American Civil War
![](/Images/godic/202502/15/CivilWarUSAColl4905.png")
![Status of the states, 1861. States that seceded before April 15, 1861 States that seceded after April 15, 1861 Union states that permitted slavery Union states that banned slavery
Territories](/Images/godic/202502/15/US_Secession_map_1861.svg4905.png")
![New Orleans the largest cotton exporting port for New England and Great Britain textile mills, shipping Mississippi River Valley goods from North, South and Border states.](/Images/godic/202502/15/NewOrleans1841AcrossRiver4905.jpg")
![Sen. Stephen Douglas, author of the Kansas–Nebraska Act of 1854Sen. John J. Crittenden, of the 1860 Crittenden Compromise](/Images/godic/202502/15/Stephen_Arnold_Douglas4905.jpg")
The American Civil War was a civil war fought from 1861 to 1865, to determine the survival of the United States of America as it defeated the bid for independence by the breakaway Confederate States of America. Among the 34 states in January 1861, seven Southern slave states individually declared their secession from the U.S. and formed the Confederate States of America. War broke out in April 1861 when they attacked a U.S. fortress, Fort Sumter, and ended with the surrender of all the Confederate armies in spring 1865.