⚔️The American Civil War

1861–1865 — The War Between the States

The American Civil War was the bloodiest conflict in United States history, fought between the northern states of the Union and eleven southern states that seceded to form the Confederate States of America. At its core, the war was fought over slavery — specifically, whether slavery would be allowed to expand into the western territories, and, ultimately, whether it could continue to exist in the United States at all. It ended with the preservation of the Union and the legal abolition of slavery under the Thirteenth Amendment.

The Road to War

The United States had been divided over slavery almost from its founding, but the crisis sharpened dramatically after 1848. Territory acquired from the Mexican-American War opened new questions about whether slavery could extend west. The Compromise of 1850, the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, the Dred Scott decision of 1857, and John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry in 1859 each deepened the split. The election of Abraham Lincoln in November 1860 — on a Republican platform of halting slavery's expansion — convinced southern leaders that their peculiar institution was no longer safe within the Union.

South Carolina seceded on December 20, 1860. Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas followed by February 1861, forming the Confederate States of America with Jefferson Davis as president. Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina seceded after the fighting began.

Fort Sumter and Bull Run

The war began on April 12, 1861, when Confederate batteries opened fire on Fort Sumter, a Union-held fort in the middle of Charleston Harbor. The fort surrendered after 34 hours without loss of life. Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers; thousands answered on both sides. The first major land battle, First Bull Run (or First Manassas) on July 21, 1861, was a Confederate victory that shattered northern hopes for a quick war. Both sides realized the conflict would be long and costly.

Antietam and Emancipation

In September 1862, Confederate General Robert E. Lee launched his first invasion of the North. He was met by a Union army under George McClellan at Antietam Creek in Maryland. The Battle of Antietam on September 17, 1862 produced 22,717 killed, wounded, or missing — more American casualties than any single day in the country's history before or since. Lee was forced to retreat back across the Potomac. Five days later, Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, declaring that enslaved people in rebelling states would be "forever free" as of January 1, 1863.

Gettysburg and Vicksburg

The summer of 1863 produced two decisive Union victories on the same weekend. At Gettysburg, Pennsylvania (July 1–3), Lee's second invasion of the North was turned back with losses — including Pickett's Charge on the third day — from which his army never recovered. At Vicksburg, Mississippi (surrendered July 4), Union General Ulysses S. Grant captured the last major Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi River. The Confederacy was cut in half.

Grant, Sherman, and Total War

Lincoln elevated Grant to general-in-chief of all Union armies in March 1864. Grant took personal command in the East and launched a relentless campaign against Lee in Virginia, accepting terrible casualties to pin down and wear down the Confederate army. Meanwhile, William Tecumseh Sherman captured Atlanta in September 1864, then marched his army 300 miles to Savannah — the "March to the Sea" — destroying Confederate infrastructure along the way. Sherman then turned north through the Carolinas.

Appomattox and Assassination

By April 1865, the Confederate government had abandoned Richmond. On April 9, 1865, Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia to Grant in the parlor of a private home in the village of Appomattox Court House, Virginia. Grant paroled Lee's men with honor, allowing officers to keep their sidearms and soldiers to keep their horses for spring plowing. Five days later, on April 14, 1865, Lincoln was assassinated at Ford's Theatre in Washington. The last Confederate general surrendered a month later.

Aftermath

The war freed roughly four million enslaved Americans. The Thirteenth Amendment, ratified in December 1865, abolished slavery nationally. The Fourteenth (1868) established birthright citizenship and equal protection under the law; the Fifteenth (1870) barred racial discrimination in voting. Reconstruction — the federal effort to rebuild the South and protect the rights of formerly enslaved people — lasted until 1877.

• An estimated 620,000 to 750,000 soldiers died — more than in all other American wars combined up through the Korean War.
• Two-thirds of Civil War deaths came from disease rather than combat.
• The Battle of Gettysburg produced more than 50,000 total casualties over three days — the bloodiest battle in American history.
• West Virginia was created during the war, seceding from Virginia and entering the Union as the 35th state in 1863.
• The first income tax in U.S. history was levied in 1861 to fund the Union war effort.