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History Timeline

1865 - Surrender

April 9, 1865 - General Robert E. Lee, commander of all Confederate armed forces, surrenders at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia. Lee had fought brilliantly at Antietam, Chancellorsville, Fredericksburg and Gettysburg. Now the military strategist who once refused President Lincoln's offer to lead the Union troops must admit defeat. Lee surrenders to General Ulysses S. Grant, who commands the Union army. More than 600,000 people have died in the Civil War.

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1877 - Craighead-Huntersville

March 9, 1877 - First called Craighead in honor of an early Mecklenburg patriot, today the town of Huntersville is incorporated. A catalogue boasts new schools, fresh air and climate of the town, and invites families to settle in Huntersville, where an acre of good land can be purchased for $50.

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1860 - Secession

December 20, 1860 - South Carolina declares it is no longer part of the United States! Next month, six other Southern states soon follow. Those who leave, or secede, join together and form the Confederate States of America, or C.S.A. They no longer believe in the U.S. government. For the time being, North Carolina remains in the Union.

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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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