Page 25 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Washington, DC

THE HIST OR Y OF W ASHINGT ON , DC  23

were sold at auction. The incident served
only to heighten the tension between
pro-slavery and anti-slavery groups. Slavery
was abolished in Washington in 1862.
The Civil War
In 1860, following the election of President
Abraham Lincoln, several southern states
seceded from the Union in objection to
Lincoln’s stand against slavery. Shots were
fired on Fort Sumter in Charleston, South
Carolina on April 12, 1861, and the Civil War
began. By the summer, 50,000 volunteers
arrived in Washington to join the Army
of the Potomac under General George B.
McClellan. Washington suddenly found
it self in the business of housing, feeding, and Black residents of Washington celebrating the abolition of slavery
clothing the troops, as well as caring for the in the District of Columbia
wounded. Buildings and churches became
makeshift hospitals. Many people came to slavery, so that by 1864 the population
nurse the wounded, including author Louisa of Washington had doubled that of
May Alcott and poet Walt Whitman. 1860, reaching 140,000.
Thousands of northerners came to help After skirmishes on July 12, 1864,
the war effort. They were joined by hordes witnessed by Lincoln himself at Fort
of black people heading north to escape Stevens, the Confederates retreated.
By March 1865 the end of the war
appeared to be close at hand. Parades,
speeches, and band concerts followed
Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s
surrender on April 9, 1865. Yet the
celebratory mood was short-lived.
Disturbed by the Union Army’s victory,
John Wilkes Booth assassinated President
Lincoln at Ford’s Theatre during the third
act of Our American Cousin on April 14,
1865. Lincoln was taken to the house
of tailor William Petersen, across the
street from the theater, where he died
Victory parade through Washington, DC to celebrate the
end of the Civil War in April 1865 the next morning (see p98).
1859 Senate wing of the Capitol is completed 1861 Civil War begins when shots are
1851 Major fired on Fort Sumter, South Carolina
expansion of
the Capitol 1857 House of Representatives 1862 Slavery is abolished in
begins wing of the Capitol is completed the District of Columbia
1845 1850 1855 1860 1865
1846 Construction on 1863 The 1865 General Robert E.
the Smithsonian Castle 1848 77 slaves attempt to escape from Emancipation Lee surrenders to the
begins. Alexandria is Washington by schooner. Ground is Proclamation Union. President Lincoln
retroceded to Virginia broken for the Washington Monument is issued is assassinated
President Lincoln 1860 President Abraham Lincoln elected

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