Overview:
In 1861, shots fired upon Fort Sumter in South Carolina began the bloodiest war in American history, that resulted in the emancipation of all slaves, and a new era for the country.
The Battle of Gettysburg, the bloodiest battle of the war.
- The South had eleven states with a population of 9 million, 3 million of which were slaves, compared to the twenty-three Northern states with a population of 22 million.
- The first major battle of the civil war, the Battle of Bull Run, ended in a Confederate victory.
- The Battle of Shiloh in 1862, in which tens of thousands Union and Confederate men were killed or wounded, foreshadowed the huge amount of death to come.
- In 1863, the Battle of Gettysburg, often heralded as the turning point in the war, resulted in almost 30 thousand dead Confederate soldiers.
- Throughout 1864, most victories went to the Union, as the war began to draw to a close.
- Finally in April of 1865, the South surrendered the war to the Northern states, and the thirteenth amendment which emancipated slavery was ratified in December.