Americans facing one another: did you know all these facts about the American Civil War?

Imagine a country, not even a hundred years old, suddenly tearing itself apart from within. Our brave great-grandparents managed to fight this war, no matter which side they were on, but nowadays modern issues are on the rise. And we need to stay prepared because history is repeating itself.

It began with silence. The kind that falls before a storm, when everyone knows something is coming but no one knows how far it will go. Years had gone by, but this point in American history remains a central part of how Americans understand their own history—and their ongoing struggles with race, justice, and unity. Not many other historical events like this have shaped a nation’s identity as profoundly.

Brothers stood on opposite sides of a battlefield, and what once was one became two. Before the first shot was fired, before the flags were raised, a question had already divided the nation—one that would demand answers in blood.

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A young but divided nation goes to Civil War (1861-1865). Here is everything you need to know about America’s fracture…

In the mid-1800s, the United States of America was growing rapidly — economically, geographically, and politically. But there was a deep divide between the northern and southern parts of the country. The key difference? Slavery.

In the South, the economy was built on large plantations that depended heavily on enslaved Africans to grow cotton, tobacco, and other crops.

In the North, industrialization was underway, and although racism still existed, many people were against slavery — either morally, economically, or politically.

This disagreement over slavery became the defining issue. As new territories in the west were added to the U.S., the question became: Should these places allow slavery or not?

Things came to a head in 1860, when antislavery Republican Abraham Lincoln, who opposed the expansion of slavery (but wasn’t initially calling for its total abolition), was elected president. The South saw this as a direct threat.

Eleven Southern states, led by South Carolina (also including Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas) , decided to secede — that is, leave the United States — and form their own country: the Confederate States of America.

The North, led by President Lincoln, refused to recognize this new nation. He believed that the Union must be preserved — that the United States was one country, indivisible.

So in April 1861, after Confederate forces fired on a federal fort called Fort Sumter, war began.

The Civil War lasted four long, brutal years. It was the deadliest war in American history — over 600,000 people died, more than in any other U.S. conflict.

The South had strong military leaders and fought mostly on its own territory.

The North had more factories, more men, more money — and a larger navy.

The early years of the war went badly for the North. The South won major battles and hoped that foreign countries like Britain might recognize their new nation.

But in 1863, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared that all slaves in Confederate-held territories were now free. This changed the nature of the war: it became not just a fight to preserve the Union, but a war to end slavery. This suddenly created more collaboration between some parts of the opposing sides on the battlefield.

Later that year came the Battle of Gettysburg, the turning point. This is one of the deadliest events in American history and eventually resulted in approximately 7,000 deaths and 51,000 casualties. The North won decisively, and the South began a slow retreat. However, America was either way not ready to lose this much workforce back then…

By 1865, the Confederate (South) army was exhausted, and the North was advancing everywhere. The former was low on men, food, weapons, and morale, while the latter had captured key southern cities like Atlanta and Richmond (the Confederate capital). The Northern states already had the upper hand. US Army generals were even marching through the South, destroying railways, factories, and infrastructure. This was called the “March to the Sea,” a form of “total war” aimed at breaking the South’s ability to fight. We know this technique is nowadays still used by Russia in Ukraine, for instance.

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End of the Civil War? The surrender and a vision of unity…

In April 1865, Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia. Lee’s surrender was a symbolic gesture — it meant the war was effectively over. The decision was made for Confederate soldiers to go home if they promised not to fight again. Over the next few weeks, the other remaining Confederate forces also surrendered. The Civil War was officially over by June 1865.

Lincoln’s goal had always been to reunite the country, not to punish the South harshly. Finally, this was supposedly the beginning of that vision. Or was it not?

In the same month, Lincoln had made a speech suggesting voting rights for some Black Americans — something that pro-slavery Americans saw as an unbearable betrayal.

Just five days after Lee’s surrender and the liberal speech, on the night of April 14, 1865, Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in Washington, D.C. The racist and pro-slavery extremist John Wilkes Booth shot the President in the back of the head. He thought that Lincoln was horrible and had destroyed the South. He hoped that killing Lincoln would reignite the Confederate efforts and resume fighting.

Booth and his fellow co-conspirators initially aimed to kill the top three Union leaders: President Abraham Lincoln – to decapitate the Union government; Vice President Andrew Johnson – to prevent immediate succession; and Secretary of State William H. Seward – the main architect of Union diplomacy. They only went through with one killing but injured others.

Four anti-Lincoln conspirators were hanged, including Lewis Powell and Mary Surratt (the first woman executed by the U.S. government). The plot only goes on to reveal how deeply the Civil War’s hatred and ideology extended, even in defeat.

Lincoln’s death shocked and devastated the North. His death left Vice President Andrew Johnson to handle Reconstruction — the rebuilding of the South — which ended up being far more chaotic and divisive without Lincoln’s leadership. His death turned a moment of potential healing into one of grief, anger, and political uncertainty.

Have the former President’s efforts been enough?

Grab yourself a piece of American history from Gardner’s Photographic Sketchbook of the Civil War…

Indirect effects are still deeply woven into modern American life…

Although slavery was abolished, the Civil War didn’t end racism but transformed it. Black Americans were technically free but still socially stigmatized and discriminated against. This is now seen as deep inequalities in education, housing, policing, and wealth. Most recently, modern movements like Black Lives Matter are still pushing back against a racial hierarchy that grew out of slavery’s ashes. So, the Civil War may have ended slavery, but racism evolved and persists in institutions to this day.

The Civil War forced Americans to redefine the U.S. as a singular, united nation rather than a loose collection of independent states, as we know it right now. Before the war, people said “The United States are…” — after the war, it became “The United States is…”

 

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