10 Key Facts About America's Misunderstood War

Fact #1: The Civil War was fought between the Northern and the Southern states from 1861-1865.
The Civil War, also known as “The War Between the States,” was fought between the United States of America and the Confederate States of America, a collection of eleven southern states that left the Union in 1860 and 1861 and formed their own country in order to protect the institution of slavery.  Jefferson Davis, a former U.S. Senator and Secretary of War, was appointed President of the Confederate States of America.  The United States thought that the southern states were wrong to leave the Union and initiated a war that raged across the country for four years.  In 1865, the United States defeated the Confederate States and abolished slavery nation-wide.