The Confederacy

American Civil War

The American Civil War (1861–1865) was a bitter sectional conflict within the United States of America after 11 southern states declared their secession from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America following the 1860 election of Abraham Lincoln. The Confederate strategy was to wear down morale in the much stronger USA, or get European powers to intervene; none did so. The Union strategy, designed by Lincoln, was first to maintain morale by appeals to nationalism and then to antislavery sentiments. Militarily the US shut down the Southern economy by blockading the coast. Second in the west, under Ulysses S. Grant, the U.S. captured the Mississippi and other river systems, seized Tennessee, and, (under general William T. Sherman), captured Atlanta, and marched through Georgia and the Carolinas. In the east the strategy was to capture Richmond, which was tenaciously defended by Robert E. Lee until the last days, when Grant forced Lee to surrender. The decisive victory was followed by a period of Reconstruction. The war produced more than 970,000 casualties (3 percent of the population), including approximately 560,000 deaths. The causes of the war, the reasons for the outcome, and even the name of the war itself, are subjects of much controversy, even today.

The Civil War - The Union States

There were 23 states which remained loyal to the Union during the war: California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin. The Union counted Virginia as well, and added Nevada and West Virginia. It added Tennessee, Louisiana, and other rebel states as soon as they were reconquered.

The territories of Colorado, Dakota, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Washington also fought on the Union side. There was a civil war inside the Oklahoma territory.

The Confederacy

Seven states seceded by February 1861: South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas. South Carolina was the first to secede.

These states of the Deep South, where slavery and cotton were most dominant, formed the Confederate States of America with Jefferson Davis as president, and a governmental structure closely modeled on the U.S. Constitution.

After the surrender of Fort Sumter, April 13, 1861, Lincoln called for troops from all states to put down the insurrection, resulting in the secession of four border states, Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina. Several slave-holding Native American tribes, supported the Confederacy, giving the Indian territory a small bloody civil war.

Дата добавления: 2015-11-15