Abraham Lincoln surprises his cabinet by reading a draft of an executive order freeing all slaves in Confederate states.

Exploring the most important 55 months in American history
Abraham Lincoln surprises his cabinet by reading a draft of an executive order freeing all slaves in Confederate states.
The lack of southern opposition in the U.S. Congress enables the Republican majority to enact most of its party agenda.
As the Federal army settles into defenses on the Virginia Peninsula, George B. McClellan takes the time to dictate to Abraham Lincoln on how the war should be waged.
Confederates win a tremendous victory to gain control of most of Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley and make the name “Stonewall” a legend in the South.
Following the Federal defeat at Front Royal in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, Nathaniel P. Banks retreats and Abraham Lincoln scrambles to send him reinforcements.
Abraham Lincoln revokes David Hunter’s order freeing all slaves in his military department. But Lincoln also declared for the first time that he had the power to free slaves as a wartime necessity.