Civil War, American

Civil War, American (1861–65) War fought in the USA between the northern states (the Union) and the forces of the 11 southern states that seceeded from the Union to form the Confederate States of America (Confederacy). Its immediate cause was the determination of the southern states to withdraw from a Union that the northern states regarded as indivisible. The more general cause was the question of slavery, a well-established institution in the South but one which the northern abolitionists opposed. By the 1850s, slavery, abolition and states' rights had created insurmountable divisions between North and South. There was political polarization with the abolitionists forming the new Republican Party and those campaigning for the rights of southern states remaining in the Democratic Party. The 1860 election of a Republican, Abraham Lincoln, virtually assured southern withdrawal from the Union. The Unionists had superior numbers, greater economic power and command of the seas. The Confederates had passionate conviction and superior generals, such as Robert E. Lee and ‘Stonewall’ Jackson. The war began on April 12, 1861, when Confederate forces attacked Fort Sumter, South Carolina. The Union's first objective was to take the Confederate capital at Richmond, Virginia, in the First Battle of Bull Run (July 1861). This campaign was unsuccessful, and the Confederates continued to be victorious with Lee winning the Peninsular Campaign (April–June 1862) and Jackson carrying off a brilliant campaign in the Shenandoah Valley (March–June 1862). The Confederates were also victorious at the Seven Days' Battles (June–July 1862) and the Second Battle of Bull Run (August 1862). However, Lee's army was checked by the strengthening Union troops (led by General George McClellan), in the Battle of Antietam (September 1862). The Union was defeated at the Battle of Fredericksburg (December 1862) under Ambrose Burnside, and at Chancellorsville (May 1863) under Joseph Hooker. The Union victory in the Battle of Gettysburg (June–July 1863) was a turning point. The Union Navy had blocked southern ports, thereby denying the Confederacy essential trade with Europe. The Union strategy was to divide the South by taking control of the Mississippi, Tennessee and Cumberland rivers. The first big Union victory was at Fort Donelson on the Tennessee River (February 1862) under the command of Ulysses S. Grant. Grant won a victory in the siege of Vicksburg (November 1862–July 1863), which, with the fall of Memphis (June 1862), gave Union troops control of the Mississippi. In 1864 Grant became supreme commander. He confronted Lee's army in the Wilderness Campaign (May–June 1864) and began the long siege of Petersburg, Virginia – the defence of which was vital to the survival of Richmond. Meanwhile, the Unionist General Sherman cut a devastating swathe across Georgia, burning Atlanta on the way. The Union victory at the battle of Five Forks blocked the retreat route for Confederate troops in Richmond. Petersburg fell two days later and Richmond was indefensible. The war ended with Lee's surrender to Grant at Appomattox Court House village, Virginia in April 1865. The South was economically ruined by the war, and Reconstruction policies poisoned relations between North and South for a century.