Most of the fighting occurred in the South. Thousands lost their lives at Kennesaw Mountain, Ocmulgee, or during the battle of Vicksburg, which was described as a Confederate stronghold. Many of the soldiers died not due to musket or cannon fire but from unsanitary conditions on the battlefield.
A Union victory at Gettysburg and other locations turned the war around for the North and led to Lincoln's reelection in 1864.
Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation of 1862 halfway through the war. Slaves saw a chance for freedom as many would leave their plantations to become contraband behind Union lines.
At the end of the bloodiest war in the country's short history, the South lay in ruin. The Southern economy was virtually destroyed as Slavery came to an abrupt end. In addition, Union soldiers uprooted railroads, destroyed bridges, burned entire communities, and decimated livestock.
Reconstruction occurred in the war's aftermath, as well as Lincoln's cruel death. It sought to create a new society in the South that upheld the rights of the newly freed slaves through the Freedmen's Bureau, which built schools and other institutions for African Americans. Congress also passed the 13th, 14, and 15th Amendments that ended slavery, made African Americans citizens of the United States, and granted the right to vote to black men. Union Soldiers were also stationed there to protect the political and economic endeavors of the former slaves, as seen in the North. Sadly, the sixteenth president of the United Staff didn't live to reap the rewards of victory as he was assassinated by John Wilks Booth, a Southern sympathizer while enjoying a night out with the First Lady at Ford's Theater.
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