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Secession crisis of 1860–61

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Flags of the Confederate States of America

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{{Short description|none}}
{{For|the contemporary usage|modern display of the Confederate battle flag}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2021}}
{{Use American English|date=February 2014}}
{{over-quotation|date=July 2022}}
{{Infobox flag
| Name = Confederate States of America
| Image = Flag of the Confederate States (1861–1863).svg
| Imagetext = National flag of the Confederate States of America
| Nickname = "The Stars and Bars"
| Use = National flag
| Symbol = {{FIAV|historical}}
| Proportion = 5:9
| Adoption = March 4, 1861 (first 7-star version) December 10, 1861 (final 13-star version)
| Design = Three horizontal stripes of equal height, alternating red and white, with a blue square two-thirds the height of the flag as the canton. Inside the canton are seven(1861), eleven(1863), or thirteen(1865) white five-pointed stars of equal size, arranged in a circle and pointing outward.
| Designer = [[Nicola Marschall]]
| Image2 = Flag of the Confederate States of America (1863-1865).svg
| Alt2 = Second flag of the Confederate States of America
| Imagetext2 = The second national flag of the Confederate States of America
| Nickname2 = "The Stainless Banner"{{efn|[[William Tappan Thompson]], editor of Savannah's ''Daily Morning News'', used a different nickname for the flag, calling it "The White Man's Flag", saying that the flag's white field symbolized the "[[White supremacy|supremacy of the white man]]". But it was a nickname that never gained traction with the public.<ref name="GHPreble1872">{{harvnb|Preble|1872|pp=414–417}}</ref><ref name="GHPreble1880">{{harvnb|Preble|1880|pp=523–525}}</ref><ref name=StainlessBannerBirth>{{harvnb|Coski|2013}}. "A handful of contemporaries linked the new flag design to the "peculiar institution" that was at the heart of the South's economy, social system and polity: slavery. Bagby characterized the flag motif as the "Southern Cross" – the constellation, not a religious symbol – and hailed it for pointing 'the destiny of the Southern master and his African slave' southward to 'the banks of the Amazon,' a reference to the desire among many Southerners to expand Confederate territory into Latin America. In contrast, the Savannah, Ga., Morning News editor focused on the white field on which the Southern Cross was emblazoned. "As a people, we are fighting to maintain the heaven-ordained supremacy of the white man over the inferior or colored races. A White Flag would be thus emblematical of our cause." He dubbed the new flag "the White Man's Flag," a sobriquet that never gained traction."</ref><ref name=SMNApril23>{{cite news|last=Thompson|first=William T.|title=[[Savannah Morning News|Daily Morning News]]|location=Savannah, Georgia|date=April 23, 1863}}{{full citation needed|date=July 2020}}</ref><ref name=SMNApril28>{{cite news|last=Thompson|first=William T.|title=[[Savannah Morning News|Daily Morning News]]|location=Savannah, Georgia|date=April 28, 1863}}{{full citation needed|date=July 2020}}</ref><ref name=SMNMay4>{{cite news|last=Thompson|first=William T.|title=[[Savannah Morning News|Daily Morning News]]|location=Savannah, Georgia|date=May 4, 1863}}{{full citation needed|date=July 2020}}</ref><ref name=StainlessBannerNeo>{{cite book|author-link1=James W. Loewen|last1=Loewen|first1=James W.|last2=Sebesta|first2=Edward H.|year=2010|publisher=University Press of Mississippi|location=Jackson, Mississippi|isbn=978-1-60473-219-1|oclc=746462600|title=The Confederate and Neo Confederate Reader: The Great Truth about the 'Lost Cause'|page=13|url=http://www.upress.state.ms.us/books/1338|access-date=December 5, 2013|quote=Confederates even showed their preoccupation with race in their flag. Civil War buffs know that 'the Confederate flag' waved today was never the Confederate States of America's official flag. Rather, it was the battle flag of the Army of Northern Virginia. During the war, the Confederacy adopted three official flags. The first, sometimes called 'the Stars and Bars,' drew many objections 'on account of its resemblance to that of the abolition despotism against which we are fighting,' in the words of the editor of the ''Savannah Morning News'', quoted herein.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131213161623/http://www.upress.state.ms.us/books/1338|archive-date=December 13, 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=whatyoushouldknow>{{cite news|last1=Kim |first1=Kyle |last2=Krishnakumar |first2=Priya |title=What you should know about the Confederate flag's evolution |url=http://www.latimes.com/visuals/graphics/la-na-g-confederate-flag-history-20150623-htmlstory.html |location=California |work=Los Angeles Times |issue=June 23, 2015 |access-date=July 11, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150712023515/http://www.latimes.com/visuals/graphics/la-na-g-confederate-flag-history-20150623-htmlstory.html |archive-date=July 12, 2015 }}</ref><ref name=MSWWood1957p44>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VkZVAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA44 |title=Stevens-Davis and allied families: a memorial volume of history, biography, and genealogy|page=44|last=Wood|first=Marie Stevens Walker|access-date=September 1, 2015|date=1957|quote=This design was suggested by William T. Thompson, editor of the Savannah (Ga.) Morning News, who, in an editorial published April 23, 1863, stated that through this design could be attained all the...}}</ref><ref name=FAllenp67>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-UgsxY0tm_8C&pg=PA67 |title=Atlanta Rising: The Invention of an International City 1946–1996|last=Allen|first=Frederick|page=67|access-date=September 1, 2015|quote=By modern standards, the greatest flaw of the 'Stainless Banner' was its other popular nickname, bestowed by William T. Thompson, editor of the ''Savannah Daily Morning News'', who called it 'the White Man's Flag' and argued that it represented 'the cause of a superior race and a higher civilization contending against ignorance, infidelity, and barbarism' – a bit of racist rhetoric that is plainly unacceptable in current public discourse.|isbn=978-1-4616-6167-2|date=May 25, 1996|publisher=Taylor Trade }}</ref>}}
| Use2 = National flag
| Symbol2 = {{FIAV|historical}}
| Proportion2 = 1:2{{efn|Although the officially specified proportions were 1:2, many of the flags that actually ended up being produced used a 1.5:1 aspect ratio.<ref name="fotc">{{cite web |url=http://www.confederateflags.org/national/FOTCsbr.htm |title=The Second Confederate National Flag (Flags of the Confederacy) |access-date=October 24, 2005 |url-status=unfit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090209190749/http://www.confederateflags.org/national/FOTCsbr.htm |archive-date=February 9, 2009 }}</ref>}}
| Adoption2 = May 1, 1863
| Design2 = A white rectangle two times as wide as it is tall, a red quadrilateral in the canton, inside the canton is a blue saltire with white outlining, with thirteen white five-pointed stars of equal size inside the saltire.
| Image3 = Flag of the Confederate States of America (1865).svg
| Alt3 = Third flag of the Confederate States of America
| Imagetext3 = The third national flag of the Confederate States of America
| Nickname3 = "The Blood-Stained Banner"
| Use3 = National flag
| Symbol3 = {{FIAV|historical}}
| Proportion3 = 2:3
| Adoption3 = March 4, 1865
| Design3 = A white rectangle, one-and-a-half times as wide as it is tall, a red vertical stripe on the far right of the rectangle, a red quadrilateral in the canton, inside the canton is a blue saltire with white outlining, with thirteen white five-pointed stars of equal size inside the saltire.{{efn|Although the officially designated design specified a rectangular canton, many of the flags that ended up being produced utilized a square-shaped canton.<ref name="fotc3" />}}
| Designer3 = Maj. Arthur L. Rogers<ref name="autogenerated1" />
}}
The '''flags of the Confederate States of America''' have a history of three successive designs during the [[American Civil War]]. The flags were known as the "'''Stars and Bars'''", used from 1861 to 1863; the "'''Stainless Banner'''", used from 1863 to 1865; and the "'''Blood-Stained Banner'''", used in 1865 shortly before the [[Confederate States of America|Confederacy]]'s dissolution. A rejected national flag design was also used as a battle flag by the [[Confederate States Army|Confederate Army]] and featured in the "Stainless Banner" and "Blood-Stained Banner" designs. Although this design was never a [[national flag]], it is the most commonly recognized symbol of the Confederacy.

Since the end of the Civil War, [[Modern display of the Confederate battle flag|private and official use of the Confederate flags]], particularly the battle flag, has continued amid philosophical, political, cultural, and racial controversy in the United States. These include flags displayed in states; cities, towns and counties; schools, colleges and universities; private organizations and associations; and individuals. The battle flag was also featured in the [[Flags of the U.S. states and territories|state flags]] of [[Flag of Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]] and [[Flag of Mississippi|Mississippi]], although it was removed by Georgia in 2003 and Mississippi in 2020. However, the new design of the Georgia flag still references the original "Stars and Bars" iteration of the Georgia flag. After the Georgia flag was changed in 2001, the city of [[Trenton, Georgia]], has used a [[Flag of Trenton, Georgia|flag design]] nearly identical to the previous version with the battle flag.

It is estimated that 500–544 flags were captured during the civil war by the [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]]. The flags were sent to the [[United States Department of War|War Department]] in [[Washington, D.C.|Washington]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Southern Historical Society Papers, Volume 32., Confederate States' flags. |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2001.05.0290:chapter=1.37 |access-date=2024-01-07 |website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Returned Flags Booklet, 1905 {{!}} A State Divided |url=https://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/ket-history-civilwar58/returned-flags-booklet/ |access-date=2024-01-07 |website=PBS LearningMedia |language=en}}</ref>

=={{anchor|First flag}} First flag: the "Stars and Bars" (1861–1863)==
{{gallery
| height=100
| width=210
| align=center
| mode=nolines
| File:CSA FLAG 4.3.1861-21.5.1861.svg|First flag with 7 stars (March 4 – May 18, 1861)
| File:CSA Flag 21.5.1861-2.7.1861.svg|Flag with 9 stars (May 18 – July 2, 1861)
| File:CSA Flag 2.7.1861-28.11.1861.svg|Flag with 11 stars (July 2 – November 28, 1861)
| File:Flag of the Confederate States (1861–1863).svg|Last flag with 13 stars (December 10, 1861 – May 1, 1863)
}}
[[File:Fort Sumter, April 15, 1861.jpg|thumb|250px|The "''Stars and Bars''" flies at [[Fort Sumter]], April 15, 1861.]]
The Confederacy's first official national flag, often called the ''Stars and Bars'', flew from March 4, 1861, to May 1, 1863. It was designed by [[Prussia]]n-American artist [[Nicola Marschall]] in [[Marion, Alabama]]. The flag is very similar to the [[flag of the United States]], and is said to resemble the [[Flag of Austria]], with which Marschall would have been familiar.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/ArticlePrintable.jsp?id=h-1134|title= Nicola Marschall|date= April 25, 2011|publisher=The Encyclopedia of Alabama |access-date=July 29, 2011 |quote= The flag does resemble that of the [[German language|Germanic]] European nation of Austria, which as a [[Kingdom of Prussia|Prussian]] artist, Marschall would have known well.}}</ref>{{efn|[[Catherine Stratton Ladd]] is said to have designed the first Confederate flag.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Ladd, Catherine |encyclopedia=Appletons' Cyclopedia of American Biography, 1600-1889 |publisher=Appleton & Company |volume=3 | pages=584–585}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia | title=Ladd, Catherine |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography |volume=III | page=196 }}</ref>}} The original version of the flag featured a circle of seven white stars in the navy-blue [[Canton (flag)|canton]], representing the seven states of the South that originally composed the Confederacy: [[South Carolina in the American Civil War|South Carolina]], [[Mississippi in the American Civil War|Mississippi]], [[Florida in the American Civil War|Florida]], [[Alabama in the American Civil War|Alabama]], [[Georgia in the American Civil War|Georgia]], [[Louisiana in the American Civil War|Louisiana]], and [[Texas in the American Civil War|Texas]]. The "Stars and Bars" flag was adopted on March 4, 1861, in the first temporary national capital of [[Montgomery, Alabama]], and raised over the dome of that first Confederate capitol. Marschall also designed the [[Uniforms of the Confederate States military forces|Confederate army uniform]].<ref name="hume">{{cite journal |url=http://www.archives.state.al.us/marschall/german.html |title=Nicola Marschall: Excerpts from "The German Artist Who Designed the Confederate Flag and Uniform" |first=Edgar Erskine |last=Hume |journal=The American-German Review |date=August 1940 |access-date=June 26, 2015 |archive-date=May 28, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160528220738/http://www.archives.state.al.us/marschall/german.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

A monument that was in [[Louisburg, North Carolina]], claims the "Stars and Bars" "was designed by a son of North Carolina / Orren Randolph Smith / and made under his direction by / [[Catherine Rebecca Murphy Winborne|Catherine Rebecca (Murphy) Winborne]]. / Forwarded to Montgomery, Ala. Feb 12, 1861, / Adopted by the Provisional Congress March 4, 1861".<ref>{{cite web |title=First Confederate Flag and Its Designer O.R. Smith, Louisburg |author=Commemorative Landscapes of North Carolina |date=March 19, 2010 |publisher=[[Wilson Library]], [[University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill]] |url=https://docsouth.unc.edu/commland/monument/22/}}</ref>

One of the first acts of the [[Provisional Confederate Congress]] was to create the ''Committee of the Flag and Seal'', chaired by [[William Porcher Miles]], a [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] congressman, and [[Fire-Eaters|Fire-Eater]] from [[South Carolina]]. The committee asked the public to submit thoughts and ideas on the topic and was, as historian John M. Coski puts it, "overwhelmed by requests not to abandon the 'old flag' of the United States." Miles had already designed a flag that later became known as the Confederate ''[[#Battle flag|Battle Flag]]'', and he favored his flag over the "Stars and Bars" proposal. But given the popular support for a flag similar to the [[Flag of the United States|U.S. flag]] ("the Stars and Stripes" – originally established and designed in June 1777 during the [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]]), the "Stars and Bars" design was approved by the committee.<ref>{{harvnb|Coski|2005|pp=4–5}}</ref>

As the Confederacy grew, so did the numbers of stars: two were added for [[Virginia in the American Civil War|Virginia]] and [[Arkansas in the American Civil War|Arkansas]] in May 1861, followed by two more representing [[Tennessee in the American Civil War|Tennessee]] and [[North Carolina in the American Civil War|North Carolina]] in July, and finally two more for [[Missouri in the American Civil War|Missouri]] and [[Kentucky in the American Civil War|Kentucky]].

When the American Civil War broke out, the "Stars and Bars" confused the battlefield at the [[First Battle of Bull Run]] because of its similarity to the U.S. (or [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]]) flag, especially when it was hanging limply on its flagstaff.<ref name="autogenerated2">{{harvnb|Coski|2005|p=8}}</ref> The "Stars and Bars" was also criticized on ideological grounds for its resemblance to the U.S. flag. Many Confederates disliked the Stars and Bars, seeing it as symbolic of a centralized federal power against which the Confederate states claimed to be seceding.<ref name="The Declarations of Causes of Seceding States">{{cite web |url=https://www.civilwar.org/education/history/primarysources/declarationofcauses.html |work=Civil War Trust |title=The Declarations of Causes of Seceding States |access-date=February 23, 2016|quote="Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery—the greatest material interest of the world. Its labor supplies the product that constitutes the largest and most important portions of commerce of the earth. These products are peculiar to the climate verging on the tropical regions, and by an imperious law of nature, none but the black race can bear exposure to the tropical sun. These products have become necessities of the world, and a blow at slavery is a blow at commerce and civilization. That blow has been long aimed at the institution and was at the point of reaching its consummation. No choice left us but submission to abolition's mandates, or a dissolution of the Union, whose principles had been subverted to work out our ruin. That we do not overstate the dangers to our institution, a reference to a few facts will sufficiently prove."}}</ref> As early as April 1861, a month after the flag's adoption, some were already criticizing the flag, calling it a "servile imitation" and a "detested parody" of the U.S. flag.<ref name=StainlessBannerBirth /> In January 1862, [[George William Bagby]], writing for the ''[[Southern Literary Messenger]]'', wrote that many Confederates disliked the flag. "Everybody wants a new Confederate flag," Bagby wrote. "The present one is universally hated. It resembles the [[Yankee]] flag, and that is enough to make it unutterably detestable." The editor of the ''[[Charleston Mercury]]'' expressed a similar view: "It seems to be generally agreed that the 'Stars and Bars' will never do for us. They resemble too closely the dishonored 'Flag of [[Yankee Doodle]]' ... we imagine that the '[[#Battle flag|Battle Flag]]' will become the Southern Flag by popular acclaim." [[William Tappan Thompson|William T. Thompson]], the editor of the Savannah-based ''[[Savannah Morning News|Daily Morning News]]'' also objected to the flag,<ref name=SMNMay4 /> due to its aesthetic similarity to the U.S. flag, which for some Confederates had negative associations with emancipation and abolitionism. Thompson stated in April 1863 that he disliked the adopted flag "on account of its resemblance to that of the abolition despotism against which we are fighting."<ref name="GHPreble1872" /><ref name=SMNApril23 /><ref name=SMNApril28 /><ref name=StainlessBannerNeo />

Over the course of the flag's use by the CSA, additional stars were added to the canton, eventually bringing the total number to thirteen-a reflection of the Confederacy's claims of having admitted the [[Border states (American Civil War)|border states]] of [[Kentucky]] and [[Missouri]], where slavery was still widely practiced.{{efn|Neither state voted to secede or ever came under full Confederate control. Nonetheless both were still represented in the Confederate Congress and had Confederate shadow governments composed of deposed former state politicians.}}<ref>{{cite news |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2015/06/24/us/confederate-flag-myths-facts/index.html |title=Confederate battle flag: Separating the myths from facts |author=Ben Brumfield |date=2015-06-24 |publisher=[[CNN]]}}</ref> The first showing of the 13-star flag was outside the [[Ben Johnson House (Bardstown, Kentucky)|Ben Johnson House]] in [[Bardstown, Kentucky]]; the 13-star design was also in use as the Confederate navy's battle [[Ensign (flag)|ensign]]. The 13-star design uses the same star formation as the [[Betsy Ross flag]].

=={{anchor|Second flag}}Second flag: the "Stainless Banner" (1863–1865)==
{| class="wikitable"
|-
|[[File:Flag of the Confederate States of America (1863-1865).svg|x100px]]
|[[File:Confederate States Naval Ensign after May 26 1863.svg|x100px]]
|[[File:Stainless Banner (Mobile, Alabama variant).svg|x100px]]
|[[File:Stainless Banner (Battle of Painesville variant).svg|x100px]]
|[[File:Stainless Banner (Fort Fisher variant).svg|x100px]]
|-
| width=200px style="font-size: 90%; vertical-align: top;" |Second national flag (May 1, 1863 – March 4, 1865), 2:1 ratio
| width=150px style="font-size: 90%; vertical-align: top;" |Second national flag (May 1, 1863 – March 4, 1865) as commonly manufactured, with a 3:2 ratio
| width=150px style="font-size: 90%; vertical-align: top;" |A 12-star variant of the Stainless Banner produced in [[Mobile, Alabama]]
| width=150px style="font-size: 90%; vertical-align: top;" |Variant captured following the Battle of Painesville, 1865
| width=150px style="font-size: 90%; vertical-align: top;" |Garrison Flag of [[Fort Fisher]], the "''Southern Gibraltar''"
|}

Many different designs were proposed during the solicitation for a second Confederate national flag, nearly all based on the [[#Battle flag|Battle Flag]]. By 1863, it had become well-known and popular among those living in the Confederacy. The Confederate Congress specified that the new design be a white field "...with the union (now used as the battle flag) to be a square of two-thirds the width of the flag, having the ground red; thereupon a broad [[saltire]] of blue, bordered with white, and emblazoned with [[Star (heraldry)|mullets]] or five-pointed stars, corresponding in number to that of the Confederate States."<ref name="fotc"/>

The flag is also known as ''the Stainless Banner'', and the matter of the person behind its design remains a point of contention. On April 23, 1863, the ''Savannah Morning News'' editor William Tappan Thompson, with assistance from William Ross Postell, a Confederate blockade runner, published an editorial championing a design featuring the battle flag on a white background he referred to later as "The [[White people|White Man]]'s Flag", a name which never caught on.<ref name=SMNMay4 /> In explaining the white background of his design, Thompson wrote, "As a people, we are fighting to maintain the Heaven-ordained [[White supremacy|supremacy of the white man]] over the inferior or colored race; a white flag would thus be emblematical of our cause."<ref name=StainlessBannerBirth /><ref name=FAllenp67 /> In a letter to Confederate Congressman C. J. Villeré, dated April 24, 1863, a design similar to the flag which was eventually created was proposed by General [[P. G. T. Beauregard]], "whose earlier penchant for practicality had established the precedent for visual distinctiveness on the battlefield, proposed that 'a good design for the national flag would be the present battle-flag as Union Jack, and the rest all white or all blue'... The final version of the second national flag, adopted May 1, 1863, did just this: it set the St. Andrew's Cross of stars in the Union Jack with the rest of the civilian banner entirely white."<ref>Bonner, Robert E., "Flag Culture and the Consolidation of Confederate Nationalism." ''Journal of Southern History'', Vol. 68, No. 2 (May 2002), 318–319.</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Coski|2013}}. "Some congressmen and newspaper editors favored making the Army of Northern Virginia battle flag (in a rectangular shape) itself the new national flag. But Beauregard and others felt the nation needed its own distinctive symbol, and so recommended that the Southern Cross be emblazoned in the corner of a white field."</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Letter of Beauregard to Villere, April 24, 1863 |work=Daily Dispatch |location=Richmond, VA |date=May 13, 1863 |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2006.05.0747%3Aarticle%3D18 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first1=J. Michael |last1=Martinez |first2=William D. |last2=Richardson |first3=Ron |last3=McNinch-Su |title=Confederate Symbols in the Contemporary South |publisher=University Press of Florida |year=2000 |page=98 |isbn=978-0-8130-1758-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ERsyiUOYI4kC&pg=PA98 }}</ref> Most contemporary{{clarify|date=June 2025}} interpretations of the white area on the flag hold that it represented the purity of the secessionist cause.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Confederate Flag History |url=http://www.civilwar.com/resources/313-flags/150182-confederate-flag-history.html#Second_national_flag_.28.22the_Stainless_Banner.22.29 |access-date=2023-03-04 |website=www.civilwar.com |language=en-gb}}</ref>{{unreliable source?|date=June 2025}}

The Confederate Congress debated whether the white field should have a blue stripe and whether it should be bordered in red. William Miles delivered a speech supporting the simple white design that was eventually approved. He argued that the battle flag must be used, but it was necessary to emblazon it for a national flag, but as simply as possible, with a plain white field.<ref>{{harvnb|Coski|2005|pp=16–17}}</ref> When Thompson received word the Congress had adopted the design with a blue stripe, he published an editorial on April 28 in opposition, writing that "the blue bar running up the center of the white field and joining with the right lower arm of the blue cross, is in bad taste, and utterly destructive of the symmetry and harmony of the design."<ref name="GHPreble1872" /><ref name=SMNApril28 /> Confederate Congressman [[Peter W. Gray]] proposed the amendment that gave the flag its white field.<ref>Journal of the Confederate Congress, Volume 6, p.477</ref> Gray stated that the white field represented "purity, truth, and freedom."<ref>Richmond Whig, May 5, 1863</ref>

Regardless of who truly originated the Stainless Banner's design, whether by heeding Thompson's editorials or Beauregard's letter, the Confederate Congress officially adopted the Stainless Banner on May 1, 1863. The flags that were actually produced by the [[Richmond Clothing Depot]] used the 1.5:1 ratio adopted for the Confederate navy's battle ensign, rather than the official 2:1 ratio.<ref name="fotc" />

Initial reaction to the second national flag was favorable, but over time it became criticized for being "too white." Military officers also voiced complaints about the flag being too white, for various reasons, such as the danger of being mistaken for a [[white flag|flag of truce]], especially on naval ships where it was too easily soiled.<ref name="autogenerated1">{{harvnb|Coski|2005|pp=17–18}}</ref> The Columbia-based ''Daily South Carolinian'' observed that it was essentially a battle flag upon a flag of truce and might send a mixed message. Due to the flag's resemblance to one of truce, some Confederate soldiers cut off the flag's white portion, leaving only the canton.<ref>{{harvnb|Coski|2005|p=18}}</ref>

The first official use of the "Stainless Banner" was to drape the coffin of General [[Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson]] as it [[lay in state]] in the Virginia capitol, May 12, 1863.<ref>John D. Wright, The Language of the Civil War, p.284</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Coski|2005|p=17}}</ref> As a result of this first usage, the flag received the alternate nickname of the "Jackson Flag".

=={{anchor|Third flag}} Third flag: the "Blood-Stained Banner" (1865)==
{| class="wikitable"
|-
|[[File:Flag of the Confederate States of America (1865).svg|x100px]]
|[[File:Flag of the Confederate States (1865, variant).svg|x100px]]
|[[File:Flag of the Confederate States (1865, variant 2).png|x100px]]
|-
| width=150px style="font-size: 90%; vertical-align: top;" |Third national flag (after March 4, 1865)
| width=150px style="font-size: 90%; vertical-align: top;" |Third national flag as commonly manufactured, with a square canton
| width=150px style="font-size: 90%; vertical-align: top;" |Third national flag variant produced from an example of the Second national flag
|}

Rogers lobbied successfully to have this alteration introduced in the Confederate Senate. Rogers defended his redesign as symbolizing the primary origins of the people of the Confederacy, with the [[saltire]] of the [[Flag of Scotland|Scottish]] flag and the red bar from the [[flag of France]], and having "as little as possible of the Yankee blue" — the [[Uniforms of the Union Army|Union Army wore blue]], the [[Uniforms of the Confederate States Armed Forces|Confederates gray]].<ref name="autogenerated1" />

The Flag Act of 1865, passed by the [[Congress of the Confederate States|Confederate congress]] near the very end of the War, describes the flag in the following language:

{{blockquote|The Congress of the Confederate States of America do enact, That the flag of the Confederate States shall be as follows: The width two-thirds of its length, with the union (now used as the battle flag) to be in width three-fifths of the width of the flag, and so proportioned as to leave the length of the field on the side of the union twice the width of the field below it; to have the ground red and a broad blue [[saltire]] thereon, bordered with white and emblazoned with mullets or five pointed stars, corresponding in number to that of the Confederate States; the field to be white, except the outer half from the union to be a red bar extending the width of the flag.<ref name="fotc3">{{cite web|url=http://www.confederateflags.org/national/FOTC3dnat.htm |title=The Third Confederate National Flag (Flags of the Confederacy) |access-date=July 29, 2007 |url-status=unfit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090130091945/http://www.confederateflags.org/national/FOTC3dnat.htm |archive-date=January 30, 2009 }}</ref>}}

Due to the timing, very few of these third national flags were actually manufactured and put into use in the field, with many Confederates never seeing the flag. Moreover, the ones made by the [[Richmond Clothing Depot]] used the square canton of the second national flag rather than the slightly rectangular one that was specified by the law.<ref name="fotc3" />

==State flags==
{{gallery items
|[[File:Flag of Alabama (1861, obverse).svg|180x100px|border]]|Flag of [[Alabama in the American Civil War|Alabama]] (''[[Obverse and reverse|obverse]]'') (January 11, 1861)
|[[File:Flag of Alabama (1861, reverse).svg|180x100px|border]]|Flag of Alabama (''[[Obverse and reverse|reverse]]'') (January 11, 1861)
|[[File:No flag.svg|180x100px|border]]|Flag of [[Arkansas in the American Civil War|Arkansas]] No flag{{efn|"Neither Arkansas nor Missouri enacted legislation to adopt an official State flag" (Cannon 2005, p. 48).}}
|[[File:Flag of Florida (1861-1865).svg|180x100px|border]]|Flag of [[Florida in the American Civil War|Florida]] (September 13, 1861)
|[[File:Flag of the State of Georgia (1861, red).svg|180x100px|border]]|Flag of [[Georgia in the American Civil War|Georgia]] (''[[de facto]]''){{efn|"A surviving Georgia flag in the collection of the [[American Civil War Museum|Museum of the Confederacy]] in [[Richmond, Virginia|Richmond]] . . . places the arms on a red field" (Cannon 2005, p. 39).}}
|[[File:Flag of Louisiana (February 1861).svg|180x100px|border]]|Flag of [[Louisiana in the American Civil War|Louisiana]] (February 11, 1861)
|[[File:Flag of Mississippi (1861-1865).svg|180x100px|border]]|Flag of [[Mississippi in the American Civil War|Mississippi]] (March 30, 1861)
|[[File:Flag of North Carolina (1861).svg|180x100px|border]]|Flag of [[North Carolina in the American Civil War|North Carolina]] (June 22, 1861)
|[[File:Flag of South Carolina (January 1861).svg|180x100px|border]]|Flag of [[South Carolina in the American Civil War|South Carolina]] (January 26, 1861)
|[[File:Tennessee 1861 proposed.svg|180x100px|border]]|width=180|Flag of [[Tennessee in the American Civil War|Tennessee]] (''proposed''){{efn|"Despite . . . inaction of the [[Tennessee General Assembly|Tennessee legislature]], the flag recommended by Senator [Tazewell B.] Newman did see some limited use" (Cannon 2005, pp. 46-47).}}
|[[File:Flag of Texas (1839–1879).svg|180x100px|border]]|Flag of [[Texas in the American Civil War|Texas]] (January 25, 1839)
|[[File:Flag of Virginia (1861).svg|180x100px|border]]|Flag of [[Virginia in the American Civil War|Virginia]] (April 30, 1861)
}}

==Indian Territory==
{{main|Indian Territory in the American Civil War}}
{{gallery|mode=nolines|width=180|height=100
|File:Flag of the Choctaw Brigade.svg|Flag of the [[Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma|Choctaw Nation]] ({{circa|1860|lk=yes}})<ref>[http://www.tmealf.com/DH/choctaw.html "Don Healy's Native American Flags: Choctaw Nation."] Retrieved January 15, 2014.</ref>
|File:Flag of the Confederate States for the Muscogee (Creek) Nation.svg|Flag of the [[Muscogee Nation|Creek Nation]] ({{circa|1861|lk=yes}}){{cn|date=February 2023}}
|File:Seminola confederats.svg|Flag of the [[Seminole Nation of Oklahoma|Seminole Nation]] ({{circa|1861|lk=yes}})<ref>{{cite book | last1=Healy | first1=Donald T. | last2=Orenski | first2=Peter J. | title=Native American flags | publication-place=Norman | date=2003 | isbn=978-0-8061-5575-3 | oclc=934794160 | page = 211}}</ref>
|File:Flag of the Cherokee Braves.svg|National Color of the [[1st Cherokee Mounted Rifles]]{{sfn|Cannon|p=64|2005}}
}}

==Battle flag==
[[File:Our Heroes and Our Flags 1896.jpg|thumb|right|Three versions of the flag of the Confederate States of America and the Confederate Battle Flag are shown on this printed poster from 1896. The "Stars and Bars" can be seen in the upper left. Standing at the center are [[Stonewall Jackson]], [[P. G. T. Beauregard]], and [[Robert E. Lee]], surrounded by bust portraits of [[Jefferson Davis]], [[Alexander H. Stephens|Alexander Stephens]], and various Confederate army officers, such as [[James Longstreet]] and [[A. P. Hill]].]]
[[File:Sponsor souvenir album - history and reunion (1895) (1895) (14576050240).jpg|thumb|right|200px|Drawing in the [[United Confederate Veterans]] 1895 ''Sponsor souvenir album'']]
[[File:Cherokee Confederates Reunion.gif|thumb|right|[[Cherokee in the American Civil War|Cherokee Confederates]] reunion in New Orleans, 1903]]

At the [[First Battle of Bull Run|First Battle of Manassas]], near [[Manassas, Virginia]], the similarity between the [[#First flag|"Stars and Bars"]] and the [[Flag of the United States|"Stars and Stripes"]] caused confusion and military problems. Regiments carried flags to help commanders observe and assess battles in the warfare of the era. At a distance, the two national flags were hard to tell apart.<ref>{{cite web |author=Gevinson, Alan |url=http://teachinghistory.org/history-content/ask-a-historian/19424 |title=The Reason Behind the 'Stars and Bars |work=Teachinghistory.org |access-date=October 8, 2011}}</ref> Also, Confederate regiments carried many other flags, which added to the possibility of confusion.

After the battle, General [[P. G. T. Beauregard]] wrote that he was "resolved then to have [our flag] changed if possible, or to adopt for my command a 'Battle flag', which would be Entirely different from any State or Federal flag".<ref name="autogenerated2" /> He turned to his aide, who happened to be [[William Porcher Miles]], the former chairman of the Confederate Congress's ''Committee on the Flag and Seal''. Miles described his rejected national flag design to Beauregard. Miles also told the Committee on the Flag and Seal about the general's complaints and request that the national flag be changed. The committee rejected the idea by a four-to-one vote, after which Beauregard proposed the idea of having two flags. He described the idea in a letter to his commanding General [[Joseph E. Johnston]]:
{{blockquote|I wrote to [Miles] that we should have 'two' flags – a 'peace' or parade flag, and a 'war' flag to be used only on the field of battle – but congress having adjourned no action will be taken on the matter – How would it do us to address the War Dept. on the subject of Regimental or badge flags made of red with two blue bars crossing each other diagonally on which shall be introduced the stars, ... We would then on the field of battle know our friends from our Enemies.<ref name="autogenerated2" />}}

The flag that Miles had favored when he was chairman of the "Committee on the Flag and Seal" eventually became the battle flag and, ultimately, the Confederacy's most popular flag.

According to Museum of the Confederacy Director John Coski, Miles' design was inspired by one of the many "secessionist flags" flown at the [[South Carolina secession convention]] in [[Charleston, South Carolina|Charleston]] of December 1860. That flag was a blue [[St George's Cross]] (an upright or Latin cross) on a red field, with 15 white stars on the cross, representing the slave-holding states,<ref name="COSKI2009">{{harvnb|Coski|2009|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=zs0VJTbNwfAC&pg=PA5 5]}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Coski|2005|p=5}}</ref> and, on the red field, palmetto and crescent symbols. Miles received various feedback on this design, including a critique from Charles Moise, a self-described "Southerner of Jewish persuasion." Moise liked the design but asked that "... the symbol of a particular religion not be made the symbol of the nation." Taking this into account, Miles changed his flag, removing the palmetto and crescent, and substituting a heraldic [[saltire]] ("X") for the upright cross. The number of stars was changed several times as well. He described these changes and his reasons for making them in early 1861. The diagonal cross was preferable, he wrote, because "it avoided the religious objection about the cross (from the Jews and many Protestant sects), because it did not stand out so conspicuously as if the cross had been placed upright thus." He also argued that the diagonal cross was "more Heraldric {{sic}} than Ecclesiastical, it being the 'saltire' of Heraldry, and significant of strength and progress."<ref>{{harvnb|Coski|2005|p=5}}: "describes the 15 stars and the debate on religious symbolism."</ref>

According to Coski, the Saint Andrew's Cross (also used on the [[flag of Scotland]] as a white saltire on a blue field) had no special place in Southern iconography at the time. If Miles had not been eager to conciliate the Southern Jews, his flag would have used the traditional upright "[[Saint George's Cross]]" (as used on the [[flag of England]], a red cross on a white field). James B. Walton submitted a battle flag design essentially identical to Miles' except with an upright Saint George's cross, but Beauregard chose the diagonal cross design.<ref>{{harvnb|Coski|2005|pp=6–8}}</ref>

Miles' flag and all the flag designs up to that point were rectangular ("oblong") in shape. General Johnston suggested making it square to conserve material. Johnston also specified the various sizes to be used by different types of military units. Generals Beauregard and Johnston and Quartermaster General Cabell approved the 12-star Confederate Battle Flag's design at the Ratcliffe home, which served briefly as Beauregard's headquarters, near [[Fairfax, Virginia|Fairfax Court House]] in September 1861. The 12th star represented Missouri. President Jefferson Davis arrived by train at [[Fairfax Station, Virginia|Fairfax Station]] soon after and was shown the design for the new battle flag at the Ratcliffe House. [[Hetty Cary]] and her sister and [[Constance Cary Harrison|cousin]] made prototypes. One such 12-star flag resides in the collection of Richmond's [[American Civil War Museum|Museum of the Confederacy]] and the other is in the [[Confederate Memorial Hall Museum]] in [[New Orleans]].

On November 28, 1861, Confederate soldiers in General [[Robert E. Lee]]'s newly reorganized [[Army of Northern Virginia]] received the new battle flags in ceremonies at [[Centreville, Virginia|Centreville]] and [[Manassas, Virginia]], and carried them throughout the Civil War. Beauregard gave a speech encouraging the soldiers to treat the new flag with honor and that it must never be surrendered. Many soldiers wrote home about the ceremony and the impression the flag had upon them, the "fighting colors" boosting morale after the confusion at the [[First Battle of Bull Run|Battle of First Manassas]]. From then on, the battle flag grew in its identification with the [[Confederate States of America|Confederacy]] and the South in general.<ref>{{harvnb|Coski|2005|p=10}}</ref> The flag's stars represented the number of states in the Confederacy. The distance between the stars decreased as the number of states increased, reaching thirteen when the secessionist factions of [[Confederate government of Kentucky|Kentucky]] and [[Confederate government of Missouri|Missouri]] joined in late 1861.<ref>{{harvnb|Coski|2005|p=11}}</ref>

The Army of Northern Virginia battle flag assumed a prominent place post-war when it was adopted as the copyrighted emblem of the United Confederate Veterans. Its continued use by the Southern Army's post-war veteran's groups, the [[United Confederate Veterans]] (U.C.V.) and the later [[Sons of Confederate Veterans]], (S.C.V.), and elements of the design by related similar female descendants organizations of the [[United Daughters of the Confederacy]], (U.D.C.), led to the assumption that it was, as it has been termed, "the soldier's flag" or "the Confederate battle flag."

The square "battle flag" is also properly known as "the flag of the [[Army of Northern Virginia]]". It was sometimes called "Beauregard's flag" or "the Virginia battle flag". A [[Virginia Department of Historic Resources]] marker declaring [[Fairfax, Virginia]], as the birthplace of the Confederate battle flag was dedicated on April 12, 2008, near the intersection of Main and Oak Streets, in Fairfax, Virginia.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=7095 |title=Birthplace of the Confederate Battle Flag |website=The Historical Marker Database}}</ref><ref>{{cite report |series=Notes on Virginia |number=52 |year=2008 |publisher=Virginia Department of Historic Resources |title=37 New Historical Markers for Virginia's Roadways |page=71 |url=http://www.dhr.virginia.gov/pdf_files/Notes_On_Virginia_08.FINAL.Web.pdf |quote=B-261: Birthplace of the Confederate Battle Flag}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fairfaxrifles.org/Photos-Fx_Mkr_Ded.html |title=2008 Virginia Marker Dedication: Birthplace of the Confederate Battle Flag |access-date=October 5, 2014 |website=FairfaxRifles.org}}</ref>

To boost the morale of the [[Army of Tennessee]], [[Joseph E. Johnston|General Johnston]] introduced a new battle flag for the entire army. This flag bore a basic design similar to the one he had contributed to creating in Virginia in 1861 and had been commissioned in Mobile while he was in command in Mississippi in 1863. These flags for infantry and cavalry were to measure 37 by 54 inches. The white edging cross was about 2 inches wide and was often filled with battle honors. The stars were from 3 ½ inches to 4, and a 6 inch wide cross. Flags for artillery 30 by 41 inches overall.[https://confederateflags.org/army/fotcaot/#aot]

{{gallery items
| width=210
| [[File:Battle flag of the Confederate States of America (With White Border).svg|x100px|border]]|The Battle Flag of the [[Army of Northern Virginia]]
| [[File:South Carolina Sovereignty-Secession Flag.svg|x100px|border]]|The South Carolina sovereignty/secession flag is said to have inspired the battle flag.
| [[File:Army of Tennessee Battle Flag.svg|x100px|border]]|Battle Flag of the [[Army of Tennessee]], late 1863 to 1865
| [[File:Army of the Trans-Mississippi Flag.svg|x100px|border]]|The battle flag used by the [[Army of the Trans-Mississippi]]
| [[File:Forrest's Cavalry Corps Flag.svg|x100px|border]]|Battle flag of [[Forrest's Cavalry Corps]], 1863–1865
| [[File:Army of kentucky banner.svg|x100px|border]]|Battle flag of the [[Army of Central Kentucky]]
| [[File:Flag of Bragg's Corps.svg|x100px|border]]|Battle flag of [[Second Corps, Army of Tennessee|Bragg’s Corp]]
||
}}

==Naval flags==
The fledgling [[Confederate States Navy]] adopted and used several types of flags, banners and pennants aboard all CSN ships: [[Jack (flag)|jacks]], battle [[Ensign (flag)|ensign]]s and small boat ensigns, as well as commissioning pennants, designating flags and signal flags.{{citation needed|date = November 2015}}

The first Confederate Navy [[Jack (flag)|jacks]], in use from 1861 to 1863, consisted of a circle of seven to fifteen five-pointed white stars against a field of "medium blue." It was flown forward aboard all Confederate warships while they were anchored in port. One seven-star jack still exists today (found aboard the captured ironclad [[USS Atlanta (1861)|CSS ''Atlanta'']]) that is actually dark blue.<ref name=ancestors>{{cite web |last1=Loeser |first1=Pete |title=American Civil War Flags |url=http://www.loeser.us/flags/civil.html |website=Historical Flags of Our Ancestors |access-date=July 22, 2019}}</ref> The first Confederate Navy jack closeley resembles the [[Jack of the United States|navy jack of the United States]].

The second Confederate Navy Jack was a rectangular cousin of the Confederate Army's battle flag and was in use from 1863 until 1865. It existed in a variety of dimensions and sizes, despite the CSN's detailed naval regulations. The blue color of the diagonal saltire's "Southern Cross" was much lighter than the battle flag's dark blue.<ref name=ancestors />

{{gallery items
| width=210
| [[File:Jack of the CSA Navy 1861 1863.svg|x100px|border]]|The first Confederate Navy Jack, 1861–1863
| [[File:Naval jack of the Confederate States of America (2-3).svg|x100px|border]]|The second Confederate Navy Jack, 1863–1865
| [[File:CSA FLAG 4.3.1861-21.5.1861.svg|x100px|border]]|The first Confederate Navy ensign, 1861–1863
| [[File:Confederate States Naval Ensign after May 26 1863.svg|x100px|border]]|The second Confederate Navy ensign, 1863–1865
||
}}

===Other navy flags===
<gallery class="center" widths="140px" heights="120px">
File:StainlessbannerCSSAtlanta.png|The second Navy Ensign of the ironclad [[CSS Atlanta|CSS ''Atlanta'']]
File:Ensign of the Confederate States (9 stars).svg|The 9-star first Naval ensign of the paddle steamer [[CSS Curlew|CSS ''Curlew'']]
File:Ensign of the Confederate States (11 stars).svg|The 11-star ensign of the Confederate [[Privateer]] [[Jefferson Davis (privateer)|''Jefferson Davis'']]
File:Ensign of the Confederate States (12 stars).svg|A 12-star first Confederate Navy ensign of the gunboat [[CSS Ellis|CSS ''Ellis'']], 1861–1862
File:ConfederateRevenueServiceEnsign11stars.png|The [[Command flag]] of Captain [[William F. Lynch]], flown as ensign of his flagship, [[CSS Sea Bird|CSS ''Seabird'']], 1862
File:2011-10-1 Pennant, Personal, CSN, Admiral Buchanan (5375014875).jpg|Pennant of Admiral [[Franklin Buchanan]], {{Ship|CSS|Tennessee|1863|6}}, at [[Battle of Mobile Bay]], August 5, 1864
File:Admiral Flag of the Confederate States of America.svg|Digital recreation of Admiral Buchanan's pennant
File:Admiral's Rank flag of Franklin Buchanan.svg|Admiral's Rank flag of Franklin Buchanan, flown from [[CSS Virginia|CSS ''Virginia'']] during the first day of the [[Battle of Hampton Roads]] and also flown from the CSS ''Tennessee'' during the Battle of Mobile Bay
File:Confederate Naval Flag, captured when Sherman took Savannah - Wisconsin Veterans Museum - DSC02988.JPG|Confederate naval flag, captured when General [[William Tecumseh Sherman|William Sherman]] took [[Sherman's March to the Sea|Savannah]], Georgia, 1864
File:Flag of Louisiana (February 1861).svg|Ensign of the Louisiana State Navy
</gallery>

The first national flag, also known as the Stars and Bars (see above), served from 1861 to 1863 as the Confederate Navy's first battle ensign. It was generally made with a 2:3 aspect ratio, but a few very wide 1:2 ratio ensigns survive today in museums and private collections. As the Confederacy grew, so did the number of white stars on the ensign's dark blue canton: seven-, nine-, eleven-, and thirteen-star groupings were typical. Even a few 14- and 15-starred ensigns were made to include states expected to secede but that never completely joined the Confederacy. {{citation needed|date = November 2015}}

The second national flag was later adapted as a [[Maritime flag#Ensigns|naval ensign]], using a shorter 2:3 aspect ratio than the 1:2 ratio adopted by the Confederate Congress for the national flag. This particular battle ensign was the only example taken around the world, finally becoming the last Confederate flag lowered in the Civil War; this happened aboard the commerce raider [[CSS Shenandoah|CSS ''Shenandoah'']] in Liverpool, England on November 7, 1865.

==National flag proposals==
{{Unreferenced section|date=September 2021}}

Hundreds of proposed national flag designs were submitted to the Confederate Congress during competitions to find a First National flag (February–May 1861) and Second National flag (April 1862; April 1863).

===First national flag proposals===
When the Confederate States of America was founded during the Montgomery [[Constitutional Convention (political meeting)|Convention]] that took place on February 4, 1861, a national flag was not selected by the convention, as no proposals had been submitted. President Jefferson Davis' inauguration took place under the 1861 state flag of Alabama, and the celebratory parade was led by a unit carrying the 1861 state flag of Georgia.

Realizing that they quickly needed a national banner to represent their sovereignty, the [[Provisional Congress of the Confederate States]] set up the Committee on Flag and Seal. The chairman was [[William Porcher Miles]], who was also the South Carolina'a representative in the Confederate House of Representatives.

The committee began a competition to find a new national flag, with an unwritten adoption deadline of March 4, 1861, the date of President Lincoln's [[First inauguration of Abraham Lincoln|inauguration]]. This would serve to show the world that the South was truly sovereign. Hundreds of examples were submitted from across the Confederate States and from states that were not yet part of Confederacy (e.g. Kentucky), and even from Union states (such as New York). Many of the proposed designs paid homage to the [[Flag of the United States|Stars and Stripes]], the result of a sense of nostalgia in early 1861 that many of the new Confederate citizens felt toward the Union. Some of the homages were outright mimicry, while others were less obviously inspired by the Stars and Stripes yet were still intended to pay homage to that flag.

Those inspired by the Stars and Stripes were discounted almost immediately by the committee because they mirrored the Union's flag too closely. While others were wildly different, many of which were very complex and extravagant, they were largely discounted because of the complexity and expense that would be involved in their production.

The winner of the competition was Nicola Marschall's [[#First flag: the "Stars and Bars" (1861–1863)|"Stars and Bars" flag]]. This flag was selected by the Congress on March 4, 1861, the day of the deadline. The first flag was produced in a rush, as the date had already been selected for an official flag-raising ceremony, W. P. Miles credited the speedy completion of the first "Stars and Bars" flag to "fair and nimble fingers". This flag, made of [[Merino]], was raised by Letitia Tyler over the Alabama state capitol. The Congress inspected two other finalist designs on March 4. One was a "Blue ring or circle on a field of red", while the other consisted of alternating red and blue stripes with a blue canton containing stars. These two designs were lost, and their existence is known only from an 1872 letter sent by Miles to [[P. G. T. Beauregard]].

Miles was not pleased with any of the proposals. He did not share in the Union nostalgia, believing that the South's flag should be completely different from that of the North. He proposed a flag design featuring a blue saltire on white [[fimbriation]] with a field of red. He had originally planned to employ a blue St. George's Cross similar to that of the South Carolina Sovereignty Flag, but was dissuaded from doing so. Within the blue saltire were seven white stars representing the current seven states of the Confederacy, two on each of the left arms, one of each of the right arms and one in the middle. However, Miles' flag was not well received by the rest of the Congress. One congressman even mocked it as looking "like a pair of suspenders". Miles' flag lost to the Stars and Bars.

{{gallery
| mode=nolines
| height=75
| width=150
| align=center
| File:A. Bonand's flag proposal 1.jpg|First variant of flag proposal by A. Bonand of Savannah, Georgia
| File:A. Bonand's flag proposal 2.svg|Second variant of flag proposal by A. Bonand
| File:Confederateproposalladiesofcharleston.png|Flag proposal submitted by the "Ladies of Charleston"
| File:ConfederateproposalLPHonour1.jpg|First variant of flag proposal by L. P. Honour of [[Charleston, South Carolina]]
| File:ConfederateproposalLPHonour2.png|L. P. Honour's second variant of First national flag proposal
| File:ConfederateproposalJohnSansom.jpg|Confederate First national flag proposal by John Sansom of Alabama
| File:Confederate States Proposed1 1861.svg|William Porcher Miles' flag proposal, ancestor flag of the Confederate Battle Flag
| File:Confederateproposaljohnggaines.png|John G. Gaines' First national flag proposal
| File:ConfederateproposalJMJennings.png|Flag proposal by J. M. Jennings of [[Lowndesboro, Alabama]]
| File:Confederateproposalsamuelwhite.png|Samuel White's flag proposal
| File:Confederate flag proposal (Louisville).svg|Flag proposal submitted by an unknown person of [[Louisville, Kentucky]]
| File:Confederate States Proposed3 1861.svg|One of three finalist designs examined by Congress on March 4, 1861, lost out to Stars and Bars
| File:Confederate States Proposed2 1861.svg|Second of three finalists in the Confederate First national flag competition
| File:ConfederateproposalMrsEGCarpenter.png|Confederate flag proposal by E. G. Carpenter of [[Cassville, Georgia]]
| File:ConfederateproposalThomasHHobbs.png|Confederate flag proposal by Thomas H. Hobbs of [[Chattanooga, Tennessee]]
| File:ConfederateproposalEugeneWytheBaylor.png|Flag proposal by Eugene Wythe Baylor of Louisiana
| File:ConfederateproposalbyH.png|Flag proposal submitted by "H" of South Carolina
| File:Confederateproposalhamiltoncoupes1stfeb1861.jpg|A Confederate flag proposal by Hamilton Coupes that was submitted on February 1, 1861
| File:Confederateproposalireneriddle.png|The Confederate national flag proposal of Irene Riddle of [[Eutaw, Alabama]]
| File:WilliamTRiddleproposed1.png|This flag proposal was the first variant submitted by William T. Riddle of Eutaw, Alabama. Riddle submitted his flag proposals to Stephen Foster Hale on February 21, 1861.
| File:Confederate States Proposed 1862.svg|Flag proposed in 1862
| File:Confederate States Proposed 1863.svg|Flag proposed in 1863
| File:Confederate States Proposed 1863 Amendment1.svg|Flag proposed in 1863
| File:Battle flag of the Confederate States of America (3-5).svg|Congressman Swan's Amendment to Senate Bill №132{{Citation needed|reason=Could not find supporting documentation using search or ChatGTP, possible misinformation|date=March 2025}}
}}

==Flag variants==
[[File:Bonnieblue.svg|thumb|180px|right|The [[Bonnie Blue flag]]]]
In addition to the Confederacy's national flags, a wide variety of flags and banners were flown by Southerners during the Civil War. Most famously, the "[[Bonnie Blue Flag]]" was used as an unofficial flag during the early months of 1861. It was flying above the Confederate batteries that first opened fire on [[Fort Sumter]] in [[Charleston, South Carolina|Charleston]] harbor, in [[South Carolina]] beginning the [[American Civil War|Civil War]]. The "[[Van Dorn battle flag]]" was also carried by Confederate troops fighting in the [[Trans-Mississippi]] and Western theaters of war. Many military units also carried their own regimental flags into battle. Though there are only three official flags with the correct number of stars.<ref>[[North & South (US magazine)|North & South – The Official Magazine of the Civil War Society]], Volume 11, Number 2, Page 30, Retrieved April 16, 2010, [http://www.northandsouthmagazine.com/images/volume11/ind11-1.pdf "The Stars and Bars"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110714195019/http://www.northandsouthmagazine.com/images/volume11/ind11-1.pdf |date=July 14, 2011 }}</ref>
{{clr}}

{{gallery
| mode=nolines
| height=75
| width=150
| align=center
| File:Flag of the Army of Northern Virginia.svg|Flag of the [[Army of Northern Virginia]] or "[[Robert E. Lee]] Headquarters Flag"
| File:KGC FLAG.png|Flag of [[Knights of the Golden Circle]]
| File:The Van Dorn Flag.svg|The "[[Van Dorn battle flag]]" used in the Western theaters of operation
| File:Flag of the Confederate States Marine Corps.svg|7-star First national flag of the [[Confederate States Marine Corps]]
| File:Polk’s Corps Battle Flag Second Issue.svg|Flag of [[First Corps, Army of Tennessee]]
| File:10th_Mississippi_flag.png|A Polk's Corps-style Battle Flag of the [[10th Mississippi Infantry Regiment]]
| File:Perote Guards flag.svg|The first battle flag of the [[Perote Guards]] (Company D, [[1st Regiment Alabama Infantry]]). Flag officially used: September 1860 – Summer, 1861
| File:JP Gillis Flag.svg|George P. Gilliss flag, also known as the Biderman Flag, one of the few Confederate flags captured in [[California in the American Civil War|California]] ([[Sacramento, California|Sacramento]])
| File:SibleyFlag.svg|The "Sibley Flag", Battle Flag of the [[Army of New Mexico]], commanded by General [[Henry Hopkins Sibley]]
| File:Flag of the Confederate States Revenue Service.svg|The ensign of the Confederate States Revenue Service, designed by H. P. Capers of South Carolina on April 10, 1861
| File:Missouri Regiments Army Banner.svg|Flag flown by Confederate Missouri regiments during the [[Vicksburg campaign]]{{sfn|Tucker|1993|p=122}}
| File:Garrison flag of Vicksburg.svg
| Flag variant with 12 stars that served as the Garrison Flag of [[Vicksburg, Mississippi]] during the [[Vicksburg campaign]]
| File:Flag of the Cherokee Braves.svg|Flag of the [[1st Cherokee Mounted Rifles|Cherokee Braves]]
| File:Flag of Breckinridge's Corps.svg|Flag of regiments of the [[Orphan Brigade]]
| File:Hardee's moon flag.png|Hardee battle flag
| File:6th FLA 3rd Pattern Hardee Flag.jpg|6th Florida Hardee battle flag
| File:Cassidy battle flag.svg|Cassidy battle flag
| File:1FLAinf1.gif|Flag of the [[1st Florida Infantry Regiment]]
| File:1st Florida Cavalry & 4th Florida Infantry Regiments Flag.png|Flag of the combined [[1st Florida Cavalry Regiment (Confederate)|1st Florida Cavalry]] and [[4th Florida Infantry Regiment]]s
| File:Maryland 2nd Inf-1st Bn Battle Flag.jpg|Flag of the [[2nd Maryland Infantry Regiment (Confederate)|2nd Maryland Infantry Regiment/1st Maryland Battalion]]
| File:17th Texas Infantry Flag.svg|Flag of the [[17th Texas Infantry Regiment]]
| File:37th VA Inf.jpg|Flag of the [[37th Virginia Infantry Regiment]]
| File:Flag of the Sixth Louisiana Regiment.svg|Flag of the [[6th Louisiana Infantry Regiment (Confederate)|6th Louisiana Infantry Regiment]]|File:7th Florida Infantry Regimental Colors - ANV Pattern.jpg|Flag of the [[7th Florida Infantry Regiment]]
| File:Flag of the 26th Texas Cavalry Regiment.svg|Flag of the [[26th Texas Cavalry Regiment]]
| File:32nd Texas Cavalry.svg|Flag of the [[32nd Texas Cavalry Regiment]]
| File:47VAflag.png|Flag of the [[47th Virginia Infantry Regiment]]
| File:Flag of Waul's Legion.gif|Flag of [[Waul's Legion]]
| File:Flag of Terry's Texas Rangers.gif|Attributed flag of [[Terry's Texas Rangers]]
| File:6th FL 4th Hardee Pattern.jpg|Flag of the 6th Florida Infantry Regiment}}

==Controversy==
{{for|use of Confederate symbols in modern society and popular culture|Modern display of the Confederate battle flag}}
[[File:Battle flag of the Confederate States of America (3-5).svg|thumb|Elongated version of the battle flag, similar to The Second Confederate Navy Jack, but with darker blue]]
[[File:Battle flag of the Confederate States of America.svg|thumb|175px|Square version]]

Though never having historically represented the Confederate States of America as a country, nor having been officially recognized as one of its national flags, the Battle Flag of the Army of Tennessee and its variants are now flag types commonly referred to as the "Confederate flag". It is also known as the "'''rebel flag'''", "'''[[Dixie]] flag'''" and "'''Southern Cross'''". It is sometimes incorrectly called the Stars and Bars, the name of the first national Confederate flag.<ref>{{harvnb|Coski|2005|pp=58}}</ref>

The "rebel flag" is considered by some to be a divisive and polarizing symbol in the United States,<ref>{{cite web |last1=Little |first1=Becky |title=Why the Confederate Flag Made a 20th Century Comeback |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2015/06/150626-confederate-flag-civil-rights-movement-war-history/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190815064537/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2015/06/150626-confederate-flag-civil-rights-movement-war-history/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=August 15, 2019 |website=National Geographic |access-date=June 12, 2020 |date=June 26, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.oregonlive.com/today/index.ssf/2015/07/confederate_flag_removed_a_his.html |title=Confederate flag removed: A history of the divisive symbol |author=The Associated Press |publisher=Oregon Live |date=July 10, 2015}}</ref> while its supporters maintain that it is a symbol of regional cultural pride.<ref name="Chapman2011">{{cite book |last=Chapman |first=Roger |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vRY27FkGJAUC&pg=PA114 |title=Culture Wars: An Encyclopedia of Issues, Viewpoints, and Voices |publisher=M.E. Sharpe |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-7656-2250-1 |page=114 |access-date=February 21, 2013}}</ref><ref name="McWhorter">{{cite news |last1=McWhorter |first1=Diane |date=April 3, 2005 |title='The Confederate Battle Flag': Clashing Symbols |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/03/books/review/the-confederate-battle-flag-clashing-symbols.html |access-date=June 10, 2020 |work=The New York Times}}</ref>

A [[YouGov]] poll in 2020 of more than 34,000 Americans reported that 41% viewed the flag as representing racism, and 34% viewed it as symbolizing southern heritage.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://today.yougov.com/topics/politics/articles-reports/2020/01/13/what-confederate-flag-means-america-today |title=What the Confederate flag means in America today |last=Sanders |first=Linley |date=January 13, 2020 |website=yougov.com |access-date=October 28, 2020 |quote=For a plurality of Americans, the Confederate flag represents racism (41%). But for about one-third of Americans (34%) – particularly adults over 65, those living in rural communities, or non-college-educated white Americans – the flag symbolizes heritage.}}</ref> A July 2021 Politico-Morning Consult poll of 1,996 registered voters reported that 47% viewed it as a symbol of Southern pride while 36% viewed it as a symbol of racism.<ref>{{Cite web |date=July 14, 2021 |title=American Electorate Continues to Favor Leaving Confederate Relics in Place |url=https://morningconsult.com/2021/07/14/confederate-statues-flag-military-bases-polling/}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=National Tracking Poll #2107045 / July 09-12, 2021 / Crosstabulation Results |url=https://assets.morningconsult.com/wp-uploads/2021/07/14051637/2107045_crosstabs_POLITICO_RVs_v1_LM.pdf |page=176 |author1=Morning Consult |author2=Politico}}</ref> In a 2017 scientific article about the psychology of the Confederate flag's supporters, the authors found the primary reasons for the flag's support to be Southern regional patriotism, political conservatism, or White American racial biases against African Americans. However, the authors indicated that the majority of the flag's supporters did not tend towards racial biases as the reason for their support.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Esses |first1=Victoria M. |last2=Wright |first2=Joshua D. |date=2017 |title=Support for the Confederate Battle Flag in the Southern United States: Racism or Southern Pride? |journal=Journal of Social and Political Psychology |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=224–43 |doi=10.5964/jspp.v5i1.687}}</ref>
{{clear}}

==Gallery==
===Arkansas===
<gallery>
File:22nd-ark-inf-flag.jpg|Flag of the [[22nd Arkansas Infantry Regiment]] (Possibly Post-War)
</gallery>

===Alabama===
<gallery>
File:Flag of Hilliard's Legion.png|Flag of [[Hilliard's Legion|Hillard’s Legion]]<ref>{{cite web | url=https://archives.alabama.gov/referenc/flags/075.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100317143343/https://archives.alabama.gov/referenc/flags/075.html | archive-date=March 17, 2010 | title=Alabama Civil War Period Flag Collection: Hilliard's Legion }}</ref>
File:1st Alabama Infantry flag.jpg|Flag of the [[1st Alabama Infantry Regiment]]
File:1st Alabama Cavalry flag.jpg|Flag of the [[1st Alabama Cavalry Regiment (Confederate)|1st Alabama Cavalry Regiment]]
File:PrattvilleDragoonFlag.jpg|Recreated flag of the [[Prattville Dragoons]]
File:6th Alabama Cavalry flag.jpg|Flag of the [[6th Alabama Cavalry Regiment]]
File:Florence Guards (Company K, 7th Alabama Infantry) flag.png|Flag of the Florence Guards (Company K, [[7th Alabama Infantry Regiment]])
File:8th Alabama Infantry Flag.jpg|Flag of the [[8th Alabama Infantry Regiment]]
File:10th Alabama Infantry flag.jpg|Flag of the [[10th Alabama Infantry Regiment]]
File:11th Alabama Infantry flag.jpg|Flag of the [[11th Alabama Infantry Regiment]]
File:13th Alabama Infantry flag.jpg|Flag of the 13th Alabama Infantry Regiment
File:14th Alabama Infantry flag.jpg|Flag of the [[14th Alabama Infantry Regiment]]
File:15th Alabama Infantry flag.jpg|Flag of the [[15th Alabama Infantry Regiment]]
File:18th Alabama Infantry flag.jpg|Flag of the [[18th Alabama Infantry Regiment]]
File:18th Alabama Infantry flag (Hardee pattern).jpg|Flag of the 18th Alabama Infantry Regiment (Hardee Version)
File:20th Alabama Infantry flag.jpg|Flag of the [[20th Alabama Infantry Regiment]]
File:22nd Alabama Infantry flag (Polk's and Bragg's Corps pattern).jpg|Flag of the [[22nd Alabama Infantry Regiment]]
File:23rd Alabama Infantry flag.jpg|Flag of the 23rd Alabama Infantry Regiment
File:24th Alabama Infantry flag (Company E, Dickinson Guards).jpg|Flag of the 24th Alabama Infantry Regiment (Company E, Dickson Guards)
File:26th Alabama Infantry flag.jpg|Flag of the [[26th Alabama Infantry Regiment]]
File:28th Alabama Infantry flag.jpg|Flag of the 28th Alabama Infantry Regiment
File:29th Alabama Infantry flag.jpg|Flag of the [[26th Alabama Infantry Regiment]]
File:36th Alabama Infantry Regiment flag, issued 1864.jpg|Flag of the [[36th Alabama Infantry Regiment]]
File:57th Alabama Infantry Flag.jpg|Flag of the 57th Alabama Infantry Regiment
File:59th Alabama Infantry Regiment Flag.jpg|Flag of the [[59th Alabama Infantry Regiment]]
</gallery>

===Florida===
<gallery>
File:Guidon of the Company B, 2nd Florida Cavalry, C.S.A.jpg|Guidon of the company B, [[2nd Florida Cavalry Regiment (Confederate)|2nd Florida Cavalry Regiment]]
</gallery>

===Georgia===
<gallery>
File:Flag of Fort McAllister, GA, US.jpg|Confederate National flag of [[Fort McAllister]]
File:Fort McAllister battle flag, GA, US.jpg|[[War flag|Battle Flag]] of the Emmett Rifles
</gallery>

===Louisiana===
<gallery>
File:Confederate flag of Fort Jackson, LA, US.JPG|Confederate National Flag captured from [[Fort Jackson, Louisiana|Fort Jackson]]
File:Kennedy's Battalion flag.jpg|Flag of [[5th Louisiana Infantry Battalion|Kennedy’s Battalion]]
</gallery>

===Mississippi===
<gallery>
File:Battle flag of the 2nd Mississippi Regiment.jpg|Flag of the [[2nd Mississippi Infantry Regiment]]
File:History of the Ninth regiment, Connecticut volunteer infantry, "The Irish regiment," in the war of the rebellion, 1861-65. The record of a gallant command on the march, in battle and in bivouac (1903) (14759587101).jpg|Flag of the [[3rd Mississippi Infantry Regiment]]
File:11th Mississippi Infantry Regiment battle flag army.mil-2008-09-10-145530.jpg|Flag of the [[11th Mississippi Infantry Regiment]]
File:Flag of the 18th Mississippi Infantry.jpg|Flag of the [[18th Mississippi Infantry Regiment]]
File:Battle Flag of the 37th Mississippi Infantry.jpg|Flag of the 37th Mississippi Infantry Regiment
File:Battle flag of the 48th Mississippi Regiment.jpg|Flag of the 48th Mississippi Infantry Regiment
</gallery>

===Tennessee===
<gallery>
File:Flag of the 2nd Regiment East Tennessee Volunteers (Confedarate).jpg|Flag of the 2nd Regiment East Tennessee Volunteers
File:Battle Flag of the 4th Tennessee Infantry.jpg|Flag of the [[4th Tennessee Infantry Regiment]]
File:14th Tennessee Infantry Regiment Battle Flag.jpg|Flag of the [[14th Tennessee Infantry Regiment]]
</gallery>

===Texas===
<gallery>
File:Flag of Hood's Texas Brigade.jpg|Flag of [[Texas Brigade|Hood’s Texas Brigade]]
File:1stTexasFlag.jpg|Flag of the [[1st Texas Infantry Regiment]]
File:3rd Texas Infantry flag.jpg|Flag of the [[3rd Texas Infantry Regiment]]
File:TSLAC 306-4049 3rd Texas Cavalry Regiment Flag.jpg|Flag of the [[3rd Texas Cavalry Regiment|3rd Texas Cavalry regiment]]
File:Fourth Texas Infantry Flag.jpg|Flag of the [[4th Texas Infantry Regiment]]
File:Regimental flag of the Fifth Texas Infantry, Hood's Texas Brigade.jpg|Flag of the [[5th Texas Infantry Regiment]]
File:Flag of the 6th Texas Infantry and the 15th Texas Cavalry (dismounted) Consolidated, Granbury's Texas Brigade.jpg|Flag of the [[6th Texas Infantry Regiment]], [[16th Texas Cavalry Regiment]] (dismounted) Consolidated
File:Ninth Texas Cavalry Flag (black and white).jpg|First flag of the [[9th Texas Cavalry Regiment]]
File:Battle Flag of the 9th Texas Cavalry.jpg|Second flag of the 9th Texas Cavalry Regiment
File:10th Texas Infantry Regiment Flag.jpg|Flag of the [[10th Texas Infantry Regiment]]
File:Flag of the 11th Texas Cavalry.jpg|Flag of the [[11th Texas Cavalry Regiment]]
File:16th Texas Infantry Regiment, Company G flag.jpg|Flag of the [[16th Texas Infantry Regiment]]
File:17th and 18th Texas Cavalry (dismounted), Consolidated.jpg|Flag of the 17th and 18th Texas Cavalry Regiment
File:20th Texas.jpg|Flag of the [[20th Texas Infantry Regiment]]
File:Terry's Texas Rangers Confederate flag.jpg|Flag of [[Terry's Texas Rangers|Terry’s Texas Rangers]]
</gallery>

===Virginia===
<gallery>
File:Battle Flag of the 2nd Virginia Infantry.jpg|Flag of the [[2nd Virginia Infantry Regiment]]
File:Battle Flag of the 4th Virginia Infantry.jpg|Flag of the [[4th Virginia Infantry Regiment]]
File:Battle Flag of the 8th Virginia Cavalry, CSA.jpg|Flag of the [[8th Virginia Cavalry Regiment]]
File:Battle Flag of the 9th Virginia Infantry.jpg|Flag of the [[9th Virginia Infantry Regiment]]
File:10th Virginia Infantry Regiment flag carried into the first battle of Manassas, July 20-21, 1861.jpg|Flag carried into battle by the [[10th Virginia Infantry Regiment]] at the [[First Battle of Bull Run|first battle of Manassas]]
File:Battle Flag of the 10th Virginia Cavalry.jpg|Flag of the [[10th Virginia Cavalry Regiment|10th virginia Cavalry Regiment]]
File:13th Virginia Infantry Flag.jpg|Flag of the [[13th Virginia Infantry Regiment]]
File:18VAflag.jpg|Flag of the [[18th Virginia Infantry Regiment]]
File:19th Virginia Infantry Flag.jpg|Flag of the [[19th Virginia Infantry Regiment]]
File:28th Virginia Infantry Color.jpg|Flag of the [[28th Virginia Infantry Regiment]]
File:Flag of the 42nd Virginia Infantry.jpg|Flag of the [[42nd Virginia Infantry Regiment]]
File:Battle Flag of the 54th Virginia Infantry, CSA.jpg|Flag of the [[54th Virginia Infantry Regiment]]
File:Battle Flag of the 56th Virginia Infantry, CSA.jpg|Flag of the [[56th Virginia Infantry Regiment]]
File:61st Virginia Volunteer Infantry Regiment Battle Flag.jpg|Flag of the [[61st Virginia Infantry Regiment]]
</gallery>

==See also==
* [[Seal of the Confederate States]]
** [[Flag of Alabama]]
** [[Flag of Florida]]
** [[Flag of Georgia (U.S. state)|Flag of Georgia]]
** [[Flag of Arkansas]]
** [[Flag of Tennessee]]
** [[Flag of Mississippi]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

===Sources===
{{refbegin|30em}}
* {{cite book | last=Bonner | first=Robert | title=Colors and Blood: Flag Passions of the Confederate South | publisher=Princeton University Press | date=2002 | isbn=0-691-11949-X}}
* {{cite book | last=Cannon | first=Devereaux D. Jr. |year=2005 |title=The Flags of the Confederacy: An Illustrated History |location=Gretna |publisher=[[Pelican Publishing Company]] |orig-year=1st pub. St. Luke's Press:1988 |isbn=978-1-565-54109-2}}
* {{cite book|last=Coski|first=John M.|title=The Confederate Battle Flag: America's Most Embattled Emblem |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zs0VJTbNwfAC |year=2005 |publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0-674-01722-1}}
* {{cite book|last=Coski|first=John M.|title=The Confederate Battle Flag |year=2009 |publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0-674-02986-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zs0VJTbNwfAC |access-date=November 24, 2016}}
* {{cite web|last=Coski|first=John M.|title=The Birth of the 'Stainless Banner' |date=May 13, 2013 |work=The New York Times |url=https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/13/the-birth-of-the-stainless-banner/ |access-date=January 27, 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191107164729/https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/13/the-birth-of-the-stainless-banner/ |archive-date=November 7, 2019}}
* {{cite book | last1=Katcher | first1=Phillip | last2=Scollins | first2=Rick | title=Flags of the American Civil War 1: Confederate | series=Osprey Men-At-War Series | publisher=Osprey Publishing Company | date=1993 | isbn=1-85532-270-6}}
* Madaus, H. Michael. ''Rebel Flags Afloat: A Survey of the Surviving Flags of the Confederate States Navy, Revenue Service, and Merchant Marine''. [[Flag Research Center]], 1986, Winchester, MA. {{ISSN|0015-3370}}. (Eighty-page, all Confederate naval flags issue of "The Flag Bulletin," magazine #115.)
* Marcovitz, Hal. ''The Confederate Flag, American Symbols and Their Meanings''. Mason Crest Publishers, 2002. {{ISBN|1-59084-035-6}}.
* {{cite book|last1=Martinez|first1=James Michael|last2=Richardson|first2=William Donald|last3=McNinch-Su|first3=Ron|title=Confederate Symbols in the Contemporary South|date=2000|publisher=University Press of Florida|location=Gainesville, FL|pages=284–285|isbn=0-8130-1758-0}}
* {{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/ourflagoriginan00prebgoog|page=[https://archive.org/details/ourflagoriginan00prebgoog/page/n444 414]|quote=as a people we are fighting to.|title=Our Flag: Origin and Progress of the Flag of the United States of America, with an Introductory Account of the Symbols, Standards, Banners and Flags of Ancient and Modern Nations|date=1872|location=Albany|publisher=Joel Munsell|oclc=612597989|last=Preble|first=George Henry|author-link=George Henry Preble}}
* {{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/historyflagunit00prebgoog |page=[https://archive.org/details/historyflagunit00prebgoog/page/n582 523] |quote=William Ross Postell Flag. |title=History of the Flag of the United States of America: And of the Naval and Yacht-Club Signals, Seals, and Arms, and Principal National Songs of the United States, with a Chronicle of the Symbols, Standards, Banners, and Flags of Ancient and Modern Nations |edition=2nd revised |date=1880 |location=Boston |publisher=A. Williams and Company |oclc=645323981 |last=Preble |first=George Henry|author-link=George Henry Preble}}
* Silkenat, David. ''Raising the White Flag: How Surrender Defined the American Civil War''. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2019. {{ISBN|978-1-4696-4972-6}}.
* {{cite book |last=Tucker |first=Phillip Thomas |title=The South's Finest: The First Missouri Confederate Brigade From Pea Ridge to Vicksburg |location=Shippensburg, Pennsylvania |publisher=White Mane Publishing Co. |year=1993 |isbn=0-942597-31-1}}
{{refend}}

"Southern Confederacy" (Atlanta, Georgia), 5 Feb 1865, pg 2. Congressional, Richmond, 4 Feb: A bill to establish the flag of the Confederate States was adopted without opposition, and the flag was displayed in the Capitol today. The only change was a substitution of a red bar for one-half of the white field of the former flag, composing the flag's outer end.

==External links==
{{Commons category|Flags of the Confederate States|Flag of the Confederate States}}

* {{YouTube|qJPjWWIkakM|Battle Colors of Arkansas}}
* [https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/symbols-of-battle-civil-war-flags Symbols of Battle: Civil War Flags] at [[Google Arts & Culture|Google Cultural Institute]]


{{US state flags}}
{{Lists of flags}}
{{Six flags of Texas}}
{{Portal bar|American Civil War|Heraldry|North America}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Confederate States, Flags Of The}}
[[Category:1861 establishments in the Confederate States of America]]
[[Category:Flags introduced in 1861]]
[[Category:Flags of the Confederate States of America| ]]
[[Category:Flags with blue, red and white]]
[[Category:Flags with cantons]]
[[Category:Lists of flags of the United States]]
[[Category:Flags with stars]]
[[Category:Obsolete national flags]]

Battles of the American Civil War

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Misterc1214: 1 revision imported

#REDIRECT [[List of American Civil War battles]]

Confederate States Navy

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Misterc1214: 1 revision imported

{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2012}}
{{Infobox military unit
| unit_name = Confederate States Navy
| image = CS Navy Department Seal.svg
| image_size =
| alt =
| caption = Seal of the Department of the Navy
| start_date = {{start date|1861|2|21}}
| disbanded = {{end date|1865|11|6}}
| country = {{flag|Confederate States}}
| allegiance =
| branch =
| type = [[Navy]]
| role = 
| size =
| command_structure = [[Military forces of the Confederate States|Confederate Forces]]
| garrison =
| garrison_label =
| nickname =
| patron =
| motto =
| colors = 
| colors_label = 
| march =
| mascot =
| anniversaries =
| equipment =
| equipment_label =
| battles = [[American Civil War]]
| battles_label =
| decorations =
| battle_honours =
| battle_honours_label =
| flying_hours =
| website = 
| commander1 = [[Jefferson Davis]]
| commander1_label = [[President of the Confederate States|Commander in Chief]]
| commander2 = [[Stephen R. Mallory]]
| commander2_label = [[Confederate States Secretary of the Navy|Secretary of the Navy]]
| commander3 =
| commander3_label =
| commander4 =
| commander4_label =
| notable_commanders = 
| identification_symbol = [[File:Confederate States Naval Ensign after May 26 1863.svg|border|100px]]
| identification_symbol_label = [[Naval ensign]] 1864–1865
| identification_symbol_2 = [[File:CSA FLAG 4.3.1861-21.5.1861.svg|border|100px]]
| identification_symbol_2_label = 1861–1863
| identification_symbol_3 = [[File:Naval_jack_of_the_Confederate_States_of_America_(2-3).svg|border|100px]]
| identification_symbol_3_label = [[Naval jack]] 1864–1865
| identification_symbol_4 = [[File:Jack of the CSA Navy 1861 1863.svg|border|100px]]
| identification_symbol_4_label = 1861–1863
| identification_symbol_5 =
| identification_symbol_5_label =
| identification_symbol_6 =
| identification_symbol_6_label =
}}
The '''Confederate States Navy''' ('''CSN''') was the [[Navy|naval branch]] of the [[Confederate States Armed Forces]], established by an act of the [[Confederate States Congress]] on February 21, 1861.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Duppstadt |first=Andrew |title=Confederate States Navy (in North Carolina) |url=https://northcarolinahistory.org/encyclopedia/confederate-states-navy-in-north-carolina/ |access-date=2022-07-10 |website=North Carolina History Project |language=en-US}}</ref> It was responsible for Confederate naval operations during the [[American Civil War]] against the United States's [[Union Navy]].

The three major tasks of the Confederate States Navy during its existence were the protection of Confederate harbors and coastlines from outside invasion, making the war costly for the United States by attacking its merchant ships worldwide, and [[Blockade runners of the American Civil War|running]] the [[Union blockade|U.S. blockade]] by drawing off Union ships in pursuit of Confederate commerce raiders and warships.

It was ineffective in these tasks, as the coastal blockade by the United States Navy reduced trade by the South to 5 percent of its pre-war levels. Additionally, the control of inland rivers and coastal navigation by the US Navy forced the south to overload its limited railroads to the point of failure.

The surrender of the {{ship|CSS|Shenandoah}} in Liverpool, England, marked the end of the Civil War and the Confederate Navy's existence.

==History==
The Confederate Navy could never achieve numerical equality with the [[Union Navy]]. It instead sought to take advantage of technological innovation, such as [[ironclad warship|ironclads]], [[submarine]]s, [[torpedo boats]], and [[naval mine]]s (then known as torpedoes). In February 1861, the Confederate States Navy had 30 vessels, only 14 of which were seaworthy. The opposing Union Navy had 90 vessels. The C. S. Navy eventually grew to 101 ships to meet the rise in naval conflicts and threats to the coast and rivers of the Confederacy.
[[File:"Panoramic View of New Orleans-Federal Fleet at Anchor in the River", 1862 - NARA - 530501.tif|left|thumb|200px|Illustration of the Confederate fleet at New Orleans]]
On April 20, 1861, the U.S. was forced to quickly abandon the important [[Norfolk Navy Yard|Gosport Navy Yard]] at [[Portsmouth, Virginia]]. In their haste, they failed to effectively burn the facility with its large depots of arms, other supplies, and several small vessels. As a result, the Confederacy captured a large supply of much-needed war materials, including heavy cannon, gunpowder, shot, and shell. Of most importance to the Confederacy was the shipyard's [[dry docks]], barely damaged by the departing Union forces. The Confederacy's only substantial navy yard at that time was in [[Pensacola, Florida]], so the Gosport Yard was sorely needed to build new warships. The most significant warship left at the Yard was the [[Steam frigate|screw frigate]] [[USS Merrimack (1855)|USS ''Merrimack'']].

The U.S. Navy had torched ''Merrimack'''s superstructure and upper deck, then [[scuttled]] the vessel; it would have been immediately useful as a warship to their enemy. Little of the ship's structure remained other than the hull, which was holed by the scuttling charge but otherwise intact. Confederate Navy Secretary [[Stephen Mallory]] had the idea to raise ''Merrimack'' and rebuild it. When the hull was raised, it had not been submerged long enough to have been rendered unusable; the steam engines and essential machinery were salvageable. The decks were rebuilt using thick oak and pine planking, and the upper deck was overlaid with two courses of heavy iron plate. The newly rebuilt superstructure was unusual: above the waterline, the sides sloped inward and were covered with two layers of heavy iron-plate armor, the inside course laid horizontally, the outside course laid vertically.

The vessel was a new kind of warship, an all-steam powered "[[Ironclad warship|iron-clad]]". In the centuries-old tradition of reusing captured ships, the new warship was christened [[CSS Virginia|CSS ''Virginia'']]. She later fought the Union's new ironclad [[USS Monitor|USS ''Monitor'']]. On the second day of the [[Battle of Hampton Roads]], the two ships met and each scored numerous hits on the other. On the first day of that battle ''Virginia'', and the [[James River Squadron]], aggressively attacked and nearly broke the Union Navy's sea [[Union Blockade|blockade]] of wooden warships, proving the effectiveness of the ironclad concept. The two ironclads had steamed forward, tried to outflank or ram the other, circled, backed away, and came forward firing again and again, but neither was able to sink or demand surrender of its opponent. After four hours, both ships were taking on water through split seams and breaches from enemy shot. The engines of both ships were becoming dangerously overtaxed, and their crews were near exhaustion. The two ships turned and steamed away, never to meet again. This part in the [[Battle of Hampton Roads]] between [[USS Monitor|''Monitor'']] and [[CSS Virginia|''Virginia'']] greatly overshadowed the bloody events each side's ground troops were fighting, largely because it was the first battle in history between two iron-armored steam-powered warships.

The last Confederate surrender took place in [[Liverpool]], [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|United Kingdom]] on November 6, 1865, aboard the [[commerce raider]] [[CSS Shenandoah|CSS ''Shenandoah'']] when her [[Stainless Banner|flag]] ([[battle ensign]]) was lowered for the final time. This surrender brought about the end of the Confederate navy. The ''Shenandoah'' had circumnavigated the globe, the only Confederate ship to do so.

===Creation===
The act of the Confederate Congress that created the Confederate Navy on February 21, 1861, also appointed Stephen Mallory as Secretary of the Department of the Navy. Mallory was experienced as an admiralty lawyer and had served for a time as the chairman of the Naval Affairs Committee of the [[United States Senate]]. The Confederacy had a few scattered naval assets and looked to Liverpool, England, to buy naval cruisers to attack the American merchant fleet. In April 1861, Mallory recruited former U.S. Navy Lieutenant [[James Dunwoody Bulloch]] into the Confederate navy and sent him to Liverpool. Using Charleston-based importer and exporter Fraser Trentholm, who had offices in Liverpool, Commander Bulloch immediately ordered six steam vessels.<ref>{{cite web | title=Supplying the Confederacy | website=liverpoolmuseums.org.uk | date=30 December 2008 | url=http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/maritime/collections/americancivilwar/supplying-confederacy.aspx | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190729000301/http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/maritime/collections/americancivilwar/supplying-confederacy.aspx | archive-date=29 July 2019 | url-status=dead | access-date=4 December 2020}}</ref>

As Mallory began aggressively building up a formidable naval force, a Confederate Congress committee on August 27, 1862, reported:

{{blockquote|Before the war, nineteen steam war vessels had been built in the States forming the Confederacy, and the engines for all of these had been contracted for in those States. All the labor or materials requisite to complete and equip a war vessel could not be commanded at any one point of the Confederacy.

[The Navy Department] had erected a powder-mill which supplies all the powder required by our navy; two engine, boiler and machine shops, and five ordnance workshops. It has established eighteen yards for building war vessels, and a rope-walk, making all cordage from a rope-yarn to a 9-inch cable, and capable of turning out 8,000 yards per month .... Of vessels not ironclad and converted to war vessels, there were 44. The department has built and completed as war vessels, 12; partially constructed and destroyed to save from the enemy, 10; now under construction, 9; ironclad vessels now in commission, 12; completed and destroyed or lost by capture, 4; in progress of construction and in various stages of forwardness, 23.}}

In addition to the ships included in the report of the committee, the C.S. Navy also had one ironclad floating battery, presented to the Confederacy by the state of [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]], one ironclad [[Ram (ship)|ram]] donated by the state of [[Alabama]], and numerous [[commerce raiders]] making war on Union merchant ships. When [[Virginia]] [[secession|seceded]] the [[Virginia State Navy|Virginia Navy]] was absorbed into the Confederate Navy.

===Naval flags===
{{main|Flags of the Confederate States of America#Naval flags}}
[[File:2011-10-1 Pennant, Personal, CSN, Admiral Buchanan (5375014875).jpg|right|160px|thumb|Pennant of Admiral [[Franklin Buchanan]] used at [[Battle of Mobile Bay]], Alabama, 1864]]
[[File:Confederate Naval Flag, captured when Sherman took Savannah - Wisconsin Veterans Museum - DSC02988.JPG|right|160px|thumb|Confederate naval flag, captured when General [[William Tecumseh Sherman|William Sherman]] took [[Sherman's March to the Sea|Savannah]], Georgia, 1864]]
The practice of using primary and secondary naval flags after the British tradition was common practice for the Confederacy; the fledgling Confederate navy therefore adopted detailed flag requirements and regulations in the use of [[battle ensign]]s, [[naval jack]]s, as well as small boat [[Ensign (flag)|ensigns]], [[commissioning pennant]]s, designating flags, and [[signal flag]]s aboard its warships. Changes to these regulations were made during 1863, when a new naval jack, battle ensign, and commissioning pennant design was introduced aboard all Confederate ships, echoing the Confederacy{{'}}s change of its national flag from the old "[[Flags of the Confederate States of America|Stars and Bars]]" to the new "[[Stainless Banner]]". Despite the detailed naval regulations issued, minor variations in the flags were frequently seen, due to different manufacturing techniques employed, suppliers used, and the flag-making traditions of each southern state.

===Privateers===
{{further|Blockade runners of the American Civil War}}
On April 17, 1861, [[President of the Confederacy|Confederate President]] [[Jefferson Davis]] invited applications for [[letters of marque|letters of marque and reprisal]] to be granted under the seal of the Confederate States, against ships and property of the United States and their citizens:

{{blockquote|Now, therefore, I, Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America, do issue this, my proclamation, inviting all those who may desire, by service in private armed vessels on the high seas, to aid this government in resisting so wanton and wicked an aggression, to make application for commissions or letters of marque and reprisal, to be issued under the seal of these Confederate States...}}

President Davis was not confident of his [[executive (government)|executive]] authority to issue letters of marque and called a special session of Congress on April 29 to formally authorize the hiring of privateers in the name of the Confederate States. On 6 May the Confederate Congress passed "An act recognizing the existence of war between the United States and the Confederate States, and concerning letters of marque, prizes, and prize goods." Then, on May 14, 1861, "An act regulating the sale of prizes and the distribution thereof," was also passed. Both acts granted the president power to issue letters of marque and detailed regulations as to the conditions on which letters of marque should be granted to private vessels, the conduct and behavior of the officers and crews of such vessels, and the disposal of such prizes made by privateer crews. The manner in which Confederate privateers operated was generally similar to those of privateers of the United States or of [[Europe]]an nations.

The 1856 [[Declaration of Paris]] outlawed privateering for such nations as the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|United Kingdom]] and [[Second French Empire|France]], but the United States had neither signed nor endorsed the declaration. Therefore, privateering was constitutionally legal in both the United States and the Confederacy, as well as [[Portuguese Empire|Portugal]], [[Russian Empire|Russia]], the [[Ottoman Empire]], and [[German Confederation|Germany]]. However, the United States did not acknowledge the Confederacy as an independent country and denied the legitimacy of any letters of marque issued by its government. U.S. President [[Abraham Lincoln]] declared all medicines to the Confederacy to be contraband and any captured Confederate privateers were to be hanged as pirates. Ultimately, no one was hanged for privateering because the Confederate government threatened to retaliate against [[Union (American Civil War)|U.S.]] [[Prisoner of war|prisoners of war]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=MW8wMof8MGgC& ''Pirate Hunting: The Fight Against Pirates, Privateers, and Sea Raiders from Antiquity to the Present''] by Benerson Little ([[Potomac Books]], 2010)</ref>

Initially, Confederate privateers operated primarily from [[New Orleans]], but activity was soon concentrated in the Atlantic, as the Union Navy began expanding its operations. Confederate privateers harassed Union merchant ships and sank several warships, although they were unable to relieve the blockade on Southern ports and its dire effects on the Confederate economy.

==Ships==
{{Main|List of ships of the Confederate States Navy}}

[[File:CSSVirginia1862.2.ws.jpg|thumb|{{ship|CSS|Virginia}}, an [[ironclad warship]]]]
[[File:Conrad Wise Chapman - Submarine Torpedo Boat H.L. Hunley, Dec. 6, 1863.jpg|thumb|Drawing of submarine {{ship|2=H. L. Hunley}}]]
[[File:CSSAlabama.jpg|thumb|A 1961 painting of {{ship|CSS|Alabama}}]]

In May 1861, Confederate Congress appropriated $2,000,000 to either construct or purchase ironclad vessels in England. The Confederacy intended to use the European ironclads to break the Union blockade. Aside from those built in Europe, the Confederacy also manufactured their own vessels. Despite a lack of materials (especially iron and engines) and shipbuilding facilities, the Confederacy was able to construct at least twenty ironclads that were commissioned and put into operation during the war.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Still Jr. |first1=William N. |title=Confederate Naval Strategy: The Ironclad |journal=The Journal of Southern History |date=August 1961 |volume=27 |issue=3 |pages=330–335 |doi=10.2307/2205212 |jstor=2205212 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2205212 |access-date=5 August 2023|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

One of the more well-known ships was the CSS ''Virginia'', formerly the sloop-of-war USS ''Merrimack'' (1855). In 1862, after being converted to an ironclad ram, she fought USS ''Monitor'' in the [[Battle of Hampton Roads]], an event that came to symbolize the end of the dominance of large wooden sailing warships and the beginning of the age of steam and the ironclad warship.<ref>{{cite book|author=Ian McNeil|title=An Encyclopedia of the History of Technology|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WW4Q-vMA6IMC&pg=PA987|year=1990|publisher=Taylor & Francis|page=987|isbn=9780203192115}}</ref>

The Confederates also constructed [[submarine]]s, among the few that existed after the early [[American Turtle|''Turtle'']] of the [[American Revolutionary War]]. Of those the [[Pioneer (submarine)|''Pioneer'']] and the [[Bayou St. John submarine]] never saw action. However, [[H. L. Hunley (submarine)|''Hunley'']], built in Mobile as a [[privateer]] by [[Horace Hunley]], later came under the control of the [[Confederate Army]] at Charleston, SC, but was manned partly by a C. S. Navy crew; she became the first submarine to sink a ship in a wartime engagement.

The ''Hunley'' later sank the [[sloop-of-war]] {{USS|Housatonic|1861|6}}, resulting from the large blastwave that traveled from its exploding [[spar torpedo]]'s 500-pound black powder charge, during the [[sinking of USS Housatonic]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Alan Axelrod|title=The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Civil War|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YaH5YWGUMJsC&pg=PA263|year=2011|edition=3rd|publisher=Penguin|page=263|isbn=9781101470534}}</ref><ref>''Official records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion'', Series I, Vol. 15, p. 337.</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/H-L-Hunley|title=H.L Hunley|last=Tikkanen|first=Amy|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|access-date=December 16, 2019}}</ref> The sinking of the Housatonic became the first successful submarine attack in history.

Confederate Navy commerce raiders were also used with great success to disrupt U.S. merchant shipping. The most famous of them was the screw sloop-of-war [[CSS Alabama|CSS ''Alabama'']], a warship secretly built for the Confederacy in [[Birkenhead]], near [[Liverpool]], [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|United Kingdom]]. She was launched as ''Enrica'' but was commissioned as CSS ''Alabama'' just off the [[Azores]] by her captain, [[Raphael Semmes]]. She began her world-famous raiding career under his command, accounting for 65 U.S. ships, a record that still remains unbeaten by any ship in naval warfare. CSS ''Alabama''{{'}}s crew was mostly from Liverpool, and the cruiser never once dropped anchor in a Confederate port, though she sank a blockading Union gunboat off the coast of Texas. She was sunk in June 1864 by {{USS|Kearsarge|1861|6}} at the [[Battle of Cherbourg (1864)|Battle of Cherbourg]] outside the port of [[Cherbourg, France]].

A similar raider, [[CSS Shenandoah|CSS ''Shenandoah'']], fired the last shot of the American Civil War in late June 1865; she did not strike her colors and surrender until early November 1865, in Liverpool, England five months after the conflict had ended.<ref>{{cite book|author=Joseph McKenna|title=British Ships in the Confederate Navy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kpfoCgrp7SsC&pg=PA200|year=2010|publisher=McFarland|page=200|isbn=9780786458271}}</ref>

==Organization==
[[File:Commander William F. Lynch of Confederate States Navy in uniform LCCN2016647910.jpg|thumb|right|Commander [[William F. Lynch]] of Confederate States Navy]]

Between the beginning of the war and the end of 1861, 373 commissioned officers, warrant officers, and midshipmen had resigned or been dismissed from the United States Navy and had gone on to serve the Confederacy.<ref>William S. Dudley, ''Going South: U.S. Navy Officer Resignations & Dismissals on the Eve of the Civil War.'' Washington: Naval Historical Foundation, 1981.[http://www.history.navy.mil/library/online/going_south.htm] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100923140913/http://www.history.navy.mil/library/online/going_south.htm|date=September 23, 2010}}</ref> The Provisional Congress meeting in Montgomery accepted these men into the Confederate Navy at their old rank. In order to accommodate them they initially provided for an officer corps to consist of four captains, four commanders, 30 lieutenants, and various other non-line officers.<ref>The Statutes at Large of the Provisional Government of the Confederate States of America, from the Institution of the Government, 8 February 1861, to its Termination, 18, February 1862, Inclusive; Arranged in Chronological Order. Together with the Constitution for the Provisional Government, and the Permanent Constitution of the Confederate States, and the Treaties Concluded by the Confederate States with Indian Tribes. Chapter 58, March 16, 1861 (p. 70)</ref> On 21 April 1862, the First Congress expanded this to four admirals, ten captains, 31 commanders, 100 first lieutenants, 25 second lieutenants, and 20 masters in line of promotion; additionally, there were to be 12 paymasters, 40 assistant paymasters, 22 surgeons, 15 passed assistant surgeons, 30 assistant surgeons, one engineer-in-chief, and 12 engineers. The act also provided for promotion on merit: "All the Admirals, four of the Captains, five of the Commanders, twenty-two of the First Lieutenants, and five of the Second Lieutenants, shall be appointed solely for gallant or meritorious conduct during the war."<ref>The Statutes at Large of the Confederate States of America, Commencing with the First Session of the First Congress; 1862. Public Laws of the Confederate States of America, Passed at the First Session of the First Congress; 1862. Private Laws of the Confederate States of America, Passed at the First Session of the First Congress; 1862. Chapter 68, April 21, 1862 (p. 50).</ref>

===Administration===
The [[Confederate States Department of the Navy|Department of the Navy]] was responsible for the administration of the affairs of the Confederate Navy and [[Confederate Marine Corps]]. It included various offices, bureaus, and naval agents in Europe.

By July 20, 1861, the Confederate government had organized the administrative positions of the Confederate navy as follows:
* [[Stephen R. Mallory]] – [[Confederate States Secretary of the Navy|Secretary of the Navy]]
* [[Commodore (rank)|Commodore]] [[Samuel Barron (1809–1888)|Samuel Barron]] – Chief of the Bureau of Orders and Detail
* [[Commander]] [[George Minor]] – Chief of Ordnance and Hydrography
* Paymaster John DeBree – Chief of Provisions and Clothing
* Surgeon W. A. W. Spottswood – Bureau of Medicine and Surgery
* Edward M. Tidball – Chief Clerk

==Notable engagements==
* [[Battle of Cherbourg (1864)|Battle of Cherbourg]]
* [[Battle of Forts Jackson and St. Philip]]
* [[First Battle of Memphis]]
* [[Battle of Mobile Bay]]
* [[Battle of Hampton Roads]]
* [[Bahia incident]]
* [[Battle of the Head of Passes]]
* [[Siege of Fort Pulaski]]
* [[Battle of Plum Point Bend]]
* [[Action off Galveston Light]]
* [[Battle of Elizabeth City]]

==Ranks==
{{main|Ranks and insignia of the Confederate States}} {{main|Uniforms of the Confederate States Armed Forces#Confederate States Navy uniforms}}

By 1862 regulations specified the [[Uniforms of the Confederate States military forces#Confederate States Navy uniforms|uniforms and rank insignia]] for officers. Petty officers wore a variety of uniforms, or even regular clothing.

===Officers===
Officers of the Confederate States Navy used, just like the army, a combination of several rank insignias to indicate their rank.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://usnlp.org/civilwarnavalranks/CSN_Ranks.htm|title=Confederate States Navy rank insignia}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.uniforminsignia.org/?option=com_insigniasearch&Itemid=53&result=3532|title=Confederate States Navy (CSN) uniforms 1861-1865}}</ref> While both hat insignia and sleeve insignia were used here the primary indicator were shoulder straps. Only line officers wore those straps shown below as officers of various staff departments (Medical, Pay, Engineering and Naval Construction) had separate ranks and different straps. Likewise the anchor symbol on the hats was substituted accordingly and they did not wear loops on the sleeve insignias.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015070234938&view=1up&seq=5|title=Register of officers of the Confederate States navy, 1861-1865|year=1931}}</ref>

Paymasters, surgeons and chief engineers of more than twelve year's standing ranked with commanders. Paymasters, surgeons and chief engineers of less than twelve year's standing ranked with lieutenants. Assistant paymasters ranked with masters during the first five years of service, then with lieutenants. Passed assistant surgeons and professors ranked with masters. Assistant surgeons, first assistant engineers and secretaries to commanders of squadrons ranked with passed midshipmen. Second and third assistant engineers and clerks to commanding officers and paymasters ranked as midshipmen.<ref>Confederate States Navy Department (1862). ''Regulations for the Navy of the Confederate States.'' Richmond, pp. 8-9.</ref>

{| style="border:1px solid #8888aa; background-color:#f7f8ff; padding:5px; font-size:95%; margin: 0px 12px 12px 0px;"
{{Ranks and Insignia of Non NATO Armed Forces/OF/Blank}}
|- style="text-align:center;"
| Hat<ref name=Miller2001>{{cite book |editor1-last=Miller |editor1-first=David |title=The Illustrated Directory of Uniforms, Weapons, and Equipment of the Civil War |date=2001 |publisher=Salamander |isbn=978-0760310489 |url=https://archive.org/details/illustrateddirec0000unse_h7r5/page/384/mode/2up |access-date=13 June 2022 |pages=384–385}}</ref>
| colspan=4|
| colspan=6| [[File:Csn cover flag.png|75px]]
| colspan=2| [[File:Csn cover capt.png|75px]]
| colspan=2| [[File:Csn cover cmdr.png|75px]]
| colspan=2|
| colspan=2| [[File:Csn cover lieut.png|75px]]
| colspan=3| [[File:Csn cover mast.png|75px]]
| colspan=2| [[File:Csn cover pmid.png|75px]]
| colspan=12| [[File:Csn cover mid.png|75px]]
|- style="text-align:center;"
| Shoulder<ref name=Miller2001 />
| colspan=4 rowspan=3|
| colspan=6| [[File:Csn strap flag.png|100px]]
| colspan=2| [[File:Csn strap capt.png|100px]]
| colspan=2| [[File:Csn strap cmdr.png|100px]]
| colspan=2 rowspan=3|
| colspan=2| [[File:Confederate States of America Lieutenant strap-Navy.png|100px]]
| colspan=3| [[File:Confederate States of America Master strap-Navy.png|100px]]
| colspan=3| [[File:Confederate States of America Passed Midshipman strap-Navy.png|100px]]
| colspan=12| '''No insignia'''
|- style="text-align:center;"
| Sleeve<ref name=Miller2001 />
| colspan=6| [[File:Confederates-Navy-Flag officer (sleeve).svg|50px]]
| colspan=2| [[File:Confederates-Navy-Captain (sleeve).svg|50px]]
| colspan=2| [[File:Confederates-Navy-Commander (sleeve).svg|50px]]
| colspan=2| [[File:Confederates-Navy-Lieutenant (sleeve).svg|50px]]
| colspan=3| [[File:Confederates-Navy-Master (sleeve).svg|50px]]
| colspan=3| [[File:Confederates-Navy-Midshipman (sleeve).svg|50px]]
| colspan=12| [[File:Confederates-Navy-Midshipman (sleeve).svg|50px]]
|- style="text-align:center;"
|
| colspan=6| Flag officer
| colspan=2| [[Captain (United States O-6)|Captain]]
| colspan=2| [[Commander (United States)|Commander]]
| colspan=2| [[Lieutenant (navy)|Lieutenant]]
| colspan=3| [[Master (naval)|Master]]
| colspan=3| [[Passed midshipman]]
| colspan=12| [[Midshipman#United States Navy from 1845|Midshipman]]
|}

===Warrant and Petty Officers===
{| style="border:1px solid #8888aa; background-color:white; padding:5px; font-size:95%; margin: 0px 12px 12px 0px;"
|-style="text-align:center;"
|
! Boatswain Gunner Carpenter Sailmaker
! Petty Officer (Boatswain's Mate and equivalent)
! Petty Officer (Quartermasters and equivalent)
! Seaman
|-style="text-align:center;"
| '''Sleeve'''
| [[File:Confederate States of America Midshipman-Navy.png|50px]]
| [[File:Confederates-Navy-Boatswain's Mate.png|75px]]
| [[File:Confederates-Navy-Petty Officer.svg|75px]]
| [[File:Confederates-Navy-Seaman.svg|75px]]
|}

===Pay===
'''''Annual pay for commissioned and warrant officers'''''
{| class="wikitable"
! align="left" width="300" | Rank
! align="left" width="150" | On duty at sea
! align="left" width="150" | On other duty
! align="left" width="150" | On leave or waiting orders
|-
|Admiral|| $6,000 || n/a ||n/a
|-
|Captain commanding squadron|| $5,000 || n/a ||n/a
|-
|Captain ||$4,200||$3,600||$3,200
|-
|Commander || $2,825/3,150{{efn|name=fn1}} ||$2,662/2,825{{efn|name=fn2}}|| $2,250
|-
|Lieutenants commanding || $2,250 || n/a ||n/a
|-
|First Lieutenant || $1,500/1,700/1,900/2,100/2,250{{efn|name=fn1}}
|| $1,500/1,600/1,700/1,800/1,875 {{efn|name=fn1}} ||$1,200/1,266/1,333/1,400/1,450 {{efn|name=fn1}}
|-
|Second Lieutenant || $1,200 || colspan=2 style="text-align:center;"| $1,000
|-
|[[Master (naval)|Master]] In line of promotion || $1,000 || colspan=2 style="text-align:center;"| $900
|-
|Master Not in line of promotion || $1,000 || colspan=2 style="text-align:center;"| $900
|-
|[[Passed Midshipman]]|| $900 || colspan=2 style="text-align:center;"| $800
|-
|[[Midshipman]] || $550 ||$500||$450
|-
|[[Boatswain]] Gunner Carpenter [[Sailmaker]] || $1,500/1,700/1,900/2,100/2,250{{efn|name=fn3}} || $800/900/1,000/1,100/1,200 {{efn|name=fn3}}||$600/700/800/900/1,000 {{efn|name=fn3}}
|-
|Source: || colspan=3|<ref>Anonymous (1864). ''Register of the commissioned and warrant officers of the Navy of the Confederate States.'' Richmond: McFarland & Fergusson, pp. 55-57.</ref>
|}

;Notes
{{notelist|refs=
{{efn|name=fn1|According to length of commissioned sea duty.}}
{{efn|name=fn2|According to length of commissioned service.}}
{{efn|name=fn3|According to length of warrant sea service.}}
}}

'''''Monthly pay for petty officers, men and boys'''''
{| class="wikitable"
! align="left" width="100" | Pay
! align="left" width="600" | Rate
|-
|$49|| [[Yeoman (United States Navy)|Yeoman]] in ship of the line
|-
|$44|| Yeoman in frigate
|-
|$34|| Yeoman in [[Sloop-of-war|sloop]], [[armorer]] in ship of the line, ship's [[Culinary specialist (United States Navy)|steward]], [[Fireman (steam engine)|fireman]] first class
|-
|$29|| Armorer in frigates, [[master's mate]] (not warranted), [[Boatswain's mate (United States Navy)|boatswain's mate]], [[gunner's mate]], [[carpenter's mate]], [[master-at-arms]], fireman second class
|-
|$28|| Yeomen in smaller vessels, [[coxswain]], [[Quartermaster#United States|quartermaster]], captain of [[forecastle]], captain of tops, captain of afterguard, captain of [[Hold (ship)|hold]], [[Cooper (profession)|cooper]], painter, [[Loblolly boy|surgeon's steward]], ship's cook
|-
|$24|| Armorer in sloops, sailmaker's mate, armorer's mate, [[Ship's Corporal|ship's corporal]], quarter gunner, officer's steward, officer's cook, [[bandmaster|master of the band]]
|-
|$22|| [[Seaman (rank)#United States|Seaman]], coal-heaver
|-
|$19 ||Musician first class
|-
|$18|| [[Ordinary seaman (rank)#United States|Ordinary seaman]]
|-
|$16||[[Landsman (rank)#United States|Landsman]], musician second class
|-
|$14 ||rowspan=3|[[Ship's boy|Boy]]
|-
|$13
|-
|$12
|-
|Source: || colspan=3|<ref>Anonymous ''op.cit.'' 1864, pp. 57-58.</ref>
|}

==See also==
{{portal|American Civil War}}
*{{ship|CSS|Sumter}} - the first Confederate ship to put to sea
* [[Confederate States Marine Corps]]
* [[Confederate States Lighthouse Bureau]]
* [[List of ships of the Confederate States Navy]]
* [[Blockade runners of the American Civil War]]
* [[Confederate States Army|Confederate army]]
* [[Uniforms of the Confederate States military forces]]
* [[Bibliography of early American naval history#American Civil War|Bibliography of American Civil War naval history]]
* [[Military history of African Americans in the U.S. Civil War]]
* [[Mississippi River in the American Civil War]]

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=nb}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book |last=Bigelow |first=John |title=France and the Confederate Navy, 1862–1868 |publisher=New York, Harper & brothers |year=1888 |url=https://archive.org/details/franceandconfede00bigerich}}
* Campbell, R. Thomas. ''Southern Thunder: Exploits of the Confederate States Navy'', White Maine Publishing, 1996. {{ISBN|1-57249-029-2}}.
* Campbell, R. Thomas. ''Southern Fire: Exploits of the Confederate States Navy'', White Maine Publishing, 1997. {{ISBN|1-57249-046-2}}.
* Campbell, R. Thomas. ''Fire and Thunder: Exploits of the Confederate States Navy'', White Maine Publishing, 1997. {{ISBN|1-57249-067-5}}.
* {{cite journal|last1=de Saint Hubert |first1=Christian|year=1988|title=Re: Phantom Fleets: The Confederacy's Unbuilt Warships|journal=Warship International|volume=XXV|issue=3|pages=225–226|issn=0043-0374}}
* Hussey, John. "Cruisers, Cotton and Confederates" (details the story of Liverpool-built ships for the Confederate Navy and a host of characters and places within the city of that era: James Dunwoody Bulloch, C. K. Prioleau, and many others). Countyvise, 2009. {{ISBN|978-1-906823-32-0}}.
* Krivdo, Michael E.''The Confederate Navy and Marine Corps'' in James C. Bradford, ed. ''A Companion to American Military History'' (2 vol 2009) 1:460-471
* Luraghi, Raymond. ''A History of the Confederate Navy'', Naval Institute Press, 1996. {{ISBN|1-55750-527-6}}.
* Madaus, H. Michael. ''Rebel Flags Afloat: A Survey of the Surviving Flags of the Confederate States Navy, Revenue Service, and Merchant Marine''. Winchester, MA, [[Flag Research Center]], 1986. {{ISSN|0015-3370}}. (An 80-page special edition of "The Flag Bulletin" magazine, #115, devoted entirely to Confederate naval flags.)
* McPherson, James M. ''War on the Waters: The Union and Confederate Navies, 1861–1865.'' Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press; 2012.
* {{cite book |last=Scharf |first=John Thomas |title=History of the Confederate States Navy from Its Organization to the Surrender of Its Last Vessel |author-link=John Thomas Scharf |publisher=J. McDonough |year=1894 |url=https://archive.org/details/historyconfeder01schagoog}}
* Stern, Philip Van Doren. ''The Confederate Navy: A Pictorial History'', Doubleday & Company, Garden City, NY, 1962.
* Still, William N., ed. ''The Confederate Navy: the ships, men and organization, 1861–65'' (Conway Maritime Pr, 1997)
*{{cite journal |last1=Sullivan|first1=David M. |title=Phantom Fleets: The Confederacy's Unbuilt Warships |journal=Warship International |date=1987 |volume=XXIV |issue=1 |pages=13–32 |issn=0043-0374}}
* {{cite journal|last1=Sullivan |first1=D. M.|last2=Wright|first2=C. C.|year=1988|title=Re: Phantom Fleets: The Confederacy's Unbuilt Warships|journal=Warship International|volume=XXV|issue=3|page=226|issn=0043-0374|name-list-style=amp}}
* Tomblin, Barbara Brooks. ''Life in Jefferson Davis' Navy.'' Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2019.
* Woodward, David. "Launching The Confederate Navy." ''History Today'' (Mar 1962) 12#3 pp 206–212.
* The Rebel Raiders: The Astonishing History of the Confederacy's Secret Navy (book) <nowiki>https://lccn.loc.gov/2002019420</nowiki>

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* [http://www.astrococktail.com/CNHStale.html The Confederate Naval Historical Society]
* [http://www.navyandmarine.org/ondeck/1862submarines.htm Submarines of the American Civil War]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20150911035544/http://www.usnlp.org/civilwarnavalranks/CSN.html Confederate Navy Rank Insignia]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160507152324/http://www.navyandmarine.org/ondeck/1862CSN_Regulations.htm Regulations for the Navy of the Confederate States]
* [http://www.civilwarhome.com/navalwar.htm The American Civil War Home Page]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20150228023426/http://www.whenliverpoolwasdixie.org.uk/ When Liverpool was Dixie]
* [https://localwiki.org/liverpool/Liverpool_-_The_Home_of_the_Confederate_Fleet Liverpool – The Home of the Confederate Fleet]
* [http://www.hazegray.org/danfs/csn/ DANFS Online: Confederate States Navy]
* [https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/confederate_ships.html Naval History & Heritage Command Confederate Ships]
* [http://www.navsource.net/archives/09/86/86idx.htm "Old Navy" Steam and Sail Index (history and photo archive, CSN vessels at bottom of page)]

{{American Civil War|collapsed}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Confederate States Navy| ]]
[[Category:Military units and formations established in 1861]]
[[Category:1861 establishments in the Confederate States of America]]
[[Category:Military history of the United States]]
[[Category:Maritime history of the United States]]
[[Category:1865 disestablishments in the Confederate States of America]]

Confederate States Army

2025-07-13T19:22:00Z

Misterc1214: 1 revision imported

{{Short description|Land warfare force of the Confederate States}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2022}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2018}}
{{Infobox military unit
| unit_name = Confederate States Army
| image = Battle flag of the Confederate States of America (With White Border).svg
| caption = Battle flag of the [[Army of Northern Virginia]]
| dates = 1861–1865
| start_date = {{start date|1861|2|28}}
| disbanded = {{end date|1865|5|26}}
| country = {{Flag|Confederate States|1865}}
| type = [[Army]]
| size = 1,082,119 total who served<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/civil-war-facts|title=Civil War Facts|date=August 16, 2011|website=American Battlefield Trust}}</ref>
* 464,646 peak in 1863
| command_structure = [[File:Seal of the Confederate States of America.svg|Seal of the Confederate States of America|22px]] [[Confederate States War Department|War Department]]
| colors = {{color box|#91A3B0|border=darkgray}} [[Cadet grey|Cadet Gray]]<ref>C.S. War Dept., p. 402.</ref>
| march = "[[Dixie (song)|Dixie]]"
| battles = {{tree list}}
* [[American Civil War]]
* [[Cortina Troubles]]
* [[American Indian Wars|Indian Wars]]
{{tree list/end}}
|battles_label = Conflicts
| commander1 = [[Jefferson Davis]] (1861–65)
| commander1_label = [[Commander-in-Chief|Commander in Chief]]
| commander2 = General [[Robert E. Lee]] (1865)
| commander2_label = [[General in Chief of the Armies of the Confederate States|General in Chief]]
}}
The '''Confederate States Army''' ('''CSA'''), also called the '''Confederate army''' or the '''Southern army''', was the [[Military forces of the Confederate States|military]] land force of the [[Confederate States of America]] (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the [[American Civil War]] (1861–1865), fighting against the United States forces to support the rebellion of the Southern states and uphold and expand [[Slavery in the United States|the institution of slavery]].<ref>On February 8, 1861, delegates from the first seven [[Deep South]] slave states which had already declared their secession from the Union of the United States of America met at [[Montgomery, Alabama|Montgomery]], the [[state capital]] of [[Alabama]], adopted the [[Provisional Constitution of the Confederate States]].</ref> On February 28, 1861, the [[Provisional Confederate Congress]] established a provisional volunteer army and gave control over military operations and authority for mustering state forces and volunteers to the newly chosen Confederate States president, [[Jefferson Davis]] (1808–1889). Davis was a graduate of the [[United States Military Academy]], on the [[Hudson River]] at [[West Point, New York]], and colonel of a volunteer regiment during the [[Mexican–American War]] (1846–1848). He had also been a [[United States senator]] from [[Mississippi]] and served as [[United States Secretary of War|U.S. Secretary of War]] under 14th president [[Franklin Pierce]]. On March 1, 1861, on behalf of the new Confederate States government, Davis assumed control of the military situation at [[Charleston Harbor]] in [[Charleston, South Carolina]], where South Carolina state militia had besieged the longtime Federal [[Fort Sumter]] in Charleston harbor, held by a small [[United States Army|U.S. Army]] garrison under the command of Major [[Robert Anderson (Union officer)|Robert Anderson]] (1805–1871). By March 1861, the [[Provisional Congress of the Confederate States]] meeting in the temporary capital of [[Montgomery, Alabama]], expanded the provisional military forces and established a more permanent regular Confederate States Army.

An accurate count of the total number of individuals who served in the [[Military forces of the Confederate States]] (Army, Navy and Marine Corps) is not possible due to incomplete and destroyed/burned Confederate records; and archives. Estimates of the number of Confederate soldiers, sailors and marines are between 750,000 and over 1,000,000 troops. This does not include an unknown number of [[slavery in the United States|black slaves]] who were pressed into performing various tasks for the army, such as the construction of fortifications and defenses or driving wagons.<ref>Records of the number of individuals who served in the [[United States Army]] are more extensive and reliable, but are not entirely accurate. Estimates of the number of individual Union soldiers range between 1,550,000 and 2,400,000, with a number between 2,000,000 and 2,200,000 most likely. Union Army records show slightly more than 2,677,000 enlistments, but this number apparently includes many re-enlistments. These numbers do not include sailors who served in [[United States Navy]] or [[United States Marine Corps]]. These figures represent the total number of soldiers who served at any time during the war, not the size of the army at any given date.</ref> Since these figures include estimates of the total number of soldiers who served at any time during the war, they do not represent the size of the army at any given date. These numbers also do not include sailors/marines who served in the [[Confederate States Navy]].

Although most of the soldiers who fought in the American Civil War were volunteers, both sides by 1862 resorted to [[conscription]] as a means to supplement the volunteer soldiers. Although exact records are unavailable, estimates of the percentage of Confederate Army soldiers who were drafted are about double the 6 percent of Union Army soldiers who were drafted.<ref>Albert Burton Moore, ''Conscription and Conflict in the Confederacy'' (1924).</ref>

According to the National Park Service, "Soldier demographics for the Confederate Army are not available due to incomplete and destroyed enlistment records." Their estimates of Confederate military personnel deaths are about 94,000 killed in battle, 164,000 deaths from disease, and 25,976 deaths in Union prison camps. One estimate of the total Confederate wounded is 194,026. In comparison, the best estimates of the number of Union military personnel deaths are 110,100 killed in battle, 224,580 deaths from disease, and 30,218 deaths in Confederate prison camps. The estimated figure for Union Army wounded is 275,174.<ref name="NPS2024">{{cite web |author1=NPS Staff |title=Facts – The Civil War (U.S. National Park Service) |url=https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/facts.htm |website=NPS.gov |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241203180922/https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/facts.htm |archive-date=3 December 2024}}</ref>

The main Confederate armies, the [[Army of Northern Virginia]] under General [[Robert E. Lee]] and the remnants of the [[Army of Tennessee]] and various other units under General [[Joseph E. Johnston]], surrendered to the U.S. on April 9, 1865 (officially April 12), and April 18, 1865 (officially April 26). Other Confederate forces further south and west surrendered between April 16, 1865, and June 28, 1865.<ref>Confederate forces at [[Mobile, Alabama]], and [[Columbus, Georgia]], also had already surrendered on April 14, 1865, and April 16, 1865, respectively. U.S. and Confederate units fought a [[Battle of Columbus (1865)|battle at Columbus, Georgia]], before the surrender on April 16, 1865, and a small final battle at [[Battle of Palmito Ranch|Palmito Ranch]], Texas, on May 12, 1865. In areas more distant from the main theaters of operations, Confederate forces in Alabama and Mississippi under [[Lieutenant General (CSA)|Lieutenant General]] [[Richard Taylor (Confederate general)|Richard Taylor]], in Arkansas under [[Brigadier General (CSA)|Brigadier General]] [[M. Jeff Thompson]], in Louisiana and Texas under General [[E. Kirby Smith]] and in [[Indian Territory in the American Civil War|Indian Territory]] under Brigadier General [[Stand Watie]] surrendered on May 4, 1865, May 12, 1865, May 26, 1865 (officially June 2, 1865), and June 28, 1865, respectively.</ref> By the end of the war, more than 100,000 Confederate soldiers had [[Desertion|deserted]],<ref>{{cite book|author=Eric Foner|title=Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863–1877|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cwVkgrvctCcC&pg=PA15|year=1988|page=15|publisher=Harper Collins |isbn=9780062035868}}</ref> and some estimates put the number as high as one-third of all Confederate soldiers.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hamner |first1=Christopher |title=Deserters in the Civil War {{!}} Teachinghistory.org |url=http://teachinghistory.org/history-content/ask-a-historian/23934 |website=teachinghistory.org |access-date=August 3, 2018 |ref=Historian Christopher Hamner teaches at George Mason University, serves as Editor-in-Chief of Papers of the War Department, 1784–1800, and is the author of Enduring Battle: American Soldiers in Three Wars, 1776–1945. |language=en}}</ref> The Confederacy's government effectively dissolved when it evacuated the four-year old capital of [[Richmond, Virginia]], on April 3, 1865, and fled southwest by railroad train with President Jefferson Davis and members of his cabinet. It gradually continued moving southwestward first to Lynchburg, Virginia, and lost communication with its remaining military commanders, soon exerting no control over the remaining armies. They were eventually caught and captured near [[Irwinville, Georgia]], a month later in May 1865.

==Prelude==
By the time [[Abraham Lincoln]] took office as President of the United States on March 4, 1861, the seven seceding slave states had formed the [[Confederate States of America|Confederate States]]. They seized federal property, including nearly all U.S. Army forts, within their borders.<ref name="McPherson2004">{{cite book|author= James M. McPherson|title= The Most Fearful Ordeal: Original Coverage of the Civil War by Writers and Reporters of The New York Times|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KVxnee59b_4C&pg=PA55|date=June 2004 |publisher= St. Martin's Press|isbn=978-0-312-33123-8|page=55}}</ref> Lincoln was determined to hold the forts remaining under U.S. control when he took office, especially [[Fort Sumter]] in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina. On February 28, shortly before Lincoln was sworn in as president, the [[Provisional Confederate Congress]] had authorized the organization of a large Provisional Army of the Confederate States (PACS).<ref name="Tucker2013">{{cite book |author= Spencer C. Tucker|title= American Civil War: The Definitive Encyclopedia and Document Collection [6 volumes]: The Definitive Encyclopedia and Document Collection|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=9dvYAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA74|date=September 30, 2013|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn= 978-1-85109-682-4|page=74}}</ref>

Under orders from Confederate President Jefferson Davis, C.S. troops under the command of General Pierre Gustave Toutant / [[P. G. T. Beauregard]] military forces surrounding the city harbor began [[Battle of Fort Sumter|bombarding Fort Sumter]] on April 12–13, [[1861]] and forced its capitulation on April 14.<ref name="Weigley2000">{{cite book|author=Russell Frank Weigley |title=A Great Civil War: A Military and Political History, 1861–1865|url= https://archive.org/details/greatcivilwarmil0000weig|url-access=registration|year=2000|publisher=Indiana University Press|isbn= 0-253-33738-0|pages= [https://archive.org/details/greatcivilwarmil0000weig/page/21 21]–23}}</ref><ref name="Williams2015">{{cite book|author=T. Harry Williams|title=P. G. T. Beauregard: Napoleon In Gray|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sQlvCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT62|date=November 6, 2015|publisher=Golden Springs Publishing|isbn=978-1-78289-373-8|pages=62–64}}</ref> The remaining loyal United States in the North, outraged by the Confederacy's attack, demanded war. It rallied behind new 16th President Lincoln's call on April 15 for all the loyal states to send their state militia units avolunteer troops to reinforce and protect the national federal capital of Washington, D.C., to recapture the various forts, arsenals, shipyards and other seized federal installations from the secessionists, to put down and suppress the rebellion and to save the Union.<ref>Weigley 2000, p. 24</ref> Four more upper border [[slave state]]s (North Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas and finally Virginia) then joined the Confederacy, making eleven seceded states, rather than fight fellow Southerners. The Confederacy then moved its national capital from temporary Montgomery, Alabama to the state capital of Virginia in Richmond. Both the United States and the Confederate States began in earnest to raise large, mostly volunteer, armies,<ref name="Karsten2006">{{cite book|author=Peter Karsten|title= Encyclopedia of War and American Society|url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediawara00kars|url-access= registration|year=2006|publisher=SAGE|isbn=978-0-7619-3097-6|page=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediawara00kars/page/n201 187]}}</ref><ref name="GrimsleyWoodworth2006">{{cite book|author1=Mark Grimsley|author2=Steven E. Woodworth|title=Shiloh: A Battlefield Guide|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=u7cWoRN4v8MC&pg=PA3|year=2006|publisher=U of Nebraska Press|isbn=0-8032-7100-X |pages=3–}}</ref> with the opposing objectives: putting down the rebellion and preserving the Union on the one hand, and establishing Southern independence from the northern United States on the other.<ref>McPherson 1997, pp. 104–105.
</ref>

==Establishment==
[[File:Private Edwin Francis Jemison.jpg|thumb|upright|Private [[Edwin Francis Jemison]], whose image became one of the most famous portraits of the young soldiers of the war]]
The [[Confederate States Congress]] provided for a regular Confederate States Army, patterned after its parent in the United States Army (established 1775 / 1789). It was to consist of a large provisional force to exist only in time of war and a small permanent regular army. The provisional, volunteer army was established by an act of the [[Provisional Confederate Congress]] passed on February 28, 1861, one week before the act which established the permanent regular army organization, passed on March 6. Although the two forces were to exist concurrently, little was done to organize the Confederate regular army.<ref name="Allardice2008">{{cite book|author=Bruce S. Allardice|title=Confederate Colonels: A Biographical Register|url=https://archive.org/details/confederatecolon00alla|url-access=registration|year=2008|publisher=University of Missouri Press|isbn=978-0-8262-6648-4|pages=[https://archive.org/details/confederatecolon00alla/page/8 8]–9}}</ref>
* The '''Provisional Army of the Confederate States''' ('''PACS''') began organizing on April 27. Virtually all regular, volunteer, and conscripted men preferred to enter this organization since officers could achieve a higher rank in the Provisional Army than they could in the Regular Army. If the war had ended successfully for them, the Confederates intended that the PACS would be disbanded, leaving only the ACSA.<ref name="Eicher7066"/>
* The '''Army of the Confederate States of America''' ('''ACSA''') was the regular army and was authorized to include 15,015 men, including 744 officers, but this level was never achieved. The men serving in the highest rank as Confederate States generals, such as [[Samuel Cooper (general)|Samuel Cooper]] and [[Robert E. Lee]], were enrolled in the ACSA to ensure that they outranked all militia officers.<ref name=Eicher7066/> ACSA ultimately existed only on paper. The organization of the ACSA did not proceed beyond the appointment and confirmation of some officers. Three state regiments were later denominated "Confederate" regiments, but this appears to have had no practical effect on the organization of a regular Confederate Army and no real effect on the regiments themselves.

Members of all the [[military forces of the Confederate States]] (the army, the navy, and the marine corps) are often referred to as "Confederates", and members of the Confederate army were referred to as "Confederate soldiers". Supplementing the Confederate army were the various state militias of the Confederacy:
* Confederate States '''State Militias''' were organized and commanded by the state governments, similar to those authorized by the United States' [[Militia Act of 1792]]. Some of these militia forces, in the early days of the Confederacy, had operated as stand alone military forces before being incorporated into the Confederate Army; one of the more well known was the [[Provisional Army of Virginia]].

===Control and conscription===
{{Main|Confederate Conscription Acts 1862–1864}}
[[File:Resistance to Confederate conscription.jpg|thumb|left|A cartoon from the war, showing the Confederates forcibly drafting a [[Southern Unionist]] man into the Confederate army. The Unionist man objects, with the Confederates threatening to lynch him if he does not comply.]]
Control and operation of the Confederate army were administered by the [[Confederate States War Department]], which was established by the Confederate Provisional Congress in an act on February 21, 1861. The Confederate Congress gave control over military operations, and authority for mustering state forces and volunteers to the President of the Confederate States of America on February 28, 1861, and March 6, 1861. On March 8, the Confederate Congress passed a law that authorized President Davis to issue proclamations to call up no more than 100,000 men.<ref>{{cite book|author=United States. War Dept|title=Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NasoAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA134|year=1900|page=134}}</ref> The C.S. War Department asked for 8,000 volunteers on March 9, 20,000 on April 8, and 49,000 on and after April 16. Davis proposed an army of 100,000 soldiers in his message to Congress on April 29.<ref>{{cite book|author1=John George Nicolay|author2=John Hay|title=Abraham Lincoln: A History|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.260345|year=1890|publisher=The Century Co.|page=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.260345/page/n308 264]}}</ref>

On August 8, 1861, the Confederacy called for 400,000 volunteers to serve for one or three years. Eight months later in April 1862,<ref name=McPhersonBooknotes1994>{{Cite web|url=http://www.booknotes.org/FullPage.aspx?SID=55946-1 |last1=McPherson |first1=James M. |author-link1=James M. McPherson |first2=Brian |last2=Lamb |author-link2=Brian Lamb |title=James McPherson: What They Fought For, 1861–1865 |work=Booknotes |publisher=National Cable Satellite Corporation |access-date=March 9, 2016 |date=May 22, 1994 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160309201904/http://www.booknotes.org/FullPage.aspx?SID=55946-1 |archive-date=March 9, 2016 }}</ref> the Confederacy passed the first [[conscription]] law in either Confederate or Union history, the Conscription Act,<ref name=EFoner1998p15>{{Cite book|first=Eric|last=Foner|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cwVkgrvctCcC&q=%22Eric+Foner%22+%22Republicans%22|title=Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863–1877|date=1988|location=United States of America|publisher=Harper & Row|page=15|access-date=March 2, 2016|author-link=Eric Foner|isbn=0-06-093716-5|quote=[T]he Confederacy enacted the first conscription laws in American history{{nbsp}}...}}</ref> which made all able bodied white men between the ages of 18 and 35 liable for a three-year term of service in the Provisional Army. It also extended the terms of enlistment for all one-year soldiers to three years. Men employed in certain occupations considered to be most valuable for the home front (such as railroad and river workers, civil officials, telegraph operators, miners, druggists and teachers) were exempt from the draft.<ref name="Exemptions">[http://blogs.loc.gov/law/2012/11/civil-war-conscription-laws/''Civil War Conscription Laws:'' November 15, 2012 by Margaret Wood.]</ref> The act was amended twice in 1862. On September 27, the maximum age of conscription was extended to 45.<ref name="Age Extension">Faust, Patricia L. ed ''Historical Times Encyclopedia of the Civil War:'' New York, 1986</ref> On October 11, the Confederate States Congress passed the so-called "[[Twenty Negro Law]]",<ref>{{Cite book|author-link=James W. Loewen|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5m23RrMeLt4C&pg=PT225|title=Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong|isbn=978-1-56584-100-0|oclc=29877812|publisher=The New Press|location=New York|first=James W.|last=Loewen|date=2007|pages=224–226|access-date=January 19, 2016}}</ref> which exempted anyone who owned 20 or more slaves, a move that caused deep resentment among conscripts who did not own slaves.<ref name="Wiley2008">{{cite book|author=Bell Irvin Wiley|title=The Life of Johnny Reb: The Common Soldier of the Confederacy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bbEqSLOriEoC&pg=PT505|date=January 1, 2008|publisher=LSU Press|isbn=978-0-8071-5604-9|page=505}}</ref>

The C.S. Congress enacted several more amendments throughout the war to address losses suffered in battle as well as the United States' greater supply of manpower. In December 1863, it abolished the previous practice of allowing a rich drafted man to hire a substitute to take his place in the ranks. Substitution had also been practiced in the United States, leading to similar resentment from the lower classes. In February 1864, the age limits were extended to between 17 and 50.<ref name="Civil War Conscription Laws">{{cite web|url=http://blogs.loc.gov/law/2012/11/civil-war-conscription-laws/%22%22Civil|title=War Conscription Laws": November 15, 2012 by Margaret Wood."}}{{Dead link|date=October 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Challenges to the subsequent acts came before five state supreme courts; all five upheld them.<ref name="Constitutional Law of Conscription Law">{{Cite web|url=http://blurblawg.typepad.com/files/necessity-knows-no-law.pdf|title='Necessity Knows No Law': Vested Rights and Styles of Reasoning in the Confederate Conscription Cases|work=Mississippi Law Journal|date=2000|author=Mississippi Law Journal|location=Mississippi}}.</ref>

==Morale and motivations==
[[File:Men of Virginia to the Rescue! (May 1861).jpg|thumb|An 1861 Confederate recruiting poster from Virginia, urging men to join the Confederate cause and fight off the Union Army, which it refers to as a "brutal and desperate foe"]]
In his 2010 book ''Major Problems in the Civil War'', historian [[Michael Perman]] says that historians are of two minds on why millions of men seemed so eager to fight, suffer and die over four years:

{{blockquote|text=Some historians emphasize that Civil War soldiers were driven by political ideology, holding firm beliefs about the importance of liberty, Union, or state rights, or about the need to protect or to destroy slavery. Others point to less overtly political reasons to fight, such as the defense of one's home and family, or the honor and brotherhood to be preserved when fighting alongside other men. Most historians agree that, no matter what he thought about when he went into the war, the experience of combat affected him profoundly and sometimes affected his reasons for continuing to fight.|author=Michael Perman|source=''Major Problems in the Civil War and Reconstruction'' (2010), p. 178.<ref>{{cite book|first1=Michael|last1=Perman|first2=Amy Murrell|last2=Taylor|title=Major Problems in the Civil War and Reconstruction|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5rPbZT_hrncC&pg=PA178|year= 2010|publisher=Cengage|access-date=March 9, 2016|page=178|isbn=978-0618875207}}</ref>}}

Educated soldiers drew upon their knowledge of American history to justify their costs. Historian [[James M. McPherson]] says:

{{blockquote|text=Confederate and Union soldiers interpreted the heritage of 1776 in opposite ways. Confederates professed to fight for liberty and independence from a too radical government; Unionists said they fought to preserve the nation conceived in liberty from dismemberment and destruction ... The rhetoric of liberty that had permeated the letters of Confederate volunteers in 1861, grew even stronger as the war progressed.<ref>James McPherson, ''For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War'' (1998) pp 104–5.</ref>}}

Before and during the Civil War, the popular press of Richmond, including its five major newspapers, sought to inspire a sense of patriotism, Confederate identity, and the moral high ground in the southern population.<ref name="AyersGallagher2006">{{cite book|author1=Edward L. Ayers|author2=Gary W. Gallagher|author3=Andrew J. Torget|editor=Edward L. Ayers|title=Crucible of the Civil War: Virginia from Secession to Commemoration|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rIJhAcEcODcC|year=2006|publisher=University of Virginia Press|isbn=978-0-8139-2552-3|pages=80–81}}</ref>

===Religion===
The southern churches met the shortage of Army chaplains by sending missionaries. The Southern Baptists sent a total of 78 missionaries, starting in 1862. Presbyterians were even more active, with 112 missionaries sent in early 1865. Other missionaries were funded and supported by the Episcopalians, Methodists, and Lutherans. One result was wave after wave of religious revivals in the Army,<ref>W. Harrison Daniel, "Southern Protestantism and Army Missions in the Confederacy." ''Mississippi Quarterly'' 17.4 (1964): 179+.</ref> religion playing a major part in the lives of Confederate soldiers. Some men with a weak religious affiliation became committed Christians, and saw their military service in terms of satisfying God's wishes. Religion strengthened the soldiers' loyalty to their comrades and the Confederacy.<ref>{{Cite book|first=Kent T.|last=Dollar|title=Soldiers of the Cross: Soldier-Christians and the Impact of the War on their Faith|publisher=Mercer University Press|date=2005|url=https://networks.h-net.org/node/4113/reviews/4849/melton-dollar-soldiers-cross-soldier-christians-and-impact-war-their}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|first=Steven E.|last=Woodworth|title=While God is Marching On|date=2001}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|first=Charles Reagan|last=Wilson|title=Baptized in Blood|date=1980}}</ref><ref name="MillerStout1998">{{cite book|author1=Kurt O. Berends|editor1=Randall M. Miller|editor2=Harry S. Stout|editor3=Charles Reagan Wilson|title=Religion and the American Civil War|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y3NZ6LvDfikC&pg=PA141|chapter="Wholesome Reading Purifies and Elevates the Man": The Religious Military Press in the Confederacy|date=November 5, 1998|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-802834-5|pages=141–142}}</ref> Military historian Samuel J. Watson argues that Christian faith was a major factor in combat motivation. According to his analysis, the soldiers' faith was consoling for the loss of comrades; it was a shield against fear; it helped reduce drinking and fighting in the ranks; it enlarged the soldiers' community of close friends and helped compensate for their long-term separation from home.<ref>Samuel J. Watson, "Religion and combat motivation in the Confederate armies." ''Journal of Military History'' 58#1 (1994): 29+.</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.questia.com/library/120078224/why-confederates-fought-family-and-nation-in-civil|first=Aaron|last=Sheehan-Dean|title=Why Confederates Fought: Family and Nation in Civil War Virginia|date=2009}}</ref>

===Slavery and white supremacism===
In his 1997 book [[For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War|''For Cause and Comrades'']], which examines the motivations of the American Civil War's soldiers, noted [[Princeton University]] war historian and author [[James M. McPherson]] (born 1936), contrasts the views of Confederate soldiers regarding slavery with those of the colonial American revolutionaries of the earlier 18th century.<ref name=JMMcPherson1997p106>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/forcausecomrades00mcph|url-access=registration|title=For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War|page=[https://archive.org/details/forcausecomrades00mcph/page/106 106]|quote=Confederate soldiers from slaveholding families expressed no feelings of embarrassment or inconsistency in fighting for their liberty while holding other people in slavery. Indeed, white supremacy and the right of property in slaves were at the core of the ideology for which Confederate soldiers fought.|last=McPherson|first=James M.|date=1997|publisher=Oxford University Press|oclc=34912692|location=New York|author-link=James M. McPherson|isbn=0-19-509-023-3}}</ref> He stated that while the American rebel colonists of the [[1770s]] saw an incongruity between owning slaves on the one hand, and proclaiming to be fighting for liberty on the other, the later Confederacy's soldiers did not, as the Confederate ideology of [[white supremacy]] negated any contradiction between the two:

{{blockquote|text=Unlike many slaveholders in the age of Thomas Jefferson, Confederate soldiers from slaveholding families expressed no feelings of embarrassment or inconsistency in fighting for their liberty while holding other people in slavery. Indeed, white supremacy and the right of property in slaves were at the core of the ideology for which Confederate soldiers fought.|author=[[James M. McPherson]]|source=''[[For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War]]'' (1997), p. 106.<ref name=JMMcPherson1997p106/>}}

McPherson states that Confederate States Army soldiers did not discuss the issue of slavery as often as the opposing United States Army soldiers did, because most Confederate soldiers readily accepted as an obvious fact that they were fighting to perpetuate slavery and thus did not feel the need to debate over it:

{{blockquote|text=[O]nly 20 percent of the sample of 429 Southern soldiers explicitly voiced proslavery convictions in their letters or diaries. As one might expect, a much higher percentage of soldiers from slaveholding families than from non-slaveholding families expressed such a purpose: 33 percent, compared with 12 percent. Ironically, the proportion of Union soldiers who wrote about the slavery question was greater, as the next chapter will show. There is a ready explanation for this apparent paradox. Emancipation was a salient issue for Union soldiers because it was controversial. Slavery was less salient for most Confederate soldiers because it was not controversial. They took slavery for granted as one of the Southern 'rights' and institutions for which they fought, and did not feel compelled to discuss it.|author=James M. McPherson|source=''For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War'' (1997), pp. 109–110.<ref name=JMMcPherson1997p110>{{Cite book|last=McPherson|first=James M.|date=1997|publisher=Oxford University Press, Inc.|location=New York City|author-link=James M. McPherson|url=https://archive.org/details/forcausecomrades00mcph|url-access=registration|title=For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War|pages=[https://archive.org/details/forcausecomrades00mcph/page/109 109]–110|quote=It would be wrong, however, to assume that Confederate soldiers were constantly preoccupied with this matter. Only 20 percent of the sample of 429 Southern soldiers explicitly voiced proslavery convictions in their letters or diaries. As one might expect, a much higher percentage of soldiers from slaveholding families than from non-slaveholding families expressed such a purpose: 33 percent, compared with 12 percent. Ironically, the proportion of Union soldiers who wrote about the slavery question was greater, as the next chapter will show. There is a ready explanation for this apparent paradox. Emancipation was a salient issue for Union soldiers because it was controversial. Slavery was less salient for most Confederate soldiers because it was not controversial. They took slavery for granted as one of the Southern 'rights' and institutions for which they fought, and did not feel compelled to discuss it. Although only 20 percent of the soldiers avowed explicit proslavery purposes in their letters and diaries, ''none at all'' dissented from that view.|isbn=0-19-509-023-3|access-date=April 1, 2016}}</ref>}}

Continuing, retired Professor McPherson also stated that of the hundreds of Confederate soldiers' letters he had examined, none of them contained any anti-slavery sentiment whatsoever:

{{blockquote|text=Although only 20 percent of the soldiers avowed explicit proslavery purposes in their letters and diaries, ''none at all'' dissented from that view.|author=James M. McPherson|source=''For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War'' (1997), p. 110, emphasis in original.<ref name=JMMcPherson1997p110/>}}

McPherson admits some flaws in his sampling of letters. Soldiers from slaveholding families were overrepresented by 100%:

{{blockquote|text=Nonslaveholding farmers are underrepresented in the Confederate sample. Indeed, while about one-third of all Confederate soldiers belonged to slaveholding families, slightly more than two-thirds of the sample whose slaveholding status is known did so.|author=James M. McPherson|source=''For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War'' (1997), p. ix.
<ref>James M. McPherson, ''For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War'' (1997), p. ix. "In both the Union and Confederate samples, foreign-born soldiers are substantially underrepresented. In the Union sample, only 9 percent of soldiers were born abroad in the Confederate Army, compared with 24 percent of all Union Army soldiers. Unskilled and even skilled laborers are underrepresented in both samples. Nonslaveholding farmers are underrepresented in the Confederate sample. Indeed, while about one-third of all Confederate soldiers belonged to slaveholding families, slightly more than two-thirds of the sample whose slaveholding status is known did so ... Officers are overrepresented in both samples. While some 10 percent of Civil War soldiers served as officers for at least half of their time in the army, 47 percent of the Confederate sample and 35 percent of the Union sample did so. Both samples are also skewed toward those who volunteered in 1861–62 and therefore contain disproportionately few draftees{{nbsp}}..."</ref>}}

In some cases, Confederate men were motivated to join the army in response to the United States' actions regarding its opposition to slavery.<ref name=JMMcPhersonP107>{{Cite book|last=McPherson|first=James M.|date=1997|quote=The Proclamation is worth three hundred thousand soldiers to our Government at least ... It shows exactly what this war was brought about for and the intention of its damnable authors.|url=https://archive.org/details/forcausecomrades00mcph|url-access=registration|title=For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War|publisher=Oxford University Press|page=[https://archive.org/details/forcausecomrades00mcph/page/107 107]|location=New York City|author-link=James M. McPherson|isbn=0-19-509-023-3|oclc=34912692|access-date=April 1, 2016}}</ref> After the U.S. President Abraham Lincoln issued the [[Emancipation Proclamation]] in [[1862]]–[[1863]], some Confederate soldiers welcomed the move, as they believed it would strengthen pro-slavery sentiment in the Confederacy, and thus lead to greater enlistment of soldiers in the Confederate armies.<ref name=JMMcPhersonP107/>

One Confederate soldier from the West in [[Texas in the American Civil War|Texas]] gave his reasons for fighting for the Confederacy, stating that "we are fighting for our property",<ref name=JMMcPherson1997p117>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/forcausecomrades00mcph|url-access=registration|title=For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War|page=[https://archive.org/details/forcausecomrades00mcph/page/117 117]|last=McPherson|first=James M.|date=1997|publisher=Oxford University Press, Inc.|oclc=34912692|location=New York City|author-link=James M. McPherson|isbn=0-19-509-023-3|access-date=April 1, 2016}}</ref> contrasting this with the motivations of Union soldiers, who, he claimed, were fighting for the "flimsy and abstract idea that a negro is equal to an Anglo American".<ref name=JMMcPherson1997p117/> One [[Louisiana]]n artilleryman stated, "I never want to see the day when a negro is put on an equality with a white person. There is too many free niggers ... now to suit me, let alone having four millions."<ref name=JMMcPherson1997p109>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/forcausecomrades00mcph|url-access=registration|title=For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War|page=[https://archive.org/details/forcausecomrades00mcph/page/109 109]|last=McPherson|first=James M.|date=1997|publisher=Oxford University Press, Inc.|location=New York City|author-link=James M. McPherson|isbn=0-19-509-023-3|access-date=April 1, 2016}}</ref> A [[North Carolina in the American Civil War|North Carolinian]] soldier stated, "[A] white man is better than a nigger."<ref name=JMMcPherson1997p109/>

Decades later in [[1894]], [[Virginia in the American Civil War|Virginian]] and former famous Confederate cavalry leader, [[John S. Mosby]] (1833–1916), reflecting on his role in the war, stated in a letter to a friend that "I've always understood that we went to war on account of the thing we quarreled with the North about. I've never heard of any other cause than slavery."<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Confederate Battle Flag: America's Most Embattled Emblem|date=2005|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zs0VJTbNwfAC&pg=PA26|page=26|first=John M.|last=Coski|isbn=0-674-01722-6|publisher=First Harvard University Press|location=United States of America|access-date=July 1, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/book-party/wp/2015/06/19/how-people-convince-themselves-that-the-confederate-flag-represents-freedom-not-slavery/|title=How people convince themselves that the Confederate flag represents freedom, not slavery: Historian John M. Coski examines the fights over the symbol's meaning in 'The Confederate Battle Flag: America's Most Embattled Emblem.'|newspaper=The Washington Post|publisher=Graham Holdings Company|location=Washington, D.C.|date=June 19, 2015|first=Carlos|last=Lozada|access-date=July 1, 2015}}</ref>
As stated by researcher / authors Andrew Hall, Connor Huff and Shiro Kuriwaki in the article ''Wealth, Slaveownership, and Fighting for the Confederacy: An Empirical Study of the American Civil War'', research done using an 1862 [[Georgia Lottery]] showed that rich white Southern men actually enlisted at a higher rate than poor men because they had more to lose. Slavery helped provide them with wealth and power, and they felt that the Civil War would destroy everything that they had if they lost because they saw slavery as the foundation of their wealth, which was under threat and caused them to fight hard.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hall |first1=Andrew |last2=Huff |first2=Connor |last3=Kuriwaki |first3=Shiro |title=Wealth, Slaveownership, and Fighting for the Confederacy: An Empirical Study of the American Civil War |journal=American Political Science Review |date=August 2019 |volume=113 |issue=3 |pages=658–673 |doi=10.1017/S0003055419000170|s2cid=21749302 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

===Desertion===
{{further|Desertion#American Civil War}}
At many points during the war, and especially near the end, the Confederate armies were very poorly fed. At home their families were in worsening condition and faced starvation and the depredations of roving bands of marauders. Many soldiers went home temporarily (A.W.O.L. – "[[Absent Without Official Leave]]") and quietly returned when their family problems had been resolved. By September 1864, however, President Davis publicly admitted that two-thirds of the soldiers were absent, "most of them without leave". The problem escalated rapidly after that, and fewer and fewer men returned.<ref>{{cite book|author=David Williams|title=Rich Man's War: Class, Caste, and Confederate Defeat in the Lower Chattahoochee Valley|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-U2z9lk833EC&pg=PA4|year=2011|publisher=University of Georgia Press|page=4|isbn=9780820340791}}</ref> Soldiers who were fighting in defense of their homes realized that they had to desert to fulfill that duty. Historian Mark Weitz argues that the official count of 103,400 deserters is too low. He concludes that most of the desertions came because the soldier felt he owed a higher duty to his own family than to the Confederacy.<ref>Mark A. Weitz, ''A higher duty: desertion among Georgia troops during the Civil War'' (U of Nebraska Press, 2005).</ref>

Confederate policies regarding desertion generally were severe. For example, on August 19, 1862, famed General [[Stonewall Jackson|Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson]] (1824–1863), approved the court-martial sentence of execution for three soldiers for desertion, rejecting pleas for clemency from the soldiers' regimental commander. General Jackson's goal was to maintain discipline in a volunteer army whose homes were under threat of enemy occupation.<ref>K. M. L. "Stonewall's Rush to Judgment", ''Civil War Times'' (2010) 49#2 pp 51+.</ref><ref>Ella Lonn, ''Desertion during the Civil War'' (1928).</ref>

Historians of the Civil War have emphasized how soldiers from poor families deserted because they were urgently needed at home. Local pressures mounted as Union forces occupied more and more Confederate territory, putting more and more families at risk of hardship.<ref>{{Cite journal |jstor = 2580242|title = Desertion as Localism: Army Unit Solidarity and Group Norms in the U.S. Civil War|journal = Social Forces|volume = 70|issue = 2|pages = 321–342|last1 = Bearman|first1 = Peter S.|year = 1991|doi = 10.2307/2580242}}</ref> One Confederate Army officer at the time noted, "The deserters belong almost entirely to the poorest class of non-slave-holders whose labor is indispensable to the daily support of their families" and that "When the father, husband or son is forced into the service, the suffering at home with them is inevitable. It is not in the nature of these men to remain quiet in the ranks under such circumstances."<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=http://www.americanheritage.com/content/south%E2%80%99s-inner-civil-war-0 |title=The South's Inner Civil War: The more fiercely the Confederacy fought for its independence, the more bitterly divided it became. To fully understand the vast changes the war unleashed on the country, you must first understand the plight of the Southerners who didn't want secession |date=March 1989 |volume=40 |issue=2 |first=Eric |last=Foner |author-link=Eric Foner |page=3 |magazine=American Heritage |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131218233100/http://www.americanheritage.com/content/south%E2%80%99s-inner-civil-war-0 |archive-date=December 18, 2013 }}</ref>

Some soldiers also deserted from ideological motivations.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Doyle | first1 = Patrick J. | year = 2013 | title = Understanding the Desertion of South Carolinian Soldiers during the Final Years of the Confederacy | journal = Historical Journal | volume = 56 | issue = 3| pages = 657–679 | doi=10.1017/s0018246x13000046| s2cid = 159773914 }}</ref> A growing threat to the solidarity of the Confederacy was dissatisfaction in the [[Appalachian Mountains]] districts caused by lingering Unionism and a distrust of the power wielded by the slave-holding class. Many of their soldiers deserted, returned home, and formed a military force that fought off Regular Army units trying to capture and punish them.<ref>{{Cite journal |jstor = 4249872|title = "The Grave and Scandalous Evil Infected to Your People": The Erosion of Confederate Loyalty in Floyd County, Virginia|journal = The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography|volume = 108|issue = 4|pages = 393–434|last1 = Dotson|first1 = Rand|year = 2000}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Otten | first1 = James T. | year = 1974 | title = Disloyalty in the Upper Districts of South Carolina During the Civil War | journal = South Carolina Historical Magazine | volume = 75 | issue = 2| pages = 95–110 | jstor=27567243}}</ref> North Carolina lost nearly a quarter of its soldiers (24,122) to desertion. This was the highest rate of desertion of any Confederate state.<ref>Scott King-Owen, "Conditional Confederates: Absenteeism among Western North Carolina Soldiers, 1861–1865." ''Civil War History'' 2011; 57(4): 349–379. [http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/civil_war_history/v057/57.4.king-owen.html online]</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Giuffre | first1 = Katherine A. | year = 1997 | title = First in Flight: Desertion as Politics in the North Carolina Confederate Army | journal = Social Science History | volume = 21 | issue = 2| pages = 245–263 | doi=10.2307/1171275| jstor = 1171275 }}</ref>

Young Samuel Clemens (1835–1910, later to be known as [[Mark Twain]]) soon deserted the Southern army long before he became a world-famous writer, journalist and lecturer, but he often commented upon that episode in his life comically, even writing a book about it. Author Neil Schmitz has examined the deep unease Twain felt about losing his honor, his fear of facing death as a soldier, and his rejection of a Southern identity as a professional author.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Schmitz | first1 = Neil | year = 2007 | title = Mark Twain, Traitor | journal = Arizona Quarterly | volume = 63 | issue = 4| pages = 25–37 | doi=10.1353/arq.2007.0025| s2cid = 161125965 }}</ref>

==Organization==
[[File:CW Arty M1857 Napoleon front.jpg|thumb|CSA M1857 Napoleon Artillery Piece]]

Because of the destruction of any central repository of records in the capital at Richmond in 1865 and the comparatively poor record-keeping of the time, there can be no definitive number that represents the strength of the Confederate States Army. Estimates range from 500,000 to 2,000,000 soldiers who were involved at any time during the war. Reports from the C.S. War Department beginning at the end of 1861 indicated 326,768 men that year, 449,439 in 1862, 464,646 in 1863, 400,787 in 1864, and "last reports" showed 358,692. Estimates of enlistments throughout the war range from 1,227,890 to 1,406,180.<ref name="Eicher71"/>

The following calls for soldiers were issued:
* March 6, 1861: 100,000 volunteers and militia
* January 23, 1862: 400,000 volunteers and militia
* April 16, 1862, the First [[Conscription]] Act: passed by the [[Confederate States Congress]] conscripted white men ages 18 to 35 for the duration of hostilities<ref name="eicher1"/>
* September 27, 1862, the Second Conscription Act: expanded the age range to 18 to 45,<ref name="eicher2"/> with implementation beginning on July 15, 1863
* February 17, 1864, the Third Conscription Act: expanded further to ages 17 to 50<ref name="eicher3"/>
* March 13, 1865, authorized finally up to 300,000 African American slaves as troops but was never fully implemented.<ref name="official"/>

The C.S.A. was initially a (strategically) defensive army, and many soldiers were resentful when General Robert E. Lee led his [[Army of Northern Virginia]] across the [[Potomac River]] in his first invasion of the North in the [[Maryland campaign|Antietam campaign]] in [[Maryland in the American Civil War|Maryland]] in September 1862.

===Command===
{{further|General officers in the Confederate States Army}}
[[File:Robert Edward Lee.jpg|thumb|General [[Robert E. Lee]], the Confederacy's most famous general]]

The Confederate States Army did not have a formal overall military commander, or general in chief, until late in the war. The Confederate President, [[Jefferson Davis]], himself a former U.S. Army officer and [[United States Secretary of War|U.S. Secretary of War]],<ref name="OwnbyWilson2017">{{cite book|author1=Lynda Lasswell Crist|editor1=Ted Ownby|editor2=Charles Reagan Wilson|editor3=Ann J. Abadie|editor4=Odie Lindsey|editor5=James G. Thomas, Jr.|title=The Mississippi Encyclopedia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HWolDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA317|date=May 25, 2017|publisher=University Press of Mississippi|isbn=978-1-4968-1159-2|pages=317}}</ref> served as [[commander-in-chief]] and provided the overall strategic direction for Confederate land and naval forces in both eastern and western theaters. The following men had varying degrees of control:
* [[Robert E. Lee]] was "charged with the conduct of military operations in the armies of the Confederacy" from March 13 to May 31, 1862. He was referred to as President Davis' military adviser but exercised broad control over the strategic and logistical aspects of the Army, a role similar in nature to the current [[Chief of Staff of the United States Army]] (not developed until beginning in the early 20th century). On June 1, he assumed command of the [[Army of Northern Virginia]], which was considered the most important of all the Confederate field armies.<ref name="McCABE1870">{{cite book|author=James D. McCabe|title=Life and Campaigns of General Robert E. Lee.|url=https://archive.org/details/lifecampaignsofg01mcca|year=1870|page=[https://archive.org/details/lifecampaignsofg01mcca/page/49 49]}}</ref>
* [[Braxton Bragg]] was similarly "charged with the conduct of military operations in the armies of the Confederacy" from February 24, 1864 (after he was relieved of field command following the [[Battle of Chattanooga III|Battle of Chattanooga]]) to January 31, 1865. This role was a military advisory position under Davis.<ref name="Martin2014">{{cite book|author=Samuel J. Martin|title=General Braxton Bragg, C.S.A.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oPyswIt41YsC&pg=PA382|date=January 10, 2014|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0-7864-6194-3|page=382}}</ref>
* Lee was formally designated [[General in Chief of the Armies of the Confederate States]] by an act of Congress (January 23, 1865) and served in this capacity from January 31 to April 9, 1865.<ref name="Thomas1997">{{cite book|author=Emory M. Thomas|title=Robert E. Lee: A Biography|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2tJZ_TCHUjAC&pg=PA347|date=June 17, 1997|publisher=W. W. Norton|isbn=978-0-393-31631-5|page=347}}</ref>

The lack of centralized control was a strategic weakness for the Confederacy, and there are only a few examples of its armies acting in concert across multiple theaters to achieve a common objective. One instance occurred in late 1862 with Lee's invasion of [[Maryland]], coincident with two other actions: Bragg's invasion of [[Kentucky]] and [[Earl Van Dorn]]'s advance against [[Corinth, Mississippi]]. All three initiatives were unsuccessful, however. Georgia Governor [[Joseph E. Brown]] was an extreme case of a Southern States Rights advocate asserting control over Confederate soldiers: he defied the Confederate government's wartime policies and resisted the military draft. Believing that local troops should be used only for the defense of Georgia,<ref name="McPherson2003">{{cite book|author=James M. McPherson|title=The Illustrated Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GXfGuNAvm7AC&pg=PA433|date=December 11, 2003|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-974390-2|page=433}}</ref> Brown tried to stop Colonel Francis Bartow from taking Georgia troops out of the state to the First Battle of Bull Run.<ref name="Jordan2018">{{cite book|author=Jim Jordan|title=The Slave-trader's Letter-book: Charles Lamar, the Wanderer, and Other Tales of the African Slave Trade|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eY5FDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA242|year=2018|publisher=University of Georgia Press|isbn=978-0-8203-5196-4|page=242}}</ref>

Many of the Confederacy's senior military leaders (including Robert E. Lee, [[Albert Sidney Johnston]], and [[James Longstreet]]) and even President Jefferson Davis, were former U.S. Army and, in smaller numbers, U.S. Navy officers who had been opposed to, disapproved of, or were at least unenthusiastic about secession, but resigned their U.S. commissions upon hearing that their states had left the Union. They felt that they had no choice but to help defend their homes. President Abraham Lincoln was exasperated to hear of such men who professed to love their country but were willing to fight against it.

===Personnel organization===

As in the [[Union Army|U.S. Army]], the Confederate Army's soldiers were organized by military specialty. The combat arms included infantry, cavalry, and artillery.{{cn|date=June 2025}}

Although fewer soldiers might comprise a squad or platoon, the smallest [[Infantry in the American Civil War|infantry maneuver unit]] in the Army was a company of 100 soldiers. Ten companies were organized into an infantry regiment, which theoretically had 1,000 men. In reality, as disease, desertions and casualties took their toll, and the common practice of sending replacements to form new regiments took hold, most regiments were greatly reduced in strength. By the mid-war, most regiments averaged 300–400 men, with Confederate units slightly smaller on average than their U.S. counterparts. For example, at the pivotal [[Battle of Chancellorsville]], the average U.S. Army infantry regiment's strength was 433 men, versus 409 for Confederate infantry regiments.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/historicaltimesi00faus|title=Historical times illustrated encyclopedia of the Civil War|date=1986|publisher=Harper & Row|editor-last=Faust|editor-first=Patricia L.|editor-last2=Delaney|editor-first2=Norman C.|isbn=0061812617|edition=1st|location=New York|oclc=13796662}}</ref>

Rough unit sizes for CSA combat units during the war:<ref>The Civil War Book of Lists, p. 56</ref>
* Corps - 24,000 to 28,000
* Division - 6,000 to 14,000
* Brigade - 800 to 1,700
* Regiment - 350 to 400
* Company – 35 to 40

Regiments, which were the basic units of army organization through which soldiers were supplied and deployed, were raised by individual states. They were generally referred by number and state, for example [[1st Texas Infantry|1st Texas]], [[12th Virginia Infantry|12th Virginia]]. To the extent the word "[[battalion]]" was used to describe a military unit, it referred to a multi-company task force of a regiment or a near-regimental size unit. Throughout the war, the Confederacy raised the equivalent of 1,010 regiments in all branches, including militias, versus 2,050 regiments for the U.S. Army.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Civil War dictionary|last1=Boatner|first1=Mark Mayo|date=1959|publisher=D. McKay Co|last2=Northrop|first2=Allen C.|last3=Miller|first3=Lowell I.|isbn=0679500138|location=New York|oclc=445154}}</ref>

Four regiments usually formed a [[brigade]], although as the number of soldiers in many regiments became greatly reduced, especially later in the war, more than four were often assigned to a brigade. Occasionally, regiments would be transferred between brigades. Two to four brigades usually formed a [[Division (military)|division]]. Two to four divisions usually formed a [[corps]]. Two to four corps usually formed an army. Occasionally, a single corps might operate independently as if it were a small army. The Confederate States Army consisted of several field armies, named after their primary area of operation. The largest Confederate field army was the [[Army of Northern Virginia]], whose surrender at [[Battle of Appomattox Court House|Appomattox Courthouse]] in 1865 marked the end of major combat operations in the U.S. Civil War.

[[Company (military unit)|Companies]] were commanded by captains and had two or more lieutenants. Regiments were commanded by colonels. Lieutenant colonels were second in command. At least one major was next in command. Brigades were commanded by brigadier generals although casualties or other attrition sometimes meant that brigades would be commanded by senior colonels or even a lower grade officer. Barring the same type of circumstances that might leave a lower grade officer in temporary command, divisions were commanded by major generals and corps were commanded by lieutenant generals. A few corps commanders were never confirmed as lieutenant generals and exercised corps command for varying periods as major generals. Armies of more than one corps were commanded by (full) generals.

<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px">
File:Corporal Artillery CS Army.jpg|Corporal of the Artillery division of the Confederate Army
File:AdamJSlemmerinConfederateBatteryAtWarringtonAcrossFromFortPickens1861.jpg|Confederate mortar crew at Warrington, Florida in 1861, across from Fort Pickens
File:ArtilleryCharleston1863.jpg|Confederate artillery at Charleston Harbor, 1863
File: History of the Doles-Cook brigade of northern Virginia, C.S. A; containing muster roles of each company of the Fourth, Twelfth, Twenty-first and Forty-fourth Georgia regiments, with a short sketch of (14762498312).jpg|Lt Col. E. V. Nash, 4th Georgia Infantry Doles-Cook Brigade, who was killed in 1864
</gallery>

===Ranks and insignia===
{{further|Ranks and insignia of the Confederate States}}
{| border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" style="margin:auto; width:100%;"
|-
!colspan=11| '''Officer rank structure of the Confederate Army'''
|-
![[General officers in the Confederate States Army|General]]
![[Colonel (United States)|Colonel]]
![[Lieutenant colonel (United States)|Lieutenant colonel]]
![[Major (United States)|Major]]
![[Captain (United States O-3)|Captain]]
![[First lieutenant]]
![[Second lieutenant]]
|-
![[File:Confederate States of America General-collar.svg|100px]]
![[File:Confederate States of America Colonel.png|100px]]
![[File:Confederate States of America Lieutenant Colonel.png|75px]]
![[File:Confederate States of America Major.png|50px]]
![[File:Confederate States of America Captain.png|100px]]
![[File:Confederate States of America First Lieutenant.png|100px]]
![[File:Confederate States of America Second Lieutenant.png|100px]]
|}
<gallery>
File:Confederate States of America General-Staff Officer.svg|{{center|'''''General''''' (CSA)}}
File:Confederate States of America Colonel-Infantry.svg|{{center|'''''Colonel''''' (Infantry shown)}}
File:Confederate States of America Lieutenant Colonel-Staff Officer.svg|{{center|'''''Lieutenant-colonel''''' (Headquarters shown)}}
File:Confederate States of America Major-Medical.svg|{{center|'''''Major''''' (Medical Corps shown)}}
File:Confederate States of America Captain-Marines.svg|{{center|'''''Captain''''' (Marine Corps shown)}}
File:Confederate States of America First Lieutenant-Artillery.svg|{{center|'''''1st Lieutenant''''' (Artillery shown)}}
File:Confederate States of America Second Lieutenant-Cavalry.svg|{{center|'''''2nd Lieutenant''''' (Cavalry shown)}}
</gallery>
[[File:War of the Rebellion Atlas Plate 172.jpg|thumb|An 1895 illustration showing the uniforms of the Confederate Army contrasted with those of the U.S. Army]]
There were four grades of general officer ([[General (CSA)|general]], [[Lt. General (CSA)|lieutenant general]], [[Maj. Gen. (CSA)|major general]], and [[Brigadier General (CSA)|brigadier general]]), but all wore the same insignia regardless of grade. This was a decision made early in the conflict. The Confederate Congress initially made the rank of brigadier general the highest rank. As the war progressed, the other general-officer ranks were quickly added, but no insignia for them was created. (Robert E. Lee was a notable exception to this. He chose to wear the rank insignia of a colonel.) Only seven men achieved the rank of (full) general;<ref name="confederate"/> the highest-ranking (earliest date of rank) was [[Samuel Cooper (general)|Samuel Cooper]], Adjutant General and Inspector General of the Confederate States Army.

Officers' uniforms bore a braided design on the sleeves and [[kepi]], the number of adjacent strips (and therefore the width of the lines of the design) denoting rank. The color of the piping and kepi denoted the military branch. The braid was sometimes left off by officers since it made them conspicuous targets. The kepi was rarely used, the common slouch hat being preferred for its practicality in the Southern climate.

{| border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" style="margin:auto; width:100%;"
|-
!colspan=11| '''Enlisted rank structure'''
|-
![[Sergeant Major]]
![[Quartermaster Sergeant]]
![[Ordnance Sergeant]]
![[First Sergeant]]
|-
![[File:Confederate States of America Sergeant Major-Infantry.svg|80px]]
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Branch colors were used for the color of chevrons—blue for infantry, yellow for cavalry, and red for artillery. This could differ with some units, however, depending on available resources or the unit commander's desire. Cavalry regiments from Texas, for example, often used red insignia and at least one Texas infantry regiment used black.

The CSA differed from many contemporaneous armies in that all officers under the rank of [[brigadier general (CSA)|brigadier general]] were elected by the soldiers under their command. The Confederate Congress authorized the awarding of medals for courage and good conduct on October 13, 1862, but wartime difficulties prevented the procurement of the needed medals. To avoid postponing recognition for their valor, those nominated for the awards had their names placed on a [[Confederate Roll of Honor|Roll of Honor]], which would be read at the first dress parade after its receipt and be published in at least one newspaper in each state.

===Armies and prominent leaders===
The C.S. Army was composed of independent armies and military departments that were constituted, renamed, and disbanded as needs arose, particularly in reaction to offensives launched by the [[Union (American Civil War)|United States]]. These major units were generally named after states or geographic regions (in comparison to the U.S. Army's custom of naming armies after rivers). Armies were usually commanded by [[Full General (CSA)#Major general|full generals]] (there were seven in the C.S. Army) or [[Lt. General (CSA)|lieutenant generals]]. Some of the more important armies and their commanders were:

[[File:Battle of Spottsylvania by Thure de Thulstrup.jpg|thumb|275px|A painting of Lee's Army of Northern Virginia fighting the [[Union Army|U.S. Army]] at [[Battle of Spotsylvania Court House|Spotsylvania]] in 1864]]
* [[Army of Central Kentucky]] – [[Simon Bolivar Buckner, Sr.|Simon B. Buckner]], [[Albert Sidney Johnston]]
* Army of East Tennessee – [[Edmund Kirby Smith]] (later renamed Army of Kentucky)
* Army of Eastern Kentucky – [[Humphrey Marshall (general)|Humphrey Marshall]]
* [[Army of the Kanawha]] – [[Henry A. Wise]], [[John B. Floyd]], [[Robert E. Lee]]
* [[Confederate Army of Kentucky|Army of Kentucky]] – [[Edmund Kirby Smith]] (eventually commander of all forces West of the Mississippi)
* Army of Louisiana – [[Braxton Bragg]]. [[Paul Octave Hébert|Paul O. Hébert]]
* [[Army of Mississippi]]
** March 1862 – November 1862: [[P. G. T. Beauregard]], [[Albert Sidney Johnston]], [[Braxton Bragg]], [[William J. Hardee]], [[Leonidas Polk]], (also known as the Army of the Mississippi; redesignated [[Army of Tennessee]] on November 20, 1862)
** December 1862 – July 1863: [[John C. Pemberton]], [[Earl Van Dorn]], (1863) [[William W. Loring]] (also known as Army of Vicksburg)
** July 1863 – June 1864: [[William J. Hardee]], [[Leonidas Polk]], [[William W. Loring]] (also known as the Army of the Mississippi; redesignated III Corps, [[Army of Tennessee]] in May 1864, but continued to use its old name)
* Army of Middle Tennessee – [[John C. Breckinridge]]
* [[Army of Missouri]] – [[Sterling Price]]
* Army of Mobile – [[Jones M. Withers]], [[Braxton Bragg]], [[John Bordenave Villepigue|John B. Villepigue]], [[Sam Jones (Confederate Army officer)|Samuel Jones]], William L. Powell, [[John Horace Forney|John H. Forney]]
* [[Army of New Mexico]] – [[Henry Hopkins Sibley|Henry H. Sibley]]
* [[Army of Northern Virginia]] – [[Joseph E. Johnston]], [[Gustavus Woodson Smith|Gustavus W. Smith]], [[Robert E. Lee]]
** [[First Corps, Army of Northern Virginia]]
** [[Second Corps, Army of Northern Virginia]]
** [[Third Corps, Army of Northern Virginia]]
** [[Fourth Corps, Army of Northern Virginia]], often styled "[[Anderson's Corps]]"
** [[Cavalry Corps, Army of Northern Virginia]]
* Army of the New River – [[Henry Heth]]
* [[Confederate Army of the Northwest|Army of the Northwest]] – [[Robert S. Garnett]], [[Henry R. Jackson]], [[William W. Loring]], [[Edward Johnson (general)|Edward Johnson]]
* [[Army of the Peninsula]] – [[John B. Magruder]], [[Daniel Harvey Hill|Daniel H. Hill]]
* Army of Pensacola – [[Adley H. Gladden]], [[Braxton Bragg]], [[Sam Jones (Confederate Army officer)|Samuel Jones]]
* [[Confederate Army of the Potomac|Army of the Potomac]] – [[P. G. T. Beauregard]], [[Joseph E. Johnston]]
* [[Confederate Army of the Shenandoah|Army of the Shenandoah]] – [[Joseph E. Johnston]]
* [[Army of Tennessee]] – [[Braxton Bragg]], [[Samuel Gibbs French]], [[William J. Hardee]], [[Daniel Harvey Hill|Daniel H. Hill]], [[John Bell Hood]], [[Joseph E. Johnston]], [[Richard Taylor (Confederate general)|Richard Taylor]]
** [[First Corps, Army of Tennessee]]
** [[Second Corps, Army of Tennessee]]
** [[Third Corps, Army of Tennessee]]
** [[Forrest's Cavalry Corps]] – [[Nathan Bedford Forrest]]
* [[Army of the Trans-Mississippi]] – [[Thomas C. Hindman]], [[Theophilus Holmes]], [[Edmund Kirby Smith]] (also known as the Army of the Southwest)
* [[Army of the Valley]] (also known as [[Second Corps, Army of Northern Virginia]]) – [[Jubal Anderson Early|Jubal Early]]
* [[Army of the West (1862)|Army of the West]] – [[Earl van Dorn]], [[John P. McCown]], [[Dabney H. Maury]], [[Sterling Price]]
* [[Confederate Army of West Tennessee|Army of West Tennessee]] – [[Earl Van Dorn]]
* [[Army of Western Louisiana]] – [[Richard Taylor (Confederate general)|Richard Taylor]], [[John George Walker|John G. Walker]]

Some other prominent Confederate generals who led significant units operating sometimes independently in the CSA included [[Stonewall Jackson|Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson]], [[James Longstreet]], [[J. E. B. Stuart]], [[Gideon Pillow]], [[A. P. Hill]], [[John B. Gordon]].

===Military departments===

In addition to the Confederate field armies, the Confederate States itself was divided into several military territorial organizations, known as departments. These departments were mainly administrative in nature, organizing recruiting, supply distribution, and coordinating with the field armies in the event of Union invasions. The military departments were also the ultimate authority for all Confederate forts within their region, as well as commanding all garrison forces and units of the [[Confederate Home Guard]]<ref>Fullerton, D. (2017). "Armies in Gray: The Organizational History of the Confederate States Army in the Civil War", LSU Press.</ref>

Unlike the Union, which had fairly stable military departments through most of the Civil War, Confederate departments were constantly being formed, reformed, and renamed as the war progressed. The original two departments, formed at the beginning of the Civil War, were "Department No 1" (later incorporated into the Department of Louisiana) and "Department No 2" (later becoming the [[Western Department]]).

In Virginia, where hostilities broke out almost immediately after the start of the war, the "Alexandria line" was established as the first Confederate administrative body in this area. This was later expanded to formal military departments in the following order:

* Department of Alexandria
* Department of the Potomac
* Department of Northern Virginia

Virginia also maintained the following smaller departments which fluctuated as the war progressed:

* Department of Norfolk
* Department of Fredericksburg
* Department of Richmond (operated in tandem with the Department of Henrico)
* Department of Southwestern Virginia
* Department of the Peninsula

In the Shenandoah Valley, the first Confederate administrative command was set up at Harper's Ferry, later becoming the [[Valley District]], directly subordinate to the Army of the Shenandoah. The Shenandoah Valley was without a department for most of the war, militarily controlled by Army of the Northwest and the Army of the Valley, before finally being declared the [[Trans-Allegheny Department]]. Elsewhere in the Confederacy, the following major departments were formed which operated throughout most of the war:<ref>Vandiver, F. (1977) "Rebel Brass: The Confederate Command System", Greenwood Publishing.</ref>

* Department of Louisiana
* Department of Tennessee
* [[Department of North Carolina]]
* Department of South Carolina
* Department of Georgia

The Union attack on [[Vicksburg, Mississippi]] also brought about a succession of departments known as:

* Department of Mississippi and East Louisiana
* Department of Alabama and East Mississippi
* Department of Alabama, Mississippi, and Eastern Louisiana

The entire Mississippi region was eventually merged into the [[Trans-Mississippi Department]], one of the largest departments of the war. At the same time, departments were being formed further west as the:

* [[Western Department]]
* [[Department of Texas]]
* Department of the Indian Territory

Battles in Tennessee, and shifting fronts in that region, also brought about the need for new departments in that region, most of which reported directly to the Army of Tennessee under [[John Bell Hood]]. Hood would directly command the following three departments at the same time as his service as an Army commander:<ref>Woods, M. (2019). "Tennessee In The War, 1861–1865: Lists Of Military Organizations And Officers From Tennessee In Both The Confederate And Union Armies", Wentworth Press.</ref>

* Department of East Tennessee
* [[Department of East Tennessee and West Virginia]]
* Department of Tennessee and Georgia

In 1864, Robert E. Lee held the idea for "super theaters" encompassing vast areas of the south, as follows:

* Department of North Carolina and Southern Virginia (expansion of the Department of Southern Virginia)
* Department of South Carolina, Georgia, and East Florida
* Department of South Carolina and Georgia (later expanded to the Department of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida

Lesser departments, without much combat activity, were:

* Department of West Florida
* Department of Alabama and West Florida (expansion of the District of Alabama)
* Department of Middle and Eastern Florida
* Department of Western Kentucky

==Supply and logistics==
[[File:ConfederateArmyPhoto.jpg|thumb|275px|A group of Confederate soldiers-possibly an artillery unit captured at [[Battle of Island No. 10|Island No. 10]] and taken at POW [[Camp Douglas (Chicago)]]; photograph possibly by D. F. Brandon<ref name="history-sites"/>]]
{{main|Confederate States of America#Transportation systems}}

The supply situation for most Confederate armies was dismal, even when they were victorious on the battlefield. The central Confederate government was short of money so each state government had to supply its regiments. The lack of central authority and the ineffective [[Confederate railroads in the American Civil War|railroads]], combined with the frequent unwillingness or inability of Southern state governments to provide adequate funding, were key factors in the Confederate army's demise. The Confederacy early on lost control of most of its major river and ocean ports to capture or blockade. The road system was poor, and it relied more and more on a heavily overburdened railroad system. U.S. forces destroyed track, engines, cars, bridges and telegraph lines as often as possible, knowing that new equipment was unavailable to the Confederacy.<ref>George Edgar Turner, ''Victory rode the rails: the strategic place of the railroads in the Civil War'' (1972)</ref> Occasional raids into the North were designed to bring back money and supplies. In 1864, the Confederates burned down [[Chambersburg]], a Pennsylvania city they had raided twice in the years before, due to its failure to pay an extortion demand.<ref>{{Cite journal |jstor = 2163218|title = Chambersburg: Anatomy of a Confederate Reprisal|journal = The American Historical Review|volume = 96|issue = 2|pages = 432–455|last1 = Smith|first1 = Everard H.|year = 1991|doi = 10.2307/2163218}}</ref>

As a result of severe supply problems, as well as the lack of textile factories in the Confederacy and the successful U.S. naval blockade of Southern ports, the typical Confederate soldier was rarely able to wear the standard regulation uniform, particularly as the war progressed. While on the march or in parade formation, Confederate armies often displayed a wide array of dress, ranging from faded, patched-together regulation uniforms; rough, homespun uniforms colored with homemade dyes such as [[Juglans cinerea|butternut]] (a yellow-brown color), and even soldiers in a hodgepodge of civilian clothing. After a successful battle, it was not unusual for victorious Confederate troops to procure [[U.S. Army]] uniform parts from captured supplies and dead U.S. soldiers; this would occasionally cause confusion in later battles and skirmishes.<ref>Steven G. Collins, "System in the South: John W. Mallet, Josiah Gorgas, and uniform production at the confederate ordnance department." ''Technology and culture'' (1999) 40#3 pp: 517–544 [http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/technology_and_culture/v040/40.3collins.html in Project MUSE].</ref>

Individual states were expected to supply their soldiers, which led to a lack of uniformity. Some states (such as North Carolina) were able to better supply their soldiers, while other states (such as Texas) were unable for various reasons to adequately supply their troops as the war continued.

Furthermore, each state often had its uniform regulations and insignia, which meant that the "standard" Confederate uniform often featured a variety of differences based on the state the soldier came from. For example, uniforms for North Carolina regiments often featured a colored strip of cloth on their shoulders to designate what part of the service the soldier was in. Confederate soldiers also frequently suffered from inadequate supplies of shoes, tents, and other gear, and would be forced to innovate and make do with whatever they could scrounge from the local countryside. While Confederate officers were generally better-supplied and were normally able to wear a regulation officer's uniform, they often chose to share other hardships – such as the lack of adequate food – with their troops.

[[File:Confederates marching through Frederick, MD in 1862.jpg|thumb|250px|Confederate troops marching south on N Market Street, [[Frederick, Maryland]], during the Civil War]]

Confederate soldiers were also faced with inadequate food rations, especially as the war progressed. There was plenty of meat in the Confederacy. The unsolvable problem was shipping it to the armies, especially when Lee's army in Virginia was at the end of a long, tenuous supply line. The United States victory at Vicksburg in 1863 shut off supplies from Texas and the west.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Vandiver | first1 = Frank E. | year = 1944 | title = Texas and the Confederate Army's Meat Problem | journal = Southwestern Historical Quarterly | volume = 47 | issue = 3| pages = 225–233 | jstor=30236034}}</ref>

By 1863, Confederate generals such as [[Robert E. Lee]] often spent as much time and effort searching for food for their men, as they did in planning strategy and tactics. Individual commanders often had to "[[Foraging|beg, borrow or steal]]" food and ammunition from whatever sources were available, including captured U.S. depots and encampments, and private citizens regardless of their loyalties. Lee's campaign against [[Battle of Gettysburg|Gettysburg]] and southern [[Pennsylvania]] (a rich agricultural region) was driven in part by his desperate need of supplies, especially food.<ref>Larry J. Daniel, ''Soldiering in the Army of Tennessee: A Portrait of Life in a Confederate Army'' (2003) ch 4 on inadequate rations</ref>

[[William Tecumseh Sherman|General Sherman]]'s [[total warfare]] reduced the ability of the South to produce food and ship it to the armies or its cities. Coupled with the [[Union blockade|U.S. blockade of all ports]] the devastation of plantations, farms and railroads meant the Confederacy increasingly lost the capacity to feed its soldiers and civilians.

===Arms importation===
{{Further information|Blockade runners of the American Civil War}}
The Confederate government had some success in importing weapons from Britain. When the War began, the Confederacy lacked the financial and manufacturing capacity to wage war against the industrialized North. To increase its arsenal, the Confederacy looked to [[United Kingdom and the American Civil War|Britain as a major source of arms]]. British merchants and bankers funded the purchase of arms and construction of ships being outfitted as [[blockade runner]]s which later carried war supplies bound for Southern ports. A British publication in 1862 summed up the country's involvement in blockade running:

<blockquote>
Score after score of the finest, swiftest British steamers and ships, loaded with British material of war of every description, cannon, rifles by the hundreds of thousand, powder by the thousand of tons, shot, shell, cartridges, swords, etc, with cargo after cargo of clothes, boots, shoes, blankets, medicines and supplies of every kind, all paid for by British money, at the sole risk of British adventurers, well insured by [[Lloyds Bank|Lloyds]] and under the protection of the British flag, have been sent across the ocean to the insurgents by British agency.<ref name="Peter Andreas 159">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N39oAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA159|title=Smuggler Nation: How Illicit Trade Made America|author=[[Peter Andreas]]|page=159|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|date=January 16, 2013|isbn=9-7801-9930-1607}}</ref>
</blockquote>

It was estimated the Confederate Army received thousands of tons of gunpowder, half a million rifles, and several hundred cannons from British blockade runners.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Routledge Handbook of Smuggling|last1=Gallien|first1=Max|last2=Weigand|first2=Florian|page=321|date=December 21, 2021|publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]]|isbn=9-7810-0050-8772}}</ref>

[[Ulysses S. Grant III]], President of the [[American Civil War Centennial]] in 1961, remarked for example:

<blockquote>
[B]etween October 26, 1864 and January 1865, it was still possible for 8,632,000 lbs of meat, 1,507,000 lbs of lead, 1,933,000 lbs of saltpeter, 546,000 pairs of shoes, 316,000 blankets, half a million pounds of coffee, 69,000 rifles, and 43 cannon to run the blockade [[Wilmington, North Carolina in the American Civil War|into the port of Wilmington]] alone, while cotton sufficient to pay for these purchases was exported[. I]t is evident that the blockade runners made an important contribution to the Confederate effort to carry on.<ref name="BGWADA">{{cite web|url=http://www.cfhi.net/WilmingtonsWartimeCanadianConnection.php|title=Wilmington to Canada: Blockade Runners & Secret Agents|publisher=Cape Fear Historical Institute}}</ref>
</blockquote>

==Italian Americans and the Confederate Army==
{{main|Italian Americans in the Civil War}}
[[File:William B. Taliaferro, circa 1865.jpg|thumb|170px|[[William B. Taliaferro]] was Confederate [[General officer|general]] in the [[American Civil War]].]]
Many Italian American soldiers of the Confederate States Army were veterans from the [[Army of the Two Sicilies]] who had fought against Giuseppe Garibaldi in, and were captured during, the [[Expedition of the Thousand]] as part of the [[unification of Italy]]. They were released after a treaty between Garibaldi and [[Chatham Roberdeau Wheat]]. In December 1860 and few months of 1861, these volunteers were transported to [[New Orleans]] with the ships ''Elisabetta'', ''Olyphant'', ''Utile'', ''Charles & Jane'', ''Washington'' and ''Franklin''.<ref>[https://www.amazon.it/Italiani-guerra-civile-americana-1861-1865/dp/8874184107 Italiani nella guerra civile americana]</ref> Most Confederate Italian Americans had settled in Louisiana. The militia of Louisiana had an [[6th Regiment, European Brigade|Italian Guards Battalion]] that became part of its 6th Regiment.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lonn |first1=Ella |title=Foreigners in the Confederacy |date=2002 |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |pages=113–115 |url=http://www.acadiansingray.com/6th%20Regt.%20(It.%20Gds.%20Bn.),%20European%20Brig.%20Mil.htm#6th |access-date=21 December 2022}}</ref> Following the protests of many soldiers, who did not feel like Italian citizens since they fought against the unification of Italy, it was renamed ''6th Regiment, European Brigade'' in 1862.

==Native Americans and the Confederate Army==
{{main|Native Americans in the American Civil War}}
Native Americans served in both the United States and Confederate military during the [[American Civil War]].<ref name="aa"/><ref name="Native_American_Participation_Numbers"/> They fought knowing they might jeopardize their freedom, unique cultures, and ancestral lands if they ended up on the losing side of the Civil War.<ref name="aa"/><ref name="ac"/> During the Civil War, 28,693 Native Americans served in the U.S. and Confederate armies, participating in battles such as [[Battle of Pea Ridge|Pea Ridge]], [[Second Manassas]], [[Antietam]], [[Battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse|Spotsylvania]], [[Battle of Cold Harbor|Cold Harbor]], and in Federal assaults on [[Siege of Petersburg|Petersburg]].<ref name="aa"/><ref name="Native_American_Participation_Numbers"/> Many Native American tribes, such as the Creek, the Cherokee, and the Choctaw, were slaveholders themselves, and thus, found a political and economic commonality with the Confederacy.<ref name="Native_American_Slave_Ownership"/>

At the beginning of the war, [[Albert Pike]] was appointed as Confederate envoy to Native Americans. In this capacity he negotiated several treaties, one such treaty was the [[Treaty with Choctaws and Chickasaws]] conducted in July 1861. The treaty covered sixty-four terms covering many subjects like Choctaw and Chickasaw nation sovereignty, [[Confederate States of America]] citizenship possibilities, and an entitled delegate in the House of Representatives of the Confederate States of America. The [[Cherokee]], [[Choctaw]], [[Seminole]], [[Catawba people|Catawba]], and [[Muscogee (Creek)|Creek]] tribes were the only tribes to fight on the Confederate side. The [[Confederate States of America|Confederacy]] wanted to recruit Indians east of the Mississippi River in 1862, so they opened up a recruiting camp in [[Mobile, Alabama]] "at the foot of Stone Street".<ref name="j_matte1"/> The ''Mobile Advertiser and Register'' would advertise for a chance at military service.

{{blockquote|text=A Chance for Active Service. The Secretary of War has authorized me to enlist all the Indians east of the Mississippi River into the service of the Confederate States, as Scouts. In addition to the Indians, I will receive all white male citizens, who are good marksmen. To each member, Fifty Dollars Bounty, clothes, arms, camp equipage &c: furnished. The weapons shall be Enfield Rifles. For further information address me at Mobile, Ala. (Signed) S. G. Spann, Comm'ing Choctaw Forces.|author=Jacqueline Anderson Matte|source=''They Say the Wind Is Red''<ref name=j_matte1 />}}

=== Cherokee ===
{{main|Cherokee in the American Civil War}}
[[File:Cherokee Confederates Reunion.gif|325px|thumb|A Cherokee Confederates reunion in New Orleans, 1903]]

[[Stand Watie]], along with a few Cherokee, sided with the Confederate army, in which he was made colonel and commanded a battalion of Cherokee.<ref name="aa"/> Reluctantly, on October 7, 1861, Chief Ross signed a treaty transferring all obligations due to the Cherokee from the United States to the Confederate States.<ref name="aa"/> The Cherokee were guaranteed protection, rations of food, livestock, tools, and other goods, as well as a delegate to the Confederate Congress at Richmond.<ref name="aa"/>

In exchange, the Cherokee would furnish ten companies of mounted men, and allow the construction of military posts and roads within the Cherokee Nation. However, no Indian regiment was to be called on to fight outside Indian Territory.<ref name="aa"/> As a result of the Treaty, the 2nd Cherokee Mounted Rifles, led by Col. John Drew, was formed. Following the Battle of Pea Ridge, Arkansas, March 7–8, 1862, Drew's Mounted Rifles defected to the United States forces in Kansas, where they joined the [[Indian Home Guard]]. In the summer of 1862, U.S. troops captured Chief Ross, who was paroled and spent the remainder of the war in Washington and Philadelphia proclaiming Cherokee loyalty to the United States Army.<ref name="aa"/>

[[William Holland Thomas]], the adopted white son of the chief of the [[Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians]], recruited hundreds of Cherokees for the Confederate army, particularly for [[Thomas' Legion]]. The Legion, raised in September 1862, fought until the end of the War.

===Choctaw===
[[File:J f mccurtain.jpg|upright|175px|thumb|[[Jackson McCurtain]], Lieutenant Colonel of the First Choctaw Battalion in Oklahoma, [[Confederate States of America|CSA]]]]

Choctaw [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] battalions were formed in Indian Territory and later in Mississippi in support of the southern cause. The Choctaws, who were expecting support from the Confederates, got little. Webb Garrison, a Civil War historian, describes their response: when Confederate Brigadier General [[Albert Pike]] authorized the raising of regiments during the fall of 1860, Seminoles, Creeks, Chickasaws, Choctaws, and Cherokees responded with considerable enthusiasm. Their zeal for the Confederate cause, however, began to evaporate when they found that neither arms nor pay had been arranged for them. A disgusted officer later acknowledged that "with the exception of a partial supply for the Choctaw regiment, no tents, clothing, or camp, and garrison equipage was furnished to any of them."<ref name="webb_garrison"/>

==African Americans and the Confederate Army==
[[File:Negroes Being Driven South By the Rebel Officers (November 1862), by Harper's Weekly.jpg|thumb|1862 illustration showing Confederates escorting kidnapped African American civilians south into slavery. A similar instance occurred in Pennsylvania when the Army of Northern Virginia invaded it in 1863 to fight the U.S. at [[Battle of Gettysburg|Gettysburg]].<ref name=JWLoewenP193>{{Cite book|quote=White Southerners founded the Confederacy on the ideology of white supremacy. Confederate soldiers on their way to Antietam and Gettysburg, their two main forays into U.S. states, put this ideology into practice: they seized scores of free black people in Maryland and Pennsylvania and sold them south into slavery. Confederates maltreated black U.S. troops when they captured them.|author-link=James W. Loewen|first=James W.|last=Loewen|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5m2_xeJ4VdwC&pg=PA193|title=Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong|publisher=The New Press|location=New York|date=2007|page=193|isbn=978-1-56584-100-0}}</ref><ref name=CSymondsP4954>{{Cite book|author-link=Craig Symonds|last1=Symonds|first1=Craig L.|title=American Heritage History of the Battle of Gettysburg|location=New York|publisher=HarperCollins|date=2001|isbn=0-06-019474-X|pages=49–54}}</ref><ref name=JWLoewenP350>{{Cite book|first=James W.|last=Loewen|author-link=James W. Loewen|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vBZiU_tmRmgC&pg=PA350|isbn=0-684-87067-3|title=Lies Across America: What American Historic Sites Get Wrong|date=1999|publisher=Touchstone, Simon & Schuster, Inc.|location=New York City|page=350|access-date=March 5, 2016|quote=[[Robert E. Lee|Lee]]'s troops seized scores of free black people in Maryland and Pennsylvania and sent them south into slavery. This was in keeping with Confederate national policy, which virtually re-enslaved free people of color into work gangs on earthworks throughout the south.}}</ref><ref name=BDSimpson07052015>{{Cite web|quote=[T]he Army of Northern Virginia was under orders to capture and send south supposed escaped slaves during that army's invasion of Pennsylvania in 1863.|author-link=Brooks D. Simpson|first=Brooks D.|last=Simpson|url=https://cwcrossroads.wordpress.com/2015/07/05/the-soldiers-flag/|title=The Soldiers' Flag?|date=July 5, 2015 |work=Crossroads|publisher=WordPress}}</ref>]]
[[File:A Rebel Captain Forcing Negroes to Load Cannon Under the Fire of Beedan's Sharp-shooters (May 1862), by Harper's Weekly.png|thumb|An 1862 illustration of a Confederate officer forcing slaves at gunpoint to fire a cannon at U.S. soldiers in battle. A similar instance occurred at the [[First Battle of Bull Run]], where slaves were forced by the Confederates to load and fire a cannon at U.S. forces.<ref name=KateMasur2015>{{Cite web|url=http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/27/slavery-and-freedom-at-bull-run/?_r=0|title=Slavery and Freedom at Bull Run|date=July 27, 2011|first=Kate|last=Masur|author-link=Kate Masur|work=[[The New York Times]]|location=New York|access-date=March 5, 2016}}</ref><ref name=AndyHallBlack2015>{{Cite web|url=http://deadconfederates.com/tag/black-confederates/ |title=Memory: Frederick Douglass' Black Confederate |date=February 20, 2015 |first=Andy |last=Hall |work=Dead Confederates: A Civil War Blog |publisher=WordPress |access-date=March 9, 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160309192511/http://deadconfederates.com/tag/black-confederates/ |archive-date=March 9, 2016 }}</ref>]]
[[File:Impetuous Charge of the First Colored Rebel Regiment (November 5, 1864), by Frank Bellew.jpg|thumb|An 1864 cartoon lampooning the Confederacy's deliberating on the use of black soldiers, showing them defecting ''en masse'' towards U.S. lines if such proposals were adopted.]]
[[File:Black Confed-1.JPG|upright|thumb|"Marlboro", an African American body servant to a white Confederate soldier]]
{{main|Military history of African Americans in the American Civil War#Confederacy}}

With so many white males conscripted into the army and roughly 40% of its population unfree, the work required to maintain a functioning society in the Confederacy ended up largely on the backs of slaves.<ref name="Levine2005">{{cite book|author=Bruce Levine|title=Confederate Emancipation: Southern Plans to Free and Arm Slaves during the Civil War|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KOO6y1-1DnsC&pg=PA17|date=November 1, 2005|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-803367-7|page=17}}</ref> Even Georgian governor [[Joseph E. Brown]] noted that "the country and the army are mainly dependent upon slave labor for support."<ref name="proclamation"/> African American slave labor was used in a wide variety of logistical support roles for the Confederacy, from infrastructure and mining, to teamster and medical roles such as hospital attendants and nurses.<ref>Levine 2005, pp. 62–63,</ref><ref>Jaime Amanda Martinez, ''Confederate Slave Impressment in the Upper South'' (U. North Carolina Press, 2013)</ref>

===Using enslaved soldiers===

The Confederacy did not allow African Americans to join the army, neither [[free Negro|free people]] nor slaves. The idea of arming the Confederacy's slaves for use as soldiers was speculated on from the onset of the war, but such proposals were not seriously considered by Jefferson Davis or others in the Confederate administration until late in the war when severe manpower shortages were faced.<ref>Levine 2005, pp. 17–18</ref> [[Gary Gallagher]] says, "When Lee publicly advocated arming slaves in early 1865, he did so as a desperate expedient that might prolong Southern military resistance."<ref>{{cite book|author=Gary W. Gallagher|author-link=Gary W. Gallagher|title=Lee and His Army in Confederate History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AE7qCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA169|year=2002|page=169|publisher=Univ of North Carolina Press |isbn=9780807875629}}</ref> After acrimonious debate the Confederate Congress agreed in March 1865. The war was nearly over by then, and only about two hundred enslaved soldiers ended up being enlisted before the Confederate armies all surrendered.<ref name=McPhersonBooknotes1994/>

====Opposition from Confederates====
As early as November 1864, some Confederates knew that the chance of securing victory against the U.S. was slim.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Look Away!: A History of the Confederate States of America|date=2002|page=402|author-link=William C. Davis (historian)|first=William C.|last=Davis|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KSd0SkDXtJQC&q=eloquent+of|publisher=The Free Press|location=New York|isbn=0-7432-2771-9|access-date=March 9, 2016}}</ref> Despite lacking foreign assistance and recognition and facing slim chances of victory against superior U.S. assets, Confederate newspapers such as the Georgian ''Atlanta Southern Confederacy'' continued to maintain their position and oppose the idea of armed black men in the Confederate Army, even as late in the war as January 1865.<ref name=RFDurden156158>{{Cite book|title=The Gray and the Black: The Confederate Debate on Emancipation|date=1875|author1-link=Robert Franklin Durden|first=Robert F.|last=Durden|publisher=Louisiana State University|pages=156–58}}</ref> They stated that it was incongruous with the Confederacy's goals and views regarding African Americans and slavery. The Georgian newspaper opined that using black men as soldiers would be an embarrassment to Confederates and their children, saying that although African Americans should be used for slave labor, they should not be used as armed soldiers, opining that:
{{blockquote|text=Such an act on our part would be a stigma on the imperishable pages of history, of which all future generations of Southrons would be ashamed. These are some of the additional considerations which have suggested themselves to us. Let us put the negro to work, but not to fight.|source=''Atlanta Southern Confederacy'' (January 20, 1865), Macon, Georgia.<ref name=RFDurden156158/>}}

Prominent Confederates such as [[Robert M. T. Hunter|R. M. T. Hunter]] and Georgian Democrat [[Howell Cobb]] opposed arming slaves, saying that it was "suicidal" and would run contrary to the Confederacy's ideology. Opposing such a move, Cobb stated that African Americans were untrustworthy and innately lacked the qualities to make good soldiers, and that using them would cause many Confederates to quit the army. Cobb said using blacks as soldiers would be the end of the revolution, because "if slaves make good soldiers, our whole theory of slavery is wrong."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N48LAAAAIAAJ&q=%22howell+cobb%22+%22soldiers+of+slaves%22&pg=PA97 |title=Letter to James A. Seddon |access-date=March 8, 2016 |last=Cobb |first=Howell |author-link=Howell Cobb |date=January 8, 1865 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160308160426/https://books.google.com/books?id=N48LAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA97&lpg=PA97&dq=%22howell+cobb%22+%22soldiers+of+slaves%22&source=bl&ots=kxO5xZwwr3&sig=HV6CCacydzUmjOpdEhjJ3uKR8rU&hl=en&ei=d8fETLXiB4G0lQfN9IEG&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result#v=onepage&q=%22howell%20cobb%22%20%22soldiers%20of%20slaves%22&f=false |archive-date=March 8, 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|access-date=March 8, 2016 |url=http://deadconfederates.com/2015/01/08/real-confederates-didnt-know-about-black-confederates-2/ |date=January 8, 2015 |title=Real Confederates Didn't Know About Black Confederates |first=Andy |last=Hall |publisher=WordPress |work=Dead Confederates: A Civil War Blog |quote=[E]arnest and vituperative opposition to the enlistment of slaves in Confederate service was widespread, even as the concussion of U.S. artillery rattled the panes in the windows of the capitol in Richmond. |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160308151730/http://deadconfederates.com/2015/01/08/real-confederates-didnt-know-about-black-confederates-2/ |archive-date=March 8, 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://cwmemory.com/2015/01/07/the-most-pernicious-idea-150-years-later |date=January 7, 2015 |work=Civil War Memory |access-date=January 9, 2015 |title=The Most Pernicious Idea: 150 Years Later |first=Kevin M. |last=Levin |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150109213957/http://cwmemory.com/2015/01/07/the-most-pernicious-idea-150-years-later |archive-date=January 9, 2015 }}</ref>

The overwhelming support most Confederates had for maintaining black slavery was the primary cause of their strong opposition to using African Americans as armed soldiers. Former Confederate secretary of state [[Robert Toombs]] said "In my opinion, the worst calamity that could befall us would be to gain our independence by the valor of our slaves... instead of our own... " and complained using black troops would be "a surrender of the entire slavery question."<ref name="Nevins1959">{{cite book|author=Allan Nevins|title=The War for the Union: The Organized War, 1863–1864|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Dpdx5LCcmZIC&q=%22In%20my%20opinion,%20the%20worst%20calamity%22C|year=1959|publisher=Scribner|isbn=978-0-684-10429-4|page=279}}</ref> Maintaining the institution of slavery was the primary goal of the Confederacy's existence, and thus, using their slaves as soldiers was incongruous with that goal. According to historian Paul D. Escott:

{{blockquote|text=[F]or a great many of the most powerful southerners the idea of arming and freeing the slaves was repugnant because the protection of slavery had been and still remained the central core of Confederate purpose ... Slavery was the basis of the planter class's wealth, power, and position in society. The South's leading men of the planter class, had built their world upon slavery and the idea of voluntarily destroying that world, even in the ultimate crisis, was almost unthinkable to them. Such feelings moved Senator R. M. T. Hunter to deliver a long speech against the bill to arm the slaves.<ref>Paul D. Escott, ''After Secession: Jefferson Davis and the Failure of Confederate Nationalism'' (1992), p. 254.</ref>}}

Though most Confederates were opposed to the idea of using black soldiers, a small number suggested the idea. An acrimonious and controversial debate was raised by a letter from [[Patrick Cleburne]]<ref name="official6"/> urging the Confederacy to raise black soldiers by offering emancipation; Jefferson Davis refused to consider the proposal and issued instructions forbidding the matter from being discussed.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CfL_b0WPmRQC&q=raise+a+negro+army|title=The Negro's Civil War: How American Blacks Felt and Acted During the War for the Union|date=1991|publisher=Ballantine Books|chapter=Chapter 17: The Decision to Raise a Negro Army, 1864–1865|isbn=978-0-307-48860-2|location=New York|first=James M.|last=McPherson|author-link=James M. McPherson|access-date=March 11, 2016}}</ref> It would not be until [[Robert E. Lee]] wrote the Confederate Congress urging them that the idea would take serious traction.<ref>{{Cite book|first=Robert F.|last=Durden|title=The Gray and the Black: The Confederate Debate on Emancipation|location=Louisiana|publisher=LSU Press|date=2000}}</ref>

On March 13, 1865,<ref name=McPhersonBooknotes1994/> the Confederate Congress passed General Order 14<ref name=GO14TKCPL>{{cite web|url=http://www.civilwaronthewesternborder.org/timeline/general-orders-no-14 |title=General Orders No. 14 |publisher=The Kansas City Public Library |location=Kansas City |work=Civil War on the Western Border: The Missouri-Kansas Conflict, 1855–1865 |access-date=November 5, 2014 |quote=[I]t does not extend freedom to the slaves who serve, giving them little personal motivation to support the Southern cause. Ultimately, very few blacks serve in the Confederate armed forces, as compared to hundreds of thousands who serve for the Union. |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141105001859/http://www.civilwaronthewesternborder.org/timeline/general-orders-no-14 |archive-date=November 5, 2014 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|access-date=March 11, 2016|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZP0dHXadOIMC&pg=PA56|title=American Civil War: The Essential Reference Guide|isbn=978-1-59884-905-9|publisher=ABC-CLIO, LLC|date=2011|location=Santa Barbara, California|chapter=Congress, Confederate|first1=James R.|last1=Arnold|first2=Roberta|last2=Wiener|first3=Seth A.|last3=Weitz|page=56}}</ref> by a single vote in the Confederate senate,<ref name=McPhersonBooknotes1994/><ref name="umd"/> and Jefferson Davis signed the order into law. The order was issued March 23, but as it was late in the war, only a few African American companies were raised in the Richmond area before the town was captured by the [[Union Army|U.S. Army]] and placed back under U.S. control.<ref>{{cite book|author=E. Merton Coulter|title=The Confederate States of America, 1861–1865|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z2_ZM0dWVrsC&pg=PA268|year=1950|publisher=LSU Press|pages=267–68|isbn=9780807100073}}</ref>
According to historian James M. McPherson in 1994, "no black soldiers fought in the Confederate army, unless they were passing as white.<ref name="BaslerSandburg2008">{{cite book|author1=James M. McPherson|editor1=Roy Basler|editor2=Carl Sandburg|title=Abraham Lincoln: His Speeches And Writings|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vyqEB2PXJ5UC&pg=PA86|chapter=Slavery, the Union, and War|date=4 August 2008|publisher=Hachette Books|isbn=978-0-7867-2372-0|pages=86}}</ref> He noted that some Confederates brought along "their body servants, who in many cases had grown up with them" and that "on occasion some of those body servants were known to have picked up a rifle and fought. But there was no official recruitment of black soldiers in the Confederate army until the very end of the war..." He continued, "But Appomattox came only a few weeks later, and none of these men were ever put in uniform to fight."<ref name=McPhersonBooknotes1994/>

===Treatment of black civilians===
In some cases, the Confederates forced their African American slaves to fire upon U.S. soldiers at gunpoint,<ref name=KateMasur2015/><ref name=AndyHallBlack2015/> such as at the [[First Battle of Bull Run]]. According to John Parker, a slave who was forced by the Confederates to fight Union soldiers, "Our masters tried all they could to make us fight ... They promised to give us our freedom and money besides, but none of us believed them; we only fought because we had to." Parker stated that had he been given an opportunity, he would have turned against his Confederate captors, and "could do it with pleasure".<ref name=KateMasur2015/><ref name=AndyHallBlack2015/> According to abolitionist [[Henry Highland Garnet]] in 1862, he had met a slave who "had unwillingly fought on the side of Rebellion", but the slave had since defected to "the side of Union and universal liberty".<ref name=AndyHallBlack2015/>

During the [[Siege of Yorktown (1862)|siege of Yorktown]], The United States Army's elite sniper unit, the [[1st United States Sharpshooters]], was devastatingly effective at shooting Confederate artillerymen defending the city. In response, some Confederate artillery crews started forcing slaves to load the cannons. "They forced their negroes to load their cannon," reported a U.S. officer. "They shot them if they would not load the cannon, and we shot them if they did."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.historynet.com/killers-in-green-coats.htm|title=Killers in Green Coats|date=July 20, 2016|website=HistoryNet}}</ref>

In other cases, under explicit orders from their commanders, Confederate armies would often forcibly kidnap free African American civilians during their incursions into Union territory, sending them south into Confederate territory and thus enslaving them, as was the case with the Army of Northern Virginia when it invaded Pennsylvania in 1863.<ref>David G. Smith, "Race and Retaliation: The Capture of African Americans During the Gettysburg Campaign." in Peter Wallenstein and Bertram Wyatt-Brown, ed., ''Virginia's Civil War'' (2004) pp: 122–37. [https://books.google.com/books?id=Ma-XQ2KqkyIC&pg=PA137 online]</ref><ref>Ted Alexander, "'A Regular Slave Hunt': The Army of Northern Virginia and Black Civilians in the Gettysburg Campaign", ''North & South'' 4 (September 2001): 82–89</ref>

===Treatment of black prisoners of war===
The usage of [[United States Colored Troops|black men as soldiers]] by the Union, combined with [[Abraham Lincoln]]'s issuing of the [[Emancipation Proclamation]], profoundly angered the Confederacy,<ref>{{Cite web|quote=I have given the subject of arming the negro my hearty support. This, with the emancipation of the negro, is the heavyest blow yet given the Confederacy. The South rave a greatdeel about it and profess to be very angry. |first=Ulysses |last=Grant |author-link=Ulysses S. Grant |location=Cairo, Illinois |url=http://www.civil-war-tribute.com/us-grant-letter-to-lincoln-08231863.htm |title=Letter to Abraham Lincoln |date=August 23, 1863 |via=Civil War Tribute |access-date=May 3, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140503212700/http://www.civil-war-tribute.com/us-grant-letter-to-lincoln-08231863.htm |archive-date=May 3, 2014 }}</ref> with the Confederates calling it uncivilized.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://deadconfederates.com/2014/04/15/understanding-fort-pillow-full-and-ample-retaliation/ |title=Understanding Fort Pillow: 'Full and Ample Retaliation' |last=Hall |first=Andy |work=Dead Confederates |date=April 15, 2014 |publisher=WordPress |access-date=March 6, 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160307013507/http://deadconfederates.com/2014/04/15/understanding-fort-pillow-full-and-ample-retaliation/ |archive-date=March 7, 2016 }}</ref> As a response, in May 1863, the Confederacy passed a law demanding "full and ample retaliation" against the United States, stating that any black person captured in "arms against the Confederate States" or giving aid and comfort to their enemies would be turned over to state authorities, where they could be tried as slave insurrectionists; a capital offense punishable with a sentence of death.<ref>Williams, George W., ''History of the Negro Race in America from 1619 to 1880: Negros as Slaves, as Soldiers, and as Citizens'', vol. II, New York: G.P. Putnam Son's, 1883, pp. 351–352.</ref><ref>{{Cite web|author=Congress of the Confederate States of America |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AMg4AAAAIAAJ&q=confederate+laws+%22full+and+ample+retaliation%E2%80%9D&pg=PA168 |title=No. 5. |work=Joint Resolution on the Subject of Retaliation |location=Virginia |date=May 1, 1863 |access-date=March 6, 2016 }}{{dead link|date=August 2017|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> However, Confederate authorities feared retaliation, and consequently no black prisoner was ever put on trial and executed.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qmg6HbOCmsIC&q=%22decided+instead+to+return+former+slaves+to+their+masters%22&pg=PA725|title=The First Woman in the Republic: A Cultural Biography of Lydia Maria Child|first=Carolyn L.|last=Karcher|date=April 19, 1994|publisher=Duke University Press|via=Google Books|isbn=0822321637}}</ref>

James McPherson states that "Confederate troops sometimes murdered black soldiers and their officers as they tried to surrender. In most cases, though, Confederate officers returned captured black soldiers to slavery or put them to hard labor on southern fortifications."<ref>{{cite book|first1=John|last1=Murrin|first2=James M.|last2=McPherson|first3=Paul|last3=Johnson|first4=Alice|last4=Fahs|first5=Gary|last5=Gerstle|title=Liberty, Liberty, Equality, Power|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1w5Qp4qYfE0C&pg=PA433|year=2009|publisher=Cengage Learning|page=433|isbn=978-0495565987}}</ref><ref name="cornish173">{{Cite book|last=Cornish|first=Dudley Taylor|title=The Sable Arm: Negro Troops in the Union Army, 1861–1865|location=New York|publisher=W.W. Norton|date=1965|pages=173–180}}</ref>
African American soldiers who served in the [[United States Colored Troops]] were often singled out by the Confederates and suffered extra violence when captured by them.<ref name=JWLoewenP193/> They were often the victims of battlefield massacres and atrocities at the hands of the Confederates,<ref name=JWLoewenP193/> most notably at [[Battle of Fort Pillow|Fort Pillow]] in Tennessee and at the [[Battle of the Crater]] in Virginia.<ref>{{Cite book|author-link1=James I. Robertson, Jr.|last1=Robertson| first1=James I. Jr. |first2=William|last2=Pegram|title="The Boy Artillerist": Letters of Colonel William Pegram, C.S.A.}}</ref><ref>'' The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography'' 98, no. 2 (The Trumpet Unblown: The Old Dominion in the Civil War), (1990), pp. 242–43.</ref>

====Prisoner exchanges with the United States====
The Confederate law declaring black U.S. soldiers to be insurrectionist slaves, combined with the Confederacy's discriminatory mistreatment of captured black U.S. soldiers, became a stumbling block for prisoner exchanges between the United States and the Confederacy, as the U.S. government in the [[Lieber Code]] officially objected to the Confederacy's discriminatory mistreatment of prisoners of war on basis of color.<ref name=MurrinMcPhersonP433>{{cite book|first1=John|last1=Murrin|first2=James M.|last2=McPherson|author-link2=James M. McPherson|first3=Paul|last3=Johnson|first4=Alice|last4=Fahs|first5=Gary|last5=Gerstle|title=Liberty, Equality, Power: Enhanced Concise Fourth Edition|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1w5Qp4qYfE0C&pg=PA433|year=2009|publisher=Cengage Learning|location=Belmont, California|page=433|quote=Confederate troops sometimes murdered black soldiers and their officers as they tried to surrender. In most cases, though, Confederate officers returned captured black soldiers to slavery or put them to hard labor on southern fortifications ... Expressing outrage at this treatment, in 1863 the Lincoln administration suspended the exchange of prisoners until the Confederacy agree to treat white and black prisoners alike. The Confederacy refused.|isbn=978-0495565987}}</ref><ref name=LieberCode58>{{Cite web|quote=58. The law of nations knows of no distinction of color, and if an enemy of the United States should enslave and sell any captured persons of their army, it would be a case for the severest retaliation, if not redressed upon complaint. |first=E.D. |last=Townsend |url=http://www.civilwarhome.com/liebercode.htm |title=Section III.–Deserters—Prisoners of war–Hostages–Booty on the battle-field. |work=[[Lieber Code|Instructions for the Government of Armies of the United States in the Field]] |via=The American Civil War Home Page |date=April 24, 1863 |location=Washington |access-date=April 7, 2001 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010407120840/http://www.civilwarhome.com/liebercode.htm |archive-date=April 7, 2001 }}</ref> The [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]]'s platform of the 1864 presidential election reflected this view, as it too condemned the Confederacy's discriminatory mistreatment of captured black U.S. soldiers.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29621 |title=Republican Party Platform of 1864 |date=June 7, 1864 |author=Republican Party of the United States |quote=[T]he Government owes to all men employed in its armies, without regard to distinction of color, the full protection of the laws of war—and that any violation of these laws, or of the usages of civilized nations in time of war, by the Rebels now in arms, should be made the subject of prompt and full redress. |website=The American Presidency Project |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150421080932/http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29621 |archive-date=April 21, 2015 }}</ref> According to the authors of ''Liberty, Equality, Power'', "Expressing outrage at this treatment, in 1863 the Lincoln administration suspended the exchange of prisoners until the Confederacy agree to treat white and black prisoners alike. The Confederacy refused."<ref name=MurrinMcPhersonP433/>

==Statistics and size==
[[File:Surrender of a Confederate Soldier - Smithsonian American Art Museum.jpg|200px|thumb|right|[[Julian Scott]]'s 1873 painting, ''[[Surrender of a Confederate Soldier]]'']]

Incomplete and destroyed records make an accurate count of the number of soldiers who served in the Confederate army impossible. Historians provide estimates of the actual number of individual Confederate soldiers between 750,000 and 1,000,000 troops.<ref>Long, E. B. ''The Civil War Day by Day: An Almanac, 1861–1865''. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1971. {{OCLC|68283123}}. p. 705</ref>

The exact number is unknown. Since these figures include estimates of the total number of individual soldiers who served in each army at any time during the war, they do not represent the size of the armies at any given date. Confederate casualty figures are as incomplete and unreliable as the figures on the number of Confederate soldiers. The best estimates of the number of deaths of Confederate soldiers appear to be about 94,000 killed or mortally wounded in battle, 164,000 deaths from disease and between 26,000 and 31,000 deaths in Union prison camps. In contrast, about 25,000 Union soldiers died as a result of accidents, drowning, murder, killed after capture, suicide, execution for various crimes, execution by the Confederates (64), sunstroke, other and not stated. Confederate casualties for all these reasons are unavailable. Since some Confederate soldiers would have died for these reasons, more total deaths and total casualties for the Confederacy must have occurred. One estimate of the Confederate wounded, which is considered incomplete, is 194,026; another is 226,000. At the end of the war 174,223 men of the Confederate forces surrendered to the [[Union Army]].<ref name="www1"/><ref>Long, 1971, p. 711</ref>

Compared to the Union Army at the time, the Confederate Army was not very ethnically diverse. Ninety-one percent of Confederate soldiers were [[White Southerners|native-born white men]] and only nine percent were foreign-born white men, Irishmen being the largest group with others including Germans, French, Mexicans, and British. A small number of Asian men were forcibly inducted into the Confederate Army against their will, when they arrived in Louisiana from overseas.<ref>{{Cite book|first=Burke|last=Davis|title=Civil War: Strange and Fascinating Facts|publisher=Random House|date=1960}}</ref>
{{clear}}

==See also==
{{Portal|American Civil War}}
{{colbegin}}
* [[Confederate States Navy]]
* [[Blockade runners of the American Civil War]]
* [[General in Chief of the Armies of the Confederate States]]
* [[Confederate Government Civil War units]]
* [[Confederate States Marine Corps]]
* [[Medicine in the American Civil War]]
* [[Military of the Confederate States of America]]
* [[Social history of soldiers and veterans in the United States]]
* [[Uniforms of the Confederate States Armed Forces]]
* [[Uniforms of the Confederate States military forces|Uniforms of the Confederate military]]
* [[Bibliography of the American Civil War]]
* [[Postage stamps and postal history of the Confederate States]]
* [[Removal of Confederate monuments and memorials]]
{{colend}}

==References==
{{reflist|refs=

<ref name="Eicher7066">Eicher, pp. 70, 66.</ref>

<ref name="Native_American_Participation_Numbers">{{cite book |last=Rodman |first=Leslie |title=The Five Civilized Tribes and the American Civil War |url=http://www.amtour.net/downloadable/The_5_Civilized_Tribes_in_the_Civil_War_a_Biographical_Essay.pdf |page=2 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723013312/http://www.amtour.net/downloadable/The_5_Civilized_Tribes_in_the_Civil_War_a_Biographical_Essay.pdf |archive-date=July 23, 2011 }}</ref>

<ref name="Native_American_Slave_Ownership">{{cite book |last=Rodman |first=Leslie |title=The Five Civilized Tribes and the American Civil War |url=http://www.amtour.net/downloadable/The_5_Civilized_Tribes_in_the_Civil_War_a_Biographical_Essay.pdf |page=5 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723013312/http://www.amtour.net/downloadable/The_5_Civilized_Tribes_in_the_Civil_War_a_Biographical_Essay.pdf |archive-date=July 23, 2011 }}</ref>

<ref name="aa">{{cite web |title="We are all Americans", Native Americans in the Civil War |url=http://oha.alexandriava.gov/fortward/special-sections/americans/|date=January 5, 2009 |access-date=January 5, 2009|publisher=Native Americans.com|author=W. David Baird|display-authors=etal}}</ref>

<ref name="ac">{{cite web |title=Native Americans in the Civil War|url=http://www.civilwarhome.com/nativeamericans.htm|date=January 5, 2009 |access-date=January 5, 2009|publisher=Ethic Composition of Civil War Forces (C.S & U.S.A.) }}</ref>

<ref name="confederate">Eicher, p. 807. There were seven full generals in the CSA; [[John Bell Hood]] held "temporary full general" rank, which was withdrawn by the Confederate Congress.</ref>

<ref name="Eicher71">Eicher, p. 71.</ref>

<ref name="eicher1">Eicher, p. 25.</ref>

<ref name="eicher2">Eicher, p. 26.</ref>

<ref name="eicher3">Eicher, p. 29.</ref>

<ref name="history-sites">{{cite web|url=http://history-sites.com/cgi-bin/bbs53x/nvcwmb/webbbs_config.pl?read=58612|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090113112128/http://history-sites.com/cgi-bin/bbs53x/nvcwmb/webbbs_config.pl?read=58612|title=The Civil War News & Views Open Discussion Forum|archive-date=January 13, 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref>

<ref name="j_matte1">{{cite book |last=Matte |first=Jacqueline |title=They Say the Wind is Red |publisher=New South Books |chapter=Refugees- Six Towns Choctaw, 1830–1890 |page=65 |isbn=978-1-58838-079-1 |year=2002 }}</ref>

<ref name="official">Official Records, Series IV, Vol. III, pp. 1161–62.</ref>

<ref name="official6">Official Records, Series I, Vol. LII, Part 2, pp. 586–92.</ref>

<ref name="proclamation">Journal of the Senate at an Extra Session of the General Assembly of the State of Georgia, Convened under the Proclamation of the Governor, March 25, 1863, p. 6.</ref>

<ref name="umd">{{cite web|url=http://www.history.umd.edu/Freedmen/csenlist.htm|title=Confederate Law authorizing the enlistment of black soldiers, March 13, 1865, as promulgated in a military order|access-date=August 28, 2015|archive-date=March 12, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120312213532/http://www.history.umd.edu/Freedmen/csenlist.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>



<ref name="webb_garrison">{{cite book |last=Garrison |first=Webb |title=More Civil War Curiosities |publisher=Rutledge Hill Press |chapter=Padday Some Day |year=1995 |isbn=978-1-55853-366-0 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/morecivilwarcuri00garr |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/morecivilwarcuri00garr }}</ref>

<ref name="www1">{{cite web|url=http://www1.va.gov/opa/fact/amwars.asp|title=Fact Sheet: America's Wars|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090730023358/http://www1.va.gov/opa/fact/amwars.asp|archive-date=July 30, 2009|date=November 2008|publisher=United States Department of Veterans Affairs}}</ref>
}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite journal|last=Adams|first= George Worthington|title=Confederate Medicine|journal=Journal of Southern History|date=1940|volume=6#2 |issue= 2|pages= 151–166|doi= 10.2307/2191203|ref=pp. 151–166|jstor=2191203}}
* Bardolph, Richard. "Inconstant rebels: desertion of North Carolina troops in the Civil War." ''North Carolina Historical Review'' 41.2 (1964): 163–189. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/23517187 online]
* {{cite journal|last=Allardice|first= Bruce|title=West Points of the Confederacy: Southern Military Schools and the Confederate Army|journal= Civil War History|date=1997|volume=43#4|ref=pp: 310–331|url=http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/civil_war_history/v043/43.4.allardice.html}}
* Bledsoe, Andrew S. ''Citizen-Officers: The Union and Confederate Volunteer Junior Officer Corps in the American Civil War''. Baton Rouge, Louisiana: Louisiana State University Press, 2015. {{ISBN|978-0-8071-6070-1}}.
* {{cite journal | last1 = Crawford | first1 = Martin | year = 1991 | title = Confederate Volunteering and Enlistment in Ashe County, North Carolina, 1861–1862 | journal = Civil War History | volume = 37 | issue = 1| pages = 29–50 | doi=10.1353/cwh.1991.0031| s2cid = 144583591 }}
* {{cite book|last=Crute|first= Joseph H. Jr.|date=1987|title=Units of the Confederate States Army|edition=2nd|place= Gaithersburg|publisher=Olde Soldier Books|isbn=0-942211-53-7}}
* {{cite book|last=Daniel|first=Larry J.|title=Soldiering in the Army of Tennessee: A Portrait of Life in a Confederate Army|date=2003}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=Hv6wUEFhLIEC&dq=+%27%27Soldiering+in+the+Army+of+Tennessee:+A+Portrait+of+Life+in+a+Confederate+Army%27%27&pg=PR11 online]
* Donald, David. "The Confederate as a Fighting Man." ''Journal of Southern History'' 25.2 (1959): 178–193. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2954612 online]
* {{cite book|author1=Eicher, John H.|author2=Eicher, David J.|title=Civil War High Commands|publisher=Stanford University Press|date=2001|isbn=978-0-8047-3641-1|author2-link=David J. Eicher}}
* {{cite book |author-link=Drew Gilpin Faust|last=Faust|first=Drew Gilpin|title=Christian Soldiers: The Meaning of Revivalism in the Confederate Army|date=1987}} In [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2208627 ''The Journal of Southern History'', Vol. 53, No. 1 (Feb., 1987), pp. 63–90.]
* {{cite journal|last=Freemon|first= Frank R.|title=Administration of the Medical Department of the Confederate States Army, 1861 to 1865|journal=Southern Medical Journal|date=1987|volume=80|issue= 5|pages= 630–637|doi=10.1097/00007611-198705000-00019|pmid= 3554537}}
* {{cite book|last=Haughton|first=Andrew|title=Training, Tactics and Leadership in the Confederate Army of Tennessee: Seeds of Failure|date=2000}}
* Jones, Adam Matthew. "'The land of my birth and the home of my heart': Enlistment Motivations for Confederate Soldiers in Montgomery County, Virginia, 1861–1862.'" (MA thesis Virginia Tech, 2014). [http://hdl.handle.net/10919/49267 online] bibliography, pp 123–30.
* {{cite book|last=Levine|first=Bruce|title=Confederate Emancipation: Southern Plans to Free and Arm Slaves during the Civil War|date=2005}}
* Levin, Kevin M. ''Searching for Black Confederates: The civil War’s most persistent Myth'' (UNC Press Books, 2019). Debunks a false myth. [https://books.google.com/books?id=f1SoDwAAQBAJ&pg=PP1 online]
* {{cite journal|last=Logue|first=Larry M.|title=Who Joined the Confederate Army? Soldiers, Civilians, and Communities in Mississippi|journal=Journal of Social History|date=1993|volume=26#3|issue=3|pages=611–623|doi=10.1353/jsh/26.3.611|ref= pp 611–623|jstor=3788629}}
* Marrs, Aaron W. "Desertion and loyalty in the South Carolina infantry, 1861-1865." ''Civil War History'' 50.1 (2004): 47–65. [https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/14/article/52345/summary excerpt]
* Power, J. Tracy. ''Lee's Miserables: Life in the Army of Northern Virginia from the Wilderness to Appomattox'' (UNC Press Books, 2002). [https://books.google.com/books?id=dV6ggFBkTUoC&dq=J+Tracy+Power+Army&pg=PR11 online]
* Sheehan-Dean, Aaron. "Justice Has Something to Do with It: Class Relations and the Confederate Army." ''Virginia Magazine of History and Biography'' 113 (2005):340–377.
* Sheehan-Dean, Aaron. ''Why Confederates Fought: Family and Nation in Civil War Virginia'' (2007). [https://archive.org/details/whyconfederatesf0000shee online]
* Warner, Ezra J. ''Generals in Gray: Lives of the Confederate Commanders'' (LSU Press, 1959). [https://www.google.com/books/edition/Generals_in_Gray/t9YNGR_wdeoC?hl=en online]
* {{cite journal | last1 = Watson | first1 = Samuel J | year = 1994 | title = Religion and combat motivation in the Confederate armies | journal = Journal of Military History | volume = 58 | issue = 1| pages = 29–55 | doi=10.2307/2944178| jstor = 2944178 }}
* {{Cite book|last=Weinert| first=Richard P. Jr. |title=The Confederate Regular Army|publisher=White Mane Publishing|date=1991|isbn=978-0-942597-27-1}}
* {{cite book|last=Weitz|first= Mark A.|title=More Damning than Slaughter: Desertion in the Confederate Army|publisher=U of Nebraska Press |date=2005}}
* Wiley, Bell Irvin. ''The Life of Johnny Reb: The Common Soldier of the Confederacy'' (1943). [https://archive.org/details/lifeofjohnnyrebc0000bell_m4v4/page/n8/mode/1up onlin e]
* {{cite book|author-link=Marcus Joseph Wright|last=Wright|first=Marcus J.|title=General Officers of the Confederate Army|publisher=J. M. Carroll & Co.|date=1983|isbn=978-0-8488-0009-3}}

===Historiography===
* Sheehan-Dean, Aaron. "The Blue and Gray in Black and White: Assessing the Scholarship on Civil War Soldiers," in Aaron Sheehan-Dean, ed., ''The View from the Ground: Experiences of Civil War Soldiers'' (University Press of Kentucky, 2007) pp 9–30. [https://archive.org/details/viewfromground00shee/mode/1up online]

===Primary sources===
* {{cite book|title=Confederate States. War Dept. Regulations for the Army of the Confederate States|url=https://archive.org/details/regulati00conf|place= Richmond|publisher=J.W. Randolph|date=1863}}
* {{cite book|last=Robson|first= John S.|title=How A One-Legged Rebel Lives: Reminiscences of the Civil War; The Story of the Campaigns of Stonewall Jackson|publisher= Kessinger Publishing|date=2007|isbn=978-1-84685-665-5}}
* {{citation|author=U.S. War Department|url=http://ehistory.osu.edu/osu/sources/records/list.cfm|title=The War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies|place=U.S. Government Printing Office|date=1880–1901|access-date=February 3, 2009|archive-date=September 13, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090913062844/http://ehistory.osu.edu/osu/sources/records/list.cfm|url-status=dead}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Confederate States Army}}
{{Wikiquote|Confederate States of America}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130625144353/http://www.civilwarsoldier.com/cws_confederate_soldiers.htm Confederate soldiers]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://jdc.jefferson.edu/milsurgcsa/ A Manual of Military Surgery (1863). The manual used by doctors in the CSA.]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://battleofolustee.org/uniforms/uniforms.html U.S. Civil War Era Uniforms and Accouterments]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://library.duke.edu/digital collections/strong/Duke University Libraries Digital Collections – William Emerson Strong Photograph Album] 200 cartes-de-visite depicting officers in the Confederate army and navy, officials in the Confederate government, famous Confederate wives, and other notable figures of the Confederacy. Also included are 64 photographs attributed to Mathew Brady.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.confederateuniforms.org Confederate and State Regulations] at confederateuniforms.org
* [https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.1stconfederatebattalion.org 1st Confederate Battalion, Forney's Regiment] (Living History Organization)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160303102250/http://www.histclo.com/essay/war/cwa/sold/cwas-black.html Black soldiers in the U.S. Civil War]
* [http://vault.georgiaarchives.org/cdm/landingpage/collection/confed Confederate Enlistment Oaths and Discharges of the Army of the State of Georgia]
* {{Cite EB1911|wstitle= American Civil War |volume= 1 |last= Atkinson |first= Charles Francis | pages = 818–828 |short= 1}}
* {{Cite EB1911|wstitle= Confederate States of America |volume= 6 |last= Schwab |first= John Christopher |author-link= John Christopher Schwab | pages = 899–901 |short= 1}}

{{Field armies of the Confederate States}}
{{American Civil War|state=collapsed}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Confederate States Army| ]]
[[Category:1861 establishments in the Confederate States of America]]
[[Category:1865 disestablishments in the Confederate States of America]]

[[Category:Former armies by country]]
[[Category:Military history of the United States]]
[[Category:Military units and formations established in 1861]]
[[Category:Military units and formations disestablished in 1865]]

Confederate States of America

2025-07-13T19:21:59Z

Misterc1214: 1 revision imported

{{Short description|Unrecognized state in North America (1861–1865)}}
{{Redirect|Confederate States|the system of government|Confederation|a list of confederate nation states|List of confederations}}
{{About||the 2004 film|C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America}}
{{pp|small=yes}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2017}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2023}}
{{Infobox country
| conventional_long_name =  Confederate States of America
| common_name =  Confederate States of America
| status = [[List of historical unrecognized states|Unrecognized state]]<ref name="history-state-gov">{{cite web |url=https://history.state.gov/milestones/1861-1865/confederacy |title=Preventing Diplomatic Recognition of the Confederacy, 1861–65 |publisher=U.S. Department of State |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130828005906/http://history.state.gov/milestones/1861-1865/Confederacy |archive-date=August 28, 2013 }}</ref>
| year_start = 1861
| year_end = 1865
| flag = Flags of the Confederate States of America
| flag_type_article = Flags of the Confederate States of America
| flag_type = Top: Flag {{nowrap|(1861–1863)}} Bottom: Flag {{nowrap|(1865)}}
| image_flag = Flag of the Confederate States (1861–1863).svg
| image_flag2 = Flag of the Confederate States (1865).svg
| symbol_type_article = Seal of the Confederate States
| symbol_type = Seal {{nowrap|(1863–1865)}}
| coa_size = 105px
| image_coat = Seal of the Confederate States of America.svg
| national_motto = ''[[Deo vindice]]''
| englishmotto = (Under) God, (our) vindicator
| anthem = [[God Save the South]] (unofficial){{parabr}}{{center|[[File:Confederate States of America 1861-1865.ogg]]}}<hr />[[Dixie (song)|Dixie]] (popular, unofficial){{parabr}}{{center|[[File:Dixie's Land Instrumental.mp3]]}}
| march = [[The Bonnie Blue Flag]]{{parabr}}{{center|}}
| image_map = Confederate States of America (orthographic projection).svg
| alt_map = Map of northern hemisphere with Confederate States of America highlighted
| map_caption = {{plainlist|style=padding-left: 0.6em; text-align: left;|
* {{Legend|#008000|The Confederate States}}
* {{Legend|#55c255|Territorial claims made and under partial control for a time}}
* {{Legend|#3d983d|[[West Virginia#Separation from Virginia|Separated]] West Virginia}}
* {{Legend|#00e6e6|Contested Native American territory}}
}}
| image_map_caption = [[Federal government of the United States|Federal Union]] and Southern States
| capital = {{ublist|item_style=margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0
|[[Montgomery, Alabama]] (until May 29, 1861)
|[[Richmond, Virginia]] (until April 2–3, 1865)<ref>{{cite web |title=Reaction to the Fall of Richmond |url=https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/reaction-fall-richmond |website=American Battlefield Trust |date=December 9, 2008 |access-date=July 12, 2021}}</ref>
|[[Danville, Virginia]] (until April 10, 1865)<ref>{{cite web |title=History |url=https://www.danvillemuseum.org/history |website=Danville Museum of Fine Arts & History |access-date=July 12, 2021}}</ref>}}
[[Greensboro, North Carolina]] (until May 5, 1865)
| largest_city = [[New Orleans]] (until [[Capture of New Orleans|May 1, 1862]])
| common_languages = {{nowrap|English (''[[de facto]]'')}} minor languages: [[Louisiana French|French]] ([[Louisiana]]), [[Indigenous languages of the Americas|Indigenous languages]] ([[Indian territory]])
| government_type = {{plainlist|
* [[Confederation]] of independent states (1861–1862)<ref name="wwgaunt">{{cite book |title=The Statutes at Large of the Provisional Government of the Confederate States of America: From the Institution of the Government, February 8, 1861 to Its Termination, February 18, 1862, Inclusive. Arranged in Chronological Order, Together with the Constitution for the Provisional Government and the Permanent Constitution of the Confederate States, and the Treaties Concluded by the Confederate States with Indian Tribes|author=W. W. Gaunt|year=1864|publisher=D & S Publishers, Indian Rocks Beach|page=1,2}}</ref>
* [[Richmond in the American Civil War|Federal]] presidential republic (1862–1865)<ref>Cooper (2000) p. 462. Rable (1994) pp. 2–3. Rable wrote, "But despite heated arguments and no little friction between the competing political cultures of unity and liberty, antiparty and broader fears about politics in general shaped civic life. These beliefs could obviously not eliminate partisanship or prevent Confederates from holding on to and exploiting old political prejudices. Indeed, some states, notably Georgia and North Carolina, remained political tinderboxes throughout the war. Even the most bitter foes of the Confederate government, however, refused to form an opposition party, and the Georgia dissidents, to cite the most prominent example, avoided many traditional political activities. Only in North Carolina did there develop anything resembling a party system, and there the central values of the Confederacy's two political cultures had a far more powerful influence on political debate than did organizational maneuvering."</ref><ref>David Herbert Donald, ed. ''Why the North Won the Civil War''. (1996) pp. 112–113. Potter wrote in his contribution to this book, "Where parties do not exist, criticism of the administration is likely to remain purely an individual matter; therefore the tone of the criticism is likely to be negative, carping, and petty, as it certainly was in the Confederacy. But where there are parties, the opposition group is strongly impelled to formulate real alternative policies and to press for the adoption of these policies on a constructive basis. ... But the absence of a two-party system meant the absence of any available alternative leadership, and the protest votes which were cast in the 1863 Confederate mid-term election became more expressions of futile and frustrated dissatisfaction rather than implements of a decision to adopt new and different policies for the Confederacy."</ref>}}
| title_leader = [[President of the Confederate States of America|President]]
| leader1 = [[Jefferson Davis]]
| year_leader1 = 1861–1865
| title_deputy = [[Vice President of the Confederate States of America|Vice President]]
| deputy1 = [[Alexander H. Stephens]]
| year_deputy1 = 1861–1865
| legislature = [[Congress of the Confederate States|Congress]]
| house1 = [[Senate of the Confederate States|Senate]]
| house2 = {{nowrap|[[House of Representatives of the Confederate States|House of Representatives]]}}
| era = [[American Civil War]]
| event_start = [[Provisional Constitution of the Confederate States|Provisional constitution]]
| date_start = February 8,
| event2 = {{nowrap|[[American Civil War]]}}
| date_event2 = April 12, 1861
| event3 = {{nowrap|[[Constitution of the Confederate States|Permanent constitution]]}}
| date_event3 = February 22, 1862


| event4 = [[Battle of Appomattox Court House]]
| date_event4 = April 9, 1865
| event5 = [[Carolinas campaign|Military collapse]]
| date_event5 = April 26, 1865
| event_end = [[Conclusion of the American Civil War|Debellation and dissolution]]
| date_end = May 5,


| stat_year1 = 1860{{efn|Slaves are included in the above population according to the 1860 census.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.civil-war.net/pages/1860_census.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040604075834/http://www.civil-war.net/pages/1860_census.html | archive-date=June 4, 2004 | title=1860 Census Results }}</ref>}}
| stat_pop1 = 9,103,332
| stat_year2 = Slaves{{efn|Population values do not include [[Missouri]], [[Kentucky]], or the [[Confederate Arizona|Arizona Territory]].}}
| stat_area2 =
| stat_pop2 = 3,521,110
| currency = {{ublist|class=nowrap|item_style=margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0
|[[Confederate States dollar]]
|[[Southern States Confederate Currency|State currencies]]}}
| p1 = South Carolina in the American Civil War{{!}}{{nowrap|South Carolina}}
| flag_p1 = Flag of South Carolina (January 1861).svg
| p2 = Mississippi in the American Civil War{{!}}Mississippi
| flag_p2 = Flag of Mississippi (1861-1865).svg
| p3 = Florida in the American Civil War{{!}}Florida
| flag_p3 = Flag of Florida (1861-1865).svg
| p4 = Alabama in the American Civil War{{!}}Alabama
| flag_p4 = Flag of Alabama (1861, obverse).svg
| p5 = Georgia in the American Civil War{{!}}Georgia
| flag_p5 = Flag of the State of Georgia (1861, red).svg
| p6 = Louisiana in the American Civil War{{!}}Louisiana
| flag_p6 = Louisiana Feb 11 1861.svg
| p7 = Texas in the American Civil War{{!}}Texas
| flag_p7 = Flag of Texas (1839–1879).svg
| p8 = Virginia in the American Civil War{{!}}Virginia
| flag_p8 = Flag of Virginia (1861–1865).svg
| p9 = Arkansas in the American Civil War{{!}}Arkansas
| flag_p9 = Flag of the Confederate States (May 1861 – July 1861).svg
| p10 = North Carolina in the American Civil War{{!}}{{nowrap|North Carolina}}
| flag_p10 = Flag of North Carolina (1861).svg
| p11 = Tennessee in the American Civil War{{!}}Tennessee
| flag_p11 = Tennessee 1861 proposed.svg
| p12 = Confederate Arizona{{!}}Arizona Territory
| flag_p12 = Flag of the Confederate States (1861–1863).svg
| s1 = West Virginia
| flag_s1 = 
| s2 = Tennessee
| flag_s2 = Tennessee 1861 proposed.svg
| s3 = Arkansas
| flag_s3 = Flag of the Confederate States (May 1861 – July 1861).svg
| s4 = Florida
| flag_s4 = Flag of Florida (1861–1865).svg
| s5 = Alabama
| flag_s5 = Flag of Alabama (1861, reverse).svg
| s6 = Louisiana
| flag_s6 = Louisiana Feb 11 1861.svg
| s7 = North Carolina
| flag_s7 = Flag of North Carolina (1861).svg
| s8 = South Carolina
| flag_s8 = Flag of South Carolina (1861).svg
| s9 = Virginia
| flag_s9 = Flag of Virginia (1861–1865).svg
| s10 = Mississippi
| flag_s10 = Flag of Mississippi (1861-1865).svg
| s11 = Texas
| flag_s11 = Flag of Texas (1839–1879).svg
| s12 = Georgia (U.S. state){{!}}Georgia
| flag_s12 = Flag of the State of Georgia (non-official).svg
| s13 = Arizona Territory
| flag_s13 = Flag of the United States (1863–1865).svg
| today = {{flagicon|United States of America}} [[United States]]
| footnotes =
| demonym = Confederate [[White Southerners|Southerner]]
}}

The '''Confederate States of America''' ('''CSA'''), also known as the '''Confederate States''' ('''C.S.'''), '''the Confederacy,''' or '''the South''', was an [[List of historical unrecognized states and dependencies|unrecognized]] breakaway<ref name="history-state-gov" /> [[republic]] in the [[Southern United States]] from 1861 to 1865.<ref name="Tikkanen-2020">{{Cite web|last=Tikkanen|first=Amy|date=June 17, 2020|title=American Civil War|url=https://www.britannica.com/event/American-Civil-War|access-date=June 28, 2020|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|quote=[The American Civil War was] between the United States and 11 Southern states that seceded from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America.}}</ref> It comprised eleven [[U.S. state]]s that declared [[Secession in the United States|secession]]: [[South Carolina in the American Civil War|South Carolina]], [[Mississippi in the American Civil War|Mississippi]], [[Florida in the American Civil War|Florida]], [[Alabama in the American Civil War|Alabama]], [[Georgia in the American Civil War|Georgia]], [[Louisiana in the American Civil War|Louisiana]], [[Texas in the American Civil War|Texas]], [[Virginia in the American Civil War|Virginia]], [[Arkansas in the American Civil War|Arkansas]], [[Tennessee in the American Civil War|Tennessee]], and [[North Carolina in the American Civil War|North Carolina]]. These states fought against the United States during the [[American Civil War]].<ref name="Tikkanen-2020" /><ref name="Hubbard-2000">{{Cite book|last=Hubbard|first=Charles|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/745911382|title=The Burden of Confederate Diplomacy|publisher=University of Tennessee Press|year=2000|isbn=1-57233-092-9|location=Knoxville|page=55|oclc=745911382}}</ref>

With [[Abraham Lincoln]]'s [[1860 United States presidential election|election]] as [[President of the United States]] in 1860, eleven southern states believed their slavery-dependent [[plantation economy|plantation economies]] were threatened, and seven initially [[Secession in the United States|seceded from the United States]].<ref name="history-state-gov" /><ref name="Thomas1979">{{cite book |last1=Thomas |first1=Emory M. |title=The Confederate Nation: 1861–1865 |year=1979 |publisher=Harper Collins |isbn=978-0-06-206946-7 |pages=256–257 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IpM8EKRH_bUC}}</ref><ref name="McPherson">{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780195313666 |url-access=registration |title=This mighty scourge: perspectives on the Civil War |first=James M. |last=McPherson |publisher=Oxford University Press US |year=2007 |page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780195313666/page/65 65]|isbn=978-0198042761 }}</ref> The Confederacy was formed on February 8, 1861, by South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas.<ref name="Encyclopædia Britannica-1998" /><ref name="Smith2008">{{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=Mark M. |editor1-last=Boles |editor1-first=John B. |title=A Companion to the American South |year=2008 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-1-4051-3830-7 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vANndXTE8g4C&pg=PA103 |language=en |chapter=The Plantation Economy |quote=Antebellum southern society was defined in no small part by the shaping and working of large tracts of land whose soil was tilled and staples tended by enslaved African-American laborers. This was, in short, a society dependent on what historians have variously referred to as the plantation system, the southern slave economy or, more commonly, the plantation economy... Slaveholders' demand for labor increased apace. The number of southern slaves jumped from under one million in 1790 to roughly four million by 1860. By the middle decades of the antebellum period, the Old South had matured into a slave society whose plantation economy affected virtually every social and economic relation within the South.}}</ref><ref name="McMurtry-Chubb2021">{{cite book |last1=McMurtry-Chubb |first1=Teri A. |title=Race Unequals: Overseer Contracts, White Masculinities, and the Formation of Managerial Identity in the Plantation Economy |year=2021 |publisher=Lexington Books |isbn=978-1-4985-9907-8 |page=31 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M0UsEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA31 |language=en |quote=The plantation as the vehicle to wealth was tied to the primacy of cotton in the growth of global capitalism. The large-scale cultivation and harvest of cot ton required new forms of labor organization, as well as labor management, Enter the overseer. By 1860, there were approximately 38,000 overseers working as plantation managers throughout the antebellum south. They were employed by the wealthiest of planters, planters who held multiple plantations and owned hundreds of enslaved Africans. By 1860, 85 percent of all cotton grown in the South was on plantations of 100 acres or more. On these plantations resided 91.2 percent of enslaved Africans. Planters came to own these Africans through the internal slave trade in the United States that moved to its cotton fields approximately one million enslaved laborers.}}</ref> They adopted a new constitution establishing a [[confederation]] government of "sovereign and independent states".<ref name="usgovernmentprintingoffice">{{cite book |title=Multinational Operations, Alliances, and International Military Cooperation|author=Robert S. Rush|author2=William W. Epley|year=2007|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|page=21,27}}</ref><ref name="johntishiyama">{{cite book |title=Comparative Politics: Principles of Democracy and Democratization|author=John T. Ishiyama|year=2011|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|page=214}}</ref><ref name="dunbarrowland">{{cite book |title=History of Mississippi: The Heart of the South|volume=1|author=Dunbar Rowland|year=1925|publisher=[[S. J. Clarke Publishing Company]]|page=784}}</ref> The [[Federal government of the United States|federal government]] in [[Washington D.C.]] and states under its control were known as the [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]].<ref name="Hubbard-2000" /><ref name="Encyclopædia Britannica-1998">{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Confederate-States-of-America|title=Confederate States of America|date=July 20, 1998|website=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]|access-date=June 25, 2019}}</ref><ref name="charlesdanieldrake">{{cite book |title=Union and Anti-Slavery speeches, delivered during the Rebellion, etc|author=Charles Daniel Drake|year=1864|page=219,220,222,241}}</ref>

The Civil War began in April 1861, when [[Battle of Fort Sumter|South Carolina's militia attacked Fort Sumter]]. Four slave states of the [[Upper South]]—[[Virginia in the American Civil War|Virginia]], [[Arkansas in the American Civil War|Arkansas]], [[Tennessee in the American Civil War|Tennessee]], and [[North Carolina in the American Civil War|North Carolina]]—then seceded and joined the Confederacy. In February 1862, [[Confederate States Army]] leaders installed a [[President of the Confederate States of America|centralized federal government]] in [[Richmond in the American Civil War|Richmond, Virginia]], and enacted the first [[Confederate Conscription Acts 1862–1864|Confederate draft]] on April 16, 1862. By 1865, the Confederacy's federal government dissolved into chaos, and the [[Confederate States Congress]] [[adjournment sine die|adjourned]], effectively ceasing to exist as a legislative body on March 18. After four years of heavy fighting, most Confederate land and naval forces either surrendered or otherwise ceased hostilities by May 1865.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.civilwar.org/education/pdfs/civil-was-curriculum-medicine.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100401062715/http://civilwar.org/education/pdfs/civil-was-curriculum-medicine.pdf |archive-date=April 1, 2010 |url-status=live|title=Learn – Civil War Trust|website=civilwar.org|date=October 29, 2013|access-date=August 27, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/20/recounting-the-dead/|title=Recounting the Dead|last=Hacker|first=J. David|date=September 20, 2011|website=Opinionator|access-date=May 19, 2018}}</ref> The most significant capitulation was Confederate general [[Robert E. Lee]]'s [[Battle of Appomattox Court House#Surrender|surrender on April 9]], after which any doubt about the war's outcome or the Confederacy's survival was extinguished. Confederate President Davis's administration declared the Confederacy dissolved on May 5.<ref name="IndEcon">{{cite web |url=https://www.nps.gov/articles/industry-and-economy-during-the-civil-war.htm |title=Industry and Economy during the Civil War|last=Arrington|first=Benjamin P.|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=February 5, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Davis|first=Jefferson|url=https://archive.org/stream/ashorthistoryco00davigoog#page/n544/mode/2up/search/disappeared|title=Short History of the Confederate States of America|page=503|date=1890|access-date=February 10, 2015|publisher=Belford co.}}</ref><ref>The constitutionality of the Confederacy's dissolution is open to interpretation at least to the extent that, like the [[Constitution of the United States|United States Constitution]], the Confederate States Constitution did not grant anyone (including the President) the power to dissolve the country. However, May 5, 1865, was the last day anyone holding a Confederate office recognized by the secessionist governments attempted to exercise executive, legislative, or judicial power under the C.S. Constitution. For this reason, that date is generally recognized to be the day the Confederate States of America formally dissolved.</ref>

After the war, during the [[Reconstruction era]], the Confederate states were readmitted to Congress after each ratified the [[13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution]], which outlawed slavery, "except as a punishment for crime". [[Lost Cause of the Confederacy|Lost Cause mythology]], an idealized view of the Confederacy valiantly fighting for a just cause, emerged in the decades after the war among former Confederate generals and politicians, and in organizations such as the [[United Daughters of the Confederacy]] and the [[Sons of Confederate Veterans]]. Intense periods of Lost Cause activity developed around the turn of the 20th century and during the [[civil rights movement]] of the 1950s and 60s in [[Reactionary|reaction]] to growing support for [[racial equality]]. Advocates sought to ensure future generations of [[White Southerners|Southern whites]] would continue to support white supremacist policies such as the [[Jim Crow laws]] through activities such as building [[Confederate monuments and memorials|Confederate monuments]] and influencing the authors of [[textbook]]s.<ref name="Blight2009">{{cite book|author=David W. Blight|title=Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3R-yvmpYaqAC&pg=PA259|date=2009|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0-674-02209-6|page=259}}</ref> The [[modern display of the Confederate battle flag]] primarily started during the [[1948 United States presidential election|1948 presidential election]], when it was used by the pro-segregationist and white supremacist [[Dixiecrat]] Party.<ref name="Strother2017">{{cite journal |first1=Logan |last1=Strother |first2=Spencer |last2=Piston |first3=Thomas |last3=Ogorzalek |title=Pride or Prejudice? Racial Prejudice, Southern Heritage, and White Support for the Confederate Battle Flag |url=https://www.academia.edu/34155396 |website=academia.edu |access-date=September 13, 2019 |page=7}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Ogorzalek|first1=Thomas|last2=Piston|first2=Spencer|last3=Strother|first3=Logan|date=2017|title=Pride or Prejudice?: Racial Prejudice, Southern Heritage, and White Support for the Confederate Battle Flag|journal=Du Bois Review: Social Science Research on Race|volume=14|issue=1|pages=295–323|doi=10.1017/S1742058X17000017|issn=1742-058X|doi-access=free|hdl=2144/31476|hdl-access=free}}</ref>
{{Events leading to American Civil War}}
{{TOC limit|limit=5}}

==Origins==
{{Main|Origins of the American Civil War}}
{{See also|Timeline of events leading to the American Civil War}}

Historians who address the origins of the [[American Civil War]] agree that the preservation of the [[Slavery in the United States|institution of slavery]] was the principal aim of the eleven [[Southern United States|Southern states]] (seven states before the war and four states after its onset) that declared their secession from the United States (the [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]]) and united to form the Confederacy.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Woods |first=M. E. |date=2012-08-20 |title=What Twenty-First-Century Historians Have Said about the Causes of Disunion: A Civil War Sesquicentennial Review of the Recent Literature |url=https://doi.org/10.1093/jahist/jas272 |journal=[[Journal of American History]] |volume=99 |issue=2 |pages=415–439 |doi=10.1093/jahist/jas272 |issn=0021-8723}}</ref> While historians in the 21st century [[Scholarly consensus|agree]] on the centrality of slavery, they disagree on which aspects of this conflict (ideological, economic, political, or social) were most important, and on the [[Union (American Civil War)|North]]'s reasons for refusing to allow the Southern states to secede.<ref>Aaron Sheehan-Dean, "A Book for Every Perspective: Current Civil War and Reconstruction Textbooks", ''Civil War History'' (2005) 51#3 pp. 317–324</ref> Proponents of the [[pseudohistory|pseudo-historical]] [[Lost Cause of the Confederacy|Lost Cause]] ideology have denied that slavery was the principal cause of the secession, a view that has been disproven by the overwhelming historical evidence against it, notably some of the seceding states' own [[Ordinance of Secession|secession documents]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Loewen |first=James W. |date=2011 |title=Using Confederate Documents to Teach About Secession, Slavery, and the Origins of the Civil War |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23210244 |journal=OAH Magazine of History |volume=25 |issue=2 |pages=35–44 |doi=10.1093/oahmag/oar002 |jstor=23210244 |issn=0882-228X |quote=Confederate leaders themselves made it plain that slavery was the key issue sparking secession. |access-date=April 7, 2023 |archive-date=April 7, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230407021438/https://www.jstor.org/stable/23210244 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

The principal political battle leading to secession was over whether slavery would be permitted to expand into the Western territories destined to become states. Initially [[United States Congress|Congress]] had admitted new states into the Union in pairs, [[Slave states and free states|one slave and one free]]. This had kept a sectional balance in the [[United States Senate|Senate]] but not in the [[United States House of Representatives|House of Representatives]], as free states outstripped slave states in numbers of eligible voters.<ref name="O'Brien2002qs">{{cite book |author=Patrick Karl O'Brien |title=Atlas of World History |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ffZy5tDjaUkC&pg=PA184 |year=2002 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-521921-0 |page=184 |access-date=October 25, 2015 |archive-date=September 5, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905202421/https://books.google.com/books?id=ffZy5tDjaUkC&pg=PA184 |url-status=live }}</ref> Thus, at mid-19th century, the free-versus-slave status of the new territories was a critical issue, both for the North, where anti-slavery sentiment had grown, and for the South, where the fear of slavery's [[Abolitionism in the United States|abolition]] had grown. Another factor leading to secession and the formation of the Confederacy was the development of [[white Southerners|white Southern]] nationalism in the preceding decades.<ref>John McCardell, ''The Idea of a Southern Nation: Southern Nationalists and Southern Nationalism, 1830–1860'' (1981)</ref> The primary reason for the North to reject secession was to preserve the Union, a cause based on [[American nationalism]].<ref>Susan-Mary Grant, ''North Over South: Northern Nationalism and American Identity in the Antebellum Era'' (2000)</ref>

[[Abraham Lincoln]] won the [[1860 United States presidential election|1860 presidential election]]. His victory triggered declarations of [[secession in the United States|secession]] by seven slave states of the [[Deep South]], all of whose riverfront or coastal economies were based on cotton that was cultivated by slave labor. They formed the Confederate States after Lincoln was elected in November 1860 but before [[First inauguration of Abraham Lincoln|he took office]] in March 1861. Nationalists in the North and "Unionists" in the South refused to accept the declarations of secession. No foreign government ever recognized the Confederacy. The U.S. government, under President [[James Buchanan]], refused to relinquish its forts in territory claimed by the Confederacy. The war began on April 12, 1861, when Confederate forces [[Battle of Fort Sumter|bombarded the Union's Fort Sumter]], in the harbor of [[Charleston, South Carolina]].

Background factors in the run up to the war were [[Second Party System|partisan politics]], [[Abolitionism in the United States|abolitionism]], [[Nullification (U.S. Constitution)|nullification]] versus [[Secession in the United States|secession]], Southern and Northern nationalism, [[Manifest destiny|expansionism]], [[Panic of 1857|economics]], and modernization in the [[Antebellum South|antebellum period]]. "While slavery and its various and multifaceted discontents were the primary cause of disunion, it was disunion itself that sparked the war."<ref>[[Elizabeth R. Varon]], Bruce Levine, Marc Egnal, and Michael Holt at a plenary session of the organization of American Historians, March 17, 2011, reported by David A. Walsh "Highlights from the 2011 Annual Meeting of the Organization of American Historians in Houston, Texas" [http://www.hnn.us/articles/137673.html HNN online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111204081355/http://hnn.us/articles/137673.html |date=December 4, 2011 }}</ref> Historian [[David M. Potter]] wrote: "The problem for Americans who, in the age of Lincoln, wanted slaves to be free was not simply that southerners wanted the opposite, but that they themselves cherished a conflicting value: they wanted the Constitution, which protected slavery, to be honored, and the Union, which was a fellowship with slaveholders, to be preserved. Thus they were committed to values that could not logically be reconciled."<ref>Potter, David M., ''The Impending Crisis'', pp. 44–45.</ref>

==Secession==
[[File:1861 Davis Inaugural.jpg|thumb|upright=.8|The inauguration of [[Jefferson Davis]] in [[Montgomery, Alabama]]]]

The first secession state conventions from the Deep South sent representatives to the [[Montgomery Convention]] in Alabama on February 4, 1861. A provisional government was established.<ref name="Freehling">Freehling, p. 503</ref> The new provisional Confederate President [[Jefferson Davis]] issued a call for 100,000 men from the states' militias to defend the newly formed Confederacy.<ref name="Freehling" /> All federal property was seized, including gold bullion and coining dies at the U.S. mints.<ref name="Freehling" /> The Confederate capital was moved from Montgomery to Richmond, Virginia, in May 1861. On February 22, 1862, Davis was inaugurated as president with a term of six years.<ref>{{cite book|author=John D. Wright|title=The Routledge Encyclopedia of Civil War Era Biographies|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V_wpKWzSmvUC&pg=PA150|year=2013|publisher=Routledge|page=150|isbn=978-0415878036}}</ref>

The Confederate administration pursued a policy of national territorial integrity, continuing earlier state efforts in 1860–1861 to remove U.S. government presence. This included taking possession of U.S. courts, custom houses, post offices, and most notably, arsenals and forts. After the Confederate attack and capture of [[Fort Sumter]] in April 1861, Lincoln called up [[75,000 volunteers|75,000 of the states' militia]] to muster under his command. The stated purpose was to re-occupy U.S. properties throughout the South, as the U.S. Congress had not authorized their abandonment. The resistance at Fort Sumter signaled his change of policy from that of the Buchanan Administration. Lincoln's response ignited a firestorm of emotion. The people of both North and South demanded war, with soldiers rushing to their colors in the hundreds of thousands.<ref name="Freehling" />

[[File:US map 1864 Civil War divisions.svg|thumb|upright=1.5|Blue indicates the Union states and light blue Union-supporting slave states ([[Border states (American Civil War)|border states]]) that primarily stayed in Union control, though [[Kentucky]] and [[Missouri]] had dual competing Confederate and Unionist governments. Red represents seceded states in rebellion, also known as the Confederate States of America. Uncolored areas were territories, with the exception of the [[Indian Territory]], which is present-day [[Oklahoma]].]]
[[File:CSA states evolution.gif|thumb|upright=1.5|Evolution of the Confederate States between December 1860 and July 1870]]
Secessionists argued that the [[Constitution of the United States|United States Constitution]] was a contract among sovereign states that could be abandoned without consultation and each state had a right to secede. After intense debates and statewide votes, seven Deep South states passed secession ordinances by February 1861, while secession efforts failed in the other eight slave states.

The Confederacy expanded in May–July 1861 (with [[Virginia in the Civil War|Virginia]], [[Arkansas in the Civil War|Arkansas]], [[Tennessee in the Civil War|Tennessee]], [[North Carolina in the Civil War|North Carolina]]), and disintegrated in April–May 1865. It was formed by delegations from seven slave states of the [[Lower South]] that had proclaimed their secession. After the fighting began in April, four additional slave states seceded and were admitted. Later, two slave states ([[Missouri]] and [[Kentucky]]) and two territories were given seats in the Confederate Congress.<ref>David M. Potter, ''The Impending Crisis, 1848–1861'' (1976) pp. 484–514.</ref>

Its establishment flowed from and deepened Southern nationalism,<ref>Potter, pp. 448–484.</ref> which prepared men to fight for "The Southern Cause".<ref>"Thomas 1979" pp. 3–4</ref> This "Cause" included support for [[states' rights]], [[Tariff|tariff policy]], and internal improvements, but above all, cultural and financial dependence on the South's slavery-based economy. The convergence of race and slavery, politics, and economics raised South-related policy questions to the status of moral questions over, way of life, merging love of things Southern and hatred of things Northern. As the war approached, political parties split, and national churches and interstate families divided along sectional lines.<ref>"Thomas 1979" pp. 4–5</ref> According to historian John M. Coski:
{{blockquote|The statesmen who led the secession movement were unashamed to explicitly cite the defense of [[slavery]] as their prime motive ... Acknowledging the centrality of slavery to the Confederacy is essential for understanding the Confederate.<ref>{{Cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=zs0VJTbNwfAC&q=%22men+carrying+the+battle+flag+preserved+and+perpetuated+the+Confederate+cause+and+their+flag+became+the+symbol+of+Confederate+nationalism%22&pg=PA20 |title= The Confederate Battle Flag: America's Most Embattled Emblem |pages=23–27 |first=John M. |last=Coski |date=2005 |publisher= Harvard University Press |isbn= 978-0674029866}}</ref>}}

Following South Carolina's unanimous 1860 secession vote, no other Southern states considered the question until 1861; when they did, none had a unanimous vote. All had residents who cast significant numbers of Unionist votes. Voting to remain in the Union did not necessarily mean individuals were sympathizers with the North. Once fighting began, many who voted to remain in the Union accepted the majority decision, and supported the Confederacy.<ref name="personal.tcu.edu">{{cite web |url= http://personal.tcu.edu/swoodworth/Crofts.htm |title=Reluctant Confederates |publisher= Personal.tcu.edu |access-date= April 19, 2014}}</ref> Many writers have evaluated the Civil War as an American tragedy—a "Brothers' War", pitting "brother against brother, father against son, kin against kin of every degree".<ref>{{cite book |last= Coulter |first=E. Merton |title= The Confederate States of America 1861–1865 |date= 1950 |page=61}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |first= Avery O. |last=Craven |title= The Growth of Southern Nationalism 1848–1861 |page=390 }}</ref>

===States===
Initially, some secessionists hoped for a peaceful departure. Moderates in the Confederate Constitutional Convention included a provision against importation of slaves from Africa to appeal to the Upper South. Non-slave states might join, but the radicals secured a two-thirds requirement in both houses of Congress to accept them.<ref>"Thomas 1979" pp. 59, 81</ref>

Seven states declared their secession from the United States before Lincoln took office on March 4, 1861. After the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter April 12, 1861, and Lincoln's subsequent call for troops, four more states declared their secession.

{{multiple image|caption_align=center|header_align=center|footer_align=center
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| caption1 = 10-cent U.S. 1861
| image2 = George-washington-CSA-stamp.jpg
| alt2 = CSA G. Washington stamp
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[[Kentucky in the American Civil War|Kentucky]] declared neutrality, but after Confederate troops moved in, the state legislature asked for Union troops to drive them out. Delegates from 68 Kentucky counties were sent to the Russellville Convention that signed an Ordinance of Secession. Kentucky was admitted into the Confederacy on December 10, 1861, with Bowling Green as its first capital. Early in the war, the Confederacy controlled more than half of Kentucky but largely lost control in 1862. The splinter [[Confederate government of Kentucky]] relocated to accompany western Confederate armies and never controlled the state population after 1862. By the end of the war, 90,000 Kentuckians had fought for the Union, compared to 35,000 for the Confederacy.<ref name="Why?">{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/07/01/why-do-people-believe-myths-about-the-confederacy-because-our-textbooks-and-monuments-are-wrong/ |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=July 1, 2015 |author=James W. Loewen |title=Why do people believe myths about the Confederacy? Because our textbooks and monuments are wrong.}}</ref>

In [[Missouri in the American Civil War|Missouri]], a [[Missouri Constitutional Convention (1861–63)|constitutional convention]] was approved and delegates elected. The convention rejected secession 89–1 on March 19, 1861.<ref>''Journal and Proceedings of the Missouri State Convention Held at Jefferson City and St. Louis, March 1861'', George Knapp & Co., 1861, p. 47</ref> The governor maneuvered to take control of the [[St. Louis Arsenal]] and restrict federal military movements. This led to a confrontation, and in June federal forces drove him and the [[Missouri General Assembly|General Assembly]] from Jefferson City. The executive committee of the convention called the members together in July, and declared the state offices vacant and appointed a Unionist interim state government.<ref>Eugene Morrow Violette, ''A History of Missouri'' (1918), pp. 393–395</ref> The exiled governor called a rump session of the former General Assembly together in [[Neosho, Missouri|Neosho]] and, on October 31, 1861, it passed an [[Missouri secession|ordinance of secession]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.civilwar.org/education/history/primarysources/secessionacts.html|title=Secession Acts of the Thirteen Confederate States|access-date=September 30, 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170308171406/http://www.civilwar.org/education/history/primarysources/secessionacts.html|archive-date=March 8, 2017}}</ref><ref>Weigley (2000) p. 43 See also, [http://gen.1starnet.com/civilwar/misouord.htm Missouri's Ordinance of Secession] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012190940/http://gen.1starnet.com/civilwar/misouord.htm |date=October 12, 2007 }}.</ref> The [[Confederate government of Missouri]] effectively controlled only southern Missouri early in the war. It had its capital at Neosho, then [[Cassville, Missouri|Cassville]], before being driven out of the state. For the remainder of the war, it operated as a government in exile at [[Marshall, Texas]].<ref>{{cite book|author=A. C. Greene|title=Sketches from the Five States of Texas|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XeSi31_W8H4C&pg=PA27|year=1998|publisher=Texas A&M UP|pages=27–28|isbn=978-0890968536}}</ref>

Not having seceded, neither Kentucky nor Missouri was declared in rebellion in Lincoln's [[Emancipation Proclamation]]. The Confederacy recognized the pro-Confederate claimants in Kentucky (December 10, 1861) and Missouri (November 28, 1861) and laid claim to those states, granting them congressional representation and adding two stars to the Confederate flag. Voting for the representatives was done mostly by Confederate soldiers from Kentucky and Missouri.<ref>{{cite book|author=Wilfred Buck Yearns|title=The Confederate Congress|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rV-XNj4eJ3wC&pg=PA43|year=2010|publisher=University of Georgia Press|pages=42–43|isbn=978-0820334769}}</ref>

Some Southern Unionists blamed Lincoln's call for troops as the precipitating event for the second wave of secessions. Historian James McPherson argues such claims have "a self-serving quality" and regards them as misleading:

{{Blockquote|As the telegraph chattered reports of the attack on Sumter April 12 and its surrender next day, huge crowds poured into the streets of Richmond, Raleigh, Nashville, and other upper South cities to celebrate this victory over the Yankees. These crowds waved Confederate flags and cheered the glorious cause of southern independence. They demanded that their own states join the cause. Scores of demonstrations took place from April 12 to 14, before Lincoln issued his call for troops. Many conditional unionists were swept along by this powerful tide of southern nationalism; others were cowed into silence.<ref>McPherson p. 278</ref>}}

Historian [[Daniel W. Crofts]] disagrees with McPherson:

{{Blockquote|The bombardment of Fort Sumter, by itself, did not destroy Unionist majorities in the upper South. Because only three days elapsed before Lincoln issued the proclamation, the two events viewed retrospectively, appear almost simultaneous. Nevertheless, close examination of contemporary evidence ... shows that the proclamation had a far more decisive impact.... Many concluded ... that Lincoln had deliberately chosen "to drive off all the Slave states, in order to make war on them and annihilate slavery".<ref>Crofts pp. 336–338, quoting the North Carolina politician [[Jonathan Worth (Governor)|Jonathan Worth]] (1802–1869).</ref>}}

The order of secession resolutions and dates are:
:1. [[South Carolina in the American Civil War|South Carolina]] (December 20, 1860)<ref>The text of [http://gen.1starnet.com/civilwar/scord.htm South Carolina's Ordinance of Secession] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012190955/http://gen.1starnet.com/civilwar/scord.htm |date=October 12, 2007 }}. Also, {{cite web|url=http://docsouth.unc.edu/imls/southcar/south.html|title=South Carolina documents including signatories|publisher=Docsouth.unc.edu|access-date=August 29, 2010}}</ref>
:2. [[Mississippi in the American Civil War|Mississippi]] (January 9, 1861)<ref>The text of [http://gen.1starnet.com/civilwar/msord.htm Mississippi's Ordinance of Secession] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012190945/http://gen.1starnet.com/civilwar/msord.htm |date=October 12, 2007 }}.</ref>
:3. [[Florida in the American Civil War|Florida]] (January 10)<ref>The text of [http://gen.1starnet.com/civilwar/flord.htm Florida's Ordinance of Secession] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012190920/http://gen.1starnet.com/civilwar/flord.htm |date=October 12, 2007 }}.</ref>
:4. [[Alabama in the American Civil War|Alabama]] (January 11)<ref>The text of [http://gen.1starnet.com/civilwar/alord.htm Alabama's Ordinance of Secession] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012190910/http://gen.1starnet.com/civilwar/alord.htm |date=October 12, 2007 }}.</ref>
:5. [[Georgia in the American Civil War|Georgia]] (January 19)<ref>The text of [http://gen.1starnet.com/civilwar/gaord.htm Georgia's Ordinance of Secession] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012190928/http://gen.1starnet.com/civilwar/gaord.htm |date=October 12, 2007 }}.</ref>
:6. [[Louisiana in the American Civil War|Louisiana]] (January 26)<ref>The text of [http://gen.1starnet.com/civilwar/laord.htm Louisiana's Ordinance of Secession] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012190935/http://gen.1starnet.com/civilwar/laord.htm |date=October 12, 2007 }}.</ref>
:7. [[Texas in the American Civil War|Texas]] (February 1; referendum February 23)<ref>The text of [http://gen.1starnet.com/civilwar/txordnan.htm Texas' Ordinance of Secession] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012191030/http://gen.1starnet.com/civilwar/txordnan.htm |date=October 12, 2007 }}.</ref>
:* [[First inauguration of Abraham Lincoln|Inauguration of President Lincoln]], March 4
:* [[Battle of Fort Sumter|Bombardment of Fort Sumter]] (April 12) and [[Proclamation 80|President Lincoln's call-up]] (April 15)<ref>The text of [http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/14/lincoln-declares-war/ Lincoln's calling-up of the militia of the several States]</ref>

:8. [[Virginia in the American Civil War|Virginia]] (April 17; referendum May 23, 1861)<ref>The text of [http://gen.1starnet.com/civilwar/vaord.htm Virginia's Ordinance of Secession] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012191039/http://gen.1starnet.com/civilwar/vaord.htm |date=October 12, 2007 }}. Virginia took two steps toward secession, first by secession convention vote on April 17, 1861, and then by ratification of this by a popular vote conducted on May 23, 1861. A Unionist [[Restored government of Virginia]] also operated. Virginia did not turn over its military to the Confederate States until June 8, 1861. The Commonwealth of Virginia ratified the Constitution of the Confederate States on June 19, 1861.</ref>
:9. [[Arkansas in the American Civil War|Arkansas]] (May 6)<ref>The text of [http://gen.1starnet.com/civilwar/arord.htm Arkansas' Ordinance of Secession] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012190914/http://gen.1starnet.com/civilwar/arord.htm |date=October 12, 2007 }}.</ref>
:10. [[Tennessee in the American Civil War|Tennessee]] (May 7; referendum June 8)<ref>The text of [http://gen.1starnet.com/civilwar/tnord.htm Tennessee's Ordinance of Secession] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012191004/http://gen.1starnet.com/civilwar/tnord.htm |date=October 12, 2007 }}. The Tennessee legislature ratified an agreement to enter a military league with the Confederate States on May 7, 1861. Tennessee voters approved the agreement on June 8, 1861.</ref>
:11. [[North Carolina in the American Civil War|North Carolina]] (May 20)<ref>The text of [http://gen.1starnet.com/civilwar/ncord.htm North Carolina's Ordinance of Secession] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012190953/http://gen.1starnet.com/civilwar/ncord.htm |date=October 12, 2007 }}.</ref>

In Virginia, the populous counties along the Ohio and Pennsylvania borders rejected the Confederacy. Unionists held a [[Wheeling Convention|Convention]] in [[Wheeling, West Virginia#Industrialization and anti-secession sentiment|Wheeling]] in June 1861, establishing a "restored government" with a [[Restored government of Virginia|rump legislature]], but sentiment in the region remained deeply divided. In the 50 counties that would make up the state of [[West Virginia in the American Civil War|West Virginia]], voters from 24 counties had voted for disunion in Virginia's May 23 referendum on the ordinance of secession.<ref>Curry, Richard Orr, ''A House Divided, A Study of Statehood Politics and the Copperhead Movement in West Virginia'', Univ. of Pittsburgh Press, 1964, p. 49</ref> In the 1860 election "Constitutional Democrat" Breckenridge had outpolled "Constitutional Unionist" Bell in the 50 counties by 1,900 votes, 44% to 42%.<ref>Rice, Otis K. and Stephen W. Brown, ''West Virginia, A History'', Univ. of Kentucky Press, 1993, second edition, p. 112. Another way of looking at the results would note the pro-union candidates winning 56% with Bell 20,997, Douglas 5,742, and Lincoln 1,402 versus Breckenridge 21,908. But the "deeply divided sentiment" point remains.</ref> The counties simultaneously supplied over 20,000 soldiers to each side of the conflict.<ref>[http://www.wvculture.org/HISTORY/wvcivilwar.html The Civil War in West Virginia] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041015135703/http://www.wvculture.org/history/wvcivilwar.html |date=October 15, 2004 }} "No other state serves as a better example of this than West Virginia, where there was relatively equal support for the northern and southern causes."</ref><ref>Snell, Mark A., ''West Virginia and the Civil War, Mountaineers Are Always Free'', History Press, Charleston, South Carolina, 2011, p. 28</ref> Representatives for most counties were seated in both state legislatures at Wheeling and at Richmond for the duration of the war.<ref>Leonard, Cynthia Miller, ''The General Assembly of Virginia, July 30, 1619 – January 11, 1978: A Bicentennial Register of Members'', Virginia State Library, Richmond, Virginia, 1978, pp. 478–493</ref>

Attempts to secede from the Confederacy by counties in [[East Tennessee]] were checked by martial law.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.aotc.net/Marxen.htm |title=Marx and Engels on the American Civil War |publisher=Army of the Cumberland and George H. Thomas}} and {{cite web |url=http://www.civilwarhome.com/csaconstitutionbackground.htm |title=Background of the Confederate States Constitution |publisher= Civilwarhome.com}}</ref> Although slaveholding [[Delaware in the American Civil War#State of Delaware|Delaware]] and [[Maryland in the American Civil War|Maryland]] did not secede, citizens exhibited divided loyalties. Regiments of Marylanders fought in Lee's [[Army of Northern Virginia]].<ref>Glatthaar, Joseph T., ''General Lee's Army: from victory to collapse'', 2008. {{ISBN|978-0-684-82787-2}}</ref> Overall, 24,000 men from Maryland joined Confederate forces, compared to 63,000 who joined Union forces.<ref name="Why?"/> Delaware never produced a full regiment for the Confederacy, but neither did it emancipate slaves as did Missouri and West Virginia. District of Columbia citizens made no attempts to secede and through the war, referendums sponsored by Lincoln approved compensated emancipation and slave confiscation from "disloyal citizens".<ref>Freedmen & Southern Society Project, [http://www.history.umd.edu/Freedmen/chronol.htm Chronology of Emancipation during the Civil War] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011224131/http://www.history.umd.edu/Freedmen/chronol.htm |date=October 11, 2007 }}, University of Maryland. Retrieved January 4, 2012.</ref>

===Territories===
{{Main|Confederate Arizona|New Mexico Territory in the American Civil War|Indian Territory in the American Civil War}}
[[File:Elias Boudinot2.jpg|thumb|upright=.8|left|[[Elias Cornelius Boudinot|Elias Boudinot]], a Cherokee secessionist and Confederate Representative in the [[Indian Territory]] of present-day [[Oklahoma]]]]

Citizens at [[Mesilla, New Mexico|Mesilla]] and [[Tucson, Arizona|Tucson]] in the southern part of [[New Mexico Territory]] formed a secession convention, which voted to join the Confederacy on March 16, 1861, and appointed Dr. [[Lewis S. Owings]] as the new territorial governor. They won the [[First Battle of Mesilla|Battle of Mesilla]] and established a territorial government with Mesilla serving as its capital.<ref>Bowman, p. 48.</ref> The Confederacy proclaimed the Confederate Arizona Territory on February 14, 1862, north to the [[34th parallel north|34th parallel]]. [[Marcus H. MacWillie]] served in both Confederate Congresses as Arizona's delegate. In 1862, the Confederate [[New Mexico campaign]] to take the northern half of the U.S. territory failed and the Confederate territorial government in exile relocated to San Antonio, Texas.<ref>{{cite book |title=History of Arizona |volume=2 |first=Thomas Edwin |last=Farish |year=1915 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9HkUAAAAYAAJ&q=%22Act+to+organize+the+Territory+of+Arizona%22++Jefferson+Davis&pg=PA96}}</ref>

Confederate supporters in the trans-Mississippi west claimed portions of the [[Indian Territory in the American Civil War|Indian Territory]] after the US evacuated the federal forts and installations. Over half of the American Indian troops participating in the War from the Indian Territory supported the Confederacy. On July 12, 1861, the Confederate government signed a treaty with both the [[Choctaw]] and [[Chickasaw]] Indian nations. After several battles, Union armies took control of the territory.<ref>Troy Smith. [http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/civil_war_history/v059/59.3.smith.html "The Civil War Comes to Indian Territory"], ''Civil War History'' (2013) 59#3 pp. 279–319.</ref>

The [[Indian Territory]] never formally joined the Confederacy, but did receive representation in the Congress. Many Indians from the Territory were integrated into regular Confederate Army units. After 1863, the tribal governments sent representatives to the [[Congress of the Confederate States|Confederate Congress]]: [[Elias Cornelius Boudinot]] representing the [[Cherokee]] and [[Samuel Benton Callahan]] representing the [[Seminole]] and [[Muscogee|Creek]]. The [[Cherokee Nation (19th century)|Cherokee Nation]] aligned with the Confederacy. They practiced and supported slavery, opposed abolition, and feared their lands would be seized by the Union. After the war, the Indian territory was disestablished, their black slaves were freed, and the tribes lost some of their lands.<ref>Laurence M. Between Hauptman, ''Two Fires: American Indians in the Civil War'' (1996).</ref>

===Capitals===
{{multiple image
| align = right
| direction = vertical
| width = 150
| image1 = Alabama Capitol NW 1886.jpg
| caption1 = The first Capitol of the Confederacy in [[Montgomery, Alabama]]
| image2 = Virginia Capitol 1865.jpg
| caption2 = The second Capitol of the Confederacy in [[Richmond, Virginia]]
}}
[[File:William T Sutherlin Mansion Danville Virginia.JPG|thumb|[[William T. Sutherlin]]'s mansion in [[Danville, Virginia]] was the temporary residence of [[Jefferson Davis]] and dubbed the "last Capitol of the Confederacy".]]

[[History of Montgomery, Alabama#Montgomery in the Civil War|Montgomery, Alabama]], served as capital of the Confederate States from February 4 until May 29, 1861, in the [[Alabama State Capitol]]. Six states created the Confederacy there on February 8, 1861. The Texas delegation was seated at the time, so it is counted in the "original seven" states of the Confederacy; it had no roll call vote until after its referendum made secession "operative".<ref>The Texas delegation was seated with full voting rights after its statewide referendum of secession on March 2, 1861. It is generally counted as an "original state" of the Confederacy. Four upper south states declared secession following Lincoln's call for volunteers: Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee and North Carolina. "The founders of the Confederacy desired and ideally envisioned a peaceful creation of a new union of all slave-holding states, including the border states of Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky and Missouri." Kentucky and Missouri were seated in December 1861. Kenneth C. Martis, ''The Historical Atlas of the Congresses of the Confederate States of America 1861–1865'' (1994) p. 8</ref><ref>The sessions of the Provisional Congress were in Montgomery, Alabama, (1) First Session February 4 – March 10, and (2) Second Session April 29 – May 21, 1861. The Capital was moved to Richmond May 30. The (3) Third Session was held July 20 – August 31. The (4) Fourth Session called for September 3 was never held. The (5) Fifth Session was held November 18, 1861 – February 17, 1862.</ref> The Permanent Constitution was adopted there on March 12, 1861.<ref>Martis, ''Historical Atlas'', pp. 7–8.</ref>

The permanent capital provided for in the Confederate Constitution called for a state cession of a 100 square mile district to the central government. Atlanta, which had not yet supplanted [[Milledgeville, Georgia#Life in the antebellum capital|Milledgeville]], Georgia, as its state capital, put in a bid noting its central location and rail connections, as did [[Opelika, Alabama]], noting its strategically interior situation, rail connections and deposits of coal and iron.<ref>Coulter, ''The Confederate States of America'', p. 100</ref>

[[Richmond in the American Civil War|Richmond, Virginia]], was chosen for the interim capital at the [[Virginia State Capitol]]. The move was used by Vice President Stephens and others to encourage other border states to follow Virginia into the Confederacy. In the political moment it was a show of "defiance and strength". The war for Southern independence was surely to be fought in Virginia, but it also had the largest Southern military-aged white population, with infrastructure, resources, and supplies. The Davis Administration's policy was that "It must be held at all hazards."<ref>Coulter, ''The Confederate States of America'', p. 101. Virginia was practically promised as a condition of secession by Vice President Stephens. It had rail connections south along the east coast and into the interior, and laterally west into Tennessee, parallel the U.S. border, a navigable river to the Hampton Roads to menace ocean approaches to Washington DC, trade via the Atlantic Ocean, an interior canal to North Carolina sounds. It was a great storehouse of supplies, food, feed, raw materials, and infrastructure of ports, drydocks, armories and the established Tredegar Iron Works. Nevertheless, Virginia never permanently ceded land for the capital district. A local homeowner donated his home to the City of Richmond for use as the Confederate White House, which was in turn rented to the Confederate government for the Jefferson Davis presidential home and administration offices.</ref>

The naming of Richmond as the new capital took place on May 30, 1861, and the last two sessions of the Provisional Congress were held there.<ref>Martis, ''Historical Atlas'', p. 2.</ref> As war dragged on, Richmond became crowded with training and transfers, logistics and hospitals. Prices rose dramatically despite government efforts at price regulation. A movement in Congress argued for moving the capital from Richmond. At the approach of federal armies in mid-1862, the government's archives were readied for removal. As the [[Overland Campaign|Wilderness Campaign]] progressed, Congress authorized Davis to remove the executive department and call Congress to session elsewhere in 1864 and again in 1865. Shortly before the end of the war, the Confederate government evacuated Richmond, planning to relocate further south. Little came of these plans before Lee's surrender.<ref>Coulter, ''The Confederate States of America'', p. 102.</ref> Davis and most of his cabinet fled to [[Danville, Virginia]], which served as their headquarters for eight days.

==Diplomacy==
During its four years, the Confederacy asserted its independence and appointed dozens of diplomatic agents abroad. None were recognized by a foreign government. The US government regarded the Southern states as being in rebellion or insurrection and so refused any formal recognition of their status.

The US government never declared war on those "kindred and countrymen" in the Confederacy but conducted its military efforts beginning with a presidential proclamation issued April 15, 1861.<ref>{{cite book|author=Carl Sandburg|title=Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years and the War Years|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_nL5xCYLFs0C&pg=PA151|date=1940|page=151|publisher=Sterling Publishing Company |isbn=978-1402742880}}</ref> It called for troops to recapture forts and suppress what Lincoln later called an "insurrection and rebellion".<ref>{{cite book|author=Abraham Lincoln|title=Abraham Lincoln; Complete Works, Comprising His Speeches, State Papers, and Miscellaneous Writings|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hX8_AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA542|year=1920|publisher=Century|page=542}}</ref> Mid-war parleys between the two sides occurred without formal political recognition, though the [[laws of war]] predominantly governed military relationships on both sides of uniformed conflict.<ref>Violations of the rules of law were precipitated on both sides and can be found in historical accounts of guerrilla war, units in cross-racial combat and captives held in prisoner of war camps, brutal, tragic accounts against both soldiers and civilian populations.</ref>

Once war with the United States began, the Confederacy pinned its hopes for survival on military intervention by the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|UK]] or [[Second French Empire|France]]. The Confederate government sent [[James M. Mason]] to London and [[John Slidell]] to Paris. On their way in 1861, the U.S. Navy intercepted their ship, the ''Trent,'' and took them to Boston, an international episode known as the [[Trent Affair|''Trent'' Affair]]. The diplomats were eventually released and continued their voyage.<ref>Francis M. Carroll, "The American Civil War and British Intervention: The Threat of Anglo-American Conflict." ''Canadian Journal of History'' (2012) 47#1 pp. 94–95.</ref> However, their mission was unsuccessful; historians judge their diplomacy as poor.<ref>Blumenthal (1966) p. 151; Jones (2009) p. 321; Owsley (1959)</ref>{{page needed|date=December 2020}} Neither secured [[diplomatic recognition]] for the Confederacy, much less military assistance.

The Confederates who had believed that "[[King Cotton|cotton is king]]", that is, that Britain had to support the Confederacy to obtain cotton, proved mistaken. The British had stocks to last over a year and had been developing alternative sources.<ref name=Young>{{cite book|title=Senator James Murray Mason: Defender of the Old South|first=Robert W.|last=Young|author-link= Robert W. Young|location=[[Knoxville, Tennessee]]|publisher=[[University of Tennessee Press]]|year=1998|isbn=978-0870499982|page=166}}</ref> The United Kingdom took pride leading the end of transatlantic enslavement of Africans; by [[Slavery Abolition Act 1833|1833]], the Royal Navy patrolled middle passage waters to prevent additional slave ships from reaching the Western Hemisphere. It was in London that the first [[World Anti-Slavery Convention]] had been held in 1840. Black abolitionist speakers toured England, Scotland, and Ireland, exposing the reality of America's chattel slavery and rebutting the Confederate position that blacks were "unintellectual, timid, and dependent",<ref>{{cite book|title=Plantation slavery in Georgia|first=Ralph Betts|last=Flanders|location=Chapel Hill, North Carolina|publisher=[[University of North Carolina Press]]|year=1933|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015000661366&view=1up&seq=319|page=289}}</ref> and "not equal to the white man...the superior race." [[Frederick Douglass]], [[Henry Highland Garnet]], [[Sarah Parker Remond]], her brother [[Charles Lenox Remond]], [[James W. C. Pennington]], [[Martin Delany]], [[Samuel Ringgold Ward]], and [[William G. Allen]] all spent years in Britain, where fugitive slaves were safe and, as Allen said, there was an "absence of prejudice against color. Here the colored man feels himself among friends, and not among enemies".<ref>{{cite news|title=Letter from Professor Wm. G. Allen [dated June 20, 1853]|newspaper=[[The Liberator (newspaper)|The Liberator]]|via=[[newspapers.com]]. Reprinted in ''[[Frederick Douglass' Paper]]'', August 5, 1853.|date=July 22, 1853|page=4|first=Wm. G.|last=Allen|author-link=William G. Allen|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/33711948/letter-from-william-g-allen/}}</ref> Most British public opinion was against the practice, with Liverpool seen as the primary base of Southern support.<ref>{{Cite web |title=British Support During the U.S. Civil War · Liverpool's Abercromby Square and the Confederacy During the U.S. Civil War · Lowcountry Digital History Initiative |url=https://ldhi.library.cofc.edu/exhibits/show/liverpools-abercromby-square/britain-and-us-civil-war#:~:text=By%20the%20time%20of%20the,start%20of%20the%20Civil%20War. |access-date=2024-04-21 |website=ldhi.library.cofc.edu}}</ref>

{{multiple image|caption_align=center
|image1=Lord John Russell.jpg |width1=150|caption1= Lord John Russell, British foreign secretary and later PM, considered mediation in the 'American War'
|image2=Alexandre Cabanel 002.jpg|width2=157|caption2= French Emperor Napoleon III sought joint French–British recognition of CSA}}

Throughout the early years of the war, British foreign secretary [[John Russell, 1st Earl Russell|Lord John Russell]], Emperor [[Napoleon III]] of France, and, to a lesser extent, British Prime Minister [[Henry Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston|Lord Palmerston]], showed interest in recognition of the Confederacy or at least mediation of the war. [[Chancellor of the Exchequer]] [[William Ewart Gladstone|William Gladstone]] attempted unsuccessfully to convince Palmerston to intervene.<ref>{{cite book|author= Richard Shannon|author-link = Richard Shannon (historian)|title= Gladstone: God and Politics|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=H9TUAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA144|year= 2008|page= 144| publisher=A&C Black |isbn = 978-1847252036}}</ref> By September 1862 the Union victory at the [[Battle of Antietam]], Lincoln's preliminary [[Emancipation Proclamation]] and abolitionist opposition in Britain put an end to these possibilities.<ref>Thomas Paterson, et al. ''American foreign relations: A history, to 1920: Volume 1'' (2009) pp. 149–155.</ref> The cost to Britain of a war with the U.S. would have been high: the immediate loss of American grain shipments, the end of British exports to the U.S., and seizure of billions of pounds invested in American securities. War would have meant higher taxes in Britain, another invasion of Canada, and attacks on the British merchant fleet. In mid-1862, fears of a race war (like the [[Haitian Revolution]] of 1791–1804) led to the British considering intervention for humanitarian reasons.<ref>Howard Jones, ''Abraham Lincoln and a New Birth of Freedom: The Union and Slavery in the Diplomacy of the Civil War'' (2002), p. 48</ref>

John Slidell, the Confederate States emissary to France, succeeded in negotiating a loan of $15,000,000 from [[Frédéric Émile d'Erlanger|Erlanger]] and other French capitalists for ironclad warships and military supplies.<ref>{{Cite journal |jstor = 2205869|title = A Confederate Success in Europe: The Erlanger Loan|journal = The Journal of Southern History|volume = 36|issue = 2|pages = 157–188|last1 = Gentry|first1 = Judith Fenner|year = 1970|doi = 10.2307/2205869}}</ref> The British government did allow the construction of [[Blockade runners of the American Civil War|blockade runners]] in Britain; they were owned and operated by British financiers and shipowners; a few were owned and operated by the Confederacy. The British investors' goal was to acquire highly profitable cotton.<ref>{{Cite journal |jstor = 2120650|title = Through the Blockade: The Profitability and Extent of Cotton Smuggling, 1861–1865|journal = The Journal of Economic History|volume = 41|issue = 4|pages = 867–888|last1 = Lebergott|first1 = Stanley|year = 1981|doi = 10.1017/S0022050700044946| s2cid=154654909 }}</ref>

Several European nations maintained diplomats in place who had been appointed to the U.S., but no country appointed any diplomat to the Confederacy. Those nations recognized the Union and Confederate sides as [[belligerent]]s. In 1863, the Confederacy expelled European diplomatic missions for advising their resident subjects to refuse to serve in the Confederate army.<ref>Alexander DeConde, ed. ''Encyclopedia of American foreign policy'' (2001) vol. 1 p. 202 and Stephen R. Wise, ''Lifeline of the Confederacy: Blockade Running During the Civil War'', (1991), [https://books.google.com/books?id=_kq7diciSsQC&pg=PA86 p. 86].</ref> Both Confederate and Union agents were allowed to work openly in British territories.<ref>Wise, Stephen R. [https://books.google.com/books?id=_kq7diciSsQC ''Lifeline of the Confederacy: Blockade Running During the Civil War'']. University of South Carolina Press, 1991 {{ISBN|978-0-87249-799-3}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=_kq7diciSsQC&pg=PA86 p. 86]. An example of agents working openly occurred in [[Hamilton, Bermuda|Hamilton]] in Bermuda, where a Confederate agent openly worked to help blockade runners.</ref> The Confederacy appointed [[Ambrose Dudley Mann]] as special agent to the [[Holy See]] in September 1863, but the Holy See never released a statement supporting or recognizing the Confederacy. In November 1863, Mann met [[Pope Pius IX]] and received a letter supposedly addressed "to the Illustrious and Honorable Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America"; Mann had mistranslated the address. In his report to Richmond, Mann claimed a great diplomatic achievement for himself, but Confederate Secretary of State [[Judah P. Benjamin]] told Mann it was "a mere inferential recognition, unconnected with political action or the regular establishment of diplomatic relations" and thus did not assign it the weight of formal recognition.<ref>{{cite book|title= The American Catholic Historical Researches|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=m7c7AQAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA227|year= 1901|pages= 27–28}}</ref><ref>Don H. Doyle, ''The Cause of All Nations: An International History of the American Civil War'' (2014) pp. 257–270.</ref>

Nevertheless, the Confederacy was seen internationally as a serious attempt at nationhood, and European governments sent military observers to assess whether there had been a ''de facto'' establishment of independence. These observers included [[Arthur Lyon Fremantle]] of the British [[Coldstream Guards]], who entered the Confederacy via Mexico, Fitzgerald Ross of the Austrian [[Hussars]], and [[Justus Scheibert]] of the [[Prussian Army]].<ref>"Thomas1979" pp. 219–221</ref> European travelers visited and wrote accounts for publication. Importantly in 1862, the Frenchman [[Charles Frédéric Girard|Charles Girard]]'s ''Seven months in the rebel states during the North American War'' testified "this government ... is no longer a trial government ... but really a normal government, the expression of popular will".<ref>Scholars such as Emory M. Thomas have characterized Girard's book as "more propaganda than anything else, but Girard caught one essential truth", the quote referenced. "Thomas1979" p. 220</ref> Fremantle went on to write in his book ''Three Months in the Southern States'' that he had:

{{Blockquote|not attempted to conceal any of the peculiarities or defects of the Southern people. Many persons will doubtless highly disapprove of some of their customs and habits in the wilder portion of the country; but I think no generous man, whatever may be his political opinions, can do otherwise than admire the courage, energy, and patriotism of the whole population, and the skill of its leaders, in this struggle against great odds. And I am also of opinion that many will agree with me in thinking that a people in which all ranks and both sexes display a unanimity and a heroism which can never have been surpassed in the history of the world, is destined, sooner or later, to become a great and independent nation.<ref>{{cite book |last= Fremantle |first= Arthur |date= 1864 |title= Three Months in the Southern States|publisher= University of Nebraska Press|page= 124 |isbn= 978-1429016667}}</ref>}}

French Emperor Napoleon III assured Confederate diplomat John Slidell that he would make a "direct proposition" to Britain for joint recognition. The Emperor made the same assurance to British members of Parliament [[John A. Roebuck]] and John A. Lindsay. Roebuck in turn publicly prepared a bill to submit to Parliament supporting joint Anglo-French recognition of the Confederacy. "Southerners had a right to be optimistic, or at least hopeful, that their revolution would prevail, or at least endure." Following the disasters at Vicksburg and Gettysburg in July 1863, the Confederates "suffered a severe loss of confidence in themselves" and withdrew into an interior defensive position.<ref>"Thomas1979" p. 243</ref> By December 1864, Davis considered sacrificing slavery in order to enlist recognition and aid from Paris and London; he secretly sent [[Duncan F. Kenner]] to Europe with a message that the war was fought solely for "the vindication of our rights to self-government and independence" and that "no sacrifice is too great, save that of honor". The message stated that if the French or British governments made their recognition conditional on anything at all, the Confederacy would consent to such terms.<ref>{{cite book |title= A compilation of the messages and papers of the Confederacy: including the diplomatic correspondence, 1861–1865 |url= https://archive.org/details/acompilationmes74richgoog |editor= Richardson, James D. |others= Volume II |publisher= United States Publishing Company |location= Nashville |year= 1905 |page =[https://archive.org/details/acompilationmes74richgoog/page/n715 697] |access-date= March 18, 2013}}</ref> European leaders all saw that the Confederacy was on the verge of defeat.<ref name="levine-248">{{cite book|last= Levine|first= Bruce|title= The Fall of the House of Dixie|year= 2013|publisher= Random House|page= 248}}</ref>

The Confederacy's biggest foreign policy successes were with [[Empire of Brazil|Brazil]] and [[Captaincy General of Cuba|Cuba]], but this had little military import. Brazil represented the "peoples most identical to us in Institutions",<ref name=Spain/> in which [[Slavery in Brazil|slavery remained legal]] until the 1880s and the abolitionist movement was small. Confederate ships were welcome in Brazilian ports.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Public Life and Diplomatic Correspondence of James M. Mason|last=Mason|first=Virginia|year=1906|page=203|publisher=New York and Washington, The Neale Publishing Company|url=https://archive.org/details/publiclifediplom00masonva/page/202/mode/2up}}</ref> After the war, Brazil was the primary destination of those Southerners who wanted to continue living in a slave society, where, as one immigrant remarked, ''[[Confederados|Confederado]]'' slaves were cheap. The Captain–General of Cuba declared in writing that Confederate ships were welcome, and would be protected in Cuban ports.<ref name=Spain>{{cite news|title=Spain and the Confederate States|newspaper=[[Charleston Mercury]] ([[Charleston, South Carolina]])|date=September 12, 1861|page=1|via=accessiblearchives.com|url=https://accessible.com/accessible/docButton?AAWhat=builtPage&AAWhere=THECHARLESTONMERCURY.18610912_001.image&AABeanName=toc1&AANextPage=/printBuiltImagePage.jsp}}</ref> Historians speculate that if the Confederacy had achieved independence, it probably would have tried to acquire Cuba as a base of expansion.<ref>Robert E. May, "The irony of confederate diplomacy: visions of empire, the Monroe doctrine, and the quest for nationhood." ''Journal of Southern History'' 83.1 (2017): 69–106 [https://muse.jhu.edu/article/647290/summary excerpt]</ref>

==At war==

===Motivations of soldiers===
{{Main|Confederate States Army#Morale and motivations}}

Most soldiers who joined Confederate national or state military units joined voluntarily. Perman (2010) says historians are of two minds on why millions of soldiers seemed so eager to fight, suffer and die over four years:

{{Blockquote|Some historians emphasize that Civil War soldiers were driven by political ideology, holding firm beliefs about the importance of liberty, Union, or state rights, or about the need to protect or to destroy slavery. Others point to less overtly political reasons to fight, such as the defense of one's home and family, or the honor and brotherhood to be preserved when fighting alongside other men. Most historians agree that, no matter what he thought about when he went into the war, the experience of combat affected him profoundly and sometimes affected his reasons for continuing to fight.<ref>{{cite book|editor=Michael Perman|editor2=Amy Murrell Taylor|title=Major Problems in the Civil War and Reconstruction|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5rPbZT_hrncC&pg=PA178|year= 2010|publisher=Cengage |page=178|isbn=978-0618875207}}</ref><ref>James McPherson, ''For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War'' (1998)</ref>}}

===Military strategy===
Civil War historian [[E. Merton Coulter]] wrote that for those who would secure its independence, "The Confederacy was unfortunate in its failure to work out a general strategy for the whole war". Aggressive strategy called for offensive force concentration. Defensive strategy sought dispersal to meet demands of locally minded governors. The controlling philosophy evolved into a combination "dispersal with a defensive concentration around Richmond". The Davis administration considered the war purely defensive, a "simple demand that the people of the United States would cease to war upon us".<ref>Coulter, ''The Confederate States of America'', pp. 342–343</ref> Historian [[James M. McPherson]] is a critic of Lee's offensive strategy: "Lee pursued a faulty military strategy that ensured Confederate defeat".<ref>{{cite book|author=James M. McPherson Professor of American History Princeton University|title=Drawn with the Sword: Reflections on the American Civil War: Reflections on the American Civil War|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KejHFo7A8eQC&pg=PA152|year=1996|publisher=Oxford U.P.|page=152|isbn=978-0199727834}}</ref>

As the Confederate government lost control of territory in campaign after campaign, it was said that "the vast size of the Confederacy would make its conquest impossible". The enemy would be struck down by the same elements which so often debilitated or destroyed visitors and transplants in the South: heat exhaustion, sunstroke, and endemic diseases such as malaria and typhoid.<ref>Coulter, ''The Confederate States of America'', p. 348. "The enemy could not hold territory, a hostile people would close in behind. The Confederacy still existed wherever there was an army under her unfurled banners."</ref>

[[File:Seal of the Confederate States of America.svg|thumb|The Seal has symbols of an independent agricultural Confederacy surrounding an equestrian Washington, sword encased.{{efn|The cash crops circling the Seal are wheat, corn, tobacco, cotton, rice and sugar cane. Like Washington's equestrian statue honoring him at [[Union Square (New York City)#Union Square Partnership|Union Square]] NYC 1856, slaveholding Washington is pictured in his uniform of the Revolution securing American independence. Though armed, he does not have his sword drawn as he is depicted in the [[Washington Monument (Richmond, Virginia)|equestrian statue at the Virginia Capitol, Richmond, Virginia]]. The plates for the Seal were engraved in England but never received due to the Union Blockade.}}]]

Early in the war, both sides believed that one great battle would decide the conflict; the Confederates won a surprise victory at the [[First Battle of Bull Run]], also known as [[First Manassas]] (the name used by Confederate forces). It drove the Confederate people "insane with joy"; the public demanded a forward movement to capture Washington, relocate the Confederate capital there, and admit [[Maryland in the Civil War|Maryland]] to the Confederacy.<ref>Coulter, ''The Confederate States of America'', p. 343</ref> A council of war by the victorious Confederate generals decided not to advance against larger numbers of fresh Federal troops in defensive positions. Davis did not countermand it. Following the Confederate incursion into Maryland halted at the [[Battle of Antietam]] in October 1862, generals proposed concentrating forces from state commands to re-invade the north. Nothing came of it.<ref>Coulter, ''The Confederate States of America'', p. 346</ref> Again in mid-1863 at his incursion into Pennsylvania, Lee requested of Davis that Beauregard simultaneously attack Washington with troops taken from the Carolinas. But the troops there remained in place during the [[Gettysburg Campaign]].

The eleven states of the Confederacy were outnumbered by the North about four-to-one in military manpower. It was overmatched far more in military equipment, industrial facilities, railroads for transport, and wagons supplying the front.

Confederates slowed the Yankee invaders, at heavy cost to the Southern infrastructure. The Confederates burned bridges, laid [[land mine]]s in the roads, and made harbors inlets and inland waterways unusable with sunken mines (called "torpedoes" at the time). Coulter reports:

{{Blockquote|Rangers in twenty to fifty-man units were awarded 50% valuation for property destroyed behind Union lines, regardless of location or loyalty. As Federals occupied the South, objections by loyal Confederate concerning Ranger horse-stealing and indiscriminate scorched earth tactics behind Union lines led to Congress abolishing the Ranger service two years later.<ref>Coulter, ''The Confederate States of America'', pp. 333–338.</ref>}}

The Confederacy relied on external sources for war materials. The first came from trade with the enemy. "Vast amounts of war supplies" came through Kentucky, and thereafter, western armies were "to a very considerable extent" provisioned with illicit trade via Federal agents and northern private traders.<ref>Coulter, ''The Confederate States of America'', p. 286. After capture by Federals, [[Memphis, Tennessee#19th century|Memphis]], TN became a major source of supply for Confederate armies, comparable to Nassau and its [[Blockade runners of the American Civil War|blockade runners]].</ref> But that trade was interrupted in the first year of war by [[David Dixon Porter|Admiral Porter]]'s river gunboats as they gained dominance along navigable rivers north–south and east–west.<ref>Coulter, ''The Confederate States of America'', p. 306. Confederate units harassed them throughout the war years by laying torpedo mines and loosing barrages from shoreline batteries.</ref> Overseas blockade running then came to be of "outstanding importance".<ref>Coulter, ''The Confederate States of America'', pp. 287–288. The principal ports on the Atlantic were [[Wilmington, North Carolina in the American Civil War|Wilmington]], North Carolina, [[Charleston, South Carolina#Civil War (1861–1865)|Charleston]], South Carolina, and Savannah, Georgia for supplies from Europe via Bermuda and Nassau. On the Gulf were Galveston, Texas and [[New Orleans in the American Civil War|New Orleans]], Louisiana for those from Havana, Cuba and Mexican ports of Tampico and Vera Cruz.</ref> On April 17, President Davis called on privateer raiders, the "militia of the sea", to wage war on U.S. seaborne commerce.<ref>Coulter, ''The Confederate States of America'', pp. 296, 304. Two days later Lincoln proclaimed a blockade, declaring them pirates. Davis responded with [[letters of marque]] to protect privateers from outlaw status. Some of the early raiders were converted merchantmen seized in Southern ports at the outbreak of the war</ref> Despite noteworthy effort, over the course of the war the Confederacy was found unable to match the Union in ships and seamanship, materials and marine construction.<ref>Coulter, ''The Confederate States of America'', pp. 299–302. The [[Confederate Secret Service#Torpedo Bureau|Torpedo Bureau]] seeded defensive water-borne mines in principal harbors and rivers to compromise the Union naval superiority. These "torpedoes" were said to have caused more loss in U.S. naval ships and transports than by any other cause. Despite a rage for Congressional appropriations and public "subscription ironclads", armored platforms constructed in blockaded ports lacked the requisite marine engines to become ironclad warships. The armored platforms intended to become ironclads were employed instead as floating batteries for port city defense.</ref>

An inescapable obstacle to success in the warfare of mass armies was the Confederacy's lack of manpower, and sufficient numbers of disciplined, equipped troops in the field at the point of contact with the enemy. During the winter of 1862–63, Lee observed that none of his famous victories had resulted in the destruction of the opposing army. He lacked reserve troops to exploit an advantage on the battlefield as Napoleon had done. Lee explained, "More than once have most promising opportunities been lost for want of men to take advantage of them, and victory itself had been made to put on the appearance of defeat, because our diminished and exhausted troops have been unable to renew a successful struggle against fresh numbers of the enemy."<ref>Coulter, ''The Confederate States of America'', p. 321</ref>

===Armed forces===
{{Main|Military forces of the Confederate States}}
[[File:Robert Edward Lee.jpg|thumb|upright=.8|General [[Robert E. Lee]], [[General in Chief of the Armies of the Confederate States|General in Chief]] (1865)]]

The military armed forces of the Confederacy comprised three branches: [[Confederate States Army|Army]], [[Confederate States Navy|Navy]] and [[Confederate States Marine Corps|Marine Corps]].

On February 28, 1861, the [[Provisional Confederate Congress]] established a provisional volunteer army and gave control over military operations and authority for mustering state forces and volunteers to the newly chosen Confederate president, [[Jefferson Davis]]. On March 1, 1861, on behalf of the Confederate government, Davis assumed control of the military situation at [[Charleston, South Carolina]], where South Carolina state militia besieged [[Fort Sumter]] in Charleston harbor, held by a small [[United States Army|U.S. Army]] garrison. By March 1861, the Provisional Confederate Congress expanded the provisional forces and established a more permanent Confederate States Army.

The total population of the Confederate Army is unknowable due to incomplete and destroyed Confederate records but estimates are between 750,000 and 1,000,000 troops. This does not include an unknown number of slaves pressed into army tasks, such as the construction of fortifications and defenses or driving wagons.<ref>Albert Burton Moore, ''Conscription and Conflict in the Confederacy'' (1924)</ref> Confederate casualty figures also are incomplete and unreliable, estimated at 94,000 killed or mortally wounded, 164,000 deaths from disease, and between 26,000 and 31,000 deaths in Union prison camps. One incomplete estimate is 194,026.{{citation needed|date=September 2021}}

The Confederate military leadership included many veterans from the [[United States Army]] and [[United States Navy]] who had resigned their Federal commissions and were appointed to senior positions. Many had served in the [[Mexican–American War]] (including Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis), but some such as [[Leonidas Polk]] (who graduated from [[United States Military Academy|West Point]] but did not serve in the Army) had little or no experience.

The Confederate officer corps consisted of men from both slave-owning and non-slave-owning families. The Confederacy appointed junior and field grade officers by election from the enlisted ranks. Although no Army service academy was established for the Confederacy, some colleges (such as [[The Citadel (military college)|The Citadel]] and [[Virginia Military Institute]]) maintained cadet corps that trained Confederate military leadership. A naval academy was established at [[Drewry's Bluff]], Virginia<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.navyandmarine.org/ondeck/1862blackCSN.htm|title=1862blackCSN|website=navyandmarine.org|access-date=May 3, 2023}}</ref> in 1863, but no midshipmen graduated before the Confederacy's end.

Most soldiers were white males aged between 16 and 28; half were 23 or older by 1861.<ref>Joseph T. Glatthaar, ''Soldiering in the Army of Northern Virginia: A Statistical Portrait of the Troops Who Served under Robert E. Lee'' (2011) p. 3, ch. 9</ref> The Confederate Army was permitted to disband for two months in early 1862 after its short-term enlistments expired. The majority of those in uniform would not re-enlist after their one-year commitment, thus on April 16, 1862, the Confederate Congress imposed the first mass [[conscription]] on North American territory. (A year later, on March 3, 1863, the United States Congress passed the [[Enrollment Act]].) Rather than a universal draft, the first program was a selective one with physical, religious, professional, and industrial exemptions. These became narrower as the battle progressed. Initially substitutes were permitted, but by December 1863 these were disallowed. In September 1862 the age limit was increased from 35 to 45 and by February 1864, all men under 18 and over 45 were conscripted to form a reserve for state defense inside state borders. By March 1864, the Superintendent of Conscription reported that all across the Confederacy, every officer in constituted authority, man and woman, "engaged in opposing the enrolling officer in the execution of his duties".<ref>Coulter, E. Merton, ''The Confederate States of America: 1861–1865'', op. cit., pp. 313–315, 318.</ref> Although challenged in the state courts, the Confederate State Supreme Courts routinely rejected legal challenges to conscription.<ref>[[Alfred L. Brophy]], [http://blurblawg.typepad.com/files/necessity-knows-no-law.pdf {{"'}}Necessity Knows No Law': Vested Rights and the Styles of Reasoning in the Confederate Conscription Cases"], ''[[Mississippi Law Journal]]'' (2000) 69: 1123–1180.</ref>

Many thousands of slaves served as personal servants to their owner, or were hired as laborers, cooks, and pioneers.<ref>{{cite book|author=Stephen V. Ash|title=The Black Experience in the Civil War South|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L6BURiBt340C&pg=PA43|year=2010|publisher=ABC-CLIO|page=43|isbn=978-0275985240}}</ref> Some freed blacks and men of color served in local state militia units of the Confederacy, primarily in Louisiana and South Carolina, but their officers deployed them for "local defense, not combat".<ref>Rubin p. 104.</ref> Depleted by casualties and desertions, the military suffered chronic manpower shortages. In early 1865, the Confederate Congress, influenced by the public support by General Lee, approved the recruitment of black infantry units. Contrary to Lee's and Davis's recommendations, the Congress refused "to guarantee the freedom of black volunteers". No more than two hundred black combat troops were ever raised.<ref>Levine pp. 146–147.</ref>

====Raising troops====
[[File:To Arms Confederate Enlistment Poster 1862.jpg|thumb|upright=0.75|Recruitment poster: "Do not wait to be drafted". Under half re-enlisted.]]

The immediate onset of war meant that it was fought by the "Provisional" or "Volunteer Army". State governors resisted concentrating a national effort. Several wanted a strong state army for self-defense. Others feared large "Provisional" armies answering only to Davis.<ref>Coulter, ''The Confederate States of America'', pp. 308–311. The patchwork recruitment was (a) with and without state militia enrolment, (b) state Governor sponsorship and direct service under Davis, (c) for under six months, one year, three years and the duration of the war. Davis proposed recruitment for some period of years or the duration. Congress and the states equivocated. Governor Brown of Georgia became "the first and most persistent critic" of Confederate centralized military and civil power.</ref> When filling the Confederate government's call for 100,000 men, another 200,000 were turned away by accepting only those enlisted "for the duration" or twelve-month volunteers who brought their own arms or horses.<ref>Coulter, ''The Confederate States of America'', pp. 310–311</ref>

It was important to raise troops; it was just as important to provide capable officers to command them. With few exceptions the Confederacy secured excellent general officers. Efficiency in the lower officers was "greater than could have been reasonably expected". As with the Federals, political appointees could be indifferent. Otherwise, the officer corps was governor-appointed or elected by unit enlisted. Promotion to fill vacancies was made internally regardless of merit, even if better officers were immediately available.<ref>Coulter, ''The Confederate States of America'', pp. 328, 330–332. About 90% of West Pointers in the U.S. Army resigned to join the Confederacy. Notably, of Virginia's West Pointers, not 90% but 70% resigned for the Confederacy. Exemplary officers without military training included [[John B. Gordon]], [[Nathan B. Forrest]], [[J. Johnston Pettigrew|James J. Pettigrew]], [[John Hunt Morgan|John H. Morgan]], [[Turner Ashby]] and [[John S. Mosby]]. Most preliminary officer training was had from Hardee's "Tactics", and thereafter by observation and experience in battle. The Confederacy had no officers training camps or military academies, although early on, cadets of the Virginia Military Institute and other military schools drilled enlisted troops in battlefield evolutions.</ref>

Anticipating the need for more "duration" men, in January 1862 Congress provided for company level recruiters to return home for two months, but their efforts met little success on the heels of Confederate battlefield defeats in February.<ref>Coulter, ''The Confederate States of America'', pp. 310–311. Early 1862 "dried up the enthusiasm to volunteer" due to the impact of victory's battle casualties, the humiliation of defeats and the dislike of camp life with its monotony, confinement and mortal diseases. Immediately following the great victory at the [[First Battle of Bull Run|Battle of Manassas]], many believed the war was won and there was no need for more troops. Then the new year brought defeat over February 6–23: [[Fort Henry (site of the Battle of Fort Henry)|Fort Henry]], [[Battle of Roanoke Island|Roanoke Island]], [[Fort Donelson]], Nashville—the first capital to fall. Among some not yet in uniform, the less victorious "Cause" seemed less glorious.</ref> Congress allowed for Davis to require numbers of recruits from each governor to supply the volunteer shortfall. States responded by passing their own draft laws.<ref>Coulter, ''The Confederate States of America'', p. 312. The government funded parades and newspaper ad campaigns, $2,000,000 for recruitment in Kentucky alone. With a state-enacted draft, Governor Brown with a quota of 12,000 raised 22,000 Georgia militia.</ref>

The veteran Confederate army of early 1862 was mostly twelve-month volunteers with terms about to expire. Enlisted reorganization elections disintegrated the army for two months. Officers pleaded with the ranks to re-enlist, but a majority did not. Those remaining elected majors and colonels whose performance led to officer review boards in October. The boards caused a "rapid and widespread" thinning out of 1,700 incompetent officers. Troops thereafter would elect only second lieutenants.<ref>Coulter, ''The Confederate States of America'', pp. 313, 332. Officially dropping 425 officers by board review in October was followed immediately by 1,300 "resignations". Some officers who resigned then served honorably as enlisted for the duration or until they were made casualties, others resigned and returned home until conscription.</ref>

In early 1862, the popular press suggested the Confederacy required a million men under arms. But veteran soldiers were not re-enlisting, and earlier secessionist volunteers did not reappear to serve in war. One [[Macon, Georgia]], newspaper asked how two million brave fighting men of the South were about to be overcome by four million northerners who were said to be cowards.<ref>Coulter, ''The Confederate States of America'', p. 313</ref>

====Conscription====
{{Main|Confederate Conscription Acts 1862–1864}}
[[File:Resistance to Confederate conscription.jpg|thumb|Southern Unionists throughout the Confederate States resisted the 1862 conscription]]

The Confederacy passed the first American law of national conscription on April 16, 1862. The white males of the Confederate States from 18 to 35 were declared members of the Confederate army for three years, and all men then enlisted were extended to a three-year term. They would serve only in units and under officers of their state. Those under 18 and over 35 could substitute for conscripts, in September those from 35 to 45 became conscripts.<ref>Coulter, ''The Confederate States of America'', pp. 313–314. Military officers including Joseph E. Johnston and Robert E. Lee, advocated conscription. In the circumstances they persuaded Congressmen and newspaper editors. Some editors advocating conscription in early 1862 later became "savage critics of conscription and of Davis for his enforcement of it: Yancey of Alabama, Rhett of the Charleston 'Mercury', Pollard of the Richmond 'Examiner', and Senator Wigfall of Texas".</ref> The cry of "rich man's war and a poor man's fight" led Congress to abolish the substitute system altogether in December 1863. All principals benefiting earlier were made eligible for service. By February 1864, the age bracket was made 17 to 50, those under eighteen and over forty-five to be limited to in-state duty.<ref>Coulter, ''The Confederate States of America'', pp. 313–314, 319.</ref>

Confederate conscription was not universal; it was a selective service. The [[Confederate Conscription Acts 1862–1864|First Conscription Act]] of April 1862 exempted occupations related to transportation, communication, industry, ministers, teaching and physical fitness. The Second Conscription Act of October 1862 expanded exemptions in industry, agriculture and conscientious objection. Exemption fraud proliferated in medical examinations, army furloughs, churches, schools, apothecaries and newspapers.<ref>Coulter, ''The Confederate States of America'', pp. 315–317.</ref>

Rich men's sons were appointed to the socially outcast "overseer" occupation, but the measure was received in the country with "universal odium". The legislative vehicle was the controversial [[Twenty Negro Law]] that specifically exempted one white overseer or owner for every plantation with at least 20 slaves. Backpedaling six months later, Congress provided overseers under 45 could be exempted only if they held the occupation before the first Conscription Act.<ref>Coulter, ''The Confederate States of America'', p. 320. One such exemption was allowed for every 20 slaves on a plantation, the May 1863 reform required previous occupation and that the plantation of 20 slaves (or group of plantations within a five-mile area) had not been subdivided after the first exemption of April 1862.</ref> The number of officials under state exemptions appointed by state Governor patronage expanded significantly.<ref>Coulter, ''The Confederate States of America'', pp. 317–318.</ref>

<gallery style="float:right; text-align:center" perrow="2" heights="150">
Gabriel James Rains.jpg|Gen. [[Gabriel J. Rains]], {{small|Conscription Bureau chief, April 1862 – May 1863}}
General Gideon Johnson Pillow.jpg|Gen. [[Gideon J. Pillow]], {{small|military recruiter under Bragg, then J.E. Johnston<ref>Coulter, ''The Confederates States of America'', p. 324.</ref>}}
</gallery>

The Conscription Act of February 1864 "radically changed the whole system" of selection. It abolished industrial exemptions, placing detail authority in President Davis. As the shame of conscription was greater than a felony conviction, the system brought in "about as many volunteers as it did conscripts." Many men in otherwise "bombproof" positions were enlisted in one way or another, nearly 160,000 additional volunteers and conscripts in uniform. Still there was shirking.<ref>Coulter, ''The Confederate States of America'', pp. 322–324, 326.</ref> To administer the draft, a Bureau of Conscription was set up to use state officers, as state Governors would allow. It had a checkered career of "contention, opposition and futility". Armies appointed alternative military "recruiters" to bring in the out-of-uniform 17–50-year-old conscripts and deserters. Nearly 3,000 officers were tasked with the job. By late 1864, Lee was calling for more troops. "Our ranks are constantly diminishing by battle and disease, and few recruits are received; the consequences are inevitable." By March 1865 conscription was to be administered by generals of the state reserves calling out men over 45 and under 18 years old. All exemptions were abolished. These regiments were assigned to recruit conscripts ages 17–50, recover deserters, and repel enemy cavalry raids. The service retained men who had lost but one arm or a leg in home guards. Ultimately, conscription was a failure, and its main value was in goading men to volunteer.<ref>Coulter, ''The Confederate States of America'', pp. 323–325, 327.</ref>

The survival of the Confederacy depended on a strong base of civilians and soldiers devoted to victory. The soldiers performed well, though increasing numbers deserted in the last year of fighting, and the Confederacy never succeeded in replacing casualties as the Union could. The civilians, although enthusiastic in 1861–62, seem to have lost faith in the future of the Confederacy by 1864, and instead looked to protect their homes and communities. As Rable explains, "This contraction of civic vision was more than a crabbed [[libertarianism]]; it represented an increasingly widespread disillusionment with the Confederate experiment."<ref>Rable (1994) p. 265.</ref>

===Victories: 1861===
The American Civil War broke out in April 1861 with a Confederate victory at the [[Battle of Fort Sumter]] in [[Charleston, South Carolina in the American Civil War|Charleston]].

{{multiple image
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|image1=Bombardment of Fort Sumter(3b52027r).jpg
|width1=180
|caption1=Bombardment of [[Battle of Fort Sumter|Fort Sumter]], Charleston, South Carolina
|image2=MNBPRickettsBatteryPainting.jpg
|width2=180
|caption2=First Bull Run ([[First Battle of Bull Run|First Manassas]]), the North's "Big Skedaddle"<ref>[[Margaret Leech]], ''Reveille in Washington'' (1942)</ref>
}}

In January, President [[James Buchanan]] had attempted to resupply the garrison with the steamship, ''[[Star of the West]]'', but Confederate artillery drove it away. In March, President Lincoln notified South Carolina Governor [[Francis W. Pickens|Pickens]] that without Confederate resistance to the resupply there would be no military reinforcement without further notice, but Lincoln prepared to force resupply if it were not allowed. Confederate President Davis, in cabinet, decided to seize Fort Sumter before the relief fleet arrived, and on April 12, 1861, General Beauregard forced its surrender.<ref>{{cite book|last=Stephens|first=Alexander H.|author-link=Alexander Stephens|title=A Constitutional View of the Late War Between the States|url=https://archive.org/details/constitutionalview02steprich|format=PDF|volume=2|year=1870|page=[https://archive.org/details/constitutionalview02steprich/page/36 36]|quote=I maintain that it was inaugurated and begun, though no blow had been struck, when the hostile fleet, styled the 'Relief Squadron', with eleven ships, carrying two hundred and eighty-five guns and two thousand four hundred men, was sent out from New York and Norfolk, with orders from the authorities at Washington, to reinforce Fort Sumter peaceably, if permitted 'but forcibly if they must' ...|publisher=Philadelphia: National Pub. Co.; Chicago: Zeigler, McCurdy}} After the war, Confederate Vice President Alexander H. Stephens maintained that Lincoln's attempt to resupply Sumter was a disguised reinforcement and had provoked the war.</ref>

Following Sumter, [[Proclamation 80|Lincoln directed states to provide 75,000 militiamen]] for three months to recapture the Charleston Harbor forts and all other federal property.<ref name=LincolnCallToArms>
[http://www.civilwarhome.com/lincolntroops.htm Lincoln's proclamation calling for troops from the remaining states] (bottom of page); Department of War details to States (top).</ref> This emboldened secessionists in Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee and North Carolina to secede rather than provide troops to march into neighboring Southern states. In May, Federal troops crossed into Confederate territory along the entire border from the Chesapeake Bay to New Mexico. The first battles were Confederate victories at Big Bethel ([[Battle of Big Bethel|Bethel Church, Virginia]]), First Bull Run ([[First Battle of Bull Run|First Manassas]]) in Virginia July and in August, Wilson's Creek ([[Battle of Wilson's Creek|Oak Hills]]) in Missouri. At all three, Confederate forces could not follow up their victory due to inadequate supply and shortages of fresh troops to exploit their successes. Following each battle, Federals maintained a military presence and occupied Washington, DC; Fort Monroe, Virginia; and Springfield, Missouri. Both North and South began training up armies for major fighting the next year.<ref>Coulter, ''The Confederate States of America'', pp. 352–353.</ref> Union General [[George B. McClellan]]'s forces gained possession of much of northwestern Virginia in mid-1861, concentrating on towns and roads; the interior was too large to control and became the center of guerrilla activity.<ref>{{cite book|url=http://digital.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=moawar;cc=moawar;q1=red%20house;rgn=full%20text;idno=waro0005;didno=waro0005;view=image;seq=0580|title= The War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies; Series 1|volume= 5|page=56}}4</ref><ref>Rice, Otis K. and Stephen W. Brown, ''West Virginia, A History'', University of Kentucky Press, 1993, 2nd ed., p. 130</ref> General [[Robert E. Lee]] was defeated at [[Cheat Mountain]] in September and no serious Confederate advance in western Virginia occurred until the next year.

Meanwhile, the Union Navy seized control of much of the Confederate coastline from Virginia to South Carolina. It took over plantations and the abandoned slaves. Federals there began a war-long policy of burning grain supplies up rivers into the interior wherever they could not occupy.<ref>Coulter, ''The Confederate States of America'', p. 353.</ref> The Union Navy began a blockade of the major southern ports and prepared an invasion of Louisiana to capture New Orleans in early 1862.

===Incursions: 1862===
The victories of 1861 were followed by a series of defeats east and west in early 1862. To restore the Union by military force, the Federal strategy was to (1) secure the Mississippi River, (2) seize or close Confederate ports, and (3) march on Richmond. To secure independence, the Confederate intent was to (1) repel the invader on all fronts, costing him blood and treasure, and (2) carry the war into the North by two offensives in time to affect the mid-term elections.

{{multiple image
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|caption1=General Burnside halted at the bridge. Battle of Antietam ([[Battle of Antietam|Sharpsburg]]).
|image2=Burial of the dead on the Antietam battlefield army.mil-2008-09-10-145638.jpg
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|caption2=Burying Union dead. Antietam, Maryland.<ref>Glatthaar, Joseph T., ''General Lee's Army: From Victory to Collapse,'' Free Press 2008. {{ISBN|978-0-684-82787-2}}, p. xiv. Inflicting intolerable casualties on invading Federal armies was a Confederate strategy to make the northern Unionists relent in their pursuit of restoring the Union.</ref>
}}

Much of northwestern Virginia was under Federal control.<ref>Ambler, Charles, ''Francis H. Pierpont: Union War Governor of Virginia and Father of West Virginia'', Univ. of North Carolina, 1937, p. 419, note 36. Letter of Adjutant General Henry L. Samuels, August 22, 1862, to Gov. Francis Pierpont listing 22 of 48 counties under sufficient control for soldier recruitment. [http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llsb&fileName=037/llsb037.db&recNum=1996 ''Congressional Globe,'' 37th Congress, 3rd Session, Senate Bill S.531, February 14, 1863] "A bill supplemental to the act entitled 'An act for the Admission of the State of 'West Virginia' into the Union, and for other purposes' which would include the counties of "Boone, Logan, Wyoming, Mercer, McDowell, Pocahontas, Raleigh, Greenbrier, Monroe, Pendleton, Fayette, Nicholas, and Clay, now in the possession of the so-called confederate government".</ref> In February and March, most of Missouri and Kentucky were Union "occupied, consolidated, and used as staging areas for advances further South". Following the repulse of a Confederate counterattack at the [[Battle of Shiloh]], Tennessee, permanent Federal occupation expanded west, south and east.<ref>Martis, ''Historical Atlas'', p. 27. In the Mississippi River Valley, during the first half of February, central Tennessee's [[Battle of Fort Henry|Fort Henry]] was lost and [[Battle of Fort Donelson|Fort Donelson]] fell with a small army. By the end of the month, [[Tennessee in the american civil war#Twin Rivers Campaign of 1862|Nashville]], Tennessee was the first conquered Confederate state capital. On April 6–7, Federals turned back the Confederate offensive at the Battle of Shiloh, and three days later [[Battle of Island Number Ten|Island Number 10]], controlling the upper Mississippi River, fell to a combined Army and Naval gunboat siege of three weeks.

Federal occupation of Confederate territory expanded to include northwestern Arkansas, south down the Mississippi River and east up the Tennessee River. The Confederate River Defense fleet sank two Union ships at [[Battle of Plum Point Bend|Plum Point Bend]] (naval Fort Pillow), but they withdrew and [[Fort Pillow, Tennessee|Fort Pillow]] was captured downriver.</ref> Confederate forces repositioned south along the Mississippi River to [[Memphis, Tennessee]], where at the naval [[First Battle of Memphis|Battle of Memphis]], its River Defense Fleet was sunk. Confederates withdrew from northern Mississippi and northern Alabama. [[Capture of New Orleans|New Orleans was captured on April 29]] by a combined Army-Navy force under U.S. Admiral [[David Farragut]], and the Confederacy lost control of the mouth of the Mississippi River. It had to concede extensive agricultural resources that had supported the Union's sea-supplied logistics base.<ref name="Martis28">Martis, ''Historical Atlas'', p. 28.</ref>

Although Confederates had suffered major reverses everywhere, as of the end of April the Confederacy still controlled territory holding 72% of its population.<ref name="Martis27">Martis, ''Historical Atlas'', p. 27. Federal occupation expanded into northern Virginia, and their control of the Mississippi extended south to Nashville, Tennessee.</ref> Federal forces disrupted Missouri and Arkansas; they had broken through in western Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee and Louisiana. Along the Confederacy's shores, Union forces had closed ports and made garrisoned lodgments on every coastal Confederate state except Alabama and Texas.<ref>Coulter, ''The Confederate States of America'', p. 354. Federal sea-based amphibious forces captured [[Battle of Roanoke Island|Roanoke Island]], North Carolina along with a large garrison in February. In March, Confederates abandoned forts at [[Amelia Island|Fernandia]] and [[St. Augustine in the American Civil War#Early war|St. Augustine]] Florida, and lost [[Battle of New Berne|New Berne]], North Carolina. In April, [[Capture of New Orleans|New Orleans]] fell and Savannah, Georgia was closed by the [[Battle of Fort Pulaski]]. In May retreating Confederates burned their two pre-war Navy yards at Norfolk and Pensacola. See Coulter, ''The Confederate States of America'', pp. 287, 306, 302</ref> Although scholars sometimes assess the Union blockade as ineffectual under international law until the last few months of the war, from the first months it disrupted Confederate privateers, making it "almost impossible to bring their prizes into Confederate ports".<ref>Coulter, ''The Confederate States of America'', pp. 294, 296–297. Europeans refused to allow captured U.S. shipping to be sold for the privateers 95% share, so through 1862, Confederate privateering disappeared. The CSA Congress authorized a Volunteer Navy to man cruisers the following year.</ref> British firms developed small fleets of [[Blockade runners of the American Civil War|blockade running]] companies, such as [[George Trenholm|John Fraser and Company]] and [[S. Isaac, Campbell & Company]] while the Ordnance Department secured its own blockade runners for dedicated munitions cargoes.<ref>Coulter, ''The Confederate States of America'', pp. 288–291. As many as half the Confederate blockade runners had British nationals serving as officers and crew. Confederate regulations required one-third, then one-half of the cargoes to be munitions, food and medicine.</ref>

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|caption2=[[CSS Alabama|CSS ''Alabama'']] off [[Battle of Cherbourg (1864)|Cherbourg]], location of the only cruiser engagement
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During the Civil War fleets of [[Ironclad warship|armored warships]] were deployed for the first time in sustained blockades at sea. After some success against the Union blockade, in March the ironclad [[CSS Virginia|CSS ''Virginia'']] was forced into port and burned by Confederates at their retreat. Despite several attempts mounted from their port cities, CSA naval forces were unable to break the Union blockade. Attempts were made by Commodore [[Josiah Tattnall III]]'s ironclads from Savannah in 1862 with the [[USS Atlanta (1861)|CSS ''Atlanta'']].<ref>Coulter, ''The Confederate States of America'', pp. 287, 306, 302, 306 and [http://www.history.navy.mil/branches/org11-2.htm CSS Atlanta, USS Atlanta. Navy Heritage] {{Webarchive|url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20100407154442/http%3A//www%2Ehistory%2Enavy%2Emil/branches/org11%2D2%2Ehtm |date=April 7, 2010 }}. In both events, as with the CSS ''Virginia'', the Navy's bravery and fighting skill was compromised in combat by mechanical failure in the engines or steering. The joint combined Army-Navy defense by General [[Robert E. Lee]], and his successor and Commodore [[Josiah Tattnall III]], repelled amphibious assault of Savannah for the duration of the war. Union General [[Tecumseh Sherman]] captured Savannah from the land side in December 1864. The British blockade runner [[USS Atlanta (1861)#As Fingal|''Fingal'']] was purchased and converted to the ironclad [[USS Atlanta (1861)|CSS ''Atlanta'']]. It made two sorties, was captured by Union forces, repaired, and returned to service as the ironclad USS ''Atlanta'' supporting Grant's [[Siege of Petersburg]].</ref> Secretary of the Navy [[Stephen Mallory]] placed his hopes in a European-built ironclad fleet, but they were never realized. On the other hand, four new English-built commerce raiders served the Confederacy, and several fast blockade runners were sold in Confederate ports. They were converted into commerce-raiding cruisers, and manned by their British crews.<ref>Coulter, ''The Confederate States of America'', p. 303. French shipyards built four corvettes, and two ironclad rams for the Confederacy, but the American minister prevented their delivery. British firms contracted to build two additional ironclad rams, but under threat from the U.S., the British government bought them for their own navy. Two of the converted blockade runners effectively raided up and down the Atlantic coast until the end of the war.</ref>

In the east, Union forces could not close on Richmond. General McClellan landed his army on the [[Peninsula Campaign|Lower Peninsula]] of Virginia. Lee subsequently ended that threat from the east, then Union General John Pope attacked overland from the north only to be repulsed at Second Bull Run ([[Second Battle of Bull Run|Second Manassas]]). Lee's strike north was turned back at Antietam MD, then Union [[Ambrose Burnside|Major General Ambrose Burnside's]] offensive was disastrously ended at [[Battle of Fredericksburg|Fredericksburg]] VA in December. Both armies then turned to winter quarters to recruit and train for the coming spring.<ref>Coulter, ''The Confederate States of America'', pp. 354–356. McClellan's Peninsula Campaign caused the surprised Confederates to destroy their winter camp to mobilize against the threat to their Capital. They burned "a vast amount of supplies" to keep them from falling into enemy hands.</ref>

In an attempt to seize the initiative, reprove, protect farms in mid-growing season and influence U.S. Congressional elections, two major Confederate incursions into Union territory had been launched in August and September 1862. Both [[Braxton Bragg]]'s invasion of Kentucky and [[Battle of Antietam|Lee's invasion]] of Maryland were decisively repulsed, leaving Confederates in control of but 63% of its population.<ref name="Martis27"/> Civil War scholar [[Allan Nevins]] argues that 1862 was the strategic [[Ordinary high water mark|high-water mark]] of the Confederacy.<ref>Nevin's analysis of the strategic highpoint of Confederate military scope and effectiveness is in contra-distinction to the conventional "last chance" battlefield imagery of the [[High-water mark of the Confederacy]] found at "The Angle" of the Battle of Gettysburg.</ref> The failures of the two invasions were attributed to the same irrecoverable shortcomings: lack of manpower at the front, lack of supplies including serviceable shoes, and exhaustion after long marches without adequate food.<ref>Allan Nevins, ''War for the Union'' (1960) pp. 289–290. Weak national leadership led to disorganized overall direction in contrast to improved organization in Washington. With another 10,000 men Lee and Bragg might have prevailed in the border states, but the local populations did not respond to their pleas to recruit additional soldiers.</ref> Also in September Confederate General [[William W. Loring]] pushed Federal forces from [[Charleston, West Virginia|Charleston, Virginia]], and the Kanawha Valley in western Virginia, but lacking reinforcements Loring abandoned his position and by November the region was back in Federal control.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Rice |first1=Otis K. |first2=Stephen W. |last2=Brown |title=West Virginia, A History |publisher=Univ. of Kentucky Press |year=1993 |edition=2nd |pages=[https://archive.org/details/westvirginiahist00rice_0/page/134 134–135] |isbn=0-8131-1854-9 |url=https://archive.org/details/westvirginiahist00rice_0/page/134 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.wvculture.org/history/journal_wvh/wvh23-1.html|title=The Civil War Comes to Charleston|accessdate=May 3, 2023}}</ref>

===Anaconda: 1863–1864===
{{Main|Anaconda Plan}}

The failed Middle [[Tennessee in the Civil War|Tennessee]] campaign was ended January 2, 1863, at the inconclusive Battle of Stones River ([[Battle of Stones River|Murfreesboro]]), both sides losing the largest percentage of casualties suffered during the war. It was followed by another strategic withdrawal by Confederate forces.<ref>Coulter, ''The Confederate States of America'', p. 357</ref> The Confederacy won a significant victory April 1863, repulsing the Federal advance on Richmond at [[Battle of Chancellorsville|Chancellorsville]], but the Union consolidated positions along the Virginia coast and the Chesapeake Bay.

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| image2 = Bataille de la baie de Mobile par Louis Prang (1824-1909).jpg
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| caption2 = Closing of Mobile Bay, Alabama. The [[Union blockade]] ended trade with the Confederate states.
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Without an effective answer to Federal gunboats, river transport and supply, the Confederacy lost the Mississippi River following the capture of [[Siege of Vicksburg|Vicksburg]], Mississippi, and [[Siege of Port Hudson|Port Hudson]] in July, ending Southern access to the trans-Mississippi West. July brought short-lived counters, [[Morgan's Raid]] into Ohio and the [[New York City draft riots]]. Robert E. Lee's strike into Pennsylvania was repulsed at [[Battle of Gettysburg|Gettysburg]], Pennsylvania despite Pickett's famous charge and other acts of valor. Southern newspapers assessed the campaign as "The Confederates did not gain a victory, neither did the enemy."

September and November left Confederates yielding [[Chattanooga Campaign|Chattanooga]], Tennessee, the gateway to the lower south.<ref>Coulter, ''The Confederate States of America'', p. 356</ref> For the remainder of the war fighting was restricted inside the South, resulting in a slow but continuous loss of territory. In early 1864, the Confederacy still controlled 53% of its population, but it withdrew further to reestablish defensive positions. Union offensives continued with [[Sherman's March to the Sea]] to take Savannah and Grant's [[Overland Campaign|Wilderness Campaign]] to encircle Richmond and besiege Lee's army at [[Siege of Petersburg|Petersburg]].<ref name="Martis28"/>

In April 1863, the C.S. Congress authorized a uniformed Volunteer Navy, many of whom were British.<ref>Coulter, ''The Confederate States of America'', pp. 297–298. They were required to supply their own ships and equipment, but they received 90% of their captures at auction, 25% of any U.S. warships or transports captured or destroyed. Confederate cruisers raided merchant ship commerce but for one exception in 1864.</ref> The Confederacy had altogether eighteen commerce-destroying cruisers, which seriously disrupted Federal commerce at sea and increased shipping insurance rates 900%.<ref>Coulter, ''The Confederate States of America'', pp. 305–306. The most successful Confederate merchant raider 1863–1864, [[CSS Alabama|CSS ''Alabama'']] had ranged the Atlantic for two years, sinking 58 vessels worth {{sic|?|$6,54,000}}, but she was trapped and sunk in June by the chain-clad {{USS|Kearsarge|1861|6}} off Cherbourg, France.</ref> Commodore Tattnall again unsuccessfully attempted to break the Union blockade on the Savannah River in Georgia with an ironclad in 1863.<ref>Coulter, ''The Confederate States of America'', in 1862, [http://www.history.navy.mil/branches/org11-2.htm CSS Atlanta, USS Atlanta. Navy Heritage] {{Webarchive|url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20100407154442/http%3A//www%2Ehistory%2Enavy%2Emil/branches/org11%2D2%2Ehtm |date=April 7, 2010 }}, in 1863 the ironclad [[CSS Savannah (ironclad)|CSS ''Savannah'']]</ref> Beginning in April 1864 the ironclad [[CSS Albemarle|CSS ''Albemarle'']] engaged Union gunboats for six months on the Roanoke River in North Carolina.<ref>Coulter, ''The Confederate States of America'', p. 305</ref> The Federals closed [[Battle of Mobile Bay|Mobile Bay]] by sea-based amphibious assault in August, ending Gulf coast trade east of the Mississippi River. In December, the [[Battle of Nashville]] ended Confederate operations in the western theater.

Large numbers of families relocated to safer places, usually remote rural areas, bringing along household slaves if they had any. Mary Massey argues these elite exiles introduced an element of defeatism into the southern outlook.<ref>Mary Elizabeth Massey, ''Refugee Life in the Confederacy'' (1964)</ref>

===Collapse: 1865===
The first three months of 1865 saw the Federal [[Carolinas Campaign]], devastating a wide swath of the remaining Confederate heartland. The "breadbasket of the Confederacy" in the Great Valley of Virginia was occupied by [[Philip Sheridan]]. The Union Blockade captured [[Fort Fisher]] in North Carolina, and Sherman finally [[Second Battle of Charleston Harbor|took Charleston, South Carolina]], by land attack.<ref name="Martis28"/>

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The Confederacy controlled no ports, harbors or navigable rivers. Railroads were captured or had ceased operating. Its major food-producing regions had been war-ravaged or occupied. Its administration survived in only three pockets of territory holding only one-third of its population. Its armies were defeated or disbanding. At the February 1865 [[Hampton Roads Conference]] with Lincoln, senior Confederate officials rejected his invitation to restore the Union with compensation for emancipated slaves.<ref name="Martis28"/> The three pockets of unoccupied Confederacy were southern Virginia—North Carolina, central Alabama—Florida, and Texas, the latter two areas less from any notion of resistance than from the disinterest of Federal forces to occupy them.<ref>{{cite book |last=Foote |first=Shelby |date=1974 |title=The Civil War, a narrative: Vol III |page=967 |publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing |quote=Sherman was closing in on Raleigh, whose occupation tomorrow would make it the ninth of the eleven seceded state capitals to feel the tread of the invader. All, that is, but Austin and Tallahassee, whose survival was less the result of their ability to resist than it was of Federal oversight or disinterest. |isbn=0-394-74622-8 }}</ref> The Davis policy was independence or nothing, while Lee's army was wracked by disease and desertion, barely holding the trenches defending Jefferson Davis' capital.

The Confederacy's last remaining blockade-running port, [[Wilmington, North Carolina]], [[Battle of Wilmington|was lost]]. When the Union broke through Lee's lines at Petersburg, [[Richmond in the American Civil War|Richmond]] fell immediately. Lee surrendered at [[Appomattox Court House National Historical Park|Appomattox Court House]], Virginia, on April 9, 1865.<ref>Coulter, ''The Confederate States of America'', pp. 323–325, 327.</ref> "The Surrender" marked the end of the Confederacy.<ref>Coulter, ''The Confederate States of America'', p. 287</ref> The [[Japanese ironclad Kōtetsu#American career as CSS Stonewall|CSS ''Stonewall'']] sailed from Europe to break the Union blockade in March; on making Havana, Cuba, it surrendered. Some high officials escaped to Europe, but President Davis was captured May 10; all remaining Confederate land forces surrendered by June 1865. The U.S. Army took control of the Confederate areas, but peace was subsequently marred by a great deal of local violence, feuding and revenge killings.<ref>The French-built ironclad [[Japanese ironclad Kōtetsu#American career as CSS Stonewall|CSS ''Stonewall'']] had been purchased from Denmark and set sail from Spain in March. The crew of the [[CSS Shenandoah|CSS ''Shenandoah'']] hauled down the last Confederate flag at Liverpool in the UK on November 5, 1865. {{cite book|author=John Baldwin |author2=Ron Powers |title=Last Flag Down: The Epic Journey of the Last Confederate Warship|page=368|publisher=Three Rivers Press|isbn=978-0-307-23656-2|date=May 2008 }}</ref> The last confederate military unit, the commerce raider [[CSS Shenandoah|CSS ''Shenandoah'']], surrendered on November 6, 1865, in [[Liverpool]].<ref>United States Government Printing Office, ''Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion'', United States Naval War Records Office, United States Office of Naval Records and Library, 1894
{{DANFS}}</ref>

Historian [[Gary Gallagher]] concluded that the Confederacy capitulated in early 1865 because northern armies crushed "organized southern military resistance". The Confederacy's population, soldier and civilian, had suffered material hardship and social disruption.<ref>Gallagher p. 157</ref> Jefferson Davis' assessment in 1890 determined, "With the capture of the capital, the dispersion of the civil authorities, the surrender of the armies in the field, and the arrest of the President, the Confederate States of America disappeared ... their history henceforth became a part of the history of the United States."<ref>Davis, Jefferson. [https://archive.org/stream/ashorthistoryco00davigoog#page/n544/mode/2up/search/surrender+at+Appomattox ''A Short History of the Confederate States of America''], 1890, 2010. {{ISBN|978-1-175-82358-8}}. Available free online as an ebook. Chapter LXXXVIII, "Re-establishment of the Union by force", p. 503. Retrieved March 14, 2012.</ref>

==Government and politics==

===Political divisions===
{{Main|List of C.S. states by date of admission to the Confederacy}}
{{CS statehood and territory dates}}

===Constitution===
{{Main|Constitution of the Confederate States}}
{{Wikisource|Constitution of the Confederate States of America}}

In February, 1861, Southern leaders met in Montgomery, Alabama to adopt their first constitution, establishing a [[confederation]] of "sovereign and independent states", guaranteeing states the right to a republican form of government. Prior to adopting to the first Confederate constitution, the independent states were sovereign republics.<ref name="wwgaunt"/><ref name="dunbarrowland"/>

A second Confederate constitution was written in March, 1861, which sought to replace the confederation with a federal government; much of this constitution replicated the United States Constitution verbatim, but contained several explicit protections of the institution of slavery including provisions for the recognition and protection of slavery in any territory of the Confederacy. It maintained the [[Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves|ban on international slave-trading]], though it made the ban's application explicit to "Negroes of the African race" in contrast to the U.S. Constitution's reference to "such Persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit". It protected the [[Slavery in the United States#Internal slave trade|existing internal trade]] of slaves among slaveholding states.

In certain areas, the second Confederate Constitution gave greater powers to the states (or curtailed the powers of the central government more) than the U.S. Constitution of the time did, but in other areas, the states lost rights they had under the U.S. Constitution. Although the Confederate Constitution, like the U.S. Constitution, contained a [[commerce clause]], the Confederate version prohibited the central government from using revenues collected in one state for funding [[internal improvement]]s in another state. The Confederate Constitution's equivalent to the U.S. Constitution's [[General Welfare clause|general welfare clause]] prohibited [[protective tariff]]s (but allowed tariffs for providing domestic revenue). State legislatures had the power to [[impeachment|impeach]] officials of the Confederate government in some cases. On the other hand, the Confederate Constitution contained a [[Necessary and Proper Clause]] and a [[Supremacy Clause]] that essentially duplicated the respective clauses of the U.S. Constitution. The Confederate Constitution also incorporated each of the 12 amendments to the U.S. Constitution that had been ratified up to that point.

The second Confederate Constitution was adopted on February 22, 1862, one year into the American Civil War, and did not specifically include a provision allowing states to secede; the Preamble spoke of each state "acting in its sovereign and independent character" but also of the formation of a "permanent [[Federalism|federal government]]". During the debates on drafting the Confederate Constitution, one proposal would have allowed states to secede from the Confederacy. The proposal was tabled with only the South Carolina delegates voting in favor of considering the motion.<ref>Davis p. 248.</ref> The Confederate Constitution also explicitly denied States the power to bar slaveholders from other parts of the Confederacy from bringing their slaves into any state of the Confederacy or to interfere with the property rights of slave owners traveling between different parts of the Confederacy. In contrast with the secular language of the United States Constitution, the Confederate Constitution overtly asked God's blessing ("... invoking the favor and guidance of Almighty God ...").

Some historians have referred to the Confederacy as a form of [[Herrenvolk democracy]].<ref name="Dal Lago2018">{{Cite book|last=Dal Lago|first=Enrico|title=Civil War and Agrarian Unrest: The Confederate South and Southern Italy|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|year=2018|isbn=978-1108340625|pages=79|quote=the slaveholding elites' project of Confederate nation building—likely believing the idea that the Confederacy was a 'herrenvolk democracy' or 'democracy of the white race'....}}</ref><ref name="McPherson1997">{{Cite book|last=McPherson|first=James M.|title=For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War|title-link=For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|year=1997|isbn=978-0195124996|location=[[New York City]]|pages=106, 109|quote=Confederate soldiers from slaveholding families expressed no feelings of embarrassment or inconsistency in fighting for their own liberty while holding other people in slavery. Indeed, white supremacy and the right of property in slaves were at the core of the ideology for which Confederate soldiers fought.... Herrenvolk democracy—the equality of all who belonged to the master race—was a powerful motivator for many Confederate soldiers.|author-link=James M. McPherson}}</ref>

====Executive====
{{Main|President of the Confederate States of America}}

The Montgomery Convention to establish the Confederacy and its executive met on February 4, 1861. Each state as a sovereignty had one vote, with the same delegation size as it held in the U.S. Congress, and generally 41 to 50 members attended.<ref>Coulter, ''The Confederate States of America'', p. 22. The Texas delegation had four in the U.S. Congress, seven in the Montgomery Convention.</ref> Offices were "provisional", limited to a term not to exceed one year. One name was placed in nomination for president, one for vice president. Both were elected unanimously, 6–0.<ref>Coulter, ''The Confederate States of America'', p. 23. While the Texas delegation was seated, and is counted in the "original seven" states of the Confederacy, its referendum to ratify secession had not taken place, so its delegates did not yet vote on instructions from their state legislature.</ref>

[[File:President-Jefferson-Davis.jpg|thumb|left|upright=.8|[[Jefferson Davis]], President of the Confederacy from 1861 to 1865]]

Jefferson Davis was elected provisional president. His U.S. Senate resignation speech greatly impressed with its clear rationale for secession and his pleading for a peaceful departure from the Union to independence. Although he had made it known that he wanted to be commander-in-chief of the Confederate armies, when elected, he assumed the office of Provisional President. Three candidates for provisional Vice President were under consideration the night before the February 9 election. All were from Georgia, and the various delegations meeting in different places determined two would not do, so Alexander H. Stephens was elected unanimously provisional Vice President, though with some privately held reservations. Stephens was inaugurated February 11, Davis February 18.<ref>Coulter, ''The Confederate States of America'', pp. 23–26.</ref>

Davis and Stephens were elected president and vice president, unopposed [[Confederate States presidential election, 1861|on November 6, 1861]]. They were inaugurated on February 22, 1862.

Coulter stated, "No president of the U.S. ever had a more difficult task." Washington was inaugurated in peacetime. Lincoln inherited an established government of long standing. The creation of the Confederacy was accomplished by men who saw themselves as fundamentally conservative. Although they referred to their "Revolution", it was in their eyes more a counter-revolution against changes away from their understanding of U.S. founding documents. In Davis' inauguration speech, he explained the Confederacy was not a French-like revolution, but a transfer of rule. The Montgomery Convention had assumed all the laws of the United States until superseded by the Confederate Congress.<ref>Coulter, ''The Confederate States of America'', pp. 25, 27</ref>

The Permanent Constitution provided for a President of the Confederate States of America, elected to serve a six-year term but without the possibility of re-election. Unlike the United States Constitution, the Confederate Constitution gave the president the ability to subject a bill to a [[line item veto]], a power also held by some state governors.

The Confederate Congress could overturn either the general or the line item vetoes with the same two-thirds votes required in the [[Congress of the United States|U.S. Congress]]. In addition, appropriations not specifically requested by the executive branch required passage by a two-thirds vote in both houses of Congress. The only person to serve as president was [[Jefferson Davis]], as the Confederacy was defeated before the completion of his term.
{{clear}}

=====Administration and cabinet=====
{{Main|Cabinet of the Confederate States of America}}
{{Infobox cabinet members

|office1=[[President of the Confederate States of America|President]]
|name1a=[[Jefferson Davis]]
|term1a=1861–65

|office2=[[Vice President of the Confederate States of America|Vice President]]
|name2a=[[Alexander H. Stephens]]
|term2a=1861–65

|office3=[[Confederate States Secretary of State|Secretary of State]]

|name3a=[[Robert Toombs]]
|term3a=1861

|name3b=[[Robert Mercer Taliaferro Hunter|Robert M.T. Hunter]]
|term3b=1861–62

|name3c=[[Judah P. Benjamin]]
|term3c=1862–65

|office4=[[Confederate States of America Secretary of the Treasury|Secretary of the Treasury]]

|name4a=[[Christopher Memminger]]
|term4a=1861–64

|name4b=[[George Trenholm]]
|term4b=1864–65

|name4c=[[John H. Reagan]]
|term4c=1865

|office5=[[Confederate States Secretary of War|Secretary of War]]

|name5a=[[Leroy Pope Walker]]
|term5a=1861

|name5b=[[Judah P. Benjamin]]
|term5b=1861–62

|name5c=[[George W. Randolph]]
|term5c=1862

|name5d=[[James Seddon]]
|term5d=1862–65

|name5e=[[John C. Breckinridge]]
|term5e=1865

|office6=[[Confederate States Secretary of the Navy|Secretary of the Navy]]
|name6a=[[Stephen Mallory]]
|term6a=1861–65

|office7=[[Postage stamps and postal history of the Confederate States#Confederate Post Office|Postmaster General]]
|name7a=[[John H. Reagan]]
|term7a=1861–65

|office8=[[Confederate States Attorney General|Attorney General]]

|name8a=[[Judah P. Benjamin]]
|term8a=1861

|name8b=[[Thomas Bragg]]
|term8b=1861–62

|name8c=[[Thomas H. Watts]]
|term8c=1862–63

|name8d=[[George Davis (Confederate States politician)|George Davis]]
|term8d=1864–65
}}
[[File:Confederate Cabinet.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.4|Davis's cabinet in 1861, Montgomery, Alabama Front row, left to right: [[Judah P. Benjamin]], [[Stephen Mallory]], [[Alexander H. Stephens]], [[Jefferson Davis]], [[John Henninger Reagan]], and [[Robert Toombs]] Back row, standing left to right: [[Christopher Memminger]] and [[LeRoy Pope Walker]] Illustration printed in ''[[Harper's Weekly]]'']]
{{Clear}}

====Legislative====
{{Main|Provisional Confederate States Congress|Confederate States Congress}}
[[File:Confederate congress.jpg|thumb|'''[[Provisional Confederate Congress|Provisional Congress]]''', Montgomery, Alabama]]

The only two "formal, national, functioning, civilian administrative bodies" in the Civil War South were the Jefferson Davis administration and the Confederate Congresses. The Confederacy was begun by the Provisional Congress in Convention at Montgomery, Alabama on February 28, 1861. The Provisional Confederate Congress was a unicameral assembly; each state received one vote.<ref name="Martis-1994">{{cite book| last=Martis |first=Kenneth C. |title=The Historical Atlas of the Congresses of the Confederate States of America: 1861–1865 |publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]] |year=1994 |isbn=0-13-389115-1 |page=1}}</ref>

The Permanent Confederate Congress was elected and began its first session February 18, 1862. The Permanent Congress for the Confederacy followed the United States forms with a bicameral legislature. The Senate had two per state, twenty-six Senators. The House numbered 106 representatives apportioned by free and slave populations within each state. Two Congresses sat in six sessions until March 18, 1865.<ref name="Martis-1994"/>

The political influences of the civilian, soldier vote and appointed representatives reflected divisions of political geography of a diverse South. These in turn changed over time relative to Union occupation and disruption, the war impact on the local economy, and the course of the war. Without political parties, key candidate identification related to adopting secession before or after Lincoln's call for volunteers to retake Federal property. Previous party affiliation played a part in voter selection, predominantly secessionist Democrat or unionist Whig.<ref>Martis, ''Historical Atlas'', pp. 72–73</ref>

The absence of political parties made individual roll call voting all the more important, as the Confederate "freedom of roll-call voting [was] unprecedented in American legislative history."<ref>Martis, ''Historical Atlas'', p. 3</ref> Key issues throughout the life of the Confederacy related to (1) suspension of habeas corpus, (2) military concerns such as control of state militia, conscription and exemption, (3) economic and fiscal policy including impressment of slaves, goods and scorched earth, and (4) support of the Jefferson Davis administration in its foreign affairs and negotiating peace.<ref>Martis, ''Historical Atlas'', pp. 90–91</ref>

{{col-begin}}
{{col-2}}
;Provisional Congress
For the first year, the unicameral [[Provisional Confederate Congress]] functioned as the Confederacy's legislative branch.

;President of the Provisional Congress
* [[Howell Cobb|Howell Cobb, Sr.]] of Georgia, February 4, 1861 – February 17, 1862

;Presidents pro tempore of the Provisional Congress
* [[Robert Woodward Barnwell]] of South Carolina, February 4, 1861
* [[Thomas Stanhope Bocock]] of Virginia, December 10–21, 1861 and January 7–8, 1862
* [[Josiah Abigail Patterson Campbell]] of Mississippi, December 23–24, 1861 and January 6, 1862
{{col-break}}
;Sessions of the Confederate Congress
* [[Provisional Congress of the Confederate States|Provisional Congress]]
* [[1st Confederate States Congress|1st Congress]]
* [[2nd Confederate States Congress|2nd Congress]]

;Tribal Representatives to Confederate Congress
* [[Elias Cornelius Boudinot]] 1862–65, [[Cherokee]]
* [[Samuel Benton Callahan]] Unknown years, [[Creek (people)|Creek]], [[Seminole]]
* [[Burton Allen Holder]] 1864–65, [[Chickasaw]]
* [[Robert McDonald Jones]] 1863–65, [[Choctaw]]
{{col-end}}

====Judicial====
<gallery style="float:right; text-align:center" perrow="2">
Jesse Finley - Brady-Handy.jpg|[[Jesse J. Finley]] Florida District
HenryRootesJackson.jpg|[[Henry R. Jackson]] Georgia District
NC-Congress-AsaBiggs.jpg|[[Asa Biggs]] North Carolina District
Andrew Gordon Magrath.jpg|[[Andrew Gordon Magrath|Andrew Magrath]] South Carolina District
</gallery>

The Confederate Constitution outlined a judicial branch of the government, but the ongoing war and resistance from states-rights advocates, particularly on the question of whether it would have appellate jurisdiction over the state courts, prevented the creation or seating of the "Supreme Court of the Confederate States". Thus, the state courts generally continued to operate as they had done, simply recognizing the Confederate States as the national government.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.albanylaw.edu/sub.php?navigation_id=821 |title="Legal Materials on the Confederate States of America in the Schaffer Law Library", Albany Law School |publisher=Albanylaw.edu |access-date=August 29, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071103033519/http://www.albanylaw.edu/sub.php?navigation_id=821 |archive-date=November 3, 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Confederate district courts were authorized by Article III, Section 1, of the Confederate Constitution,<ref name="ReferenceJud">[[s:Constitution of the Confederate States of America#a3-s1|Constitution of the Confederate States of America – Wikisource, the free online library]]. Retrieved July 6, 2018.</ref> and President Davis appointed judges within the individual states of the Confederate States of America. In many cases, the same US Federal District Judges were appointed as Confederate States District Judges. Confederate district courts began reopening in early 1861, handling many of the same type cases as had been done before. Prize cases, in which Union ships were captured by the Confederate Navy or raiders and sold through court proceedings, were heard until the blockade of southern ports made this impossible. After a Sequestration Act was passed by the Confederate Congress, the Confederate district courts heard many cases in which enemy aliens (typically Northern absentee landlords owning property in the South) had their property sequestered (seized) by Confederate Receivers.

'''Supreme Court''' – not established.

'''District Courts''' – judges
{{col-begin}}
{{col-2}}
* Alabama [[William Giles Jones]] 1861–1865
* Arkansas [[Daniel Ringo]] 1861–1865
* Florida [[Jesse J. Finley]] 1861–1862
* Georgia [[Henry R. Jackson]] 1861, Edward J. Harden 1861–1865
* Louisiana [[Edwin Warren Moise]] 1861–1865
* Mississippi [[Alexander Mosby Clayton]] 1861–1865
* North Carolina [[Asa Biggs]] 1861–1865
{{col-break}}
* South Carolina [[Andrew G. Magrath]] 1861–1864, [[Benjamin F. Perry]] 1865
* Tennessee [[West H. Humphreys]] 1861–1865
* Texas-East William Pinckney Hill 1861–1865
* Texas-West Thomas J. Devine 1861–1865
* Virginia-East [[James D. Halyburton]] 1861–1865
* Virginia-West [[John W. Brockenbrough]] 1861–1865
{{col-end}}

===Post office===
{{Further|Postage stamps and postal history of the Confederate States}}

<gallery style="float:right; text-align:center" perrow="2">
John Henninger Reagan - Brady-Handy.jpg|[[John H. Reagan]] Postmaster General
J Davis 1861-5c.jpg|[[Jefferson Davis]], 5 cent [[Postage stamps and postal history of the Confederate States#Confederate postage|The first stamp]], 1861
Csa jackson 1862-2c.jpg|[[Andrew Jackson]] 2 cent, 1862
George-washington-CSA-stamp.jpg|[[George Washington]] 20 cent, 1863
</gallery>

The Confederacy established the Confederate Post Office for mail delivery. One of the first undertakings in establishing the office was the appointment of [[John H. Reagan]] as Postmaster General, by [[Jefferson Davis]] in 1861. Writing in 1906, historian Walter Flavius McCaleb praised Reagan's "energy and intelligence... in a degree scarcely matched by any of his associates".<ref>Walter Flavius McCaleb, "The Organization of the Post-Office Department of the Confederacy." ''American Historical Review'' 12#1 (1906), pp. 66–74 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1832885 online]</ref>

When the war began, the US Post Office briefly delivered mail from the secessionist states. Mail that was postmarked after the date of a state's admission into the Confederacy through May 31, 1861, and bearing US postage was still delivered.<ref name="U.S. Postal used in the Confederacy">{{cite web |url=http://arago.si.edu/index.asp?con=1&cmd=1&mode=&tid=2040514 |publisher=Smithsonian National Postal Museum |title=U.S. Postal Issue Used in the Confederacy (1893) |access-date=January 29, 2011 |archive-date=March 29, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120329131022/http://arago.si.edu/index.asp?con=1&cmd=1&mode=&tid=2040514 |url-status=dead }}</ref> After this time, private express companies still managed to carry some of the mail across enemy lines. Later, mail that crossed lines had to be sent by [[Postage stamps and postal history of the Confederate States#Covers|'Flag of Truce']] and was allowed to pass at only two specific points. Mail sent from the Confederacy to the U.S. was received, opened and inspected at [[Fortress Monroe]] on the Virginia coast before being passed on into the U.S. mail stream. Mail sent from the North to the South passed at [[City Point, Virginia|City Point]], also in Virginia, where it was also inspected before being sent on.<ref>{{Cite journal |jstor = 1832885|title = The Organization of the Post-Office Department of the Confederacy|journal = The American Historical Review|volume = 12|issue = 1|pages = 66–74|last1 = McCaleb|first1 = Walter Flavius|year = 1906|doi = 10.2307/1832885}}</ref><ref>
* {{cite journal|jstor=30234666|title=Administrative Problems of the Confederate Post Office Department, I|journal=The Southwestern Historical Quarterly|volume=19|issue=2|pages=111–141|last1=Garrison|first1=L. R.|year=1915}}
* {{cite journal|jstor=30237275|title=Administrative Problems of the Confederate Post Office Department, II|url=https://archive.org/details/sim_southwestern-historical-quarterly_1916-01_19_3/page/232|journal=The Southwestern Historical Quarterly|volume=19|issue=3|pages=232–250|last1=Garrison|first1=L. R.|year=1916}}</ref>

With the chaos of the war, a working postal system was more important than ever for the Confederacy. The Civil War had divided family members and friends and consequently letter writing increased dramatically across the entire divided nation, especially to and from the men who were away serving in an army. Mail delivery was also important for the Confederacy for a myriad of business and military reasons. Because of the Union blockade, basic supplies were always in demand and so getting mailed correspondence out of the country to suppliers was imperative to the successful operation of the Confederacy. Volumes of material have been written about the [[Postage stamps and postal history of the Confederate States#Blockade mail|Blockade runners]] who evaded Union ships on blockade patrol, usually at night, and who moved cargo and mail in and out of the Confederate States throughout the course of the war. Of particular interest to students and historians of the American Civil War is ''[[Postage stamps and postal history of the Confederate States#Prisoner of war mail|Prisoner of War mail]]'' and ''[[Postage stamps and postal history of the Confederate States#Blockade mail|Blockade mail]]'' as these items were often involved with a variety of military and other war time activities. The postal history of the Confederacy along with [[:File:Pow cover 19May1865.jpg|surviving Confederate mail]] has helped historians document the various people, places and events that were involved in the American Civil War as it unfolded.<ref name="Confederate States Post Office">{{cite web |url=http://arago.si.edu/index.asp?con=1&cmd=1&tid=2027888 |title=Confederate States Post Office |publisher=Smithsonian National Postal Museum |access-date=November 17, 2010 |archive-date=July 20, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720043556/http://arago.si.edu/index.asp?con=1&cmd=1&tid=2027888 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
{{clear}}

===Civil liberties===
{{Further|Confederate patriotism}}

The Confederacy actively used the army to arrest people suspected of loyalty to the United States. Historian [[Mark E. Neely, Jr.|Mark Neely]] found 4,108 names of men arrested and estimated a much larger total.<ref>Neely (1999) p. 1</ref> The Confederacy arrested pro-Union civilians in the South at about the same rate as the Union arrested pro-Confederate civilians in the North.<ref>Neely (1999) p. 172. Neely notes that. "Most surprising of all, the Confederacy at a greater rate than the North arrested persons who held opposition political views at least in part because they held them, despite the Confederacy's vaunted lack of political parties. Such arrests were more common before 1863 while memories of the votes on secession remained fresh."</ref> Neely argues:

{{Blockquote|The Confederate citizen was not any freer than the Union citizen – and perhaps no less likely to be arrested by military authorities. In fact, the Confederate citizen may have been in some ways less free than his Northern counterpart. For example, freedom to travel within the Confederate states was severely limited by a domestic passport system.<ref>Neely (1993) pp. 11, 16.</ref>}}

==Economy==
{{Main|Economy of the Confederate States of America}}

===Slaves===
Across the South, widespread rumors predicted the slaves were planning insurrection, causing panic. [[Slave patrol|Patrols]] were stepped up. The slaves did become increasingly independent and resistant to punishment, but historians agree there were no insurrections. Many slaves became spies for the North, and large numbers ran away to federal lines.<ref>{{cite book |first=Bell Irvin |last=Wiley |title=Southern Negroes, 1861–1865 |year=1938 |pages=21, 66–69 }}</ref>

According to the [[1860 United States census]], about 31% of free households in the eleven states that would join the Confederacy owned slaves. The 11 states that seceded had the highest percentage of slaves as a proportion of their population, representing 39% of their total population. The proportions ranged from a majority in South Carolina (57.2%) and Mississippi (55.2%) to about a quarter in Tennessee (24.8%).

Lincoln's [[Emancipation Proclamation]] on January 1, 1863, legally freed three million slaves in designated areas of the Confederacy. The long-term effect was that the Confederacy could not preserve the institution of slavery and lost the use of the core element of its plantation labor force. Over 200,000 freed slaves were hired by the federal army as teamsters, cooks, launderers and laborers, and eventually as soldiers.<ref>{{cite book|author=Martha S. Putney|title=Blacks in the United States Army: Portraits Through History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R3EcLw6H38kC&pg=PA13|year=2003|publisher=McFarland|page=13|isbn=978-0786415939}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.historynet.com/african-americans-in-the-civil-war|title= African Americans In The Civil War|work= History Net: Where History Comes Alive – World & US History Online}}</ref> Plantation owners, realizing that emancipation would destroy their economic system, sometimes moved their slaves as far as possible out of reach of the Union army.<ref>{{cite book |first=Leon F. |last=Litwack |title=Been in the Storm So Long: The Aftermath of Slavery |location=New York |publisher=Knopf |year=1979 |pages=30–36, 105–166 |isbn=0-394-50099-7 }}</ref>

Though the [[Forty acres and a mule|concept was promoted within certain circles]] of the Union hierarchy during and immediately following the war, no program of reparations for freed slaves was ever attempted. Unlike other Western countries, such as Britain and France, the U.S. government never paid compensation to Southern slave owners for their "lost property". The only place [[compensated emancipation]] was carried out was the [[District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act|District of Columbia]].<ref>{{cite book |editor-first=Michael |editor-last=Vorenberg |title=The Emancipation Proclamation: A Brief History with Documents |year=2010 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |first=Peter |last=Kolchin |title=Reexamining Southern Emancipation in Comparative Perspective |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_journal-of-southern-history_2015-02_81_1/page/n8 |journal=[[Journal of Southern History]] |volume=81 |issue=1 |year=2015 |pages=7–40 }}</ref>

===Political economy===
The plantations of the South, with white ownership and an enslaved labor force, produced substantial wealth from cash crops. It supplied two-thirds of the world's cotton, which was in high demand for textiles, along with tobacco, sugar, and naval stores (such as [[turpentine]]). These [[raw material]]s were exported to factories in Europe and the Northeast. Planters reinvested their profits in more slaves and fresh land, as cotton and tobacco depleted the soil. There was little manufacturing or mining; shipping was controlled by non-southerners.<ref>"Thomas1979" pp. 13–14</ref><ref>R. Douglas Hurt, ''Agriculture and the Confederacy: Policy, Productivity, and Power in the Civil War South'' (2015)</ref>

{{multiple image
|caption_align=center
|direction=vertical
|image1=NewOrleans1841AcrossRiver.jpg
|width1=220
|caption1=New Orleans, the South's largest port city and the only pre-war population over 100,000. The port and region's agriculture were lost to the Union in April 1862.
|image2=TredagarIronWorksRichmond.jpg
|width2=220
|caption2=Tredegar Iron Works, Richmond VA. South's largest factory. Ended locomotive production in 1860 to make arms and munitions.
}}

The plantations that enslaved over three million black people were the principal source of wealth. Most were concentrated in "[[Black Belt (geological formation)|black belt]]" plantation areas (because few white families in the poor regions owned slaves). For decades, there had been widespread fear of slave revolts. During the war, extra men were assigned to "home guard" patrol duty and governors sought to keep militia units at home for protection. Historian William Barney reports, "no major slave revolts erupted during the Civil War." Nevertheless, slaves took the opportunity to enlarge their sphere of independence, and when union forces were nearby, many ran off to join them.<ref>{{cite book|author=William L. Barney|title=The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Civil War|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R6BpAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA291|year=2011|publisher=Oxford Up|page=291|isbn=978-0199878147}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Leslie Alexander|title=Encyclopedia of African American History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uivtCqOlpTsC&pg=PA351|year=2010|publisher=ABC-CLIO|page=351|isbn=978-1851097746}}</ref>

Slave labor was applied in industry in a limited way in the Upper South and in a few port cities. One reason for the regional lag in industrial development was top-heavy income distribution. Mass production requires mass markets, and [[Economics of slavery|slaves]] living in small cabins, using self-made tools and outfitted with one suit of work clothes each year of inferior fabric, did not generate consumer demand to sustain local manufactures of any description in the same way as did a mechanized family farm of [[free labor]] in the North. The Southern economy was "pre-capitalist" in that slaves were put to work in the largest revenue-producing enterprises, not free labor markets. That labor system as practiced in the American South encompassed paternalism, whether abusive or indulgent, and that meant labor management considerations apart from productivity.<ref>"Thomas1979" pp. 12–15</ref>

Approximately 85% of both the North and South white populations lived on family farms, both regions were predominantly agricultural, and mid-century industry in both was mostly domestic. But the Southern economy was pre-capitalist in its overwhelming reliance on the agriculture of cash crops to produce wealth, while the great majority of farmers fed themselves and supplied a small local market. Southern cities and industries grew faster than ever before, but the thrust of the rest of the country's exponential growth elsewhere was toward urban industrial development along transportation systems of canals and railroads. The South was following the dominant currents of the American economic mainstream, but at a "great distance" as it lagged in the all-weather modes of transportation that brought cheaper, speedier freight shipment and forged new, expanding inter-regional markets.<ref>Thomas ''The Confederate Nation'' pp. 15–16</ref>

A third count of the pre-capitalist Southern economy relates to the cultural setting. White southerners did not adopt a [[work ethic]], nor the habits of thrift that marked the rest of the country. It had access to the tools of capitalism, but it did not adopt its culture. The Southern Cause as a national economy in the Confederacy was grounded in "slavery and race, planters and patricians, plain folk and folk culture, cotton and plantations".<ref>"Thomas1979" p. 16</ref>

====National production====
[[File:Advantages.jpg|thumb|right|238x238px|The Union had large advantages in men and resources at the start of the war; the ratio grew steadily in favor of the Union]]

The Confederacy started its existence as an agrarian economy with exports, to a world market, of cotton, and, to a lesser extent, tobacco and [[sugarcane]]. Local food production included grain, hogs, cattle, and vegetables. The cash came from exports but the Southern people spontaneously stopped exports in early 1861 to hasten the impact of "[[King Cotton]]", a failed strategy to coerce international support for the Confederacy through its cotton exports. When the blockade was announced, commercial shipping practically ended (because the ships could not get insurance), and only a trickle of supplies came via blockade runners. The cutoff of exports was an economic disaster for the South, rendering useless its most valuable properties: its plantations and their enslaved workers. Many planters kept growing cotton, which piled up everywhere, but most turned to food production. All across the region, the lack of repair and maintenance wasted away the physical assets.

The eleven states had produced $155 million (~${{Format price|{{Inflation|index=US-GDP|value=155000000|start_year=1860}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}) in manufactured goods in 1860, chiefly from local gristmills, and lumber, processed tobacco, cotton goods and [[naval stores]] such as turpentine. The main industrial areas were border cities such as Baltimore, Wheeling, Louisville and St. Louis, that were never under Confederate control. The government did set up munitions factories in the Deep South. Combined with captured munitions and those coming via blockade runners, the armies were kept minimally supplied with weapons. The soldiers suffered from reduced rations, lack of medicines, and the growing shortages of uniforms, shoes and boots. Shortages were much worse for civilians, and the prices of necessities steadily rose.<ref>{{cite book|author=Thomas Conn Bryan|title=Confederate Georgia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oeZr20kWbiAC&pg=PA106|year=2009|publisher=University of Georgia Press|pages=105–109|isbn=978-0820334998}}</ref>

The Confederacy adopted a [[tariff]] or tax on imports of 15 percent and imposed it on all imports from other countries, including the United States.<ref>[http://docsouth.unc.edu/imls/tariff/tariff.html Tariff of the Confederate States of America, May 21, 1861].</ref> The tariff mattered little; the Union blockade minimized commercial traffic through the Confederacy's ports, and very few people paid taxes on goods smuggled from the North. The Confederate government in its entire history collected only $3.5 million in tariff revenue. The lack of adequate financial resources led the Confederacy to finance the war through printing money, which led to high inflation. The Confederacy underwent an economic revolution by centralization and standardization, but it was too little too late, as its economy was systematically strangled by blockade and raids.<ref>Parker, Philip, ed. ''Collins Atlas of Military History'' (2004), p. 98. {{ISBN|9780007166398}}. "The Confederacy underwent a government-led industrial revolution during the war, but its economy was slowly strangled."</ref>

===Transportation systems===
{{Main|Confederate railroads in the American Civil War}}
[[File:Railroad of Confederacy-1861.jpg|thumb|upright=1.78|Main railroads of Confederacy, 1861; colors show the different gauges (track width); the top railroad shown in the upper right is the Baltimore and Ohio, which was at all times a Union railroad]]
[[File:Hensie-fry-hanging-brownlow-1861.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Passers-by abused the bodies of Union supporters near [[Knoxville, Tennessee]]. The two were hanged by Confederate authorities near the railroad tracks so passing train passengers could see them.]]

In peacetime, the South's extensive and connected systems of navigable rivers and coastal access allowed for cheap and easy transportation of agricultural products. The railroad system in the South had developed as a supplement to the navigable rivers to enhance the all-weather shipment of cash crops to market. Railroads tied plantation areas to the nearest river or seaport and so made supply more dependable, lowered costs and increased profits. In the event of invasion, the vast geography of the Confederacy made logistics difficult for the Union. Wherever Union armies invaded, they assigned many of their soldiers to garrison captured areas and to protect rail lines.

At the onset of the Civil War the South had a rail network disjointed and plagued by changes in [[track gauge]] as well as lack of interchange. Locomotives and freight cars had fixed axles and could not use tracks of different gauges (widths). Railroads of different gauges leading to the same city required all freight to be off-loaded onto wagons for transport to the connecting railroad station, where it had to await freight cars and a [[locomotive#Motive power|locomotive]] before proceeding. Centers requiring off-loading included Vicksburg, New Orleans, Montgomery, Wilmington and Richmond.<ref name="Trains1">{{cite journal|last1= Hankey|first1= John P.|year= 2011|title= The Railroad War|journal= Trains|publisher= Kalmbach Publishing Company|volume= 71|issue= 3|pages= 24–35 }}</ref> In addition, most rail lines led from coastal or river ports to inland cities, with few lateral railroads. Because of this design limitation, the relatively primitive railroads of the Confederacy were unable to overcome the Union naval blockade of the South's crucial intra-coastal and river routes.

The Confederacy had no plan to expand, protect or encourage its railroads. Southerners' refusal to export the cotton crop in 1861 left railroads bereft of their main source of income.<ref>{{Cite journal |jstor = 1836241|doi = 10.2307/1836241|title = The Confederate Government and the Railroads|url = https://archive.org/details/sim_american-historical-review_1917-07_22_4/page/794|journal = The American Historical Review|volume = 22|issue = 4|pages = 794–810|year = 1917|last1 = Ramsdell|first1 = Charles W.}}</ref> Many lines had to lay off employees; many critical skilled technicians and engineers were permanently lost to military service. In the early years of the war the Confederate government had a hands-off approach to the railroads. Only in mid-1863 did the Confederate government initiate a national policy, and it was confined solely to aiding the war effort.<ref name="Ersatz">Mary Elizabeth Massey. ''Ersatz in the Confederacy'' (1952) p. 128.</ref> Railroads came under the ''de facto'' control of the military. In contrast, the U.S. Congress had authorized military administration of Union-controlled railroad and telegraph systems in January 1862, imposed a standard gauge, and built railroads into the South using that gauge. Confederate armies successfully reoccupying territory could not be resupplied directly by rail as they advanced. The C.S. Congress formally authorized military administration of railroads in February 1865.

In the last year before the end of the war, the Confederate railroad system stood permanently on the verge of collapse. There was no new equipment and raids on both sides systematically destroyed key bridges, as well as locomotives and freight cars. Spare parts were cannibalized; feeder lines were torn up to get replacement rails for trunk lines, and rolling stock wore out through heavy use.<ref>Ramsdell, "The Confederate Government and the Railroads", pp. 809–810.</ref>

====Horses and mules====
The Confederate army experienced a persistent shortage of horses and mules and requisitioned them with dubious promissory notes given to local farmers and breeders. Union forces paid in real money and found ready sellers in the South. Both armies needed horses for cavalry and for artillery.<ref>Spencer Jones, "The Influence of Horse Supply Upon Field Artillery in the American Civil War", ''Journal of Military History'', (April 2010), 74#2 pp. 357–377</ref> Mules pulled the wagons. The supply was undermined by an unprecedented epidemic of [[glanders]], a fatal disease that baffled veterinarians.<ref>{{Cite journal |jstor = 3744026|title = The Great Glanders Epizootic, 1861–1866: A Civil War Legacy|url = https://archive.org/details/sim_agricultural-history_winter-1995_69_1/page/79|journal = Agricultural History|volume = 69|issue = 1|pages = 79–97|last1 = Sharrer|first1 = G. Terry|year = 1995|pmid = 11639801}}</ref> After 1863 the invading Union forces had a policy of shooting all the local horses and mules that they did not need, in order to keep them out of Confederate hands. The Confederate armies and farmers experienced a growing shortage of horses and mules, which hurt the Southern economy and the war effort. The South lost half of its 2.5 million horses and mules; many farmers ended the war with none left. Army horses were used up by hard work, malnourishment, disease and battle wounds; they had a life expectancy of about seven months.<ref>
Keith Miller, "Southern Horse", ''Civil War Times'', (February 2006) 45#1 pp. 30–36 [https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=19359914&site=eds-live&scope=site online]
</ref>

===Financial instruments===
Both the individual Confederate states and later the Confederate government printed [[Confederate States of America dollar]]s as paper currency in various denominations, with a total face value of $1.5 billion. Much of it was signed by Treasurer [[Edward C. Elmore]]. Inflation became rampant as the paper money depreciated and eventually became worthless. The state governments and some localities printed their own paper money, adding to the runaway inflation.<ref>{{cite book |first=William J. |last=Cooper |title=Jefferson Davis, American |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j05vwNRXi-0C&pg=PA378 |year=2010 |publisher=Knopf Doubleday |page=378 |isbn=978-0307772640 }}</ref>

[[File:CSA-T25-$10-1862.jpg|thumb|The 1862 $10 [[Confederate States dollar|CSA note]] depicts a vignette of [[Hope]] flanked by [[Robert M. T. Hunter|R. M. T. Hunter]] and [[Christopher Memminger|C. G. Memminger]].]]

The Confederate government initially wanted to finance its war mostly through tariffs on imports, export taxes, and voluntary donations of gold. After the spontaneous imposition of an embargo on cotton sales to Europe in 1861, these sources of revenue dried up and the Confederacy increasingly turned to [[Government debt|issuing debt]] and printing money to pay for war expenses. The Confederate States politicians were worried about angering the general population with hard taxes. A tax increase might disillusion many Southerners, so the Confederacy resorted to printing more money. As a result, inflation increased and remained a problem for the southern states throughout the rest of the war.<ref>{{cite journal |first1=Richard |last1=Burdekin |first2=Farrokh |last2=Langdana |title=War Finance in the Southern Confederacy, 1861–1865 |journal=Explorations in Economic History |volume=30 |issue=3 |pages=352–376 |year=1993 |doi=10.1006/exeh.1993.1015 }}</ref> By April 1863, for example, the cost of flour in Richmond had risen to $100 (~${{Format price|{{Inflation|index=US|value=100|start_year=1863}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US}}) a barrel and housewives were rioting.<ref>{{cite book |first=John D. |last=Wright |title=The Language of the Civil War |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3aEJZRIxjDAC&pg=PA41 |year=2001 |page=41 |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |isbn=978-1573561358 }}</ref>

The Confederate government took over the three national mints in its territory: the [[Charlotte Mint]] in North Carolina, the [[Dahlonega Mint]] in Georgia, and the [[New Orleans Mint]] in Louisiana. During 1861 all of these facilities produced small amounts of gold coinage, and the latter half dollars as well. A lack of silver and gold precluded further coinage. The Confederacy apparently also experimented with issuing one cent coins, although only 12 were produced by a jeweler in Philadelphia, who was afraid to send them to the South. Like the half dollars, copies were later made as souvenirs.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pcgs.com/news/confederate-coinage-a-short-lived-dream|title=Confederate Coinage: A Short-lived Dream|website=PCGS}}</ref>

US coinage was hoarded and did not have any general circulation. U.S. coinage was admitted as legal tender up to $10, as were British sovereigns, [[Napoléon (coin)|French Napoleons]] and Spanish and Mexican doubloons at a fixed rate of exchange. Confederate money was paper and postage stamps.<ref>Coulter, ''The Confederate States of America'', pp. 127, 151–153</ref>

===Food shortages and riots===
{{Main|Southern bread riots}}
[[File:Apr2 richmond riot.jpg|thumb|upright|Richmond bread riot, 1863]]

By mid-1861, the Union naval blockade virtually shut down the export of cotton and the import of manufactured goods. Food that formerly came overland was cut off.

As women were the ones who remained at home, they had to make do with the lack of food and supplies. They cut back on purchases, used old materials, and planted more flax and peas to provide clothing and food. They used ersatz substitutes when possible. The households were severely hurt by inflation in the cost of everyday items like flour, and the shortages of food, fodder for the animals, and medical supplies for the wounded.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Jessica Fordham |last=Kidd |title=Privation and Pride: Life in Blockaded Alabama |journal=Alabama Heritage Magazine |year=2006 |volume=82 |pages=8–15 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Mary Elizabeth |last=Massey |title=Ersatz in the Confederacy: Shortages and Substitutes on the Southern Homefront |year=1952 |pages=71–73 }}</ref>

State governments requested that planters grow less cotton and more food, but most refused. When cotton prices soared in Europe, expectations were that Europe would soon intervene to break the blockade and make them rich, but Europe remained neutral.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Coulter|first=E. Merton|year=1927|title=The Movement for Agricultural Reorganization in the Cotton South during the Civil War|url=https://archive.org/details/sim_agricultural-history_1927-01_1_1/page/3|journal=Agricultural History|volume=1|issue=1|pages=3–17|jstor=3739261}}</ref> The Georgia legislature imposed cotton quotas, making it a crime to grow an excess. But food shortages only worsened, especially in the towns.<ref>{{cite book |first=C. Mildred |last=Thompson |title=Reconstruction In Georgia: Economic, Social, Political 1865–1872 |url=https://archive.org/details/reconstructionin00thomuoft |year=1915 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/reconstructionin00thomuoft/page/14 14]–17, 22 |publisher=New York, Columbia University Press }}</ref>

The overall decline in food supplies, made worse by the inadequate transportation system, led to serious shortages and high prices in urban areas. When bacon reached a dollar a pound in 1863, the poor women of Richmond, Atlanta and many other cities began to riot; they broke into shops and warehouses to seize food. As wives and widows of soldiers, they were hurt by the inadequate welfare system.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Stephanie |last=McCurry |title=Bread or Blood! |journal=Civil War Times |year=2011 |volume=50 |issue=3 |pages=36–41 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |first1=Teresa Crisp |last1=Williams |first2=David |last2=Williams |title='The Women Rising': Cotton, Class, and Confederate Georgia's Rioting Women |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_georgia-historical-quarterly_spring-2002_86_1/page/49 |journal=Georgia Historical Quarterly |year=2002 |volume=86 |issue=1 |pages=49–83 |jstor=40584640 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |first=Michael B. |last=Chesson |title=Harlots or Heroines? A New Look at the Richmond Bread Riot |journal=Virginia Magazine of History and Biography |volume=92 |issue=2 |year=1984 |pages=131–175 |jstor=4248710 }}</ref>

===Devastation by 1865===
By the end of the war deterioration of the Southern infrastructure was widespread. The number of civilian deaths is unknown. Every Confederate state was affected, but most of the war was fought in Virginia and Tennessee, while Texas and Florida saw the least military action. Much of the damage was caused by direct military action, but most was caused by lack of repairs and upkeep, and by deliberately using up resources. Historians have recently estimated how much of the devastation was caused by military action. Paul Paskoff calculates that Union military operations were conducted in 56% of 645 counties in nine Confederate states (excluding Texas and Florida). These counties contained 63% of the 1860 white population and 64% of the slaves. By the time the fighting took place, undoubtedly some people had fled to safer areas, so the exact population exposed to war is unknown.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Paul F. |last=Paskoff |title=Measures of War: A Quantitative Examination of the Civil War's Destructiveness in the Confederacy |journal=Civil War History |year=2008 |volume=54 |issue=1 |pages=35–62 |doi=10.1353/cwh.2008.0007 |s2cid=144929048 }}</ref>

<gallery style="float:right; text-align:center" perrow="2">
PottersHouseAtlanta1864.jpg|Potters House, Atlanta GA
Charleston ruins.jpg|Downtown Charleston SC
Virginia, Norfolk Navy Yard, Ruins of - NARA - 533292.tif|Navy Yard, Norfolk VA
Ruins of Petersburg, R.R. Bridge, Richmond, Va. April, 1865 - NARA - 528974.jpg|Rail bridge, Petersburg VA
</gallery>

The eleven Confederate States in the 1860 United States census had 297 towns and cities with 835,000 people; of these 162 with 681,000 people were at one point occupied by Union forces. Eleven were destroyed or severely damaged by war action, including Atlanta (with an 1860 population of 9,600), Charleston, Columbia, and Richmond (with prewar populations of 40,500, 8,100, and 37,900, respectively); the eleven contained 115,900 people in the 1860 census, or 14 percent of the urban South. Historians have not estimated what their actual population was when Union forces arrived. The number of people (as of 1860) who lived in the destroyed towns represented just over 1 percent of the Confederacy's 1860 population. In addition, 45 court houses were burned (out of 830). The South's agriculture was not highly mechanized. The value of farm implements and machinery in the 1860 Census was $81 million; by 1870, it had diminished by 40 percent and was worth just $48 million. Many old tools had broken through heavy use; new tools were rarely available, and even repairs were difficult.<ref name="Paskoff, Measures of War">Paskoff, "Measures of War"</ref>

The economic losses affected everyone. Most banks and insurance companies had gone bankrupt. Confederate currency and bonds were worthless. The billions of dollars invested in slaves vanished. Most debts were also left behind. Most farms were intact but had lost their horses, mules, and cattle. Paskoff shows the loss of farm infrastructure was about the same whether or not fighting took place nearby. The loss of infrastructure and productive capacity meant that rural widows throughout the region faced not only the absence of able-bodied men, but a depleted stock of material resources. During four years of warfare, disruption, and blockades, the South used up about half its capital stock.<ref name="Paskoff, Measures of War"/>

The rebuilding took years and was hindered by the low price of cotton after the war. Outside investment was essential, especially in railroads. One historian has summarized the collapse of the transportation infrastructure needed for economic recovery:<ref>{{cite book |first=John Samuel |last=Ezell |title=The South since 1865 |url=https://archive.org/details/southsince18650000ezel |year=1963 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/southsince18650000ezel/page/27 27]–28 |publisher=New York, Macmillan }}</ref>

{{Blockquote|One of the greatest calamities which confronted Southerners was the havoc wrought on the transportation system. Roads were impassable or nonexistent, and bridges were destroyed or washed away. The important river traffic was at a standstill: levees were broken, channels were blocked, the few steamboats which had not been captured or destroyed were in a state of disrepair, wharves had decayed or were missing, and trained personnel were dead or dispersed. Horses, mules, oxen, carriages, wagons, and carts had nearly all fallen prey at one time or another to the contending armies. The railroads were paralyzed, with most of the companies bankrupt. These lines had been the special target of the enemy. On one stretch of 114 miles in Alabama, every bridge and trestle was destroyed, cross-ties rotten, buildings burned, water-tanks gone, ditches filled up, and tracks grown up in weeds and bushes ... Communication centers like Columbia and Atlanta were in ruins; shops and foundries were wrecked or in disrepair. Even those areas bypassed by battle had been pirated for equipment needed on the battlefront, and the wear and tear of wartime usage without adequate repairs or replacements reduced all to a state of disintegration.}}

===Effect on women and families===
[[File:Confederate monument in Natchez, MS, Cemetery IMG 6995.JPG|thumb|right|upright=0.9|This Confederate memorial [[tombstone]] at Natchez City Cemetery is in [[Natchez, Mississippi|Natchez]], [[Mississippi]].]]

More than 250,000 Confederate soldiers died during the war. Some widows abandoned their family farms and merged into the households of relatives, or even became refugees living in camps with high rates of disease and death.<ref>{{cite book |editor-first=Lisa Tendrich |editor-last=Frank |title=Women in the American Civil War |year=2008 }}</ref> In the Old South, being an "[[Spinster|old maid]]" was an embarrassment to the woman and her family, but after the war, it became almost a norm.<ref>{{cite book |first=Drew Gilpin |last=Faust |title=Mothers of Invention: Women of the Slaveholding South in the American Civil War |year=1996 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/mothersofinventi00faus/page/139 139–152] |isbn=0-8078-2255-8 |url=https://archive.org/details/mothersofinventi00faus/page/139 |publisher=Chapel Hill : University of North Carolina Press }}</ref> Some women welcomed the freedom of not having to marry. Divorce, while never fully accepted, became more common. The concept of the "New Woman" emerged – she was self-sufficient and independent, and stood in sharp contrast to the "Southern Belle" of antebellum lore.<ref>{{cite book |first=Anya |last=Jabour |title=Scarlett's Sisters: Young Women in the Old South |url=https://archive.org/details/scarlettssisters0000jabo |publisher=U of North Carolina Press |year=2007 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/scarlettssisters0000jabo/page/273 273]–280 |isbn=978-0-8078-3101-4 }}</ref>

==National flags==
{{Main|Flags of the Confederate States of America}}
<gallery class="center" style="margin:auto" widths="140" heights="100" perrow="4" mode="packed" caption="Flags of the Confederate States of America">
CSA FLAG 4.3.1861-21.5.1861.svg|1st National Flag [7, 9, 11, 13 stars<ref>Coulter, Ellis Merton. [https://books.google.com/books?id=Z2_ZM0dWVrsC&q=stars+and+bars The Confederate States of America, 1861–1865] Retrieved 2012-06-13, published in LSU's History of the South series, on p. 118 notes that beginning in March 1861, the Stars-and-Bars was used "all over the Confederacy".</ref>] "Stars and Bars"
Second national flag of the Confederate States of America.svg|2nd National Flag [Richmond Capitol<ref>[[Sansing, David]]. [http://mshistorynow.mdah.state.ms.us/articles/107/history-of-the-confederate-flags|A Brief History of the Confederate Flags] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224053317/http://mshistorynow.mdah.state.ms.us/articles/107/history-of-the-confederate-flags%7CA |date=February 24, 2021 }} at "Mississippi History Now" online Mississippi Historical Society. Second National Flag, "the stainless banner" references, Devereaux D. Cannon, Jr., The Flags of the Confederacy, An Illustrated History (St. Lukes Press, 1988), 22–24. Section Heading "Second and Third National Flags". Retrieved October 4, 2012.</ref>] "Stainless Banner"
Confederate National Flag since Mar 4 1865.svg|3rd National Flag [never flown<ref>Sansing, David, [http://mshistorynow.mdah.state.ms.us/articles/107/history-of-the-confederate-flags|A Brief History of the Confederate Flags] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224053317/http://mshistorynow.mdah.state.ms.us/articles/107/history-of-the-confederate-flags%7CA |date=February 24, 2021 }} at "Mississippi History Now" online Mississippi Historical Socie ty. Third National Flag, "the bloodstained banner" references 19. Southern Historical Society Papers (cited hereafter as SHSP, volume number, date for the first entry, and page number), 24, 118. Section Heading "Second and Third National Flags". Retrieved October 4, 2012.</ref>] "Blood Stained Banner"
Conf Navy Jack (light blue).svg|CSA Naval Jack 1863–65{{citation needed|date=June 2021}}
Battle flag of the Confederate States of America.svg|Battle Flag "Southern Cross"<ref name=natgeo />
</gallery>
[[File:Battle flag of the Confederate States of America (Latest version).svg|thumb|This [[Flags of the Confederate States of America#Confederate flag|Confederate Battle Flag]] pattern is the one most often thought of as the Confederate Flag. It is one of many used by the Confederate armed forces. Variations of this design served as the Battle Flag of the Armies of Northern Virginia and Tennessee, and as the Confederate Naval Jack.]]

The first official flag of the Confederate States of America—called the "Stars and Bars"—originally had seven stars, representing the first seven states that initially formed the Confederacy. As more states joined, more stars were added, until the total was 13 (two stars were added for the divided states of Kentucky and Missouri). During the First Battle of Bull Run, ([[First Battle of Bull Run|First Manassas]]) it sometimes proved difficult to distinguish the Stars and Bars from the [[Flag of the United States#Historical progression of designs|Union flag]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=American Flag History {{!}} FlagandBanner.com |url=https://www.flagandbanner.com/flags/american-flag-history.asp |access-date=2025-02-16 |website=www.flagandbanner.com}}</ref> To rectify the situation, a separate "Battle Flag" was designed for use by troops in the field. Also known as the "Southern Cross", many variations sprang from the original square configuration.

Although it was never officially adopted by the Confederate government, the popularity of the Southern Cross among both soldiers and the civilian population was a primary reason why it was made the main color feature when a new national flag was adopted in 1863.<ref name=natgeo>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/how-confederate-battle-flag-became-symbol-racism|website=[[National Geographic]]|date=January 12, 2021|author=Erin Blakemore|title=How the Confederate battle flag became an enduring symbol of racism|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210217192512/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/how-confederate-battle-flag-became-symbol-racism|archive-date=February 17, 2021|url-status=dead|url-access=registration|access-date=July 21, 2022}}</ref> This new standard—known as the "Stainless Banner"—consisted of a lengthened white field area with a Battle Flag [[Canton (flag)|canton]]. This flag too had its problems when used in military operations as, on a windless day, it could easily be mistaken for a flag of truce or surrender. Thus, in 1865, a modified version of the Stainless Banner was adopted. This final national flag of the Confederacy kept the Battle Flag canton, but shortened the white field and added a vertical red bar to the fly end.

The "Confederate Flag" has a color scheme similar to that of the most common Battle Flag design, but is rectangular, not square. The "Confederate Flag" is a highly recognizable symbol of the South in the United States today and continues to be a controversial icon.

==Southern Unionism==
{{Main|Southern Unionist}}
[[File:1860-61 Secession in Appalachia by County.jpg|thumb|upright|Map of the county secession votes of 1860–1861 in Appalachia within the [[Appalachian Regional Commission|ARC]] definition. Virginia and Tennessee show the public votes, while the other states show the vote by county delegates to the conventions.]]

Unionism—opposition to the Confederacy—was strong in certain areas within the Confederate States. [[Southern Unionist]]s were widespread in the mountain regions of [[Appalachia]] and the [[Ozarks]].<ref>{{cite book |editor-first=Kenneth W. |editor-last=Noe |editor2-first=Shannon H. |editor2-last=Wilson |title=Civil War in Appalachia |year=1997 }}</ref> Unionists, led by [[Parson Brownlow]] and Senator [[Andrew Johnson]], took control of [[East Tennessee]] in 1863.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Robert Tracy |last=McKenzie |title=Contesting Secession: Parson Brownlow and the Rhetoric of Proslavery Unionism, 1860–1861 |journal=Civil War History |year=2002 |volume=48 |issue=4 |pages=294–312 |doi=10.1353/cwh.2002.0060 |s2cid=143199643 }}</ref> Unionists also attempted control over western Virginia, but never effectively held more than half of the counties that formed the new state of [[History of West Virginia#Civil War and split|West Virginia]].<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q9Lna2shH7oC&pg=PA54 |first=Richard O. |last=Curry |title=A House Divided, Statehood Politics and the Copperhead Movement in West Virginia |publisher=Univ. of Pittsburgh |year=1964 |page=8 |isbn=978-0822977513 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=James C. |last=McGregor |title=The Disruption of Virginia |year=1922 |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_px4SAAAAYAAJ |publisher=New York, The Macmillan company }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |first=David R. |last=Zimring |title='Secession in Favor of the Constitution': How West Virginia Justified Separate Statehood during the Civil War |journal=West Virginia History |year=2009 |volume=3 |issue=2 |pages=23–51 |doi=10.1353/wvh.0.0060 |s2cid=159561246 }}</ref> Union forces captured parts of [[Eastern North Carolina|coastal North Carolina]], and at first were largely welcomed by local unionists. The occupiers became perceived as oppressive, callous, radical and favorable to [[Freedman|Freedmen]]. Occupiers pillaged, freed slaves, and evicted those who refused to swear loyalty oaths to the Union.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Judkin |last=Browning |title=Removing the Mask of Nationality: Unionism, Racism, and Federal Military Occupation in North Carolina, 1862–1865 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_journal-of-southern-history_2005-08_71_3/page/589 |journal=[[Journal of Southern History]] |year=2005 |volume=71 |issue=3 |pages=589–620 |jstor=27648821 |doi=10.2307/27648821 }}</ref>

In Texas, local officials harassed and murdered Unionists. Draft resistance was widespread especially among Texans of German or Mexican descent, many of the latter leaving for Mexico. Confederate officials attempted to hunt down and kill potential draftees who had gone into hiding.<ref name="in JSTOR">{{cite journal |first=Claude |last=Elliott |title=Union Sentiment in Texas 1861–1865 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_southwestern-historical-quarterly_1947-04_50_4/page/449 |journal=Southwestern Historical Quarterly |year=1947 |volume=50 |issue=4 |pages=449–477 |jstor=30237490 }}</ref> Over 4,000 suspected Unionists were imprisoned in the Confederate States without trial.<ref>{{cite book |first=Mark E. Jr. |last=Neely |title=Southern Rights: Political Prisoners and the Myth of Confederate Constitutionalism |publisher=University Press of Virginia |year=1999 |isbn=0-8139-1894-4 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/southernrightspo0000neel }}</ref>

[[File:Jim Brownlow 1st Tennessee Cavalry Regiment (Union).jpg|thumb|upright=.8|Col. [[James P. Brownlow]], a 22-year-old cavalry colonel from Knoxville, and his regiment of Southern Unionist "mountaineers", were called "damned Tennessee Yankees" by Confederate troops.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Evans |first=David |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4vxjHOFflzcC&dq=jim+brownlow's+damned+tennessee+yankees&pg=PA28 |title=Sherman's Horsemen: Union Cavalry Operations in the Atlanta Campaign |date=March 22, 1999 |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=978-0-253-21319-8 |pages=28 |language=en-us}}</ref>]]

Up to 100,000 men living in states under Confederate control served in the [[Union Army]] or pro-Union guerilla groups. Although Southern Unionists came from all classes, most differed socially, culturally, and economically from the region's dominant pre-war [[planter class]].<ref>Scott, E. Carele. [https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/2018/12/21/southerner-vs-southerner-union-supporters-below-the-mason-dixon-line/ Southerner vs. Southerner: Union Supporters Below the Mason-Dixon Line]. ''Warfare History Network''. Retrieved December 27, 2022.</ref>

==Geography==

===Region and climate===
The Confederate States of America claimed a total of {{convert|2919|mi|km}} of coastline, thus a large part of its territory lay on the seacoast with level and often sandy or marshy ground. Most of the interior portion consisted of arable farmland, though much was also hilly and mountainous, and the far western territories were deserts. The southern reaches of the [[Mississippi River]] bisected the country, and the western half was often referred to as the [[Trans-Mississippi Theater of the American Civil War|Trans-Mississippi]]. The highest point (excluding Arizona and New Mexico) was [[Guadalupe Peak]] in Texas at {{convert|8750|ft|m}}.

[[File:Map of CSA 4.png|center|thumb|Map of the states and territories claimed by the Confederate States of America|upright=2.0]]
Much of the area had a [[humid subtropical climate]] with mild winters and long, hot, humid summers. The climate and terrain varied from vast [[swamp]]s to semi-arid [[steppe climate|steppes]] and arid [[desert climate|deserts]]. The subtropical climate made winters mild but allowed [[infectious disease]]s to flourish; on both sides more soldiers died from disease than were killed in combat.<ref name="StatsWarCost">Two-thirds of soldiers' deaths occurred due to disease. {{cite web|last=Nofi|first=Al|author-link=Albert Nofi|title=Statistics on the War's Costs|publisher=Louisiana State University|date=June 13, 2001|url=http://www.cwc.lsu.edu/other/stats/warcost.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070711050249/http://www.cwc.lsu.edu/other/stats/warcost.htm|archive-date=July 11, 2007|access-date=September 8, 2008}}
</ref>

==Demographics==
{{Further|White Southerners|Black Southerners}}

===Population===
{{Hatnote|Percentages may not total 100% because of rounding.}}
The 1860 United States census<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/prod/www/decennial.html#y1860|title=1860 Census of Population and Housing |publisher=Census.gov |date=January 7, 2009 |access-date=August 29, 2010}}</ref> gives a picture of the population for the areas that had joined the Confederacy. The population numbers exclude non-assimilated Indian tribes.

{|class="wikitable plainrowheaders sortable" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"
|-
! scope="col" | State
! scope="col" | Total population
! scope="col" | Total number of slaves
! scope="col" | Total number of households
! scope="col" | Total free population
! scope="col" | Total number slaveholders
! scope="col" | % of Free population owning slaves<ref>Calculated by dividing the number of owners (obtained via the census) by the number of free persons.</ref>
! scope="col" | % of Free families owning slaves<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://faculty.weber.edu/kmackay/selected_statistics_on_slavery_i.htm|title=Selected Statistics on Slavery in the United States|website=faculty.weber.edu|accessdate=May 3, 2023}}</ref>
! scope="col" | Slaves as % of population
! scope="col" | Total free colored
|-
! scope="row" | Alabama
| 964,201
| 435,080
| 96,603
| 529,121
| 33,730
| 6%
| 35%
| 45%
| 2,690
|- style="background: #f5f5f5;"
! scope="row" | Arkansas
| 435,450
| 111,115
| 57,244
| 324,335
| 11,481
| 4%
| 20%
| 26%
| 144
|-
! scope="row" | Florida
| 140,424
| 61,745
| 15,090
| 78,679
| 5,152
| 7%
| 34%
| 44%
| 932
|- style="background: #f5f5f5;"
! scope="row" | Georgia
| 1,057,286
| 462,198
| 109,919
| 595,088
| 41,084
| 7%
| 37%
| 44%
| 3,500
|-
! scope="row" | Louisiana
| 708,002
| 331,726
| 74,725
| 376,276
| 22,033
| 6%
| 29%
| 47%
| 18,647
|- style="background: #f5f5f5;"
! scope="row" | Mississippi
| 791,305
| 436,631
| 63,015
| 354,674
| 30,943
| 9%
| 49%
| 55%
| 773
|-
! scope="row" | North Carolina
| 992,622
| 331,059
| 125,090
| 661,563
| 34,658
| 5%
| 28%
| 33%
| 30,463
|- style="background: #f5f5f5;"
! scope="row" | South Carolina
| 703,708
| 402,406
| 58,642
| 301,302
| 26,701
| 9%
| 46%
| 57%
| 9,914
|-
! scope="row" | Tennessee
| 1,109,801
| 275,719
| 149,335
| 834,082
| 36,844
| 4%
| 25%
| 25%
| 7,300
|- style="background: #f5f5f5;"
! scope="row" | Texas
| 604,215
| 182,566
| 76,781
| 421,649
| 21,878
| 5%
| 28%
| 30%
| 355
|-
! scope="row" | Virginia<ref>Figures for Virginia include the future West Virginia</ref>
| 1,596,318
| 490,865
| 201,523
| 1,105,453
| 52,128
| 5%
| 26%
| 31%
| 58,042
|- class="sortbottom" style="background: #f9f9f9; font-weight: bold;"
! scope="row" | '''Total'''
| 9,103,332
| 3,521,110
| 1,027,967
| 5,582,222
| 316,632
| 6%
| 31%
| 39%
| 132,760
|}

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"
|-
! scope="col" | Age structure
! scope="col" | 0–14 years
! scope="col" | 15–59 years
! scope="col" | 60 years and over
|-
! scope="row" | White males
| 43%
| 52%
| 4%
|- style="background: #f5f5f5;"
! scope="row" | White females
| 44%
| 52%
| 4%
|-
! scope="row" | Male slaves
| 44%
| 51%
| 4%
|- style="background: #f5f5f5;"
! scope="row" | Female slaves
| 45%
| 51%
| 3%
|-
! scope="row" | Free black males
| 45%
| 50%
| 5%
|- style="background: #f5f5f5;"
! scope="row" | Free black females
| 40%
| 54%
| 6%
|- style="background: #f9f9f9; font-weight: bold;"
! scope="row" | '''Total population'''<ref>Rows may not add to 100% due to rounding</ref>
| 44%
| 52%
| 4%
|}

In 1860, the areas that later formed the eleven Confederate states (and including the future West Virginia) had 132,760 (2%) free blacks. Males made up 49% of the total population and females 51%.<ref>[http://mapserver.lib.virginia.edu/php/start.php?year=V1860 All data for this section taken from the University of Virginia Library, Historical Census Browser, Census Data for Year 1860] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141011024040/http://mapserver.lib.virginia.edu/php/start.php?year=V1860 |date=October 11, 2014 }}.</ref>

===Rural and urban population===
[[File:A Home on the Mississippi.png|thumb|upright=1.15|''[[A Home on the Mississippi]]'', [[Currier and Ives]], 1871]]

The CSA was overwhelmingly rural. Few towns had populations of more than 1,000—the typical [[county seat]] had a population under 500. Of the twenty largest U.S. cities in the 1860 census, only [[New Orleans]] lay in Confederate territory.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0027/tab09.txt|title=U.S. Bureau of the Census, Population of the 100 Largest Urban Places: 1860, Internet Release date: June 15, 1998|access-date=August 29, 2010}}</ref> Only 13 Confederate-controlled cities ranked among the top 100 U.S. cities in 1860, most of them ports whose economic activities vanished or suffered severely in the [[Union blockade]]. The population of Richmond swelled after it became the Confederate capital, reaching an estimated 128,000 in 1864.<ref>Dabney 1990 p. 182</ref>

The cities of the Confederacy included (by size of population):

{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="margin: auto;"
|-
! scope="col" | #
! scope="col" | City
! scope="col" | 1860 population
! scope="col" | [[List of United States metropolitan statistical areas by population|1860 U.S. rank]]
! Return to U.S. control
!Notes
|-
! scope="row" | 1.
| [[New Orleans]], Louisiana
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 1em;" | 168,675
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 1em;" | 6
| style="text-align: center; |1862
|See [[New Orleans in the American Civil War]]
|-
! scope="row" | 2.
| [[Charleston, South Carolina|Charleston]], South Carolina
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 1em;" | 40,522
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 1em;" | 22
| style="text-align: center; |1865
|See [[Charleston in the American Civil War]]
|-
! scope="row" | 3.
| [[Richmond, Virginia|Richmond]], Virginia
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 1em;" | 37,910
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 1em;" | 25
| style="text-align: center; |1865
|See [[Richmond in the Civil War|Richmond in the American Civil War]]
|-
! scope="row" | 4.
| [[Mobile, Alabama|Mobile]], Alabama
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 1em;" | 29,258
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 1em;" | 27
| style="text-align: center; |1865
|
|-
! scope="row" | 5.
| [[Memphis, Tennessee|Memphis]], Tennessee
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 1em;" | 22,623
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 1em;" | 38
| style="text-align: center; |1862
|
|-
! scope="row" | 6.
| [[Savannah, Georgia|Savannah]], Georgia
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 1em;" | 22,619
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 1em;" | 41
| style="text-align: center; |1864
|
|-
! scope="row" | 7.
| [[Petersburg, Virginia|Petersburg]], Virginia
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 1em;" | 18,266
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 1em;" | 50
| style="text-align: center; |1865
|
|-
! scope="row" | 8.
| [[Nashville, Tennessee|Nashville]], Tennessee
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 1em;" | 16,988
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 1em;" | 54
| style="text-align: center; |1862
|See [[History of Nashville, Tennessee#Civil War|Nashville in the American Civil War]]
|-
! scope="row" | 9.
| [[Norfolk, Virginia|Norfolk]], Virginia
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 1em;" | 14,620
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 1em;" | 61
| style="text-align: center; |1862
|
|-
! scope="row" | 10.
| [[Alexandria, Virginia|Alexandria]], Virginia
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 1em;" | 12,652
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 1em;" | 75
| style="text-align: center; |1861
|
|-
! scope="row" | 11.
| [[Augusta, Georgia|Augusta]], Georgia
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 1em;" | 12,493
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 1em;" | 77
| style="text-align: center; |1865
|
|-
! scope="row" | 12.
| [[Columbus, Georgia|Columbus]], Georgia
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 1em;" | 9,621
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 1em;" | 97
| style="text-align: center; |1865
|
|-
! scope="row" | 13.
| [[Atlanta]], Georgia
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 1em;" | 9,554
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 1em;" | 99
| style="text-align: center; |1864
|See [[Atlanta in the American Civil War]]
|-
! scope="row" | 14.
| [[Wilmington, North Carolina|Wilmington]], North Carolina
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 1em;" | 9,553
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 1em;" | 100
| style="text-align: center; |1865
|See [[Wilmington, North Carolina in the American Civil War]]
|}

===Religion===
{{See also|Christian views on slavery}}
[[File:St. John's Episcopal Montgomery Feb 2012 02.jpg|thumb|upright|[[St. John's Episcopal Church (Montgomery, Alabama)|St. John's Episcopal Church]], [[Montgomery, Alabama|Montgomery]]. The Secession Convention of Southern Churches was held here in 1861.]]

The CSA was overwhelmingly [[Protestant]].<ref>Randall M. Miller, Harry S. Stout, and Charles Reagan, eds. ''Religion and the American Civil War'' (1998) [https://www.amazon.com/dp/0195121295 excerpt and text search].</ref> Both free and enslaved populations identified with [[evangelical Protestantism]]. [[Baptists]] and [[Methodists]] together formed majorities of both the white and the slave population, becoming the [[Black church]]. [[Freedom of religion]] and [[separation of church and state]] were fully ensured by Confederate laws.{{cn|date=June 2025}} [[Church attendance]] was very high and chaplains played a major role in the Army.<ref>Pamela Robinson-Durso, "Chaplains in the Confederate Army." ''Journal of Church and State'' 33 (1991): 747+.</ref>

Most large denominations experienced a North–South split in the prewar era on the issue of [[slavery]]. The creation of a new country necessitated independent structures. For example, the [[Presbyterian Church in the United States]] split, with much of the new leadership provided by [[Joseph Ruggles Wilson]].<ref>W. Harrison Daniel, "Southern Presbyterians in the Confederacy." ''North Carolina Historical Review'' 44.3 (1967): 231–255. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/23517888 online]</ref> Baptists and Methodists both broke off from their Northern coreligionists over the slavery issue, forming the [[Southern Baptist Convention]] and the [[Methodist Episcopal Church, South]].<ref>W. Harrison Daniel, "The Southern Baptists in the Confederacy." ''Civil War History'' 6.4 (1960): 389–401.</ref><ref>G. Clinton Prim. "Southern Methodism in the Confederacy". ''Methodist history'' 23.4 (1985): 240–249.</ref> Elites in the southeast favored the [[Protestant Episcopal Church in the Confederate States of America]], which had reluctantly split from the [[Episcopal Church (USA)|Episcopal Church]] in 1861.<ref>Edgar Legare Pennington, "The Confederate Episcopal Church and the Southern Soldiers." ''Historical Magazine of the Protestant Episcopal Church'' 17.4 (1948): 356–383. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/42972008 online]</ref> Other elites were [[Presbyterians]] belonging to the 1861-founded [[Presbyterian Church in the United States]]. Catholics included an Irish working-class element in coastal cities and an old French element in southern Louisiana.<ref>David T. Gleeson, ''The Green and the Gray: The Irish in the Confederate States of America'' (2013).</ref><ref>Sidney J. Romero, "Louisiana Clergy and the Confederate Army". ''Louisiana History'' 2.3 (1961): 277–300. {{JSTOR|4230621}}.</ref>

The southern churches met the shortage of Army chaplains by sending missionaries. One result was wave after wave of revivals in the Army.<ref>W. Harrison Daniel, "Southern Protestantism and Army Missions in the Confederacy". ''Mississippi Quarterly'' 17.4 (1964): 179+.</ref>

==Legacy and assessment==
{{See also|Lost Cause of the Confederacy}}

===Amnesty and treason issue===
{{Main|Pardons for ex-Confederates}}

When the war ended over 14,000 Confederates petitioned President Johnson for a pardon; he was generous in giving them out.<ref>{{cite journal |first=J. T. |last=Dorris |title=Pardoning the Leaders of the Confederacy |journal=Mississippi Valley Historical Review |year=1928 |volume=15 |issue=1 |pages=3–21 |jstor=1891664 |doi=10.2307/1891664 }}</ref> He issued a general amnesty to all Confederate participants in the "late Civil War" in 1868.<ref>Johnson, Andrew. [http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=72360 "Proclamation 179 – Granting full pardon and amnesty for the offense of treason against the United States during the late Civil War"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171122185727/http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=72360 |date=November 22, 2017 }}, December 25, 1868. Accessed July 18, 2014.</ref> Congress passed additional Amnesty Acts in May 1866 with restrictions on office holding, and the [[Amnesty Act]] in May 1872 lifting those restrictions. There was a great deal of discussion in 1865 about bringing treason trials, especially against Jefferson Davis. There was no consensus in President Johnson's cabinet, and no one was charged with treason. An acquittal of Davis would have been humiliating for the government.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Roy Franklin |last=Nichols |title=United States vs. Jefferson Davis, 1865–1869 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_american-historical-review_1926-01_31_2/page/266 |journal=[[American Historical Review]] |year=1926 |volume=31 |issue=2 |pages=266–284 |jstor=1838262 |doi=10.2307/1838262 }}</ref>

Davis was indicted for treason but never tried; he was released from prison on bail in May 1867. The amnesty of December 25, 1868, eliminated any possibility of Davis standing trial for treason.<ref>{{cite book|author=Jefferson Davis|title=The Papers of Jefferson Davis: June 1865 – December 1870|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tCFFUrkgy60C&pg=PA96|year=2008|publisher=Louisiana State UP|page=96|isbn=978-0807133415}}</ref><ref>Nichols, "United States vs. Jefferson Davis, 1865–1869".</ref><ref>
* {{cite journal |jstor = 25723506|title = United States v. Jefferson Davis: Constitutional Issues in the Trial for Treason|journal = American Bar Association Journal|volume = 52|issue = 2|pages = 139–145|last1 = Deutsch|first1 = Eberhard P.|year = 1966}}
* {{cite journal |jstor = 25723552|title = United States v. Jefferson Davis: Constitutional Issues in the Trial for Treason|journal = American Bar Association Journal|volume = 52|issue = 3|pages = 263–268|last1 = Deutsch|first1 = Eberhard P.|year = 1966}}</ref>

[[Henry Wirz]], the [[commandant]] of a notorious [[prisoner-of-war]] camp near [[Andersonville, Georgia]], was convicted by a military court of charges related to cruelty and conspiracy, and executed on November 10, 1865.

The U.S. government began a decade-long process known as [[Reconstruction Era|Reconstruction]] which attempted to resolve the political and constitutional issues of the Civil War. The priorities were: to guarantee that Confederate nationalism and slavery were ended, to ratify and enforce the [[Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Thirteenth Amendment]] which outlawed slavery; the [[Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Fourteenth]] which guaranteed dual U.S. and state citizenship to all native-born residents, regardless of race; the [[Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Fifteenth]], which made it illegal to deny the right to vote because of race; and repeal each state's ordinance of secession.<ref>John David Smith, ed. ''Interpreting American History: Reconstruction'' (Kent State University Press, 2016).</ref>
By 1877, the [[Compromise of 1877]] ended Reconstruction in the former Confederate states. Federal troops were withdrawn. The war left the entire region economically devastated by military action, ruined infrastructure, and exhausted resources. Still dependent on an agricultural economy and resisting investment in infrastructure, it remained dominated by the planter elite into the next century. Democrat-dominated legislatures passed new constitutions and amendments [[Disfranchisement after Reconstruction era|to exclude]] most blacks and many poor whites. This exclusion and a weakened Republican Party remained the norm until the [[Voting Rights Act of 1965]]. The [[Solid South]] of the early 20th century did not achieve national levels of prosperity until long after [[World War II]].<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Cooper|first1=William J.|author-link1 = William J. Cooper, Jr.|last2=Terrill|first2=Tom E.|title=The American South: a history|year=2009|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers|isbn=978-0-7425-6095-6|page=xix}}</ref>
===Supreme Court rulings===
In ''[[Texas v. White]]'' (1869), the Supreme Court ruled by a 5–3 majority that Texas had remained a state ever since it first joined the Union, despite claims that it joined the Confederate States of America. The Court held that the Constitution did not permit [[United States states|a state]] to unilaterally secede.<ref>{{cite book |last=Murray |first=Robert Bruce |title=Legal Cases of the Civil War |url=https://archive.org/details/legalcasesofcivi0000murr |year=2003 |publisher=Stackpole Books |isbn=0-8117-0059-3 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/legalcasesofcivi0000murr/page/155 155]–159 }}</ref> In declaring that no state could leave the Union, "except through revolution or through consent of the States", it was "explicitly repudiating the position of the Confederate states that the United States was a voluntary compact between sovereign states".<ref>{{cite book |last=Zuczek |first=Richard |title=Encyclopedia of the Reconstruction Era |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H80eQweo0V4C&pg=PA649 |chapter=Texas v. White (1869) |year=2006 |isbn=0-313-33073-5 |page=649 |publisher=Bloomsbury }}</ref> In ''Sprott v. United States'' (1874), the Supreme Court ruled 8–1 to reaffirm its conclusion in ''White'' and held that the Confederacy's "foundation was treason" and its "single purpose, so long as it lasted, was to make that treason successful."<ref>[https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/87/459/ ''Sprott v. United States'', 87 U.S. 459, 464 (1874)]</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Treason Clause: Doctrine and Practice |url=https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution-conan/article-3/section-3/clause-1/treason-clause-doctrine-and-practice |access-date=2024-06-18 |website=LII / Legal Information Institute |language=en}}</ref>

===Theories regarding downfall===

Historian [[Frank Lawrence Owsley]] argued that the Confederacy "died of states' rights".<ref name="Frank L. Owsley 1925">{{cite book |first=Frank L. |last=Owsley |title=State Rights in the Confederacy |location=Chicago |publisher=The University of Chicago Press |year=1925 }}</ref><ref>"Thomas1979" p. 155</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Owsley |title=Local Defense and the Overthrow of the Confederacy |journal=Mississippi Valley Historical Review |volume=11 |issue=4 |year=1925 |pages=492–525 |jstor=1895910 |doi=10.2307/1895910 }}</ref> The central government was denied requisitioned soldiers and money by governors and state legislatures because they feared that Richmond would encroach on the rights of the states. Georgia's governor [[Joseph E. Brown|Joseph Brown]] warned of a secret conspiracy by Jefferson Davis to destroy states' rights and individual liberty. The first conscription act in North America, authorizing Davis to draft soldiers, was said to be the "essence of military despotism".<ref>Rable (1994) 257. For a detailed criticism of Owsley's argument see {{cite book |first1=Richard E. |last1=Beringer |first2=William N. Jr. |last2=Still |first3=Archer |last3=Jones |first4=Herman |last4=Hattaway |title=Why the South Lost the Civil War |publisher=University of Georgia Press |year=1986 |pages=443–457 }} Brown declaimed against Davis Administration policies: "Almost every act of usurpation of power, or of bad faith, has been conceived, brought forth and nurtured in secret session."</ref><ref>See also {{cite book |first=Richard |last=Beringer |display-authors=etal |title=Why the South Lost the Civil War |publisher=University of Georgia Press |year=1986 |pages=64–83, 424–457 }}</ref> [[Roger Lowenstein]] argued that the Confederacy's failure to raise adequate revenue led to [[hyperinflation]] and being unable to win a [[war of attrition]], despite the prowess of its military leadership such as [[Robert E. Lee]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Foner |first=Eric |date=March 8, 2022 |title=The Hidden Story of the North's Victory in the Civil War |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/08/books/review/ways-and-means-roger-lowenstein.html}} Review of Lowenstein, Roger, ''Ways and Means: Lincoln and His Cabinet and the Financing of the Civil War''. New York: Penguin Press, 2022.</ref>

Though political differences were within the Confederacy, no national political parties were formed because they were seen as illegitimate. "Anti-partyism became an article of political faith."<ref>Cooper (2000) p. 462. Rable (1994) pp. 2–3. Rable wrote, "But despite heated arguments and no little friction between the competing political cultures of unity and liberty, antiparty and broader fears about politics in general shaped civic life. These beliefs could obviously not eliminate partisanship or prevent Confederates from holding on to and exploiting old political prejudices ... Even the most bitter foes of the Confederate government, however, refused to form an opposition party, and the Georgia dissidents, to cite the most prominent example, avoided many traditional political activities. Only in North Carolina did there develop anything resembling a party system, and there the central values of the Confederacy's two political cultures had a far more powerful influence on political debate than did organizational maneuvering."</ref> Without a system of political parties building alternate sets of national leaders, electoral protests tended to be narrowly state-based, "negative, carping and petty". The [[1863 Confederate States House of Representatives elections|1863 mid-term elections]] became mere expressions of futile and frustrated dissatisfaction. According to historian David M. Potter, the lack of a functioning two-party system caused "real and direct damage" to the Confederate war effort since it prevented the formulation of any effective alternatives to the conduct of the war by the Davis administration.<ref>{{cite book |editor-first=David Herbert |editor-last=Donald |title=Why the North Won the Civil War |year=1996 |pages=112–113 }} Potter wrote in his contribution to this book, "Where parties do not exist, criticism of the administration is likely to remain purely an individual matter; therefore the tone of the criticism is likely to be negative, carping, and petty, as it certainly was in the Confederacy. But where there are parties, the opposition group is strongly impelled to formulate real alternative policies and to press for the adoption of these policies on a constructive basis. ... But the absence of a two-party system meant the absence of any available alternative leadership, and the protest votes which were cast in the [1863 Confederate mid-term] election became more expressions of futile and frustrated dissatisfaction rather than implements of a decision to adopt new and different policies for the Confederacy."</ref>

The enemies of President Davis proposed that the Confederacy "died of Davis". He was unfavorably compared to [[George Washington]] by critics such as [[Edward Alfred Pollard]], editor of the most influential newspaper in the Confederacy, the ''[[Richmond Examiner|Daily Richmond Examiner]]''. Beyond the early honeymoon period, Davis was never popular.<ref name="Coulter pp 105-06">Coulter, ''The Confederate States of America'', pp. 105–106</ref> [[E. Merton Coulter|Ellis Merton Coulter]], viewed by historians as a [[Lost Cause of the Confederacy|Confederate apologist]],<ref name="Bailey, 2001">Fred A. Bailey, "E. Merton Coulter", in ''Reading Southern History: Essays on Interpreters and Interpretations'', ed. Glenn Feldman (Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2001, p. 46).</ref><ref>Eric Foner, ''Freedom's Lawmakers: A Directory Of Black Officeholders During Reconstruction'', New York: Oxford University Press, 1993; Revised, Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1996, p. xii</ref><ref>Foner, ''Freedom's Lawmakers'', p. xii</ref><ref>Eric Foner, ''Black Legislators'', pp. 119–20, 180</ref> argues that Davis was unable to mobilize Confederate nationalism in support of his government effectively, and especially failed to appeal to the small farmers who made up the bulk of the population. Davis failed to build a network of supporters who would speak up when he came under criticism, and he repeatedly alienated governors and other state-based leaders by demanding centralized control of the war effort.<ref>{{cite book |first=Paul |last=Escott |title=After Secession: Jefferson Davis and the Failure of Confederate Nationalism |publisher=Louisiana State University Press |year=1992 |isbn=0-8071-1807-9 }}</ref>

==See also==
{{Div col|colwidth=20em|gap=2em}}
* [[American Civil War prison camps]]
* [[Cabinet of the Confederate States of America]]
* [[Commemoration of the American Civil War]]
* [[Commemoration of the American Civil War on postage stamps]]
* [[Confederate colonies]]
* [[Confederate Patent Office]]
* [[Confederate war finance]]
* ''[[C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America]]''
* [[History of the Southern United States]]
* [[Knights of the Golden Circle]]
* [[List of Confederate arms manufacturers]]
* [[List of Confederate arsenals and armories]]
* [[List of Confederate monuments and memorials]]
* [[List of treaties of the Confederate States of America]]
* [[List of historical separatist movements]]
* [[List of civil wars]]
* [[National Civil War Naval Museum]]
{{div col end}}
{{clear}}

==Notes==
{{notelist|30em}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

===Sources===
{{refbegin}}
* Bowman, John S. (ed). ''The Civil War Almanac'', New York: Bison Books (1983)
* Crofts, Daniel W. ''Reluctant Confederates: Upper South Unionists in the Secession Crisis''. The University of North Carolina Press (1989)
* Eicher, John H., & Eicher, David J. ''Civil War High Commands'', [[Stanford University Press]] (2001) {{ISBN|0-8047-3641-3}}
* Martis, Kenneth C. ''The Historical Atlas of the Congresses of the Confederate States of America 1861–1865'' (1994) {{ISBN|0-13-389115-1}}
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
{{Main|Bibliography of the American Civil War}}

==External links==

{{Sister project links|1=Confederate States|wikt=Confederate States of America|commonscat=yes|n=no|q=Confederate States of America|s=1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Confederate States of America|author=no|b=Confederate States Government|voy=no|v=no|d=Q81931}}

* Civil War Research & Discussion Group – [https://web.archive.org/web/20081206024047/http://fax.libs.uga.edu/canu/ ''Confederate States of Am. Army and Navy Uniforms''], 1861
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20081206024037/http://fax.libs.uga.edu/AP2xC84/ ''The Countryman'', 1862–1866], published weekly by Turnwold, Ga., edited by J.A. Turner
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090111231646/http://fax.libs.uga.edu/ccsus/ ''The Federal and the Confederate Constitution Compared'']
* [http://www.libs.uga.edu/hargrett/selections/confed/confed.html Photographs of the original Confederate Constitution] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120303004450/http://www.libs.uga.edu/hargrett/selections/confed/confed.html |date=March 3, 2012 }} and other Civil War documents owned by the [http://www.libs.uga.edu/hargrett/speccoll.html Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120429160002/http://www.libs.uga.edu/hargrett/speccoll.html |date=April 29, 2012 }} at the [http://www.libs.uga.edu/ University of Georgia Libraries].
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20081206024042/http://fax.libs.uga.edu/E468x7xM647/ ''Photographic History of the Civil War'', 10 vols., 1912.]
* [http://docsouth.unc.edu/index.html DocSouth: Documenting the American South] – numerous online text, image, and audio collections.
* The [http://cdm.bostonathenaeum.org/cdm/landingpage/collection/p16057coll14 Boston Athenæum] has over 4000 Confederate imprints, including rare books, pamphlets, government documents, manuscripts, serials, broadsides, maps, and sheet music that have been conserved and digitized.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20121024013411/http://www.library.okstate.edu/okmaps/ Oklahoma Digital Maps: Digital Collections of Oklahoma and Indian Territory]
* [https://www.loc.gov/rr/rarebook/coll/050.html Confederate States of America Collection at the Library of Congress]
* [http://www.oldmagazinearticles.com/article-summary/civil_war_religion#.Xs_0q2hKizk Religion in the CSA: ''Confederate Veteran Magazine'', May, 1922]
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Confederate States of America}}
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American Civil War

2025-07-13T19:21:58Z

Misterc1214: 1 revision imported

{{Short description|1861–1865 conflict in the United States}}
{{Pp-semi-indef}}
{{Pp-move}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}}
{{Use American English|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox military conflict
| image = {{Multiple image
| image1 = Battle of Gettysburg, by Currier and Ives.png
| caption1 = [[Battle of Gettysburg]]
| image2 = Battle of Franklin, November 30, 1864.jpg
| caption2 = [[Battle of Franklin]]
| image4 = Thure de Thulstrup - Battle of Antietam.jpg
| caption4 = [[Battle of Antietam]]
| width = 180
| perrow = 1/2/2/1
| border = infobox
| total_width = 300
| image3 = Tidball's Battery, near Fair Oaks, Va. - Lt. Robert Clarke, Capt. John C. Tidball, Lt. William N. Dennison, and Capt. Alexander C.M. Pennington.jpg
| caption3 = [[US Horse Artillery Brigade]] officers under Captain [[John Tidball]]
| image5 = Timothy H. O'Sullivan (American - A Harvest of Death - Google Art Project.jpg
| caption5 = ''[[A Harvest of Death]]''
| image6 = "Atlanta" (Confederate Ram) on James River after capture (4267033696) (cropped).jpg
| caption6 = Ironclad {{USS|Atlanta|1861|6}}
}}
| image_size = 300
| date = April 12, 1861{{snd}}May 26, 1865{{efn|name=End1|{{multiref2|{{Cite web |date=May 29, 1865 |title=End of the Rebellion; The Last Rebel Army Disbands |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1865/05/29/archives/end-of-the-rebellion-the-last-rebel-army-disbands-kirby-smith.html |url-access=subscription |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180915002358/https://www.nytimes.com/1865/05/29/archives/end-of-the-rebellion-the-last-rebel-army-disbands-kirby-smith.html |archive-date=September 15, 2018 |access-date=July 29, 2022 |website=[[The New York Times]] |agency=[[United States Department of War]]}} | {{harvnb|Robertson|1963|p=31}}. "Lee's surrender left Johnston with no place to go. On April 26, near Durham, N.C., the Army of Tennessee laid down its arms before Sherman's forces. With the surrender of isolated forces in the Trans-Mississippi West on May 4, 11, and 26, the most costly war in American history came to an end." | {{harvnb|Catton|1965|p=445}}. "[A]nd on May 26 he [E. Kirby Smith] surrendered and the war was over." | {{harvnb|Gallagher |Engle |Krick |Glatthaar|2003|p=308}}. "By 26 May, General Edward Kirby Smith had surrendered the Rebel forces in the trans-Mississippi west. The war was over." | {{harvnb|Blair|2015|p=9}}. "The sheer weight of scholarship has leaned toward portraying the surrenders of the Confederate armies as the end of the war."}}}}{{efn|name=End2|Among the many other contemporary sources and later historians citing May 26, 1865, as the end date for the American Civil War hostilities are [[George Templeton Strong]], who was a prominent New York lawyer; a founder, treasurer, and member of the Executive Committee of United States Sanitary Commission throughout the war; and a diarist. A diary excerpt is published in Gienapp, William E. (ed.). ''The Civil War and Reconstruction: A Documentary Collection.'' New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2001, pp. 313–314 {{ISBN|978-0-393-97555-0}}. A footnote in Gienapp shows the excerpt was taken from an edited version of the diaries by Allan Nevins and Milton Halsey Thomas, eds., ''The Diary of George Templeton Strong'', vol. 2 (New York: The Macmillan Company), pp. 600–601, which differs from the volume and page numbers of the original diaries; the page in Strong's original handwriting is shown at {{Cite web |title=Volume 4, pages 124–125: diary entries for May 23 (continued)–June 7, 1865. |url=https://digitalcollections.nyhistory.org/islandora/object/nyhs%3A55249 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221116151714/https://digitalcollections.nyhistory.org/islandora/object/nyhs%3A55249 |archive-date=November 16, 2022 |via=New-York Historical Society Museum & Library}}}} {{nwr|({{Age in years, months, weeks and days|month1=04|day1=12|year1=1861|month2=05|day2=26|year2=1865}})}}
| place = [[United States]], [[Atlantic Ocean]]
| result = [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] victory
| territory = Dissolution of the [[Confederate States of America]]
| combatant1 = {{flagicon|United States|1861}} [[Union (American Civil War)|United States]]
| combatant2 = {{flagcountry|Confederate States of America|1861}}
| commander1 = {{plainlist|
* {{flagicon|United States|1861}} [[Abraham Lincoln]]{{Assassinated|Assassination of Abraham Lincoln}}
* {{flagicon|United States|1861}} [[Ulysses S. Grant]]
* ''[[Military leadership in the American Civil War#The United States (The Union)|and others...]]''
}}
| commander2 = {{plainlist|
* {{flagicon|Confederate States of America|1861}} [[Jefferson Davis]]{{Surrender}}
* {{flagicon|Confederate States of America|1861}} [[Robert E. Lee]]{{Surrender}}
* ''[[Military leadership in the American Civil War#The Confederate States (The Confederacy)|and others...]]''
}}
| strength1 = {{indented plainlist|
* 698,000 at peak<ref>{{Cite web |title=Size of the Union Army in the American Civil War |url=http://www.oocities.org/littlegreenmen.geo/UASize.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160130034407/http://www.oocities.org/littlegreenmen.geo/UASize.htm |archive-date=January 30, 2016 |quote=Of which 131,000 were in the Navy and Marines, 140,000 were garrison troops and home defense militia, and 427,000 were in the field army}}</ref>
* 2,200,000 total<ref name="NationalParkService">{{Cite web |title=Facts |url=https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/facts.htm |publisher=National Park Service}}</ref>
}}
| strength2 = {{indented plainlist|
* 360,000 at peak<ref name="NationalParkService" /><ref>{{Cite web |year=1900 |title=The war of the rebellion: a compilation of the official records of the Union and Confederate armies; Series 4 – Volume 2 |url=http://ebooks.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=moawar;cc=moawar;q1=abstract;rgn=full%20text;idno=waro0128;didno=waro0128;view=image;seq=0542 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170725221244/http://ebooks.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=moawar;cc=moawar;q1=abstract;rgn=full%20text;idno=waro0128;didno=waro0128;view=image;seq=0542 |archive-date=July 25, 2017 |publisher=United States War Dept.}}</ref>
* 750,000–1,000,000 total{{sfn|Long|1971|p=705}}
}}
| casualties1 = {{indented plainlist|
* 110,000+ [[Killed in action|{{abbr|KIA|killed in action}} or {{abbr|DOW|died of wounds}}]]
* 230,000+ died from accidents or disease<ref name="Fox1889">{{Cite book |last=Fox |first=William F. |url=http://www.civilwarhome.com/foxspref.html |title=Regimental losses in the American Civil War |year=1889 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170525214736/http://www.civilwarhome.com/foxspref.html |archive-date=May 25, 2017 |url-status=usurped}}</ref><ref name="DCAS">{{Cite web |title=US Military Casualties: Principal Wars 1775–1991 |url=https://dcas.dmdc.osd.mil/dcas/app/summaryData/casualties/principalWars |website=Defence Casuality Analysis System (DCAS)}}</ref>
* 25,000–30,000 died in Confederate prisons<ref name="NationalParkService" /><ref name="Fox1889" />
* '''365,000+ total dead'''{{sfn|Chambers|Anderson|1999|p=849}}
}}
----
{{indented plainlist|
* 282,000+ wounded<ref name="DCAS" />
* 181,193 captured<ref name="Rhodes1893">{{Cite book |last=Rhodes |first=James Ford |url=http://archive.org/details/historyunitedst20unkngoog |title=History of the United States from the Compromise of 1850 |year=1893 |publisher=Harper & Bros. |location=New York |pages=507–508}}</ref>{{Efn|211,411 Union soldiers were captured, and 30,218 died in prison. The ones who died have been excluded to prevent double-counting of casualties.}}
* '''828,000+ total casualties'''
}}
| casualties2 = {{indented plainlist|
* 94,000+ [[Killed in action|{{abbr|KIA|killed in action}} or {{abbr|DOW|died of wounds}}]]<ref name="Fox1889" />
* 164,000+ died from accidents or disease <ref name="NationalParkService" />
* 26,000–31,000 died in Union prisons<ref name="DCAS" />
* '''290,000+ total dead'''
}}
----
{{indented plainlist|
* 137,000+ wounded
* 436,658 captured<ref name="Rhodes1893" />{{Efn|462,634 Confederate soldiers were captured and 25,976 died in prison. The ones who died have been excluded to prevent double-counting of casualties.}}
* '''864,000+ total casualties'''
}}
| casualties3 = {{plainlist|
* 50,000 free civilians died<ref name="Nofi2001" />
* 60,000 documented slaves, "tens of thousands" of undocumented slaves died from disease<ref>{{harvnb|Downs|2012}}. "The rough 19th century estimate was that 60,000 former slaves died from the epidemic, but doctors treating black patients often claimed that they were unable to keep accurate records due to demands on their time and the lack of manpower and resources. The surviving records only include the number of black patients whom doctors encountered; tens of thousands of other slaves had no contact with army doctors, leaving no records of their deaths."</ref>
* '''616,222<ref>Toward a Social History of the American Civil War Exploratory Essays, Cambridge University Press, 1990, p. 4.</ref>–1,000,000+ total dead'''<ref name="Hacker2011" /><ref>{{harvnb|Downs|2012}}. "An 2 April 2012 New York Times article, 'New Estimate Raises Civil War Death Toll', reports that a new study ratchets up the death toll from an estimated 650,000 to a staggering 850,000 people. As horrific as this new number is, it fails to reflect the mortality of former slaves during the war. If former slaves were included in this figure, the Civil War death toll would likely be over a million casualties ...".</ref>}}
| conflict = American Civil War
}}
{{Campaignbox American Civil War}}
{{Periods in US history}}

The '''American Civil War''' (April 12, 1861{{snd}}May 26, 1865; also known by [[Names of the American Civil War|other names]]) was a [[civil war]] in the [[United States]] between the [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]]{{Efn|The Union was the US government and included the states that remained loyal to it, both the non-slave states and the [[Border states (American Civil War)|border states]] (Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland, and Delaware) where slavery was legal. Missouri and Kentucky were also claimed by the Confederacy and given full state delegations in the Confederate Congress for the duration of the war.}} ("the North") and the [[Confederate States of America|Confederacy]] ("the South"), which was formed in 1861 by [[US state|states]] that had [[Secession in the United States|seceded]] from the Union. The [[Origins of the American Civil War|central conflict leading to war]] was a dispute over whether [[Slavery in the United States|slavery]] should be permitted to expand into the western territories, leading to more [[slave states]], or be prohibited from doing so, which many believed would place slavery on a course of ultimate extinction.<ref name="Woods2012">{{Cite journal |last=Woods |first=Michael E. |date=August 20, 2012 |title=What Twenty-First-Century Historians Have Said about the Causes of Disunion: A Civil War Sesquicentennial Review of the Recent Literature |journal=[[Journal of American History]] |volume=99 |issue=2 |pages=415–439 |doi=10.1093/jahist/jas272 |issn=0021-8723}}</ref>

[[Timeline of events leading to the American Civil War|Decades of controversy]] over slavery came to a head when [[Abraham Lincoln]], who opposed slavery's expansion, won the [[1860 presidential election]]. Seven Southern slave states responded to Lincoln's victory by seceding from the United States and forming the Confederacy. The Confederacy seized US forts and other federal assets within their borders. The war began on April 12, 1861, when the Confederacy bombarded [[Fort Sumter]] in [[South Carolina]]. A wave of enthusiasm for war swept over the North and South, as military recruitment soared. Four more Southern states seceded after the war began and, led by its president, [[Jefferson Davis]], the Confederacy asserted control over a third of the US population in eleven states. Four years of intense combat, mostly in the South, ensued.

During 1861–1862 in the [[Western theater of the American Civil War|Western theater]], the Union made permanent gains—though in the [[Eastern theater of the American Civil War|Eastern theater]] the conflict was inconclusive. The abolition of slavery became a Union war goal on January 1, 1863, when Lincoln issued the [[Emancipation Proclamation]], which declared all slaves in rebel states to be free, applying to more than 3.5 million of the 4 million enslaved people in the country. To the west, the Union first destroyed the Confederacy's river navy by the summer of 1862, then much of its western armies, and [[Capture of New Orleans|seized New Orleans]]. The successful 1863 Union [[siege of Vicksburg]] split the Confederacy in two at the [[Mississippi River]], while Confederate general [[Robert E. Lee]]'s incursion north failed at the [[Battle of Gettysburg]]. Western successes led to General [[Ulysses S. Grant]]'s command of all Union armies in 1864. Inflicting an ever-tightening [[Union blockade|naval blockade]] of Confederate ports, the Union marshaled resources and manpower to attack the Confederacy from all directions. This led to the [[fall of Atlanta]] in 1864 to Union general [[William Tecumseh Sherman]], followed by his [[Sherman's March to the Sea|March to the Sea]], which culminated in his taking [[Savannah, Georgia|Savannah]]. The last significant battles raged around the ten-month [[Siege of Petersburg]], gateway to the Confederate capital of [[Richmond, Virginia|Richmond]]. The Confederates abandoned Richmond, and on April 9, 1865, Lee surrendered to Grant following the [[Battle of Appomattox Court House]], setting in motion the [[conclusion of the American Civil War|end of the war]].{{Efn|Appomattox is often referred to as the [[conclusion of the American Civil War|end of the war]], although different dates for the war's conclusion have been considered. (See, Vorenberg, Michael. ''Lincoln's Peace: The Struggle to End the American Civil War''. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2025.) Lee's surrender to Grant set off a wave of Confederate surrenders. The last military department of the Confederacy, the [[Trans-Mississippi Department]] disbanded on May 26.}} Lincoln lived to see this victory but [[Assassination of Abraham Lincoln|was shot by an assassin]] on April 14, dying the next day.

By the end of the war, much of the South's infrastructure had been destroyed. The Confederacy collapsed, slavery was abolished, and four million enslaved black people were freed. The war-torn nation then entered the [[Reconstruction era]] in an attempt to rebuild the country, bring the former Confederate states back into the United States, and grant [[civil rights]] to freed slaves. The war is one of the most extensively studied and [[Bibliography of the American Civil War|written about]] episodes in the [[history of the United States]]. It remains the subject of cultural and [[Historiographic issues about the American Civil War|historiographical debate]]. Of continuing interest is the myth of the [[Lost Cause of the Confederacy]]. The war was among the first to use [[industrial warfare]]. Railroads, the [[electrical telegraph]], steamships, the [[ironclad warship]], and mass-produced weapons were widely used. The war left an estimated 698,000 soldiers dead, along with an undetermined number of civilian casualties, making the Civil War the deadliest military conflict in American history.{{Efn|This assumes that Union and Confederate casualties are counted together; more Americans were killed in [[World War II]] than in either the Union or Confederate Armies if their casualty totals are counted separately.}} The technology and brutality of the Civil War foreshadowed the coming [[world war]]s.

== Origins ==
{{Main|Origins of the American Civil War}}
{{Further|Timeline of events leading to the American Civil War|Slave states and free states|Slavery in the United States|Abolitionism in the United States}}

The origins of the war were rooted in the desire of the [[Southern United States|Southern states]] to preserve the [[Slavery in the United States|institution of slavery]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Woods |first=M. E. |date=August 20, 2012 |title=What Twenty-First-Century Historians Have Said about the Causes of Disunion: A Civil War Sesquicentennial Review of the Recent Literature |url=https://doi.org/10.1093/jahist/jas272 |journal=[[Journal of American History]] |volume=99 |issue=2 |pages=415–439 |doi=10.1093/jahist/jas272 |issn=0021-8723}}</ref> Historians in the 21st century overwhelmingly agree on the centrality of slavery in the conflict—at least for the Southern states. They disagree on which aspects (ideological, economic, political, or social) were most important, and on the [[Union (American Civil War)|North]]'s reasons for refusing to allow the Southern states to secede.<ref>Aaron Sheehan-Dean, "A Book for Every Perspective: Current Civil War and Reconstruction Textbooks", ''Civil War History'' (2005) 51#3 pp. 317–324</ref> The pseudo-historical [[Lost Cause]] ideology denies that slavery was the principal cause of the secession, a view disproven by historical evidence, notably some of the seceding states' own [[Ordinance of Secession|secession documents]].<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Loewen |first=James W. |date=2011 |title=Using Confederate Documents to Teach About Secession, Slavery, and the Origins of the Civil War |magazine=OAH Magazine of History |volume=25 |issue=2 |pages=35–44 |doi=10.1093/oahmag/oar002 |jstor=23210244 |issn=0882-228X |quote=Confederate leaders themselves made it plain that slavery was the key issue sparking secession.}}</ref> After leaving the Union, Mississippi issued a declaration stating, "Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery—the greatest material interest of the world."<ref name="Coates-2015">{{cite news |last1=Coates |first1=Ta-Nehisi |title=What This Cruel War Was Over |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/06/what-this-cruel-war-was-over/396482/ |work=The Atlantic |date=June 23, 2015 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20171031234944/https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/06/what-this-cruel-war-was-over/396482/ |archive-date=October 31, 2017 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=A Declaration of the Immediate Causes which Induce and Justify the Secession of the State of Mississippi from the Federal Union. |work=The Declaration of Causes of Seceding States |url=https://www.battlefields.org/learn/primary-sources/declaration-causes-seceding-states#South_Carolina |via=American Battlefield Trust |access-date=September 12, 2024 |year=1861}}</ref>

The principal political battle leading to Southern secession was over whether slavery would expand into the Western territories destined to become states. Initially [[United States Congress|Congress]] had admitted new states into the Union in pairs, [[Slave states and free states|one slave and one free]]. This had kept a sectional balance in the [[United States Senate|Senate]] but not in the [[United States House of Representatives|House of Representatives]], as free states outstripped slave states in numbers of eligible voters.<ref name="O'Brien2002qs">{{cite book |author=Patrick Karl O'Brien |title=Atlas of World History |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ffZy5tDjaUkC&pg=PA184 |year=2002 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-521921-0 |page=184 |access-date=October 25, 2015 |archive-date=September 5, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905202421/https://books.google.com/books?id=ffZy5tDjaUkC&pg=PA184 |url-status=live}}</ref> Thus, at mid-19th century, the free-versus-slave status of the new territories was a critical issue, both for the North, where anti-slavery sentiment had grown, and for the South, where the fear of slavery's [[Abolitionism in the United States|abolition]] had grown. Another factor leading to secession and the formation of the [[Confederate States of America|Confederacy]] was the development of [[white Southerners|white Southern]] nationalism in the preceding decades.<ref>John McCardell, ''The Idea of a Southern Nation: Southern Nationalists and Southern Nationalism, 1830–1860'' (1981)</ref> The primary reason for the North to reject secession was to preserve the Union, a cause based on [[American nationalism]].<ref>Susan-Mary Grant, ''North Over South: Northern Nationalism and American Identity in the Antebellum Era'' (2000)</ref>

Background factors in the run up to the Civil War were [[Second Party System|partisan politics]], [[Abolitionism in the United States|abolitionism]], [[Nullification (US Constitution)|nullification]] versus [[Secession in the United States|secession]], Southern and Northern nationalism, [[Manifest destiny|expansionism]], [[Panic of 1857|economics]], and modernization in the [[antebellum period]]. As a panel of historians emphasized in 2011, "while slavery and its various and multifaceted discontents were the primary cause of disunion, it was disunion itself that sparked the war."<ref>[[Elizabeth R. Varon]], Bruce Levine, Marc Egnal, and Michael Holt at a plenary session of the organization of American Historians, March 17, 2011, reported by David A. Walsh "Highlights from the 2011 Annual Meeting of the Organization of American Historians in Houston, Texas" [http://www.hnn.us/articles/137673.html HNN online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111204081355/http://hnn.us/articles/137673.html |date=December 4, 2011 }}</ref>

=== Lincoln's election ===
{{Main|1860 United States presidential election}}
[[File:Abraham Lincoln 1860.jpg|thumb|''Portrait of Abraham Lincoln'', an 1860 photograph portrait of [[Abraham Lincoln]] by [[Mathew Brady]]|alt=Portrait of the middle-aged Abraham Lincoln the year of 1860 by Mathew Brady]]
[[Abraham Lincoln]] won the [[1860 presidential election]].{{sfn|Potter|Fehrenbacher|1976|p=485}} Southern leaders feared Lincoln would stop slavery's expansion and put it on a course toward extinction.{{sfn|McPherson|1988|pp=254–255}} His victory triggered declarations of [[secession in the United States|secession]] by seven slave states of the [[Deep South]], all of whose riverfront or coastal economies were based on cotton that was cultivated by slave labor.

Lincoln was not inaugurated until March 4, 1861, four months after his 1860 election, which afforded the South time to prepare for war.<ref name="NegativesPrints">{{Cite web |title=1861 Time Line |url=https://www.loc.gov/collections/civil-war-glass-negatives/articles-and-essays/time-line-of-the-civil-war/1861 |access-date=January 22, 2022 |website=Civil War Glass Negatives and Related Prints |publisher=Library of Congress}}</ref> Nationalists in the North and "Unionists" in the South refused to accept the declarations of secession, and no foreign government ever recognized the [[Confederate States of America|Confederacy]]. The [[US government]], under President [[James Buchanan]], refused to relinquish the nation's forts, which the Confederacy claimed were located in their territory.

According to Lincoln, the American people had demonstrated, beginning with their victory in the [[American Revolution]] and [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]] and subsequent establishment of a sovereign nation, that they could successfully establish and administer a republic. Yet, Lincoln believed, a question remained unanswered: Could the nation be maintained as a republic, where its government was selected based on the people's vote, given ongoing internal attempts to destroy or separate from such a system.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Jaffa |first=Harry V. |title=A New Birth of Freedom: Abraham Lincoln and the Coming of the Civil War |year=2004 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-0-8476-9953-7 |page=1}}</ref>

== Outbreak of the war ==
=== Secession crisis ===
{{Main|Ordinance of Secession}}
[[File:US Secession map 1861.svg|thumb|upright=1.35|{{center|'''Status of the states, 1861'''}} {{legend|#A40000| Slave states that seceded before April 15, 1861}} {{legend|#EF2929| Slave states that seceded after April 15, 1861}} {{legend|#FCE94F| Border Southern states that permitted slavery but did not secede (both KY and MO had dual competing Confederate and Unionist governments)}} {{legend|#204A87| Union states that banned slavery}} {{legend|#D3D7CF| Territories}}|alt=Map of US showing two kinds of Union states, two phases of secession and territories]]

Lincoln's election provoked [[South Carolina in the American Civil War|South Carolina]]'s legislature to call a state convention to consider secession. South Carolina had done more than any other state to advance the notion that a state had the right to [[Nullification crisis|nullify]] federal laws and even secede. On December 20, 1860, the convention unanimously voted to secede and adopted [[South Carolina Declaration of Secession|a secession declaration]]. It argued for states' rights for slave owners but complained about states' rights in the North in the form of resistance to the federal Fugitive Slave Act, claiming that Northern states were not fulfilling their obligations to assist in the return of fugitive slaves. The "cotton states" of [[Mississippi in the American Civil War|Mississippi]], [[Florida in the American Civil War|Florida]], [[Alabama in the American Civil War|Alabama]], [[Georgia in the American Civil War|Georgia]], [[Louisiana in the American Civil War|Louisiana]], and [[Texas in the American Civil War|Texas]] followed suit, seceding in January and February 1861.<ref name="NegativesPrints" />

[[File:US map 1864 Civil War divisions.svg|thumb|Division of the states during the American Civil War:
{{legend|#204A87|[[Union (American Civil War)|Union]]}}
{{legend|#A40000|[[Confederate States of America|Confederacy]]}}
{{legend|#729FCF|[[Border states (American Civil War)|Border states]]}}
{{legend|#949494|[[Territories of the United States|Territories]]}}|
alt=Division of the states during the American Civil War: Union, Confederacy, border states, and territories]]
Among the ordinances of secession, those of Texas, Alabama, and Virginia mentioned the plight of the "slaveholding states" at the hands of Northern abolitionists. The rest made no mention of slavery but were brief announcements by the legislatures of the dissolution of ties to the Union.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ordinances of Secession of the 13 Confederate States of America |url=http://www.civil-war.net/pages/ordinances_secession.asp |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040611023102/http://civil-war.net/pages/ordinances_secession.asp |archive-date=June 11, 2004 |access-date=November 28, 2012}}</ref> However, at least four—South Carolina,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Confederate States of America – Declaration of the Immediate Causes which Induce and Justify the Secession of South Carolina from the Federal Union |url=http://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/csa_scarsec.asp |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190220121942/http://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/csa_scarsec.asp |archive-date=February 20, 2019 |access-date=November 28, 2012 |website=The Avalon Project}}</ref> Mississippi,<ref>{{Cite web |title=A Declaration of the Immediate Causes which Induce and Justify the Secession of the State of Mississippi from the Federal Union |url=http://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/csa_missec.asp |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141010225636/http://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/csa_missec.asp |archive-date=October 10, 2014 |access-date=November 28, 2012 |website=The Avalon Project}}</ref> Georgia,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Confederate States of America – Georgia Secession |url=http://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/csa_geosec.asp |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110714154731/http://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/csa_geosec.asp |archive-date=July 14, 2011 |access-date=November 28, 2012 |website=The Avalon Project}}</ref> and Texas<ref>{{Cite web |title=Confederate States of America – A Declaration of the Causes which Impel the State of Texas to Secede from the Federal Union |url=http://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/csa_texsec.asp |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110811013053/http://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/csa_texsec.asp |archive-date=August 11, 2011 |access-date=November 28, 2012 |website=The Avalon Project}}</ref>—provided detailed reasons for their secession, all blaming the movement to abolish slavery and its influence over the North. Southern states believed that the [[Fugitive Slave Clause]] made slaveholding a constitutional right. These states agreed to form a new federal government, the [[Confederate States of America]], on February 4, 1861.{{sfn|McPherson|1988|p=24}} They took control of federal forts and other properties within their boundaries, with little resistance from outgoing president [[James Buchanan]], whose term ended on March 4. Buchanan said the [[Dred Scott decision]] was proof the Southern states had no reason to secede and that the Union "was intended to be perpetual". He added, however, that "The power by force of arms to compel a State to remain in the Union" was not among the "enumerated powers granted to Congress".<ref name="Buchanan1860" /> A quarter of the US army—the Texas garrison—was surrendered in February to state forces by its general, [[David E. Twiggs]], who joined the Confederacy.{{sfn|Winters|1963|p=28}}

As Southerners resigned their Senate and House seats, Republicans could pass projects that had been blocked. These included the [[Morrill Tariff]], land grant colleges, a [[Homestead Acts#Homestead Act of 1862|Homestead Act]], a transcontinental railroad,<ref>{{Cite web |year=1865 |title=Profile Showing the Grades upon the Different Routes Surveyed for the Union Pacific Rail Road Between the Missouri River and the Valley of the Platte River |url=http://www.wdl.org/en/item/4608/ |access-date=July 16, 2013 |publisher=[[World Digital Library]]}}</ref> the [[National Bank Act]], authorization of [[United States Note]]s by the [[Legal Tender Act of 1862]], the end of [[District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act|slavery in the District of Columbia]], and a ban on slavery in the territories.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.freedmen.umd.edu/freeterr.htm | title=Emancipation in the Federal Territories, June 19, 1862 }}</ref> The [[Revenue Act of 1861]] introduced [[income tax]] to help finance the war.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Abraham Lincoln imposes first federal income tax |url=https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/lincoln-imposes-first-federal-income-tax |access-date=June 12, 2021 |website=History.com|date=November 16, 2009 }}</ref>

[[File:President-Jefferson-Davis.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|left|[[Jefferson Davis]], [[President of the Confederate States of America]] (1861–1865)|alt=Middle-aged man in a goatee posed standing in a suit, vest and bowtie]]

In December 1860, the [[Crittenden Compromise]] was proposed to re-establish the [[Missouri Compromise]] line, by constitutionally banning slavery in territories to the north of it, while permitting it to the south. The Compromise would likely have prevented secession, but Lincoln and the Republicans rejected it.{{sfn|McPherson|1988|pp=252–254}} Lincoln stated that any compromise that would extend slavery would bring down the Union.{{sfn|McPherson|1988|p=253}} A [[Peace Conference of 1861|February peace conference]] met in Washington, proposing a solution similar to the Compromise; it was rejected by Congress. The Republicans proposed the [[Corwin Amendment]], an alternative, not to interfere with slavery where it existed, but the South regarded it as insufficient. The remaining eight slave states rejected pleas to join the Confederacy, following a no-vote in Virginia's First Secessionist Convention on April 4.{{sfn|McPherson|1988|pp=234–266}}

On March 4, Lincoln was sworn in as president. In his [[inaugural address]], he argued that the Constitution was a ''[[Preamble to the United States Constitution|more perfect union]]'' than the earlier [[Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union]], was a binding contract, and called secession "legally void".<ref name="Lincoln1861" /> He did not intend to invade Southern states, nor to end slavery where it existed, but he said he would use force to maintain possession of federal property,<ref name="Lincoln1861" /> including forts, arsenals, mints, and customhouses that had been seized.{{sfn|McPherson|1988|p=262}} The government would not try to recover post offices, and if resisted, mail delivery would end at state lines. Where conditions did not allow peaceful enforcement of federal law, US marshals and judges would be withdrawn. No mention was made of bullion lost from mints. He stated that it would be US policy "to collect the duties and imposts"; "there will be no invasion, no using of force against or among the people anywhere" that would justify an armed revolution. His speech closed with a plea for restoration of the bonds of union, famously calling on "the mystic chords of memory" binding the two regions.<ref name="Lincoln1861" />

The Davis government of the new Confederacy sent delegates to Washington to negotiate a peace treaty. Lincoln rejected negotiations, because he claimed that the Confederacy was not a legitimate government and to make a treaty with it would recognize it as such.{{sfn|Potter|Fehrenbacher|1976|pp=572–573}} Lincoln instead attempted to negotiate directly with the governors of seceded states, whose administrations he continued to recognize.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Harris |first=William C. |date=Winter 2000 |title=The Hampton Roads Peace Conference: A Final Test of Lincoln's Presidential Leadership |url=http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.2629860.0021.104 |journal=Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association |volume=21 |issue=1 |pages=30–61 |doi=10.5406/19457987.21.1.04 |issn=1945-7987 |hdl=2027/spo.2629860.0021.104|hdl-access=free }}</ref>

Complicating Lincoln's attempts to defuse the crisis was Secretary of State [[William H. Seward]], who had been Lincoln's rival for the Republican [[presidential nominee|nomination]]. Embittered by his defeat, Seward agreed to support Lincoln's candidacy only after he was guaranteed the executive office then considered the second most powerful. In the early stages of Lincoln's presidency Seward held little regard for him, due to his perceived inexperience. Seward viewed himself as the de facto head of government, the "[[prime minister]]" behind the throne. Seward attempted to engage in unauthorized and indirect negotiations that failed.{{sfn|Potter|Fehrenbacher|1976|pp=572–573}} Lincoln was determined to hold all remaining Union-occupied forts in the Confederacy: [[Fort Monroe]] in Virginia, [[Fort Pickens]], [[Fort Jefferson (Florida)|Fort Jefferson]], and [[Fort Taylor]] in Florida, and [[Fort Sumter]] in South Carolina.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hardyman |first=Robyn |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D11iDwAAQBAJ |title=What Caused the Civil War? |year=2016 |publisher=Gareth Stevens |isbn=978-1-4824-5180-1 |page=27}}</ref>

=== Battle of Fort Sumter ===
{{Main|Battle of Fort Sumter}}
{{See also|Proclamation 80}}
[[File:Sumter.jpg|alt=Artwork Despite him stone fort at center surrounded by water. The fort is on fire, and shells explode in the air above it.|thumb|The Battle of Fort Sumter, as depicted by [[Currier and Ives]]]]

The American Civil War began on April 12, 1861, when Confederate forces opened fire on the Union-held Fort Sumter. Fort Sumter is located in the harbor of [[Charleston in the American Civil War|Charleston]], South Carolina.{{Sfn|McPherson|1988|p=264}} Its status had been contentious for months. Outgoing president Buchanan had dithered in reinforcing its garrison, commanded by Major [[Robert Anderson (Union officer)|Robert Anderson]]. Anderson took matters into his own hands and on December 26, 1860, under the cover of darkness, sailed the garrison from the poorly placed [[Fort Moultrie]] to the stalwart island Fort Sumter.{{Sfn|McPherson|1988|p=265}} Anderson's actions catapulted him to hero status in the North. An attempt to resupply the fort on January 9, 1861, failed and nearly started the war then, but an informal truce held.{{Sfn|McPherson|1988|p=266}} On March 5, Lincoln was informed the fort was low on supplies.{{Sfn|McPherson|1988|p=267}}

Fort Sumter proved a key challenge to Lincoln's administration.{{Sfn|McPherson|1988|p=267}} Back-channel dealing by Seward with the Confederates undermined Lincoln's decision-making; Seward wanted to pull out.{{Sfn|McPherson|1988|p=268}} But a firm hand by Lincoln tamed Seward, who was a staunch Lincoln ally. Lincoln decided holding the fort, which would require reinforcing it, was the only workable option. On April 6, Lincoln informed the Governor of South Carolina that a ship with food but no ammunition would attempt to supply the fort. Historian McPherson describes this win-win approach as "the first sign of the mastery that would mark Lincoln's presidency"; the Union would win if it could resupply and hold the fort, and the South would be the aggressor if it opened fire on an unarmed ship supplying starving men.{{Sfn|McPherson|1988|p=272}} An April 9 Confederate cabinet meeting resulted in Davis ordering General [[P. G. T. Beauregard]] to take the fort before supplies reached it.{{Sfn|McPherson|1988|p=273}}

At 4:30 a.m. on April 12, Confederate forces fired the first of 4,000 shells at the fort; it fell the next day. The loss of Fort Sumter lit a patriotic fire under the North.{{Sfn|McPherson|1988|pp=273–274}} On April 15, [[Proclamation 80|Lincoln called on the states to field 75,000 militiamen]] for 90 days; impassioned Union states met the quotas quickly.{{sfn|McPherson|1988|p=274}} On May 3, 1861, Lincoln called for an additional 42,000 volunteers for three years.<ref name="Presidency.ucsb.edu" />{{sfn|McPherson|1988|p=278}} Shortly after this, [[Virginia in the American Civil War|Virginia]], [[Tennessee in the American Civil War|Tennessee]], [[Arkansas in the American Civil War|Arkansas]], and [[North Carolina in the American Civil War|North Carolina]] seceded and joined the Confederacy. To reward Virginia, the Confederate capital was moved to [[Richmond, Virginia|Richmond]].{{sfn|McPherson|1988|pp=276–307}}

=== Attitude of the border states ===
{{Main|Border states (American Civil War)}}
[[File:US Secession map 1863.svg|thumb|upright=1.35|US secession map, showing the [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] and the [[Confederate States of America|Confederacy]]
{{legend|#1A3E7A| Union states}}
{{legend|#00cdff| Union territories not permitting slavery}}
{{legend|#ffff00| Southern [[Border states (American Civil War)|Border Union states, permitting slavery]]}}

(One of these states, [[West Virginia]], was created in 1863, while KY, WV and MO had dual competing Confederate and Unionist governments)
{{legend|#D40000| Confederate states}}
{{legend|#D7B03A| Union territories that permitted slavery (claimed by Confederacy) at the start of the war, but where slavery was outlawed by the US in 1862}}]]

[[Maryland]], [[Delaware]], [[Missouri]], [[West Virginia]] and [[Kentucky]] were slave states whose people had divided loyalties to Northern and Southern businesses and family members. Some men enlisted in the [[Union Army]] and others in the Confederate Army.{{sfn|Jones|2011|pp=203–204}} [[West Virginia]] separated from [[Virginia]] and was admitted to the [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] on June 20, 1863, though half its counties were secessionist.{{sfn|Jones|2011|p=21}}

Maryland's territory surrounded [[Washington, D.C., in the American Civil War|Washington, D.C.]], and could cut it off from the North.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Civil War and the Maryland General Assembly |url=http://msa.maryland.gov/msa/stagser/s1259/121/7590/html/0000.html |access-date=May 28, 2017 |website=Maryland State Archives}}</ref> It had anti-Lincoln officials who tolerated anti-army [[Baltimore riot of 1861|rioting in Baltimore]] and the burning of bridges, both aimed at hindering the passage of troops to the South. Maryland's legislature voted overwhelmingly to stay in the Union, but rejected hostilities with its southern neighbors, voting to close Maryland's rail lines to prevent their use for war.<ref name="MarylandArchives2005">{{Cite web |year=2005 |title=Teaching American History in Maryland – Documents for the Classroom: ''Arrest of the Maryland Legislature, 1861'' |url=http://teachingamericanhistorymd.net/000001/000000/000017/html/t17.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080111110628/http://teachingamericanhistorymd.net/000001/000000/000017/html/t17.html |archive-date=January 11, 2008 |access-date=February 6, 2008 |publisher=Maryland State Archives}}</ref> Lincoln responded by establishing [[martial law]] and unilaterally suspending [[habeas corpus]] in Maryland, along with sending in militia units.{{sfn|McPherson|1988|pp=284–287}} Lincoln took control of Maryland and the District of Columbia by seizing prominent figures, including arresting one-third of the members of the [[Maryland General Assembly]] on the day it reconvened.<ref name="MarylandArchives2005" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Harris |first=William C. |title=Lincoln and the Border States: Preserving the Union |year=2011 |publisher=University Press of Kansas |page=71}}</ref> All were held without trial, with Lincoln ignoring a ruling on June 1, 1861, by Supreme Court Chief Justice [[Roger Taney]], not speaking for the Court,{{efn|Historians disagree as to whether Roger Taney heard ''Ex parte Merryman'' as a US circuit judge or as a Supreme Court justice in chambers.<ref>{{Cite book |last=White |first=Jonathan W. |title=Abraham Lincoln and Treason in the Civil War: The Trials of John Merryman |year=2011 |publisher=Louisiana State University Press |location=Baton Rouge |pages=38–39}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Vladeck |first=Stephen I. |author-link=Steve Vladeck |date=Summer 2007 |title=The Field Theory: Martial Law, The Suspension Power, and The Insurrection Act |url=https://www.templelawreview.org/article/80-2_vladeck/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220927142538/https://www.templelawreview.org/article/80-2_vladeck/ |archive-date=September 27, 2022 |magazine=Temple Law Review |page=391, n. 2 |volume=80 |issue=2}}</ref>}} that only Congress could suspend habeas corpus (''[[Ex parte Merryman]]''). Federal troops imprisoned a Baltimore newspaper editor, [[Frank Key Howard]], after he criticized Lincoln in an editorial for ignoring Taney's ruling.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Howard |first=F. K. |url=https://archive.org/details/fourteenmonthsin00inhowa |title=Fourteen Months in American Bastiles |year=1863 |publisher=H. F. Mackintosh |location=London |access-date=August 18, 2014}}</ref>

In Missouri, an [[Missouri Constitutional Convention of 1861–1863|elected convention]] on secession voted to remain in the Union. When pro-Confederate Governor [[Claiborne Fox Jackson]] called out the state militia, it was attacked by federal forces under General [[Nathaniel Lyon]], who chased the governor and rest of the State Guard to the southwestern corner of Missouri (see [[Missouri secession]]). Early in the war the Confederacy controlled southern Missouri through the [[Confederate government of Missouri]] but was driven out after 1862. In the resulting vacuum, the convention on secession reconvened and took power as the Unionist provisional government of Missouri.<ref name="Nevins1959 pp. 119–129" />

Kentucky did not secede, it declared itself neutral. When Confederate forces entered in September 1861, neutrality ended and the state reaffirmed its Union status while maintaining slavery. During an invasion by Confederate forces in 1861, Confederate sympathizers and delegates from 68 Kentucky counties organized the secession Russellville Convention, formed the shadow [[Confederate Government of Kentucky]], inaugurated a governor, and Kentucky was admitted into the Confederacy on December 10, 1861. Its jurisdiction extended only as far as Confederate battle lines in the Commonwealth, which at its greatest extent was over half the state, and it went into exile after October 1862.<ref name="Nevins1959 pp. 129–136" />

After Virginia's secession, a [[Restored Government of Virginia|Unionist government]] in [[Wheeling, West Virginia|Wheeling]] asked 48 counties to vote on an ordinance to create a new state in October 1861. A voter turnout of 34% approved the statehood bill (96% approving).<ref>{{Cite web |title=A State of Convenience, The Creation of West Virginia |url=http://www.wvculture.org/History/statehood/statehood10.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120518153656/http://www.wvculture.org/History/statehood/statehood10.html |archive-date=May 18, 2012 |access-date=April 20, 2012 |publisher=West Virginia Archives & History}}</ref> Twenty-four secessionist counties were included in the new state,<ref name="Curry1964" /> and the ensuing guerrilla war engaged about 40,000 federal troops for much of the war.{{sfn|McPherson|1988|p=303}}{{sfn|Weigley|2004|p=55}} Congress admitted West Virginia to the Union on June 20, 1863. West Virginians provided about 20,000 soldiers to each side in the war.<ref name="Snell2011" /> A Unionist secession attempt occurred in [[East Tennessee]], but was suppressed by the Confederacy, which arrested over 3,000 men suspected of loyalty to the Union; they were held without trial.{{sfn|Neely|1993|pp=10–11}}

== War ==
{{See also|List of American Civil War battles|Military leadership in the American Civil War}}
The Civil War was marked by intense and frequent battles. Over four years, 237 named battles were fought, along with many smaller actions, often characterized by their bitter intensity and high casualties. Historian [[John Keegan]] described it as "one of the most ferocious wars ever fought", where in many cases the only target was the enemy's soldiers.<ref>{{harvnb|Keegan|2009|p=73.}} "Over 10,000 military engagements took place during the war, 40 percent of them in Virginia and Tennessee."</ref><ref>Gabor Boritt (ed.). ''War Comes Again'' (1995), p. 247.</ref>

=== Mobilization ===
{{See also|Economic history of the American Civil War}}

[[File:Anti Civil War Draft Rioters in Lexington Avenue New York 1863.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|Rioters attacking a building during the [[New York City draft riots|New York anti-draft riots]] of 1863|alt=Building on fire as rioters look on, one holds a sign that says "no draft"]]

As the Confederate states organized, the US Army numbered 16,000, while Northern governors began mobilizing their militias.<ref>{{Cite book |title=American Military History |pages=199–221 |chapter=The Civil War, 1861 |quote=With an actual strength of 1,080 officers and 14,926 enlisted men on June 30, 1860, the Regular Army... |chapter-url=http://www.history.army.mil/html/bookshelves/resmat/civil_war/extracts/the_civil_war_1861_(pg_199-221).pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121017195124/http://www.history.army.mil/html/bookshelves/resmat/civil_war/extracts/the_civil_war_1861_(pg_199-221).pdf |archive-date=October 17, 2012 |url-status=live}}</ref> The Confederate Congress authorized up to 100,000 troops in February. By May, Jefferson Davis was pushing for another 100,000 soldiers for one year or the duration, and the US Congress responded in kind.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Nicolay |first1=John George |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=9lAfAQAAIAAJ |page=264}} |title=Abraham Lincoln: A History |last2=Hay |first2=John |year=1890 |publisher=Century |page=264}}</ref>{{sfn|Coulter|1950|p=308}}

In the first year of the war, both sides had more volunteers than they could effectively train and equip. After the initial enthusiasm faded, relying on young men who came of age each year was not enough. Both sides enacted draft laws (conscription) to encourage or force volunteering, though relatively few were drafted. The Confederacy passed a draft law in April 1862 for men aged 18–35, with exemptions for overseers, government officials, and clergymen. The US Congress followed in July, authorizing a militia draft within states that could not meet their quota with volunteers. European [[History of Immigration to the United States#1850 to 1930|immigrants]] joined the Union Army in large numbers, including 177,000 born in Germany and 144,000 in Ireland.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Faust |first=Albert Bernhardt |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=4xgOAAAAIAAJ |page=523}} |title=The German Element in the United States: With Special Reference to Its Political, Moral, Social, and Educational Influence |year=1909 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin}}</ref> About 50,000 Canadians served, around 2,500 of whom were black.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Reid |first=Richard M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bi9nAwAAQBAJ |title=African Canadians in Union Blue: Volunteering for the Cause in the Civil War |publisher=University of British Columbia Press |year=2014 |isbn=978-0-7748-2745-4 |location=Vancouver |pages=4–5, 40}}</ref>

When the [[Emancipation Proclamation]] went into effect in January 1863, ex-slaves were energetically recruited to meet state quotas. States and local communities offered higher cash bonuses for white volunteers. Congress tightened the draft law in March 1863. Men selected in the draft could provide substitutes or, until mid-1864, pay commutation money. Many eligibles pooled their money to cover the cost of anyone drafted. Families used the substitute provision to select which man should go into the army and which should stay home. There was much evasion and resistance to the draft, especially in Catholic areas. The [[New York City draft riots]] in July 1863 involved Irish immigrants who had been signed up as citizens to swell the vote of the [[Tammany Hall|city's Democratic political machine]], not realizing it made them liable for the draft.{{sfn|Schecter|2007|p={{page needed|date=September 2024}}}} Of the 168,649 men procured for the Union through the draft, 117,986 were substitutes, leaving only 50,663 who were conscripted.<ref name="Murdock1971" />

In the North and South, draft laws were highly unpopular. In the North, some 120,000 men evaded conscription, many fleeing to Canada, and another 280,000 soldiers deserted during the war.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hallock |first=Judith Lee |year=1983 |title=The Role of the Community in Civil War Desertion |url=http://mtw160-198.ippl.jhu.edu/journals/civil_war_history/v029/29.2.hallock.pdf |journal=Civil War History |volume=29 |issue=2 |pages=123–134 |doi=10.1353/cwh.1983.0013}}</ref> At least 100,000 Southerners deserted, about 10 percent of the total. Southern desertion was high because many soldiers were more concerned about the fate of their local area than the Southern cause.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bearman |first=Peter S. |year=1991 |title=Desertion as Localism: Army Unit Solidarity and Group Norms in the U.S. Civil War |journal=Social Forces |volume=70 |issue=2 |pages=321–342 |doi=10.1093/sf/70.2.321 |jstor=2580242}}</ref> In the North, "[[bounty jumper]]s" enlisted to collect the generous bonus, deserted, then re-enlisted under a different name for a second bonus; 141 were caught and executed.<ref name="Fantina2006" />

From a tiny frontier force in 1860, the Union and Confederate armies grew into the "largest and most efficient armies in the world" within a few years. Some European observers at the time dismissed them as amateur and unprofessional,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Nadeau |first=Ryan |date=January 5, 2015 |title=A Prussian Observes the American Civil War |url=https://gettysburgcompiler.org/2015/01/05/a-prussian-observes-the-american-civil-war/ |access-date=January 6, 2022 |website=The Gettysburg Compiler}}</ref> but historian John Keegan concluded that each outmatched the French, Prussian, and Russian armies, and without the Atlantic, could have threatened any of them with defeat.{{sfn|Keegan|2009|p=57}}

=== Southern Unionists ===
{{Main|Southern Unionist}}
[[File:Newton-knight.jpg|thumb|136x136px|[[Newton Knight]] (Mississippi), leader of the ''Knight Company'' and one of the founders of the [[Free State of Jones]]]]
Unionism was strong in certain areas within the Confederacy. As many as 100,000 men living in states under Confederate control served in the Union Army or pro-Union guerrilla groups. Although they came from all classes, most Southern Unionists differed socially, culturally, and economically from their region's dominant prewar, slave-owning planter class.<ref>Scott, E. Carole. [https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/article/southerner-vs-southerner-union-supporters-below-the-mason-dixon-line/ Southerner vs. Southerner: Union Supporters Below the Mason-Dixon Line]. ''Warfare History Network''. Retrieved November 11, 2024.</ref>

=== Prisoners ===
{{Main|American Civil War prison camps}}
[[File:Prisoner of war, from Belle Isle, Richmond, at the U.S. General Hospital, Div. 1, Annapolis.jpg|left|thumb|142x142px|A Union soldier held as a POW in Georgia]]
At the war's start, a parole system operated, under which captives agreed not to fight until exchanged. They were held in camps run by their army, paid, but not allowed to perform any military duties.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pickenpaugh |first=Roger |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=pWOfsOceCNUC |page=57}} |title=Captives in Blue: The Civil War Prisons of the Confederacy |publisher=University of Alabama Press |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-8173-1783-6 |pages=57–73}}</ref> The system of exchanges collapsed in 1863 when the Confederacy refused to exchange black prisoners. After that, about 56,000 of the 409,000 POWs died in prisons, accounting for 10 percent of the conflict's fatalities.{{sfn|Tucker|Pierpaoli|White|2010|p=1466}}

=== Women ===
{{See also|Women in the military#United States|Gender issues in the American Civil War}}

Historian [[Elizabeth D. Leonard]] writes that between 500 and 1,000 women enlisted as soldiers on both sides, disguised as men.{{sfn|Leonard|1999|pp=165, 310–311}} Women also served as spies, resistance activists, nurses, and hospital personnel.{{sfn|Leonard|1999|p=240}} Women served on the Union hospital ship ''[[USS Red Rover|Red Rover]]'' and nursed Union and Confederate troops at field hospitals.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Highlights in the History of Military Women |url=http://www.womensmemorial.org/Education/timeline.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130403045042/http://www.womensmemorial.org/Education/timeline.html |archive-date=April 3, 2013 |access-date=June 22, 2013 |website=Women In Military Service For America Memorial}}</ref> [[Mary Edwards Walker]], the only woman ever to receive the [[Medal of Honor]], served in the Union Army and was given the medal for treating the wounded during the war.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pennington |first=Reina |title=Amazons to Fighter Pilots: A Biographical Dictionary of Military Women |publisher=Greenwood |year=2003 |isbn=0-313-32708-4 |volume=2 |pages=474–475}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=June 4, 1977 |title=The Case of Dr. Walker, Only Woman to Win (and Lose) the Medal of Honor |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/06/04/archives/the-case-of-dr-walker-only-woman-to-win-and-lose-the-medal-of-honor.html |access-date=January 6, 2018 |work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref> One woman, Jennie Hodgers, fought for the Union under the name Albert D. J. Cashier. After she returned to civilian life, she continued to live as a man until she died in 1915 at the age of 71.<ref>Blanton, DeAnne, "A Life on His Own Terns: Albert D. J. Cashier, 95th Illinois Infantry", in Brian Matthew Jordan and Jonathan W. White, eds., ''Final Resting Places: Reflections on the Meaning of Civil War Graves''. Athen, Georgia: The University of Georgia Press, 2023, pp. 47-53.</ref>

=== Union Navy ===
{{Further|Union Navy}}
[[File:Battle of Hampton Roads 3g01752u.jpg|thumb|Battle between the {{USS|Monitor}} and {{USS|Merrimack|1855|2}}|alt=Painting of land battle scene in foreground and naval battle with sinking ships in background]]
The [[Union Navy]] in 1861 was relatively small but, by 1865, expanded rapidly to 6,000 officers, 45,000 sailors, and 671 vessels totaling 510,396 tons.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Welles |first=Gideon |author-link=Gideon Welles |date=January 1865 |title=Secretary of the Navy's Report |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=u4gfAAAAYAAJ}} |magazine=The Sailors' Magazine and Seamen's Friend |publisher=American Seamen's Friend Society |page=152 |volume=37 |issue=5}}</ref>{{sfn|Tucker|Pierpaoli|White|2010|p=462}} Its mission was to blockade Confederate ports, control the river system, defend against Confederate raiders on the high seas, and be ready for a possible war with the British [[Royal Navy]].{{sfn|Canney|1998|p={{page needed|date=September 2024}}}} The main riverine war was fought in the West, where major rivers gave access to the Confederate heartland. The US Navy eventually controlled the Red, Tennessee, Cumberland, Mississippi, and Ohio rivers. In the East, the Navy shelled Confederate forts and supported coastal army operations.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=American Civil War: The naval war |url=https://www.britannica.com/event/American-Civil-War/The-naval-war |access-date=January 24, 2022 |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica}}</ref>

The Civil War occurred during the early stages of the [[Industrial revolution in the United States|industrial revolution]], leading to naval innovations, including the [[ironclad warship]]. The Confederacy, recognizing the need to counter the Union's naval superiority, built or converted over 130 vessels, including 26 ironclads.{{sfn|Nelson|2005|p=92}} Despite these efforts, Confederate ships were largely unsuccessful against Union ironclads.{{sfn|Anderson|1989|p=300}} The Union Navy used timberclads, tinclads, and armored gunboats. Shipyards in [[Cairo, Illinois]], and [[St. Louis]] built or modified [[steamboat]]s.<ref>Myron J. Smith, ''Tinclads in the Civil War: Union Light-Draught Gunboat Operations on Western Waters, 1862–1865'' (2009).</ref>

The Confederacy experimented with the submarine {{ship|CSS|Hunley}}, which proved unsuccessful, and with the ironclad {{ship|CSS|Virginia}}, rebuilt from the sunken Union ship {{USS|Merrimack|1855|2}}.<ref>Gerald F. Teaster and Linda and James Treaster Ambrose, ''The Confederate Submarine H. L. Hunley'' (1989).</ref> On March 8, 1862, ''Virginia'' inflicted significant damage on the Union's wooden fleet, but the next day, the first Union ironclad, {{USS|Monitor}}, arrived to challenge it in the [[Chesapeake Bay]]. The resulting three-hour [[Battle of Hampton Roads]] was a draw, proving ironclads were effective warships.{{sfn|Nelson|2005|p=345}} The Confederacy scuttled the ''Virginia'' to prevent its capture, while the Union built many copies of the ''Monitor''. The Confederacy's efforts to obtain warships from [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|Great Britain]] failed, as Britain had no interest in selling warships to a nation at war with a stronger enemy and feared souring relations with the US.{{sfn|Fuller|2008|p=36}}

=== Union blockade ===
{{Main|Union blockade}}
[[File:Scott-anaconda.jpg|thumb|General Scott's [[Anaconda Plan]], featuring a tightening naval blockade, forcing rebels out of Missouri along the Mississippi River, Kentucky Unionists sit on the fence, idled cotton industry illustrated in Georgia.|alt=A cartoon map of the South surrounded by a snake.]]

By early 1861, General [[Winfield Scott]] had devised the [[Anaconda Plan]] to win the war with minimal bloodshed, calling for a blockade of the Confederacy to suffocate the South into surrender.{{sfn|Richter|2009|p=49}} Lincoln adopted parts of the plan but opted for a more active war strategy.{{sfn|Johnson|1998|p=228}} In April 1861, Lincoln announced a blockade of all Southern ports; commercial ships could not get insurance, ending regular traffic. The South blundered by embargoing cotton exports before the blockade was fully effective; by the time they reversed this decision, it was too late. "[[King Cotton]]" was dead, as the South could export less than 10% of its cotton. The blockade shut down the ten Confederate seaports with railheads that moved almost all the cotton. By June 1861, warships were stationed off the principal Southern ports, and a year later nearly 300 ships were in service.{{sfn|Anderson|1989|pp=288–289, 296–298}}

==== Blockade runners ====
{{Main|Blockade runners of the American Civil War}}
[[File:First Charleston Harbor.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|Gunline of nine Union ironclads. [[Union blockade#South Atlantic Blockading Squadron|South Atlantic Blockading Squadron]] off Charleston. Continuous blockade of all major ports was sustained by North's overwhelming war production. |alt=Panoramic view of ships in harbor during battle]]

The Confederates began the war short on military supplies, which the agrarian South could not produce. Northern arms manufacturers were restricted by an embargo, ending existing and future contracts with the South. The Confederacy turned to foreign sources, connecting with financiers and companies like [[S. Isaac, Campbell & Company]] and the [[London Armoury Company]] in Britain, becoming the Confederacy's main source of arms.{{sfn|Wise|1991|p=49}}{{sfn|Mendelsohn|2012|pp=43–44}}

To transport arms safely to the Confederacy, British investors built small, fast, steam-driven [[Blockade runners of the American Civil War|blockade runners]] that traded arms and supplies from Britain, through Bermuda, Cuba, and the Bahamas in exchange for high-priced cotton. Many were lightweight and designed for speed, only carrying small amounts of cotton back to England.{{sfn|Stern|1962|pp=224–225}} When the Union Navy seized a blockade runner, the ship and cargo were condemned as a [[prize of war]] and sold, with proceeds given to the Navy sailors; the captured crewmen, mostly British, were released.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Neely |first=Mark E. |date=June 1986 |title=The Perils of Running the Blockade: The Influence of International Law in an Era of Total War |journal=Civil War History |volume=32 |issue=2 |pages=101–118 |doi=10.1353/cwh.1986.0012}}</ref>

==== Economic impact ====
The Southern economy nearly collapsed during the war due to multiple factors, the most notable being severe food shortages, failing railroads, loss of control over key rivers, foraging by Northern armies, and the seizure of animals and crops by Confederate forces.{{sfn|Wise|1991|p={{page needed|date=August 2024}}}} Historians agree the blockade was a major factor in ruining the [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] economy; however, Wise argues blockade runners provided enough of a lifeline to allow [[Robert E. Lee]], a Confederate general, to continue fighting for additional months, as a result of supplies that included 400,000 rifles, lead, blankets, and boots that Confederate economy could no longer supply.{{sfn|Wise|1991|p={{page needed|date=August 2024}}}}

The Confederate cotton crop became nearly useless, which cut off the Confederacy's primary income source. Critical imports were scarce, and coastal trade also largely ended.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Surdam |first=David G. |year=1998 |title=The Union Navy's blockade reconsidered |journal=Naval War College Review |volume=51 |issue=4 |pages=85–107}}</ref> The blockade's success was not measured by the few ships, which slipped through, but by the thousands that never tried. European merchant ships could not obtain insurance for their ships and transport, and were too slow to evade the blockade, leading them to cease docking in Confederate ports.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Surdam |first=David G. |title=Northern Naval Superiority and the Economics of the American Civil War |year=2001 |publisher=University of South Carolina Press}}</ref>

To fight an offensive war, the Confederacy purchased arms in Britain and converted British-built ships into [[commerce raider]]s, which targeted [[United States Merchant Marine]] ships in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The Confederacy smuggled 600,000 arms, enabling it to continue fighting for two more years.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Keys |first=David |date=June 24, 2014 |title=Historians reveal secrets of UK gun-running which lengthened the American civil war by two years |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/archaeology/historians-reveal-secrets-of-uk-gunrunning-which-lengthened-the-american-civil-war-by-two-years-9557937.html |work=[[The Independent]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Kevin Dougherty |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2pMqE2E63XgC&pg=PA87 |title=Weapons of Mississippi |publisher=[[University Press of Mississippi]] |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-60473-452-2 |page=87}}</ref> As insurance rates soared, American-flagged ships largely ceased traveling in international waters, though some were reflagged with European flags, which allowed them to continue operating.{{sfn|Anderson|1989|p=300}} After the conclusion of the Civil War, the US government demanded Britain reimburse it for the damage caused by blockade runners and raiders outfitted in British ports. Britain paid the US $15 million in 1871, which covered costs associated with commerce raiding but nothing more.{{sfn|Jones|2002|p=225}}

=== Diplomacy ===
{{Main|Diplomacy of the American Civil War}}
{{further|United Kingdom and the American Civil War|France and the American Civil War}}

[[File:Abraham Lincoln and the London Punch; cartoons, comments and poems, published in the London charivari, during the American Civil War (1861-1865) (1909) (14782634093).jpg|thumb|left|A December 1861 cartoon in ''Punch'' magazine in London ridicules American aggressiveness in the [[Trent Affair]]. [[John Bull]], at right, warns [[Uncle Sam]], "You do what's right, my son, or I'll blow you out of the water."]]

Although the Confederacy hoped Britain and France would join them against the Union, this was never likely, so they sought to bring them in as mediators.{{sfn|McPherson|1988|pp=546–557}}{{sfn|Herring|2011|p=237}} The Union worked to block this and threatened war against any country that recognized the Confederacy. In 1861, Southerners voluntarily embargoed cotton shipments, hoping to start an economic depression in Europe that would force Britain to enter the war, but this failed. Worse, Europe turned to Egypt and India for cotton, which they found superior, hindering the South's postwar recovery.{{sfn|McPherson|1988|p=386}}<ref name="Nevins1959 pp. 263–264" />

[[Cotton diplomacy]] proved a failure, because Europe had a surplus of cotton, while the 1860–62 crop failures in Europe made the North's grain exports critically important. It also helped turn European opinion against the Confederacy. It was said that "King Corn was more powerful than King Cotton", as US grain increased from a quarter to almost half of British imports.{{sfn|McPherson|1988|p=386}} Meanwhile, the war created jobs for arms makers, ironworkers, and ships to transport weapons.<ref name="Nevins1959 pp. 263–264" />

Lincoln's administration initially struggled to appeal to European public opinion. At first, diplomats explained that the US was not committed to ending slavery and emphasized legal arguments about the unconstitutionality of secession. Confederate representatives, however, focused on their struggle for liberty, commitment to free trade, and the essential role of cotton in the European economy.{{sfn|Doyle|2015|pp=69–70}} The European aristocracy was "absolutely gleeful in pronouncing the American debacle as proof that the entire experiment in popular government had failed. European government leaders welcomed the fragmentation of the ascendant American Republic."{{sfn|Doyle|2015|p=8}} However, a European public with liberal sensibilities remained, which the US sought to appeal to by building connections with the international press. By 1861, Union diplomats like [[Carl Schurz]] realized emphasizing the war against slavery was the Union's most effective moral asset in swaying European public opinion. Seward was concerned an overly radical case for reunification would distress European merchants with cotton interests; even so, he supported a widespread campaign of public diplomacy.{{sfn|Doyle|2015|pp=70–74}}

US [[Ambassador|minister]] to Britain [[Charles Francis Adams, Sr.|Charles Francis Adams]] proved adept and convinced Britain not to challenge the Union blockade. The Confederacy purchased warships from commercial shipbuilders in Britain, with the most famous being the {{ship|CSS|Alabama}}, which caused considerable damage and led to serious [[Alabama Claims|postwar disputes]]. However, public opinion against slavery in Britain created a political liability for politicians, where the [[Abolitionism in the United Kingdom|anti-slavery movement]] was powerful.<ref>Richard Huzzeym, ''Freedom Burning: Anti-Slavery and Empire in Victorian Britain'' (2013).</ref>

War loomed in late 1861 between the US and Britain over the [[Trent Affair|''Trent'' Affair]], which began when US Navy personnel boarded the British ship {{RMS|Trent||2}} and seized two Confederate diplomats. However, London and Washington smoothed this over after Lincoln released the two men.<ref name="Oates" /> [[Albert, Prince Consort|Prince Albert]] left his deathbed to [[Trent Affair#British reaction (November 27 – December 31, 1861)|issue diplomatic instructions]] to [[Lord Lyons]] during the ''Trent'' Affair. His request was honored, and, as a result, the British response to the US was toned down, helping avert war.<ref>{{Cite web |date=January 5, 2022 |title=The Trent Affair: Diplomacy, Britain, and the American Civil War – National Museum of American Diplomacy |url=https://diplomacy.state.gov/u-s-diplomacy-stories/the-trent-affair-diplomacy-britain-and-the-american-civil-war/ |access-date=January 18, 2022}}</ref> In 1862, the British government considered mediating between the Union and Confederacy, though such an offer would have risked war with the US British prime minister [[Lord Palmerston]] reportedly read ''Uncle Tom's Cabin'' three times when deciding what his decision would be.<ref name="Oates" />

The Union victory at the [[Battle of Antietam]] caused the British to delay this decision. The Emancipation Proclamation increased the political liability of supporting the Confederacy. Realizing that Washington could not intervene in [[Second Federal Republic of Mexico|Mexico]] as long as the Confederacy controlled Texas, [[Second French intervention in Mexico|France invaded Mexico]] in 1861 and installed the [[Habsburg monarchy|Habsburg]] Austrian archduke [[Maximilian I of Mexico|Maximilian I]] as emperor.<ref>[[Shawcross, Edward]] (2021). ''The Last Emperor of Mexico: The Dramatic Story of the Habsburg Archduke Who Created a Kingdom in the New World''. New York: Basic Books. {{ISBN|978-1541-674196}}. Also titled ''The Last Emperor of Mexico: A Disaster in the New World''. London: Faber & Faber, 2022.</ref> Washington repeatedly protested France's violation of the [[Monroe Doctrine]]. Despite sympathy for the Confederacy, France's seizure of Mexico ultimately deterred it from war with the Union. Confederate offers late in the war to end slavery in return for diplomatic recognition were not seriously considered by London or Paris. After 1863, the [[January Uprising|Polish revolt against Russia]] further distracted the European powers and ensured they remained neutral.{{sfn|Herring|2011|p=261}}

[[Russian Empire|Russia]] supported the Union, largely because it believed the US counterbalanced its geopolitical rival, the UK. In 1863, the [[Imperial Russian Navy]]'s Baltic and Pacific fleets wintered in the American ports of New York and San Francisco, respectively.<ref>Norman E. Saul, Richard D. McKinzie, eds. ''Russian-American Dialogue on Cultural Relations, 1776–1914''. Columbia, Missouri, and London, UK: University of Missouri Press, p. 95. {{ISBN|978-0826210975}}.</ref>

== Eastern theater ==
{{Further|Eastern theater of the American Civil War}}

[[File:American Civil War Battles by Theater, Year.png|thumb|upright=1.5|[[County (United States)|County]] map of Civil War battles by theater and year|alt=Map of the United States with counties colored]]

The Eastern theater refers to the military operations east of the [[Appalachian Mountains]], including Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, and [[Pennsylvania]], the [[District of Columbia]], and the coastal fortifications and seaports of [[North Carolina]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Eastern Theater of the Civil War |url=https://www.legendsofamerica.com/ah-easterntheater/ |access-date=April 22, 2024 |website=Legends of America}}</ref>

=== Background ===
==== Army of the Potomac ====
Maj. Gen. [[George B. McClellan]] took command of the Union [[Army of the Potomac]] on July 26, 1861, and the war began in earnest in 1862. The 1862 Union strategy called for simultaneous advances along four axes:{{sfn|Anderson|1989|p=91}}

# McClellan would lead the main thrust in Virginia towards Richmond.
# Ohio forces would advance through Kentucky into Tennessee.
# The Missouri Department would drive south along the Mississippi River.
# The westernmost attack would originate from Kansas.

==== Army of Northern Virginia ====

[[File:Robert Edward Lee.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|[[Robert E. Lee]]|alt=Old man with gray beard and military uniform]]

The primary Confederate force in the Eastern theater was the [[Army of Northern Virginia]]. The Army originated as the [[Confederate Army of the Potomac|(Confederate) Army of the Potomac]], which was organized on June 20, 1861, from all operational forces in Northern Virginia. On July 20 and 21, the [[Army of the Shenandoah (Confederate)|Army of the Shenandoah]] and forces from the District of Harpers Ferry were added. Units from the [[Army of the Northwest (Confederate)|Army of the Northwest]] were merged into the Army of the Potomac between March 14 and May 17, 1862. The Army of the Potomac was renamed ''Army of Northern Virginia'' on March 14. The [[Army of the Peninsula]] was merged into it on April 12, 1862.

When Virginia declared its secession in April 1861, [[Robert E. Lee]] chose to follow his home state, despite his desire for the country to remain intact and an offer of a senior Union command. In his four-volume biography of Lee published in 1934 and 1935, historian [[Douglas S. Freeman]] wrote that the army received its final name from Lee when he issued orders assuming command on June 1, 1862.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Freeman |first=Douglas Southall |url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/People/Robert_E_Lee/FREREL/home.html |title=R. E. Lee: A Biography |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |year=1934 |volume=II |location=New York |page=78 and footnote 6}}</ref> However, Freeman wrote, Lee corresponded with Brigadier General [[Joseph E. Johnston]], his predecessor in army command, before that date and referred to Johnston's command as the Army of Northern Virginia. Part of the confusion results from the fact that Johnston commanded the Department of Northern Virginia as of October 22, 1861, and the name Army of Northern Virginia was seen as an informal consequence of its parent department's name. Jefferson Davis and Johnston did not adopt the name, but the organization of units as of March 14 was clearly the same organization that Lee received on June 1, and is generally referred to as the Army of Northern Virginia, even if that is correct only in retrospect.

On July 4 at Harper's Ferry, Colonel [[Thomas J. Jackson]] assigned [[Jeb Stuart]] command of all cavalry companies of the Army of the Shenandoah, and Jackson eventually commanded the Army of Northern Virginia's cavalry.

=== Battles ===
[[File:Thure de Thulstrup - Battle of Antietam.jpg|thumb|A portrait depicting the [[Battle of Antietam]], which resulted in over 22,000 casualties, the Civil War's deadliest one-day battle|alt=Painting of battlefield scene]]
Called the [[Battle of Philippi (1861)|"Philippi Races"]] because of its brevity, Philippi, VA (now [[Philippi, West Virginia|Philippi, WV]]) was the scene of the first organized land action of the American Civil War, on June 3, 1861. In July 1861, in the first in a series of prominent battles in the war, [[Union Army]] troops commanded by Maj. Gen. [[Irvin McDowell]] attacked Confederate forces, which were under the command of Beauregard near the national capital in [[Washington, D.C.|Washington]]. The Confederacy successfully repelled the attack in the [[First Battle of Bull Run]]. In the beginning of the Civil War, the Union appeared to hold the upper hand. The Union Army routed Confederate forces, then holding defensive positions, but Confederate reinforcements under Joseph E. Johnston arrived from the [[Shenandoah Valley]] by railroad, and the battle's course quickly changed. A [[Stonewall Brigade|brigade of Virginians]], commanded by [[Thomas J. Jackson]], then a relatively unknown brigadier general from [[Virginia Military Institute]], stood its ground, leading to Jackson earning the nickname "Stonewall". Lincoln urged the Union Army to commence offensive operations against [[Confederate States Army|Confederate forces]], which led General [[George B. McClellan]], in the spring of 1862, to attack [[Virginia]] by way of the [[Virginia Peninsula|peninsula]] between the [[York River (Virginia)|York River]] and [[James River]] southeast of [[Richmond, Virginia|Richmond]]. McClellan's army reached the gates of Richmond in the [[Peninsula campaign]].{{sfn|Foote|1974|pp=464–519}}<ref name="Catton" />{{sfn|McPherson|1988|pp=424–427}}

Also in the spring of 1862, in [[Shenandoah Valley]], Jackson led his [[Valley Campaign]], during which he employed rapid and unpredictable movements on interior lines. Jackson's 17,000 troops marched 646 miles (1,040 km) in 48 days, during which they won minor battles as they successfully engaged three Union armies, comprising 52,000 men, including those of [[Nathaniel P. Banks]] and [[John C. Frémont]], preventing them from reinforcing the Union offensive against Richmond. The swiftness of Jackson's troops earned them the nickname [[foot cavalry]]. Johnston halted McClellan's advance at the [[Battle of Seven Pines]], but he was wounded in the battle, and [[Robert E. Lee]] assumed his position of command. Lee and his senior subordinates, [[James Longstreet]] and Stonewall Jackson, defeated McClellan in the [[Seven Days Battles]], forcing McClellan's retreat.{{sfn|McPherson|1988|pp=538–544}}
[[File:Union soldiers entrenched along the west bank of the Rappahannock River at Fredericksburg, Virginia (111-B-157).jpg|thumb|Union soldiers in the trenches, just prior to the [[Second Battle of Fredericksburg]] in May 1863]]
During the [[Northern Virginia Campaign]], which included the [[Second Battle of Bull Run]], Confederate forces registered another important military victory.{{sfn|McPherson|1988|pp=528–533}} McClellan resisted General-in-Chief Halleck's orders to send reinforcements to [[John Pope (general)|John Pope's]] Union [[Army of Virginia]], which enabled Lee's Confederate forces to defeat twice the number of combined enemy troops.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Overview of the Battle |url=https://history.army.mil/books/Staff-Rides/2Manassas/2mns-ov.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071217114921/http://www.history.army.mil/books/Staff-Rides/2Manassas/2mns-ov.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 17, 2007 |access-date=September 13, 2024 |website=history.army.mil |quote=On 3 August, General Halleck directed General McClellan to begin his final withdrawal from the Peninsula and to return to Northern Virginia to support Pope. McClellan protested and did not begin his redeployment until 14 August. The situation created an opportunity for General Lee. The removal of the Army of the Potomac as a threat meant that there would be a short period when he could turn on Pope's force and actually outnumber it before the merger of the two Federal armies.}}</ref>

Emboldened by Second Bull Run, Confederate forces launched their first invasion of the North in the [[Maryland Campaign]] during which Lee led 45,000 Army of Northern Virginia troops across the [[Potomac River]] into [[Maryland]] on September 5. Lincoln then restored Pope's troops to McClellan, and McClellan and Lee clashed in the [[Battle of Antietam]] near [[Sharpsburg, Maryland]], on September 17, 1862, which proved the bloodiest single day in both the Civil War and US military history.{{sfn|McPherson|1988|pp=538–544}}{{sfn|McPherson|1988|pp=543–545}} Lee's army retreated to Virginia before McClellan could destroy it, leading the Battle of Antietam to be widely viewed as a Union victory since it halted Lee's invasion of the North and provided an opportunity for Lincoln to issue the [[Emancipation Proclamation]], which he issued as an [[executive order]] on January 1, 1863.{{sfn|McPherson|1988|pp=557–558}}

McClellan failed to respond in any measurable way to Lee's attempt to invade the North at Antietam led to his replacement by Maj. Gen. [[Ambrose Burnside]]. Burnside led Union Army troops in the [[Battle of Fredericksburg]],{{sfn|McPherson|1988|pp=571–574}} where they were defeated on December 13, 1862. Over 12,000 Union soldiers were killed or wounded during futile attempts by Union troops to launch frontal assaults against Marye's Heights.<ref>[[Matteson, John]], ''A Worse Place Than Hell: How the Civil War Battle of Fredericksburg Changed a Nation'', New York: W. W. Norton, 2021.</ref> After the battle, Burnside was replaced by Maj. Gen. [[Joseph Hooker]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Jones |first=Wilmer L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=neq3DAAAQBAJ&pg=PA237 |title=Generals in Blue and Gray: Lincoln's Generals |publisher=Stackpole |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-4617-5106-9 |pages=237–238}}</ref>

[[File:Thure de Thulstrup - L. Prang and Co. - Battle of Gettysburg - Restoration by Adam Cuerden.jpg|thumb|A portrait depicting [[Pickett's Charge]] on July 3, 1863, the final day of the [[Battle of Gettysburg]], which proved the Civil War's deadliest battle but also one of its most significant, altering the course of the war in the Union's favor|alt=Cavalry charges on a battlefield]]

Hooker, too, proved unable to defeat Lee's army; despite having more than twice as many troops as Lee, Hooker's proved Chancellorsville Campaign ultimately proved ineffective, and he was soundly defeated in the [[Battle of Chancellorsville]], which was fought between April 30 and May 6, 1863.{{sfn|McPherson|1988|pp=639–645}} Chancellorsville is known as Lee's "perfect battle" because his risky decision to divide his army paid off. During the Battle of Chancellorsville, Stonewall Jackson was shot in his left arm and right hand by friendly fire, leading to the amputation of his arm, and he died of [[pneumonia]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Noyalas |first=Jonathan A. |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=EHRDCgAAQBAJ |page=93}} |title=Stonewall Jackson's 1862 Valley Campaign |year=2010 |publisher=Arcadia |isbn=978-1-61423-040-3 |page=93}}</ref> Lee famously said: "He has lost his left arm, but I have lost my right arm."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Thomas |first=Emory M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2tJZ_TCHUjAC&pg=PA287 |title=Robert E. Lee: A Biography |year=1997 |publisher=W. W. Norton |isbn=978-0-393-31631-5 |page=287}}</ref>

The fiercest fighting of the battle—and the second bloodiest day of the Civil War—occurred on May 3 as Lee launched multiple attacks against the Union position at Chancellorsville. That same day, [[John Sedgwick]] advanced across the [[Rappahannock River]], defeated the small Confederate force at Marye's Heights in the [[Second Battle of Fredericksburg]], and then moved to the west. Confederate forces succeeded in militarily delaying Union forces in the [[Battle of Salem Church]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=October 5, 2021 |title=Salem Church |url=https://www.nps.gov/frsp/learn/historyculture/sc.htm |access-date=March 30, 2022 |website=National Park Service}}</ref>

Hooker was replaced by Maj. Gen. [[George Meade]] during Lee's [[Gettysburg Campaign|second invasion of the North]], in June. In the [[Battle of Gettysburg]], which proved the war's bloodiest and one of its most strategically significant, Meade defeated Lee in a three-day battle between July 1 and 3, 1863.{{sfn|McPherson|1988|pp=653–663}} The Battle of Gettysburg caused over 50,000 Union and Confederate casualties, but also proved the war's [[Turning point of the American Civil War|turning point]], altering the course of the war in the Union's favor. [[Pickett's Charge]], launched July 3, on the final day of the Battle of Gettysburg, is considered the [[high-water mark of the Confederacy]], representing the collapse of any credible prospect that the Confederacy could prevail in the war. At Gettysburg, Lee's [[Army of Northern Virginia]] suffered 28,000 casualties versus Meade's 23,000, and Lee was repelled in a failed attempt to invade and occupy Union territory.{{sfn|McPherson|1988|p=664}}<ref>{{Cite web |title=Gettysburg |url=https://www.battlefields.org/learn/civil-war/battles/gettysburg |access-date=2025-05-05 |website=American Battlefield Trust |language=en}}</ref>

== Western theater ==
{{Further|Western theater of the American Civil War}}
The Western theater refers to military operations between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River, including [[Alabama]], [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]], [[Florida]], [[Mississippi]], North Carolina, Kentucky, [[South Carolina]], [[Tennessee]], and parts of [[Louisiana]].<ref name="Bowery2014">{{Cite book |last=Bowery |first=Charles R. |title=The Civil War in the Western Theater, 1862 |year=2014 |publisher=Center of Military History |isbn=978-0-16-092316-6 |location=Washington, D.C. |pages=58–72}}</ref>

=== Background ===
==== Army of the Cumberland and Army of the Tennessee ====
{{Main|Army of the Cumberland|Army of the Tennessee}}
[[File:Gen. Ulysses S. Grant (4228634580).jpg|thumb|[[Ulysses S. Grant]], a [[Union army]] general who was later elected the nation's 18th [[President of the United States|president]]]]
The primary Union forces in this theater were the [[Army of the Tennessee]] and [[Army of the Cumberland]], named for the two rivers, [[Tennessee River]] and [[Cumberland River]]. After Meade's inconclusive fall campaign, Lincoln turned to the Western theater for new leadership. At the same time, the Confederate stronghold of Vicksburg surrendered, giving the Union control of the Mississippi River, permanently isolating the western Confederacy, and producing the new leader Lincoln needed, [[Ulysses S. Grant]].<ref name="BattlefieldTrust">{{Cite web |title=Vicksburg |url=https://www.battlefields.org/learn/civil-war/battles/vicksburg |access-date=September 27, 2022 |publisher=American Battlefield Trust}}</ref>

The Army of Tennessee, which served as the primary Confederate force in the Western theater, was formed on November 20, 1862, when General [[Braxton Bragg]] renamed the former [[Army of Mississippi]]. While Confederate forces had successes in the Eastern theater, they were defeated many times in the West.<ref name="Bowery2014" />

=== Battles ===
The Union's key strategist and tactician in the West was [[Ulysses S. Grant]], who led the Union to victories in battles at [[Battle of Fort Henry|Fort Henry]] (February 6, 1862) and [[Battle of Fort Donelson|Fort Donelson]] (February 11 to 16, 1862), earning him the nickname of "Unconditional Surrender" Grant. With these victories, the Union gained control of the [[Tennessee River|Tennessee]] and [[Cumberland River]]s.{{sfn|McPherson|1988|pp=405–413}} [[Nathan Bedford Forrest]] rallied nearly 4,000 Confederate troops and led them to escape across the [[Cumberland River]]. [[Nashville]] and central Tennessee fell to the Union, leading to attrition of local food supplies and livestock and a breakdown in social organization.{{citation needed|date=January 2022}}

Confederate general [[Leonidas Polk]]'s subsequently invaded [[Columbus, Kentucky]], which ended Kentucky's policy of neutrality and turned it against the Confederacy. Grant used river transport and [[Andrew Hull Foote]]'s gunboats of the Western Flotilla, threatening the Confederacy's "Gibraltar of the West" in Columbus, Kentucky. Although rebuffed at Belmont, Grant cut off Columbus. Confederate forces, lacking their gunboats, were forced to retreat and the Union took control of west Kentucky and opened Tennessee in March 1862.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Whitsell |first=Robert D. |year=1963 |title=Military and Naval Activity between Cairo and Columbus |journal=Register of the Kentucky Historical Society |volume=62 |issue=2 |pages=107–121}}</ref>

At the [[Battle of Shiloh]], in [[Shiloh, Hardin County, Tennessee|Shiloh, Tennessee]], in April 1862, Confederates forces launched surprise attack on Union forces, pushing them back to river as night fell. Over that night, however, the [[United States Navy|Navy]] landed reinforcements, and Grant counterattacked. Grant and the Union ultimately won a decisive victory in the first battle with a high number of casualties in what proved to be the first in a series of such battles.{{sfn|Frank|Reaves|2003|p= 170}} Confederate forces lost [[Albert Sidney Johnston]], considered their finest general, before Lee emerged to assume command.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Death of Albert Sidney Johnston – Tour Stop #17 |url=https://www.nps.gov/places/death-of-albert-sidney-johnston-tour-stop-17.htm |access-date=March 12, 2022 |publisher=National Park Service}}</ref>

[[File:Chickamauga.jpg|thumb|The [[Battle of Chickamauga]], the war's highest two-day loss battle]]

One of the early Union objectives was to capture the [[Mississippi River]], which would permit it to cut the Confederacy in half. The Mississippi was opened to Union traffic to the southern border of Tennessee after it took [[Battle of Island Number Ten|Island No. 10]], [[New Madrid, Missouri]], and then [[Memphis, Tennessee]].{{sfn|McPherson|1988|pp=418–420}}

In April 1862, the Union Navy [[Capture of New Orleans|captured New Orleans]].{{sfn|McPherson|1988|pp=418–420}} "The key to the river was New Orleans, the South's largest port [and] greatest industrial center."<ref>Kennedy, p. 58.{{full citation needed|date=August 2024}}</ref> US naval forces under [[David Farragut|Farragut]] ran past Confederate defenses south of [[New Orleans]]. Confederate forces abandoned the city, giving the Union a critical anchor in the deep South,{{sfn|Symonds|Clipson|2001|p=92}} which allowed Union forces to move up the Mississippi. [[First Battle of Memphis|Memphis fell to Union forces]] on June 6, 1862, allowing it to serve as a key base for further Union advances south along the Mississippi. On the Mississippi River, the Union took every fortress city with the exception of [[Vicksburg, Mississippi]]. But Confederate control of Vicksburg was sufficient in preventing the Union from controlling the entire river.<ref>{{Cite web |date=January 31, 2013 |title=10 Facts: The Vicksburg Campaign |url=https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/10-facts-vicksburg-campaign |access-date=September 13, 2022 |publisher=American Battlefield Trust}}</ref>

Bragg's second invasion of Kentucky in the [[Confederate Heartland Offensive]] included initial successes, including [[Kirby Smith]]'s triumph in the [[Battle of Richmond]] and the capture of the Kentucky capital of [[Frankfort, Kentucky]], on September 3, 1862.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Brown |first=Kent Masterson |url=https://archive.org/details/civilwarinkentuc0000unse/mode/2up |title=The Civil War in Kentucky: Battle for the Bluegrass State |publisher=Savas |year=2000 |isbn=978-1-882810-47-5 |location=Mason City, IA |page=95}}</ref> The campaign ended with a meaningless victory over Maj. Gen. [[Don Carlos Buell]] at the [[Battle of Perryville]], and Bragg was forced to end his attempt to invade and control Kentucky. Lacking logistical support and infantry recruits, Bragg was instead forced to retreat,{{sfn|McPherson|1988|pp=419–420}} and ended up being narrowly defeated by Maj. Gen. [[William Rosecrans]] in the [[Battle of Stones River]] in Tennessee in what proved to be the culmination of the [[Stones River Campaign]].{{sfn|McPherson|1988|pp=480–483}}

US naval forces assisted Grant in the long, complex [[Vicksburg Campaign]], which resulted in Confederate forces surrendering in the [[Battle of Vicksburg]] in July 1863, which cemented Union control of the Mississippi River in one of the war's turning points.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Mangum |first=Ronald Scott |year=1991 |title=The Vicksburg Campaign: A Study In Joint Operations |url=https://carlisle-www.army.mil/usawc/Parameters/Articles/1991/1991%20mangum.pdf |journal=Parameters: U.S. Army War College |volume=21 |issue=3 |pages=74–86 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121127192600/https://carlisle-www.army.mil/usawc/Parameters/Articles/1991/1991%20mangum.pdf |archive-date=November 27, 2012}}</ref><ref>[[Donald L. Miller|Miller, Donald L.]] ''Vicksburg: Grant's Campaign that Broke the Confederacy''. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2019. {{ISBN|978-1-4516-4137-0}}.</ref> The one clear Confederate victory in the West was the [[Battle of Chickamauga]]. After Rosecrans' successful [[Tullahoma Campaign]], Bragg, reinforced by Lt. Gen. [[First Corps, Army of Northern Virginia|James Longstreet's corps]], defeated Rosecrans, despite the defensive stand of Maj. Gen. [[George Henry Thomas]].{{citation needed|date=January 2022}} Rosecrans retreated to [[Chattanooga, Tennessee]], where Bragg was then besieged in the [[Chattanooga Campaign]]. Grant marched to the relief of Rosecrans, where he led the defeat of Bragg in the Third Battle of Chattanooga,{{sfn|McPherson|1988|pp=677–680}} eventually causing Longstreet to abandon his [[Knoxville Campaign]] and driving Confederate forces out of Tennessee and opening a route to [[Atlanta]] and the heart of the Confederacy.<ref>{{Cite web |date=September 17, 2014 |title=Sherman's March to the Sea |url=https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/shermans-march-sea |publisher=American Battlefield Trust}}</ref>

== Trans-Mississippi theater ==
{{further|Trans-Mississippi theater of the American Civil War}}

=== Background ===
The [[Trans-Mississippi theater of the American Civil War|Trans-Mississippi theater]] refers to military operations west of the Mississippi, encompassing most of Missouri, [[Arkansas]], most of Louisiana, and the [[Indian Territory]] in present-day [[Oklahoma]]. The [[Trans-Mississippi Department|Trans-Mississippi District]] was formed by the [[Confederate States Army]] to better coordinate [[Ben McCulloch]]'s command of troops in Arkansas and Louisiana, [[Sterling Price]]'s [[Missouri State Guard]], as well as the portion of [[Earl Van Dorn]]'s command that included the Indian Territory and excluded the Army of the West. The Union's command was the Trans-Mississippi Division, or the [[Army of West Mississippi|Military Division of West Mississippi]].{{sfn|Jones|2011|p=1476}}

=== Battles ===
[[File:Wilson's Creek charge of 1st Iowa (rotate).jpg|thumb|[[Nathaniel Lyon]] secured docks and arsenal in [[St. Louis]], leading [[Union Army]] forces to expel the Missouri Confederate forces and government.{{sfn|Keegan|2009|p=100}}]]
The first battle of the Trans-Mississippi theater was the [[Battle of Wilson's Creek]] (August 1861). The Confederates were driven from Missouri early in the war as a result of the [[Battle of Pea Ridge]].{{sfn|McPherson|1988|pp=404–405}}

Extensive [[guerrilla warfare]] characterized the trans-Mississippi region, as the Confederacy lacked the troops and logistics to support regular armies that could challenge Union control.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Martin |first=James B. |title=Third War: Irregular Warfare on the Western Border 1861–1865 |year=2012 |publisher=Combat Studies Institute Press |series=Leavenworth papers |volume=23 |location=Fort Leavenworth, KS |oclc=1029877004}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Fellman |first=Michael |title=Inside War: The Guerrilla Conflict in Missouri during the Civil War |year=1989 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |quote=Missouri alone was the scene of over 1,000 engagements between regular units, and uncounted numbers of guerrilla attacks and raids by informal pro-Confederate bands, especially in the recently settled western counties.}}</ref> Roving Confederate bands such as [[Quantrill's Raiders]] terrorized the countryside, striking military installations and civilian settlements.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bohl |first=Sarah |year=2004 |title=A War on Civilians: Order Number 11 and the Evacuation of Western Missouri |journal=Prologue |volume=36 |issue=1 |pages=44–51}}</ref> The "Sons of Liberty" and "Order of the American Knights" attacked pro-Union people, elected officeholders, and unarmed uniformed soldiers. These partisans could not be driven out of Missouri, until an entire regular Union infantry division was engaged. By 1864, these violent activities harmed the nationwide antiwar movement organizing against the re-election of Lincoln. Missouri not only stayed in the Union, but Lincoln took 70 percent of the vote to win re-election.{{sfn|Keegan|2009|p=270}}

Small-scale military actions south and west of Missouri sought to control [[Indian Territory in the American Civil War|Indian Territory]] and [[New Mexico Territory in the American Civil War|New Mexico Territory]] for the Union. The [[Battle of Glorieta Pass]] was the decisive battle of the [[New Mexico Campaign]]. The Union repulsed Confederate incursions into New Mexico in 1862, and the exiled Arizona government withdrew into Texas. In the Indian Territory, civil war broke out within tribes. About 12,000 Indian warriors fought for the Confederacy but fewer for the Union.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Graves |first=William H. |year=1991 |title=Indian Soldiers for the Gray Army: Confederate Recruitment in Indian Territory |journal=Chronicles of Oklahoma |volume=69 |issue=2 |pages=134–145}}</ref> The most prominent Cherokee was Brigadier General [[Stand Watie]], the last Confederate general to surrender.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Neet |first=J. Frederick Jr. |year=1996 |title=Stand Watie: Confederate General in the Cherokee Nation |journal=Great Plains Journal |volume=6 |issue=1 |pages=36–51}}</ref>

After the fall of Vicksburg in July 1863, Jefferson Davis informed General Kirby Smith in Texas that he could expect no further help from east of the Mississippi. Although he lacked resources to beat Union armies, he built up a formidable arsenal at Tyler, along with his own Kirby Smithdom economy, a virtual "independent fiefdom" in Texas, including railroad construction and international smuggling. The Union, in turn, did not directly engage him.{{sfn|Keegan|2009|pp=220–221}} Its 1864 [[Red River Campaign]] to take Shreveport, Louisiana, failed and Texas remained in Confederate hands throughout the war.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Red River Campaign |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Red-River-Campaign |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220327234657/https://www.britannica.com/event/Red-River-Campaign |archive-date=March 27, 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref>

== Lower seaboard theater ==
{{further|Lower seaboard theater of the American Civil War}}

=== Background ===
The lower seaboard theater refers to military and naval operations that occurred near the coastal areas of the Southeast as well as the southern part of the Mississippi. Union naval activities were dictated by the Anaconda Plan.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Symonds |first=Craig L. |title=The Civil War at Sea |year=2012 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-993168-2 |location=New York |page=110}}</ref>

=== Battles ===
[[File:Naval Triumph on the Mississippi below New Orleans 1862 (cropped).jpg|thumb|[[Battle of Forts Jackson and St. Philip#Surrender of New Orleans and the forts|New Orleans captured]]]]
One of the earliest battles was fought in November 1861 at [[Battle of Port Royal|Port Royal Sound]], south of Charleston. Much of the war along the South Carolina coast concentrated on capturing Charleston. In attempting to capture Charleston, the Union military tried two approaches: by land over James or Morris Islands or through the harbor. However, the Confederates were able to drive back each attack. A famous land attack was the [[Second Battle of Fort Wagner]], in which the [[54th Massachusetts Infantry]] took part. The Union suffered a serious defeat, losing 1,515 soldiers while the Confederates lost only 174. However, the 54th was hailed for its valor, which encouraged the general acceptance of the recruitment of African American soldiers into the Union Army, which reinforced the Union's numerical advantage.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Second Battle of Fort Wagner |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Second-Battle-of-Fort-Wagner |access-date=January 25, 2022 |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica}}</ref>

Fort Pulaski on the Georgia coast was an early target for the Union navy. Following the capture of Port Royal, an expedition was organized with engineer troops under the command of Captain [[Quincy Adams Gillmore]], forcing a Confederate surrender. The Union army occupied the fort for the rest of the war after repairing it.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lattimore |first=Ralston B. |title=Battle for Fort Pulaski – Fort Pulaski National Monument |url=https://www.nps.gov/fopu/learn/historyculture/battle-for-fort-pulaski.htm |access-date=April 20, 2022 |website=National Park Service}}</ref>

In April 1862, a Union naval task force commanded by Commander [[David Dixon Porter]] attacked [[Battle of Forts Jackson and St. Philip|Forts Jackson and St. Philip]], which guarded the river approach to [[New Orleans]] from the south. While part of the fleet bombarded the forts, other vessels forced a break in the obstructions in the river and enabled the rest of the fleet to steam upriver to the city. A Union army force commanded by Maj. Gen. [[Benjamin Butler]] landed near the forts and forced their surrender. Butler's controversial command of New Orleans earned him the nickname "Beast".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Trefousse |first=Hans L. |author-link=Hans L. Trefousse |title=Ben Butler: The South Called Him Beast! |publisher=Twayne |year=1957 |location=New York |oclc=371213}}</ref>

The following year, the Union [[Army of the Gulf]] commanded by Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks laid [[Siege of Port Hudson|siege to Port Hudson]] for nearly eight weeks, the longest siege in US military history. The Confederates attempted to defend with the [[Bayou Teche Campaign]] but surrendered after Vicksburg. These surrenders gave the Union control over the Mississippi.<ref name="BattlefieldTrust" />

Several small skirmishes but no major battles were fought in Florida. The biggest was the [[Battle of Olustee]] in early 1864.{{citation needed|date=January 2022}}

== Pacific coast theater ==
{{further|Pacific coast theater of the American Civil War}}
The Pacific coast theater refers to military operations on the Pacific Ocean and in the states and territories west of the [[Continental Divide of the Americas|Continental Divide]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=War in the West · Civil War · Digital Exhibits |url=http://digitalexhibits.wsulibs.wsu.edu/exhibits/show/civilwar/war-in-the-west/war-in-the-west |access-date=March 7, 2022 |website=digitalexhibits.wsulibs.wsu.edu}}</ref>

== Conquest of Virginia ==
[[File:William-Tecumseh-Sherman.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|left|[[William Tecumseh Sherman]]]]
At the beginning of 1864, Lincoln made Grant commander of all Union armies. Grant made his headquarters with the Army of the Potomac and put Maj. Gen. [[William Tecumseh Sherman]] in command of most of the western armies. Grant understood the concept of [[total war]] and believed, along with Lincoln and Sherman, that only the utter defeat of Confederate forces and their economic base would end the war.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Neely |first=Mark E. |date=December 2004 |title=Was the Civil War a Total War? |journal=Civil War History |volume=50 |issue=4 |pages=434–458 |doi=10.1353/cwh.2004.0073}}</ref> This was total war not in killing civilians, but in injuring the Confederacy's capacity to produce and transport the supplies needed to continue the war. Sherman, at Grant's direction, seized provisions and destroyed homes, farms, and railroads, which Grant said "would otherwise have gone to the support of secession and rebellion. This policy I believe exercised a material influence in hastening the end."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Grant |first=Ulysses S. |url=https://archive.org/details/memoirsselectedl00gran_0 |title=Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant; Selected Letters |publisher=Library of America |year=1990 |isbn=978-0-940450-58-5 |page=[https://archive.org/details/memoirsselectedl00gran_0/page/247 247]}}</ref>

Grant devised a coordinated strategy that would strike at the entire Confederacy from multiple directions. Generals Meade and [[Benjamin Butler]] were ordered to move against Lee near Richmond, General [[Franz Sigel]] was to [[Valley campaigns of 1864|attack the Shenandoah Valley]], General Sherman was to capture Atlanta and march to the Atlantic Ocean, Generals [[George Crook]] and [[William W. Averell]] were to operate against railroad supply lines in West Virginia, and Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks was to capture [[Mobile, Alabama|Mobile]], Alabama.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Field |first=Ron |title=Petersburg 1864–65: The Longest Siege |publisher=Osprey |year=2013 |isbn=978-1-4728-0305-4 |page=6}}</ref>

=== Grant's Overland Campaign ===

Grant's army set out on the [[Overland Campaign]] intending to draw Lee into a defense of Richmond, where they would attempt to pin down and destroy the Confederate army. The Union army first attempted to maneuver past Lee and fought several battles, notably at the [[Battle of the Wilderness|Wilderness]], [[Battle of Spotsylvania Court House|Spotsylvania]], and [[Cold Harbor]]. These resulted in heavy losses on both sides and forced Lee's Confederates to fall back repeatedly.{{sfn|McPherson|1988|pp=724–735}} At the [[Battle of Yellow Tavern]], the Confederates lost Jeb Stuart.{{sfn|McPherson|1988|p=728}}

An attempt to outflank Lee from the south failed under Butler, who was trapped inside the [[Bermuda Hundred Campaign|Bermuda Hundred]] river bend. Each battle resulted in setbacks for the Union that mirrored those they had suffered under prior generals, though unlike them, Grant chose to fight on rather than retreat. Grant was tenacious and kept pressing Lee's Army of Northern Virginia back to Richmond. While Lee was preparing for an attack on Richmond, Grant unexpectedly turned south to cross the James River and began the protracted [[Siege of Petersburg]], where the two armies engaged in [[trench warfare]] for over nine months.{{sfn|McPherson|1988|pp=724–742}}

=== Sheridan's Valley Campaign ===
[[File:Philip Sheridan 1-restored.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|[[Philip Sheridan]]]]
To deny the Confederacy continued use of the [[Shenandoah Valley]] as a base from which to launch invasions of Maryland and the Washington area, and to threaten Lee's supply lines for his forces, Grant launched the [[Valley campaigns of 1864|Valley campaigns]] in the spring of 1864. Initial efforts led by Gen. Sigel were repelled at the [[Battle of New Market]] by Confederate Gen. [[John C. Breckinridge]]. The Battle of New Market was the Confederacy's last major victory, and included a charge by teenage [[Virginia Military Institute|VMI]] cadets. After relieving Sigel, and following mixed performances by his successor, Grant finally found a commander, General [[Philip Sheridan]], aggressive enough to prevail against the army of Maj. Gen. [[Jubal A. Early]]. After a cautious start, Sheridan defeated Early in a series of battles in September and October 1864, including a decisive defeat at the [[Battle of Cedar Creek]]. Sheridan then proceeded through that winter to destroy the agricultural base of the Shenandoah Valley, a strategy similar to the tactics Sherman later employed in Georgia.{{sfn|McPherson|1988|pp=778–779}}

=== Sherman's March to the Sea ===

Meanwhile, Sherman maneuvered from Chattanooga to Atlanta, defeating Confederate Generals Joseph E. Johnston and [[John Bell Hood]]. The [[Battle of Atlanta|fall of Atlanta]] on September 2, 1864, guaranteed the reelection of Lincoln.{{sfn|McPherson|1988|pp=773–776}} Hood left the Atlanta area to swing around and menace Sherman's supply lines and invade Tennessee in the [[Franklin–Nashville Campaign]]. Union Maj. Gen. [[John Schofield]] defeated Hood at the [[Battle of Franklin]], and George H. Thomas dealt Hood a massive defeat at the [[Battle of Nashville]], effectively destroying Hood's army.{{sfn|McPherson|1988|pp=812–815}}

Leaving Atlanta, and his base of supplies, Sherman's army marched, with no destination set, laying waste to about 20% of the farms in Georgia in his "[[Sherman's March to the Sea|March to the Sea]]". He reached the Atlantic at [[Savannah, Georgia|Savannah]], Georgia, in December 1864. Sherman's army was followed by thousands of freed slaves; there were no major battles along the march. Sherman turned north through South Carolina and North Carolina, to approach the Confederate Virginia lines from the south, increasing the pressure on Lee's army.{{sfn|McPherson|1988|pp=825–830}}

=== The Waterloo of the Confederacy ===
Lee's army, thinned by desertion and casualties, was now much smaller than Grant's. One last Confederate attempt to break the Union hold on Petersburg failed at the decisive [[Battle of Five Forks]] on April 1. The Union now controlled the entire perimeter surrounding Richmond–Petersburg, completely cutting it off from the Confederacy. Realizing the capital was now lost, Lee's army and the Confederate government were forced to evacuate. The Confederate capital fell on April 2–3, to the [[XXV Corps (Union Army)|Union XXV Corps]], composed of black troops. The remaining Confederate units fled west after a defeat at [[Battle of Sayler's Creek|Sayler's Creek]] on April 6.{{sfn|McPherson|1988|pp=846–847}}

== End of the war ==
{{Main|Conclusion of the American Civil War}}
{{multiple image
| align = right
| direction = horizontal
| total_width = 400
| image1 = 18650410 Surrender of General Lee and His Whole Army - The New York Times.png
| alt1 =
| width1 =
| caption1 = This ''New York Times'' front page celebrated Lee's surrender, headlining how Grant let Confederate officers retain their sidearms and "paroled" the Confederate officers and men.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 10, 1865 |title=Union / Victory! / Peace! / Surrender of General Lee and His Whole Army |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/new-york-times-apr-10-1865-p-1/ |work=The New York Times |page=1}}</ref>
| image2 = 18650416 Lee Has Surrendered to Grant - Savannah Daily Herald.png
| caption2 = News of Lee's April 9 surrender reached this southern newspaper (Savannah, Georgia) on April 15—after the April 14 shooting of President Lincoln. The article quotes Grant's terms of surrender.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 16, 1865 |title=Most Glorious News of the War / Lee Has Surrendered to Grant ! / All Lee's Officers and Men Are Paroled |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/savannah-daily-herald-apr-16-1865-p-1/ |url-access=subscription |work=Savannah Daily Herald |location=Savannah, GA |pages=1, 4}}</ref>
}}

Lee did not intend to surrender, but planned to regroup at [[Appomattox Station]], where supplies were to be waiting, and then continue the war. Grant chased Lee and got in front of him, so that when Lee's army reached the [[Appomattox Court House National Historical Park|village of Appomattox Court House]], they were surrounded. After [[Battle of Appomattox Court House|an initial battle]], Lee decided the fight was hopeless, and surrendered his Army of Northern Virginia to Grant on April 9, 1865, during a conference at the [[McLean House (Appomattox, Virginia)|McLean House]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Simpson |first=Brooks D. |title=Let Us Have Peace: Ulysses S. Grant and the Politics of War and Reconstruction, 1861–1868 |publisher=The University of North Carolina Press |year=1991 |location=Chapel Hill |page=84}}</ref><ref>William Marvel (2002) ''Lee's Last Retreat: The Flight to Appomattox'', pp. 158–181.</ref> In an untraditional gesture and as a sign of Grant's respect and anticipation of peacefully restoring Confederate states to the Union, Lee was permitted to keep his sword and horse, [[Traveller (horse)|Traveller]]. His men were [[parole]]d, and a chain of Confederate surrenders began.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Winik |first=Jay |title=April 1865: the month that saved America |year=2001 |publisher=HarperCollins |isbn=0-06-018723-9 |location=New York |pages=188–189}}</ref>

On April 14, 1865, Lincoln [[Assassination of Abraham Lincoln|was shot]] by [[John Wilkes Booth]], a Confederate sympathizer. Lincoln died early the next morning. Lincoln's vice president, [[Andrew Johnson]], was unharmed, because his would-be assassin, [[George Atzerodt]], lost his nerve, so Johnson was immediately sworn in as president.

Meanwhile, Confederate forces across the South surrendered, as news of Lee's surrender reached them.<ref group="lower-alpha">Unaware of the surrender of Lee, on April 16 the last major battles of the war were fought at the [[Battle of Columbus, Georgia]], and the [[Battle of West Point]].</ref> On April 26, the same day Sergeant [[Boston Corbett]] killed Booth at a tobacco barn, Johnston surrendered nearly 90,000 troops of the [[Army of Tennessee]] to Sherman at [[Bennett Place]], near present-day Durham, North Carolina. It proved to be the largest surrender of Confederate forces. On May 4, all remaining Confederate forces in Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana east of the Mississippi, under the command of Lt. General [[Richard Taylor (Confederate general)|Richard Taylor]], surrendered.{{sfn|Long|1971|p=685}} Confederate president Davis was captured in retreat at [[Irwinville, Georgia]] on May 10.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Arnold |first1=James R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=35LvCgAAQBAJ |title=Understanding U.S. Military Conflicts through Primary Sources [4 volumes] |last2=Wiener |first2=Roberta |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=2016 |isbn=978-1-61069-934-1 |page=15}}</ref>

The final land battle was fought on May 13, 1865, at the [[Battle of Palmito Ranch]] in Texas.{{sfn|Long|1971|p=688}}{{sfn|Bradley|2015|p=68}}{{sfn|Hunt|2015|p=5}} On May 26, 1865, Confederate Lt. Gen. [[Simon B. Buckner]], acting for Edmund Smith, signed a military convention surrendering Confederate forces in the [[Trans-Mississippi Department]].{{sfn|Long|1971|p=690}}{{sfn|Dunkerly|2015|p=117}} This date is often cited by contemporaries and historians as the effective end date of the war.{{efn|name=End1}}{{efn|name=End2}} On June 2, with most of his troops having already gone home, a reluctant Kirby Smith had little choice but to sign the official surrender document.{{sfn|Long|1971|p=692}}<ref>{{Cite web |date=April 17, 2009 |title=Ulysses S. Grant: The Myth of 'Unconditional Surrender' Begins at Fort Donelson |url=https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/ulysses-s-grant-myth-unconditional-surrender-begins-fort-donelson |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160207004144/http://www.civilwar.org/education/history/end-of-war/smith-surrenders.html |archive-date=February 7, 2016 |publisher=American Battlefield Trust}}</ref> On June 23, [[Cherokee]] leader and Brig. General [[Stand Watie]] became the last Confederate general to surrender his forces.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Morris |first=John Wesley |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=fSqmnpHFEF0C |page=68}} |title=Ghost Towns of Oklahoma |year=1977 |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |isbn=978-0-8061-1420-0 |page=68}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Bradley|2015|p=69}}. "The 58-year-old Cherokee chieftain was the last Confederate general to lay down his arms. The last Confederate-affiliated tribe to surrender was the Chickasaw nation, which capitulated on 14 July."</ref>

On June 19, 1865, Union Maj. Gen. [[Gordon Granger]] announced [[General Order No. 3]], bringing the Emancipation Proclamation into effect in Texas and freeing the last slaves of the Confederacy.<ref>Conner, Robert C. ''General Gordon Granger: The Savior of Chickamauga and the Man Behind "Juneteenth"''. Havertown, PA: Casemate Publishers, 2013. {{ISBN|978-1-61200-186-9}}. p. 177.</ref> The anniversary of this date is now celebrated as [[Juneteenth]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gates |first=Henry Louis Jr. |author-link=Henry Louis Gates Jr. |date=January 16, 2013 |title=What Is Juneteenth? |url=https://www.pbs.org/wnet/african-americans-many-rivers-to-cross/history/what-is-juneteenth/ |access-date=June 12, 2020 |publisher=[[PBS]]}}</ref>

The naval part of the war ended more slowly. It had begun on April 11, two days after Lee's surrender, when Lincoln proclaimed that foreign nations had no further "claim or pretense" to deny equality of maritime rights and hospitalities to US warships and, in effect, that rights extended to Confederate ships to use neutral ports as safe havens from US warships should end.{{sfn|Neff|2010|p=205}}<ref name="PresidencyProject1865a" /> Having no response to Lincoln's proclamation, President Johnson issued a similar proclamation dated May 10, more directly stating that the war was almost at an end and insurgent cruisers still at sea, and prepared to attack US ships, should not have rights to do so through use of safe foreign ports or waters.<ref name="PresidencyProject1865b" /> Britain finally responded on June 6, by transmitting a letter from Foreign Secretary [[John Russell, 1st Earl Russell]], to the Lords of the [[Admiralty (United Kingdom)|Admiralty]] withdrawing rights to Confederate warships to enter British ports and waters.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=June 24, 1865 |title=Withdrawal of Belligerent Rights by Great Britain |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_armed-forces-journal_1865-06-24_2_44 |journal=[[Army and Navy Journal]] |location=New York |publisher=American News Company |volume=2 |issue=44 |page=695 |access-date=July 25, 2022}}</ref> US Secretary of State Seward welcomed the withdrawal of concessions to the Confederates.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=July 22, 1865 |title=England and the Termination of the Rebellion |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_armed-forces-journal_1865-07-22_2_48 |journal=[[Army and Navy Journal]] |location=New York |publisher=American News Company |volume=2 |issue=48 |page=763 |access-date=July 25, 2022}}</ref> Finally, on October 18, Russell advised the Admiralty that the time specified in his June message had elapsed and "all measures of a restrictive nature on vessels of war of the United States in British ports, harbors, and waters, are now to be considered as at an end".<ref>{{Cite journal |date=November 4, 1865 |title=Withdrawal of British Restrictions Upon American Naval Vessels |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_armed-forces-journal_1865-11-04_3_11 |journal=[[Army and Navy Journal]] |location=New York |publisher=American News Company |volume=3 |issue=11 |page=172 |access-date=July 25, 2022}}</ref> Nonetheless, the final Confederate surrender was in Liverpool, England where [[James Iredell Waddell]], the captain of [[CSS Shenandoah|CSS ''Shenandoah'']], surrendered the cruiser to British authorities on November 6.{{sfn|Heidler|Heidler|Coles|2002|pp=703–706}}

Legally, the war did not end until August 20, 1866, when President Johnson issued a proclamation that declared "that the said insurrection is at an end and that peace, order, tranquillity, and civil authority now exist in and throughout the whole of the United States of America".{{efn|{{multiref2|{{harvnb|Murray|1967|p=[https://archive.org/details/northcarolinahis1967nort/page/336/mode/1up 336]}} | {{harvnb|Neff|2010|p=207}} | {{harvnb|Trudeau|1994|p=396}}. In ''United States v. Anderson'', 76 U.S. 56 (1869), "The U.S. attorneys argued that the Rebellion had been suppressed following the surrender of the Trans-Mississippi Department, as established in the surrender document negotiated on May 26, 1865." | {{harvnb|Trudeau|1994|p=397}}. The Supreme Court decided that the "legal end of the American Civil War had been decided by Congress to be August 20, 1866—the date of Andrew Johnson's final proclamation on the conclusion of the Rebellion."}}}}

== Union victory ==

[[File:Civil war 1861-1865.png|thumb|upright=1.35|Map of Confederate territory losses year by year|alt=A map of the US South showing shrinking territory under rebel control]]
The [[Origins of the American Civil War|causes of the war]], reasons for its outcome, and even [[Naming the American Civil War|its name]] are subjects of lingering contention. The North and West grew wealthy while the once-rich South became poor for a century. The national political power of the slaveowners and rich Southerners ended. Historians are less sure about the results of postwar Reconstruction, especially regarding the second-class citizenship of the freedmen and their poverty.{{sfn|McPherson|1988|p=851}}

Historians have debated whether the Confederacy could have won the war. Most scholars, including [[James M. McPherson]], argue Confederate victory was possible.{{sfn|McPherson|1988|p=855}} McPherson argues that the North's advantage in population and resources made Northern victory likely, but not guaranteed. He argues that if the Confederacy had fought using unconventional tactics, it would have more easily been able to hold out long enough to exhaust the Union.<ref name="Boritt" /> Confederates did not need to invade and hold enemy territory to win, but only to fight a defensive war to convince the North the cost of winning was too high. The North needed to conquer and hold vast stretches of enemy territory and defeat Confederate armies to win.<ref name="Boritt" /> Lincoln was not a military dictator and could fight only as long as the American public supported the war. The Confederacy sought to win independence by outlasting Lincoln; however, after Atlanta fell and Lincoln defeated McClellan in the election of 1864, hope for a political victory for the South ended. Lincoln had secured the support of the Republicans, War Democrats, border states, emancipated slaves, and the neutrality of Britain and France. By defeating the Democrats and McClellan, he defeated the [[Copperheads (politics)|Copperheads]], who had wanted a negotiated peace with the Confederacy.{{sfn|McPherson|1988|pp=771–772}}
{| class="wikitable floatright" style="border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0 0 1em 1em; padding: 10px; border: 1px solid #ccc;"
|+ Comparison of Union and Confederacy, 1860–1864<ref name="Manufactures1860" /><ref name="Carter2006" />
!
! scope="col" | Year
! scope="col" | Union
! scope="col" | Confederacy
|-
|rowspan="2"|'''Population'''
|1860
| 22,100,000 (71%)
| 9,100,000 (29%)
|-
|1864
| 28,800,000 (90%){{refn|name=UnionPop|group=lower-alpha|"Union population 1864" aggregates 1860 population, average annual immigration 1855–1864, and population governed formerly by CSA per Kenneth Martis source. Contrabands and after the Emancipation Proclamation freedmen, migrating into Union control on the coasts and to the advancing armies, and natural increase are excluded.}}
| 3,000,000 (10%)<ref>{{Cite book |last=Martis |first=Kenneth C. |title=The Historical Atlas of the Congresses of the Confederate States of America: 1861–1865 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |year=1994 |isbn=978-0-13-389115-7 |page=27}} At the beginning of 1865, the Confederacy controlled one third of its congressional districts, which were apportioned by population. The major slave populations found in Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Alabama were effectively under Union control by the end of 1864.</ref>
|-
| '''Free'''
|1860
| 21,700,000 (98%)
| 5,600,000 (62%)
|-
|rowspan="2"| '''Slave'''
|1860
| 490,000 (2%)
| 3,550,000 (38%)
|-
|1864
| ''negligible''
| 1,900,000{{refn|name=CSASlaves|group=lower-alpha|"Slave 1864, CSA" aggregates 1860 slave census of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Texas. It omits losses from contraband and after the Emancipation Proclamation, freedmen migrating to the Union controlled coastal ports and those joining advancing Union armies, especially in the Mississippi Valley.}}
|-
| '''Soldiers'''
| 1860–64
| 2,100,000 (67%)
| 1,064,000 (33%)
|-
|rowspan="2"| '''Railroad miles'''<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/17951895onehundr0001unse/page/111/mode/2up |title=One Hundred Years of American Commerce 1795–1895 |year=1968 |publisher=Greenwood |editor-last=Depew |editor-first=Chauncey |editor-link=Chauncey Depew |location=New York |page=111}}</ref>
|1860
| 21,800 (71%)
| 8,800 (29%)
|-
|1864
| 29,100 (98%){{efn|"Total Union railroad miles" aggregates existing track reported 1860 @ 21800 plus new construction 1860–1864 @ 5000, plus southern railroads administered by USMRR @ 2300.<ref>{{Cite web |title=U.S. Railroad Construction, 1860–1880 |url=http://www.dhr.history.vt.edu/modules/us/mod05_industry/images/railroad_construction.jpg |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160611102443/http://www.dhr.history.vt.edu/modules/us/mod05_industry/images/railroad_construction.jpg |archive-date=June 11, 2016 |access-date=August 21, 2012 |website=Digital History Reader |publisher=Virginia Tech}}</ref>}}
| ''negligible''
|-
|rowspan="2"| '''Manufactures'''
|1860
| 90%
| 10%
|-
|1864
| 98%
| 2%
|-
|rowspan="2"| '''Arms production'''
|1860
| 97%
| 3%
|-
|1864
| 98%
| 2%
|-
|rowspan="2"| '''Cotton bales'''
|1860
| ''negligible''
| 4,500,000
|-
|1864
| 300,000
| ''negligible''
|-
|rowspan="2"| '''Exports'''
|1860
| 30%
| 70%
|-
|1864
| 98%
| 2%
|}
Some scholars argue the Union held an insurmountable long-term advantage over the Confederacy in industrial strength and population. Confederate actions, they argue, only delayed defeat.{{sfn|Murray|Bernstein|Knox|1996|p=235}}{{sfn|Heidler|Heidler|Coles|2002|pp=1207–1210}} Historian [[Shelby Foote]] expressed this view succinctly: {{blockquote|I think that the North fought that war with one hand behind its back .... If there had been more Southern victories, and a lot more, the North simply would have brought that other hand out from behind its back. I don't think the South ever had a chance to win that War.{{sfn|Ward|1990|p=272}}}}

A minority view among historians is that the Confederacy lost because, as [[E. Merton Coulter]] put it, "people did not will hard enough and long enough to win".{{sfn|Coulter|1950|p=566}}<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Beringer |first1=Richard E. |title=Why the South Lost the Civil War |last2=Hattaway |first2=Herman |last3=Jones |first3=Archer |last4=Still |first4=William N. Jr. |year=1991 |at=ch. 1}}</ref> However, most historians reject the argument.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Farmer |first=Alan |year=2005 |title=Why was the Confederacy Defeated? |url=http://www.historytoday.com/alan-farmer/why-was-confederacy-defeated |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140323165319/http://www.historytoday.com/alan-farmer/why-was-confederacy-defeated |archive-date=March 23, 2014 |website=History Review |pages=15–20 |via=History Today |issue=52}}</ref> McPherson, after reading thousands of letters written by Confederate soldiers, found strong patriotism that continued to the end; they truly believed they were fighting for freedom and liberty. Even as the Confederacy was visibly collapsing in 1864–65, most Confederate soldiers were fighting hard.{{sfn|McPherson|1997|pp=169–172}} Historian [[Gary Gallagher]] cites General Sherman, who in early 1864 commented, "The devils seem to have a determination that cannot but be admired." Despite their loss of slaves and wealth, with starvation looming, Sherman continued, "yet I see no sign of let-up—some few deserters—plenty tired of war, but the masses determined to fight it out".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gallagher |first=Gary W. |author-link=Gary W. Gallagher |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=QHNEtpvEB30C |page=57}} |title=The Confederate War |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-674-16056-9 |location=Cambridge, MA |page=57}}</ref>

Also important were Lincoln's eloquence in articulating the national purpose and his skill in keeping the border states committed to the Union cause. The Emancipation Proclamation was an effective use of the president's war powers.<ref name="Fehrenbacher2004" /> The Confederate government failed to get Europe involved militarily. Southern leaders needed to get European powers to help break the blockade the Union had created around Southern ports. Lincoln's naval blockade was 95 percent effective at stopping trade goods; as a result, imports and exports to the South declined significantly. The abundance of European cotton and Britain's hostility to slavery, along with Lincoln's naval blockades, severely decreased any chance that Britain or France would enter the war.{{sfn|McPherson|1988|pp=382–388}}

Historian [[Don H. Doyle]] has argued that the Union victory had a major impact on world history.{{sfn|Doyle|2015}} The Union victory energized popular democratic forces. A Confederate victory, on the other hand, would have meant a new birth of slavery, not of freedom. Historian [[Fergus Bordewich]], following Doyle, argues:
{{blockquote|The North's victory decisively proved the durability of democratic government. Confederate independence, on the other hand, would have established an American model for reactionary politics and race-based repression that would likely have cast an international shadow into the 20th century and perhaps beyond.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bordewich |first=Fergus M. |date=February 6, 2015 |title=The World Was Watching: America's Civil War slowly came to be seen as part of a global struggle against oppressive privilege |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/book-review-the-cause-of-all-nations-by-don-h-doyle-1423260658 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170221081620/https://www.wsj.com/articles/book-review-the-cause-of-all-nations-by-don-h-doyle-1423260658 |archive-date=February 21, 2017 |website=The Wall Street Journal}}</ref>}} Scholars have debated what the effects of the war were on political and economic power in the South.<ref name="Dupont2018">{{Cite journal |last1=Dupont |first1=Brandon |last2=Rosenbloom |first2=Joshua L. |year=2018 |title=The Economic Origins of the Postwar Southern Elite |url=https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/econ_las_pubs/644 |journal=Explorations in Economic History |volume=68 |pages=119–131 |doi=10.1016/j.eeh.2017.09.002}}</ref> The prevailing view is that the southern planter elite retained its powerful position in the South.<ref name="Dupont2018" /> However, a 2017 study challenges this, noting that while some Southern elites retained their economic status, the turmoil of the 1860s created greater opportunities for economic mobility in the South, than in the North.<ref name="Dupont2018" />

== Casualties ==
{{multiple image
| total_width = 550
| align = right
| image1 = Alfred A. Stratton.jpg
| alt1 =
| caption1 = One in thirteen veterans were amputees.
| image2 = Cold Harbor, Va. African Americans collecting bones.jpg
| alt2 =
| caption2 = Remains of both sides were reinterred.
| image3 = Andersonville National Cemetery.jpg
| alt3 =
| caption3 = [[Andersonville National Cemetery]], Georgia
| footer =
}}
{| class="wikitable floatright" style="border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0 0 1em 1em;"
|+ Casualties according to the US National Park Service<ref name="NationalParkService" />
! scope="col" | Category
! scope="col" | Union
! scope="col" | Confederate
|-
! scope="row" | Killed in action
| 110,100
| 94,000
|-
! scope="row" | Disease
| 224,580
| 164,000
|-
! scope="row" | Wounded in action
| 275,154
| 194,026
|-
! scope="row" | Captured (inc those who died as POWs)
| 211,411 (30,192)
| 462,634 (31,000)
|-
! scope="row" | Total
| 821,245
| 914,660
|}
{{Further|Environmental history of the United States#Civil War}}
Exact casualty figures were collected for the Union, but Confederate records were poorly kept, or lost in the chaos of defeat. Thus, the casualty figures are imprecise and based on statistical extrapolation. Neither side kept a tally of civilian deaths due to the war. In the 19th century, the death toll had been estimated at a lower 620,000.<ref name="Nofi2001" /> In 2011, the death toll was recalculated based on a 1% sample of census data, yielding approximately 750,000 soldier deaths, 20 percent higher than traditionally estimated, and possibly as high as 850,000.<ref name="Hacker2011" /><ref>{{Cite web |date=September 22, 2011 |title=U.S. Civil War Took Bigger Toll Than Previously Estimated, New Analysis Suggests |url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/09/110921120124.htm |access-date=September 22, 2011 |website=Science Daily}}</ref> The figure was recalculated to 698,000 soldier deaths in 2024 after examining newly available full census records. Mortality rates among men were as high as 19 percent in Louisiana, and 16.6–16.7 percent in Georgia and South Carolina respectively.<ref>{{Cite web |date=November 19, 2024 |title=Civil War Toll Much Worse in Confederate States, New Estimates Show|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/19/health/civil-war-death-toll.html#selection-835.50-835.66 |access-date=November 27, 2024 |website=archive.ph |archive-url=https://archive.today/20241119193351/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/19/health/civil-war-death-toll.html#selection-835.50-835.66 |archive-date=November 19, 2024}}</ref><ref name="auto">{{Cite journal |last1=Barceló |first1=Joan |last2=Jensen |first2=Jeffrey L. |last3=Peisakhin |first3=Leonid |last4=Zhai |first4=Haoyu |date=November 26, 2024 |title=New Estimates of US Civil War mortality from full-census records |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |volume=121 |issue=48 |pages=e2414919121 |doi=10.1073/pnas.2414919121 |pmid=39556740 |doi-access=free |pmc=11621511 |bibcode=2024PNAS..12114919B}}</ref>

The war resulted in at least 1,030,000 casualties (3 percent of the population), including an estimated 698,000 soldier deaths—two-thirds by disease.<ref name="auto" /><ref name="Nofi2001" /> Based on 1860 census figures, 8 percent of all white men aged 13–43 died in the war, including 6 percent in the North and 18 percent in the South.{{sfn|Vinovskis|1990|p=7}}<ref name="Fox2008" /> About 56,000 soldiers [[American Civil War prison camps|died in prison camps]] during the War.<ref name="NationalGeographic2003" /> An estimated 60,000 soldiers lost limbs.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Riordan |first=Teresa |date=March 8, 2004 |title=When Necessity Meets Ingenuity: Art of Restoring What's Missing |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/08/business/technology-when-necessity-meets-ingenuity-art-of-restoring-what-s-missing.html |access-date=December 23, 2013 |website=The New York Times |agency=[[Associated Press]]}}</ref> As McPherson notes, the war's "cost in American lives was as great as in all of the nation's other wars combined through [[Vietnam War|Vietnam]]".{{Sfn|McPherson|1988|p=854}}

Of the 359,528 Union Army dead, amounting to 15 percent of the over two million who served:<ref name="Fox1889" />
* 110,070 were killed in action (67,000) or died of wounds (43,000).
* 199,790 died of disease (75 percent was due to the war, the remainder would have occurred in civilian life anyway)
* 24,866 died in Confederate prison camps
* 9,058 were killed by accidents or drowning
* 15,741 other/unknown deaths
In addition, there were 4,523 deaths in the Navy (2,112 in battle) and 460 in the Marines (148 in battle).<ref name="DCAS" />

After the Emancipation Proclamation authorized freed slaves to "be received into the armed service of the United States", former slaves who escaped from plantations or were liberated by the Union Army were recruited into the [[United States Colored Troops]] regiments of the Union Army, as were black men who had not been slaves. The US Colored Troops made up 10 percent of the Union death toll—15 percent of Union deaths from disease and less than 3 percent of those killed in battle.<ref name="Fox1889" /> Losses among [[African American]]s were high. In the last year and a half and from all reported casualties, approximately 20 percent of all African Americans enrolled in the military died during the war. Their mortality rate was significantly higher than white soldiers. While 15 percent of US Volunteers and just 9 percent of white Regular Army troops died, 21 percent of US Colored Troops died.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Herbert |last=Aptheker |author-link=Herbert Aptheker |title=Negro Casualties in the Civil War |journal=The Journal of Negro History |volume=32 |issue=1 |date=January 1947 |pages=10–80 |jstor=2715291 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |doi=10.2307/2715291 |issn=0022-2992}}</ref>{{Rp|16}}
[[File:Burial of the dead on the Antietam battlefield army.mil-2008-09-10-145638.jpg|thumb|An illustration of the war dead following the [[Battle of Antietam]] battlefield in 1862]]

While the figures of 360,000 army deaths for the Union and 260,000 for the Confederacy remained commonly cited, they are incomplete. In addition to many Confederate records being missing, partly as a result of Confederate widows not reporting deaths due to being ineligible for benefits, both armies only counted troops who died during their service and not the tens of thousands who died of wounds or diseases after being discharged. This often happened only days or weeks later. [[Francis Amasa Walker]], superintendent of the 1870 census, used census and surgeon general data to estimate a minimum of 500,000 Union military deaths and 350,000 Confederate military deaths, a total of 850,000 soldiers. While Walker's estimates were originally dismissed because of the 1870 census's undercounting, it was later found that the census was only off by 6.5 percent and that the data Walker used would be roughly accurate.<ref name="Hacker2011" />

Losses were far higher than during the war with Mexico, which saw roughly 13,000 American deaths, including fewer than two thousand killed in battle, between 1846 and 1848. One reason for the high number of battle deaths in the civil war was the continued use of tactics similar to those of the [[Napoleonic Wars]], such as [[charge (warfare)|charging]]. With the advent of more accurate rifled barrels, [[Minié ball]]s, and (near the end of the war for the Union) repeating firearms such as the [[Spencer repeating rifle]] and the [[Henry repeating rifle]], soldiers were mowed down when standing in lines in the open. This led to the adoption of trench warfare, a style of fighting that defined much of [[World War I]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=American Civil War Fortifications |url=https://ospreypublishing.com/american-civil-war-fortifications-2 |website=Osprey}}</ref>

Deaths among former slaves has proven hard to estimate, due to the lack of reliable census data, though they were known to be considerable, as former slaves were set free or escaped in massive numbers in areas where the Union army did not have sufficient shelter, doctors, or food for them. Professor [[Jim Downs]] states that tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of slaves died during the war from disease, starvation, or exposure, and that if these deaths are counted in the war's total, the death toll would exceed 1 million.<ref>Jim Downs, ''Sick from Freedom: African-American Illness and Suffering during the Civil War and Reconstruction'', Oxford University Press, 2012.</ref>

It is estimated that during the war, of the [[equines]] killed, including horses, mules, donkeys and even confiscated children's [[ponies]], over 32,600 of them belonged to the Union and 45,800 the Confederacy. However, other estimates place the total at 1,000,000.<ref>{{Cite web |date=June 25, 2013 |title=The Battle of Gettysburg & the History of the Civil War Horse |url=https://thehorsemenscorral.com/2013/06/25/the-battle-of-gettysburg-the-history-of-the-cival-war-horse/ |access-date=January 2, 2024}}</ref>

It is estimated that 544 [[Flags of the Confederate States of America|Confederate flags]] were captured during the war by the Union. The flags were sent to the [[United States Department of War|War Department]] in Washington.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Southern Historical Society Papers |editor-last=Jones |editor-first=J. William |volume=32 |chapter=1.37: Confederate States' flags |access-date=January 9, 2024 |chapter-url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2001.05.0290:chapter=1.37 |via=Perseus Digital Library}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Returned Flags Booklet, 1905 |url=https://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/ket-history-civilwar58/returned-flags-booklet/ |access-date=January 9, 2024 |via=PBS LearningMedia}}</ref> The Union flags captured by the Confederates were sent to Richmond.{{citation needed|date=September 2024}}

== Emancipation ==
[[File:Abolition of slavery in the United States SVG map.svg|thumb|upright=2|Abolition of slavery in the various states over time:{{Legend|#84c6c9|Abolition of slavery during or shortly after the American Revolution}}
{{Legend|#7be3de|The Northwest Ordinance, 1787}}
{{Legend|#64e5c5|Gradual emancipation in New York (starting 1799, completed 1827) and New Jersey (starting 1804, completed by Thirteenth Amendment, 1865)}}
{{Legend|#7ab377|The Missouri Compromise, 1821}}
{{Legend|#5f9b4a|Effective abolition of slavery by Mexican or joint US/British authority}}
{{Legend|#97cf2d|Abolition of slavery by Congressional action, 1861}}
{{Legend|#c7dd47|Abolition of slavery by Congressional action, 1862}}
{{Legend|#ffe86d|Emancipation Proclamation as originally issued, January 1, 1863}}
{{Legend|#f1c84e|Subsequent operation of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863}}
{{Legend|#d39c59|Abolition of slavery by state action during the Civil War}}
{{Legend|#f7b360|Operation of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1864}}
{{Legend|#f6a89a|Operation of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1865}}
{{Legend|#d3595f|Thirteenth Amendment to the US constitution, December 18, 1865}}
{{Legend|#bca4b1|Territory incorporated into the US after the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment}}]]
Abolishing slavery was not a Union war goal from the outset, but quickly became one.{{Sfn|McPherson|1988|pp=vii–viii}} Lincoln's initial claims were that preserving the Union was the central goal.{{sfn|Foner|2010|p=74}} In contrast, the South fought to preserve slavery.{{Sfn|McPherson|1988|pp=vii–viii}} While not all Southerners saw themselves as fighting for slavery, most officers and over a third of the rank and file in Lee's army had close family ties to slavery. To Northerners, the motivation was primarily to preserve the Union, not to abolish slavery.{{sfn|Foner|1981|p={{page needed|date=September 2024}}}} However, as the war dragged on, and it became clear slavery was central to the conflict, and that emancipation was (to quote the Emancipation Proclamation) "a fit and necessary war measure for suppressing [the] rebellion", Lincoln and his cabinet made ending slavery a war goal, culminating in the Emancipation Proclamation.{{Sfn|McPherson|1988|pp=vii–viii}}{{sfn|McPherson|1988|pp=506–508}} Lincoln's decision to issue the Proclamation angered [[Peace Democrats]] ("Copperheads") and [[War Democrats]], but energized most Republicans.{{sfn|McPherson|1988|pp=506–508}} By warning that free blacks would flood the North, Democrats made gains in the [[1862 congressional elections|1862 elections]], but they did not gain control of Congress. The Republicans' counterargument that slavery was the mainstay of the enemy steadily gained support, with the Democrats losing decisively in the 1863 elections in the Northern state of Ohio, when they tried to resurrect anti-black sentiment.{{sfn|McPherson|1988|p=686}}

=== Emancipation Proclamation ===
{{Main|Emancipation Proclamation}}
The Emancipation Proclamation legally freed the slaves in states "in rebellion", but, as a practical matter, slavery for the 3.5 million black people in the South effectively ended in each area when Union armies arrived. The last Confederate slaves were freed on June 19, 1865, celebrated as the modern holiday of Juneteenth. Slaves in the border states and those in some former Confederate territory occupied before the Emancipation Proclamation were freed by state action or (on December 6, 1865) by the [[Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Thirteenth Amendment]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Cathey |first=Libby |date=June 17, 2021 |title=Biden signs bill making Juneteenth, marking the end of slavery, a federal holiday |url=https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/biden-sign-bill-making-juneteenth-federal-holiday-commemorating/story?id=78335485 |access-date=June 17, 2021 |work=[[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]]}}</ref><ref>[[Claudia Goldin]], "The economics of emancipation." ''The Journal of Economic History'' 33#1 (1973): 66–85.</ref> The Emancipation Proclamation enabled African Americans, both free blacks and escaped slaves, to join the Union Army. About 190,000 volunteered, further enhancing the numerical advantage the Union armies enjoyed over the Confederates, who did not dare emulate the equivalent manpower source for fear of undermining the legitimacy of slavery.{{efn|In spite of the South's shortage of soldiers, most Southern leaders—until 1865—opposed enlisting slaves. They used them as laborers to support the war effort. As [[Howell Cobb]] said, "If slaves will make good soldiers our whole theory of slavery is wrong." Confederate generals [[Patrick Cleburne]] and [[Robert E. Lee]] argued in favor of arming blacks late in the war, and [[Jefferson Davis]] was eventually persuaded to support plans for arming slaves to avoid military defeat. The Confederacy surrendered at [[Appomattox, Virginia|Appomattox]] before this plan could be implemented.{{sfn|McPherson|1988|pp=831–837}}}}

During the war, sentiment concerning slaves, enslavement, and emancipation in the United States was divided. Lincoln's fears of making slavery a war issue were based on a harsh reality: abolition did not enjoy wide support in the west, the territories, and the border states.{{Sfn|Donald|1995|pp=417–419}}<ref name=":4" group="lower-alpha" /> In 1861, Lincoln worried that premature attempts at emancipation would mean the loss of the border states, and that "to lose Kentucky is nearly the same as to lose the whole game".<ref name=":4" group="lower-alpha">{{multiref2 |Lincoln's letter to O. H. Browning, September 22, 1861. | {{harvnb|Wittke|1952}}{{failed verification|date=May 2025}}. "Sentiment among [[German Americans]] was largely antislavery especially among [[Forty-Eighters]], resulting in hundreds of thousands of German Americans volunteering to fight for the Union." | {{harvnb|Keller|2009}}. | for primary sources, see Walter D. Kamphoefner and Wolfgang Helbich, eds., ''Germans in the Civil War: The Letters They Wrote Home'' (2006). "On the other hand, many of the recent immigrants in the North viewed freed slaves as competition for scarce jobs, and as the reason why the Civil War was being fought." | {{harvnb|Baker|2003}}. "Due in large part to this fierce competition with free blacks for labor opportunities, the poor and working class [[Irish American|Irish Catholics]] generally opposed emancipation. When the draft began in the summer of 1863, they launched [[New York Draft Riots|a major riot in New York City]] that was suppressed by the military, as well as much smaller protests in other cities." | {{harvnb|Schecter|2007|loc=ch. 6}}. "Many Catholics in the North had volunteered to fight in 1861, sending thousands of soldiers to the front and suffering high casualties, especially at [[Battle of Fredericksburg|Fredericksburg]]; their volunteering fell off after 1862."}}</ref> Copperheads and some War Democrats opposed emancipation, although the latter eventually accepted it as part of the total war needed to save the Union.{{sfn|Baker|2003}}

Lincoln reversed attempts at emancipation by Secretary of War [[Simon Cameron]] and Generals [[John C. Frémont]] and [[David Hunter]], in an effort to retain the loyalty of the border states and the War Democrats. Lincoln warned the border states that a more radical type of emancipation would happen if they rejected his plan of gradual compensated emancipation and [[back-to-Africa movement|voluntary colonization]].<ref>McPherson, James M., "Lincoln and the Strategy of Unconditional Surrender", in [[Gabor Boritt|Boritt, Gabor S.]] (ed.). ''Lincoln, the War President'', pp. 52–54; also in McPherson, James M., ''Abraham Lincoln and the Second American Revolution'', pp. 83–85.</ref> But compensated emancipation occurred only in the District of Columbia, where Congress had the power to enact it. When Lincoln told his cabinet about his proposed emancipation proclamation, which would apply to the states still in rebellion on January 1, 1863, Seward advised Lincoln to wait for a Union military victory before issuing it, because to do otherwise would seem like "our last shriek on the retreat".<ref>[[Stephen B. Oates|Oates, Stephen B.]], ''Abraham Lincoln: The Man Behind the Myths'', p. 106.</ref> Walter Stahr, however, writes, "There are contemporary sources, however, that suggest others were involved in the decision to delay", and Stahr quotes them.<ref>Stahr, Walter, ''Stanton: Lincoln's War Secretary'', New York: Simon & Schuster, 2017, p. 226.</ref>

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Lincoln laid the groundwork for public support in an open letter published in response to [[Horace Greeley]]'s "The Prayer of Twenty Millions"; the letter stated that Lincoln's goal was to save the Union, and that, if he freed the slaves, it would be as a means to that end.<ref>{{Cite web |date=June 14, 2022 |title=Horace Greeley (1811–1872). "The Prayer of Twenty Millions". Stedman and Hutchinson, eds. 1891. A Library of American Literature: An Anthology in 11 Volumes |url=https://www.bartleby.com/400/prose/1279.html |website=www.bartleby.com}}</ref><ref>Lincoln's letter was published first in the ''Washington National Intelligencer'' on August 23, 1862. [[Holzer, Harold]], ''Lincoln and the Power of the Press: The War for Public Opinion'', New York: Simon & Schuster, 2014, p. 401.</ref><ref>{{cite Q|Q116965145}}</ref> He also had a meeting at the White House with five African American representatives on August 14, 1862. Arranging for a reporter to be present, he urged his visitors to agree to the voluntary colonization of black people. Lincoln's motive for both his letter to Greeley and his statement to the black visitors was apparently to make his forthcoming Emancipation Proclamation more palatable to racist [[white people]].<ref>White, Jonathan W., ''A House Built by Slaves: African American Visitors to the Lincoln White House'', Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2022, ch. 3.</ref> A Union victory in the Battle of Antietam on September 17, 1862, provided Lincoln with an opportunity to issue the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, and the [[War Governors' Conference]] added support for the proclamation.<ref>Pulling, Sr. Anne Frances, ''Altoona: Images of America'', Arcadia Publishing, 2001, 10.</ref>

Lincoln issued his preliminary Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862. It stated that slaves in all states in rebellion on January 1, 1863, would be free. He issued his final Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, keeping his promise. In his letter to Albert G. Hodges, Lincoln explained his belief that "If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong .... And yet I have never understood that the Presidency conferred upon me an unrestricted right to act officially upon this judgment and feeling ... I claim not to have controlled events, but confess plainly that events have controlled me."<ref>Lincoln's Letter to A. G. Hodges, April 4, 1864.</ref>{{efn|In late March 1864 Lincoln met with [[Thomas E. Bramlette|Governor Bramlette]], Archibald Dixon, and Albert G. Hodges, to discuss recruitment of African American soldiers in the state of Kentucky. In a letter dated April 4, 1864, Lincoln summarized his stance on slavery, at Hodges' request.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Lincoln Lore – Albert G. Hodges |url=https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/LegislativeMoments/moments08RS/49_web_leg_moments.htm |access-date=January 20, 2022 |website=Kentucky Legislature}}</ref>}}

Lincoln's moderate approach succeeded in inducing the border states to remain in the Union and War Democrats to support the Union. The border states, which included Kentucky, Missouri, Maryland, Delaware, and Union-controlled regions around New Orleans, [[Norfolk, Virginia]], and elsewhere, were not covered by the Emancipation Proclamation. Nor was Tennessee, which had come under Union control.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Andrew Johnson and Emancipation in Tennessee – Andrew Johnson National Historic Site |url=https://www.nps.gov/anjo/learn/historyculture/johnson-and-tn-emancipation.htm |website=National Park Service}}</ref> Missouri and Maryland abolished slavery on their own; Kentucky and Delaware did not.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Harper |first=Douglas |year=2003 |title=Slavery in Delaware |url=http://www.slavenorth.com/delaware.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071016062740/http://slavenorth.com/delaware.htm |archive-date=October 16, 2007 |access-date=October 16, 2007}}</ref> Still, the proclamation did not enjoy universal support. It caused much unrest in what were then considered western states, where racist sentiments led to a great fear of abolition. There was some concern that the proclamation would lead to the secession of western states, and its issuance prompted the stationing of Union troops in Illinois in case of rebellion.{{Sfn|Donald|1995|pp=417–419}}

Since the Emancipation Proclamation was based on the president's war powers, it applied only in territory held by Confederates at the time it was issued. However, the Proclamation became a symbol of the Union's growing commitment to add emancipation to the Union's definition of liberty.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=McPherson |first=James |author-link=James M. McPherson |date=March 1990 |title=A War that Never Goes Away |url=https://www.americanheritage.com/war-never-goes-away |magazine=American Heritage Magazine |volume=41 |issue=2}}</ref> The Emancipation Proclamation greatly reduced the Confederacy's hope of being recognized or otherwise aided by Britain or France.{{sfn|Asante|Mazama|2004|p=82}} By late 1864, Lincoln was playing a leading role in getting the House of Representatives to vote for the Thirteenth Amendment, which mandated the ending of chattel slavery.{{sfn|Holzer|Gabbard|2007|pp=172–174}}

== Reconstruction ==
{{Main|Reconstruction era}}
[[File:Freedmen richmond sewing women.jpg|thumb|Through the supervision of the [[Freedmen's Bureau]], Northern teachers traveled into the South to provide education and training for the newly freed population.]]

The war devastated the South and posed serious questions of how it would be reintegrated into the Union. The war destroyed much of the South's wealth, in part because wealth held in enslaved people (at least $1,000 each for a healthy adult prior to the war) was wiped off the books.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Rhodes-Pitts |first=Sharifa |date=October 9, 2014 |title=The Worth of Black Men, From Slavery to Ferguson |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/12/magazine/the-worth-of-black-men-from-slavery-to-ferguson.html |access-date=December 25, 2023 |magazine=The New York Times Magazine |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> All accumulated investment in Confederate bonds was forfeited; most banks and railroads were bankrupt. The income per person dropped to less than 40 percent of that of the North, and that lasted into the 20th century. Southern influence in the [[Federal government of the United States|federal government]], previously considerable, was greatly diminished until the second half of the 20th century.<ref name="Economist2011" /> Reconstruction began during the war, with the Emancipation Proclamation of January 1863, and it continued until 1877.<ref>[[Hans L. Trefousse]], ''Historical Dictionary of Reconstruction'' (Greenwood, 1991) covers all the main events and leaders.</ref> It comprised multiple complex methods to resolve the outstanding issues of the aftermath, the most important of which were the three "[[Reconstruction Amendments]]" to the Constitution: the [[Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|13th]] outlawing slavery (1865), the [[Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|14th]] guaranteeing citizenship to former slaves (1868), and the [[Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|15th]] prohibiting the denial of voting rights "on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude" (1870). From the Union perspective, the goals of Reconstruction were to consolidate victory by reuniting the Union, to guarantee a "republican form of government" for the ex-Confederate states, and to permanently end slavery—and prevent semi-slavery status.<ref>Eric Foner's ''A Short History of Reconstruction'' (1990) is a brief survey—an abridgement of his ''Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863–1877'' (1988).</ref>

President Johnson, who took office in April 1865, took a lenient approach and saw the achievement of the main war goals as realized in 1865, when each ex-rebel state repudiated secession and ratified the Thirteenth Amendment. [[Radical Republicans]] demanded proof that Confederate nationalism was dead and that the slaves were truly free. They [[Freedmen's Bureau bills|overrode Johnson's vetoes]] of [[Civil Rights Act of 1866|civil rights legislation]], and the House [[Impeachment of Andrew Johnson|impeached]] him, although the Senate did not convict him. In 1868 and 1872, the Republican candidate Grant won the presidency. In 1872, the [[Liberal Republican Party (United States)|"Liberal Republicans"]] argued that the war goals had been achieved and Reconstruction should end. They chose [[Horace Greeley 1872 presidential campaign|Horace Greeley]] to head a presidential ticket in 1872 but were decisively defeated. In 1874, Democrats, primarily Southern, took control of Congress and opposed further reconstruction. The [[Compromise of 1877]] closed with a national consensus, except on the part of former slaves, that the war had finally ended.<ref>[[C. Vann Woodward]], ''Reunion and Reaction: The Compromise of 1877 and the End of Reconstruction'' (2nd ed. 1991).</ref> With the withdrawal of federal troops, however, white men retook control of every Southern legislature, and the Jim Crow era of [[Disfranchisement after the Reconstruction era|disenfranchisement]] and legal segregation was ushered in.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Williams |first1=Susan Millar |title=Upheaval in Charleston: Earthquake and Murder on the Eve of Jim Crow |last2=Hoffius |first2=Stephen G. |year=2011 |publisher=University of Georgia Press |isbn=978-0-8203-3715-9 |jstor=j.ctt46nc9q}}</ref>

The war had a demonstrable impact on American politics. Many veterans on both sides were elected to political office, including five US Presidents: Ulysses Grant, [[Rutherford B. Hayes]], [[James A. Garfield]], [[Benjamin Harrison]], and [[William McKinley]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Presidents Who Were Civil War Veterans |url=https://www.essentialcivilwarcurriculum.com/presidents-who-were-civil-war-veterans.html |website=Essential Civil War Curriculum}}</ref>

== Memory and historiography ==
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The war is a central event in American collective memory. There are innumerable statues, commemorations, books, and archival collections. The memory includes the home front, military affairs, the treatment of soldiers, both living and dead, in the war's aftermath, depictions of the war in literature and art, evaluations of heroes and villains, and considerations of the moral and political lessons of the war.<ref name="Joan Waugh and Gary W" /> The last theme includes moral evaluations of [[racism]] and slavery, heroism in combat and behind the lines, and issues of democracy and minority rights, as well as the notion of an "[[Empire of Liberty]]" influencing the world.<ref name="Blight2001" />

Historians have paid more attention to the causes of the war than to the war itself. Military history has largely developed outside academia, leading to a proliferation of studies by non-scholars who nevertheless are familiar with the primary sources and pay close attention to battles and campaigns and who write for the general public.{{sfn|Woodworth|1996|p=208}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cushman |first=Stephen |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=95l6BAAAQBAJ |page=5}} |title=Belligerent Muse: Five Northern Writers and How They Shaped Our Understanding of the Civil War |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-4696-1878-4 |pages=5–6}}</ref> Practically every major figure in the war, both North and South, has had a serious biographical study.{{citation needed|date=September 2024|reason=Previous source "Provides short biographies and historiographical summaries."}}

Even the name used for the conflict has been controversial, with [[Names of the American Civil War|many names used for it]]. During and immediately after the war, Northern historians often used a term like "War of the Rebellion". Writers in rebel states often referred to the "War for Southern Independence". Some Southerners have described it as the "War of Northern Aggression".<ref>{{cite Q|Q118746838 |pages=385–398}}</ref>

=== Lost Cause ===
{{Main|Lost Cause of the Confederacy}}
The memory of the war in the white South crystallized in the myth of the "Lost Cause": that the Confederate cause was just and heroic. The myth shaped regional identity and race relations for generations.<ref name="Foster1988" /> [[Alan T. Nolan]] notes that the Lost Cause was expressly a rationalization, a cover-up to vindicate the name and fame of those in rebellion. Some claims revolve around the insignificance of slavery as a cause; some appeals highlight cultural differences between North and South; the military conflict by Confederate actors is idealized; in any case, secession was said to be lawful.{{sfn|Nolan|2000|pp=14–19}} Nolan argues that the adoption of the Lost Cause perspective facilitated the reunification of the North and the South while excusing the [[Nadir of American race relations|"virulent racism" of the 19th century]], sacrificing black American progress to white man's reunification. He also deems the Lost Cause "a caricature of the truth. This caricature wholly misrepresents and distorts the facts of the matter" in every instance.{{sfn|Nolan|2000|pp=28–29}}

The Lost Cause myth was formalized by [[Charles A. Beard]] and [[Mary R. Beard]], whose ''[[The Rise of American Civilization]]'' (1927) spawned [[Beardian historiography]]. The Beards downplayed slavery, abolitionism, and issues of morality. Though this interpretation was abandoned by the Beards in the 1940s, and by historians generally by the 1950s, Beardian themes still echo among Lost Cause writers.<ref>Charles A. Beard and Mary R. Beard, ''The Rise of American Civilization'' (1927), 2:54.</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Hofstadter |first=Richard |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=iLdMzbv2IDQC |page=459}} |title=Progressive Historians |publisher=Knopf Doubleday |year=2012 |isbn=978-0-307-80960-5 |page=304 |orig-year=1968}}</ref>{{additional citation needed|reason=Pinning the "formalization" of the Lost Cause myth on the Beards is a very bold claim; at best, other sources state that their orthogonal economic perspective served as an element for others to synthesize.|date=July 2023}}

====The United Daughters of the Confederacy====

[[The United Daughters of the Confederacy]] (UDC) is a Southern heritage organization founded in 1894 in Nashville, Tennessee, by a group of women whose stated mission was to honor Confederate veterans and preserve their memory. The organization quickly grew in influence during the late 19th and early 20th centuries and ended up playing a pivotal role in shaping the collective memory of the American Civil War.
The UDC focused on erecting Confederate monuments, funding the education of Confederate descendants, and promoting Confederate history through textbooks and public ceremonies. The group emphasized the valor of Confederate soldiers and the righteousness of the Southern cause, often omitting or downplaying the central role of slavery in the conflict.

The UDC became a major proponent of the [[Lost Cause]] ideology, a narrative that romanticized the Confederacy as a noble, states'-rights-driven effort rather than a rebellion to preserve slavery. Through speeches, publications, and curriculum influence, the UDC worked to recast the Confederacy in a sympathetic light, framing the Civil War as a struggle against Northern aggression.
This effort contributed to the widespread proliferation of Confederate symbols and a sanitized portrayal of Southern history in public spaces and schools. Critics argue that the UDC's activities perpetuated racist ideologies by fostering nostalgia for the antebellum South and minimizing the horrors of slavery.

In recent years, the role of the UDC and the Lost Cause myth has come under scrutiny amid debates over Confederate monuments and systemic racism in the United States. Many of the monuments and historical markers the UDC sponsored have been reevaluated and removed, sparking ongoing discussions about memory, heritage, and justice.

=== Battlefield preservation ===
{{Main|American Civil War battlefield preservation}}
[[File:Civil War centennial issues.jpg|thumb|Beginning in 1961, the [[United States Postal Service|US Post Office]] released [[commemorative stamp]]s for five famous battles, each issued on the 100th anniversary of the respective battle.]]
The first efforts at Civil War battlefield preservation and memorialization came during the war, with the establishment of National Cemeteries at Gettysburg, Mill Springs and Chattanooga. Soldiers began erecting markers on battlefields beginning with the First Battle of Bull Run in 1861. The oldest surviving monument is the [[Hazen Brigade Monument]] near [[Murfreesboro]] in [[Central Tennessee]], built in the summer of 1863 by soldiers in Union Col. [[William Babcock Hazen|William B. Hazen's]] brigade to mark the spot where they buried their dead, following the Battle of Stones River.<ref>{{Cite news |last=West |first=Mike |date=April 27, 2007 |title=Hazen's Monument a rare, historic treasure |url=https://www.murfreesboropost.com/community/hazen-s-monument-a-rare-historic-treasure/article_0498c498-c95b-5569-8d8a-ce0830be17d7.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181118185935/https://www.murfreesboropost.com/community/hazen-s-monument-a-rare-historic-treasure/article_0498c498-c95b-5569-8d8a-ce0830be17d7.html |archive-date=November 18, 2018 |access-date=May 30, 2018 |work=Murfreesboro Post}}</ref>

In the 1890s, the government established five Civil War battlefield parks under the jurisdiction of the War Department, beginning with the creation of the [[Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park]] at [[Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia]], and the [[Antietam National Battlefield]] in Sharpsburg, Maryland, in 1890. The [[Shiloh National Military Park]] was established in 1894 in [[Shiloh, Hardin County, Tennessee|Shiloh, Tennessee]], followed by the [[Gettysburg National Military Park]] in 1895, and [[Vicksburg National Military Park]] in 1899. In 1933, these five parks and other national monuments were transferred to the National Park Service.<ref>Timothy B. Smith, "The Golden Age of Battlefield Preservation" (2008; The University of Tennessee Press).</ref> Chief among modern efforts to preserve Civil War sites has been the [[American Battlefield Trust]], with more than 130 battlefields in 24 states.<ref>Bob Zeller, "Fighting the Second Civil War: A History of Battlefield Preservation and the Emergence of the Civil War Trust", (2017: Knox Press)</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Saved Land |url=https://www.battlefields.org/preserve/saved-land |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190812162007/https://www.battlefields.org/preserve/saved-land |archive-date=August 12, 2019 |access-date=May 30, 2018 |publisher=American Battlefield Trust}}</ref> The five major battlefield parks operated by the National Park Service had a combined 3 million visitors in 2018, down 70% from 10 million in 1970.<ref>{{Cite news |last=McWhirter |first=Cameron |date=May 25, 2019 |title=Civil War Battlefields Lose Ground as Tourist Draws |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/civil-war-battlefields-lose-ground-as-tourist-draws-11558776600?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191010233320/https://www.wsj.com/articles/civil-war-battlefields-lose-ground-as-tourist-draws-11558776600?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=2 |archive-date=October 10, 2019 |work=The Wall Street Journal}}</ref>

=== Commemoration ===
{{Further|Commemoration of the American Civil War|Commemoration of the American Civil War on postage stamps}}
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The Civil War has been commemorated in many ways, ranging from the reenactment of battles, to statues and memorial halls being erected, to films, and to stamps and coins with Civil War themes being issued, all of which helped to shape public memory. These commemorations occurred in greater numbers on the 100th and 150th anniversaries of the war.<ref name="Gallagher2008" />
[[Cinema of the United States|Hollywood]]'s take on the war has been especially influential in shaping public memory, as in such film classics as ''[[The Birth of a Nation]]'' (1915), ''[[Gone with the Wind (film)|Gone with the Wind]]'' (1939), and ''[[Lincoln (film)|Lincoln]]'' (2012). [[Ken Burns]]'s [[PBS]] television series ''[[The Civil War (TV series)|The Civil War]]'' (1990) is well-remembered, though criticized for its historical inaccuracy.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Debate over Ken Burns Civil War doc continues over decades |url=https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2017/nov/04/debate-over-ken-burns-civil-war-doc-continues-over/ |access-date=May 4, 2020 |website=The Spokesman-Review|date=November 4, 2017 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Merritt |first=Keri Leigh |title=Why We Need a New Civil War Documentary |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/why-we-need-new-civil-war-documentary-180971996/ |access-date=May 4, 2020 |magazine=Smithsonian Magazine}}</ref>

=== Technological significance ===
Technological innovations during the war had a great impact on 19th-century science. The war was an early example of an "[[Industrial warfare|industrial war]]", in which technological might is used to achieve military supremacy.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Bailey |first1=Thomas |title=The American Pageant |last2=Kennedy |first2=David |year=1987 |page=434}}{{full citation needed|date=August 2024 |reason=Several volumes, several editions, none with this date.}}</ref> New inventions, such as the [[Military railways|train]] and [[telegraph]], delivered soldiers, supplies and messages at a time when horses had been the fastest way to travel.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dome |first=Steam |year=1974 |title=A Civil War Iron Clad Car |journal=Railroad History |publisher=The Railway & Locomotive Historical Society |volume=130 |issue=Spring 1974 |pages=51–53}}</ref><ref>William Rattle Plum, ''The Military Telegraph During the Civil War in the United States'', Christopher H. Sterling (ed.) (New York: Arno Press, 1974) vol. 1 p. 63.</ref> It was also in this war that aerial warfare, in the form of reconnaissance [[History of aerial warfare#American Civil War|balloons]], was first used.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Buckley |first=John |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=YSSPAgAAQBAJ |page=6}} |title=Air Power in the Age of Total War |publisher=Routledge |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-135-36275-1 |pages=6, 24}}</ref> It saw the first action involving steam-powered [[ironclad warships]] in naval warfare history.<ref>Sondhaus, ''Naval Warfare 1815–1914'' p. 77.</ref> [[Repeating rifle|Repeating firearms]] such as the Henry rifle, Spencer rifle, [[Colt revolving rifle]], [[Triplett & Scott carbine]] and others, first appeared during the Civil War; they were a revolutionary invention that would soon replace [[muzzle-loading]] and [[single-shot]] firearms. The war saw the first appearances of rapid-firing weapons and [[machine gun]]s such as the [[Agar gun]] and [[Gatling gun]].{{sfn|Keegan|2009|p=75}}

== In works of culture and art ==
[[File:The Peacemakers 1868.jpg|thumb|''[[The Peacemakers]]'' by [[George Peter Alexander Healy]] portrays, from left to right, Sherman, Grant, Lincoln, and [[David Dixon Porter|Porter]] discussing plans for the last weeks of the Civil War aboard the steamer ''[[River Queen (steamboat)|River Queen]]'' in March 1865. It currently hangs in the [[Oval Office]] dining room.|alt=Painting of four men conferring in a ship's cabin, entitled "The Peacemakers".]]

The Civil War is one of the most studied events in American history, and the collection of cultural works around it is enormous.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hutchison |first=Coleman |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=ovYTCwAAQBAJ |page=278}} |title=A History of American Civil War Literature |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2015 |isbn=978-1-316-43241-9}}</ref> This section gives an abbreviated overview of the most notable works.

=== Literature ===
* ''[[When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd]]'' and ''[[O Captain! My Captain!]]'' (1865) by [[Walt Whitman and Abraham Lincoln|Walt Whitman]], famous poetic eulogies to Lincoln
* ''[[Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War]]'' (1866), poetry by [[Herman Melville]]
* ''[[The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government]]'' (1881) by [[Jefferson Davis]]
* ''[[The Private History of a Campaign That Failed]]'' (1885) by [[Mark Twain]]
* ''[[Texar's Revenge, or, North Against South]]'' (1887) by [[Jules Verne]]
* ''[[An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge]]'' (1890) by [[Ambrose Bierce]]
* ''[[The Red Badge of Courage]]'' (1895) by [[Stephen Crane]]
* ''[[The Challenge to Sirius]]'' (1917) by [[Sheila Kaye-Smith]]
* ''[[Gone with the Wind (novel)|Gone with the Wind]]'' (1936) by [[Margaret Mitchell]]
* ''[[North and South (trilogy)|North and South]]'' (1982) by [[John Jakes]]
* ''[[The March (novel)|The March: A Novel]]'' (2005) by [[E. L. Doctorow]], fictionalized account of [[Sherman's March to the Sea]]

=== Film ===
{{colbegin|colwidth=25em}}
* ''[[The Birth of a Nation]]'' (1915, US)
* ''[[The General (1926 film)|The General]]'' (1926, US)
* ''[[Operator 13]]'' (1934, US)
* ''[[Gone with the Wind (film)|Gone with the Wind]]'' (1939, US)
* ''[[The Red Badge of Courage (1951 film)|The Red Badge of Courage]]'' (1951, US)
* ''[[The Horse Soldiers]]'' (1959, US)
* ''[[Shenandoah (film)|Shenandoah]]'' (1965, US)
* ''[[The Good, the Bad and the Ugly]]'' (1966, Italy-Spain-FRG)
* ''[[The Beguiled (1971 film)|The Beguiled]]'' (1971, US)
* ''[[The Outlaw Josey Wales]]'' (1976, US)
* ''[[North and South (miniseries)|North and South]]'' (miniseries; 1985–1994, US)
* ''[[Glory (1989 film)|Glory]]'' (1989, US)
* ''[[The Civil War (miniseries)|The Civil War]]'' (1990, US)
* ''[[Gettysburg (1993 film)|Gettysburg]]'' (1993, US)
* ''[[The Last Outlaw (1993 film)|The Last Outlaw]]'' (1993, US)
* ''[[Cold Mountain (film)|Cold Mountain]]'' (2003, US)
* ''[[Gods and Generals (film)|Gods and Generals]]'' (2003, US)
* ''[[Lincoln (film)|Lincoln]]'' (2012, US)
* ''[[Free State of Jones (film)|Free State of Jones]]'' (2016, US)
* ''The Legend of [[Earl Van Dorn|Van Dorn]]'' (2025, US)

{{colend}}

=== Music ===
{{See also|Music of the American Civil War}}
{{colbegin|colwidth=28em}}

* "[[Dixie (song)|Dixie]]"
* "[[Battle Cry of Freedom]]"
* "[[Battle Hymn of the Republic]]"
* "[[The Bonnie Blue Flag]]"
* "[[John Brown's Body]]"
* "[[When Johnny Comes Marching Home]]"
* "[[Marching Through Georgia]]"
* "[[The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down]]"
* "[[O Captain! My Captain!]]", Walt Whitman's poem set to music by [[Kurt Weill]]
* "[[When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd]]", Walt Whitman's poem set to music by [[Paul Hindemith]], by [[Roger Sessions]], by [[Jennifer Higdon]], and by [[Charles Villiers Stanford]]
{{colend}}

=== Video games ===
{{colbegin}}
* ''[[North & South (video game)|North & South]]'' (1989, France)
* ''[[Sid Meier's Gettysburg!]]'' (1997, US)
* ''[[Sid Meier's Antietam!]]'' (1999, US)
* ''[[American Conquest: Divided Nation]]'' (2006, US)
* ''[[Forge of Freedom: The American Civil War]]'' (2006, US)
* ''[[The History Channel: Civil War – A Nation Divided]]'' (2006, US)
* ''[[AGEOD's American Civil War]]'' (2007, US/France)
* ''[[History Civil War: Secret Missions]]'' (2008, US)
* ''[[Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood]]'' (2009, US)
* ''[[Darkest of Days]]'' (2009, US)
* ''[[Victoria II: A House Divided]]'' (2011, US)
* ''[[AGEOD's American Civil War II]]'' (2013, US/France)
* ''[[Ultimate General: Gettysburg]]'' (2014, Ukraine)
* ''[[Ultimate General: Civil War]]'' (2016, Ukraine)
* ''[[War of Rights]]'' (TBD, US)
{{colend}}

== See also ==
{{stack|{{portal|American Civil War}}}}

* [[:Category:American Civil War by state|American Civil War by state]]
* [[Foreign enlistment in the American Civil War]]
*[[African Americans in the American Civil War]]
*[[German Americans in the American Civil War]]
*[[Hispanics in the American Civil War]]
* [[Irish Americans in the American Civil War]]
*[[Italian Americans in the Civil War]]
*[[Native Americans in the American Civil War]]
**[[Cherokee in the American Civil War|Cherokee]]
**[[Choctaw in the American Civil War|Choctaw]]
* [[Outline of the American Civil War]]
* [[Removal of Confederate monuments and memorials]]

== Notes ==
{{reflist|30em|group=lower-alpha}}

== References ==
{{reflist|24em|refs=

<ref name="Presidency.ucsb.edu">{{Cite web |title=Abraham Lincoln: Proclamation 83 – Increasing the Size of the Army and Navy |url=http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=70123 |access-date=November 3, 2011 |publisher=Presidency.ucsb.edu}}</ref>

<ref name="Nofi2001">{{Cite web |last=Nofi |first=Al |author-link=Albert Nofi |date=June 13, 2001 |title=Statistics on the War's Costs |url=http://www.cwc.lsu.edu/other/stats/warcost.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070711050249/http://www.cwc.lsu.edu/other/stats/warcost.htm |archive-date=July 11, 2007 |access-date=October 14, 2007 |publisher=Louisiana State University}}</ref>

<ref name="Fehrenbacher2004">{{Cite journal |last=Fehrenbacher |first=Don |year=2004 |title=Lincoln's Wartime Leadership: The First Hundred Days |url=http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=jala;view=text;rgn=main;idno=2629860.0009.103 |journal=Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association |publisher=University of Illinois |volume=9 |issue=1 |access-date=October 16, 2007}}</ref>

<ref name="Blight2001">[[David W. Blight]] (2001) ''Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory''.</ref>

<ref name="Oates">[[Stephen B. Oates]], ''The Approaching Fury: Voices of the Storm 1820–1861'', p. 125.</ref>

<ref name="Manufactures1860">{{Cite web |title=Manufactures of the United States in 1860; Compiled from the original returns of the Eight Census |url=http://www2.census.gov/prod2/decennial/documents/1860c-01.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170817153653/https://www2.census.gov/prod2/decennial/documents/1860c-01.pdf |archive-date=August 17, 2017}}</ref>

<ref name="Carter2006">Carter, Susan B. (ed.). ''The Historical Statistics of the United States: Millennial Edition'' (5 vols), 2006.</ref>

<ref name="Snell2011">Snell, Mark A. (2011), ''West Virginia and the Civil War'', History Press, Charleston, SC, p. 28.</ref>

<ref name="Boritt">[[Gabor S. Boritt]] (ed.). ''Why the Confederacy Lost''.</ref>

<ref name="Foster1988">Gaines M. Foster (1988), ''Ghosts of the Confederacy: Defeat, the Lost Cause and the Emergence of the New South, 1865–1913''.</ref>



<ref name="Joan Waugh and Gary W">[[Joan Waugh]] and [[Gary W. Gallagher]], eds. (2009), ''Wars within a War: Controversy and Conflict over the American Civil War'' (University of North Carolina Press).</ref>

<ref name="Curry1964">Curry, Richard Orr (1964), ''A House Divided: A Study of the Statehood Politics and the Copperhead Movement in West Virginia'', University of Pittsburgh Press, map on p. 49.</ref>





<ref name="Fantina2006">Robert Fantina, ''Desertion and the American Soldier, 1776–2006'' (2006), p. 74.</ref>

<ref name="Economist2011">{{Cite news |date=March 31, 2011 |title=Finally Passing |url=http://www.economist.com/node/18486035?story_id=18486035 |url-access=registration |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110420045142/http://www.economist.com/node/18486035?story_id=18486035 |archive-date=April 20, 2011 |newspaper=[[The Economist]] |pages=23–25}}</ref>

<ref name="Gallagher2008">Gary Gallagher, ''Causes Won, Lost, and Forgotten: How Hollywood and Popular Art Shape What We Know about the Civil War'' (Univ of North Carolina Press, 2008).</ref>

<ref name="Lincoln1861">Abraham Lincoln, First Inaugural Address, Monday, March 4, 1861.</ref>

<ref name="Murdock1971">Eugene Murdock, ''One Million Men: the Civil War draft in the North'' (1971).</ref>

<ref name="NationalGeographic2003">{{Cite web |last=Yancey Hall |date=July 1, 2003 |title=US Civil War Prison Camps Claimed Thousands |url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/07/0701_030701_civilwarprisons.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030707041320/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/07/0701_030701_civilwarprisons.html |archive-date=July 7, 2003 |website=National Geographic News}}</ref>

<ref name="Nevins1959 pp. 119–129">Nevins, ''The War for the Union'' (1959), 1:119–129.</ref>

<ref name="Nevins1959 pp. 129–136">Nevins, ''The War for the Union'' (1959), 1:129–136.</ref>

<ref name="Nevins1959 pp. 263–264">[[Allan Nevins]], ''War for the Union 1862–1863'', pp. 263–264.</ref>

<ref name="Hacker2011">{{Cite news |last=Hacker |first=J. David |date=September 20, 2011 |title=Recounting the Dead |url=http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/20/recounting-the-dead/ |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110925090025/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/20/recounting-the-dead/ |archive-date=September 25, 2011 |access-date=September 22, 2011 |work=The New York Times |agency=[[Associated Press]]}}</ref>

<ref name="Fox2008">Richard Wightman Fox (2008). "[https://web.archive.org/web/20110716083839/http://www.slate.com/toolbar.aspx?action=read&id=2180856 National Life After Death]". ''[[Slate.com|Slate]]''.</ref>

<ref name="Catton">[[Bruce Catton]], ''Terrible Swift Sword'', pp. 263–296.</ref>

<ref name="Buchanan1860">{{Cite web |last=Buchanan |first=James |date=December 3, 1860 |title=Fourth Annual Message |url=http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29501 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081220011320/http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29501 |archive-date=December 20, 2008 |access-date=November 28, 2012 |via=The American Presidency Project}}</ref>

<ref name="PresidencyProject1865a">{{Cite web |last=Lincoln |first=Abraham |date=April 11, 1865 |author=Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley |title=Proclamation 128—Claiming Equality of Rights with All Maritime Nations |url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/202896 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221116151716/https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/proclamation-128-claiming-equality-rights-with-all-maritime-nations |archive-date=November 16, 2022 |access-date=July 25, 2022 |website=The American Presidency Project |publisher=University of California, Santa Barbara}} The proclamation did not use the term "belligerent rights".</ref>

<ref name="PresidencyProject1865b">{{Cite web |last=Johnson |first=Andrew |date=May 10, 1865 |author=Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley |title=Proclamation 132—Ordering the Arrest of Insurgent Cruisers |url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/203414 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221116151715/https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/proclamation-132-ordering-the-arrest-insurgent-cruisers |archive-date=November 16, 2022 |access-date=July 25, 2022 |website=The American Presidency Project |publisher=University of California, Santa Barbara}} The proclamation did not use the term "belligerent rights".</ref>


}}

=== Bibliography ===
{{Main|Bibliography of the American Civil War|Bibliography of early American naval history#American Civil War|label2=Bibliography of American Civil War naval history}}

==== Sources referenced ====
{{refbegin|30em}}
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* {{Cite book |last=Jones |first=Terry L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ET6CDfczq9gC&pg=PA203 |title=Historical Dictionary of the Civil War |publisher=Scarecrow Press |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-8108-7953-9}}
* {{Cite book |last=Keegan |first=John |url=https://archive.org/details/americancivilwar00keeg |title=The American Civil War: A Military History |publisher=Alfred A. Knopf |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-307-26343-8 |location=New York}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Keller |first=Christian B. |date=January 2009 |title=Flying Dutchmen and Drunken Irishmen: The Myths and Realities of Ethnic Civil War Soldiers |journal=Journal of Military History |volume=73 |issue=1 |pages=117–145 |doi=10.1353/jmh.0.0194}}
* {{Cite book |last=Leonard |first=Elizabeth D. |url=https://archive.org/details/alldaringofsoldi00leon/page/165/mode/1up |title=All the Daring of the Soldier: Women of the Civil War Armies |date=1999 |publisher=W.W. Norton & Co. |isbn=0-393-04712-1 |url-access=registration}}
* {{Cite book |last=Long |first=E. B. |title=The Civil War Day by Day: An Almanac, 1861–1865 |year=1971 |publisher=Doubleday |location=Garden City, NY |oclc=68283123}}
* {{Cite book |last=McPherson |first=James M. |title=Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era |title-link=Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1988 |isbn=978-0-19-503863-7}}
* {{Cite book |last=McPherson |first=James M. |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=1qhEHVki8tEC}} |title=For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1997 |isbn=978-0-19-974105-2 |location=Oxford; New York}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Mendelsohn |first=Adam |year=2012 |title=Samuel and Saul Isaac: International Jewish Arms Dealers, Blockade Runners, and Civil War Profiteers |url=https://www.jewishsouth.org/sites/default/files/sjh_v._15_2012_mendelsohn.pdf |url-status=live |journal=Journal of the Southern Jewish Historical Society |publisher=Southern Jewish Historical Society |volume=15 |pages=41–79 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.jewishsouth.org/sites/default/files/sjh_v._15_2012_mendelsohn.pdf |archive-date=October 9, 2022}}
* {{Cite book |last=Murray |first=Robert B. |url=https://archive.org/details/northcarolinahis1967nort |title=The End of the Rebellion |date=Autumn 1967 |publisher=The North Carolina Historical Review}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Murray |first1=Williamson |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=ld8NPYqqUnMC |page=235}} |title=The Making of Strategy: Rulers, States, and War |last2=Bernstein |first2=Alvin |last3=Knox |first3=MacGregor |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-521-56627-8}}
* {{Cite book |last=Neely |first=Mark E. |author-link=Mark E. Neely Jr. |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=zPV2AAAAMAAJ}} |title=Confederate Bastille: Jefferson Davis and Civil Liberties |publisher=Marquette University Press |year=1993 |isbn=978-0-87462-325-3 |location=Milwaukee, WI}}
* {{Cite book |last=Neff |first=Stephen C. |title=Justice in Blue and Gray: A Legal History of the Civil War |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-61121-252-5 |location=Cambridge, MA}}
* {{Cite book |last=Nelson |first=James L. |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=d8XD-j--EVsC |page=149}} |title=Reign of Iron: The Story of the First Battling Ironclads, the Monitor and the Merrimack |publisher=HarperCollins |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-06-052404-3 |location=New York}}
* {{Cite book |last=Nolan |first=Alan T. |title=The Myth of the Lost Cause and Civil War History |year=2000 |editor-last=Gallagher |editor-first=Gary W. |editor-last2=Nolan |editor-first2=Alan T.}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Potter |first1=David M. |url=https://archive.org/details/impendingcrisis00pott |title=The Impending Crisis, 1848–1861 |last2=Fehrenbacher |first2=Don E. |publisher=Harper & Row |year=1976 |isbn=978-0-06-013403-7 |location=New York |url-access=registration}}
* {{Cite book |last=Richter |first=William L. |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=obFt-MmS6ygC |page=49}} |title=The A to Z of the Civil War and Reconstruction |publisher=Scarecrow |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-8108-6336-1 |location=Lanham}}
* {{Cite book |last=Robertson |first=James I. Jr. |author-link=James I. Robertson Jr. |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/58549/58549-h/58549-h.htm#c10 |title=The Civil War |publisher=[[American Civil War Centennial|Civil War Centennial Commission]] |year=1963 |location=Washington, DC |oclc=299955768}}
* {{Cite book |last=Schecter |first=Barnet |title=The Devil's Own Work: The Civil War Draft Riots and the Fight to Reconstruct America |year=2007}}
* {{Cite book |last=Stephenson |first=Nathaniel W. |url=https://archive.org/details/dayconfederacya01stepgoog/page/n220/mode/2up?ref=ol&view=theater |title=The Day of the Confederacy''. Vol. 30, ''A Chronicle of the Embattled South |year=1919 |publisher=New Haven: Yale University Press; Toronto: Glasgow, Brook & Co.; London: Oxford University Press |series=The Chronicles Of America Series}}
* {{Cite book |last=Stern |first=Phillip Van Doren |author-link=Philip Van Doren Stern |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=GDeqAAAAIAAJ}} |title=The Confederate Navy |publisher=Doubleday |year=1962}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Symonds |first1=Craig L. |author-link1=Craig Symonds |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=q_HIcc8n3K4C}} |title=The Naval Institute Historical Atlas of the US Navy |last2=Clipson |first2=William J. |publisher=Naval Institute Press |year=2001 |isbn=978-1-55750-984-0}}
* {{Cite book |last=Trudeau |first=Noah Andre |author-link=Noah Andre Trudeau |title=Out of the Storm: The End of the Civil War, April–June 1865 |publisher=Little, Brown & Co. |year=1994 |isbn=978-0-316-85328-6 |location=Boston}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Tucker |first1=Spencer C. |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=q4mwAtj2r3UC |page=462}} |title=The Civil War Naval Encyclopedia |last2=Pierpaoli |first2=Paul G. |last3=White |first3=William E. |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-59884-338-5 |location=Santa Barbara, CA}}
* {{Cite book |last=Vinovskis |first=Maris |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=9D4TAwc93VoC}} |title=Toward a Social History of the American Civil War: Exploratory Essays |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1990 |isbn=978-0-521-39559-5}}
* {{Cite book |last=Ward |first=Geoffrey R. |title=The Civil War: An Illustrated History |publisher=Alfred A. Knopf |year=1990 |isbn=978-0-394-56285-8 |location=New York}}
* {{Cite book |last=Weigley |first=Frank Russell |url=https://archive.org/details/greatcivilwarmil00russ |title=A Great Civil War: A Military and Political History, 1861–1865 |publisher=Indiana University Press |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-253-33738-2 |location=Bloomington}}
* {{Cite book |last=Winters |first=John D. |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=PjicJWUQhPYC&pg=PR3}} |title=The Civil War in Louisiana |publisher=[[Louisiana State University Press]] |year=1963 |isbn=978-0-8071-0834-5 |location=Baton Rouge}}
* {{Cite book |last=Wise |first=Stephen R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0i-KzgEACAAJ |title=Lifeline of the Confederacy: Blockade Running During the Civil War |publisher=University of South Carolina Press |year=1991 |isbn=978-0-87249-799-3}}
* {{Cite book |last=Wittke |first=Carl |title=Refugees of Revolution |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |year=1952 |isbn=978-1-5128-0874-2 |location=Philadelphia}}
* {{Cite book |last=Woodworth |first=Steven E. |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=rb3ANWoZt1YC}} |title=The American Civil War: A Handbook of Literature and Research |publisher=Greenwood |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-313-29019-0 |location=Wesport, CT}}
{{refend}}

=== Web sources ===
{{refbegin}}
* {{Cite web |last=Downs |first=James |date=April 13, 2012 |title=Colorblindness in the demographic death toll of the Civil War |url=https://blog.oup.com/2012/04/black-white-demographic-death-toll-civil-war/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180119065611/https://blog.oup.com/2012/04/black-white-demographic-death-toll-civil-war/ |archive-date=January 19, 2018 |website=Oxford University Press blog}}
{{refend}}

=== Further reading ===
{{refbegin|30em}}
* {{Cite book |last=Ahlstrom |first=Sydney E. |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=5kFF6a1viGcC}} |title=A Religious History of the American People |publisher=Yale University Press |year=1972 |isbn=978-0-300-01762-5 |location=New Haven, CT}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Beringer |first1=Richard E. |title=Why the South Lost the Civil War |last2=Hattaway |first2=Herman |last3=Jones |first3=Archer |last4=Still |first4=William N. Jr. |publisher=University of Georgia Press |year=1986 |isbn=978-0-8203-0815-9 |location=Athens}} Influential analysis of factors; an abridged version is {{Cite book |last=Beringer |first=Richard E. |title=The Elements of Confederate Defeat: Nationalism, War Aims, and Religion |publisher=University of Georgia Press |year=1988 |isbn=978-0-8203-1077-0 |location=Athens}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Bestor |first=Arthur |year=1964 |title=The American Civil War as a Constitutional Crisis |journal=[[American Historical Review]] |volume=69 |issue=2 |pages=327–352 |doi=10.2307/1844986 |jstor=1844986}}
* {{Cite book |last=Gallagher |first=Gary W. |title=The Union War |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-674-06608-3 |location=Cambridge, MA}}
* {{Cite book |title=New Perspectives on the Union War |publisher=Fordham University Press |year=2019 |isbn=978-0-8232-8456-6 |editor-last=Gallagher |editor-first=Gary W. |editor-link=Gary W. Gallagher |location=New York |doi=10.2307/j.ctvh1dnpx |jstor=j.ctvh1dnpx |editor-last2=Varon |editor-first2=Elizabeth R. |editor-link2=Elizabeth R. Varon}}
* {{Cite book |last=Gara |first=Larry |title=Essays on the Civil War and Reconstruction |publisher=Holt, Rinehart and Winston |year=1964 |isbn=978-0-03-079640-1 |editor-last=Unger |editor-first=Irwin |editor-link=Irwin Unger |location=New York |publication-date=1970 |chapter=The Fugitive Slave Law: A Double Paradox}} (originally published in ''Civil War History'', Vol. 10, No. 3, September 1964, pp. 229–240).
* {{Cite journal |last=Hofstadter |first=Richard |author-link=Richard Hofstadter |year=1938 |title=The Tariff Issue on the Eve of the Civil War |journal=[[American Historical Review]] |volume=44 |issue=1 |pages=50–55 |doi=10.2307/1840850 |jstor=1840850}}
* {{Cite book |last=Johannsen |first=Robert W. |title=Stephen A. Douglas |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1973 |isbn=978-0-19-501620-8 |location=New York}}
* {{Cite book |last=Krannawitter |first=Thomas L. |url=https://archive.org/details/vindicatinglinco00kran |title=Vindicating Lincoln: defending the politics of our greatest president |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-7425-5972-1 |location=Lanham, MD}}
* {{Cite book |last=McPherson |first=James M. |author-link=James M. McPherson |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780195313666 |title=This Mighty Scourge: Perspectives on the Civil War |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-19-539242-5 |url-access=registration}}
* [[Allan Nevins|Nevins, Allan]]. ''[[Ordeal of the Union]]'', an 8-volume set (1947–1971); the most detailed political, economic and military narrative; by Pulitzer Prize-winner.
*# ''Ordeal of the Union: Fruits of Manifest Destiny, 1847–1852''; [https://archive.org/details/ordealofunion00nevi online];
*# ''Ordeal of the Union: A House Dividing, 1852–1857'';
*# ''The Emergence of Lincoln: Douglas, Buchanan, and Party Chaos, 1857–1859'';
*# ''The Emergence of Lincoln: Prologue to Civil War, 1859–1861'';
*# ''War for the Union: The Improvised War, 1861–1862'';
*# ''War for the Union: War Becomes Revolution, 1862–1863''; [https://archive.org/details/warforunionvol202nevi online];
*# ''War for the Union: The Organized War, 1863–1864'';
*# ''War for the Union: The Organized War to Victory, 1864–1865''
* {{Cite book |last=Olsen |first=Christopher J. |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=RrBb2ThDuCkC |page=237}} |title=Political Culture and Secession in Mississippi: Masculinity, Honor, and the Antiparty Tradition, 1830–1860 |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-19-516097-0}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Potter |first=David M. |year=1962 |title=The Historian's Use of Nationalism and Vice Versa |journal=[[American Historical Review]] |volume=67 |issue=4 |pages=924–950 |doi=10.2307/1845246 |jstor=1845246}}
* {{Cite book |title=Leaders of the American Civil War: A Biographical and Historiographical Dictionary |date=1998 |editor-last=Ritter |editor-first=Charles F. |editor-last2=Wakelyn |editor-first2=Jon L.}} Provides short biographies and historiographical summaries.
* {{Cite journal |last=Russell |first=Robert R. |year=1966 |title=Constitutional Doctrines with Regard to Slavery in Territories |journal=[[Journal of Southern History]] |volume=32 |issue=4 |pages=466–486 |doi=10.2307/2204926 |jstor=2204926}}
* {{Cite book |last=Sheehan-Dean |first=Aaron |url=https://www.wiley.com/en-us/A+Companion+to+the+U+S+Civil+War%2C+2+Volume+Set-p-9781444351316 |title=A Companion to the US Civil War |date=April 2014 |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |isbn=978-1-4443-5131-6 |series=2-Volume Set |location=New York}} 1232 pp; 64 Topical chapters by scholars and experts; emphasis on historiography.
* {{Cite book |last=Stampp |first=Kenneth M. |author-link=Kenneth M. Stampp |url=https://archive.org/details/americain185700kenn |title=America in 1857: A Nation on the Brink |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1990 |isbn=978-0-19-503902-3 |url-access=registration}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Thornton |first1=Mark |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Tv_ZLOx8_ywC |title=Tariffs, Blockades, and Inflation: The Economics of the Civil War |last2=Ekelund |first2=Robert Burton |publisher=SR |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-8420-2961-2 |location=Wilmington, DE}}
* {{Cite book |last=Varon |first=Elizabeth R. |author-link=Elizabeth R. Varon |title=Disunion!: The Coming of the American Civil War, 1789–1859 |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-8078-3232-5 |location=Chapel Hill}}
* {{Cite book |last=Weeks |first=William E. |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=e3thBAAAQBAJ}} |title=The New Cambridge History of American Foreign Relations |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2013 |isbn=978-1-107-00590-7 |volume=1}}
{{refend}}

=== Soldier life: North and South ===
{{refbegin|30em}}
* {{Cite book |last=Carmichael |first=Peter S. |author-link=Peter S. Carmichael |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Lfp1DwAAQBAJ |title=The War for the Common Soldier: How Men Thought, Fought, and Survived in Civil War Armies |date=2018 |publisher=[[The University of North Carolina Press]] |isbn=978-1-4696-4309-0 |series=The Littlefield history of the Civil War era |location=Chapel Hill}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Frank |first1=Joseph Allan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b67lCQAAQBAJ |title='Seeing the Elephant': Raw Recruits at the Battle of Shiloh |last2=Reaves |first2=George A. |date=2003 |publisher=University of Illinois Press |isbn=978-0-252-07126-3 |location=Urbana |orig-year=1989 |ref=none}}
* {{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NZK6KP4zVqIC |title=Civil War Prisons |date=1972 |publisher=[[Kent State University Press]] |isbn=978-0-87338-131-4 |editor-last=Hesseltine |editor-first=William B. |location=Kent, Ohio}}
* {{Cite book |last=Linderman |first=Gerald |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GSbGEEjmcKUC |title=Embattled Courage: The Experience of Combat in the American Civil War |date=1989 |publisher=[[Free Press (publisher)|Free Press]] |isbn=978-1-4391-1857-3 |location=New York}}
* {{Cite book |last=Livermore |first=Thomas L. |url=https://archive.org/details/numberlossesinci00live |title=Numbers and Losses in the Civil War in America, 1861–65 |date=1901 |publisher=[[Houghton, Mifflin and Company]] |location=Boston and New York}}
* {{Cite book |last=McPherson |first=James M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1qhEHVki8tEC |title=For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War |date=1997 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-19-509023-9 |location=New York ; Oxford |ref=none}}
* {{Cite book |last=Manning |first=Chandra |author-link=Chandra Manning |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cOuDP5fwkTgC |title=What This Cruel War Was Over: Soldiers, Slavery, and the Civil War |date=2007 |publisher=Alfred A. Knopf |isbn=978-0-307-26482-4 |location=New York |oclc=ocm72989064}} Uses letters, diaries, and regimental newspapers to probe the world view of soldiers—black and white, Yankee and Rebel.
** [https://repository.lsu.edu/cwbr/vol9/iss3/2 Interview with author]
* {{Cite book |last=Mitchell |first=Reid |url=https://archive.org/details/civilwarsoldiers00mitc_0 |title=Civil War Soldiers: Their Expectations and Their Experiences |date=1988 |publisher=[[Viking (publisher)|Viking]] |isbn=978-0-670-81742-9 |location=New York |url-access=registration}}
* {{Cite book |last=Robertson |first=James I. |url=https://archive.org/details/soldiersbluegray0000robe_y2i7 |title=Soldiers Blue and Gray |date=1988 |publisher=[[University of South Carolina Press]] |isbn=978-0-87249-572-2 |series=American military history |location=Columbia, S.C |url-access=registration}}
* {{Cite book |last=Meier |first=Kathryn |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RRuRAAAAQBAJ |title=Nature's Civil War: Common Soldiers and the Environment in 1862 Virginia |date=2013 |publisher=[[The University of North Carolina Press]] |isbn=978-1-4696-1076-4 |series=Civil War America |location=Chapel Hill}}
* {{Cite book |last=Wiley |first=Bell I. |author-link=Bell I. Wiley |url=https://archive.org/details/lifeofjohnnyrebt0000bell/ |title=The Life of Johnny Reb ''and'' The Life of Billy Yank |date=1994 |publisher=Book-of-the-Month Club |location=New York |url-access=registration}} Two standard scholarly histories combined, originals:
** {{Cite book |last=Wiley |first=Bell I. |url=https://archive.org/details/lifeofjohhnyreb0000unse |title=The Life of Johnny Reb: The Common Soldier of the Confederacy |publisher=[[Bobbs-Merrill Company]] |year=1943 |location=Indianopolis ; New York |author-mask=2 |url-access=registration}}
** {{Cite book |last=Wiley |first=Bell I. |url=https://archive.org/details/lifeofbillyyank0000unse |title=The Life of Billy Yank: The Common Soldier of the Union |publisher=[[Bobbs-Merrill Company]] |year=1952 |location=Indianopolis ; New York |author-mask=2 |url-access=registration}}
{{refend}}

== External links ==
{{sister project links|auto=1|wikt=y |commons=y |n=y |q=y |s=y |b=y |voy=y |v=y}}
* [https://westpoint.edu/academics/academic-departments/history/american-civil-war West Point Atlas of Civil War Battles]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160818205335/http://www.archives.gov/research/civil-war/photos/index.html Civil War photos] at the [[National Archives and Records Administration|National Archives]]
* [https://www.loc.gov/pictures/search?st=grid&c=100&co=cwp View images] from the [https://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/cwp/ Civil War Photographs Collection] at the Library of Congress
* {{Internet Archive short film|id=gov.archives.arc.54756|name=A House Divided (1960)}}
* [https://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/browse-subject "American Civil World" maps at the Persuasive Cartography, The PJ Mode Collection], [[Cornell University Library]]
* [https://www.battlefields.org/learn/primary-sources/declaration-causes-seceding-states Statements of each state as to why they were seceding], battlefields.org
* [https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/places.htm National Park Service Civil War Places]
* [https://www.nps.gov/subjects/battlefields/civil-war.htm Civil War Battlefield Places] from the [[National Park Service]]
* [https://www.battlefields.org/ American Battlefield Trust] – A non-profit land preservation and educational organization with two divisions, the Civil War Trust and the Revolutionary War Trust, dedicated to preserving America's battlefields through land acquisitions.
* [https://gettysburg.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p4016coll2 Civil War Era Digital Collection at Gettysburg College] – This collection contains digital images of political cartoons, personal papers, pamphlets, maps, paintings and photographs from the Civil War Era held in Special Collections at Gettysburg College.
* [http://www.sonofthesouth.net/ The Civil War] – site with 7,000 pages, including the complete run of ''Harper's Weekly'' newspapers from the Civil War
{{American Civil War}}
{{Foreign countries in the American Civil War}}
{{American conflicts}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:American Civil War| ]]
[[Category:Abraham Lincoln]]
[[Category:Jefferson Davis]]
[[Category:Ulysses S. Grant]]
[[Category:Robert E. Lee]]
[[Category:Civil wars in the United States]]
[[Category:Conflicts in 1861]]
[[Category:Conflicts in 1862]]
[[Category:Conflicts in 1863]]
[[Category:Conflicts in 1864]]
[[Category:Conflicts in 1865]]
[[Category:1860s in the United States]]
[[Category:1860s conflicts]]
[[Category:Presidency of Abraham Lincoln]]
[[Category:Rebellions against the United States]]
[[Category:Separatist rebellion-based civil wars]]
[[Category:Wars involving the United States|Civil War]]
[[Category:Wars of independence]]
[[Category:Andrew Johnson]]
[[Category:Wars involving the Confederate States]]