The Civil War was one of the greatest wars in American history. Three million fought - six hundred thousand died over a period of four years. The Civil War began in 1861with the attack on Fort Sumter.
The southern United States wanted to become an independent nation. The North wanted to for the South back into the Union. The Union was the the northern states. It consisted of the states: Iowa, Michigan, Kansas, California, Oregan, New York, Missouri, Illinois, Ohio, Kentucky, Delaware, Maine, Rhode Island,Vermont, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, Connecticut, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, West Virginia, and Indiana. The Confederate was the southern states. It cosisted of the states: Texas, Arkansas, Lousiana, Mississippi, Alabama, tennessee, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Florida, Georgia, and Virginia. Besides the South wanting to become its own country, the war was also about the issue of slavery. The South believed in slavery, but the North didn't. Abe Lincoln, the current President during that time, made this clear when he issued the Emancipation Proclamation.
Both sides had its individual weaknesses and advantages. Many southerners had skills that made them good soldiers. They were taught to hunt,and some even went to Military School. Inspite of their advantages, they they had many weaknesses. They had few factories to produce weapons and vital supplies. The a lot railroads were messed up, so there was not a lot of them to ship supplies and troops.
The North had many people to grow food and work in factories. 90% of the nation goods came from the north. More than 70% of the nations railroads were in the North. They had a strong navy and a large fleet of tadings ships. Also the population was 22 million in the North to 9 million in South. That gave the North more people to fight in the war. Inspite of their advantages, the north had few disadvantages. The main one was that they were fighting in unfamiliar land.
Many went to war to fight the battles. Even kids went to war. Kids about 11 years old would serve as drummers that would rouse the troops in the morning. Even though they didn't fight they often died in battles. If you were 12 and up you could maybe serve as a soldier in the army.
The way the war was won, was when General Lee of the Confederate Army surrendered at Appomatox Courthouse in Alabama. A lot of the Confederate Army were angered by this news that the Yankees had won. But they of people soon got over it and were actually happy that we were all one country and not two separated ones.
