Civil War

Civil war between the Northern and Southern states split United States of America and left a legacy of bitterness. The war was fought to prevent the South breaking away from the Union.

The northern states had the biggest cities and the most factories. Slavery there was banned by 1820, but in the Southern states, which had little industry, plantations relied on large numbers of slave workers. Here slave owning was accepted. In 1861, Abraham Lincoln was elected president. He pledged to end slavery in the United States. Many Southerners saw this as a threat to their way of life and, in 1861, eleven Southern states announced that they were breaking away from the Union to form own Confederacy. When the government told them they had no right to do this, civil war broke out.

The 23 Union (Northern) states had more soldiers and more money than the Confederacy, as well as railways and the industry to provide weapons and supplies for war. With control of the navy, they were able to blockade Southern ports, cutting off supplies to the South from abroad, and preventing the export of cotton – a major source of wealth to the South.

The early battles were won by the South, but in July 1863 Union troops defeated Confederate forces at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

A NEW KIND OF WARFARE

The American Civil War was fought with new weapons, such as quick-loading rifles, ironclad (armoured) ships, submarines and even balloons (for observing enemy movements). Railways and telegraphs speeded up communications. Faced with deadly gunfire, soldiers were killed in large numbers as they tried to attack across open ground.

Another Union army captured Vicksburg, Mississippi. In April 1865, the Confederate general Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox, Virginia. By this time, much of the South was in ruins. Over 600,000 soldiers had died, more than half from disease. Five days after the surrender, Lincoln was assassinated. Though the war was over and slaves were set free, conditions for them hardly improved.