American Civil War (1861 – 1865)
You're reading American Civil War (1861 – 1865), posted on Wednesday, November 26th, 2008 at 6:38 pm in Wars, on BrainBloggers at the History Lessons blog. More after the jump.
The American Civil War was also known as the War Between the States. During this brutal war eleven Southern slave stated had declared their secession from the United States to form what they called the Confederate States of America. This Confederacy was headed by Jefferson Davis who fought against the Union (the U.S. federal government). The Union was made up of all of the free states and five border slave states.
During the presidential election in 1860 the Republican Party that was headed by Abraham Lincoln campaigned against expanding slavery to the free states. When Lincoln won the election seven stated in the South declared their secession from the Union. This occurred before Lincoln was sworn in on March 4th, 1861. The administrations in power and the ones that would be sworn in saw the recession as a rebellion.
Violence erupted between the two sides on April 12th, 1861 when the Confederacy attacked a U.S. military installation located in Fort Sumter, South Carolina. In response to this Lincoln asked each state to volunteer an army to help fight back against the Confederacy. This request caused four Southern states to declare their secession. But that did not stop either side from creating separate armies. The Union assembled itself quickly and was able to take control of the border states early on in the war. There they were able to create a naval blockade.
In September of 1862 Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation to end slavery in the South became a goal in the Civil War. Because of this goal the British decided to not intervene and lend their assistance.
Robert E. Lee was the commander for the Confederacy was able to win many battle sin the east. It was not until 1863 that he ran into major problems in his advance at Gettysburg. In the west the Union was able to gain control of the Mississippi River and was able to split the Confederacy during the Battle of Vicksburg.
The Confederacy finally collapsed when Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant at the Appomattox Court House on April 9th, 1865. This American Civil War was one of the worst in American history. It killed 620,000 soldiers and a number of civilians. But the political, social, economic, and racial issues during the war were redesigned and shaped by it.