Portal:American Civil War

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The American Civil War Portal

Specifications of the third Confederate national flag

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 Fighting 69th; Irish Brigade, New York Volunteer Regiment, United States attend church services at Fort Corcoran in 1861.

Fort Corcoran was a wood-and-earthwork fortification constructed by the Union Army in northern Virginia as part of the defenses of Washington, D.C. during the American Civil War. Built in 1861, shortly after the occupation of Arlington, Virginia by Union forces, it protected the southern end of the Aqueduct Bridge and overlooked the Potomac River and Theodore Roosevelt Island, known as Mason's Island.

The fort was named after Colonel Michael Corcoran, commander of the U.S. Fighting 69th Infantry, Irish Brigade 69th New York Volunteer Regiment, one of the units that constructed the fort. Fort Corcoran was home to the Union Army Balloon Corps and the headquarters of the defenses of Washington south of the Potomac River, and served throughout the war before being dismantled in 1866. Today, no trace of the fort remains, although the Arlington County government has erected a historical marker at its site. (Full article...)

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Grand Parade of the States

Florida participated in the American Civil War as a member of the Confederate States of America. It had been admitted to the United States as a slave state in 1845. In January 1861, Florida became the third Southern state to secede from the Union after the November 1860 presidential election victory of Abraham Lincoln. It was one of the initial seven slave states which formed the Confederacy on February 8, 1861, in advance of the American Civil War.

Florida had by far the smallest population of the Confederate states with about 140,000 residents, nearly half of them enslaved people. As such, Florida sent around 15,000 troops to the Confederate army, the vast majority of which were deployed elsewhere during the war. The state's chief importance was as a source of cattle and other food supplies for the Confederacy, and as an entry and exit location for blockade-runners who used its many bays and small inlets to evade the Union Navy. (Full article...)

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Buckner, c. 1860–70

Simon Bolivar Buckner (/ˈsaɪmən ˈbɒlɪvər ˈbʌknər/ SY-mən BOL-i-vər BUK-nər; April 1, 1823 – January 8, 1914) was an American soldier, Confederate military officer, and politician. He fought in the United States Army in the Mexican–American War. He later fought in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. After the war, he served as the 30th governor of Kentucky.

After graduating from the United States Military Academy at West Point, Buckner became an instructor there. He took a hiatus from teaching to serve in the Mexican–American War, participating in many of its major battles. He resigned from the army in 1855 to manage his father-in-law's real estate in Chicago, Illinois. He returned to his native state of Kentucky in 1857 and was appointed adjutant general by Governor Beriah Magoffin in 1861. In this position, he tried to enforce Kentucky's neutrality policy in the early days of the Civil War. When the state's neutrality was breached, Buckner accepted a commission in the Confederate Army after declining a similar commission to the Union Army. In 1862, he accepted Ulysses S. Grant's demand for an "unconditional surrender" at the Battle of Fort Donelson. He was the first Confederate general to surrender an army in the war. He spent five months as a prisoner of war. After his release, Buckner participated in Braxton Bragg's failed invasion of Kentucky and near the end of the war became chief of staff to Edmund Kirby Smith in the Trans-Mississippi Department. (Full article...)

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

Did you know...

... that Romeo and Juliet both served in the Union Navy?
... that Enoch Marvin Banks resigned from the University of Florida because of public outrage over his belief that the American Civil War was caused by slavery?
... that singer Frank Croxton performed a duet with his father for the unveiling of a monument to a Confederate States Army general?
... that Edward W. Gantt was a Confederate soldier who defected to the Union during the American Civil War?
... that Carter Moore Braxton fought for the Confederacy throughout the American Civil War and, according to one report, had seven horses killed under him but avoided any wounds?
... that CSS Beaufort fought USS Albatross in the first ship-versus-ship action of the American Civil War?