Civil War Facts – Facts You Should Know About the Civil War

Facts About Civil War

The Reconstruction Era (1863-1877) overlapped and followed the war, aiming to restore national unity, strengthening the national government, and guaranteeing civil rights to the freed slaves.

The 11 confederate States were Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.

In the famous Gettysburg Address on November 19, 1863, Abraham Lincoln said the Civil War was to preserve a government “of the people, by the people, and for the people”.

The Union uniform was blue and the Confederates uniform was gray. But because clothes were scarce during the war, it was common for soldiers to wear “enemy’ colors and were mistakenly fired by their own men.

Abraham Lincoln was the first president to be assassinated.

Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation during the Civil War. This document proclaimed the end of slavery in the United States.

In 1860, Mississippi and South Carolina are the two states that had more slaves than free people.

Inflation rose 100% in the North during the Civil War. In the South, it rated nearly 100% every year of the war. After Lee’s surrender at Appomattox, it took 1,200 Confederate dollars to buy 1 U.S. dollar.

Before the Civil War, nearly 5,000 slaves tried to escape per year. During the Civil War, the number increased to over 5,000 per month.

During the Civil War, generals usually led their soldiers into battle, quite contrary to the modern wars. Therefore they were 50% more likely to die in combat than the privates were.