In the U.S. at this time the Civil War was taking place while Abe Lincoln was in office. President Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809. He was the 16th president of the U.S. from 1861-1865. In his childhood to teenage days his hobbies were walking and he loved to wrestle. He didn't attend college but he loved to read at home. When he was president he was the first president to have a beard in office. He was also the first president to be photographed at his inauguration. Lincoln was the tallest president to ever be in office. He was 6 feet 4 inches. Abraham Lincoln was shot on Good Friday by John Wilkes Booth.

The Civil war lasted from 1861-1865. The southern states wanted their own nation to decide their own laws, but the northern states disagreed with breaking apart the country. Abraham Lincoln said in the election of 1860 that he wanted to stop slavery. The southern states wanted to keep slavery and said that if he won they would leave the union of the United States. When was was elected, the southern states did just that, and formed The Confederate States of America.

The war began in 1861 at Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina. It was a very long and bloody war with thousands of dead and injured, and the South was almost destroyed. The war ended when General Lee of the Conferacy surrendered to General Grant of the Union in 1865.