Abraham Lincoln, President of the
United States Abraham Lincoln (American Memory Collection)
"A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this
government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half
free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved. I do not
expect the house to fall. But I expect it will cease to be
divided. It will become all one thing or all the other."
Abraham Lincoln, 1858
The soldiers....
Dear Brother,
They are avolunteering right smartly here.
If you want to join a company, come down here and let's go
together. I have a notion of trying it awhile.
James Jackson, Covington County Alabama
The Generals...
General Ulysses S. Grant (Union Army)
"Grant don't care a snap if men fall like leaves, he fights to
win, that chap does..."
Mary Chestnut
"I can't spare this man...he fights."
Abraham Lincoln
General Robert E. Lee
(Confederate Army)
It is well that war is so
terrible, lest we grow too fond of
it.
Robert E. Lee
I tremble for my country when I
hear of confidence expressed in
me. I know too well my
weakness, that our only hope is
in God.
Robert E. Lee
The Civilians......
Anna Mary Young, Gettysburg
Though the shells fell thick around us, shattering trees,
knocking bricks out of the house, cousin Jenny stood on the
cellar steps cutting bread, spreading it with apple butter and
giving it to the poor men who had been marched double
quick for miles without any breakfast. The poor fellows were
so grateful, and would say, Courage ladies, we'll drive the
rebs!"
,
Anna Mary Young Gettysburg
The heroes.....
Clara Barton, Angel of the Battlefield
"While our soldiers stand and fight, I can stand and feed
and nurse them."
The Children...
Children as young as nine years old either served as soldiers or as
drummer boys. One of the most famous was John Clem. He was only nine
years old in 1861 when he ran away from home with hopes of joining the
Union Army. While he was refused admittance into the army, he took up
with the 22d Michigan Regiment, who took him on as a mascot, letting him
officially enlist as a drummer boy in 1863. Clem gained national fame,
known to many as “Drummer Boy of Chickamauga.”
Three children born and living during the civil war era. Their father was a soldier
who died on the battlefield.
The South...
Slaves in Virginia
Slave family home.
Plantation house in the south.
Poor white southern sharecropper family farming tobacco.
Cotton was king in the
south. It brought in
billions of dollars, and was
sought by the northern
factories and England as
a desirable fabric.
Slaves picking cotton.
The North...
Northern factories at time of Civil War
U.S. Military Engine.
(both the North and
South had railroads,
although the North
had 20,000 miles of
track, the South
10,000 miles of track)
Northern city
circa 1865.
Soldiers parade through our Nation’s Capital during Civil War.
Black Union soldiers prepare to fight.
People take sides...
Confederate soldiers. (South)
Union soldiers (North)
The conflict begins...
General Sherman
destroy’s Atlanta’s rail
road yard.