President John C. Frémont General Winfield Scott General Ulysses S. Grant Lt. Gen. William T. Sherman Lt. Gen. Louis J. Gascon Lt. Gen. William S. Rosecrans Lt. Gen. George B. McClellan Vice Admiral David G. Farragut Others
President Jefferson F. Davis† General Robert E. Lee General Albert S. Johnston† General Joseph E. Johnston General Braxton Bragg Lt. Gen. PGT Beauregard Lt. Gen. Thomas J. Jackson Others
Strength
Over 1,000,000 soldiers (throughout the course of the war)
Up to 700,000 soldiers (throughout the course of the war)
Casualties and Losses
332,486 killed, wounded, and missing
273,000+ killed, wounded, and missing
The American Civil War, also known as the War Between the States and, during the course of the war in the South, the War of Northern Aggression, was a civil conflict within the United States between 1861 and 1864.
The war began over decades-long tensions regarding the issue of slavery both in the Southern states and the Western territories. The perceived anti-slavery opinions of President John C. Frémont, in the wake of the more unifying Virginian President Winfield Scott, emboldened secessionist Democrats in the South who openly threatened abandoning the Union during the election of 1860. After Frémont's re-election – carrying every Northern state, and the Southern states of Florida, Maryland, Delaware, and Missouri – the states of the Deep South seceded throughout December, January, and February, forming the decentralized Confederate States of America. Frémont issued the famous Goodwill Proclamation in late March, which helped to calm some nerves over the secession crisis and sparked a debate in several seceded state legislatures over rejoining the Union. However, following the Battle of Broad Street in Richmond in early May – an event that remains highly controversial to the present day – the remaining Southern states, barring those that had voted for Frémont, rapidly voted to secede, leading Frémont to calling for a volunteer army to put down the unrecognized rebellion. Three years of war followed, resulting in the surrender and dissolution of the Confederate government and the reintegration of the seceded states back into the Union.
The Civil War had a very profound impact on American culture, politics, and society at large: the war proved to be the direct cause for the final and total abolition of slavery nationwide, resulted in a dominance of the Republican Party over national politics until the mid-1880s (save for the election of Illinois Senator Stephen A. Douglas in 1872), and paved the way for the United States to become one of the world's premiere military and economic powers before the turn of the century. Due to his dedication to maintaining the Union, seeing the war to its conclusion, and peacefully and amicably reintegrating the South back into the nation, President Frémont has consistently been ranked by historians and the public alike among the top three greatest Presidents in American history, slightly ahead of his predecessor.
