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  Overview In 1861, the United States faced its greatest crisis to that time.

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  Abraham Lincoln's Presidency Abraham Lincoln was elected president in 1860 and 1864.

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  The South During the Civil War Most of the fighting during the American Civil War took place on Southern soil.

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  The North During the Civil War The Civil War had fewer devastating effects on the North than the South simply because most of the combat of the Civil War occurred on Southern soil.

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  African-American Soldiers During the Civil War In 1862, President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation opened the door for African Americans to enlist in the Union Army. Although many had wanted to join the war effort earlier, they were prohibited from enlisting by a federal law dating back to 1792.

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  Civil War Soldiers' Stories It is virtually impossible to measure the human costs of the Civil War, the hardships and suffering it caused. What we do know is that millions of people grieved for the loss of loved ones.

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  The Freedmen Hundreds of thousands of African Americans in the South faced new difficulties.

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  Reconstruction and Rights When the Civil War ended, leaders turned to the question of how to reconstruct the nation. One important issue was the right to vote, and the rights of black American men and former Confederate men to vote were hotly debated.

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  The Travails of Reconstruction The aftermath of any war is difficult for the survivors. Those difficulties are usually even worse after a civil war.