American Civil War (Alternate World Order Eureka!)

American Civil War
Date April 12, 1861 – May 9, 1866 (5 years, 3 weeks and 6 days) Location Southern United States, Northeastern United States, Western United States, Atlantic Ocean Result Union victory: Dissolution of the Confederate States U.S. territorial integrity preserved Slavery abolished Beginning of the Reconstruction era Passage and ratification of the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments to the Constitution of the United States
Belligerents
United States	Confederate States
Abraham Lincoln (Commander-in-Chief) Ulysses S. Grant William Tecumseh Sherman George B. McClellan Joseph Hooker George Hazard	Jefferson Davis (Commander-in-Chief) Robert E. Lee Joseph E. Johnston P. G. T. Beauregard Albert Sidney Johnston † Ryder B. Carbone
Strength
2,200,000: U.S. Army U.S. Marines U.S. Navy U.S. Revenue-Marine 698,000 (peak)	750,000–1,500,000: C.S. Army C.S. Marines C.S. Navy 560,000 (peak)
Casualties and losses
120,000+ killed in action/died of wounds 250,000+ accident/disease deaths 25,000–40,000 died in Confederate prisons 410,000+ total dead 282,000+ wounded 181,193 captured Total: 878,000+ casualties	104,000+ killed in action/died of wounds 26,000–49,000 died in Union prisons 290,000+ total dead 137,000+ wounded 536,658 captured Total: 864,000+ casualties
100,000 free civilians dead 90,000+ slaves dead (disease) Total: 616,222–1,900,000+ dead

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States from 1861 to 1866, between the North (the Union) and the South (the Confederacy). The Civil War began primarily as a result of the long-standing controversy over the enslavement of black people. War broke out in April 1861 when secessionist forces attacked Fort Sumter in South Carolina shortly after Abraham Lincoln had been inaugurated as the President of the United States. The loyalists of the Union in the North, which also included some geographically western and southern states, proclaimed support for the Constitution. They faced secessionists of the Confederate States in the South, who advocated for states' rights in order to uphold slavery.

Of the 34 U.S. states in February 1861, seven Southern slave states were declared by partisans to have seceded from the country, and a Confederate States of America was organized in rebellion against the U.S. constitutional government. The Confederacy grew to control at least a majority of territory in eleven states, and it claimed the additional states of Kentucky and Missouri by assertions from native secessionists fleeing Union authority, but without territory or population therein; these states were given full representation in the Confederate Congress throughout the Civil War. The two remaining slave states, Delaware and Maryland, were invited to join the Confederacy, but nothing substantial developed due to intervention by federal troops.

The Confederate States was never diplomatically recognized by the government of the United States or by that of any foreign country. The states that remained loyal to the U.S. were known as the Union. Both the Union and the Confederacy quickly raised volunteer and conscription armies that fought mostly in the South over the course of four years. Intense combat left 820,000 to 1,700,000 people dead, more than the number of U.S. military deaths in all other wars combined.

The war effectively ended April 9, 1866 when General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant at the Battle of Danville Court House. Confederate generals throughout the southern states followed suit, the last surrender on land occurring June 23. Much of the South's infrastructure was destroyed, especially the transportation systems. The Confederacy collapsed, slavery was abolished, and four million black slaves were freed. During the Reconstruction era that followed the war, national unity was slowly restored, the national government expanded its power, and civil and political rights were granted to freed black slaves through amendments to the Constitution and federal legislation.