Portal:American Civil War

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The American Civil War Portal

The Bloody Angle at the Battle of Spotsylvania

The American Civil War (1861–1865) was a bitter sectional rebellion against the United States of America by the Confederate States of America, 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 South 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.

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The United States Military Academy at West Point (also known as USMA, West Point, or Army) is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located at West Point, New York. Established in 1802, USMA is the oldest of the United States's five service academies. The military garrison at West Point was occupied in 1778 and played a key role in the Revolutionary War. The academy sits on scenic high ground overlooking the Hudson River, 50 miles (80 km) north of New York City. The entire central campus is a national landmark and home to scores of historic sites, buildings, and monuments. The majority of the campus's neogothic buildings are constructed from gray and black granite. The campus is a popular tourist destination complete with a large visitor center and the oldest museum in the United States Army.

With the outbreak of the Civil War, West Point graduates filled the general officer ranks of the rapidly expanding Union and Confederate armies. Two hundred and ninety-four graduates served as general officers for the Union, and one hundred and fifty-one served as general officers for the Confederacy. Of all living graduates at the time of the war, 105 (10%) were killed, and another 151 (15%) were wounded. Nearly every general officer of note from either army during the Civil War was a graduate of West Point and a West Point graduate commanded the forces of one or both sides in every one of the 60 major battles of the war.

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Grand Parade of the States

Maryland, a slave state, was one of the border states, straddling the North and South. Due to its location and a desire from both opposing factions to sway her population to their respective causes, Maryland played an important role in the American Civil War. The first fatalities of the war happened during the Baltimore Riot of 1861, and the single bloodiest day of combat in American military history occurred near Sharpsburg, Maryland, at the Battle of Antietam, which provided the opportunity for President Lincoln to issue his famed Emancipation Proclamation. The 1864 Battle of Monocacy helped delay a Confederate army bent on striking the Federal capital of Washington, D.C..

Nearly 85,000 citizens signed up for the military, with most joining the Union army, although nearly a quarter of these enlisted to fight for the Confederate States of America. Leading Maryland leaders and officers during the Civil War included Governor Thomas H. Hicks, who despite his early sympathies for the South, helped prevent the state from seceding, and General George H. "Maryland" Steuart, who was a noted brigade commander under Robert E. Lee.

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Richard Heron Anderson (October 7, 1821 – June 26, 1879) was a career U.S. Army officer, fighting with distinction in the Mexican-American War. Born in the High Hills of Santee at Borough House Plantation (Hill Crest), near the town of Stateburg located in Sumter County, South Carolina, Anderson graduated 40th out of 56 cadets from the United States Military Academy in July 1842, and was brevetted a second lieutenant in the 1st U.S. Dragoons. In the Mexican-American War, Anderson took part in the Siege of Veracruz in March 1847, the Battle of Contreras in August, and the Battle of Molino del Rey on September 8. After frontier service, Anderson resigned his commission in 1861 to join the Confederate States Army as a colonel.

During the war, Anderson was quickly promoted to division command, was wounded at Antietam, and fought his division at Chancellorsville and Gettysburg. Anderson took charge of Longstreet's Corps when its commander was severely wounded, and led the corps at Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor, and in the defenses of Petersburg, getting his own Fourth Corps command when Longstreet returned from his convalescence. After Appomattox Court House, he returned to his Stateburg home to farm and work for the South Carolina railroad.

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Credit: Miglia

Adam Beattie was captain of the New York 26th Independent Battery, Light Artillery Barnes’ Rifle Battery during the war.

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Did you know...

... that Kasim Reed, a 2009 Atlanta mayoral candidate, is known for keeping the battle emblem of the Confederate States of America from being considered for inclusion on the Georgia State Flag?
... that French-designed cannons, manufactured in both the North and the South, were the primary artillery weapons of the American Civil War?
... that Confederate General Henry C. Wayne gained a First Class Medal of Mammal Division by the Société impériale zoologique d'acclimatation for his introduction of the camel to the United States?
... that Charles Thomas Campbell, who served as a Union Army general, helped found the town of Scotland, South Dakota?
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