American Civil War: Difference between revisions

{{Important}}[[File:USA Map 1864 including Civil War Divisions.png|thumb|300px|right]]  

{{Quote|In this great struggle, this form of government and every form of human right is endangered if our enemies succeed. There is more involved in this contest than is realized by everyone.|Abraham Lincoln}}The '''American Civil War''' ('''ACW'''), also known as the '''War between the States''' or simply the '''Civil War''' and incorrectly referred to by neo-Confederates as the '''War of Northern Aggression''', was the America version of [[Civil War|civil war]] fought from 1861 to 1865 between the United States (the "Union" or the "North") and several Southern slave states that declared their secession and formed the [[Confederate States of America]] (the "Confederacy" or the "South"). The war had its origin in the fractious issue of [[slavery]], especially the extension of slavery into the western territories. Foreign powers did not intervene. After four years of bloody combat that left over 600,000 soldiers dead and destroyed much of the South's infrastructure, the Confederacy collapsed, slavery was abolished, and the difficult Reconstruction process of restoring national unity and guaranteeing rights to the freed slaves began.

In the 1860 presidential election, Republicans, led by<span style="color:rgb(58,58,58);"> </span>[http://real-life-heroes.wikia.com/wiki/Abraham_Lincoln Abraham Lincoln], opposed expanding slavery into [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Territories_of_the_United_States United States' territories]. Lincoln won, but before [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_inauguration_of_Abraham_Lincoln his inauguration] on March 4^th, 1861; seven slave states with cotton-based economies formed the Confederacy. Outgoing [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Party_%28United_States%29 Democratic] President [[James Buchanan]] and the incoming Republicans rejected secession as illegal. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Lincoln%27s_first_inaugural_address Lincoln's inaugural address] declared his administration would not initiate civil war. Eight remaining slave states continued to reject calls for secession. Confederate forces seized numerous federal forts within territory claimed by the Confederacy. A [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_Conference_of_1861 Peace Conference] failed to find a compromise, and both sides prepared for war. The Confederates assumed that European countries were so dependent on "[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Cotton King Cotton]" that they would intervene; none did and none recognized the new Confederate States of America.

Hostilities began on April 12^th, 1861; when Confederate forces fired upon Fort Sumter, a key fort held by Union troops in South Carolina. Lincoln called for each state to provide troops to retake the fort; consequently, four more slave states joined the Confederacy, bringing their total to eleven. The Union soon controlled the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Border_states_%28American_Civil_War%29 border states] and established a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_blockade naval blockade] that crippled the southern economy. The Eastern Theater was inconclusive in 1861–62. The autumn 1862 Confederate campaign into Maryland (a Union state) ended with Confederate retreat at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Antietam Battle of Antietam], dissuading British intervention. Lincoln issued the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emancipation_Proclamation Emancipation Proclamation], which made ending slavery a war goal. To the west, by summer 1862 the Union destroyed the Confederate river navy, then much of their western armies, and the Union [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Vicksburg siege of Vicksburg] split the Confederacy in two at the Mississippi River. In 1863, [http://real-life-heroes.wikia.com/wiki/General_Robert_E._Lee Robert E. Lee]'s Confederate incursion north ended at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Gettysburg Battle of Gettysburg]. Western successes led to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulysses_S._Grant Ulysses S. Grant] command of all Union armies in 1864. In the Western Theater, [[William Tecumseh Sherman]] drove east to capture [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlanta_in_the_American_Civil_War Atlanta] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherman%27s_March_to_the_Sea marched to the sea], destroying Confederate infrastructure along the way. The Union marshaled the resources and manpower to attack the Confederacy from all directions, and could afford to fight [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_attrition battles of attrition] through the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overland_Campaign Overland Campaign] towards Richmond, the Confederate capital. The defending Confederate army failed, leading to Lee's surrender to Grant at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Appomattox_Courthouse Appomattox Court House] on April 9^th, 1865. Five days later, at about 10:15 pm on April 14, 1865, President Lincoln was [[Assassination of Abraham Lincoln|assassinated]] at Ford’s Theater by Southern loyalist [[John Wilkes Booth]]. Lincoln's death was part of a larger conspiracy in which Booth and his associates ([[Lewis Powell]], [[David Herold]], and  [[George Atzerodt]]), tried to eliminate the three most powerful officials in the United States government (President Lincoln, Vice President [[Andrew Johnson]] and Secretary of State William Seward), but fortunately, Lincoln was the only one who was killed, so two of the three murder attempts failed. While Booth was preparing his opportunity to kill Lincoln at Ford’s Theater, Powell only managed to seriously disfigure the bedridden Seward at his mansion and Atzerodt did not go through his task in killing Johnson and wandered away from the Kirkwood Hotel. Two weeks after Lincoln’s death, on April 26, 1865, Booth was shot to death at a tobacco barn by Union Corporal [https://real-life-heroes.fandom.com/wiki/Boston_Corbett Boston Corbett]. In the coming months after the deaths of Lincoln and Booth, eight conspirators were tried for the conspiracy of Lincoln’s Assassination. Four of the eight conspirators (Powell, Herold, Atzerodt, and [[Mary Surratt]]) were hanged on July 7, 1865.  

 

The American Civil War was one of the earliest true industrial wars. Railroads, the telegraph, steamships, and mass-produced weapons were employed extensively. The mobilization of civilian factories, mines, shipyards, banks, transportation and food supplies all foreshadowed [[World War I]]. It remains the deadliest war in American history, accounting for more American military deaths than all other wars combined until the [[Vietnam War]] and resulting in the deaths of an estimated 750,000 soldiers and an undetermined number of civilian casualties.