The American Civil War (1861--1865) was a separatist conflict between the United States Federal government (the "Union") and eleven Southern slave states that declared their secession and formed   more...the Confederate States of America, led by President Jefferson Davis. The Union, led by President Abraham Lincoln and the Republican Party, opposed the expansion of slavery and rejected any right of secession. Fighting commenced on April 12, 1861, when Confederate forces attacked a Federal military installation at Fort Sumter in South Carolina.[1]

During the first year, the Union asserted control of the border states and established a naval blockade as both sides raised large armies. In 1862 the large, bloody battles began. In September 1862, Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation[2] made the freeing of the slaves a war goal, despite opposition from northern Copperheads who tolerated secession and slavery. Emancipation ensured that Britain and France would not intervene to help the Confederacy. In addition, the goal also allowed the Union to recruit African-Americans for reinforcements, a resource that the Confederacy did not dare exploit until it was too late. War Democrats reluctantly accepted emancipation as part of total war needed to save the Union. In the East, Robert Edward Lee rolled up a series of Confederate victories over the Army of the Potomac, but his best general, Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson, was killed at the Battle of Chancellorsville in May 1863.[3] Lee's invasion of the North was repulsed at the Battle of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania in July 1863;[4] he barely managed to escape back to Virginia. In the West, the Union Navy captured the port of New Orleans in 1862, and Ulysses S. Grant seized control of the Mississippi River by capturing Vicksburg, Mississippi in July 1863[5], thus splitting the Confederacy.

By 1864, long-term Union advantages in geography, manpower, industry, finance, political organization and transportation were overwhelming the Confederacy. Grant fought a number of bloody battles with Lee in Virginia in the summer of 1864. Lee won most of the battles in a tactical sense but on the whole lost strategically, as he could not replace his casualties and was forced to retreat into trenches around his capital, Richmond, Virginia. Meanwhile, William Tecumseh Sherman captured Atlanta, Georgia.[6] Sherman's March to the Sea destroyed a hundred-mile-wide swath of Georgia. In 1865, the Confederacy collapsed after Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House and the slaves were freed.

The full restoration of the Union was the work of a highly contentious postwar era known as Reconstruction. The war produced about 970,000 casualties (3% of the population), including approximately 620,000 soldier deaths—two-thirds by disease. [7] The causes of the war, the reasons for its outcome, and even the name of the war itself are subjects of lingering controversy even today. The main results of the war were the restoration and strengthening of the Union, and the end of slavery in the United States. (more) (less)  less

The Gettysburg Ghost,watch the tree line in the background.

Taken from "Gettysburg." Enjoy, peeps!!

Part 25.

We took the horses for a weekend of camping at Gettysburg Nat'l Park in Pa. Everyone had a blast!

See the historic moment re-created.

Part 1.

Part 32.

Part 34.

Part 26.

Part 5.

Part 33.

Episode 1

Part 31.

Part 9.

Part 30.

Part 12.

Part 2.

http://www.virtualgettysburg.com This movie describes the
different viewing options available once a battlefield tours has
stopped. Stephen Recker's Virtual Gettysburg is a powerful, interactive

simulation   more...of the battlefield at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, site of the
high tide of the Confederacy and turning point of the Civil War.
Different from role playing games, Virtual Gettysburg allows you to
explore the battles and fields using historical data in an accurate,
dynamic and immersive 3D world.  less

Former Mayor David Stix discusses the Batttle of Gettysburg.

Part 18.

Part 8.

Part 3.

Part 23.