The Civil War took place between 1861 and 1865 in the United States, and faced on the one hand the Union, made up of the northern states, and the Confederation, made up of the southern states. The main issue that gave rise to the conflict was slavery: while Southerners sought to legalize the issue in their territories, the northern states sought to abolish slavery and guarantee real equality between whites and African Americans.
It was initiated by the Confederate shelling of Fort Sumter in Charleston Bay in South Carolina on April 12, 1861. It lasted until May 26, 1865, when the last organized centers of Confederate resistance surrendered (in some places the fighting continued until June). As a result of the war 620,000 people were killed, property worth 5 billion dollars was destroyed, and 4 million slaves gained freedom.
