Civil War History The American Civil War lasted from 1861 to 1865. The conflict grew out of long-standing divisions in the United States, with slavery at its center. Eleven states seceded from the Union and formed the Confederacy. The war touched communities across the country. Soldiers fought in major campaigns, while civilians faced shortages, destruction, and the upheaval of wartime. Enslaved people sought freedom as Union forces advanced, and the end of the war brought emancipation and the difficult years of Reconstruction. Through my visits to historic places, I share stories connected to the Civil War-battlefields, forts, cemeteries, markers, and the people whose lives were changed by the conflict.