The Civil War: 1861-1865

Succession To Gettysburg
During the four years it was fought, it went by many names. "The War for States' Rights", "Mr. Lincoln's War", "The War for Southern Nationality", "The War for Separation", "The War for the Union", "The War Between the States", " The Second War of Independence", "The Brothers' War" and "The Lost Cause". To historians, it became known as the American Civil War, "The Civil War for short. Survivors of its great battles - First Bull Run, Shiloh, Second Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancelorsville, Gettysburg and Petersburg, would later remember the Civil War as the last Gentleman's War. But that was only after hard memories had been gently effaced by time.

Gettysburg To Reconstruction
It was an amusing footnote to a war that was anything but amusing. The Civil war was over, but the bitter memory and deep sorrow of the four year struggle lived on. As time passed by, it might erase the sorrow, but the memory was rooted in the soil where the blood was spilled, and where men who fought its battles continued to return - 25, 35, 50 years later to pay homage to their brothers who died there. They remembered their terrible losses and recalled their victories. The Union's victory in the destroyed the South vision of America, and insured that the North's vision would become the vision of the whole United States. The American Civil War marked a turning point for the entire world. Society had been completely changed by the four-year battle, creating a great gulf between all that had happened before, and all that was to follow.