Portal:American Civil War

The American Civil War Portal

Reenactor discharging his musket

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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The history of the United States Navy divides into two major periods: the "Old Navy", a small but respected force of sailing ships that became notable for innovation in the use of ironclads during the American Civil War, and the "New Navy" the result of a modernization effort that began in the 1880s and made it the largest in the world by 1943.

The United States Navy claims October 13, 1775 as the date of its official establishment, when the Second Continental Congress passed a resolution creating the Continental Navy. With the end of the American Revolutionary War, the Continental Navy was disbanded. (Full article...)

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Grand Parade of the States

The state of New Jersey in the United States provided a source of troops, equipment and leaders for the Union during the American Civil War. Though no major battles were fought in New Jersey, soldiers and volunteers from New Jersey played an important part in the war, including Philip Kearny and George B. McClellan, who led the Army of the Potomac early in the Civil War and unsuccessfully ran for President of the United States in 1864 against his former commander-in-chief, Abraham Lincoln. (Full article...)

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James Longstreet (January 8, 1821 – January 2, 1904) was a Confederate general during the American Civil War and was the principal subordinate to General Robert E. Lee, who called him his "Old War Horse". He served under Lee as a corps commander for most of the battles fought by the Army of Northern Virginia in the eastern theater, and briefly with Braxton Bragg in the Army of Tennessee in the western theater.

After graduating from the United States Military Academy in West Point, Longstreet served in the United States Army during the Mexican–American War. He was wounded at the Battle of Chapultepec, and during recovery married his first wife, Louise Garland. Throughout the 1850s, he served on frontier duty in the American Southwest. In June 1861, Longstreet resigned his U.S. Army commission and joined the Confederate Army. He commanded Confederate troops during an early victory at Blackburn's Ford in July and played a minor role at the First Battle of Bull Run. (Full article...)

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

Did you know...

... 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 American Civil War chaplain Thomas Mooney was pulled from service after baptizing a cannon?
... that Nereus Mendenhall led a delegation to the Confederate States Congress in April 1862 to allow military exemption in the Confederate Army for Quakers?
... 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?