1836:
Southern members of the House get a "gag rule" restaining discussion of issues involving slavery. The House renews the gag rule each year until 1844. The American Civil War was, "Not about slavery." Yea, right.

1847:
Joseph Anderson fires skilled white workers who protest the use of slaves in some jobs at the Tredegar Iron Mill. The American Civil War was, "Not about slavery." Yea, right.


1862:  
Skirmish near Franklin, West Virginia


1863:  
Skirmish near Island No. 65

Confederate Naval flag introduced by Secretary of the Navy Stephen Russell Mallory.


1864:
Territory of Montana is formed from the Territory of Idaho.
 
The Lynchburg Campaign begins

Combats at Dallas, Georgia, begin (continue until June 1)

Affair on Lane's Prarie, Missouri


1865:  
General Edmund Kirby Smith surrenders
Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith, commander of the Confederate Trans-Mississippi division, surrenders on this day in 1865, one of the last Confederate generals to capitulate. Smith, who had become commander of the area in January 1863, was charged with keeping the Mississippi River open to the Southerners. Yet he was more interested in recapturing Arkansas and Missouri largely because of the influence of Arkansans in the Confederate Congress who helped to secure his appointment.

Drawing sharp criticism for his failure to provide relief for Vicksburg in the summer of 1863, Smith later conducted the resistance to the failed Union Red River campaign of 1864. When the Confederate forces under Robert E. Lee and Joseph Johnston surrendered in the spring of 1865, Smith continued to resist with his small army in Texas. He insisted that Lee and Johnston were prisoners of war and decried Confederate deserters of the cause. On May 26, General Simon Buckner, acting for Smith, met with Union officers in New Orleans to arrange the surrender of Smith's force under terms similar to Lee's surrender at Appomattox. Smith reluctantly agreed, and officially laid down his arms at Galveston on June 2. Smith himself fled to Mexico, and then to Cuba, before returning to Virginia in November 1865 to sign an amnesty oath. He was the last surviving full Confederate general until his death in 1893.

Twenty-three days after Smith's surrender, Brigadier General Stand Watie, a Cherokee, became the last Confederate field general to surrender.

Skirmish at Sweetwater Station, Wyoming


Primary sources:
Official Records of the War of the Rebellion
A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion ; by Frederick Dyer;
The Civil War Day By Day: An Almanac 1861-1865 by E. B. Long with Barbara Long;
National Archives Guide Index