Civil War Overview

The American Civil War Overview

Introduction

With the election of the anti-slavery Republican candidate for President, Abraham Lincoln, the Southern states decided they had to take drastic action in order to protect their own interests. On December 20, 1860, a secession convention met in South Carolina and adopted an Ordinance of Secession from the Union. Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas quickly followed suit. These states sent delegates to Montgomery, Alabama and on February 8, 1861 adopted a provisional constitution for the newly formed Confederate States of America. Jefferson Davis was chosen as the President for a six-year term of office. The Constitution by which the permanent government of the Confederate States of America was formed was reported by the committee and adopted by the Provisional Congress on the 11th of March, 1861, to be submitted to the States for ratification. All States ratified it and conformed themselves to its requirements without delay. The Constitution varied in very few particulars from the Constitution of the United States, preserving carefully the fundamental principles of popular representative democracy and confederation of co-equal States.
These events were to set the stage for the bloodiest and saddest war in American history. In a conflict that combined elements of the Napoleonic Age with features of the new Machine Age, at least 600,000 Americans would lose their lives fighting for constitutional principle, sectional differences, economic self-interest, and moral righteousness. As a defining moment in United States history, our Civil War has no equal, which is why it remains such a fascinating subject even today.

Chronology	Timeline Of The War
Chapter I	The War Begins
Chapter II	The Eastern Theater: "On To Richmond"
Chapter III	The Western Theater: The Opening Moves
Chapter IV	The Eastern Theater: The Peninsula Campaign
Chapter V	The Eastern Theater: 2nd Manassas, Antietam, and Fredericksburg
Chapter VI	The Western Theater: Bragg's Kentucky Campaign
Chapter VII	The Eastern Theater: The Chancellorsville Campaign
Chapter VIII	The Western Theater: The Vicksburg Campaign
Chapter IX	The Eastern Theater: The Gettysburg Campaign
Chapter X	The Western Theater: The Tullahoma Campaign
Chapter XI	The Western Theater: Chickamauga and Chattanooga
Chapter XII	The Trans-Mississippi: The Red River Campaign
Chapter XIII	The Eastern Theater: Lee and Meade
Chapter XIV	The Eastern Theater: Grant Takes Command
Chapter XV	The Eastern Theater: The Forty Days
Chapter XVI	The Eastern Theater: Early's Washington Raid
Chapter XVII	The Eastern Theater: Sheridan's Valley Campaign
Chapter XVIII	The Western Theater: The Atlanta Campaign
Chapter XIX	The Western Theater: Hood's Tennessee Campaign
Chapter XX	The Western Theater: Sherman's March to the Sea and Campaign of the Carolinas
Chapter XXI	The Eastern Theater: Petersburg and Appomattox
Chapter XXII	The Western Theater: The End

Source: For the most part, with the exception of the Chronology, this Overview was taken from the floppy disc version of Epic Battles Of the Civil War, 1861-1865 (InfoConcepts, Inc) by Curtis M. Jingle, Michael R. Brasher, and Warren Von Worley. The links in the text are to other parts of my website that address the subject being linked.
This Page last updated 11/22/03