The American Civil War was fought in the United States from 1861 until 1865 between the United States – forces coming mostly from the 23 northern states of the Union – and the newly-formed Confederate States of America, which consisted of 11 southern states that had declared their secession. There were various names used to describe the war itself, its combatants, armies, and battles (see the article Naming the American Civil War).
==The division of the country==
Seven states seceded shortly after the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860 – even before he was inaugurated. They were South Carolina (December 20, 1860), Mississippi (January 9, 1861), Florida (January 10, 1861), Alabama (January 11, 1861), Georgia (January 19, 1861), Louisiana (January 26, 1861), and Texas (February 1, 1861). These Deep South States, where slavery and cotton plantation agriculture were most dominant, formed the Confederate States of America (February 4, 1861), with Jefferson Davis as President, and with a Constitution closely modeled on the United States Constitution (see also Confederate States Constitution). After the Battle of Fort Sumter, South Carolina, Lincoln called for troops from all remaining states to recover the forts, resulting in the secession of four more states: Virginia (April 17, 1861), Arkansas (May 6, 1861), North Carolina (May 20, 1861), and Tennessee (June 8, 1861).
Four "slave states" did not secede, and one seceding state split; these five are known as the Border States. Delaware, which had voted for John C. Breckinridge, had few slaves and never considered secession. Maryland also voted for Breckinridge; its legislature rejected secession (April 27, 1861), but only after the rioting in Baltimore and other events had prompted a federal declaration of martial law. Missouri and Kentucky remained in the Union, but in both, factions organized "secessions", which were recognized by the Confederate States of America. In Missouri, the State government under Governor Claiborne Fox Jackson, a southern sympathizer, evacuated the state capital of Jefferson City, Missouri when it was attacked by northern Gen. Nathaniel Lyon on June 14, 1861.
The elected Missouri government, under Jackson, met in-exile at the town of Neosho, Missouri and adopted a secession ordinance that was recognized by the Confederacy on October 30, 1861 (see the Missouri secession controversy). Meanwhile the Union organized a competing government of the state by calling a constitutional convention, originally convened to vote on secession. Although Kentucky did not secede, for a time, it declared itself neutral in the conflict, and southern sympathizers organized a secession convention, and swore in a Confederate Governor, during a brief sojourn by the Confederate Army. Residents of the northwestern counties of Virginia organized a secession from Virginia and entered the Union (with a plan for gradual emancipation) in 1863 as West Virginia.
The southern half of the federal territory of New Mexico voted to secede, and was accepted into the Confederacy as the Territory of Arizona (not shown on the map), with its capital in Mesilla (now New Mexico).
California was a [[free state]] and a part of the Union. Lincoln had won a plurality there, but there was a number of Southern Sympathizers. 28% of its votes went to the Southern Democrat candidate, John C. Breckinridge. California was asked to keep its soldiers under state control and were used to keep the land routes between the Mississippi and the state open. California gold helped finance the Union war
effort.http://www.militarymuseum.org/HistoryCW.html