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1861 - Sumter

April 12, 1861 - U.S. army troops are stationed at Fort Sumter, South Carolina, an island at the entrance to Charleston Harbor. From across the water, Confederate soldiers open fire with mortar shells on the fort. The Civil War has begun! For the next four years, the war will turn America's countrymen, neighbors and families bitterly against each other.

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1867 - Union Soldiers Leave

December 18, 1867 - Union forces who have been stationed in Charlotte finally depart. The city's residents have cooperated with the federal troops. Although no battles were fought in the streets of Charlotte, Union raids took place at nearby Salisbury, Fort Mill (South Carolina), and Gastonia. There will be a national cemetery to mark where several thousand Union troops died while imprisoned at Salisbury.Confederate Prison

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1853 - Distinguished Citizen

His motto is Push, Pluck and Perseverance. Jewish store owner Samuel Wittkowsky is one of Charlotte's earliest civic boosters. As a friend of Governor Zebulon Vance, this European immigrant will intervene with those who want Vance arrested at the end of the Civil War. The building and loan company Wittkowsky organizes will one day become Home Federal Savings. 

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1865 - A Nation in Mourning

April 14, 1865The Civil War is over. President Abraham Lincoln is attending Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C. with his wife when actor John Wilkes Booth appears in the president's private theater box. Booth, a supporter of slavery, despises the president. He shoots and kills Lincoln, then jumps to the stage and flees. Booth will be found hiding in Virginia 12 days later and be shot. As Americans mourn the loss of Lincoln, they are uneasy. They wonder what will happen next.

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1878 - First Hospital

A group of Episcopal women led by Jane Wilkes begin St. Peter's Home and Hospital. It is the first civilian hospital in North Carolina. Although St. Peter's will become part of Charlotte Memorial Hospital in 1940, its building will remain standing at the corner of Sixth and Poplar streets. Fashionable condominiums will occupy the building more than 100 years later.

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1854 - Mint History

Sparks from a furnace ignite the roof of Charlotte's Mint. Luckily, the fire is quickly discovered and doused. The Mint is spared the destruction of the fire that broke out ten years ago in 1844. But another twist of fate awaits this regional branch of the U.S. Mint. Soon it will be taken over by the Southern states who break away, or secede, from the U.S. during the War Between the States.

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1861 - Change of Command

April 20, 1861 - North Carolina Governor John Ellis sends Col. John Y. Boyce and his troops to Charlotte. They command Green Caldwell to turn over control of the Mint. Officials strike out the words of the U.S. from all their documents. No longer will the Mint make coins for the United States. It will soon belong to the new Confederate States of America.Governor John Ellis

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1868 - A New Constitution

July 4, 1868 - North Carolina is accepted back into the United States of America. As part of the agreement, the state now approves, or ratifies, the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. Blacks are now granted the same liberties white citizens have enjoyed, including the right to own property. The 15th Amendment would later address the right to vote.

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1825 - Charlotte, Mining Town

Samuel McComb finds gold at Irwin Creek, near what will be the intersection of West Morehead and Graham streets one day. He is the first to follow a deposit called a vein of gold. Other Charlotteans are now hunting in streams and hillsides for the precious metal, hurrying through their daily chores so they can devote hours to a pastime that will make some of them rich.

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1863 - Death of Stonewall

May 2, 1863 - Confederate General Thomas J. Jackson dies after being mortally wounded at the battle of Chancellorsville, Virginia. Thousands of men on both sides have been killed. The leader who stood with his men in battle like a stone wall has been accidentally shot by Confederate soldiers from North Carolina. His widow, Anna Morrison Jackson will eventually settle in Charlotte, North Carolina and raise their daughter, Julia.

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