Portal:American Civil War

Portal topics: Activities; Culture; Geography; Health; History; Mathematics; Nature; People; Philosophy; Religion; Society; Technology; Random portal

The American Civil War Portal

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)

Refresh with new selections below (purge)

Featured article

Saugus with a minesweeping rake

USS Saugus was a single-turreted Canonicus-class monitor built for the Union Navy during the American Civil War. The vessel was assigned to the James River Flotilla of the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron upon completion in April 1864. The ship spent most of her time stationed up the James River where she could support operations against Richmond and defend against a sortie by the Confederate ironclads of the James River Squadron. She engaged Confederate artillery batteries during the year and later participated in both attacks on Fort Fisher, defending the approaches to Wilmington, North Carolina, in December 1864 – January 1865. Saugus returned to the James River after the capture of Fort Fisher and remained there until Richmond, Virginia, was occupied in early April.

A few days later, the monitor was transferred to Washington, D.C., and used to temporarily incarcerate some of the suspected conspirators after the assassination of President Lincoln. She was decommissioned in June and recommissioned in early 1869 for service in the Caribbean and off the coast of Florida. Saugus was again recommissioned in late 1872 and generally remained active until late 1877. She was condemned in 1886 and sold for scrap in 1891. (Full article...)

More featured articles

Grand Parade of the States

The Utah Territory (September 9, 1850 - January 4, 1896) during the American Civil War was far from the main operational theaters of war, but still played a role in the disposition of the United States Army, drawing manpower away from the volunteer forces and providing its share of administrative headaches for the Lincoln Administration. Although no battles were fought in the territory, the withdrawal of Union forces at the beginning of the war allowed the Native American tribes to start raiding the trails passing through Utah. As a result, units from California and Utah were assigned to protect against these raids. Mineral deposits found in Utah by California soldiers encouraged the immigration of non-Mormon settlers into Utah. (Full article...)

More states articles

Featured biography

First Sergeant Powhatan Beaty, of the 5th United States Colored Infantry Regiment, who was awarded the Medal of Honor, for taking command of his company at the Battle of Chaffin's Farm, after all officers had been killed and/or wounded.

Powhatan Beaty (October 8, 1837 – December 6, 1916) was an African American soldier and actor. During the American Civil War, he served in the Union Army's 5th United States Colored Infantry Regiment throughout the Richmond–Petersburg Campaign. He received America's highest military decoration, the Medal of Honor, for taking command of his company at the Battle of Chaffin's Farm, after all officers had been killed or wounded.

Following the war, he became an orator and actor, appearing in amateur theater productions in his home of Cincinnati, Ohio. His most well-known stage performance was an 1884 appearance at Ford's Opera House on 9th Street in Washington, D.C., opposite Henrietta Vinton Davis. (Full article...)

More featured biographies

WikiProjects

edit

Featured picture

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

Did you know...

... that some Confederate bullets were sourced from a silver mine?
... that after the Little Rock campaign, Union forces held three-quarters of Arkansas?
... that Edward W. Gantt was a Confederate soldier who defected to the Union during the American Civil War?
... that Colonel Bradley Winslow was brevetted by US president Abraham Lincoln for "brave and gallant conduct" during the siege of Petersburg in the American Civil War?
... that actor George Kunkel portrayed in blackface the character of Uncle Tom, using it at first to promote slavery during the American Civil War but later to attack it, after his views had changed?
... that the only functioning secondary school in Mississippi during the American Civil War was founded by Thomas S. Gathright?