Aaron Rosenberg - The Civil War

The American Civil War began on April 12, 1861, when Fort Sumter in South Carolina was attacked. The attackers were soldiers from the Confederate States of America. Those seven states had seceded from the United States of America. They had announced that they were now a separate nation. And then they declared war on the United States, or the Union.

The Civil War raged for almost exactly four years. It officially ended on April 9, 1865, when the Confederate army surrendered to the Union at Appomattox Court House in Virginia.

There have been two world wars and several other major wars since then, but the Civil War still took more American lives than any other war before or since. More than six hundred thousand soldiers died, and no one knows how many civilians (people who werent in the military) were killed.

You can pick up a history book or go online to learn the basic facts about the Civil War battles. But who were the key people involved in the conflict? Everyone knows who Abraham Lincoln was. But did you know that he was president for the entire Civil War? Robert E. Lee is famous as the Confederate general. But did you know that he was originally supposed to command the Union army? Who was Frederick Douglass, and why did Lincoln listen to him so closely? How did Clara Barton influence men and women on both sides of the war? Why is George McClellan important if he was actually dismissed from his military position? Who was Mathew Brady and why did Lincoln sometimes say he owed his entire presidency to him?

Throughout history, its taken more than one person to win or lose a war or bring about dramatic changes. The six people in this book arent solely responsible for the events surrounding the Civil War, but they are all considered major players during those events. And they definitely each had a hand in the outcome. Well see who each of those people were, what their lives were like, and where they intersected each other. Well find out how they influenced each other and the course of events, both during and after the war, and how they affected the entire country and everyone in it. Each of these people had a lasting influence. We are still feeling the effects of their actions, and their lives, today.

Abraham Lincoln was the sixteenth president of the United States. He is best known for his leadership throughout the Civil War and for his untimely death shortly after the war ended.

Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809, in a log cabin in Hardin County, Kentucky. His father, Thomas, was a talented carpenter and made enough money to buy several farms in the area. Lincoln had an older sister named Sarah. He also had a younger brother named Thomas, who died while only a baby.

Cabin where Lincoln lived as a child

When Lincoln was seven, his family moved to Indiana. One reason they moved was because it was easier to buy land in Indiana. But Indiana also had laws forbidding slavery. The Lincolns were Baptists, and their church did not approve of slavery. Some states allowed it and others did not. Slavery had been legal in Kentucky, and that had made the Lincolns uncomfortable.

In Indiana, the Lincolns lived near Little Pigeon Creek in Perry County. It was a wild countryside, filled with bears and other animals and overgrown with woods. Lincoln grew up learning how to raise crops, tend to animals, and cut down trees. People were not required to go to school back then. Outside of towns and cities, children only went when they could take time away from their chores. Only a few ever finished school. Lincoln was no exception. He attended several schools, but never for very longthere were always tasks to do on the farm, and he couldnt take the time away to study. He did learn to read, write, and do basic math, but nothing more. The rest of his knowledge was practical information, learned from his father and from hard work.

Artists rendition of Lincoln as a boy

Lincolns mother, Nancy Hanks Lincoln, died when he was nine. His father remarried the following year. Lincoln adored his stepmother, Sarah Bush Johnston. The two of them were very close. Sarah had three children of her own, so now the Lincolns were seven in all.

Sarah Bush Johnston

Lincoln grew up tall and stronghe was six feet four inches at his full height, towering over most men. He showed an early talent for storytelling and a thirst for adventure. When he was a teen, he and his friend Allen piloted a boat of produce down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers to New Orleans. It was the first time Lincoln had seen a city, and he loved the bustle and activity of it all.

In 1830 Thomas Lincoln moved his family from Indiana to Coles County, Illinois. Abraham Lincoln was twenty-one by then. He was a grown man. He decided not to go with his father and stepmother. Instead he sailed a canoe down the Sangamon River to New Salem. Lincoln was now on his own for the first time in his life.

He quickly found a job working for a businessman named Denton Offutt. Lincoln and two friends ferried Offutts goods from New Salem to New Orleans. Offutt was so impressed he put Lincoln in charge of the mill and the store he had just set up in New Salem.

Lincoln ferrying goods from New Salem

The job soon lost its appeal, and Lincoln searched for other work. He tried several different things, but none of them really suited him. He served as New Salems postmaster for a time. He worked as the countys deputy surveyor. He bought a store of his own with a friend, though that business left Lincoln in debt after his partner died suddenly. He even served in the military! Lincoln was in the Black Hawk War of 1832. The war lasted three months, as American soldiers fought against Native Americans led by the war chief Black Hawk. Lincoln didnt play a big part in the conflict, but he was elected captain of his volunteer company. That was the first time anyone recognized his natural gift for leadership. It would not be the last.

Two months before the Black Hawk War, in March 1832, Lincoln had decided to try yet another new career. He wanted to be a politician! He ran for a seat in the Illinois General Assembly, which was the state legislature. Lincoln was well liked in New Salem, but most successful politicians had education, money, and influential supporters. Lincoln didnt have any of these. He ran anyway, and came in eighth out of thirteen candidates. There were only four seats, so he didnt win any of them.