Civil War & Reconstruction: From Fort Sumter to the 13th Amendment
The Civil War (1861-1865) was the bloodiest conflict in American history. Master the causes, key battles, Lincoln's leadership, and the Reconstruction Amendments that followed.
A nation divided
By 1860, the US had become two Americas: an industrial North and an agricultural slave-based South. When Lincoln won the presidency without a single Southern electoral vote, 11 states seceded. The war that followed killed more Americans than every other US war combined until Vietnam.
Why the North won
The North's overwhelming industrial capacity — 85% of factories, 72% of railroad mileage, more than double the population — was decisive. The South had better generals (especially Robert E. Lee) and home-field advantage but couldn't match the North's ability to manufacture weapons, ship soldiers, and replenish losses.
Key events
- Fort Sumter (April 1861) — Confederate cannons fired on this Union fort in Charleston Harbor. The war's official start.
- Battle of Antietam (1862) — bloodiest single day in American history. Strategic Union win that allowed Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation.
- Emancipation Proclamation (Jan 1863) — Lincoln declared all enslaved people in Confederate-held territory free. Reframed the war as a fight against slavery.
- Battle of Gettysburg (July 1863) — turning point of the war. Confederate invasion of Pennsylvania defeated. Lincoln's Gettysburg Address followed in November.
- Appomattox (April 1865) — Lee surrendered to Grant. The war effectively ended.
Reconstruction Amendments
After the war, three constitutional amendments transformed America:
- 13th Amendment (1865) — abolished slavery throughout the United States.
- 14th Amendment (1868) — granted citizenship to all persons born in the US (including formerly enslaved people) and "equal protection of the laws."
- 15th Amendment (1870) — guaranteed voting rights regardless of "race, color, or previous condition of servitude."
Reconstruction (1865-1877) attempted to integrate Southern states and freed African Americans into civic life. It largely failed. By 1877, federal troops withdrew, and Southern states began passing Jim Crow laws that enforced racial segregation for the next 90 years.