The American Civil War began in 1861 when the South Carolina state militia attacked Fort Sumter. The conflict was caused by the issue of slavery, which divided the northern and southern regions of the United States. Southern states seceded from the Union to form the Confederate States of America, and the war ended in 1865 with the surrender of the Confederate army. Slavery was finally eradicated with Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation and the ratification of the 13th amendment to the Constitution.
In April 1861, the South Carolina state militia opened fire on Fort Sumter at the entrance to the port of Charleston, South Carolina. Thus began the bloodiest war in US history, the American Civil War. Over 620,000 soldiers were reportedly killed in this conflict, as well as untold numbers of civilians.
Since the signing of the United States Constitution in 1785, the issue of slavery had driven an inexorable wedge between the northern and southern regions of the United States. Southern agrarian states argued that they needed slaves to profitably work the large cotton, rice, and sugar plantations that dominated the Southern economy. The more industrialized, more populous, and more economically powerful Northern states, on the other hand, felt that slavery was an evil that needed to be eradicated. However, while slavery was a major issue leading to the conflict, Southern states were also concerned about their rights in an increasingly northern-dominated federal government.
The election of Abraham Lincoln as president of the United States in 1860 finally tipped the balance toward civil war. Led by South Carolina, seven southern states, fearful that Lincoln would act on his vow to eliminate slavery during his term as president, thereby trampling on their states’ rights, summarily seceded from the Union to form the Confederate States of ‘America. By the start of hostilities in 1861, four more southern states had seceded, for a total of 11.
Known today in the United States simply as “The Civil War”, the American Civil War, during the four years of conflict, was called “The War Between the States” in the North and “The War of Secession” in the South. Most of the major battles of the American Civil War were fought in the southern states. In fact, many battles took place in the state of Virginia, where the Confederate capital, Richmond, Virginia became a prime objective of northern forces.
After almost exactly four years of horrific conflict, in April 1865, Southern General Robert E. Lee turned over his pitifully depleted Army of Northern Virginia, virtually the last possible Confederate force, to General Ulysses S. Grant, commanding of the northern armies, at Appomattox Court House in Virginia. Although the small skirmishes would last for several weeks, Lee’s surrender effectively brought the American Civil War to a close.
In the course of the American Civil War, slavery, a major cause of the war, was finally eradicated from the United States with Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. Interestingly, slavery was not officially banned in the United States until December 1865, about eight months after the end of the war, when the 13th amendment to the Constitution was ratified by the United States again. The 13th constitutional amendment makes slave ownership a federal crime.
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