when was the Civil war?

Question

Between what years?

Answer 1

The American Civil War (1861–1865) was a major war between the United States (the "Union") and eleven Southern slave states that declared their secession and formed the Confederate States of America, led by President Jefferson Davis. The Union, led by President Abraham Lincoln and the Republican Party, opposed the expansion of slavery and rejected any right of secession. Fighting commenced on April 12, 1861, when Confederate forces attacked a federal military installation at Fort Sumter in South Carolina.[1]

During the first year, the Union asserted control of the border states and established a naval blockade as both sides raised large armies. In 1862 large, bloody battles began, causing massive casualties as a result of new weapons and old battlefield tactics. In September 1862, Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation[2] made the freeing of the slaves a war goal, despite opposition from northern Copperheads who tolerated secession and slavery. Emancipation ensured that Britain and France would not intervene to help the Confederacy. In addition, the goal also allowed the Union to recruit African-Americans for reinforcements, a resource that the Confederacy did not dare exploit until it was too late. War Democrats reluctantly accepted emancipation as part of total war needed to save the Union. In the East, Robert E. Lee rolled up a series of Confederate victories over the Army of the Potomac, but his best general, Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson, was killed at the Battle of Chancellorsville in May 1863.[3] Lee's invasion of the North was repulsed at the Battle of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania in July 1863;[4] he barely managed to escape back to Virginia. In the West, the Union Navy captured the port of New Orleans in 1862, and Ulysses S. Grant seized control of the Mississippi River by capturing Vicksburg, Mississippi in July 1863,[5] thus splitting the Confederacy.

By 1864, long-term Union advantages in geography, manpower, industry, finance, political organization and transportation were overwhelming the Confederacy. Grant fought a number of bloody battles with Lee in Virginia in the summer of 1864. Lee won most of the battles in a tactical sense but on the whole lost strategically, as he could not replace his casualties and was forced to retreat into trenches around his capital, Richmond, Virginia. Meanwhile, William Tecumseh Sherman captured Atlanta, Georgia.[6] Sherman's March to the Sea destroyed a hundred-mile-wide swath of Georgia. In 1865, the Confederacy collapsed after Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House; all slaves in the Confederacy were freed by the Emancipation Proclamation. Slaves outside Confederate control were freed by state action or by the Thirteenth Amendment.

The full restoration of the Union was the work of a highly contentious postwar era known as Reconstruction. The war produced about 970,000 casualties (3% of the population), including approximately 620,000 soldier deaths—two-thirds by disease.[7] The causes of the war, the reasons for its outcome, and even the name of the war itself are subjects of lingering controversy even today. The main results of the war were the restoration and strengthening of the Union, and the end of slavery in the United States.

Answer 2

The War Between the States actually began when President Lincoln asked for volunteers to join the army to protect federal property in the states that were seceding. This was followed by Lincoln's declaration of a blockade against the southern states on April 19.

One needs to be clear, the bombardment of Ft Sumter was an act of insurrection, but not an act of war; the blockade on the other hand, was an act of war.

The War ended on May 26, 1856, when Smith surrendered the last active command to Canby in Trans-Mississippi, more than a month after Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court House. Lee was not overall commander, and had authority only to surrender his own forces.

One might, actually, argue the War did not end until the CSS Shenandoah surrendered to the British in November of 1865.

Answer 3

Not much of P.M.'s post is correct, unfortunately.

"The War Between the States actually began when President Lincoln asked for volunteers to join the army to protect federal property in the states that were seceding. This was followed by Lincoln's declaration of a blockade against the southern states on April 19."

Incorrect. The WBTS began on April 12, 1861 when Confederate forces fired on Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina.

"One needs to be clear, the bombardment of Ft Sumter was an act of insurrection, but not an act of war; the blockade on the other hand, was an act of war."

Incorrect. The bombardment of Fort Sumter was an act of open warfare, not one of insurrection. The Confederacy had seceded from the Union, a government and an organized armed force had been established, and it was this armed force which attacked the Union forces at Fort Sumter. An insurrection, by the way, is when the people of a nation rise up to overthrow the government. The Confederacy did not do this. They left the Union in exactly the same way as their ancestors had left the Crown in 1776. The only correct part of your statement is that the blockade was an act of war. Then again, EVERYTHING that took place after the bombardment started was and act of war.

"The War ended on May 26, 1856, when Smith surrendered the last active command to Canby in Trans-Mississippi, more than a month after Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court House. Lee was not overall commander, and had authority only to surrender his own forces."

Incorrect. Lee had been named General in Chief of all Confederate forces by Jefferson Davis on January 31, 1865, giving him overall command of all Confederate forces in the field and at sea. When Lee surrendered, he relinquished this command position and it became incumbent upon the individual army commanders to surrender. Since Lee's army was the largest and most significant in the field, the date of his surrender has been universally accepted by historians as the day the WBTS ended.

"One might, actually, argue the War did not end until the CSS Shenandoah surrendered to the British in November of 1865."

True, but I'm not one who would argue that.

Answer 4

It started with the attack on Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861 and ended on April 9, 1865 at the Appomattox Court House.

Answer 5

April 12, 1861 – April 9, 1865

It began at Ft. Sumter, and ended at Appomattox Court House with Gen. Lee's surrender.

Answer 6

1861-1865

Answer 7

1860-1865