Civil War Timeline

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1860

October 1 Democrat John Milton is elected governor of Florida.

November 6 Republican Abraham Lincoln is elected president of the United States.

November 26 Florida Governor Madison Starke Perry asks state legislature to call for a secession convention. 

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

1861

January 3 Florida Secession Convention convenes in Tallahassee.

January 6-7 State troops occupy Chattahoochee Arsenal, Fort Marion in St. Augustine and Fort Clinch on Amelia Island. Fort Taylor in Key West and Fort Jefferson in the Tortugas remain in Federal hands.

January 10 Florida Secession Convention votes 62-7 to secede from the Union. Ordinance of Secession is signed the next day. Union troops in Pensacola abandon Forts Barrancas and McRee and move to the more defensible Fort Pickens on Santa Rosa Island.

January 12 Alabama and Florida troops receive the surrender of the Pensacola Navy Yard, and unsuccessfully demand the surrender of Fort Pickens.

February 4 Delegates from the seceded states, including Florida, meet in Montgomery, Alabama to organize the Confederate States of America.

February 9 Jefferson Davis is elected provisional president of the Confederate States of America.

February 25 Jefferson Davis nominates Stephen R. Mallory of Key West as Confederate Secretary of the Navy.

March 4 Abraham Lincoln is inaugurated president of the United States.

April 12 Confederate forces fire on Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, forcing its         surrender the next day. Union forces land on Santa Rosa Island to reinforce the garrison at Fort Pickens. Three days later, President Lincoln calls for 75,000 troops to put down the rebellion in the seceded states. 

April 19 President Lincoln proclaims a blockade of the seceded states, including Florida.

July 21 First major battle of the war is fought near Bull Run (Manassas), Virginia. No Florida military units participate, though Floridian Brigadier General Edmund Kirby Smith is prominently involved and is wounded in the battle.

October 7 John Milton is inaugurated Florida governor.

October 9 A Confederate force, including two companies of Floridians, lands on Santa Rosa Island, east of Fort Pickens, and attacks the camp of the 6th New York Infantry Regiment.    Reinforcements from the fort force the Confederates to withdraw.

November 22-23 Federal forces at Fort Pickens engage in a massive artillery duel with Confederate batteries around Pensacola. An estimated 5,000 cannon balls and shells are fired during the bombardment, which damages Pensacola Navy Yard, Fort McRee and the towns of Warrington and Pensacola.

1862

January 1-2 A second artillery bombardment takes place between Union and Confederate batteries at Pensacola. There are few casualties, but some damage is inflicted on Pensacola Navy Yard.

January 16 Union naval forces attack Cedar Key, the western terminus of the Florida Railroad.

March 2-4 Confederate forces evacuate Amelia Island, including Fort Clinch, which is then occupied by Union troops.

March 10-11 St. Augustine is evacuated by Confederate forces and occupied by the Federals.

March 12 Jacksonville is occupied by Federal forces. It will be evacuated the following month.

April 6-7 Battle of Shiloh, Tennessee takes place. A Florida battalion participates and suffers heavy losses.

May 9-12 Pensacola is abandoned by Confederate forces and occupied by the Union.

May 31 Florida troops participate in the Battle of Seven Pines, Virginia where they capture a Federal artillery battery but suffer heavy casualties.

September 17 Florida troops are engaged at the Battle of Antietam (Sharpsburg), Maryland, the bloodiest single-day battle of the war. Five days later, President Lincoln issues preliminary Emancipation Proclamation.

September 30-October 13  Federal naval and land forces mount an expedition to St. Johns Bluff. The position is abandoned by its Confederate defenders on October 2, and Jacksonville is temporarily occupied for a second time.

1863

January 1 Final Emancipation Proclamation issued.

March 10 Jacksonville is occupied for a third time by Union forces. It will be evacuated once again at the end of the month. The occupation forces include Union black soldiers, making it one of the earliest  operations involving their use. Several skirmishes will occur in the vicinity during the occupation.

July 1-3 Battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania takes place. A brigade of Floridians, consisting of the 2nd, 5th and 8th Florida Infantry Regiments, participates and suffers heavy casualties.

September 19-20 Battle of Chickamauga, Georgia, one of the bloodiest battles of the war, takes place. Seven Florida units participate and suffer heavy losses.

1864

February 7 Union forces occupy Jacksonville for the fourth time during the war. This final occupation will last until the war’s end.

February 20 Battle of Olustee, the largest and bloodiest battle in the state during the conflict, takes place. Union forces are defeated and retreat back to their Jacksonville defenses.

April 1 The Union transport ship Maple Leaf is sunk in the St. Johns River by a Confederate mine.

May 6 Union forces temporarily occupy Tampa and Fort Brooke.

May 19 Union forces from Fort Myers raid Fort Meade.

May 23 Confederate forces under Captain J.J. Dickison capture the USS Columbine on the St. Johns River.

August 17 Union forces are routed by Confederate troops led by Captain J.J. Dickison at the Battle of Gainesville.

September 27 Battle of Marianna takes place. Union troops, including elements of the 1st Florida Union Cavalry, rout the Confederate defenders and briefly occupy the town.

1865

February 13 Confederate troops led by Captain J.J. Dickison fight a daylong skirmish with a Union raiding force at Station Number 4 near Cedar Key.

February 20 A Confederate force mounts an unsuccessful attack on Union-held Fort Myers.

March 4 Abraham Lincoln inaugurated for a second term as president.

March 4-5 Union expedition lands near the St. Marks Lighthouse.

March 6 Battle of Natural Bridge takes place. Union troops are stopped in their attempt to cross the St. Marks River and retreat back to ships waiting along the coast. Tallahassee remains the only Confederate state capital east of the Mississippi River to not be captured until the end of the war.

April 1 Governor John Milton commits suicide at his home near Marianna. Abraham Allison becomes acting governor.

April 9 The Army of Northern Virginia, including the remnants of the Florida Brigade, is surrendered       at Appomattox Court House, Virginia.

April 14 President Abraham Lincoln is shot and mortally wounded at Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C. He dies the following morning.

April 26 The Army of Tennessee, including the Florida Brigade, is surrendered in North Carolina. The surrender also includes all Confederate forces in Florida.

May 10 Union Brigadier General Edward McCook enters Tallahassee to accept the surrender of Confederate forces. A formal transfer of power ceremony and announcement of the Emancipation Proclamation takes place 10 days later.

July 13 William Marvin is appointed provisional governor of Florida.

1866

April 2 President Andrew Johnson officially proclaims the insurrection in Florida and nine other ex-Confederate states to be at an end.