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Union forces relinquished Fort Sumter on April 13, 1861. Though neither side suffered casualties, this
event was the first conflict in a bloody war that would last until the spring of 1865 and would take about
500,000 lives.

The Battles

Here follows a brief overview of some of the conflicts important battles. Click here for a map view.

Bull Run (Southern name: Manassas) July 21, 1861
This pitched battle eventually ended in a victory for the South. It is considered the first major land battle in
the war and helped General Thomas Jackson earn his nickname "Stonewall." The armies clashed again
at this site in 1862 at the Second Battle of Bull Run.

Antietam (Southern name: Sharpsburg) September 17, 1862
One of the bloodiest of the war, this battle was also the first major conflict in the North. With more than
20,000 casualties in one day of fighting, the victor in this battle was not clear. Many historians however,
see this as a Union victory because it stalled General Robert E. Lee’s march into the North. The Union
performance at Antietam also gave Lincoln the confidence to issue his Emancipation Proclamation
(September 1862).

Appomattox April 9, 1865
In April 1865, Confederate general Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union general Ulysses S. Grant,
effectively ending the war between the North and South. As word spread throughout the Confederacy
about Lee’s surrender, other southern commanders followed suit.

Aftermath and Reconstruction

With most of its battles in the South, in addition to Sherman’s “March to the Sea,” the war left the southern
regions in shambles. The U.S. government divided the South into five military districts and stationed
thousands of military personnel there to affect the recovery of the battle-scarred areas.

In order to be re-admitted into the United States, the secessionist southern states had to adopt laws and
practices to which they were ideologically opposed. Contingent upon their re-entry, the states were forced
to adopt the Fourteenth Amendment, and by July 1870, they were all once again part of the United States.

While ostensibly equal in the eyes of the U.S. Constitution, African Americans in the Reconstruction-era
South faced extreme hostility from many southern whites. In response to the enforcement of the
Fourteenth Amendment, many southern legislatures adopted “black codes,” which in effect returned
African Americans to slave status. These codes evolved into Jim Crow laws, which held sway in the
south until the Supreme Court began to strike them down in the twentieth century.

Review

• The issue of slavery, economics, social beliefs, and politics were all causes of the Civil
War.
• Lincoln’s election to the presidency caused South Carolina to secede from the Union;
several states followed almost immediately.
• The Confederacy’s capture of Fort Sumter is regarded as the first significant offensive
action in the war.
• The Battle of Appomattox effectively ended the war. Lee surrendered to Grant in April
1865.