The American Civil War was fought because eleven Southern or Confederate States and the northern or Federal States. The southerners wanted to leave the United States of America as they wished to maintain their state rights regarding the institution of slavery. The northerners fought to maintain the Union.
The American Civil War began on April 12, 1861 when the Confederate troops opened fire at 4.30am on Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor forcing its surrender.
There's some debate about who fired the literal "first shot" of the Civil War. One name associated with the first shot is Edmund Ruffin, a fiery secessionist from Virginia. However, historical evidence suggests he may have fired a symbolic ceremonial shot, not the official opening salvo. He died in 1865 from injuries sustained by a self-inflicted gunshot wound after the war ended and the Confederacy lost.
In response to the attack, President Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers to suppress the rebellion.
The first Union shot of the Civil War was fired by Captain Abner Doubleday two and a half hours later at Fort Sumter in response.
The first bloodshed of the war took place on April 19, 1861 when Confederate sympathizers in Baltimore, Maryland, attacked members of the Massachusetts militia en route to Washington, D.C. Four soldiers (Corporal Sumner Henry Needham of Company I and privates Luther C. Ladd, Charles Taylor, and Addison Whitney of Company D) and twelve civilians were killed in the riot.
The first income tax in the US was created in 1861 during the Civil War to finance the war effort.
If you were drafted during the American Civil War, you could legally pay someone else $300 to go in your place.
By proclamation Abraham Lincoln emancipated all the slaves within reach of his northern armies in 1862, thereby interpreting the American Civil War as a crusade against slavery.
During the Civil War a deputation of Southerners remarks to Abraham Lincoln "we trust sir that God is on our side, Lincoln replies ""Sir my concern is not whether God is on our side. My great concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right."
The Battle of Hampton Roads was the most noted naval battle of the American Civil War. It was fought over two days, March 8–9, 1862, in Hampton Roads, a roadstead in Virginia where the Elizabeth and Nansemond rivers meet the James River just before it enters Chesapeake Bay adjacent to the city of Norfolk. The battle was a part of the effort of the Confederacy to break the Union blockade, which had cut off Virginia's largest cities, Norfolk and Richmond, from international trade.
The major significance of The Battle of Hampton Roads is that it was the first meeting in combat of ironclad warships, the USS Monitor and the CSS Virginia. The result of the encounter was not a victory for either side. As the combat between ironclads was the primary significance of the battle, the general verdict is that the overall result was a draw.
The Battle of Antietam was fought on September 17, 1862 near the mouth of Antietam Creek in Maryland. It was the bloodiest single-day battle in American history, with a combined tally of 22,717 dead, wounded, or missing. Although the battle was tactically inconclusive, General McClellan of the Union Army did succeed in blocking Confederate General Lee's advance on Washington.
On Wednesday, September 17, 1862, around 2 pm, the The Allegheny Arsenal, a supply and manufacturing center for the troops in the west, exploded. The explosion shattered windows in the surrounding community and was heard in Pittsburgh, over two miles away. By the time the fire was put out, the lab had been reduced to a pile of smoldering rubble. 78 workers, mostly young women, were killed, making it the single largest civilian disaster during the war.
On December 12, 1862, the USS Cairo became the first armored ship to be sunk by a mine remotely detonated by hand, when while clearing mines from the Yazoo River in preparation to the attack on Haines Bluff, Mississippi, it struck a naval mine detonated by volunteers hidden behind the river bank, The ship sank in 12 minutes and there were no casualties.
On December 30, 1862, Union troops near Murfreesboro, Tennessee, played “Yankee Doodle” and “Hail Columbia.” Their Confederate foes answered with “Dixie,” and the two sides ended the night playing “Home, Sweet Home” together. The Battle of Stones River that followed, fought between New Year’s Eve and January. 2, 1863, was among the war’s brutalist, with over 23,500 men killed, wounded, or missing. (1)
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| View of Fort Sumter from the sandbar, 1865. |
The first Union shot of the Civil War was fired by Captain Abner Doubleday two and a half hours later at Fort Sumter in response.
The first bloodshed of the war took place on April 19, 1861 when Confederate sympathizers in Baltimore, Maryland, attacked members of the Massachusetts militia en route to Washington, D.C. Four soldiers (Corporal Sumner Henry Needham of Company I and privates Luther C. Ladd, Charles Taylor, and Addison Whitney of Company D) and twelve civilians were killed in the riot.
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| An 1861 engraving of the Baltimore Civil War riots |
The first income tax in the US was created in 1861 during the Civil War to finance the war effort.
If you were drafted during the American Civil War, you could legally pay someone else $300 to go in your place.
By proclamation Abraham Lincoln emancipated all the slaves within reach of his northern armies in 1862, thereby interpreting the American Civil War as a crusade against slavery.
During the Civil War a deputation of Southerners remarks to Abraham Lincoln "we trust sir that God is on our side, Lincoln replies ""Sir my concern is not whether God is on our side. My great concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right."
The Battle of Hampton Roads was the most noted naval battle of the American Civil War. It was fought over two days, March 8–9, 1862, in Hampton Roads, a roadstead in Virginia where the Elizabeth and Nansemond rivers meet the James River just before it enters Chesapeake Bay adjacent to the city of Norfolk. The battle was a part of the effort of the Confederacy to break the Union blockade, which had cut off Virginia's largest cities, Norfolk and Richmond, from international trade.
The major significance of The Battle of Hampton Roads is that it was the first meeting in combat of ironclad warships, the USS Monitor and the CSS Virginia. The result of the encounter was not a victory for either side. As the combat between ironclads was the primary significance of the battle, the general verdict is that the overall result was a draw.
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| A chromolithograph of the Battle of Hampton Roads |
The Battle of Antietam was fought on September 17, 1862 near the mouth of Antietam Creek in Maryland. It was the bloodiest single-day battle in American history, with a combined tally of 22,717 dead, wounded, or missing. Although the battle was tactically inconclusive, General McClellan of the Union Army did succeed in blocking Confederate General Lee's advance on Washington.
On Wednesday, September 17, 1862, around 2 pm, the The Allegheny Arsenal, a supply and manufacturing center for the troops in the west, exploded. The explosion shattered windows in the surrounding community and was heard in Pittsburgh, over two miles away. By the time the fire was put out, the lab had been reduced to a pile of smoldering rubble. 78 workers, mostly young women, were killed, making it the single largest civilian disaster during the war.
On December 12, 1862, the USS Cairo became the first armored ship to be sunk by a mine remotely detonated by hand, when while clearing mines from the Yazoo River in preparation to the attack on Haines Bluff, Mississippi, it struck a naval mine detonated by volunteers hidden behind the river bank, The ship sank in 12 minutes and there were no casualties.
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| USS Cairo photographed in the Mississippi River area during 1862 |
On December 30, 1862, Union troops near Murfreesboro, Tennessee, played “Yankee Doodle” and “Hail Columbia.” Their Confederate foes answered with “Dixie,” and the two sides ended the night playing “Home, Sweet Home” together. The Battle of Stones River that followed, fought between New Year’s Eve and January. 2, 1863, was among the war’s brutalist, with over 23,500 men killed, wounded, or missing. (1)
The Enrollment Act of 1863 provided that by paying a fee of $300 you could officially and legally avoid the civil war draft. You could also find a substitute to fight in your place, a tactic the rich often used to avoid being enlisted. Such famous Americans as Grover Cleveland and John D. Rockefeller took advantage of this provision.
During the Civil War, it was common for prisoners-of war to die of starvation or disease; in Camp Sumter, an American Civil War-era prisoner-of-war camp at Andersonville, Georgia, for instance, 28 percent of the 45,000 Union soldiers died.
The 'Meeting a deadline' refers to a line drawn by American Civil War soldiers to deter prisoners from escaping. Those attempting to cross it would be shot dead.
The term "shoddy" comes from the Civil War when in their rush for uniforms the Union bought ones made from a recycled wool product called shoddy. When it fell apart in rain or after a couple of weeks wear it quickly became synonymous among the troops with poor quality and workmanship.
Approximately 40% of the U.S. paper currency in circulation was counterfeit by the end of the Civil War.
More than 600 women dressed as men to fight in the American Civil War.
The Civil War ended on April 9, 1865, when Confederate General Robert Lee surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox .
When Robert E Lee and the Confederate army surrendered, the Union soldiers silently saluted them. Normally victorious armies would taunt or mock defeated ones, but Union brigadier general Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain respected the Confederates too much and ordered that they be treated well.
The Confederacy was defeated at the total cost of the death of 620,000 Union and Confederate soldiers.
Roughly 2% of the U.S. population, an estimated 620,000 men, died serving in the American Civil War. As a percentage of today's population the toll would have risen as high as six million.
A Civil War soldier’s chance of surviving the war was about 1 in 4.
Two out of three Civil War deaths were caused by disease rather than battle.
Nearly one in ten soldiers who fought in the Civil War were African American.
The term rookies comes from a Civil War term, reckie, which was short for recruit.
United States President Andrew Johnson granted an unconditional pardon to all Confederate veterans on December 25, 1868.
The town of Romney, West Virginia, changed hands between Union and Confederate forces 56 times during the Civil War.
The only captured battle flag from the Civil War not returned to its state is Virginia's. It was captured by Minnesota at the Battle of Gettysburg. Congress ordered its return in 1905.
During the Civil War, it was common for prisoners-of war to die of starvation or disease; in Camp Sumter, an American Civil War-era prisoner-of-war camp at Andersonville, Georgia, for instance, 28 percent of the 45,000 Union soldiers died.
The 'Meeting a deadline' refers to a line drawn by American Civil War soldiers to deter prisoners from escaping. Those attempting to cross it would be shot dead.
The term "shoddy" comes from the Civil War when in their rush for uniforms the Union bought ones made from a recycled wool product called shoddy. When it fell apart in rain or after a couple of weeks wear it quickly became synonymous among the troops with poor quality and workmanship.
Approximately 40% of the U.S. paper currency in circulation was counterfeit by the end of the Civil War.
More than 600 women dressed as men to fight in the American Civil War.
The Civil War ended on April 9, 1865, when Confederate General Robert Lee surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox .
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| A print showing Union Army general Ulysses S. Grant accepting Confederate general Robert E. Lee's surrender in 1865. |
When Robert E Lee and the Confederate army surrendered, the Union soldiers silently saluted them. Normally victorious armies would taunt or mock defeated ones, but Union brigadier general Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain respected the Confederates too much and ordered that they be treated well.
The Confederacy was defeated at the total cost of the death of 620,000 Union and Confederate soldiers.
Roughly 2% of the U.S. population, an estimated 620,000 men, died serving in the American Civil War. As a percentage of today's population the toll would have risen as high as six million.
A Civil War soldier’s chance of surviving the war was about 1 in 4.
Two out of three Civil War deaths were caused by disease rather than battle.
Nearly one in ten soldiers who fought in the Civil War were African American.
The term rookies comes from a Civil War term, reckie, which was short for recruit.
United States President Andrew Johnson granted an unconditional pardon to all Confederate veterans on December 25, 1868.
The town of Romney, West Virginia, changed hands between Union and Confederate forces 56 times during the Civil War.
The only captured battle flag from the Civil War not returned to its state is Virginia's. It was captured by Minnesota at the Battle of Gettysburg. Congress ordered its return in 1905.
Helen Viola Jackson, the last widow of a Civil War veteran, died at 101 on December 16, 2020. At 17 years old, she secretly, but legally married 93-year-old James Bolin, who served in the 14th Missouri Cavalry on September 4, 1936. He died in 1939.
Irene Triplett was the last recipient of an American Civil War pension until she died on May 31, 2020. She collected $73.13 from the Department of Veterans Affairs, a pension payment for her father's military service in the Civil War. Pvt. Mose Triplett married so late in life to a woman so young that their daughter Irene was the last child of any Civil War veteran on the VA benefits rolls.
Source (1) New York Times
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