Sumter from the Union Army. Afterward
both sides quickly raised armies.
The first major battle of the war was
fought on July 21. About 30,000 Union
troops marched toward the Confederate
capital of Richmond, Virginia. The
Confederates stopped them at a stream
named Bull Run, near the town of
Manassas. The Union troops were forced
back toWashington, D.C. The defeat
shocked the Union.
1862
Union forces had some success in the
West in 1862. In February Union troops
under General Ulysses S. Grant captured
Confederate forts in western Tennessee.
These included Fort Henry and Fort
Donelson. In April Grant led the Union
to victory in the battle of Shiloh, near
Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee. Then the
Union navy took the city of New
Orleans.
The wars most notable battle at sea was
fought in Virginia in March 1862. It
was the first battle ever fought between
ships that were covered with iron. Nei-
There were 21
million Northerners
and
only 9 million
Southerners at
the time of the
American Civil
War. More
than one third
of the Southerners
were
slaves.
Many African Americans fought in the
Union Army. Members of the 107th U.S.
Colored Infantry pose for a photograph in
Virginia in 1865.
96 American Civil War BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA
ther the Confederacys Merrimack nor
the Unions Monitor could win a clear
victory.
General Robert E. Lee led the Confederacy
to important victories in the East.
In August 1862 his forces won a second
battle at Bull Run. Then Lee invaded
the North. Union troops stopped the
Confederates at Antietam Creek, Maryland,
in September. But in December
Lees troops defeated Union troops at
Fredericksburg, Virginia.
1863
At the start of the war President Lincoln
wanted mainly to keep the United States
together. Ending slavery was not his
main goal. This changed after the battle
of Antietam. The Union victory encouraged
Lincoln to issue a statement called
the Emancipation Proclamation. The
proclamation freed all slaves in Confederate
states. As a result of the proclamation,
many blacks joined the Union
Army.
In May 1863 Lee defeated Union forces
near Chancellorsville, Virginia. Then he
again invaded the North. Lee suffered
his first big defeat in July at Gettysburg,
Pennsylvania.
The battle of Gettysburg turned the war
in favor of the Union. A day later Grant
captured the city of Vicksburg, Mississippi,
for the Union. Then the Union
controlled the entire Mississippi River.
In November 1863 Grant and General
William Tecumseh Sherman drove the
Confederates out of Chattanooga, Tennessee.
186465
In March 1864 Lincoln rewarded Grant
by giving him command of all the
Union armies. While Grant fought in
Virginia, Sherman went to Georgia. He
captured Atlanta in September. Then he
led his troops on a march to Savannah, a
port on the Atlantic Ocean. Along the
way they destroyed railroads and sup-
Confederate Generals Stonewall Jackson
(left) and Robert E. Lee are pictured
together in 1863. Jackson died after being
wounded in the battle of Chancellorsville in
that year.
Union Army officers are photographed in
Virginia in August 1865.
BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA American Civil War 97
plies. Sherman captured Savannah in
December.
By March 1865 Lee was very short of
men and supplies. On April 3 Grant
captured Richmond, the Confederate
capital. He accepted Lees surrender in
Appomattox, Virginia, on April 9. By
the end of May all Confederate armies
had surrendered.
Reconstruction
After the war the defeated states were
gradually allowed back into the United
States. The South rebuilt damaged property
and changed its economy so it no
longer depended on slaves. This period
was known as Reconstruction. It lasted
until the last U.S. troops left the South
in April 1877.
#More to explore
AbolitionistMovement Confederate
States of America Davis, Jefferson
Emancipation Proclamation Grant,
Ulysses S. Kansas-Nebraska Act Lee,
Robert E. Lincoln, Abraham Missouri
Compromise Reconstruction Slavery
American
Indians
#see Native Americans.
American
Revolution
The American Revolution was the war
in which Great Britains 13 American
colonies won their independence. The
colonies became a new country, the
United States. The revolution began in
1775 and ended in 1783.
Background
Before the 1760s the colonies had a lot
of freedom even though they were under
British rule. The British government was
across the Atlantic Ocean, more than
3,000 miles (5,000 kilometers) away.
The colonies had their own leaders and
learned to solve their own problems.
Plus, because Britain was often at war, it
On April 9, 1865, General Robert E. Lee
(right) surrendered to General Ulysses S.
Grant at Appomattox, Virginia.
The first shots of the American Revolution
were fired in Lexington, Massachusetts, on
April 19, 1775.
98 American Indians BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA
did not always pay close attention to the
colonies.
In the 1760s, however, the British government
tried to take more control over
the colonies. One major reason for this
change was the French and IndianWar.
Britain defeated France in the war in
1763. But the war had been very costly.
Afterward, Britain decided that its
American colonies should help to pay its
debts.
Taxes
To raise money, Britain forced the colonies
to pay new taxes. In 1765 the British
lawmakers, called Parliament, passed
a law called the Stamp Act. The act put
a tax on legal papers, newspapers, and
other printed items. The colonists protested
against the tax. They were especially
angry because Parliament was
taxing them even though they had no
representatives in Parliament. Because of
the protests, the British government
ended the tax in 1766.
In 1767, however, a British official
named Charles Townshend got Parliament
to pass several new tax laws. The
Townshend Acts taxed tea, lead, paint,
paper, and glass coming into colonial
ports. These taxes made the colonists
even angrier.
Boston Massacre and the Tea
Party
To keep order, the British government
sent soldiers to Boston, Massachusetts.
On March 5, 1770, British soldiers fired
shots into a crowd of colonists. Crispus
Attucks and several other Americans
were killed. This event became known as
the Boston Massacre.
On the same day as the Boston Massacre,
Parliament did away with most of
the Townshend Acts. They kept a tax on
tea, however. Then, in 1773, Britain
passed a law that allowed a British company
to sell tea more cheaply than colonial
merchants. On December 16, 1773,
colonists boarded British ships in Boston
Harbor and threw their cargo of tea into
the water. This event became known as
the Boston Tea Party.
Intolerable Acts
The British government then passed
laws that were even harsher. The colonists
called them the Intolerable Acts.
The strongest of these acts closed the
port of Boston until the colonists paid
for the tea they had ruined. Massachusetts
was put under military rule.