canal 2 7

The Mexican Campaign 2 <X>

After the Kansas-Nebraska Bill 3 12

Election Chart. 1860 3 28

The United States in 1861 345

Capture of New Orleans 347

Scene of War in Virginia 35

Vicksburg and Vicinity 3^

Battlefield of Gettysburg 3 62

Chattanooga and Atlanta . 375

Sherman's March 3 8

Center of Population 446



NOTE. The more important dates are printed in bold-faced type.

DISCOVERY AND COLONIZATION

1000. Lief Ericson discovers Vinland (New England).

. 1492. Oct. 12. Columbus discovers the New World.

1497. The Cabots discover the continent of North America.

1498. Columbus on third voyage discovers South America.

1506. Columbus dies at Valladolid.

1507. New World named after Americus Vespucius.

1513. Balboa discovers the Pacific Ocean and Ponce de Leon discovers

Florida.

1519-1521. Cortez conquers Mexico. Magellan sails round the world.
1524. Verrazano and Gomez explore New England coast.
1528. Cabeza de Vaca explores southern United States.

1533. Pizarro conquers Peru.

1534. Cartier sails to the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
1541. De Soto discovers the Mississippi River.
1565. Founding of St. Augustine.

1576. Frobisher discovers northwest passage, Frobisher Strait.

1579. Drake explores coast of California.

1584. Raleigh sends first expedition to America.

1588. Defeat of the Spanish Armada.

1604. Acadia settled by the French.

1607. .May 13. Founding of Jamestown, Virginia.

1608. Founding of Quebec by Champlain.

1609. Hudson discovers the Hudson River.

1619. First Assembly meets at Jamestown. Slaves first sold in Virginia.
4620. Coming of the Pilgrims in the Mayflower.

1623. Settlements at New Amsterdam. First settlements in New Hamp-
shire.

1630. The great emigration to Massachusetts. The founding of Boston.
1634. Maryland first settled by Calvert.



xxii AMERICAN CHRONOLOGY

1636. Connecticut settled by emigrants from Massachusetts.
Founding of Providence by Roger Williams. Harvard College

founded.

1637. War with Pequot Indians. First negro slaves in New England.

1638. Swedes first settle in Delaware.

1639. First constitution in America adopted by Connecticut.
1643. May 30. New England Confederation formed.
1649. Toleration Act in Maryland.

1655. Stuyvesant conquers the Swedes in Delaware.

1656. Quakers expelled from Massachusetts.

1662. Connecticut charter granted.

1663. Charter granted to Rhode Island.
Charter for the Carolinas granted.

1664. Sept. 8. The English conquer New Amsterdam.
1673. Marquette explores the Mississippi.

1676. Bacon's Rebellion in Virginia. King Philip's War in New England.

1681. Penn receives charter for Pennsylvania.

1682. Penn founds Philadelphia and makes treaty with the Indians.
La Salle explores Louisiana and takes possession for France.

1686. Edmund Andros made governor of all New England.

1689. Rebellion against Andros; his fall and arrest.

1692. Salem witchcraft delusion.

1700. Iberville plants colony in Louisiana.

1713. Treaty of Utrecht, ending Queen Anne's War, which began in 1702.

1733. Georgia settled by Oglethorpe.

1748. Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, ending King George's War, which began
in 1744.

1754. Colonial Congress at Albany; Franklin's plan of union.

1755. Braddock's defeat.

1756. French and Indian War formally begun.
1759. Wolfe captures Quebec.

1763. Treaty of Paris; end of the war. Conspiracy of Pontiac.

PERIOD OF THE REVOLUTION

1765. Stamp Act. Colonial Congress in New York.

1770. " Boston Massacre."

1773. Destruction of tea in Boston Harbor.

1774. Sept. 5. Continental Congress meets in Philadelphia. Boston

Port Bill.

1775. April 19. Fight at Lexington and Concord.



AMERICAN CHRONOLOGY xx iii

May 10. Capture of Ticonderoga. Meeting of Second Continental

Congress at Philadelphia.
June 17. Battle of Bunker Hill.
December. Daniel Boone settles in Kentucky.
July 4. Declaration of Independence.
Aug. 27. Battle of Long Island.
Dec. 26. Washington captures Hessians at Trenton.
June 14. Flag of stars and stripes adopted by Congress.



Sept. II. Battle of Brandywine.

j&vj ut;. ^r\

,ey Forge and IL
French-American alliance.



Oct. 17. Surrender of Burgoyne.

ccupi



Washington encamps at Valley Fprprp and Howe occupies Philadelphia.



June 28. Battle of Monmouth.

Dec. 29. British take Savannah.

Sept. 23. Naval victory of John Paul Jones.

May 12. Charleston taken by British.

Aug. 1 6. Battle of Camden.

Oct. 7. Battle of King's Mountain.

Adoption of the Articles of Confederation.

Oct. 19. Surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown.

Nov. 30. Preliminary treaty of peace.

Sept. 3. Final treaty of peace signed.

Nov. 25. British army evacuates New York.

Dec. 4. Washington's farewell to his officers.

Shays's rebellion in Massachusetts.

FROM THE MAKING OF THE CONSTITUTION
TO THE CIVIL WAR

Ordinance of 1787 adopted.

May 14. Constitutional Convention meets at Philadelphia.

Sept. 17. Constitution finished and signed by the delegates.

Rufus Putnam plants first settlement in Ohio.

June 21. New Hampshire becomes the ninth state to ratify the Con-

stitution, securing its adoption.
March 4. New government goes into operation.
April 30. Washington inaugurated first President.
First census. Population 3,929,214.

Vermont admitted to the Union. St. Clair defeated by the Indians.
Jefferson founds Republican (Democratic) party.
Wayne defeats the Indians in battle of Fallen Timbers.



xxiv AMERICAN CHRONOLOGY

1795. Jay's treaty ratified.

1798. Alien and Sedition Laws enacted. Navy department established.
1798-1799. Kentucky and Virginia resolutions.

1799. Dec. 14. Washington dies at Mount Vernon.

1800. Overthrow of the Federal party.
Population 5,308,483.

Capital removed to Washington, D.C.
1801-1805. War with the Barbary States, North Africa.

1803. Purchase of Louisiana.

1804. Burr kills Hamilton in a duel.
1805-1807. Lewis and Clark expedition.
1806-1807. Burr's conspiracy, trial, and acquittal.

1807. Fulton succeeds with the steamboat.

June 22. The Leopard fires on the Chesapeake.
December. Jefferson's embargo enacted.

1808. Prohibition of the foreign slave trade.

1810. Population 7,239,881.

1811. Nov. 7. Battle of Tippecanoe.

1812. June 18. War declared against England.
Aug. 16. Hull surrenders Detroit.

Aug. 19. The Constitittion defeats the Guerriere.
Oct. 13. Battle of Queenstown Heights.

1813. Sept. 10. Perry's victory on Lake Erie.
Oct. I. Battle of the Thames.

Nov. 9. Battle of Talladega.

1814. July 25. Battle of Lundy's Lane.

Aug. 25. The British capture Washington.

Sept. II. Battle of Plattsburg and defeat of the British on Lak<

Champlain.

December. Hartford Convention.
Dec. 24. Treaty of Ghent.
815. Jan. 8. Battle of New Orleans.

1818. War with the Seminole Indians.

1819. Purchase of Florida from Spain.

First steamship, the Savannah, crosses the Atlantic.

1820. The Missouri Compromise.

Census shows a population of 9,633,822.
1823. Dec. 2. Monroe Doctrine promulgated.

1825. Opening of the Erie Canal.

1826. July 4. Death of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson.
1828. Building of the first passenger railway begun at Baltimore.



AMERICAN CHRONOLOGY xxv

1830. Fifth census. Population 12,866,020.

1832. Nov. 19. Nullification by South Carolina. Jackson vetoes bank

charter. Black Hawk War.

1833. Jackson removes bank deposits. Compromise tariff adopted.

1836. April 21. Battle of San Jacinto.
Wilkes's Antarctic expedition.

1837. Patent of the telegraph by Morse.
Great panic.

1840. Population 17,069,453.

1841. March 4. Howe invents the sewing machine.

1844. First telegraph line in America, between Baltimore and Washington.

1845. Death of Andrew Jackson.

1846. Beginning of the Mexican War. Fight of Palo Alto.
Walker tariff enacted. Wilmot Proviso introduced in Congress.

1847. Feb. 23. Battle of Buena Vista.

March 29. Capture of Vera Cruz by General Scott.

Conquest of California.

September. Fall of the City of Mexico.

1848. February. Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.
Discovery of gold in California.

1850. Death of Calhoun.

July 9. Death of President Taylor.

Clay Compromise enacted.

Census shows population of 23,191,876.
1852. Death of Clay and Webster.
1854. May. Kansas-Nebraska bill enacted.

Commercial treaty with Japan.

1857. March 6. Dred Scott decision.

1858. First Atlantic cable laid.
Lincoln-Douglas debates.

Sept. 1 8. Mountain Meadow Massacre, Utah.

1859. John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry.

1860. Population 31,443,321.

THE CIVIL WAR AND OUR OWN TIMES

1860. Dec. 20. Secession of South Carolina.

1861. Secession of Mississippi on Jan. 9; of Florida, Jan. 10; of Alabama,

Jan. ii; of Georgia, Jan. 19; of Louisiana, Jan. 26; of Texas,
Feb. I; of Virginia, April 17; of Arkansas, May 6; of North
Carolina, May 20; of Tennessee, June 8.



xxvi AMERICAN CHRONOLOGY

Feb. 4. Confederate government organized.

April 14. Fall of Fort Sumter.

July 21. Battle of Bull Run.

Nov. 8. Capture of Mason and Slidell.

Feb. 1 6. Surrender of Fort Donelson.

March 9. Duel between the Monitor and the Merrimac.

April 6-7. Battle of Shiloh.

April 1 6. Slavery abolished in District of Columbia.

April 25. Farragut captures New Orleans.

July i. Battle of Malvern Hill; last of the seven days' battle before

Richmond.

Aug. 30. Second battle of Bull Run.
Sept. 17. Battle of Antietam.
Dec. 13. Battle of Fredericksburg:
.1863. Jan. i. Lincoln issues Emancipation Proclamation.
Jan. 2. Battle of Murfreesboro.
May 2. Battle of Chancellorsville.
July 1-3. Battle of Gettysburg.
July 4. Surrender of Vicksburg.
Sept. 19-20. Battle of Chickamauga.
Nov. 19. Lincoln's address at Gettysburg.
Nov. 24-25. Battle of Chattanooga.

1864. May 6. Battle of the Wilderness.
May II. Battle of Spottsylvania.

June 19. The Kearsarge sinks the Alabama.

Aug. 5. Battle of Mobile Bay.

Sept. 2. Sherman captures Atlanta.

Oct. 19. Battle of Cedar Creek.

Nov. 15. Sherman begins his march to the sea.

Dec. 15-16. Battle of Nashville.

1865. April I. Battle of Five Forks.
April 3. Evacuation of Richmond.

April 9. Surrender of Lee at Appomattox.

April 14. Assassination of Lincoln; Andrew Johnson President.

Using the text of ebook School history of the United States by Henry William Elson active link like:
read the ebook School history of the United States is obligatory