Portal:American Civil War

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The American Civil War Portal

Charles Pomeroy Stone and his 8 year-old daughter Hettie

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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West Virginia honorable discharge medal

The 1st West Virginia Cavalry Regiment served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Although it started slowly, it became one of the most active and effective of the West Virginia Civil War regiments—and had 14 Medal of Honor recipients, the most for any West Virginia regiment during the war. It was originally called the 1st Virginia Cavalry, not to be confused with the Confederate 1st Virginia Cavalry. Some reports added "Union," "Loyal" or "West" when identifying this regiment. After the Unionist state of West Virginia was officially admitted to the Union in 1863, the regiment became the 1st West Virginia Cavalry Regiment. The National Park Service identifies it as the 1st Regiment, West Virginia Cavalry.

The regiment was organized in Wheeling, Morgantown and Clarksburg in 1861 and consisted of 13 companies, plus an additional company that was attached for most of the war. Members were predominately recruited from Ohio and Pennsylvania and the western Virginia counties of Marshall, Monongalia, Harrison and Ohio. The regiment was often split during the first two years of the war, with detachments spending time guarding the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad and hunting bushwhackers. During July 1863, ten companies of the regiment fought at the Battle of Gettysburg as part of a division. (Full article...)

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Grand Parade of the States

The history of Idaho in the American Civil War is atypical, as the territory was far from the battlefields.

At the start of the Civil War, modern-day Idaho was part of the Washington Territory. On March 3, 1863, the Idaho Territory was formed, consisting of the entirety of modern-day Idaho, Montana, and all but southwest Wyoming. However, there were concerns about Confederate sympathizers in the eastern half of the territory, in what is present-day Montana. As a result, in 1863 Sidney Edgerton traveled quickly to see President Abraham Lincoln about the situation; this was one reason to split the Montana Territory from the Idaho Territory. The split also resulted in most of Idaho Territory's land consisting of modern-day Wyoming being reassigned to the Dakota Territory. (Full article...)

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1894 engraving of a photograph of Slack

William Yarnel Slack (August 1, 1816 – March 21, 1862) was an American lawyer, politician, and military officer who fought for the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War. Born in Kentucky, Slack moved to Missouri as a child and later entered the legal profession. After serving in the Missouri General Assembly from 1842 to 1843, he fought as a captain in the United States Army for fourteen months during the Mexican–American War, beginning in 1846. He saw action at the Battle of Embudo Pass and the Siege of Pueblo de Taos. Returning to a legal career, Slack became influential in his area.

After the outbreak of the American Civil War in April 1861, Slack, who held pro-slavery views, supported the Confederate cause. When the Missouri State Guard (MSG) was formed the next month to oppose the Union Army, he was appointed as a brigadier general in the MSG's 4th Division. After participating in the Battle of Carthage in July, he fought in the Battle of Wilson's Creek on August 10. After a surprise Union attack, Slack's deployment of his division gave time for further Confederate States Army and MSG troops to deploy. Suffering a bad hip wound at Wilson's Creek, he was unable to rejoin his command until October. (Full article...)

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

Did you know...

... that Dubuque, Arkansas, was destroyed in the American Civil War and is now covered by the waters of Bull Shoals Lake?
... that after the Little Rock campaign, Union forces held three-quarters of Arkansas?
... that some Confederate bullets were sourced from a silver mine?
... that Carter Moore Braxton fought for the Confederacy throughout the American Civil War and, according to one report, had seven horses killed under him but avoided any wounds?
... that singer Frank Croxton performed a duet with his father for the unveiling of a monument to a Confederate States Army general?
... that the only functioning secondary school in Mississippi during the American Civil War was founded by Thomas S. Gathright?