What Happened in April 1865

Historical Events

Apr 1 -9] Battle at Blakely Alabama

Battle of Five Forks

Apr 1 Battle of Five Forks: Union forces defeat Confederate force in Virginia and capture important railway supply line for General Robert E. Lee's army

Apr 2 Battle of Fort Blakely Alabama, last major battle of the US Civil War
Apr 2 Battle of Petersburg ends as the Army of Northern Virginia is forced to retreat under heavy fire from a general Union offensive
Apr 2 Battle of Selma, Alabama, Union forces break Confederates defenses to secure the town

Jefferson Davis Flees

Apr 2 Confederate President Jefferson Davis flees Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia (US Civil War)

President of the Confederate States of America Jefferson Davis

Apr 3 Battle at Namozine Church, Virginia (Appomattox Campaign)
Apr 3 Union forces occupy Confederate capital of Richmond & Petersberg, Virginia
Apr 4 General Robert E. Lee's Confederate army arrives at Amelia Courthouse, Amelia County, Virginia
Apr 5 Battle at Amelia Springs, Jetersville Virginia (Appomattox Campaign)
Apr 6 Battle of High Bridge, fought near Farmville, Virginia (Appomattox Campaign), inconclusive result (US Civil War)
Apr 6 Battle of Sayler's Creek, fought near Farmville, Virginia (Appomattox Campaign), 1/4 of General Robert E. Lee's army cut off, Union victory (US Civil War)
Apr 7 Battle of Farmville, Virginia
Apr 9 Confederate General Robert E. Lee and 26,765 troops surrender at Appomattox Court House to US Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant ending the Civil War in North Virginia
Apr 10 At Appomattox, Confederate General Robert E. Lee issues General Order #9, his last

Lincoln Urges Conciliation

Apr 11 Abraham Lincoln urges a spirit of generous conciliation during reconstruction

Apr 11 Battle of Mobile, Alamaba evacuated by Confederates
Apr 13 Raleigh, North Carolina, captured by Union forces

Assassination Attempt on William Seward

Apr 14 U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward and his family are attacked in his home by Lewis Powell as part of the same conspiracy to assassinate Abraham Lincoln

Deadly Performance of a Twisted Actor

Apr 14 US President Abraham Lincoln is shot in the head by John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theater in Washington; he dies a day later

The assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Lithograph by Gibson & Co., published in 1870

The Death of Abraham Lincoln

Apr 15 Abraham Lincoln dies nine hours after he is shot by John Wilkes Booth while attending the play "Our American Cousin" at Ford's Theatre in Washington

The bed on which Abraham Lincoln died hours after being shot by John Wilkes Booth, taken shortly after Lincoln's body was removed

Apr 15 Mobile, Alabama is captured by Union forces after a siege led by General Canby

Bismarck Made a Count

Apr 15 Otto von Bismarck elevated to rank of Count of Bismarck-Schönhausen

Apr 16 Battle of Columbus & West Point, Georgia (Ft Tyler), Union forces win one of the last battles of the US Civil War
Apr 17 Mary Surratt is arrested as a conspirator in Abraham' Lincoln's assassination

Johnston Surrenders to Sherman

Apr 18 Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston surrenders to General William T. Sherman in North Carolina

US Army Officer and Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston

Apr 20 Crosby Opera House opens in Chicago, Illinois; destroyed in the Great Fire of 1871
Apr 21 Abraham Lincoln's funeral train leaves Washington
Apr 24 Fire alarm & police telegraph system put into operation in San Francisco
Apr 26 Confederate General J E Johnston surrenders remaining forces to Union General William Sherman at Bennett Place in Durham, North Carolina, ending the US Civil War
Apr 27 Cornell University (Ithaca NY) is chartered
Apr 27 Steamboat "SS Sultana" explodes in the Mississippi River, killing up to 1,800 of the 2,427 passengers in the greatest maritime disaster in United States history. Most were paroled Union POWs on their way home.
Apr 28 Giacomo Meyerbeer's opera "L'Africaine" premieres in Paris

Events in 1865

Famous Birthdays

Apr 1 Richard Adolf Zsigmondy, Austrian-born chemist (1925 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for work colloids), born in Vienna, Austria-Hungary (d. 1929) [1]
Apr 8 Ted Wainwright, English cricket all-rounder (5 Tests; Yorkshire CCC), born in Sheffield, England (d. 1919)
Apr 9 Charles Proteus Steinmetz, German-American electrical engineer (development of alternating current), born in Breslau, Province of Silesia, Prussia (d. 1923)

Erich Ludendorff (1865-1937)

Apr 9 German general during World War I, born in Kruszewnia, Prussia

Apr 10 Jack Miner, Canadian naturalist and conservationist, born in Dover Center, Ohio (d. 1944)
Apr 11 Mary White Ovington, American journalist, suffragist, and co-founder of the NAACP, born in Brooklyn, New York (d. 1951)
Apr 13 Heinrich Reinhardt, Austrian composer, born in Pressburg, Austrian Empire (now Bratislava, Slovakia) (d. 1922)
Apr 16 Harry Chauvel, Australian Imperial Force senior officer, born in Tabulam, New South Wales, Australia (d. 1945)
Apr 17 Ursula Ledóchowska, Polish-Austrian Catholic saint and foundress of the Ursulines of the Agonizing Heart of Jesus, born in Loosdorf, Austrian Empire (d. 1939)
Apr 23 Ali-Agha Shikhlinski, Russian-Azerbaijani general, born in Kazakhli, Russian Empire (d. 1943)
Apr 26 Akseli Gallen-Kallela, Finnish painter known for his illustrations of the Kalevala, the Finnish national epic, born in Pori, Finland (d. 1931) [1]
Apr 28 Charles W. Woodworth, American entomologist, born in Champaign, Illinois (d. 1940)
Apr 30 Max Nettlau, German anarchist and historian, born in Neuwaldegg, Austria (d. 1944)

Born in 1865

Famous Deaths

Apr 1 Giuditta Pasta, Italian soprano, dies at 67
Apr 2 A. P. Hill, Confederate general, killed in action at 39
Apr 2 Richard Cobden, English politician and manufacturer (founder of the Anti-Corn-Law League), dies at 60
Apr 6 Colonel Reuben B Boston, US Confederate cavalry, killed in action during Battle of High Bridge in Farmville, Virginia at 30
Apr 6 John Austin Wharton, American lawyer and Major General (Confederate Army), dies at 36
Apr 8 John Park, Scottish composer, dies at 61
Apr 9 Thomas Alfred Smyth, Irish/US Union general-major, dies at 32
Apr 14 Ignaz Bösendorfer, Austrian musician, and piano maker, dies at 65
Apr 14 Rafael Carrera, Guatemalan military commander and Dictator of Guatemala (1844–48, 1851–65), dies at 50

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)

Apr 15 16th US President (Republican: 1861-65), dies from gunshot wounds at 56

Apr 16 Robert C. Tyler, US Confederate brigadier general, dies during the Battle of West Point, at 32
Apr 22 Francis Washburn, US Union colonel/gen major, dies of injuries
Apr 22 William McKean, American naval officer (Union Navy), dies at 64
Apr 23 James Dearing, U.S. Brigadier General (Confederate Army), dies at 24
Apr 26 Charles J Sax, Belgian musician, instrument maker, and father of Adolphe Sax - inventor of the saxophone, dies at 74

John Wilkes Booth (1838-1865)

Apr 26 American stage actor and assassin of US President Abraham Lincoln, shot and killed at 26 by Union soldier Boston Corbett

Apr 28 Samuel Cunard, Canadian-British shipping magnate and founder (1st regular Atlantic steamship line), dies at 77
Apr 30 Robert Fitzroy, English admiral and scientist, dies at 59

On This Day