The Confederacy seized US forts and other federal assets within its borders. The war began on April 12, 1861, when the Confederacy bombarded Fort Sumter in South Carolina. A wave of enthusiasm for …

Nov 20, 2025 · American Civil War, four-year war (1861–65) fought between the United States and 11 Southern states that seceded to form the Confederate States of America. It arose out of disputes …

Historians and experts look at the role of slavery in the Civil War and its effect on the U.S. from Reconstruction through the present day. The Civil War was a conflict many years in the...

Both North and South were confident they could easily win the struggle. Each misjudged the other’s determination and tragically underestimated the horrors of the war ahead. Neither predicted that …

The Civil War marked a defining moment in United States history. Long simmering sectional tensions reached a critical stage in 1860–1861 when eleven slaveholding states seceded and formed the …

Nov 20, 2008 · The Civil War is the central event in America's historical consciousness. While the Revolution of 1776-1783 created the United States, the Civil War of 1861-1865 determined what kind …

The American Civil War, 1861–1865, resulted from long-standing sectional differences and questions not fully resolved when the United States Constitution was ratified in 1789, primarily the issue of …

This timeline of events leading to the American Civil War is a chronologically ordered list of events and issues that historians recognize as origins and causes of the American Civil War. These events are …

Oct 15, 2009 · The Civil War in the United States began in 1861, after decades of simmering tensions between northern and southern states over slavery, states’ rights and westward expansion.

Nov 20, 2025 · The American Civil War was a four-year war (1861–65) between the United States and 11 Southern states that seceded from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America.