From 1861 to 1865, The Union faced secessionists in 11 Southern states grouped together as the Confederacy and waged war against America. It was the bloodiest conflict in U.S. history.

North vs. South

Lists about the period of United States history that allowed for human enslavement, from early colonial days until the ratification of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution in 1865.

American Slavery

Civil War

There's no question: the Civil War was about slavery. Denying the central role that slavery played in the Civil War goes against all the facts. And yet some still cling to the revisionist history argument that the South wanted independence or&nbsp;lower taxes, or fought for states' rights. But history shows that states' rights meant the right to own slaves.How did slavery cause the Civil War? For decades before the war, Americans became increasingly polarized over the question of slavery, as the number of slaves increased in the South and decreased in the North. Westward expansion created a new battleground over slavery, with slave states promoting the expansion of the &quot;peculiar institution&quot; into new territories like Missouri, Kansas, and California. Abraham Lincoln predicted that slavery would split the country, and a <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/map-that-convinced-lincoln-to-end-slavery/genevieve-carlton" target="_blank">shocking map</a> convinced him&nbsp;that slavery had to end. Finally, the abolition of slavery was a condition of the <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/what-happened-right-after-civil-war-rebel-surrender/cheryl-adams-richkoff" target="_blank">Confederate surrender</a>&nbsp;at Appomattox.History before, during, and after the Civil War proves that the war was about slavery.&nbsp;Anyone who still doubts what the Civil War was really about should&nbsp;listen to the words of Confederates and former slaves -&nbsp;both groups agreed on this point.

The Civil War Was About Slavery, And Leading Confederates Of The Day Said So

General

The Civil War Was Definitely About Slavery And Saying It Wasn't Is Revisionist History

Genevieve Carlton

US History

The Civil War was the bloodiest in US&nbsp;history: more Americans perished in five years than in all other conflicts combined. What was it like to fight?&nbsp;Soldiers, <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/civil-war-photos-of-child-soldiers/brenden-donnelly" target="_blank">some of who were merely children</a>, faced new technology on the field, like rifle-muskets that could cut down dozens of men in a single volley. Military tactics didn&#39;t catch up with technology, men were ordered to line up and march toward gunfire, and even those who survived the field often succumbed to&nbsp;infected amputations or diseases.

New technology didn&#39;t simply shape life on the field;&nbsp;it affected how we understand the conflict. <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/photos-from-civil-war-battles/aaron-edwards" target="_blank">Rare photos</a>&nbsp;that captured the horrors of clashes remind us that&nbsp;the battle between the Union and Confederacy&nbsp;was the first major US conflict fought after the invention of photography. Images spread across the country, capturing the devastating losses. Soldiers struggled to survive on meager rations, writing home about the <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/civil-war-hygiene/setareh-janda" target="_blank">terrible conditions they faced</a>.

What It Was Actually Like To Fight In The Civil War

In 1859, Congressman Daniel Sickles shot and killed the man sleeping with his wife. After escaping a prison sentence,&nbsp;Sickles disobeyed orders in the Civil War and lost a leg. After the war, General Dan Sickles donated the leg to the Army Medical Museum. And that&#39;s just the start when it comes to the wildest general in the Civil War.

Born in 1819 to a wealthy family, Sickles rose to political power thanks to Tammany Hall, the political machine in New York City. Just like the <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/north-south-spy-stories/setareh-janda" target="_blank">Civil War spies</a>&nbsp;who changed the course of the conflict, Sickles risked his life for the Union. But Sickles didn&#39;t have any military training -&nbsp;he only became a general because of his political connections.

At 33 years old, Sickles married a 15-year-old girl -&nbsp;and later shot her lover. Sickles didn&#39;t hold himself to the standard of monogamy, though. He asked a famous brothel madam to accompany him overseas on a diplomatic assignment, and later had an affair with Queen Isabella II of Spain. Throughout his life, scandals&nbsp;followed Sickles everywhere - even into his 90s.

Meet Dan Sickles, The Wildest General From The Civil War

History

In April of 1865, after four long years of bloodshed, the Civil War finally came to an end when General Robert E. Lee formally surrendered the Confederate Army to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House.The president of the newly-reunited United States, Abraham Lincoln, was allowed just a few short days to celebrate the victory and begin implementing <a href="http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/lincoln-issues-proclamation-of-amnesty-and-reconstruction">his two-year-old plan for the Reconstruction</a> of the country. Then, on April 15, 1865, Lincoln was gunned down in Ford’s Theater by John Wilkes Booth, a man sympathetic to the defeated Confederacy. In the years following the end of the Civil War and Lincoln’s assassination, his successor Andrew Johnson proved utterly incapable of unifying a fractured nation. Under Johnson, everyday life during the Reconstruction was a <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/racism-kept-alive-post-civil-war/setareh-janda">gauntlet of simmering hatred</a>, short supplies, and an <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/how-did-the-freeing-of-the-slaves-work/kellen-perry">onslaught of new means for oppressing African Americans</a>.When the Civil War ended, what should have been a moment of triumph, instead marked the beginning of nearly a decade of failed attempts to undo the damage caused by the war. The disastrous effects of the Reconstruction period that followed would <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/photos-of-racial-segregation-in-america/rylee_en">shape the future of the Southern United States</a> for the next century. Here’s a glimpse of how those policies and the inherent hatred they fed off impacted daily life during the Reconstruction period.

What Was Life Actually Like In The South During Reconstruction?

What Was Life In The South Like During Reconstruction?

Justin Andress

Whoa Facts

War <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/warfare-stories-that-sound-fake-but-are-true/jim-rowley" target="_blank">drives people to extremes</a>. Occasionally, the people engaged in the war are able to verbalize their experiences so succinctly, so dramatically, that a novelist or poet could hardly say it better.

It gives a strange thrill when we&nbsp;see the actors on the stage of history doing justice to the import and drama of the very events they&#39;re making real, and doing so not in retrospect but as it happens.&nbsp;Here are some Civil War quotes that would be hard for anyone to improve upon.

Savage Civil War Quotes That Sound Made Up, But Aren't

Gordon Cameron

Celebrities

We&#39;re not saying there are time-travelers among us who occasionally travel backward 160 years to suit up and fight in old battles. But if there were such individuals, there&#39;s a good chance they&#39;d be celebrity actors&nbsp;who can afford the no-doubt considerable expense that this hobby would entail. So, in furtherance of this completely plausible theory, here are some pictures of celebrities who just happen to be Civil War look-alikes.

18 Celebrities Who Look Exactly Like Civil War Soldiers

Actor

As dawn broke over Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, on July 1, 1863, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Battle-of-Gettysburg" target="_blank">the fate of the United States</a> teetered on a razor&#39;s edge. The Confederate Army of Virginia, commanded by General <a href="https://www.legendsofamerica.com/ah-robertlee/" target="_blank">Robert E. Lee</a>, had just won a massive victory at Chancellorsville, Virginia, and was now marching through Union territory. The Union Army of the Potomac was the only thing standing&nbsp;between Lee and the Union capital, Washington, DC. Commanding the Union forces&nbsp;was newly promoted General George Meade, who replaced General Joseph Hooker after his defeat at Chancellorsville.

The Confederate cause was <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/battle-of-gettysburg" target="_blank">on the brink of success</a>. A victory in Union territory would leave DC exposed and had the potential to cause France and Great Britain to recognize the Confederacy internationally. These factors, combined with strengthening sentiment in the North to end the conflict, could ultimately force&nbsp;Abraham Lincoln to concede the independence of the Confederate States. It seemed that, with a single victory, the South could win the conflict.

On that sunny, summer morning, Meade was attempting to keep his troops&nbsp;between Lee and the capital. He sent his cavalry, led by&nbsp;General John Buford, ahead to scout. Meanwhile, Lee&#39;s troops, <a href="https://www.nps.gov/gett/learn/historyculture/confederate-commanders-at-gettysburg.htm" target="_blank">organized into three corps</a>, were attempting to meet at South Mountain, where they would be in a strong position to either defend or attack. The three corps&nbsp;were led by&nbsp;General Richard S. Ewell,&nbsp;General A.P. Hill, and General James Longstreet. The Confederate Cavalry was led by General J.E.B. Stuart, and had gone on a raid behind the Union troops. The two opposing forces&nbsp;would meet at Gettysburg, where over three days of intense battle, history would be made.

By the time the dust settled on the fourth day, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/the-battle-of-gettysburg-ended-today-1863-2017-7" target="_blank">11,000 men had perished</a>, 29,000 were wounded, and 10,000 were missing. However, the Union troops remained, and the Confederate troops were retreating back to Virginia. How did Meade&#39;s Army of the Potomac manage to win this crucial victory over a Confederate force&nbsp;led by one of the most brilliant generals in American history?

Why Did The South Lose Gettysburg, The Most Decisive Battle Of The Civil War?

Why Did The South Lose The Battle Of Gettysburg?

Christopher Myers

Old Stuff

Survival during war is often about more than just time spent on the front lines. During the Civil War, finding sufficient, edible&nbsp;food&nbsp;was challenging on account of a devastated landscape, insufficient labor&nbsp;after farmers went off to fight, as well as blockades and barricades preventing access to much-needed provisions.&nbsp;

Much like <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/gross-food-that-american-settlers-ate/melissa-sartore" target="_blank">settlers headed out West</a> during the expansion of the United States or millions of <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/food-during-the-great-depression/kellen-perry" target="_blank">poverty-stricken individuals</a> impacted by the Great Depression, Civil War soldiers and their civilian counterparts resorted to whatever they could find to eat. Sometimes the results were&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/disgusting-conditions-in-historical-meatpacking-plants/laura-allan" target="_blank">gnarly and out of the norm</a>&nbsp;when viewed through a modern lens.

The following&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/disgusting-conditions-in-historical-meatpacking-plants/laura-allan" target="_blank">recipes</a> reflect the creativity men and women undertook in the kitchen and at the campfire. From alternative forms of coffee to cakes of all kinds, you may not believe some of the things people actually ate.&nbsp;

Unconventional Foods People Ate To Survive During The Civil War

Melissa Sartore

For most people, the name Cassius Clay is associated with one man and one man only: Muhammad Ali. Perhaps the most famous athlete of the 20th century, Ali famously rejected the name Cassius Clay when he joined the Nation of Islam and refused to answer to what he had dubbed &quot;my slave name.&quot;

This bold move had the intended effect and cemented Ali as a crusader for equality and African American rights, but ironically, the name Cassius Clay was taken from a man who had fought for abolition his entire life. So who was the original Cassius Clay? The simple answer is that he was a prominent abolitionist politician in the mid-1800s. He served in the Kentucky House of Representatives and was&nbsp;appointed ambassador to Russia by Abraham Lincoln.

But that&#39;s not the whole story. Known as the Lion of White Hall - named after the estate and plantation he owned and grew up on - he was also one of the toughest politicians ever to walk the halls of Congress. He won duel after duel, and his physical exploits are legendary. Not only that, he was an open and vocal advocate for the abolition of slavery in the 1840s, in Kentucky of all places.

He was bombastic and charismatic, but could also be vicious and cruel. His boundless energy brought him close to&nbsp;Lincoln, even as his ambition alienated the president. He embodied the volatile, contradictory spirit of his age, and in the end Cassius Marcellus Clay went down as perhaps the most larger-than-life figure of the day.

Duel-Happy Abolitionist Cassius Clay Was The Most Metal Politician In American History

Who Was Cassius Clay? Duel-Happy Abolitionist Was The Most Metal Politician

Quinn Armstrong

Maps

One image did more to end slavery in the United States than any other. It was the map through which Abraham Lincoln saw&nbsp;slavery, and it changed the way he thought about the Civil War.&nbsp;

President&nbsp;Lincoln&rsquo;s map of slavery was the <a href="https://www.loc.gov/resource/g3861e.cw0013200/?r=-0.404,0.008,1.989,0.739,0" target="_blank">1861 U.S. Coast Survey Map</a>. It drew on census data and used groundbreaking cartographic techniques for the era to visually depict the four million Americans held in bondage in the Southern states. The map revealed which counties had the highest concentrations of slaves, as well as&nbsp;which parts of the Confederacy might be the least committed to the institution.

Lincoln relied on this snapshot map of slavery before the Civil War to decide how to propose abolition. The map pushed him to issue the Emancipation Proclamation, and it drove Union support for ending slavery during the darkest days of the Civil War.

The Map That Helped Convince Lincoln Slavery Had To End

Lists about terrible times in history during which man went to great lengths to dehumanize entire populations of people.

Dark History

Explainer

Racism in America didn&#39;t end with the Civil War. Though the Reconstruction Era&nbsp;- a period from 1865 to 1877, in which a Republican-led US&nbsp;government attempted to rehabilitate the former Confederate states and incorporate <a href="/list/how-did-the-freeing-of-the-slaves-work/kellen-perry">newly freed slaves</a> into the nation - brought about fundamental political rights for a segment of the population that had been enslaved, it also ushered in a period&nbsp;of racial violence and segregation known as&nbsp;the Jim Crow era,&nbsp;which lasted until the 1960s.

The Jim Crow era perpetuated&nbsp;racism in America, and life for Black Americans after the Civil War was dangerous. For many Black Americans, true freedom&nbsp;didn&#39;t become&nbsp;reality, and&nbsp;new challenges arose. In both law and custom, white Americans attempted to exclude, oppress, and <a href="https://historydaily.org/tignon-laws-facts-trivia-stories" target="_blank">limit the rights of Black Americans</a>. This post-Civil War racism was as heinous as it was unbelievable, especially since some of the ways racism was kept alive mimicked or drew from the very slave system the Civil War had officially ended.

But this&nbsp;story is not just one of oppressors and the oppressed. Though the Jim Crow era is certainly a heartbreaking, violent chapter in African American history, it is also a story of resistance and activism for many men and women who suffered under it. Like <a href="/list/harriet-tubman-facts/mike-rothschild">Harriet Tubman</a> in the antebellum and war years, or slaves who assisted the Union Army as <a href="/list/civil-war-spy-stories/setareh-janda">Civil War spies</a>, Black Americans during the Jim Crow era also challenged&nbsp;racism&nbsp;in subtle, important ways.

True, most of the Jim Crow laws were in the South. But racism existed across the country, and wasn&#39;t confined to states that&nbsp;rebelled in the 1860s. Racism was not just a Southern problem -&nbsp;it was an American one.

18 Ways Racism Was Kept Alive In America After The Civil War

Setareh Janda

Looking closer at some of the best, most realistic, most brutal depictions of war in the history of entertainment.

Wars on Screen

Looking closer at films, TV shows, docs, and miniseries that explore, recreate, and occasionally flub up real historical events.

Watching History

America

A list of the best films about the US Civil War. The Civil War remains the bloodiest war in American history, resulting in the loss of 620,000 soldiers and many many more civilian casualties. Naturally, the conflict - which still echoes in contemporary US culture and politics - has provided source material for a rich variety of different films, including the iconic Gone With the Wind and numerous other award-winning, undisputed &quot;classics,&quot; such as Glory and Dances with Wolves.Many of these films also have books and classic literature as their source material, including The Red Badge of Courage and Gods and Generals, based on the non-fiction book The Killer Angels.If you're looking for some good Civil War movies to watch with your friends, or want to learn a little something about American history by watching famous films based on that historical period, this list of the best movies about the Civil War is a great place to start. This list is open, so if your favorite Civil War film has been left off, please add it at the bottom of the page. And don't forget to vote for your favorite Civil War films, so they get to the top of the list.

The Best US Civil War Movies Ever Made

Film

Best Civil War Movies | List of Great US Civil War Films

Ranker Community

From 1861 to 1865, the Civil War battered <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/what-civil-war-life-was-like/genevieve-carlton" target="_blank">American life</a> and became one of the country&#39;s deadliest conflicts. Due to some of the country&#39;s bloodiest battles, civilian unrest, and fatal outbreaks, the Civil War was a theater for some of the darkest moments in American history.

The Civil War took the lives of more than 620,000 Union and Confederate soldiers. Some of them didn&#39;t survive high-stakes battles like Gettysburg or Antietam, while others perished from disease.

Not all of the Civil War&#39;s darkest moments happened on battlefields. The war came into everyday people&#39;s lives in unexpected and unwelcome ways, too, such as violent raids against civilians.

Though the Civil War was <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/how-slavery-caused-civil-war/genevieve-carlton" target="_blank">undeniably about slavery</a>, African American soldiers and civilians alike suffered disproportionately during the conflict. Confederates targeted Black troops and freedpeople, and formerly enslaved refugees were often subject to the whims of a government that still didn&#39;t see them as free and equal human beings.

As a reckoning of America&#39;s soul, the Civil War was a violent crucible in which suffering happened on an epic scale.

The 14 Darkest Moments In The American Civil War

Exploring the life and end Abraham Lincoln, the tall lawyer in the top hat who served as the 16th President of the United States from March 1861 until he was taken out by an enemy in April 1865.

Lincoln the Liberator

After John Wilkes Booth assassinated Abraham Lincoln on April 14, 1865, the Union went into deep mourning for the president who had led them through the Civil War.&nbsp;Many viewed Lincoln&#39;s death as a martyrdom, especially those in the North.&nbsp;But&nbsp;how did Confederates react to Lincoln&#39;s assassination? The short answer: It&#39;s complicated.

The <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/facts-about-the-assassination-of-abraham-lincoln/setareh-janda" target="_blank">assassination of Abraham Lincoln</a> occurred about a week after <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/what-happened-right-after-civil-war-rebel-surrender/cheryl-adams-richkoff" target="_blank">General Robert E. Lee&#39;s surrender</a>&nbsp;to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House. Though the war technically did not end yet - as conflict still raged in the Western Theater of the Civil War - for all intents and purposes, it was over when General Lee conceded. Lincoln&#39;s assassination at the hands of a Confederate&nbsp;sympathizer created a deep wound in a nation on the cusp of peace and reunion. In the North, many eulogized&nbsp;Lincoln as the Union&#39;s fallen leader. Millions of mourners paid their respects as his body was taken on a nationwide funeral tour.

Some may&nbsp;celebrate&nbsp;Lincoln as one of <a href="https://www.ranker.com/crowdranked-list/the-u-s-presidents-from-best-to-worst" target="_blank">the best presidents in US&nbsp;history</a>, but not all Civil War-era Americans - especially those living south of the Mason-Dixon line - endorsed him.&nbsp;Some Confederate leaders after the Civil War respectfully honored Lincoln, while others&nbsp;scorned the slain statesman; the same goes for everyday Southerners.&nbsp;From celebratory toasts to anxious expressions of grief, Confederate reactions to Lincoln&#39;s death varied wildly.

How Did Confederates Feel About Abraham Lincoln's Assassination?

How The South Reacted To Lincoln's Assassination

Since his passing, Ulysses S. Grant has been one of the most revered and controversial figures in the history of American politics. He led the Union Army to victory against Confederate secession during the Civil War, he brokered peace between the divided fractions of the United States, and he was swept into <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/pictures-of-the-oval-office-for-each-us-president/kellen-perry?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">the Oval Office</a> on a wave of popularity after Andrew Johnson&#39;s impeachment.

During his time in office, Grant accomplished a great deal with regards to civil rights and&nbsp;reconstruction, however, his presidency was also rife with financial scandals that were committed by exploiting his well-known lack of business acumen and his ineptitude with money, finance,&nbsp;and investments.&nbsp;

Despite his reputation a <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/list-of-all-ulysses-s-grant-battles/reference" target="_blank">Civil War general</a>&nbsp;and president,&nbsp;it was his trust in others and lack of financial skills&nbsp;that proved to be his downfall. After leaving office, Grant was hustled by a smooth-talking con man who ended up leaving the beloved politician in financial ruin&nbsp;shortly before he passed. However, it was this awful setback that put him on a path to writing his best-selling memoirs and ensuring financial safety for his family - but not before he passed&nbsp;nearly penniless.

How The Commander Of The Union Army Died Broke

How Ulysses S. Grant Lost All His Money & Died Broke

Zach Seemayer

Camp Sumter, also known as Andersonville&nbsp;prison, housed 45,000 captured Union soldiers during the Civil War. Conditions at Andersonville were so horrific that 13,000 soldiers perished, many from overcrowding, starvation, and exposure. After the conflict, the Andersonville commander was put on trial for war crimes.&nbsp;

Andersonville was originally built in 1864 after the <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/andersonville" target="_blank">Civil War prisoner exchange system</a> broke down. When Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, the Confederacy responded by declaring they would <a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/civil-war-prisoner-exchange-104536" target="_blank">no longer return captured Black soldiers</a> to the North. Lincoln ordered a halt to all prisoner exchanges until the Confederacy treated Black captives&nbsp;equal to white POWs. The Confederacy hastily built the Andersonville&nbsp;facility using Black slave labor&nbsp;to house 10,000 POWs. Instead, more than three times that number were shoved onto just 16 acres of land, with no fresh water, no housing, and barely any food. Described as &quot;hell-upon-earth,&quot; Andersonville claimed the lives of thousands of Union soldiers.

What Was It Like To Be A Prisoner At Camp Sumter, A Terrifying Civil War Prison?

What Life Was Like At Civil War Prison Camp Sumter

Civil War lists at Ranker - The ultimate source for hundreds of civil war lists and rankings