Exploring the most important 55 months in American history
OTD 165 YEARS AGO: George B. McClellan orders Federal troops across the Ohio River to begin anticipated incursion into predominantly Unionist western Virginia.
OTD 165 YEARS AGO: Pennsylvania militia arrest a Maryland farmer in his Maryland home for suspected secessionist activity. This provokes a controversial legal dispute between the president and the U.S. chief justice and leads to ongoing violations of civil liberties during the war.
OTD 165 YEARS AGO: Federal troops invade northern Virginia and seize the strategic town of Alexandria, but a promising young officer becomes one of the war’s first casualties.
OTD 165 YEARS AGO: The Provisional Confederate Congress votes to adjourn after approving the relocation of the national capital from Montgomery, Ala., to Richmond, Va. President Jefferson Davis had initially opposed the move, but with significant support from Virginians and military considerations, the transfer is approved.
OTD 165 YEARS AGO: Delegates to a state convention in North Carolina unanimously approves an ordinance dissolving ties with the Union. North Carolina becomes the 10th state to join the Confederacy.
In March, the Arkansas State Convention voted against secession. But now that Abraham Lincoln had issued his militia proclamation against the South, the reconvened Convention delegates overwhelmingly approved leaving the Union.