– Chronology of Abraham Lincoln –

February 12, 1809. Abraham Lincoln is born in a one-room log cabin on Nolin Creek in Kentucky. He is the second child of Thomas Lincoln (a farmer and carpenter) and Nancy Hanks Lincoln. He has one sister, Sarah, who is two years older than him. He is named Abraham after his paternal grandfather.

1811. Thomas Lincoln moves his family several miles away from Abraham Lincoln’s birthplace to a 230-acre farm on Knob Creek.

1812. A brother, Thomas, is born, and dies in infancy.

1815. Abraham and Sarah attend school in a log schoolhouse for a short time in the fall. Neither Thomas nor Nancy Hanks Lincoln can read, and Thomas can write only his name.

1816. Abraham and Sarah again attend school briefly in the fall. Thomas Lincoln, involved in a lawsuit over the title to his land, moves his family across the Ohio River to settle in the backwoods of Indiana in December.

1817. Abraham helps his father clear the land for planting. They are later joined by Nancy Hanks Lincoln’s aunt and uncle (the Sparrows) and their foster son Dennis Hanks, aged 19, who becomes Lincoln’s companion.

1818. The Sparrows die of milk sickness in September and Nancy Hanks Lincoln dies of milk sickness on October 5.

1819. On December 2, Thomas Lincoln marries Sarah Bush Johnston, a 31-year-old widow with three children, Elizabeth, John, and Matilda.

1820. Abraham and Sarah attend school for a brief period.

1822. Abraham attends school for several months.

1824. Abraham helps with plowing and planting and does work-for-hire to help neighbors. He attends school in the fall and winter and reads books, including the family Bible and other books that he borrows from neighbors, whenever he can.

1827. Abraham works as a boatman and farmhand near Troy Indiana.

1828. Abraham’s sister Sarah, now married, dies in childbirth on January 20. In the spring, Abraham, aged 19, and Allen Gentry leave Indiana on a flatboat trip to New Orleans with cargo of farm produce. While trading in Louisiana, they fend off seven black men who try to rob them. In New Orleans, Lincoln witnesses a slave auction.

1830. Abraham moves with his family to Illinois where they settle on uncleared land along the Sangamon River. Abraham makes his first political speech, in favor of improving navigation on the Sangamon River.

1831. Abraham builds a flatboat with his stepbrother and cousin and makes another trip to New Orleans with produce and livestock. He returns to Illinois in the summer and moves to New Salem in Sangamon County, though his family has moved to Coles County, Illinois. He works as a store clerk and sleeps in the back of the store. He wrestles a man named Jack Armstrong to a draw, and makes friends and earns the respect of local men as a result. He learns basic mathematics, reads Shakespeare and Robert Burns and takes part in a local debating society.

1832. In March, Lincoln becomes candidate for the Illinois General Assembly. The Black Hawk War breaks out. Lincoln volunteers for Illinois militia in early April and is elected company captain. He reenlists as a private after his company is disbanded in late May and serves until July 10, though he does not see any action. Lincoln loses the election on August 6, and becomes a partner with William F. Berry in a New Salem general store.

1833. The store fails and Lincoln is left badly in debt. He begins to write deeds and mortgages for neighbors and works as a hired hand. He is appointed postmaster of New Salem in May. In the fall, he is appointed deputy surveyor of Sangamon County.

1834. On August 4, Lincoln is elected to the Illinois General Assembly for the Whig party representing Sangamon County. He begins to study law. He meets Stephen A. Douglas, a 21-year-old lawyer and Democrat who is active in politics.

1835. Ann Rutledge dies in August from fever at the age of 22. Lincoln met and became friends with Ann in 1831. The two were romantically linked and he reportedly fell into a deep depression upon her death.

1836. Lincoln wins reelection on August 1, and has become a leader of the Whig party. On September 9, he receives his license to practice law. He begins a courtship of sorts with Mary Owens, a 28-year-old Kentucky woman who was visiting her sister in New Salem. He suffers an episode of depression (which he refers to as “hypochondria”) following his return in early December for new legislative session.

1837. Lincoln and others from the Whig party are successful in moving the Illinois state capital from Vandalia to Springfield. On April 15, he settles in Springfield and rooms with storeowner Joshua F. Speed, who becomes his lifelong friend. He becomes law partners with John T. Stuart and begins his practice of law in both civil and criminal areas, primarily as a defense attorney. Mary Owens rejects his proposal of marriage, and the courtship ends in August.

1838. On August 6, Lincoln is reelected to the Illinois General Assembly, and serves as Whig floor leader.

1839. Lincoln travels through nine counties in central and eastern Illinois as a lawyer on the Eighth Judicial Circuit. In December, he is admitted to practice in U.S. Circuit Court. Lincoln meets Mary Todd at a dance. She is the 21-year-old daughter of a prominent Whig banker from Kentucky.

1840. In June, Lincoln argues his first case before the Illinois Supreme Court. He will appear before the state high court a total of 240 times. On August 3, he is reelected to the legislature. He gets engaged to Mary Todd.

1841. On January 1, Lincoln breaks off his engagement to Mary Todd. He suffers severe depression for weeks and is absent from the legislature for several days. He dissolves his law partnership with John T. Stuart and forms a new partnership with Stephen T. Logan.

1842. Lincoln does not seek reelection to the legislature. He marries Mary Todd on November 4 in Springfield after having secretly resumed their courtship.

1843. Lincoln makes an unsuccessful bid for the Whig nomination for U.S. Congress. Robert Todd Lincoln is born on August 1.

1844. In May, the Lincolns move into a house in Springfield purchased for $1,500.00 which they live in until 1861. In December, Lincoln dissolves his law practice with Stephen T. Logan and sets up his own practice, taking in William H. Herndon as a junior partner.

1846. On March 10, Edward Baker Lincoln is born. Lincoln wins the congressional nomination of the Whig party on May 1. He is elected to the U.S. House of Representatives on August 3.

1847. The Lincolns move into a boarding house near the Capitol. Lincoln takes his seat in the House of Representatives on December 6.

1848. On January 22, Lincoln gives a speech opposing President Polk’s war policy with regard to Mexico. He attends the national Whig convention in June supporting General Zachary Taylor as presidential nominee. Lincoln does not seek a second term in Congress.

1849. Lincoln votes to exclude slavery from federal territories and end slave trade in the District of Columbia but doesn’t take part in the congressional debates on slavery. On March 7 and 8, Lincoln makes his only appearance before the U.S. Supreme Court in a case involving the Illinois statute of limitations, but is unsuccessful. He returns to Springfield on March 31 and later resumes his law practice.

1850. On February 1, son Edward dies after being ill for two months. Lincoln returns to the Eighth Judicial Circuit and gains a reputation for being an excellent lawyer. On December 21, William Wallace Lincoln is born.

1851. On January 17, Thomas Lincoln dies. Lincoln does not travel to the funeral.

1853. Thomas (Tad) Lincoln is born on April 4.

1854. Lincoln’s interest in politics is re-ignited when Congress passes the Kansas-Nebraska Act on May 30, which repealed the antislavery restriction in the Missouri Compromise. Lincoln speaks against the Act at Bloomington, Springfield, and Peoria appearing either before or after Senator Stephen A. Douglas, the principal author of the Act. Lincoln is elected to the legislature, but declines, to try instead for a seat in the Senate.

1855. On February 8, Lincoln loses bid for a Senate seat.

1856. In May, Lincoln helps to establish the Republican party of Illinois. At the first Republican convention in Philadelphia in June, Lincoln gets 110 votes for the vice-presidential nomination, giving him national recognition.

1857. On June 26, Lincoln delivers major speech in Springfield against the Dred Scott decision by the Supreme Court.

1858. Lincoln accepts endorsement on June 16 by Republican state convention for Senate seat, opposing Democrat Stephen A. Douglas. Lincoln delivers “House Divided” speech at the state convention in Springfield. Lincoln and Douglas agree to seven debates which are attended by thousands of people.

1859. On January 5, Illinois legislature reelects Douglas to the Senate over Lincoln by a vote of 54 to 46. From August through October, Lincoln makes speeches for Republican candidates in Iowa, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Lincoln’s name is mentioned as a possible presidential candidate.

1860. On February 27, Lincoln delivers famous address on slavery and the founding fathers to an audience of 1,500 at Cooper Union in New York City. The Lincoln-Douglas debates are published in book form in March. On May 18, Lincoln is nominated to be the Republican candidate for President. On November 6, Lincoln is elected the 16th U.S. President and the first Republican, receiving 180 of 303 possible electoral votes and 40 percent of the popular vote. On December 20, South Carolina secedes from the Union, followed within two months by Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas.

1861. February 11, Lincoln gives his farewell address to Springfield, one day before his 52nd birthday and leaves for Washington by train. He receives a warning during the trip about a possible assassination attempt. He is inaugurated on March 4. On April 12, the Civil War begins with an attack on Fort Sumter by Confederate troops. On April 15, Lincoln issues a call for 75,000 volunteers. On April 17, Virginia secedes, followed within five weeks by North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas, forming a Confederacy of eleven states. On July 21, the Union army is defeated at the Battle of Bull Run. On July 27, Lincoln appoints George B. McClellan as commander of the Department of the Potomac. On November 1, Lincoln appoints McClellan as commander of the Union army.

1862. On February 20, Willie Lincoln dies at the White House, most likely of typhoid fever. He is eleven years old. Mary Todd Lincoln is consumed with her grief and never fully recovers from the loss. On March 11, Lincoln removes McClellan as general-in-chief and takes direct control of the Union armies. On April 6, the Confederates launch a surprise attack on General Ulysses S. Grant’s forces at Shiloh. There are 13,000 Union killed and wounded and 10,000 Confederates. Lincoln resists pressure to dismiss Grant, who is blamed for the heavy losses. On April 16, Lincoln signs an Act that abolishes slavery in the District of Columbia. In late August, the Union is defeated at the second Battle of Bull Run. On September 17, General Robert E. Lee’s Confederate forces are halted by the Union forces under the command of General McClellan at Antietam in Maryland. With 26,000 men dead, wounded, or missing by nightfall, it remains the bloodiest day in U.S. military history. On September 22, Lincoln issues a preliminary Emancipation Proclamation freeing the slaves. On November 5, Lincoln names Ambrose E. Burnside as commander of the Army of the Potomac, replacing McClellan. On December 13, the Union suffers a crushing defeat at Fredericksburg with the loss of 12,653 men.

1863. On January 1, Lincoln issues final Emancipation Proclamation freeing all slaves in territories held by the Confederates. On January 25, Lincoln appoints Joseph Hooker as commander of the Army of the Potomac, replacing Burnside. On February 25, Lincoln approves a bill creating a national banking system and signs an act on March 3 introducing military conscription. The Union forces are defeated at the Battle of Chancellorsville on May 1–4. On June 28, Lincoln replaces Hooker with George G. Meade, during Lee’s invasion of Pennsylvania. On July 1–3, the Union is victorious at Gettysburg and on July 4 at Vicksburg, which is captured by Grant and the Army of the West. On August 10, Lincoln meets with Frederick Douglass to discuss issues of recruitment and treatment of Negro troops. In September, Lincoln appoints Grant to command of all operations in the western theater. On November 19, Lincoln delivers the dedication address at the Gettysburg National Cemetery to an audience of 15,000 to 20,000. On December 8, Lincoln issues proclamation of amnesty and reconstruction to begin the process of restoring the Union.

1864. On March 12, Lincoln appoints Grant as general-in-chief of all the Federal armies while William T. Sherman succeeds Grant as commander in the Western theater. On June 8, Lincoln is nominated for re-election by the National Union Convention, which consisted of a coalition of Republicans and War Democrats. On September 2, Sherman and his army capture Atlanta. Lincoln later approves of Sherman’s march to the sea on the advice of Grant. On November 8, Lincoln is re-elected to the Presidency defeating Democratic nominee General George B. McCllelan. On December 22, Sherman captures the city of Savannah and tells Lincoln it is an early Christmas gift.

1865. Lincoln seeks and gains Democratic support in House for resolution proposing the Thirteenth Amendment to abolish slavery to the states for ratification. (The amendment had been approved by the Senate in April of 1864.) On January 31, the House passes the resolution by a margin of three votes. On March 4, Lincoln delivers his second Inaugural Address. On April 9, the Civil War ends with the surrender of General Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia to General Grant at Appomattox Court House in Virginia. On April 10, celebrations break out in Washington. On April 11, Lincoln makes his last public speech dealing mainly with the issues of reconstruction. On April 14, Lincoln is shot in the head by John Wilkes Booth while attending a performance of Our American Cousin in Ford’s Theatre. Lincoln dies in a nearby boarding house without regaining consciousness at 7:22 in the morning of April 15. On April 19, there is a funeral service in the White House. The Funeral Train departs carrying Lincoln’s remains along with those of Willie Lincoln and begins the twelve-day journey back to Springfield, Illinois and is viewed by millions of people along the way. Lincolns’ remains were interred at Oak Ridge Cemetery outside of Springfield. On December 6, the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution is finally ratified and slavery is abolished.