10-day forecast. 1  Weather News. 2  Dangerous surf will threaten some beachgoers this weekend AccuWeather. 3  Big Sur usually canât keep people away.  Several states at risk of hail, floods during stormy Easter weekend AccuWeather.
Abraham Lincoln, a self-taught Illinois lawyer, legislator and opponent of slavery, was elected president in November 1860âbut by the time of his inauguration in March 1861, seven Southern states had seceded, and the Civil War began a few weeks later.
Union general-in-chief Winfield Scott, the elderly hero of the Mexican War, created his Anaconda Plan to win the war. Because it didn't include a march on Richmond, Lincoln overruled him. Union troops headed south, but were promptly defeated by Confederate generals Joseph E. Johnston and Pierre G. T. Beauregard at the First Battle of Manassas on July 21, 1861.