Portal:American Civil War

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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Mahopac at anchor on the Appomattox River, 1864

[[USS Mahopac (1864)|USS Mahopac (1864)]] was a Canonicus-class monitor built for the Union Navy during the American Civil War. The vessel was assigned to the James River Flotilla of the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron upon completion in September 1864. The ship spent most of her time stationed up the James River where she could support operations against Richmond and defend against sorties by the Confederate ironclads of the James River Squadron. She engaged Confederate artillery batteries during the year and later participated in both the first and second battles of Fort Fisher, defending the approaches to Wilmington, North Carolina, in December 1864 – January 1865. Mahopac returned to the James River after the capture of Fort Fisher and remained there until Richmond, Virginia was occupied in early April.

A few days later, the monitor was transferred to Washington, D.C. and decommissioned in June and recommissioned in early 1866 for service on the East Coast and in the Caribbean. Mahopac generally remained active until 1889 when she was permanently placed in reserve. She was sold for scrap in 1902. (Full article...)

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Grand Parade of the States

The state of New York during the American Civil War was a major influence in national politics, the Union war effort, and the media coverage of the war. New York was the most populous state in the Union during the Civil War, and provided more troops to the U.S. army than any other state, as well as several significant military commanders and leaders. New York sent 400,000 men to the armed forces during the war. 22,000 soldiers died from combat wounds; 30,000 died from disease or accidents; 36 were executed. The state government spent $38 million on the war effort; counties, cities and towns spent another $111 million, especially for recruiting bonuses.

The voters were sharply divided politically. A significant anti-war movement emerged, particularly in the mid- to late-war years. The Democrats were divided between War Democrats who supported the war and Copperheads who wanted an early peace. Republicans divided between moderates who supported Lincoln, and Radical Republicans who demanded harsh treatment of the rebel states. New York provided William H. Seward as Lincoln's Secretary of State, as well as several important voices in Congress. (Full article...)

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William McKinley (January 29, 1843 – September 14, 1901) was the 25th president of the United States, serving from 1897 until his assassination in 1901. A member of the Republican Party, he led a realignment that made Republicans largely dominant in the industrial states and nationwide for decades. McKinley successfully led the U.S. in the Spanish–American War and oversaw a period of American expansionism, with the annexations of Hawaii, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Guam, and American Samoa.

McKinley was the last president to have served in the American Civil War; he was the only one to begin his service as an enlisted man and ended it as a brevet major. After the war, he settled in Canton, Ohio, where he practiced law and married Ida Saxton. In 1876, McKinley was elected to Congress, where he became the Republican expert on the protective tariff, believing protectionism would bring prosperity. His 1890 McKinley Tariff was highly controversial and, together with a Democratic redistricting aimed at gerrymandering him out of office, led to his defeat in the Democratic landslide of 1890. He was elected governor of Ohio in 1891 and 1893, steering a moderate course between capital and labor interests. (Full article...)

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

Did you know...

... 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 Romeo and Juliet both served in the Union Navy?
... that Charles Herman Allen, university administrator and American Civil War captain, opened the University of Wisconsin to female enrollment in 1863?
... that actor George Kunkel portrayed in blackface the character of Uncle Tom, using it at first to promote slavery during the American Civil War but later to attack it, after his views had changed?
... 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 Chinese-born Joseph Pierce enlisted as a Union Army soldier, fought at the Battle of Gettysburg during the American Civil War, and was made a corporal?