In the 1850s, southerners came to believe that the north would stop at nothing to end slavery. When Abraham Lincoln was elected president in 1860, seven southern states left the union and formed the Confederate States of America with Jefferson Davis as their president.
On April 12th 1861, Confederate forces attack Fort Sumter, plunging the nation into civil war. The north had an economic advantage in the war but the south had great military leaders such as Robert E Lee.
Expecting a short glorious war, volunteers rushed to an enlist.
To win Confederate independence, Davis planned to push back invading union forces to bring the Confederate States back into the Union. Lincoln planned to blockade southern sea ports, take control of the Mississippi river and capture Richmond.
The Confederates stopped the union advances toward Richmond in 1861 at the first battle of Bull Run and again in 1862. But they had less success else where. The ironclad worship Mary Mack failed to break the union blockade. Union general Ulysses S. Grant gained control of much of the Mississippi. The union forces also stopped Lee’s invasion of the north at the Battle of Antietam. Lincoln then signed the emancipation proclamation in 1863, freeing confederate slaves. The north also began allowing—
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