150 years ago the American Civil War started with the first shots being fired on Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina. After years of growing tensions between the northern and southern states over a variety of issues including federal authority and slavery, and then the election of the anti-slavery Republican Abraham Lincoln as president in 1860, seven southern states seceded from the United States to form the Confederate States of America. After those first shots were fired, another four states seceded and joined the Confederate States. At first glance, it would appear that the Union forces would have the upper hand in the conflict with larger population, the railroads, and the manufacturing, but the Confederate forces had a very strong military tradition and some of the best soldiers in the nation. For example, there were high noted West Point graduates on both sides of the war. On the North, one of the top generals and future 18th president of the United States, Ulysses S. Grant graduated 21st in his class at West Point, while on the South, Roberta E. Lee graduated 2nd in his class. On the July 21st, 1861 during the battle of Bull Run, Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson and 35,000 confederate soldiers pushed back a much larger number of Union forces causing them to retreat and ending the hopes of the Union make this a small and short war. There were many bloody battles between the states that put neighbor against neighbor and in some cases, brother against brother. By the time the war ended in 1865, the Civil War proved to be the costliest war ever fought on American soil, with 25 percent of all soldiers killed, millions more injured and the territory of the South left devastated.
Explore deeper into the history of the Civil War with these resources:
Books
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The American Civil War: A Military History (Vintage Civil War Library)
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Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era (Oxford History of the United States)
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The Civil War (American Heritage Books)
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The New York Times The Complete Civil War 1861-1865
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Stonewall Jackson and the American Civil War
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Eyewitness to the Civil War
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The Civil War: A Narrative--Fort Sumter to Perryville, Vol. 1
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This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War (Vintage Civil War Library)
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History of the Civil War, 1861-1865
DVDs
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The Civil War - A Film by Ken Burns
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The Unknown Civil War Series: Gettysburg
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The Civil War - A Film by Ken Burns
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Secrets of the Civil War
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The Complete Civil War
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Disney's The American Presidents Civil War and Reconstruction & The Development of the U.S. [Interactive DVD]
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Indian Warriors - The Untold Story of the Civil War (History Channel)
Biographies
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Abraham Lincoln
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Ulysses S. Grant : Memoirs and Selected Letters : Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant / Selected Letters, 1839-1865 (Library of America)
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Stonewall Jackson
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Roberta E. Lee
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