CivilwarTheCivilWarwasfoughtin10,000places,fromValverde,NewMexico,andTullahoma,Tennessee,toSt.Albans,Vermont,andFernandinaontheFloridacoast.Morethan3millionAmericansfoughtinit,andover600,000men,2percentofthepopulation,diedinit.Americanhomesbecameheadquarters,Americanchurchesandschoolhousesshelteredthedying,andhugeforagingarmiessweptacrossAmericanfarmsandburnedAmericantowns.Americansslaughteredoneanotherwholesale,righthereinAmericaintheirowncornfieldsandpeachorchards,alongfamiliarroadsandbywaterswitholdAmericannames.IntwodaysatShiloh,onthebanksoftheTennesseeRiver,moreAmericanmenfellthaninallthepreviousAmericanwarscombined.AtColdHarbor,some7,000Americansfellintwentyminutes.Menwhohadneverstrayedtwentymilesfromtheirownfrontdoorsnowfoundthemselvessoldiersingreatarmies,fightingepicbattleshundredsofmilesfromhome.Theyknewtheyweremakinghistory,anditwasthegreatestadventureoftheirlives.TheCivilWarhasbeengivenmanynames:theWarBetweentheStates,theWaragainstNorthernAggression,theSecondAmerican用心爱心专心Revolution,theLostCause,theWaroftheRebellion,theBrothers’War,theLateUnpleasantness.WaltWhitmancalledittheWarofAttemptedSecession.ConfederateGeneralJosephJohnstoncalledittheWaragainsttheStates.Bywhatevername,itwasunquestionablythemostimportanteventinthelifeofthenation.Itsawtheendofslaveryandthedownfallofasouthernplanteraristocracy.Itwasthewatershedofanewpoliticalandeconomicorder,andthebeginningofbigindustry,bigbusiness,biggovernment.Itwasthefirstmodernwarand,forAmericans,thecostliest,yieldingthemostAmericancausalitiesandthegreatestdomesticsuffering,spirituallyandphysically.Itwasthemosthorrible,necessary,intimate,acrimonious,mean-spirited,andheroicconflictthenationhaseverknown.Inevitably,wegraspthewarthroughsuchhyperbole.Insodoing,wetendtoblurthefactthatrealpeoplelivedthroughitandwerechangedbytheevent.Onehundredeighty-fivethousandblackAmericansfoughttofreetheirpeople.FishermenandstorekeepersfromDeerIsle,Maine,servedbravelyanddiedmiserablyinstrangeplaceslikeBatonRouge,Louisiana,andFredericksburg,Virginia.TherewasscarcelyafamilyintheSouththatdidnotloseasonorbrotherorfather.Aswithanycivilstrife,thewarwasmarkedbyexcruciatingironies.RobertE.LeebecamealegendintheConfederatearmyonlyafterturningdownanoffertocommandtheentireUnionforce.Four用心爱心专心ofLincoln’sownbrothers-in-lawfoughtontheConfederateside,andonewaskilled.ThelittletownofWinchester,Virginia,changedhandsseventy-twotimesduringthewar,andthestateofMissourisentthirty-nineregimentstofightinthesiegeofVicksburg:seventeentotheConfederacyandtwenty-twototheUnion.Between1861and1865,Americansmadewaroneachotherandkilledeachotheringreatnumbers—ifonlytobecomethekindofcountrythatcouldnolongerconceiveofhowthatwaspossible.WhatbeganasabitterdisputeoverUnionandStates'Rights,endedasastruggleoverthemeaningoffreedominAmerica.AtGettysburgin1863,AbrahamLincolnsaidperhapsmorethanheknew.Thewarwasabouta"newbirthoffreedom."用心爱心专心
