Camp Ford

Abraham Lincoln elected president of United States

Texas and 10 other southern states vote for John Breckenridge

Texas votes to secede from United States

95% of Smith County residents vote for secession

Confederate forces fire on Fort Sumter, South Carolina; War begins

Colonel. Earl Van Dorn assumes command of confederate forces in Texas

First battle of Bull Run, Virginia; ends in confederate victory

U.S. naval forces begin blockade of port of Galveston

Confederate forces win first major western battle at Wilson's Creek, Missouri

General Paul O. Hebert assumes command of confederate forces in Texas

Camp Ford opens as camp of instruction for new Texas recruits in confederate forces

Texas Military Board created to buy guns and ammunition for confederate forces in Texas

Confederate General Ben McCulloch, former Texas Ranger captain, killed at battle of Pea Ridge, Arkansas, won by U.S. forces

Confederate forces defeated at Glorieta, New Mexico, retreat to western Texas

Confederate General Albert Sydney Johnston, former secretary of war of Republic of Texas, killed at Battle of Shiloh, won by U.S. forces

Confederate government creates the Military Dept. of the Trans-Mississipp, including Texas, under command of General Edmund Kirby Smith

U.S. naval and land forces capture New Orleans

Martial law declared in Texas

First conference of Trans-Mississippi confederate states meets in Marshall to discuss wartime affairs

Second battle of Bull Run, Virginia; ends in confederate victory

U.S. Navy bombards Corpus Christi

Battle of Antietem, Maryland; ends in draw after bloodiest single day of fighting in American history

U.S. forces turn back attempted invasion of North at Perryville, Kentucky

U.S. forces capture Galveston; General John B. Magruder assumes command of confederate forces in Texas

President Lincoln issues Emancipation Proclamation

Confederate forces regain control of Galveston

Confederate forces defeated at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and Vicksburg, Mississippi

Second conference of Trans-Mississippi confederate states at Marshall

U.S. forces defeated at Chickamauga, Georgia

Confederates repel invasion by U.S. forces at mouth of Sabine River

U.S. armies defeat Confederates outside Chattannoga, Tennessee

U.S. forces gain victories at Brownsville, Aransas Pass, Matagorda Island

Confederates begin using Camp Ford to house large numbers of U.S. troops captured in actions on Texas coast and in Southern Louisiana

Privately-owned manufacturing plant in Tyler purchased by confederate government; Tyler Ordnance Works begins making rifles and ammunition

U.S., Confederate armies clash in Virginia woods called "the Wilderness"

U.S. forces defeated near Laredo

Confederate troops gather near Tyler and Marshall to defend against U.S. forces; battles at Mansfield and Pleasant Hill, Louisiana result in capture of thousands of U.S. soldiers

Prisoner population of Camp Ford swells to more than 4,000 with addition of U.S. soldiers captured in Louisiana and Arkansas

Atlanta, Georgia captured by U.S. troops

Prisoner population of camp Ford drops as 2,000 transferred or exchanged

General Magruder becomes commander of confederate forces in Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico

Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrenders to U.S. General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia

Confederate forces win last battle of war, fought near Brownsville

Camp Ford closes

Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith surrenders Trans-Mississippi Department; U.S. General Gordon Granger announces Emancipation Proclamation at Galveston. The event is later celebrated as Juneteenth.