Portal:American Civil War

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The American Civil War Portal

Soldier pretending to "fire" a Quaker Gun

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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The Battle of Helena was fought on July 4, 1863, near Helena, Arkansas, during the American Civil War. Union troops captured the city in July 1862, and had been using it as a base of operations. Over 7,500 Confederate troops led by Lieutenant General Theophilus Holmes attempted to capture Helena in hopes of relieving some of the pressure on the Confederate army besieged in Vicksburg, Mississippi. Helena was defended by about 4,100 Union troops led by Major General Benjamin Prentiss, manning one fort and four batteries of artillery.

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

Did you know...

... 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 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 at the Battle of La Haye-du-Puits in July 1944, a Confederate flag dating to the American Civil War was raised over the town?
... that Justus H. Rathbone, founder of the Knights of Pythias, served as a hospital steward during the American Civil War?
... that Benjamin Jackson was likely paid at least $300 to fight in the American Civil War as Lewis Saunders?
... that Romeo and Juliet both served in the Union Navy?