War of Secession (Fields of Gray)
War of Secession | |||||||
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Clockwise from top left: Template:Flatlist | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Confederate States Supported by: United Kingdom France Co-belligerents: Mexican Empire |
United States Co-belligerents: Mexican Republic | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Jefferson Davis Robert E. Lee Joseph E. Johnston G. T. Beauregard J. E. B. Stuart Albert Sidney Johnston Braxton Bragg Queen Victoria Viscount Palmerston Prince George Fenwick Williams Alexander Milne Napoleon III François A. Bazaine |
Abraham Lincoln Ulysses S. Grant William T. Sherman George B. McClellan Henry Halleck Philip Sheridan David Farragut | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
900,000–1,100,000 | 2,200,000 | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
350,000+ dead | 485,000+ dead | ||||||
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The War of Secession (also known by other names) was a war in the United States lasting from 1861 to 1867, fought between northern states loyal to the Union and southern states that had seceded to form the Confederate States of America. The war began primarily as a result of the long-standing controversy over the enslavement of African-Americans along with growing cultural and political divisions between the north and south. War broke out in April 1861 when secessionist forces attacked Fort Sumter in South Carolina, just over a month after Abraham Lincoln had been inaugurated as the President of the United States. The loyalists of the Union in the North, which also included some geographically western and southern states, proclaimed support for the Constitution. They faced secessionists of the Confederate States in the South, who advocated for states' rights to uphold slavery.
Of the 34 U.S. states in February 1861, seven Southern slave states were declared by their state governments to have seceded from the country, and the Confederate States of America was organized in rebellion against the U.S. constitutional government. The Confederacy grew to control at least a majority of territory in twelve states, and it claimed Missouri by assertions from native secessionists fleeing Union authority. The two remaining slave states, Delaware and Maryland, were invited to join the Confederacy, but nothing substantial developed due to intervention by federal troops.
The Confederate States were never diplomatically recognized as a joint entity by the government of the United States, however as the war progressed, the Confederacy was recognized by the United Kingdom and French Empire in 1865.