Gettysburg, the Civil War's bloodiest battle, ended Robert E. Lee's invasion of the North in July 1863 and dashed Confederate hopes of winning independence.

Fought July 1-3, 1863, the Battle of Gettysburg ended the Confederate invasion of the North. While the Union lost nearly 23,000 troops, its victory in one of America's most famous battles shifted the war's momentum decisively toward the North.

Hear profiles of the Union and Confederate commanders whose choices defined the war's outcome—from Grant and Lee to Sherman, Jackson, and others. See how their actions, tactics, and skills shaped the Civil War.

Between 1861 and 1865, an estimated 620,000 to 750,000 soldiers died from battle and disease—more than in all other US wars combined.

Roughly two-thirds of all Civil War deaths resulted from disease rather than battle. Poor sanitation, contaminated water, and limited medical knowledge made camps breeding grounds for dysentery, typhoid, and other deadly infections.

About 180,000 Black soldiers—roughly 10% of the Union army—served in the United States Colored Troops after 1863. Despite lower pay and discrimination, they were crucial to the Union victory.

Abraham Lincoln's election on an antislavery expansion platform convinced many Southerners that their way of life was under threat. Within three months, seven states seceded from the Union—forming the Confederacy—before Lincoln took office in March 1861.

After surrender, most Confederate soldiers were pardoned and returned home, while leaders like Jefferson Davis faced short imprisonment. The South came under military occupation, Confederate money became worthless, and many former officers were barred from public office.

The Civil War is commonly described as a war between northern and southern US states, but where was the war actually fought? Watch this interactive map and timeline to see who fought who and when. Click on specific battles to learn more about each fight.

The Civil War was fought over slavery, and Confederate leaders and supporters admitted as much in the build-up to the war and after. But later on, after the South's defeat, the lie of the Lost Cause was pushed—and it persists to this day. This four-minute video details the story of the Lost Cause, "state's rights", Confederate monuments, and the machinations behind them.

This collection of 37 maps tells the story of the American Civil War as well as any historical account. See how and where the war began and why, and where the major battles were fought. Discover how the North achieved victory and the many ways the war changed America forever.

European nations closely watched the Civil War for its economic and political consequences. Some European nations quietly engaged diplomatically with the Confederacy but withheld recognition. When the Union made slavery's abolition a central cause, European public opinion turned sharply against the South.

Elevated to general-in-chief in 1864, Ulysses S. Grant unified the Union strategy and forced a Confederate surrender at Appomattox. Elected president in 1868, he worked to enforce Reconstruction laws and protect the civil rights of freed African Americans.

Established in 1864 on a plantation once owned by Lee's wife, Arlington now spans 639 acres and is home to more than 400,000 veterans and their eligible dependents. The cemetery conducts as many as 27 funerals every weekday.

According to some experts, Napoleon III planned to ship weapons from Mexico to Confederate forces to break the Union naval blockade. The delay caused by the Battle of Puebla meant French resources didn't reach the Texas border until after the Union Army's decisive victory at Vicksburg.

Issued on Jan. 1, 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation declared enslaved people in Confederate-held territory free, redefining the Union's cause from merely preserving the nation to abolishing slavery.

Hear the story of women who disguised themselves as men to enlist in both Union and Confederate armies—serving as soldiers, medics, and spies.

Between December 1860 and June 1861, 11 Southern states officially seceded to form the Confederacy. Pro-Confederate factions in Missouri and Kentucky also declared secession, but both states remained largely under Union control throughout the war.

As to be expected, there was no shortage of conflict during a war filled with guerrilla tactics. However, there were a few key battles and operations that influenced changes in warfare and ultimately led to the North's victory. This list of key battles starts with conflict between the France and Vietnam and ends with what became known as the fall of Saigon.

Historians argue that the boundary only became a celebrated American symbol in the 1860s, when Civil War-era leaders promoted a west-east geographic divide to replace the devastating north-south political divide, and that the term's use spiked after the transcontinental railroad crossed it in 1868.

The Civil War expanded federal power through emancipation, national military mobilization, and postwar civil rights laws, permanently strengthening the national government and shifting the balance of authority away from the states.

Abraham Lincoln suspended habeas corpus, expanded the army without congressional approval, and issued the Emancipation Proclamation—despite likely lacking authority to unilaterally alter national slave law. His actions set precedents for expanded presidential power in wartime.

On April 14, 1865, actor John Wilkes Booth shot President Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre in Washington, DC. Booth had initially conspired to kidnap Lincoln but turned to assassination after the Confederacy's defeat.

The familiar Confederate flag was actually a battlefield banner; the Confederacy's true national flag, the "Stars and Bars," featured a blue canton with white stars and red-white-red stripes resembling the US flag.

On D‑Day, over 156,000 American, British, and Canadian troops assaulted five heavily defended beaches along a 50‑mile stretch of northern France. Supported by nearly 3 million men, 1,200 warships, and 13,000 aircraft, the successful landings paved the way for the liberation of Western Europe and decisively shifted momentum against Nazi Germany.

Many key military leaders of the Civil War—including Ulysses S. Grant, Robert E. Lee, and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson—first saw combat in the Mexican-American War, gaining battlefield experience that shaped their later commands.

On May 1, 1865, roughly 10,000 people, mostly freed slaves, paraded around a Charleston racetrack where Union prisoners had been buried, predating the first national commemoration at Arlington National Cemetery by three years.

Despite being outnumbered in key engagements, US forces defeated Mexican armies across every major front. Superior training, leadership, and logistics allowed the US to win decisively—capturing Mexico City without losing a single major battle.

Proposed in 1863, Lincoln's Ten Percent Plan offered lenient readmission for Southern states once 10% of voters pledged loyalty and ended slavery. It was adopted in a few Union-occupied areas but was only partially implemented before his assassination in 1865.

Whitman, whose brother was injured while fighting for the Union, was often overt in his pro-Union poems. Dickinson, whose brother paid to have someone enlist under his name, was more subtle, though equally as affected, as this comparative analysis makes clear.

The 1876 election between Rutherford B. Hayes and Samuel J. Tilden ended in a deadlock over contested Southern votes. To resolve the crisis, Democrats accepted Hayes's presidency in exchange for the withdrawal of federal troops—formally ending Reconstruction.

In a bold counterattack from December 16, 1944, to January 28, 1945, Hitler committed over 400,000 troops in a surprise “Bulge” through the Ardennes forest in France. Although initially successful in creating a 50‑mile incursion, Allied defense halted the advance. German forces suffered irrecoverable losses (~100,000), while Allied casualties totaled ~75,000, marking the offensive as the last major German gamble and a decisive step toward Nazi defeat.

Fearing the Ghost Dance—a spiritual movement spreading across starving reservations—the Army surrounded a Lakota encampment at Wounded Knee Creek, South Dakota. When a shot was fired during an attempted disarmament, it sparked chaos, and soldiers killed nearly 300 people.

Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, wrote his famed Gettysburg Address on a train car. Actually, he had a version of it ready a few days before. Well, really, he came up with it on the spot. Rumors about the speech's creation abound. This 1909 article walks readers through evidence Lincoln's speech was carefully planned and written in Washington, DC (in pencil).

In this podcast, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Rick Atkinson argues that Washington's endurance, strategic communication, political judgment, and ability to elevate capable subordinates proved decisive, in sharp contrast to the failures of British leadership during the war.

The professionalism and engineering expertise of West Point–trained officers—like Grant, Lee, and Meade—gave the US a major advantage in the Mexican-American War, helping them win every major battle.