1865 in the United States

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1865
in
the United States
Decades:
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Events from the year 1865 in the United States. The American Civil War ends with the surrender of the Confederate States, beginning the Reconstruction era of U.S. history.

Contents

Incumbents

Federal government

Abraham Lincoln (R-Illinois) (until April 15)
Andrew Johnson (D-Tennessee) (starting April 15)
Hannibal Hamlin (R-Maine) (until March 4)
Andrew Johnson (D-Tennessee) (March 4 – April 15)
vacant (starting April 15)

Events

February 17: Columbia, South Carolina burns The burning of Columbia, South Carolina, February 17, 1865.jpg
February 17: Columbia, South Carolina burns
March 4: Andrew Johnson becomes the 16th U.S. vice president President Andrew Johnson.jpg
March 4: Andrew Johnson becomes the 16th U.S. vice president

January–March

April–June

Fires in Richmond, Virginia, burn out of control in the largely abandoned city after Evacuation Sunday (April 2) Richmond Virginia damage2.jpg
Fires in Richmond, Virginia, burn out of control in the largely abandoned city after Evacuation Sunday (April 2)
April 9: Robert E. Lee surrenders Appomattox courthouse.jpg
April 9: Robert E. Lee surrenders
April 14: Lincoln assassinated Lincoln assassination slide c1900 - Restoration.jpg
April 14: Lincoln assassinated
April 15: Johnson succeeds Lincoln as the 17th U.S. president President Andrew Johnson.jpg
April 15: Johnson succeeds Lincoln as the 17th U.S. president
Oath to defend the Constitution of the United States and, among other promises, to "abide by and faithfully support all acts of Congress passed during the . . . rebellion having reference to slaves . . . ," signed by Samuel M. Kennard on June 27, 1865 Samuel M. Kennard oath 1865.jpg
Oath to defend the Constitution of the United States and, among other promises, to "abide by and faithfully support all acts of Congress passed during the . . . rebellion having reference to slaves . . . ," signed by Samuel M. Kennard on June 27, 1865
April 27: Sultana burns Sultana Disaster.jpg
April 27: Sultana burns
"A Terrible List", Liverpool Mercury, November 17, 1865 A Terrible List.jpg
"A Terrible List", Liverpool Mercury, November 17, 1865

July–September

October–December

July 30: Brother Jonathan sinks SS Brother Jonathan 1862.jpg
July 30: Brother Jonathan sinks

Undated

Ongoing

Births

Warren G. Harding Warren G Harding-Harris & Ewing crop.jpg
Warren G. Harding

Deaths

See also

Further reading

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Civil War</span> 1861–1865 conflict in the United States

The American Civil War was a civil war in the United States between the Union and the Confederacy, which was formed in 1861 by states that had seceded from the Union. The central conflict leading to war was a dispute over whether slavery should be permitted to expand into the western territories, leading to more slave states, or be prohibited from doing so, which many believed would place slavery on a course of ultimate extinction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Wilkes Booth</span> American stage actor and assassin (1838–1865)

John Wilkes Booth was an American stage actor who assassinated United States President Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., on April 14, 1865. A member of the prominent 19th-century Booth theatrical family from Maryland, he was a noted actor who was also a Confederate sympathizer; denouncing President Lincoln, he lamented the then-recent abolition of slavery in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Anderson (Civil War)</span> American Civil War Union Army officer (1805–1871)

Robert Anderson was a United States Army officer during the American Civil War. He was the Union commander in the first battle of the American Civil War at Fort Sumter in April 1861 when the Confederates bombarded the fort and forced its surrender, starting the war. Anderson was celebrated as a hero in the North and promoted to brigadier general and given command of Union forces in Kentucky. He was removed late in 1861 and reassigned to Rhode Island, before retiring from military service in 1863. In 1865, he returned to Fort Sumter to again raise the American flag that he had lowered during the 1861 surrender.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Herold</span> Accomplice of John Wilkes Booth (1842–1865)

David Edgar Herold was an American pharmacist's assistant and accomplice of John Wilkes Booth in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln on April 14, 1865. After the shooting, Herold accompanied Booth to the home of Samuel Mudd, who set Booth's injured leg. The two men then continued their escape through Maryland and into Virginia, and Herold remained with Booth until the authorities cornered them in a barn. Herold surrendered, but Booth was shot to death by Sergeant Boston Corbett. Herold was tried by a military tribunal, sentenced to death for conspiracy, and hanged with three other conspirators at the Washington Arsenal, now known as Fort Lesley J. McNair.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph Holt</span> American politician

Joseph Holt was an American lawyer, soldier, and politician. As a leading member of the Buchanan administration, he succeeded in convincing Buchanan to oppose the secession of the South. He returned to Kentucky and successfully battled the secessionist element thereby helping to keep Kentucky in the Union. President Abraham Lincoln appointed him the Judge Advocate General of the United States Army. He served as Lincoln's chief arbiter and enforcer of military law, and supporter of emancipation. His most famous roles came in the Lincoln assassination trials.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lewis Powell (conspirator)</span> American soldier and conspirator (1844–1865)

Lewis Thornton Powell was an American Confederate soldier who attempted to assassinate William Henry Seward as part of the Lincoln assassination plot. Wounded at the Battle of Gettysburg, he later served in Mosby's Rangers before working with the Confederate Secret Service in Maryland. John Wilkes Booth recruited him into a plot to kidnap Lincoln and turn the president over to the Confederacy, but then decided to assassinate Lincoln, Seward, and Vice President Andrew Johnson instead, and assigned Powell the task to kill Seward.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lafayette C. Baker</span> Union Army officer

Lafayette Curry Baker was a United States investigator and spy, serving the Union Army during the American Civil War and under Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louis J. Weichmann</span> Witness to the assassination of Abraham Lincoln

Louis J. Weichmann was an American clerk who was one of the chief witnesses for the prosecution in the trial following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Previously, he had also been a suspect in the conspiracy because of his association with Mary Surratt's family.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Assassination of Abraham Lincoln</span> 1865 murder in Washington, D.C., US

On April 14, 1865, Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, was shot by John Wilkes Booth while attending the play Our American Cousin at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. Shot in the head as he watched the play, Lincoln died of his wounds the following day at 7:22 am in the Petersen House opposite the theater. He was the first U.S. president to be assassinated. His funeral and burial were marked by an extended period of national mourning.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael O'Laughlen</span> Conspirator in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln

Michael O'Laughlen, Jr. was an American Confederate soldier and conspirator in John Wilkes Booth's plot to kidnap U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, and later in the latter's assassination, although he ended up not directly participating.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samuel Arnold (conspirator)</span> Lincoln conspirator (1834–1906)

Samuel Bland Arnold was an American Confederate sympathizer involved in a plot to kidnap U.S. President Abraham Lincoln in 1865. He had joined the Confederate Army shortly after the start of the Civil War but was discharged for health reasons in 1864.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Washington, D.C., in the American Civil War</span>

During the American Civil War (1861–1865), Washington, D.C., the capital city of the United States, was the center of the Union war effort, which rapidly turned it from a small city into a major capital with full civic infrastructure and strong defenses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward P. Doherty</span> Union Army officer

Edward Paul Doherty was a Canadian-American American Civil War officer who formed and led the detachment of soldiers that captured and killed John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of US President Abraham Lincoln, in a Virginia barn on April 26, 1865, twelve days after Booth had fatally shot Lincoln.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Conclusion of the American Civil War</span> Ceasefire agreement of the Confederacy

The conclusion of the American Civil War commenced with the articles of surrender agreement of the Army of Northern Virginia on April 9, at Appomattox Court House, by General Robert E. Lee and concluded with the surrender of the CSS Shenandoah on November 6, 1865, bringing the hostilities of the American Civil War to a close. Legally, the war did not end until a proclamation by President Andrew Johnson on August 20, 1866, when he declared "that the said insurrection is at an end and that peace, order, tranquillity, and civil authority now exist in and throughout the whole of the United States of America."

<i>The Conspirator</i> 2010 American historical drama film by Robert Redford

The Conspirator is a 2010 American mystery historical drama film directed by Robert Redford and based on an original screenplay by James D. Solomon. It is the debut film of the American Film Company. The film tells the story of Mary Surratt, the only female conspirator charged in the Abraham Lincoln assassination and the first woman to be executed by the US federal government. It stars Robin Wright as Mary Surratt, together with James McAvoy, Justin Long, Evan Rachel Wood, Jonathan Groff, Tom Wilkinson, Alexis Bledel, Kevin Kline, John Cullum, Toby Kebbell, and James Badge Dale.

Events from the year 1861 in the United States. This year marked the beginning of the American Civil War.

Events from the year 1862 in the United States.

Events from the year 1863 in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cyrus B. Comstock</span> United States Army general (1831–1910)

Cyrus Ballou Comstock was a career officer in the Regular Army of the United States. After graduating from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1855, Comstock served with the Army Corps of Engineers. At the beginning of the American Civil War, he assisted with the fortification of Washington, D.C. In 1862, he was transferred to the field, eventually becoming chief engineer of the Army of the Potomac. In 1863 during the Siege of Vicksburg, he served as the chief engineer of the Army of the Tennessee.

1865 (MDCCCLXV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar and a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar, the 1865th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 865th year of the 2nd millennium, the 65th year of the 19th century, and the 6th year of the 1860s decade. As of the start of 1865, the Gregorian calendar was 12 days ahead of the Julian calendar, which remained in localized use until 1923.

References

  1. Ullrich, Dieter (2020). "The Explosion of the Steamer Eclipse". West Tennessee Historical Society Papers. Faculty Research at Morehead State University. 74: 54–72.
  2. Copy of original document, via Ancestry.com
  3. "President Johnson appoints Lewis E. Parsons, Sr. as provisional governor of Alabama," House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, accessed July 28, 2023
  4. Cartmell, Donald (2001). The Civil War Book of Lists. Career Press. p. 104.
  5. Ala. General Assembly. Journal of the House of Representatives. 18651866 sess., 151, accessed July 28, 2023