The American Civil War

As you probably know the Civil War was a war between the southern states (The Confederate), and the northern states (The Union). The Civil War took place from 1861, to 1865. In that war 620,000 people died, and a million were injured, so it there must had been some serious motives for the fight. Many people believe it was because of the moral issues between the two states over slavery, but there were other reasons as well .

Cotton growing was very common in the south. In 1793 Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin, a machine that separates the fibers in the cotton seeds making production quicker, and easier. That is how the economy changed in the South, therefore they became dependant on slavery work in the south, later on one eight of the population in the Southern states were slaves. That caused a social, and economic difference in the North and South. Another reason for the war was that the South didn’t agree with some of the Northern laws, and wanted freedom from those laws. Also as the U.S was expanding into the western territories, there were arguments if those states would be free, or slave states. There were even more causes as well.

About two years after the start of the war General Robert Lee ordered his troops, to invade maryland and pennsylvania, and take out as many Union military bases as they could, while the union protected Washington D.C. Their first attack was on Camp Curtin. On there way to Camp Curtin, a “skirmish” happened between the 3,000 Union soldiers, and the 60,000 Confederate soldiers. Lee hears about the skirmish, and orders his 60,000 soldiers to attack the Unions 3,000 soldiers. The Union soldiers flee to a nearby group of hills that form a horseshoe called “Cemetery Ridge”, as they call for backup. Backup was very far away, but the horseshoe of hills gave them a huge advantage. The Union soldiers held off the giant Confederate army using the hills until backup arrived, and seized the area. This was a major turning point of the war. This battle was called the Battle of Gettysburg because it took place in a small town called Gettysburg. Even though the war went on for another two years, this battle gave the Union a very big advantage for the rest of the war. In 1865 the Union officially won the war.