Answer:
The Civil War was fought from 1861 to 1865 between the United States of America and eleven provinces in the South who wished to leave the United States, forming the Confederation. The war broke out following the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States in 1861. The main issue of controversy was slavery; all the states that wanted to leave the Union were ones where slavery was an important element. While Lincoln had not threatened to abolish slavery, he was considered an enemy of the slavery regime. The rebels chose Jefferson Davis as President.
Fighting began on 12 April 1861, when the rebels attacked Fort Sumter in the state of South Carolina. By 1862 large-scale fighting had developed, with large numbers of killed in action. In September 1862, Lincoln proclaimed the emancipation of slaves, thus granting them freedom from their owners. At the same time, the South discovered genius generals in Robert E. Lee and "Stonewall" Jackson, and won numerous victories over the Unionists. Jackson was mistakenly killed by his own troops in the Battle of Chancellorsville in May 1863, and Lee was defeated at the Battle of Gettysburg in the state of Pennsylvania in July 1863. In the west, an army under Ulysses S. Grant captured Vicksburg in the state of Mississippi, thus taking the Unionists control of the Mississippi River.
By 1864 the end of the war was approaching, as the benefits of the Union in terms of a larger population and a stronger ecomomy began to take effect. Grant and Lee fought fiercely in the state of Virginia and William Tecumseh Sherman captured Atlanta in the summer of 1864. In 1865, Lee surrendered his army to Grant at Appomatox and the war ended.
