Lincoln issues proclamation setting the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day. Lincoln calls for additional 100,000 volunteers. Lincoln announces plans for Reconstruction. Civil War continues . . . Starting from Chattanooga, TN, Union troops led by Gen. William T. Sherman drive into Georgia to within eight miles of Atlanta and capture it.
Confederate troops evacuate Atlanta.
Arlington National Cemetery is established, where the first person to be buried is a Confederate prisoner. Republican President Abraham Lincoln is re-elected, winning over Democrat Gen. George McClellan. Nevada is admitted as 36th state. Civil War winds down very quickly when Gen. Sherman swings North. Confederates in Virginia are pinned down around Petersburg and Richmond.