The American Civil War was a violent conflict between the Union and Confederate forces that took place between 1861-1865. The Union was the group from the North and the Confederacy was the South. The ultimate cause was over the future of slavery expansion in the United States.
The Confederacy was formed after a group of states seceded from the Union. This was the direct result of Abraham Lincoln, who opposed slavery expansion, winning the Presidential race in 1860. The Southern slave states then left the Union to create a new state where they could continue the slave trade.
The war began when the Confederacy began to attack and seize U.S. Forts. Violent battles continued over the next couple of years. But the fighting continued to escalate, especially after the creation of the Emancipation Proclamation.
The Emancipation Proclamation, which was created in 1863, freed all slaves in the rebel states. Following this were a series of bloody battles, leading up to the 3-day Battle of Gettysburg.
Gettysburg was the bloodiest battle of the Civil War. It was also considered the turning point toward bringing this war to an end. More battles raged for the rest of the year, but the Confederacy was seriously weakened.
Their numbers, infrastructure, and morale were deteriorating rapidly. In 1865, General Lee finally surrendered, bringing the war closer to an end. The end of the war resulted in the abolition of slavery and a collapsed Confederacy.
Unfortunately, Lincoln was assassinated mere days after Lee’s surrender took place, but he was able to see the victory of the Civil War coming to an end.
Soldiers gathered at their makeshift kitchen. 1864A rare moment of peace as soldiers sit and read their letters from homeA group gathers to prepare for a field amputationOctober 3, 1862. President Lincoln visiting General McClellan at AntietamGeneral Grant (leaning over the bench) at a war council meetingUnion entrenchments in GeorgiaA chaplain conducting mass at Fort Corcoran, Washington D.C.Scouts for the Army of the PotomacSoldiers being tended to after the Battle of Chancellorsville near Fredericksburg, Va., May 2, 1863Soldiers in the trenches before battle, Petersburg, Va., 1865 Seige of Port Hudson, La., 1863.Fort SumterSoldiers conducting a drillWounded soldiers at Carver General HospitalAllan Pinkerton, chief of McClellan’s secret service, with his men near Cumberland Landing, Va., Ruins of a town after a battleConfederate fortificationsAntietam BridgeA regimental fife-and-drum corps. Harper’s FerryChristian Commission members gather in the fieldCaptured Confederate soldiers in a prison campGeneral Meade’s headquartersAn army blacksmith at the forgeAn ambulance caravan assemblingThe McLean house where General Lee surrendered.Libby Prison, VirginiaThe 26th U.S. Colored Volunteer InfantryBattle between the C.S.S. Virginia and the U.S.S. 1862.A pontoon bridge constructed at Bull RunConfederate ram after being captured, VirginiaLt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant in VirginiaFederal observation balloon, Intrepid, being inflated. Battle of Fair Oaks, Va., May 1862. 3 Confederate POWs near GettysburgA refugee family leaving their home with all the belongings they could carrySoldiers gathered in front of their barracks that they’d named “Pine Cottage”Confederate soldiers making war preparations in the South in 1861 A column of cavalry along the Rappahannock River, Va.,Soldiers standing outside barracksA regiment of soldiers gathered togetherMore soldiers posing outside of their temporary housingSoliders on the USS Wabash (1855)
