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The Battle Of The American Civil War

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The American Civil War was fought from April 12th 1861 to May 9th 1865 to mark the bloodiest clash in American history. The civil war started as a result of differences between the free and slave states over the authority of the national government to outlaw slavery in the Southern states. The economy of the northern states had modernized and industrialization had taken root. They had invested heavily in their transport system, financial industries and communications network. The Southern economy produced cotton in large scale and relied slave labor. There was need to expand their economic empire and outlawing slavery could be detrimental to its progress. When Abraham Lincoln the candidate of antislavery Republican Party won the presidential election in 1860, the southern states seceded organizing as the Confederates States of America. On April 12, 1861, they opened fire on Fort Sumter at South Carolina. Lincoln called militia to suppress the rebels. Four more states joined the rebels and by the end of 1861, several battles had taken place. (Nicholas Greenwood Onuf, 2006) In 1861, military actions began in Virginia where non slave holding pro-Union Virginians sought to secede from the Confederacy. McClellan in command of federal forces in southern Ohio encountered small forces sent by Lee and won three significant battles. His victories helped toward elimination of Confederate resistance in northwestern Virginia which had refused to recognize secession. On May 6, Lee

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