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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Stylized drawing of a man on a mule, dressed in suit coat with feathers in his hat; the sheet music is entitled "How Are You John Brown, Comic song, Sequel to Here's Your Mule." — Typical cover of sheet music, with songs depicting the individuals of the era, such as John Hunt Morgan

During the American Civil War, music played a prominent role on each side of the conflict, Union (the North) and Confederate (the South). On the battlefield, different instruments including bugles, drums, and fifes were played to issue marching orders or sometimes simply to boost the morale of one's fellow soldiers. Singing was also employed not only as a recreational activity but as a release from the inevitable tensions that come with fighting in a war. In camp, music was a diversion away from the bloodshed, helping the soldiers deal with homesickness and boredom. Soldiers of both sides often engaged in recreation with musical instruments, and when the opposing armies were near each other, sometimes the bands from both sides of the conflict played against each other on the night before a battle.

Each side had its particular favorite tunes, while some music was enjoyed by Northerners and Southerners alike, as exemplified by United States President Abraham Lincoln's love of "Dixie", the unofficial anthem of the Confederacy. To this day, many of the songs are sung when a patriotic piece is required. The war's music also inspired music artists such as Lynyrd Skynyrd and Elvis Presley. (Full article...)

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Grand Parade of the States

At the time of the American Civil War (1861–1865), Canada did not yet exist as a federated nation. Instead, British North America consisted of the Province of Canada (parts of modern southern Ontario and southern Quebec) and the separate colonies of Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, British Columbia and Vancouver Island, as well as a crown territory administered by the Hudson's Bay Company called Rupert's Land. Britain and its colonies were officially neutral for the duration of the war. Despite this, tensions between Britain and the United States were high due to incidents such as the Trent Affair, blockade runners loaded with British arms supplies bound for the Confederacy, and the Confederate Navy commissioning of the CSS Alabama from Britain.

Canadians were largely opposed to slavery, and Canada had recently become the terminus of the Underground Railroad. Close economic and cultural links across the long border, also encouraged Canadian sympathy towards the Union. Between 33,000 and 55,000 men from British North America enlisted in the war, almost all of them fighting for Union forces. Some press and churches in Canada supported the secession, and some others did not. There was talk in London in 1861–62 of mediating the war or recognizing the Confederacy. Washington warned this meant war, and London feared Canada would quickly be seized by the Union army. (Full article...)

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Portrait by Mathew Brady, c. 1870–1880

James Baird Weaver (June 12, 1833 – February 12, 1912) was an American politician in Iowa who was a member of the United States House of Representatives and two-time candidate for President of the United States.

Born in Ohio, he moved to Iowa as a boy when his family claimed a homestead on the frontier. He became politically active as a young man and was an advocate for farmers and laborers. He joined and quit several political parties in the furtherance of the progressive causes in which he believed. After serving in the Union Army in the American Civil War, Weaver returned to Iowa and worked for the election of Republican candidates. (Full article...)

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

Did you know...

... 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 Francis Orray Ticknor was a country doctor whose fame as a poet relies on "Little Giffen", a poem about one of his patients who died in the American Civil War?
... that singer Frank Croxton performed a duet with his father for the unveiling of a monument to a Confederate States Army general?
... that Justus H. Rathbone, founder of the Knights of Pythias, served as a hospital steward during the American Civil War?
... 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?
... that Colonel Bradley Winslow was brevetted by US president Abraham Lincoln for "brave and gallant conduct" during the siege of Petersburg in the American Civil War?