What Caused The Start Of The Civil War

Gabriel Hilton
Mrs. Sims
History 8th
May 2, 2016

The Civil War begun on April 12, 1861 when Confederate troops bombarded the Union Army at Fort Sumter. This was the official starting of the war but before this, there were many reasons a war could have broken out. When President Abraham Lincoln was elected in 1860, 7 southern states seceded from the Union. They seceded from the Union because they feared that when Lincoln took office that he would abolish slavery in those states because he was against slavery. They broke away from the Union and called themselves the Confederate states of America. Secondly, the Missouri Compromise also influenced the start of a civil war. The Missouri Compromise was an effort by Congress to come up with a solution
Major battles like Shiloh in Tennessee, Gaines’ Mill, Second Manassas, and Fredericksburg in Virginia, and Antietam in Maryland led to even bigger battles in the next few years of the war. These battles were Gettysburg in Pennsylvania, Vicksburg in Mississippi, and Chickamauga and Atlanta in Georgia. By the end of the war, the North wanted the South to rejoin the Union and get rid of slavery in their states. For three years, starting in 1862 and ending in 1865, Confederate General Robert E. Lee and his army held off Union forces from battles and invasions. This happened because the Union army was led by numerous ineffective generals until Ulysses S. Grant came and “saved the day” by becoming general of all the Union armies in 1864. After Robert E. Lee became general the Union army started winning many bloody battles such as Cold Harbor and Petersburg. Union armies also were taking over slave states west of the Appalachians’ because of unfortunate generals. Both General William Tecumseh Sherman and General George Thomas had very successful victories in Georgia, South Carolina, and Tennessee both brutally destroying Confederate
That battle was the Battle of Gettysburg. Robert E. Lee of the Confederate army commanded his armies to head toward Gettysburg where oncoming Union forces were headed. The Confederate army got there faster and forced the Union army to move back a mile to Cemetery Hill. Before any more Union forces could reach Cemetery Hill Robert E. Lee commanded his forces to strike. On the third day of the battle Union forces finally pushed back Confederate troops after a long seven-hour fight. This gave the Union army a string position to attack. Lee thought that his troops won the day before sent less than 15,00 troops to attack on the Union army. The Union army opened fire on the Confederates forcing all of them back and Lee went scrambling back after his failed attempt at the Union Army. After this Battle General Lee offered his resignation to Confederate President Jefferson Davis, but it was revoked. The Battle of Gettysburg and Ulysses S. Grant’s victory at Vicksburg the same day turned the Civil War into the Unions win.
Four and a half months later, President Abraham Lincoln was issuing his famous Gettysburg Address at the dedication ceremony for the Cemetery of Gettysburg, where the bloody and gruesome Battle of Gettysburg was fought. The entire Gettysburg Address was only 272 words but it had a great meaning. He basically said that the people who died here died for our Union and we the people shall not