Battle of Middle Boggy Depot

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The American Civil War Portal

This flag flew over Fort Sumter during the bombardment

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.

More about the American Civil War...

Featured article

HMS Wivern in 1865, note that the funnel is retracted

The two Scorpion class ironclads, HMS Scorpion and HMS Wivern, were ironclad warships ordered by the Confederate States Navy in 1862 and seized in 1863 by the British to prevent their delivery. This would have violated the , which forbade British subjects to build or arm any ships for governments at war with governments friendly to Great Britain. The Scorpion-class were masted turret ships, each with two gun turrets that were designed to mount a pair of heavy muzzle-loading guns. They were purchased for service in the Royal Navy in 1864 and served briefly with the Channel Fleet before they became guard ships at Bermuda and Hong Kong. Scorpion was sold in 1903 and sank under tow to be scrapped, while Wivern was sold for scrap in 1922. Read more...

Grand Parade of the States

The state of Iowa played a significant role during the American Civil War in providing food, supplies, troops and officers for the Union army. Read more...

Featured biography

Oliver Christian Bosbyshell (January 3, 1839 – August 1, 1921) was Superintendent of the United States Mint at Philadelphia from 1889 to 1894. He also claimed to have been the first Union soldier wounded by enemy action in the Civil War, stating that he received a bruise on the forehead from an object thrown by a Confederate sympathizer while his unit was marching through Baltimore in April 1861.

Bosbyshell was born in Mississippi. His parents were of old Philadelphia stock, and he was raised in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania. After briefly working on the railroad and then studying law, Bosbyshell enlisted in the Union cause on the outbreak of war. Following a brief period of service in the 25th Pennsylvania Volunteer Regiment, he joined the 48th Pennsylvania, remaining in that regiment for three years. He saw action in such battles as Second Bull Run and Antietam. He rose to the rank of major and led his regiment, but was mustered out upon the expiration of his term of service in October 1864, having been refused a leave of absence. Read more...

WikiProjects

Featured picture

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

Did you know...

... that Thomas Sturgis was a prisoner of war in the American Civil War, a prominent cattle grower, and New York City Fire Commissioner?
... that a number of Confederate cannons were captured at the Battle of Big Black River Bridge because battery horses were posted on the wrong side of the river?
... that the Brooklyn Naval Hospital treated almost a quarter of Union casualties during the American Civil War?
... that upon hearing the Confederate song "I'm a Good Ol' Rebel", the future King Edward VII requested a repeat performance of "that fine American song with the cuss words in it"?
... that the Carolina Watchman newspaper supported the Confederacy during the Civil War, but backed the Union cause both before and after?
... that Marye fought for both the United States Army and the Confederate States during the American Civil War?