The Beginning of the Civil War

In May of 1861 five states in the upper south United States seceded from the

Union and joined the seven states already seceded and created the Confederate States of America. This was the beginning of the Civil War; it was the Union against the Confederates. Many People believed that the war would be over quickly they thought it was more of an uprising then a full on war. Nobody expected it to last four years and take so many lives. The Civil War was a serious test for the new democracy of the United States, it tested the strength of the government and all of the people involved. This would be a defining moment for the United States.

One of the reasons for the south secession was the fact that the north was going to abolish slavery and the south still strongly believed in slavery. It was a very strong part of there work force, most of the income was from agriculture and the slaves worked the fields for the farmers. Then in early 1863 Lincoln passd the Emacipation Proclamation this stated that all slaves in the south were free and were welcome in the north. The north hope this would bring African American workers north and they would fight the war with the north.

Another leading cause of the war was the election of president Lincoln he won the election but did not get a single electoral vote from the south. Lincoln was a strong abolishionist and he thought that if slavery was going to stay it should not be allowed in any new states joining the union. This angered the south and they felt that they had not been fairly represented in the election. This fueled many in the south to question if they should stay with the north.

There were many important battles in the war but the first was the first battle at Bull Run. The Union sent a group of volunteer soldiers and they were not ready to fight them lacking training and they were disorderly on the battlefield. The confederate's army was better prepared for the battle and they had a constant flow of troops coming in so they forced the Union soldiers to retreat. There were nearly 5,000 casualties, this showed that this was going to be long and drawn out. Many civilians came out to watch this battle because they thought that it would be a good form of entertainment, they soon learned that this was not true and that this war would be a bloody one. The Union also learned that they would not win this war easily and that they needed prepare for this battle.

The Confederates had an immediate advantage in the standpoint of strategy because most of the nation's best military school was in the south, so they get the best trained officers and generals. The Union however had more problems with there generals, President Lincoln had chosen several different generals to lead the Union forces before he finally settled with Ulysses S. Grant. After the first battle he ordered the south to be cut off from trade outside countries hoping that there economy would slowly die. While the Confederates were using a tactic called attrition which meant they want they wanted the north to lose moral and quit the war.

One of the most famous battle of the civil war was the battle of Gettysburg the three day battle included more the 150,000 troops and more then 50,000 casualties with the union finally winning the battle. When this battle was over president Lincoln made one of the most famous speeches in history The Gettysburg Address it was to dedicate the battlefield as a cemetery. After losing to battles to Lee the victory at Gettysburg was a turning point for the union forces. This lead to another victory for the Union when the took the city of Vicksburg a vital southern city. The south was slowly losing moral.

In 1865 the south was beginning to crumble, General Sherman had taken many key cities in the south and was advancing to the north while General Grant was moving his forces south at a rapid pace. The moral of the Confederate troops was so low that they would just start deserting the battle they were in and flee on foot. This had made the army much smaller, they were finally losing the war when they were cornered they tried retreating but they didn't make it far. General Lee finally realized that he could not win the war so he agreed to meet with General Grant. They meet in a small