When the 11 southern states (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia) declared themselves to be the independent Confederate States of America on February 4, 1861, it was a disastrous blow for the unity of the United States and for those who wished to see the Union preserved, such as President Abraham Lincoln. However, there was also a belief in the North that prompt military action would quickly bring the Confederacy to its knees.
In both total population and armed fighting strength, the North overshadowed the South three to one, and the North's manufacturing and industrial strength had nine times the capacity of the South's. Despite this, the first major armed clash at Bull Run on July 21, 1861 was an overwhelming Confederate victory that clearly showed that the American Civil War would be neither short nor easy.
Over the next two years, the Union forces attempted to go on the offensive, but Confederate General Robert Edward Lee (1807-1870) consistently outmaneuvered them. Lee constantly threatened to capture Washington, DC, while the Union troops failed to get even within striking distance of Richmond.
Lee's brilliance as a commander and a tactician, combined with Lincoln's inability to find a fully competent Union Army commander, led to a string of stunning Confederate victories. Meanwhile, the Union Navy blockaded the Confederate ports, and the North's massive industrial machine was able to replace Union materiel losses quickly. The Confederate armies were courageous and well led, but they began to become weary as the war dragged on. The tide of the American Civil War turned in July 1863 in what are remem- bered as two of the conflict's bloodiest confrontations. Lee's forces, attempting to invade the North, were stopped at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and Union General Ulysses Simpson Grant (1822-1885) captured the Confederate stronghold at Vicks-burg, Mississippi on the Mississippi River.
Grant followed his success at Vicksburg by defeating the Confederate forces at Chattanooga, Tennessee on November 25, 1863. It appeared that Lincoln had finally found the general that could be a match for Lee, and who hopefully could bring the war to a successful close. In the final phase of the war, Grant pushed south from Washington and General William Tecumseh Sherman (1820-1891) cut a swath through the heart of the Confederacy. Sherman seized control of Atlanta on September 2, 1864, and Savannah on December 20. He then turned back north. Richmond now lay in a vice grip between Grant and Sherman. Lee finally surrendered to Grant on April 9, 1865 at the Appomattox Courthouse in Virginia. The Civil War was the greatest domestic disaster in American history. Union forces lost 364,511 troops and the Confederates lost 133,821. In fact, more Americans died in the Civil War than in any other, including World War II. Slavery in America was abolished forever and Abraham Lincoln's dream of a united country was at last secured.
Unfortunately, Lincoln himself did not live to enjoy the fruits of his hard-won peace. He was assassinated by an unemployed actor and Confederate sympathizer named John Wilkes Booth (1838-1865) at Ford's Theater in Washington, DC, on April 15, 1865.