Abraham Lincoln, the Civil War, and the Emancipation Proclamation
The American Civil War started on April 12, 1861, when Abraham Lincoln sent a fleet of Union ships to supply Fort Sumter, a federal armory in South Carolina. The Confederates fired canons at the Union fleet and the U.S. fort, which was viewed as a declaration of war. Hopes for a quick Union victory were shattered when they were defeated by Confederate troops at the Battle of Bull Run a couple months later. As a result, Lincoln called up half a million Union troops and both sides prepared for a long, brutal war.
In the fall of 1862, Lincoln issued his Emancipation Proclamation, which changed the legal status under federal law of more than 3.5 million African Americans in the Confederate States from slave to free. That meant that as soon as a slave escaped the control of the Confederacy, either by running north across Union lines or through the southern advance of Union troops, that person was permanently free.
In 1864, Abraham Lincoln was re-elected President. At his second inaugural address in March of 1865, Lincoln stressed the need to reconstruct the South and rebuild the Union: “With malice toward none; with charity for all.” Shortly thereafter on April 9, Confederate General Lee surrendered to Union General Grant at the Appomattox Court House in Virginia, effectively ending the war. It had lasted more than four brutal years at the cost of over 600,000 American lives.
Sadly, less than one week later, Abraham Lincoln was shot by actor and Confederate activist John Wilkes Booth during an evening performance at Ford’s Theater in Washington, DC. Lincoln never regained consciousness and died the next morning, April 15, 1865.
Abraham Lincoln proved to be one of the greatest presidents in American history. His Emancipation Proclamation paved the way for slavery’s abolition, while his Gettysburg Address stands as one of the most meaningful speeches in American history. In the end, his assassination made him a martyr – an enduring symbol for the causes of liberty, equality, and the preservation of our great republic.
Abraham Lincoln, the Civil War, and the Emancipation Proclamation
Randall acts as the lead writer for ColdWater’s Drive Thru History® TV series and Drive Thru History® “Adventures” curriculum.
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