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The Civil War took more lives than any other war in the history of the United States. This is also the only war that divided the people of the United States. It tore apart families. Sometimes brother fought against brother. The four years of war and bloodshed left a heritage of sorrow and bitterness. The Civil War had many nicknames like the War Between the States, War of the Rebellion, War of the Secession, or the War for Southern Independence. The war destoyed slavery, ended the Southern way of life, and it answered the question of whether a state could secede.
The Civil War was the first true "total war." The North used its strength to destroy the economic basis of the Confederacy. The Civil War introduced new methods of warfare seldom used in wars beforehand, such as mines and rifled weapons. It also brought such new technologies as telegraphy, photography, balloon observation, breech-loading and repeating rifles, trenches, and wire entanglements. Railroads played an important part for the first time in a large-scale war. New types of ships, for example ironclads and submarines, proved the value of armored vessels. It was also the first time they drafted armies and "dog tags" were first used.
The following documents are brief descriptions of some of the major battles of the Civil War. These battles are important because this displays man's dedication to a common cause. They believed in a certain principle and died for it. They are also important because each citizen should have some common historical knowledge of the United States.
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