Portal:American Civil War

The American Civil War Portal

James Shields at the First Battle of Winchester

The American Civil War (1861–1865) was a sectional rebellion against the United States of America by the Confederate States, formed of eleven southern states' governments which moved to secede from the Union after the 1860 election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States. The Union's victory was eventually achieved by leveraging advantages in population, manufacturing and logistics and through a strategic naval blockade denying the Confederacy access to the world's markets.

In many ways, the conflict's central issues – the enslavement of African Americans, the role of constitutional federal government, and the rights of states – are still not completely resolved. Not surprisingly, the Confederate army's surrender at Appomattox on April 9,1865 did little to change many Americans' attitudes toward the potential powers of central government. The passage of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth amendments to the Constitution in the years immediately following the war did not change the racial prejudice prevalent among Americans of the day; and the process of Reconstruction did not heal the deeply personal wounds inflicted by four brutal years of war and more than 970,000 casualties – 3 percent of the population, including approximately 560,000 deaths. As a result, controversies affected by the war's unresolved social, political, economic and racial tensions continue to shape contemporary American thought. The causes of the war, the reasons for the outcome, and even the name of the war itself are subjects of much discussion even today. (Full article)

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USS New Ironsides under steam and sail

USS New Ironsides was a wooden-hulled broadside ironclad built for the United States Navy during the American Civil War. The ship spent most of her career blockading the Confederate ports of Charleston, South Carolina, and Wilmington, North Carolina, in 1863–1865. New Ironsides bombarded the fortifications defending Charleston in 1863 during the First and Second Battles of Charleston Harbor. At the end of 1864 and the beginning of 1865 she bombarded the defenses of Wilmington in the First and Second Battles of Fort Fisher.

Although she was struck many times by Confederate shells, gunfire never significantly damaged the ship or injured the crew. Her only casualty in combat occurred when she was struck by a spar torpedo carried by the CSS David. Eight crewmen were awarded the Medal of Honor for their actions during the Second Battle of Fort Fisher in 1865. The ship was destroyed by fire in 1865 after she was placed in reserve. (Full article...)

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Grand Parade of the States

The New England state of Connecticut played an important role in the American Civil War, providing arms, equipment, technology, funds, supplies, and soldiers for the Union Army and the Union Navy. Several Connecticut politicians played significant roles in the Federal government and helped shape its policies during the war and the Reconstruction. (Full article...)

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1883 portrait

Luke Pryor Blackburn (June 16, 1816 – September 14, 1887) was an American physician, philanthropist, and politician from Kentucky. He was elected the 28th governor of Kentucky, serving from 1879 to 1883.

After earning a medical degree at Transylvania University, Blackburn moved to Natchez, Mississippi, and gained national fame for implementing the first successful quarantine against yellow fever in the Mississippi River valley in 1848. He came to be regarded as an expert on yellow fever and often worked pro bono to combat outbreaks. Among his philanthropic ventures was the construction of a hospital for Mississippi River boatmen using his personal funds. He later successfully lobbied Congress to construct a series of similar hospitals along the Mississippi. (Full article...)

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Image 1Siege of Yorktown, by James F. Gibson
Image 2Ambrose Burnside, by Matthew Brady
Image 3Richmond, Virginia after the American Civil War
Image 4Harriet Tubman
Image 5William H. Seward, United States Secretary of State during the American Civil War
Image 6Abner Doubleday
Image 7George Atzerodt, by Alexander Gardner
Image 8John Lorimer Worden, by Mathew Brady
Image 9Braxton Bragg
Image 10George Armstrong Custer, by George L. Andrews
Image 11Andersonville Prison at Andersonville National Historic Site, by John L. Ransom
Image 12Christopher Raymond Perry Rodgers
Image 13The burning of Columbia at Columbia, South Carolina in the American Civil War, by William Waud
Image 14The original sketch of Sherman in South Carolina: The burning of McPhersonville, at and by William Waud
Image 15John F. Reynolds, by Alfred Rudolph Waud
Image 16Francis B. Spinola, Brigadier General for the Union in the American Civil War, and Congressman from New York
Image 17President Rutherford B. Hayes was the 19th President of the USA
Image 18Robert E. Lee, by Levin Corbin Handy
Image 19Lithographic facsimile of the Bixby letter, by Huber's Museum
Image 20Atlanta roundhouse ruin at History of Atlanta, by George Barnard
Image 21First Battle of Bull Run map
Image 22Abraham Lincoln's private secretary and biographer John Hay
Image 23Daniel McCallum, by the Brady National Photographic Art Gallery
Image 24Andersonville survivor
Image 25Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, by Thure de Thulstrup
Image 26Ulysses S. Grant, by Thure de Thulstrup
Image 27Battle of Franklin, by Kurz and Allison
Image 28Charles Pomeroy Stone
Image 29Battle of Harpers Ferry, by Robert Knox Sneden
Image 30Allan Pinkerton, President Lincoln, and John A. McClernand in 1862 by Alexander Gardner
Image 31Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
Image 32John A. Dahlgren, by Mathew Brady
Image 33The Chickahominy – Sumner's Upper Bridge at Peninsula campaign, by William McIlvaine
Image 34Christian Fleetwood
Image 35Military execution of the conspirators in the Abraham Lincoln assassination
Image 36Pickett's Charge, by Thure de Thulstrup
Image 37William Birney
Image 38United States President (and former Brigadier-General) Benjamin Harrison
Image 39Confederate casualties at Chancellorsville during the American Civil War, by the National Archives and Records Administration
Image 40Charles Griffin
Image 41Battle of Kennesaw Mountain, by Alfred Waud
Image 42Battle of Fort Sanders, by Kurz and Allison
Image 43David Dixon Porter, by Mathew Brady
Image 44Quaker guns, by George Barnard and James F. Gibson
Image 45The print version of Sherman in South Carolina: The burning of McPhersonville at McPhersonville, South Carolina, by William Waud
Image 46African-American Civil War soldiers

Did you know...

... that Edward L. Molineux seized goods worth $210 million in 2025 from the Confederacy during the American Civil War?
... that Dethloff Willrodt fought for the Union army on the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg on July 1, 1863, having previously been a soldier in the Confederate army?
... that the Union Navy, despite being embroiled in the American Civil War, built the Wampanoag-class frigates for a planned war against Great Britain?
... that Charles Herman Allen, university administrator and American Civil War captain, opened the University of Wisconsin to female enrollment in 1863?
... that Benjamin Jackson was likely paid at least $300 to fight in the American Civil War as Lewis Saunders?
... that an African-American was appointed postmaster of Baynesville, Virginia, in 1893 in preference to a former Confederate soldier?