Sir William Howard Russell

The Civil War In America Sir William Howard Russell

The Civil War in America: Fuller's Modern Age, August 1861 by William Howard Russell. The American Civil War (1861-1865), in the United States often referred to as simply the Civil War and sometimes called the "War Between the States", was a civil war fought over the secession of the Confederate States. Eleven southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ("the Confederacy"); the other 25 states supported the federal government ("the Union"). After four years of warfare, mostly within the Southern states, the Confederacy surrendered and slavery was abolished everywhere in the nation. Issues that led to war were partially resolved in the Reconstruction Era that followed, though others remained unresolved. Hostilities began on April 12, 1861, when Confederate forces fired on a U. S. military installation at Fort Sumter in South Carolina. Lincoln responded by calling for a volunteer army from each state to recapture federal property.