American Civil War

The American Civil War (1861–1865) was a between the  (the "") and the  s of the newly-formed  under. The Union included all of the and the five slaveholding  and was led by  and the. Republicans opposed the expansion of into territories owned by the United States, and their victory in the  resulted in seven Southern states declaring their  from the Union even before Lincoln took office. The Union rejected secession, regarding it as.

Hostilities began on, when Confederate forces attacked a U.S. military installation at  in. Lincoln responded by calling for a large volunteer army, then four more Southern states declared their secession. In the war's first year, the Union assumed control of the border states and established a as both sides massed armies and resources. In 1862, battles such as and  caused massive casualties unprecedented in U.S. military history. In September 1862, Lincoln's made ending slavery in the South a war goal, which complicated the Confederacy's manpower shortages.

In the East, Confederate commander won a series of victories over Union armies, but Lee's reverse at  in early July, 1863 proved the turning point. The capture of and  by  completed Union control of the. Grant fought bloody battles of attrition with Lee in 1864, forcing Lee to defend the Confederate capital at,. Union general captured, , and began his famous , devastating a hundred-mile-wide swath of Georgia. Confederate resistance collapsed after Lee surrendered to Grant at in April 1865.

The war, the deadliest in American history, caused 620,000 soldier deaths and an undetermined number of civilian casualties, ended slavery in the United States, restored the Union by settling the issues of and secession and strengthened the role of the Federal government. However, affected by the war's unresolved social, political, economic and racial tensions continue to shape contemporary American thought.

Causes of the war
The coexistence of a slave-owning South with an increasingly anti-slavery North made secession inevitable. Lincoln did not propose federal laws against slavery where it already existed, but he had, in his 1858, expressed a desire to "arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of ultimate extinction". Much of the political battle in the 1850s focused on the expansion of slavery into the newly created territories. All of the organized territories were likely to become free-soil states, which increased the Southern movement toward secession. Both North and South assumed that if slavery could not expand it would wither and die.

Southern fears of losing control of the federal government to antislavery forces, and Northern fears that the already controlled the government, brought the crisis to a head in the late 1850s. Sectional disagreements over the morality of slavery, the scope of democracy and the economic merits of free labor vs. slave plantations caused the and "" parties to collapse, and new ones to arise (the  in 1848, the  in 1854, the  in 1860). In 1860, the last remaining national political party, the, split along sectional lines.

Both North and South were influenced by the ideas of. Southerners emphasized the ideas mentioned in Jefferson's  and the right of revolution mentioned in the. Northerners ranging from the abolitionist to the moderate Republican leader  emphasized Jefferson's declaration that. Lincoln mentioned this proposition in his.

Historian mentioned Confederate Vice President ' A Constitutional View of the Late War Between the States as an example of a Southern leader who said that slavery was the "cornerstone of the Confederacy" when the war began and then said that the war was not about slavery but states' rights after Southern defeat. Stampp said that Stephens became one of the most ardent defenders of the.

All but one inter-regional crisis involved slavery, starting with debates on the three-fifths clause in the Constitutional Convention of 1787. Other factors include modernization in the rapidly industrializing North, sectionalism (caused by the growth of slavery in the deep South while slavery was gradually phased out in Northern states) and economic differences between North and South, although most modern historians disagree with the extreme economic determinism of historian. The fact that seven immigrants out of eight settled in the North, plus the fact that twice as many whites left the South for the North as vice versa, contributed to the South's defensive-aggressive political behavior There was controversy over adding the slave state of to the Union that led to the  of 1820, the  over the  (although the tariff was low after 1846 ), the  that prevented discussion in Congress of petitions for ending slavery from 1835–1844, the acquisition of  as a  in 1845 and  as an argument for gaining new territories where slavery would become an issue after the  (1846–1848), which resulted in the. The was an unsuccessful attempt by Northern politicians to exclude slavery from the territories conquered from. There were unsuccessful attempts to end controversy over slavery in the territories through and Southern attempts to annex  (including the ) and  as slave states. The extremely popular antislavery novel (1852) by  greatly increased Northern opposition to the.

There was the polarizing effect of slavery that split the largest religious denominations (the, and  churches) and controversy caused by the worst cruelties of slavery (whippings, mutilations and families split apart). In Congress arguments over slavery became violent when  of  attacked    with a cane after Sumner's "Crime against Kansas" speech. Even rival plans for Northern vs. Southern routes for a transcontinental railroad became entangled in the controversy over slavery. The old broke down after passage of the  in 1854. The of 1857, the , in 1859 and the split in the in 1860 polarized the nation between North and South. The was the final trigger for secession. During the secession crisis, many sought compromise—of these attempts, the best known was the ""—but all failed.

Southern secession was triggered by the election of Republican because regional leaders feared that he would stop the expansion of slavery and put it on a course toward extinction. Many Southerners thought either Lincoln or another Northerner would abolish slavery, and that it was time to secede. The slave states, which had already become a minority in the House of Representatives, were now facing a future as a perpetual minority in the Senate and Electoral College against an increasingly powerful North. Deep South states with the most slavery seceded first, followed by the secession of four more states following the Battle of Fort Sumter and Lincoln's subsequent call for each remaining state to provide troops to retake forts and suppress the insurrection. Upper South states refused to send troops against their neighbors in what they considered an invasion.

Slavery
A strong correlation was shown between the degree of support for secession and the number of plantations in the region; states of the deep South which had the greatest concentration of plantations were the first to secede. The upper South slave states of, , , and had fewer plantations and rejected secession until the  crisis forced them to choose sides. Border states had fewer plantations still and never seceded. The percentage of Southern whites living in families that owned slaves was 36.7 percent in the lower South, 25.3 percent in the upper South and 15.9 percent in the border states that fought mostly for the Union. Ninety-five percent of blacks lived in the South, comprising one third of the population there as opposed to one percent of the population of the North. Consequently, fears of eventual emancipation were much greater in the South than in the North.



The Supreme Court decision of 1857 in added to the controversy. decision said that slaves were "so far inferior that they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect", and that slaves could be taken to free states and territories. Lincoln warned that "the next Dred Scott decision" could threaten northern states with slavery.

Northern politician said, "this question of Slavery was more important than any other; indeed, so much more important has it become that no other national question can even get a hearing just at present." The slavery issue was related to sectional competition for control of the territories, and the Southern demand for a for the territories was the issue used by Southern politicians to split the Democratic Party in two, which all but guaranteed the election of Lincoln and secession. When secession was an issue, South Carolina planter and state Senator John Townsend said that "our enemies are about to take possession of the Government, that they intend to rule us according to the caprices of their fanatical theories, and according to the declared purposes of abolishing slavery." Similar opinions were expressed throughout the South in editorials, political speeches and declarations of reasons for secession. Even though Lincoln had no plans to outlaw slavery where it existed, Southerners throughout the South expressed fears for the future of slavery.

Southern concerns included not only economic loss but also fears of racial equality. The Texas Declaration of Causes for Secession said that the non-slave-holding states were "proclaiming the debasing doctrine of equality of all men, irrespective of race or color", and that the African race "were rightfully held and regarded as an inferior and dependent race". Alabama secessionist E. S. Dargan said that emancipation would make Southerners feel "demoralized and degraded".

Beginning in the 1830s, the U.S. refused to allow mail which carried abolition pamphlets to the South. Northern teachers suspected of any tinge of abolitionism were expelled from the South, and abolitionist literature was banned. Southerners rejected the denials of Republicans that they were abolitionists. raid on the federal greatly increased Southern fears of slave insurrections. The North felt threatened as well, for as Eric Foner concludes, "Northerners came to view slavery as the very antithesis of the good society, as well as a threat to their own fundamental values and interests".

Secession of South Carolina
South Carolina adopted the "" on,. It argued for states' rights for slave owners in the South, but contained a complaint about states' rights in the North in the form of opposition to the, claiming that Northern states were not fulfilling their federal obligations under the Constitution. At issue were:


 * The refusal of Northern states to enforce the fugitive slave code, violating Southern personal property rights;
 * Agitation against slavery, which "denied the rights of property".
 * Assisting "thousands of slaves to leave their homes" through the Underground Railroad.
 * The election of Lincoln "because he has declared that 'Government cannot endure permanently half slave, half free,' and that the public mind must rest in the belief that slavery is in the course of ultimate extinction".
 * "...elevating to citizenship, persons who, by the supreme law of the land, are incapable of becoming citizens". Most Northerners opposed the  decision, although only a few New England states allowed blacks an equal right to vote.

Secession winter
Before Lincoln took office, seven states had declared their secession from the Union. They established a Southern government, the on. They took control of federal forts and other properties within their boundaries with little resistance from President Buchanan, whose term ended on. Buchanan asserted, "The South has no right to secede, but I have no power to prevent them." One quarter of the U.S. Army—the entire garrison in Texas—was surrendered to state forces by its commanding general,, who then joined the Confederacy.

As Southerners resigned their seats in the Senate and the House, secession later enabled Republicans to pass bills for projects that had been blocked by Southern Senators before the war, including the, land grant colleges (the ), a , a trans-continental railroad (the ), the and the authorization of s by the Legal Tender Act of 1862. The introduced the  to help finance the war.

[[Image:US Secession map 1861.svg|250px|thumb|left| Status of the states, 1861. 

{{legend|#A40000| States that seceded before }}

{{legend|#EF2929| States that seceded after, }}

{{legend|#FCE94F| Union states that permitted slavery}}

{{legend|#204A87| Union states that banned slavery}}

{{legend|#D3D7CF| Territories}}]]

The Confederacy
Seven cotton states seceded by February 1861, starting with, , , , , , and. These seven states formed the, with  as president, and a  closely modeled on the. In April and May 1861, four more slave states seceded and joined the Confederacy:, , and. Virginia was split in two, with the eastern portion of that state seceding to the Confederacy and the northwestern part joining the Union as the new state of on.

[[Image:US Secession map 1865.svg|250px|thumb|left| State and territory boundaries, 1864–5. 

{{legend|#204A87| states}}

{{legend|#729FCF| Union territories}}

{{legend|#D3D7CF|, which entered the Union as a free state after the crisis}}

{{legend|#EDD400| Union border states that permitted slavery}}

{{legend|#CE5C00| }}

{{legend|#E9B96E| Confederate claimed and sometimes held territories}}]]

The Union states
Twenty-three states remained loyal to the Union:, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , and. During the war, and  joined as new states of the Union. and were returned to Union control early in the war.

The territories of, , , , , , and fought on the Union side. Several slave-holding tribes supported the Confederacy, giving the  (now ) a small bloody civil war.

Border states
The in the Union were  (which was separated from Virginia and became a new state), and four of the five northernmost slave states (,, , and ).

had numerous pro-Confederate officials who tolerated anti-Union and the burning of bridges. Lincoln responded with and called for troops. Militia units that had been drilling in the North rushed toward Washington and Baltimore. Before the Confederate government realized what was happening, Lincoln had seized firm control of Maryland (and the separate ), by arresting all the Maryland government members and holding them without trial.

In Missouri, an elected convention on secession voted decisively to remain within the Union. When pro-Confederate Governor called out the state militia, it was attacked by federal forces under General, who chased the governor and the rest of the State Guard to the southwestern corner of the state. (See also: ). In the resulting vacuum, the convention on secession reconvened and took power as the Unionist provisional government of Missouri.

Kentucky did not secede; for a time, it declared itself neutral. However, the Confederates broke the neutrality by seizing, in September 1861. That turned opinion against the Confederacy, and the state reaffirmed its loyal status, while trying to maintain slavery. During a brief invasion by Confederate forces, Confederate sympathizers organized a secession convention, inaugurated a governor, and gained recognition from the Confederacy. The rebel government soon went into exile and never controlled the state.

Union supporters in the far northwestern counties of Virginia opposed secession and formed a in Wheeling shortly after Virginia's 1861 declaration of secession from the U.S. They then organized a vote on,  to approve a secession from Virginia, and were admitted to the Union as the new state of  on , , eventually composed of 50 former counties of. The vote was poorly attended and only token votes appeared in many counties that had supported Virginia's secession, some giving no vote at all, and both before and after admission to statehood, there were disputes over the boundary between West Virginia and Virginia, and the legality of the vote.

Similar Unionist secessions attempts appeared in, but were suppressed by the Confederacy. Jefferson Davis arrested over 3000 men suspected of being loyal to the Union and held them without trial.

Overview


Over 10,000 military engagements took place during the war, 40% of them in Virginia and Tennessee. Since separate articles deal with every major battle and many minor ones, this article only gives the broadest outline. For more information see and.

The war begins

 * For more details on this topic, see 

Lincoln's victory in the triggered South Carolina's declaration of secession from the Union. By February 1861, six more Southern states made similar declarations. On February 7, the seven states adopted a provisional constitution for the and established their temporary capital at,. A pre-war February met in Washington in a failed attempt at resolving the crisis. The remaining eight slave states rejected pleas to join the Confederacy. Confederate forces seized most of the Federal forts within their boundaries (they did not take Fort Sumter); President Buchanan protested but made no military response aside from a failed attempt to resupply Fort Sumter via the ship (the ship was fired upon by  cadets), and no serious military preparations. However, governors in Massachusetts, New York, and Pennsylvania quietly began buying weapons and training militia units.

On, Abraham Lincoln was sworn in as President. In his, he argued that the Constitution was a than the earlier , that it was a binding contract, and called any secession "legally void". He stated he had no intent to invade Southern states, nor did he intend to end slavery where it existed, but that he would use force to maintain possession of federal property. His speech closed with a plea for restoration of the bonds of union.

The South sent delegations to Washington and offered to pay for the federal properties and enter into a peace treaty with the United States. Lincoln rejected any negotiations with Confederate agents on the grounds that the Confederacy was not a legitimate government, and that making any treaty with it would be tantamount to recognition of it as a sovereign government. However, Secretary of State William Seward engaged in unauthorized and indirect negotiations that failed.

in Charleston, South Carolina,, and  were the remaining Union-held forts in the Confederacy, and Lincoln was determined to hold Fort Sumter. Under orders from Confederate President, troops controlled by the Confederate government under bombarded the fort with artillery on April 12, forcing the fort's capitulation. Northerners rallied behind Lincoln's call for all of the states to send troops to recapture the forts and to preserve the Union. With the scale of the rebellion apparently small so far, Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers for 90 days. For months before that, several Northern governors had discreetly readied their state militias; they began to move forces the next day.

Four states in the upper South (Tennessee, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Virginia), which had repeatedly rejected Confederate overtures, now refused to send forces against their neighbors, declared their secession, and joined the Confederacy. To reward Virginia, the Confederate capital was moved to. The city was the symbol of the Confederacy; if it fell, the new nation would lose legitimacy. Richmond was in a highly vulnerable location at the end of a tortuous Confederate supply line. Although Richmond was heavily fortified, supplies for the city would be reduced by Sherman's capture of and cut off almost entirely when Grant besieged  and its railroads that supplied the Southern capital.

Anaconda Plan and blockade, 1861


, the commanding general of the U.S. Army, devised the to win the war with as little bloodshed as possible. His idea was that a of the main ports would weaken the Confederate economy; then the capture of the Mississippi River would split the South. Lincoln adopted the plan, but overruled Scott's warnings against an immediate attack on Richmond.

In May 1861, Lincoln enacted the Union blockade of all Southern ports, ending most international shipments to the Confederacy. Violators' ships and cargos could be seized and were often not covered by insurance. By late 1861, the blockade stopped most local port-to-port traffic. The blockade shut down, ruining the Southern economy. British investors built small, fast "s" that traded arms and luxuries from, and the  in return for high-priced cotton and tobacco. When captured, the blockade runners and cargo were sold and the proceeds given to the Union sailors, but the British crews were released. Shortages of food and other goods triggered by the blockade, foraging by Northern armies, and the impressment of crops by Confederate armies combined to cause and bread riots in the South.

On March 8, 1862, the Confederate Navy waged a fight against the Union Navy when the  attacked the blockade; it seemed unstoppable but the next day it had to fight the new Union warship  in the. The battle ended in a draw, which was a strategic victory for the Union in that the blockade was sustained. The Confederacy lost the CSS Virginia when the ship was scuttled to prevent capture, and the Union built many copies of the USS Monitor. Lacking the technology to build effective warships, the Confederacy attempted to obtain warships from Britain. The Union victory at the in January 1865 closed the last useful Southern port and virtually ended blockade running.

Eastern Theater 1861–1863


Because of the fierce resistance of a few initial Confederate forces at, , in July 1861, a march by Union troops under the command of  on the Confederate forces there was halted in the , or First Manassas, whereupon they were forced back to , by Confederate troops under the command of Generals  and. It was in this battle that Confederate General received the  of "Stonewall" because he stood like a stone wall against Union troops. Alarmed at the loss, and in an attempt to prevent more slave states from leaving the Union, the passed the  on  of that year, which stated that the war was being fought to preserve the Union and not to end slavery.

Maj. Gen. took command of the Union on  (he was briefly general-in-chief of all the Union armies, but was subsequently relieved of that post in favor of Maj. Gen. ), and the war began in earnest in 1862. Upon the strong urging of President Lincoln to begin offensive operations, McClellan attacked Virginia in the spring of 1862 by way of the between the  and, southeast of Richmond. Although McClellan's army reached the gates of Richmond in the, halted his advance at the , then General  and top subordinates  and Stonewall Jackson defeated McClellan in the  and forced his retreat. The, which included the , ended in yet another victory for the South. McClellan resisted General-in-Chief Halleck's orders to send reinforcements to Union, which made it easier for Lee's Confederates to defeat twice the number of combined enemy troops.

Emboldened by Second Bull Run, the Confederacy made its first invasion of the North, when General Lee led 45,000 men of the across the  into Maryland on. Lincoln then restored Pope's troops to McClellan. McClellan and Lee fought at the near, , on  , the bloodiest single day in United States military history. Lee's army, checked at last, returned to Virginia before McClellan could destroy it. Antietam is considered a Union victory because it halted Lee's invasion of the North and provided an opportunity for Lincoln to announce his. When the cautious McClellan failed to follow up on Antietam, he was replaced by Maj. Gen. . Burnside was soon defeated at the on , when over twelve thousand Union soldiers were killed or wounded during repeated futile frontal assaults against Marye's Heights. After the battle, Burnside was replaced by Maj. Gen. . Hooker, too, proved unable to defeat Lee's army; despite outnumbering the Confederates by more than two to one, he was humiliated in the in May 1863. He was replaced by Maj. Gen. during Lee's second invasion of the North, in June. Meade defeated Lee at the ( to  ), the bloodiest battle of the war, which is sometimes considered the war's. on is often recalled as the, not just because it signaled the end of Lee's plan to pressure Washington from the north, but also because Vicksburg, Mississippi, the key stronghold to control of the Mississippi, fell the following day. Lee's army suffered 28,000 casualties (versus Meade's 23,000). However, Lincoln was angry that Meade failed to intercept Lee's retreat, and after Meade's inconclusive Fall campaign, Lincoln decided to turn to the Western Theater for new leadership.

Western Theater 1861–1863
While the Confederate forces had numerous successes in the Eastern theater, they were defeated many times in the West. They were driven from Missouri early in the war as a result of the. 's invasion of, ended Kentucky's policy of neutrality and turned that state against the Confederacy.

,, fell to the Union early in 1862. Most of the was opened with the taking of  and, , and then ,. The captured  without a major fight in May 1862, allowing the Union forces to begin moving up the Mississippi as well. Only the fortress city of, , prevented unchallenged Union control of the entire river.

General 's second Confederate invasion of Kentucky ended with a meaningless victory over Maj. Gen. at the, although Bragg was forced to end his attempt at liberating Kentucky and retreat due to lack of support for the Confederacy in that state. Bragg was narrowly defeated by Maj. Gen. at the in.

The one clear Confederate victory in the West was the. Bragg, reinforced by Lt. Gen. 's corps (from Lee's army in the east), defeated Rosecrans, despite the heroic defensive stand of Maj. Gen. . Rosecrans retreated to, which Bragg then besieged.

The Union's key strategist and tactician in the West was Maj. Gen., who won victories at Forts and , by which the Union seized control of the  and  Rivers; ; the , cementing Union control of the Mississippi River and considered one of the  of the war. Grant marched to the relief of Rosecrans and defeated Bragg at the, driving Confederate forces out of Tennessee and opening a route to Atlanta and the heart of the Confederacy.

Trans-Mississippi Theater 1861–1865
activity turned much of Missouri into a battleground. Missouri had, in total, the third most battles of any state during the war. The other states of the west, though geographically isolated from the battles to the east, had a few small-scale military actions take place. Confederate incursions into Arizona and New Mexico were repulsed in 1862. Late in the war, the Union was a failure. Texas remained in Confederate hands throughout the war, but was cut off from the rest of the Confederacy after the capture of Vicksburg in 1863 gave the Union control of the Mississippi River.

End of the war 1864–1865


At the beginning of 1864, Lincoln made Grant commander of all Union armies. Grant made his headquarters with the Army of the Potomac, and put Maj. Gen. in command of most of the western armies. Grant understood the concept of and believed, along with Lincoln and Sherman, that only the utter defeat of Confederate forces and their economic base would bring an end to the war. This was total war not in terms of killing civilians but rather in terms of destroying homes, farms and railroad tracks. Grant devised a coordinated strategy that would strike at the entire Confederacy from multiple directions: Generals George Meade and were ordered to move against Lee near Richmond; General  (and later ) were to ; General Sherman was to capture  and march to the sea (the Atlantic Ocean); Generals  and  were to operate against railroad supply lines in ; and Maj. Gen. was to capture,.

Union forces in the East attempted to maneuver past Lee and fought several battles during that phase ("Grant's ") of the Eastern campaign. Grant's battles of attrition at the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, and Cold Harbor resulted in heavy Union losses, but forced Lee's Confederates to fall back again and again. An attempt to outflank Lee from the south failed under Butler, who was trapped inside the river bend. Grant was tenacious and, despite astonishing losses (over 65,000 casualties in seven weeks), kept pressing Lee's Army of Northern Virginia back to Richmond. He pinned down the Confederate army in the, where the two armies engaged in for over nine months.

Grant finally found a commander, General, aggressive enough to prevail in the. Sheridan defeated Maj. Gen. in a series of battles, including a final decisive defeat at. Sheridan then proceeded to destroy the agricultural base of the, a strategy similar to the tactics Sherman later employed in Georgia.

Meanwhile, Sherman marched from Chattanooga to Atlanta, defeating Confederate Generals and  along the way. , on, was a significant factor in the reelection of Lincoln as president. Hood left the Atlanta area to menace Sherman's supply lines and invade Tennessee in the. Union Maj. Gen. defeated Hood at, and dealt Hood a massive defeat at , effectively destroying Hood's army.

Leaving Atlanta, and his base of supplies, Sherman's army marched with an unknown destination, laying waste to about 20% of the farms in Georgia in his "". He reached the Atlantic Ocean at, in December 1864. Sherman's army was followed by thousands of freed slaves; there were no major battles along the March. Sherman turned north through South Carolina and North Carolina to approach the Confederate Virginia lines from the south, increasing the pressure on Lee's army.

Lee's army, thinned by desertion and casualties, was now much smaller than Grant's. Union forces won a decisive victory at the on, forcing Lee to evacuate Petersburg and Richmond. The Confederate capital fell to the, composed of black troops. The remaining Confederate units fled west and after a defeat at, it became clear to Robert E. Lee that continued fighting against the United States was both tactically and logistically impossible.

Lee surrendered his Army of Northern Virginia on, at. In an untraditional gesture and as a sign of Grant's respect and anticipation of folding the Confederacy back into the Union with dignity and peace, Lee was permitted to keep his officer's saber and his horse,. Johnston surrendered his troops to Sherman on, in ,. On, at  in the Choctaw Nations' area of the ,  signed a cease-fire agreement with Union representatives, becoming the last Confederate general in the field to stand down. The last Confederate naval force to surrender was the on , in ,.

Slavery during the war
At the beginning of the war some Union commanders thought they were supposed to return escaped slaves to their masters. By 1862, when it became clear that this would be a long war, the question of what to do about slavery became more general. The Southern economy and military effort depended on slave labor. It began to seem unreasonable to protect slavery while blockading Southern commerce and destroying Southern production. As one Congressman put it, the slaves "…cannot be neutral. As laborers, if not as soldiers, they will be allies of the rebels, or of the Union." The same Congressman—and his fellow Radical Republicans—put pressure on Lincoln to rapidly emancipate the slaves, whereas moderate Republicans came to accept gradual, compensated emancipation and colonization. , the and  opposed emancipation, although the border states and War Democrats eventually accepted it as part of  needed to save the Union.

In 1861, Lincoln expressed the fear that premature attempts at emancipation would mean the loss of the border states, and that "to lose Kentucky is nearly the same as to lose the whole game." At first, Lincoln reversed attempts at emancipation by Secretary of War and Generals  (in Missouri) and  (in South Carolina, Georgia and Florida) in order to keep the loyalty of the border states and the War Democrats.

Lincoln mentioned his Emancipation Proclamation to members of his cabinet on. Secretary of State told Lincoln to wait for a victory before issuing the proclamation, as to do otherwise would seem like "our last shriek on the retreat". In September of 1862 the provided this opportunity, and the subsequent  added support for the proclamation. Lincoln had already published a letter encouraging the border states especially to accept emancipation as necessary to save the Union. Lincoln later said that slavery was "somehow the cause of the war". Lincoln issued his preliminary on , and said that a final proclamation would be issued if his gradual plan based on compensated emancipation and voluntary colonization was rejected. Only the District of Columbia accepted Lincoln's gradual plan, and Lincoln issued his final Emancipation Proclamation on,. In his letter to Hodges, Lincoln explained his belief that "If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong … And yet I have never understood that the Presidency conferred upon me an unrestricted right to act officially upon this judgment and feeling ... I claim not to have controlled events, but confess plainly that events have controlled me."

Since the Emancipation Proclamation was based on the President's war powers, it only included territory held by Confederates at the time. However, the Proclamation became a symbol of the Union's growing commitment to add emancipation to the Union's definition of liberty. Lincoln also played a leading role in getting Congress to vote for the Thirteenth Amendment, which made emancipation universal and permanent. Confederates enslaved captured black Union soldiers, and black soldiers especially were shot when trying to surrender at the. This led to a breakdown of the prisoner exchange program and the growth of prison camps such as in Georgia where almost 13,000 Union prisoners of war died of starvation and disease.

The Emancipation Proclamation greatly reduced the Confederacy's hope of getting aid from Britain or France. Lincoln's moderate approach succeeded in getting border states, War Democrats and emancipated slaves fighting on the same side for the Union. The Union-controlled border states (Kentucky, Missouri, Maryland, Delaware and West Virginia) were not covered by the Emancipation Proclamation. All abolished slavery on their own, except Kentucky and Delaware. The great majority of the 4 million slaves were freed by the Emancipation Proclamation, as Union armies moved South. The, ratified , finally freed the remaining slaves in Kentucky and Delaware that numbered 225,000 for Kentucky and 1,800 in Delaware as of 1860.

Threat of international intervention
Entry into the war by Britain and France on behalf of the Confederacy would have greatly increased the South's chances of winning independence from the Union. The Union, under Lincoln and Secretary of State worked to block this, and threatened war if any country officially recognized the existence of the Confederate States of America (none ever did). In 1861, Southerners voluntarily embargoed cotton shipments, hoping to start an economic depression in Europe that would force Britain to enter the war in order to get cotton. proved a failure as Europe had a surplus of cotton, while the 1860–62 crop failures in Europe made the North's grain exports of critical importance. It was said that "King Corn was more powerful than King Cotton", as US grain went from a quarter of the British import trade to almost half.

When the UK did face a cotton shortage, it was temporary, being replaced by increased cultivation in Egypt and India. Meanwhile, the war created employment for arms makers, iron workers, and British ships to transport weapons.

After 1846, Northern industry lacked the assistance of a high protective tariff. There were enough Democrats, including Southerners, in the U. S. Senate to keep tariffs low. Britain was by far the best customer of the United States, and the British did not impose a duty on cotton or wheat, although they did tax imported tobacco. About one-seventh of the population of the United Kingdom, or four million people, depended on the cotton industry. Hence the tariff was kept low before the war so that especially the British could import more, despite the outcries of Northern industrialists.

proved particularly adept as to Britain for the Union, and Britain was reluctant to boldly challenge the Union's blockade. The Confederacy purchased several warships from commercial ship builders in Britain. The most famous, the, did considerable damage and led to serious. However, public opinion against slavery created a political liability for European politicians, especially in Britain. War loomed in late 1861 between the U.S. and Britain over the, involving the Union boarding of a British mail steamer to seize two Confederate diplomats. However, London and Washington were able to smooth over the problem after Lincoln released the two.

In 1862, the British considered mediation—though even such an offer would have risked war with the U.S. reportedly read  three times when deciding on this. The Union victory in the caused them to delay this decision. The further reinforced the political liability of supporting the Confederacy. Despite sympathy for the Confederacy, France's own ultimately deterred them from war with the Union. Confederate offers late in the war to end slavery in return for diplomatic recognition were not seriously considered by London or Paris.

Aftermath
Since the war's end, it has been arguable whether the South could have really won the war or not. A significant number of scholars believe that the Union held an insurmountable advantage over the Confederacy in terms of industrial strength and population. Confederate actions, they argue, could only delay defeat. Southern historian expressed this view succinctly in 's television series on the Civil War: "I think that the North fought that war with one hand behind its back.… If there had been more Southern victories, and a lot more, the North simply would have brought that other hand out from behind its back. I don't think the South ever had a chance to win that War." The Confederacy sought to win independence by out-lasting Lincoln. However, after Atlanta fell and Lincoln defeated McClellan in the election of 1864, the hope for a political victory for the South ended. At that point, Lincoln had succeeded in getting the support of the border states, War Democrats, emancipated slaves and Britain and France. By defeating the Democrats and McClellan, he also defeated the and their peace platform. Lincoln had also found military leaders like Grant and Sherman who would press the Union's numerical advantage in battle over the Confederate Armies. Generals who did not shy from bloodshed won the war, and from the end of 1864 onward there was no hope for the South.

On the other hand, James McPherson has argued that the North’s advantage in population and resources made Northern victory possible, but not inevitable. The American War of Independence and the Vietnam War are examples of wars won by the side with fewer numbers. Confederates did not need to invade and hold enemy territory in order to win, but only needed to fight a defensive war to convince the North that the cost of winning was too high. The North needed to conquer and hold vast stretches of enemy territory and defeat Confederate armies in order to win.

Also important were Lincoln's eloquence in rationalizing the national purpose and his skill in keeping the border states committed to the Union cause. Although Lincoln's approach to emancipation was slow, the Emancipation Proclamation was an effective use of the President's war powers.

The more industrialized economy of the North aided in the production of arms, munitions and supplies, as well as finances, and transportation. The table shows the relative advantage of the Union over the Confederate States of America (CSA) at the start of the war. The advantages widened rapidly during the war, as the Northern economy grew, and Confederate territory shrank and its economy weakened. The Union population was 22 million and the South 9 million in 1861; the Southern population included more than 3.5 million slaves and about 5.5 million whites, thus leaving the South's white population outnumbered by a ratio of more than four to one compared to that of the North. The disparity grew as the Union controlled more and more southern territory with garrisons, and cut off the trans-Mississippi part of the Confederacy. The Union at the start controlled over 80% of the shipyards, steamships, river boats, and the Navy. It augmented these by a massive shipbuilding program. This enabled the Union to control the river systems and to blockade the entire southern coastline. Excellent railroad links between Union cities allowed for the quick and cheap movement of troops and supplies. Transportation was much slower and more difficult in the South which was unable to augment its much smaller rail system, repair damage, or even perform routine maintenance. The failure of Davis to maintain positive and productive relationships with state governors (especially governor of Georgia and governor  of North Carolina) damaged his ability to draw on regional resources. The Confederacy's "" misperception of the world economy led to bad diplomacy, such as the refusal to ship cotton before the blockade started. The Emancipation Proclamation enabled African-Americans, both free blacks and escaped slaves, to join the Union Army. About 190,000 volunteered, further enhancing the numerical advantage the Union armies enjoyed over the Confederates, who did not dare emulate the equivalent manpower source for fear of fundamentally undermining the legitimacy of slavery. Emancipated slaves fought in several key battles in the last two years of the war. European joined the  in large numbers too. 23.4% of all Union soldiers were ; about 216,000 were born in.

Reconstruction
Northern leaders agreed that victory would require more than the end of fighting. It had to encompass the two war goals: Secession had to be totally repudiated, and all forms of slavery had to be eliminated. They disagreed sharply on the criteria for these goals. They also disagreed on the degree of federal control that should be imposed on the South, and the process by which Southern states should be reintegrated into the Union.

Reconstruction, which began early in the war and ended in 1877, involved a complex and rapidly changing series of federal and state policies. The long-term result came in the three "Civil War" amendments to the (the XIII, which abolished slavery, the XIV, which extended federal legal protections to citizens regardless of race, and the XV, which abolished racial restrictions on voting). Reconstruction ended in the different states at different times, the last three by the. For details on why the and  were largely ineffective until the, see , , , ,  and.

Results
All slaves in the Confederacy were freed by the Emancipation Proclamation, which stipulated that slaves in Confederate-held areas, but not in border states or in Washington, D.C., were free. Slaves in the border states and Union-controlled parts of the South were freed by state action or by the, although slavery effectively ended in the U.S. in the spring of 1865. The full restoration of the Union was the work of a highly contentious postwar era known as. The war produced about 970,000 casualties (3% of the population), including approximately 620,000 soldier deaths&mdash;two-thirds by disease. The war accounted for more casualties than all other U.S. wars combined. The, the reasons for its outcome, and even are subjects of lingering controversy today. About 4 million  were freed in 1865. Based on 1860 census figures, 8% of all males aged 13 to 43 died in the war, including 6% in the North and an extraordinary 18% in the South.

Films about the war

 *  (1915)
 *  (1927)
 *  (1939)
 *  (1956)
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 *  (1965)
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 *  (1966)
 *  (1982)
 *  (1989)
 *  (1993)
 *  (1996)
 *  (1999)
 *  (2003)
 *  (2003)
 *  (Book I -  Book II -   Book III -  )

Documentaries about the war

 *  (1990)