The Civil War was considered as the bloodiest war in the history of America. It was also known to be the most alienating battle that took place in the US after denting the Union Army in opposition to the Confederate States of America. This bloody battle caused thousands of deaths, 620,000, and millions of injuries to people who have witnessed this horrific event. The south was even left in shreds. The Civil War broke in 1891 after how may years of boiling frictions between the north and south states because of a couple of important things, including slavery, rights of the states, and westerly extension.
Civil War Causes
During the middle of 19th century, the America was going through a period of extreme development. There was a radical economic diversity that existed between the southern and northern parts of the nation. North America’s manufacturing and industry was booming, as well as its agriculture although it is usually bounded to small-scale farmers. South America, on the other hand, was in accordance to a large-scale farming method that rested its fate on the fruits of the Black slaves’ labor in order to produce particular plants and crops, such as tobacco and cotton.
In the northern part of the state, there was increasing numbers of people who want to abolish slavery and their thoughts regarding the matter. Thus, the resistance and defiance of the northern people to the expansion of slavery into the new western region resulted into the worry of the southern Americans that the backbone of their economy, which is slavery, was in jeopardy.
Furthermore, the Kansas-Nebraska Act was submitted to the US Congress in 1854. It basically opened all the new regions to slavery. There was a violent struggle that formed between the people that are pro and anti-slavery. The anti-slavery people in the northern region resulted to creating a political party that clearly aims to oppose slavery expansion, which was called the Republican Party.
The anti-slavery group just received the devastating news when the Supreme Court made slavery legal in the indicated regions after ruling in the 1857 Dred Scott case. In 1859, an armed group of abolitionist led by John Brown raided the US military weaponry at Harper’s Ferry in the hopes of freeing slaves. However, John Brown was caught, arrested, and hanged because of the raid. After the raid, the southern Americans started fearing that their slaves will plan and conduct some rebellions; thus, heightening the tension and conflict of the northern and southern territories of USA.
What people considered as the last straw was the election of Abraham Lincoln as president in 1860. Hence, 7 states in the South American have broken away from the US in just a three-month timeframe.
Civil War Outbreak
In March 1861, the newly elected president Abraham Lincoln took office. The federal forces terrorized the Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina. Lincoln requested for a fleet to replenish the harbor in April 12 on the same year, but the Confederate forces fired the primary shots causing the outbreak of the war.
It was Major Robert Anderson who was the commander of the Sumter, who also surrendered less than 48 hours of the attack, making Pierre G.T. Beauregard to manage the fort. After the attack at Fort Sumter, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas joined the Confederacy. Missouri, Kentucky, and Maryland also known as the boundary slave states did not break away; however, there were a lot of residents that were giving out their sympathies to the Confederate.
Even though Civil War seems only an off-balanced conflict when you look into its shallow details, with the Union’s 23 places taking delight on the massive perks in terms of people, products, and railroad building, the Confederates had a sturdy military custom, together with some of the greatest armed forces in the country. They also believed in one advocacy, which is to protect their deep-rooted rituals, heritage, and practices, where slavery is its prime.
During the First Battle of Bull Run, also known as First Manassas, there were a total of 35,000 Confederate troops that are led by Thomas Jonathan “Stonewall” Jackson. The date when the battle happened was July 21, 1861. Commander Jackson forced a massive amount of Federals to draw back from Washington D.C., rushing any hopes of a fast Union success and causing the President Lincoln to summon at least half a million more enlistees.
The Civil War is, indeed, among the unforgettable wars that have happened in the history, the peril that it brought, blood that it shed, and horror that it casted will forever live in the memories of the survivors. Some of the horrific and heartwarming events in the war have been topics of many pieces of literature. The book by Keith Corman called Scourged Souls is a great example. The words “Scourged Souls Civil War” refers to the novel of Corman that was set during the American Civil War.
There may be a lot of lives that were lost but the silver lining of it all is the hope of ending slavery and raising equality regardless of a person’s race and color.
Oliver’s Twist 