The American Yawp — Chapter Thirteen: The Civil War
Abridged for Intermediate-High Learners

The American Civil War (1861–1865) was the bloodiest conflict in the nation's history. About 698,000 Americans died. Most Northern soldiers fought to preserve the Union, but the war became a fight to end slavery. African Americans, both enslaved and free, helped push the nation toward emancipation.

The war began with the election of 1860. The war touched nearly every American family. The Democratic Party split into Northern and Southern wings and ran two candidates: Stephen Douglas and John C. Breckinridge. The Republicans nominated Abraham Lincoln of Illinois. Lincoln won less than 40 percent of the popular vote, but he carried the free states and earned 180 electoral votes. Southern states saw his victory as a threat to slavery.

South Carolina led the way out of the Union. On December 20, 1860, its convention voted 169–0 for secession. Six more states quickly followed: Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas. The seceding states met in Montgomery, Alabama, chose Jefferson Davis as president, and formed the Confederacy. Confederate leaders said their new nation was built on slavery and white supremacy. Efforts at compromise, like the Crittenden Compromise, failed. The new Confederate Constitution protected slavery in every state.

On April 12, 1861, Confederate guns fired on Fort Sumter in South Carolina. Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers to suppress the rebellion, and the war began. Four more states of the Upper South joined the Confederacy, making eleven in all. The Union's plan, called the Anaconda Plan, used a naval blockade to squeeze the Confederacy by cutting off its ports. Many Northerners believed the Union was the world's greatest experiment in self-government and were willing to die for it. The four border states—Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri—stayed loyal, though guerrilla war raged in Missouri and Kentucky.

At first Lincoln fought only to save the Union. But Black Americans forced the issue of slavery. Enslaved people escaped to Union lines, where a general called them "contraband" of war. Congress passed laws freeing enslaved people in areas under Union control. After the bloody Battle of Antietam on September 17, 1862—the bloodiest single day in American history—Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. It took effect on January 1, 1863, and freed enslaved people in areas controlled by the Confederacy. It also let Black men join the Union army. More than 180,000 served, but they faced discrimination and lower pay.

The war brought terrible battles. At Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, on July 1–3, 1863, Union forces stopped General Lee's invasion of the North, including the failed infantry attack known as Pickett's Charge; 51,000 soldiers became casualties. The staggering casualty lists shocked the North. The next day, General Grant captured Vicksburg, Mississippi, splitting the Confederacy in two. The war also divided the North: in July 1863, angry workers rioted in New York City against the military draft, because rich men could pay $300 for a substitute.

In 1864, Grant took command of all Union armies and began a grinding campaign toward Richmond, fighting brutal battles in the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, and Cold Harbor, then starting the long siege of Petersburg, which cut off supplies to Richmond. General Sherman captured Atlanta in September and marched to the sea, destroying Southern railroads and farms and weakening Confederate morale. Lincoln won reelection in November, defeating George McClellan. In March 1865, Lincoln promised "malice toward none" in his second inaugural address. On April 9, 1865, Lee offered Grant his surrender at Appomattox Court House. Congress passed the Thirteenth Amendment, bringing the abolition of slavery everywhere in the United States.