For the United States, the 1860s represent a time of division, devastation, rebuilding, and reconciliation. For families, and for the nation.
- Abraham Lincoln ran for President of the United States, and was elected, 1860.
- South Carolina was the first southern state to secede from the Union, December, 1860.
- The Pony Express carried overland mail from April 1860 to October 1861.
- Completion of the transcontinental telegraph, 1861.
- Southern states officially set up the Confederated States of America, with Jefferson Davis as President, February 1861.
- The beginnning of the conflict between the states, known as the American Civil War, began at Fort Sumter, April 1861.
- The Homestead Act was approved, granting family farms of 160 acres to settlers, May 1862.
- Land Grant Act approved, calling for public land sale to fund agricultual education, July 1862.
- President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, which proclaimed all those enslaved were to be set free, January 1863.
- President Lincoln was re-elected, November 1864.
- General Robert E. Lee surrenered his army to Ulysses S. Grant, ending the four years of Civil War conflict, April, 1865.
- President Lincoln was assasinated, April 1865.
- Andrew Jackson became the seventeen president, April 1865.
- The 13th Amendment was adopted, outlawing slavery, December 1865.
This is the backdrop for my newest historical fiction series, The Quilted Heart, which is set in mid-1865 to mid-1866 in Saint Charles, Missouri.
Is there a time in American history that particularly interests you? Why?
