American Civil War Costumes
The American Civil War (1861–1865). Eleven Southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ("the Confederacy") to fight for independence. Twenty (mostly Northern) free states in which slavery already had been abolished, and five slave states that became known as the "border states" supported the federal government. These twenty-five states, referred to as the Union, had a much larger base of population and industry than the South. After four years of warfare, mostly within the Southern states, the Confederacy surrendered and slavery was outlawed everywhere in the nation. Issues that led to war were resolved only in the Reconstruction Era that followed the restoration of the Union. From this time come our historical costumes and uniforms.
