American Civil War, 1861-65

In April 1861, guns opened fire on a small fort in Charleston harbour. Four years later, about 700,000 soldiers were dead. Slavery was ending, and the United States was never the same.

In this lesson, we trace the American Civil War. We see why the Union split, the great battles, and the Emancipation Proclamation. We end with Lee’s surrender, the 13th Amendment and the long road of Reconstruction.

1Why did the Union split?

The central cause was slavery. For decades, the nation had argued over whether slavery should spread into new lands. Southern leaders wanted it protected. Many in the North wanted it stopped from growing.

Abraham Lincoln won the presidency in 1860. He was a Republican who opposed the expansion of slavery. Many in the South saw his win as a threat to their way of life. Seven Southern states then left the Union. They formed the Confederate States of America in February 1861.

The Confederate leaders spoke openly about slavery. Vice President Alexander Stephens gave the Cornerstone Speech in March 1861. He said slavery was the base of the new government.

• The central cause was slavery.
• Lincoln won in 1860. He opposed slavery’s expansion.
• Seven states formed the Confederacy in February 1861.

2How did the war begin?

The war began on 12 April 1861. Confederate guns bombarded Fort Sumter in South Carolina. The fort belonged to the United States.

After the attack, four more Southern states joined the Confederacy. It grew to eleven states. These eleven held about a third of the nation’s people.

The North, called the Union, had more people and more factories. The South hoped to survive a long war.

• 12 April 1861: Fort Sumter is attacked.
• The Confederacy grew to eleven states.
• The Union had more people and industry.

3What did the Emancipation Proclamation do?

In September 1862, the bloody Battle of Antietam took place in Maryland. It remains the bloodiest single day in American history. About 22,700 men were killed, wounded or missing.

Lincoln then issued the Emancipation Proclamation, effective 1 January 1863. It declared enslaved people in the rebel states to be free. It covered more than 3.5 million of the country’s 4 million enslaved people.

It did not free everyone. It did not apply to border states that stayed loyal. But it changed what the war meant. Now the Union fought against slavery too.

• Antietam, 1862: the bloodiest single day.
• 1 January 1863: the Emancipation Proclamation.
• It freed people in rebel states only, not everywhere.

4Why did Gettysburg matter?

In July 1863, Robert E. Lee led his army into the North. They met Union troops at Gettysburg in Pennsylvania. The battle lasted from 1 to 3 July.

The Union, under General George Meade, won. Lee’s invasion was stopped. He had to retreat. Many historians call Gettysburg the turning point of the war.

On 19 November 1863, Lincoln spoke at the dedication of a cemetery there. His short Gettysburg Address asked the nation to finish the work for which the soldiers had died.

• 1-3 July 1863: Gettysburg. Lee’s invasion is stopped.
• Union commander: Meade. Confederate commander: Lee.
• 19 November 1863: the Gettysburg Address.

5How did the war end?

Late in 1864, General William Sherman marched across Georgia. His campaign, the March to the Sea, ran from 15 November to 21 December. It wrecked much of the South’s ability to fight on.

By April 1865, Lee had left the Confederate capital, Richmond. On 9 April, he surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House in Virginia. The war had effectively ended.

Five days later, on 14 April, Lincoln was shot at Ford’s Theatre. He died the next day.

• 1864: Sherman’s March through Georgia.
• 9 April 1865: Lee surrenders to Grant.
• 14 April 1865: Lincoln is shot.

6What did the war cost?

The war left about 700,000 soldiers dead. Historians’ estimates vary. Many civilians also died. It remains the deadliest war in American history.

Prisoner camps were deadly too. About 56,000 of 409,000 prisoners of war died in prison. That was about one in ten of all war deaths.

About four million enslaved people were freed in the end. The South lay in ruins.

• About 700,000 soldiers died. Estimates vary.
• About 56,000 prisoners died in camps.
• About four million people were freed.

7What came after the war?

The Emancipation Proclamation did not end slavery everywhere. The 13th Amendment did. It was ratified on 6 December 1865. It abolished slavery across the whole country.

The years after the war are called Reconstruction. The country worked to bring the South back. Three new amendments gave freed people citizenship and equal rights on paper.

But many Southern states soon used poll taxes and literacy tests to block Black citizens from voting. Freedom and equal rights were not the same thing.

• 13th Amendment: ratified December 1865. Slavery abolished nationwide.
• Reconstruction: rebuilding the South and defining freedom.
• Poll taxes and tests later blocked Black voters.

8What are the exam traps?

• The Proclamation freed people in rebel states. The 13th Amendment ended slavery everywhere.
• Sumter (April 1861) started the war. Appomattox (April 1865) ended it.
• Lee led the Confederate army. Grant led the Union army that took his surrender.
• Antietam was the bloodiest day. Gettysburg was the turning point.
• Death estimates vary. Say about 700,000.