The American Civil War (1861–1865), also known as the War Between the States (among other names), was a civil war in the United States of America. Eleven Southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America, also known as "the Confederacy." Led by Jefferson Davis, the Confederacy fought against the United States (the Union), which was supported by all the free states (where slavery had been abolished) and by five slave states that became known as the border states.
In the presidential election of 1860, the Republican Party, led by Abraham Lincoln, had campaigned against the expansion of slavery beyond the states in which it already existed. In response to the Republican victory in that election, seven states declared their secession from the Union before Lincoln took office on March 4, 1861. Both the outgoing administration of President James Buchanan and Lincoln's incoming administration rejected the legality of secession, considering it rebellion. Several other slave states rejected calls for secession at this point.
Hostilities began on April 12, 1861, when Confederate forces attacked a U.S. military installation at Fort Sumter in South Carolina. Lincoln responded by calling for a volunteer army from each state to recapture federal property. This led to declarations of secession by four more slave states. Both sides raised armies as the Union assumed control of the border states early in the war and established a naval blockade. In September 1862, Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation made ending slavery in the South a war goal,and dissuaded the British from intervening.
Confederate commander Robert E. Lee won battles in the east, but in 1863 his northward advance was turned back with heavy casualties after the Battle of Gettysburg. To the west, the Union gained control of the Mississippi River after their capture of Vicksburg, Mississippi, thereby splitting the Confederacy in two. The Union was able to capitalize on its long-term advantages in men and materiel by 1864 when Ulysses S. Grant fought battles of attrition against Lee, while Union general William Tecumseh Sherman captured Atlanta and marched to the sea. Confederate resistance ended after Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 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 practices of total war, developed by Sherman in Georgia, and of trench warfare around Petersburg foreshadowed World War I in Europe. It remains the deadliest war in American history, resulting in the deaths of 620,000 soldiers and an undetermined number of civilian casualties. Ten percent of all Northern males 20–45 years of age died, as did 30 percent of all Southern white males aged 18–40.
Victory for the North meant the end of the Confederacy and of slavery in the United States, and strengthened the role of the federal government. The social, political, economic and racial issues of the war decisively shaped the reconstruction era that lasted to 1877.
Date April 12, 1861 – April 9, 1865 (last shot ended June 1865)
Location Southern United States and Northern battle sites including Antietam and Gettysburg
Result Union victory
Territorial integrity of the United States of America preserved
Reconstruction
Slavery abolished
Calender of Civil War Commemorative Events in 2011
Here's a list of some of National Park Service's Civil War 150th anniversary events for 2011:
Jan. 8 -- Gulf Islands National Seashore, Crisis at Pensacola forts, Gulf Breeze, Fla.
Jan. 28-30 -- 150th anniversary of Kansas statehood, Fort Scott National Historic Site, Kan.
Feb.- March -- Seminar on the start of the war, Appomattox Court House National Historic Park, Va.
Feb. 6-12 -- 150th anniversary of Lincoln's departure for Washington, Springfield, Ill.
Feb. 22-23 -- The Baltimore plot against Lincoln, Ford's Theater, Washington, D.C.
March 12-13 -- Reenactments at the prison camp for Union soldiers, Andersonville National Historic Site, Anderson, Ga.
March 20 -- Archeology on America's bloodiest day, Antietam National Battlefield, Sharpsburg, Md.
March 27 -- Landscape restoration hike, Antietam National Battlefield, Sharpsburg, Md.
April -- Symposium on civil liberties, Fort McHenry National Monument, Baltimore, Md.
April -- Lecture series on the 8 weeks leading to war, Richmond National Battlefield, Va.
April 2-3 -- Programs on rail and telegraph: the Victorian Internet, Monocacy National Battlefield, Frederick Md.
April 8-12 -- 150th anniversary programs, Appomattox Court House National Historical Park, Appomattox, Va.
April 8-12 -- Lecture series, "Why They Fought," Fort Sumter National Monument, Charleston, S.C.
April 8-17 -- Ceremony for Civil War's first shot, Fort Sumter National Monument, Charleston, S.C.
April 10 -- Landscape restoration hike, Antietam National Battlefield, Sharpsburg, Md.
Mid-April -- Civil War Education Day, Manassas National Battlefield Park, Va.
April 15-17 -- Program, "The Fate of Civil Liberty in 1861," Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine, Baltimore, Md.
April 16-17 -- Event about burning of the federal arsenal, Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, W. Va.
April 16-17 -- Living history weekend, Appomattox Court House National Historical Park, Appomattox, Va.
April 16-24 -- Tours, lectures on Robert E. Lee, Arlington House National Monument, Arlington, Va.
April 17 -- Speaker series on secession, Antietam National Battlefield, Sharpsburg, Md.
April 24 -- All day hike, Antietam National Battlefield, Sharpsburg, Md.
April 30 -- Tour of Joseph Poffenberger farm, Antietam National Battlefield, Sharpsburg, Md.
April 29-May 1 -- Events about the capture of Fort Jackson, St. Louis, Mo.
April 30-May 1 -- Mock legislative debate over secession, Monocacy National Battlefield, Frederick, Md.
May -- Events commemorating Virginia's decision to go to war, Fredericksburg, Va.
May -- Lectures on Richmond as capital of the Confederacy, Richmond National Battlefield Park, Richmond, Va.
May 7 -- Beacon of Peace walk, Dunker Church, Antietam National Battlefield, Sharpsburg, Md.
May 28-29 -- Yorktown Civil War weekend, Yorktown, Va.
May 28-30 -- Memorial Day programs, Antietam National Battlefield, Sharpsburg, Md.
June -- Military music concerts, Richmond National Battlefield Park, Richmond, Va.
June-August -- Evening events about the First Battle of Manassas, Manassas National Battlefield Park, Va.
June–September -- Programs on Southern Confederate spies, Ford's Theater, Washington, D.C.
June 11-12 -- Tours, lectures on the Union occupation of Arlington, Arlington House National Memorial, Arlington, Va.
June 11-12 -- Historical artillery demonstrations, Antietam National Battlefield, Sharpsburg, Md.
June 19 -- Juneteenth ceremony marking the end of slavery, Antietam National Battlefield, Sharpsburg, Md.
June 25-26 -- Infantry demonstrations, Antietam National Battlefield, Sharpsburg, Md.
July -- Walking tours of Richmond's hospitals as the medical center of the Confederacy, Richmond National Battlefield Park, Richmond, Va.
July 9 -- Commemoration of cannon fire between Confederates and the USS Massachusetts, Gulf Islands National Seashore, Gulf Breeze, Fl.
July 9-10 -- 147th Anniversary of the Battle of Monocacy, Monocacy National Battlefield, Frederick, Md.
July 13 -- Reenactment of the occupation of the antebellum town, Natchez National Historic Park, Natchez, Miss.
July 16-24 -- 150th anniversary of the First Battle of Manassas, Manassas National Battlefield Park, Va.
July 30 -- Artillery demonstrations, Antietam National Battlefield, Sharpsburg, Md.
Aug. 5-7 -- Night walk into the past, U.S. Grant National Historic Site, St. Louis, Mo.
Aug. 12-14 -- Battle reenactments at Wilson's Creek National Battlefield, Republic, Mo.
Aug. 13-14 -- Talks on weapons and uniforms, Antietam National Battlefield, Sharpsburg, Md.
Aug. 13-14 -- Artillery, infantry, and signal corps demonstrations, Antietam National Battlefield, Sharpsburg, Md.
Aug. 27 -- Artillery displays, Antietam National Battlefield, Sharpsburg, Md.
September -- Civil War symposium, Wilson's Creek National Battlefield, Republic, Mo.
September–November -- events for 148th anniversary of the battles of Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, Fort Oglethorpe, Ga.
Sept. 10 -- battlefield tours at Boonsboro, Md. and Antietam National Battlefield, Sharpsburg, Md.
Sept. 15 -- Lectures, Antietam National Battlefield, Sharpsburg, Md.
Sept. 16 -- Ceremony, photography exhibit, Dunker Church, Antietam National Battlefield, Sharpsburg, Md.
Sept. 17 -- Hikes, Antietam National Battlefield, Sharpsburg, Md.
Sept. 24-25 -- Events about protecting the Capital, Fort Marcy and Fort Ethan Allen, Washington, D.C.
Sept. 25 -- Ceremony with volunteers holding candles to signify the forts arrayed around the Washington Monument, Washington, D.C.
October -- Film festival, Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park, Fredericksburg, Va.
October -- Walking tour of Chimborazo Hospital, Richmond National Battlefield Park, Richmond, Va.
Oct. 8-9 -- Living history weekend, Appomattox Court House National Historical Park, Appomattox, Va.
Oct. 9 -- Reenactment of the Battle of Santa Rosa Island, Gulf Islands National Seashore, Gulf Breeze, Fl.
Oct. 15 -- Evening program on Union's use of Robert E. Lee's home, Arlington House National Memorial, Arlington, Va.
Oct. 15-16 -- 150th anniversary of the Battle of Bolivar Heights, Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, Harpers Ferry, W. Va.
Oct. 29 -- Artillery programs, Antietam National Battlefield, Sharpsburg, Md.
November -- Talks on Richmond's role in Virginia battlefields, Richmond, Va.
Nov. 11 -- Veteran's Day ceremonies, Antietam National Battlefield, Sharpsburg, Md. and Fort Washington Park, Washington, D.C.
Nov. 20 -- Candlelight tour of Fort Pickens, Gulf Islands National Seashore, Gulf Breeze, Fla.
December -- Christmas in the Civil War, Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park, Fredericksburg, Va.
Dec. 3 -- Commemoration of America's bloodiest day, Antietam National Battlefield, Sharpsburg, Md
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