The Southeast

Throughout the Civil War there were more than 550 Union generals who served. Total casualties during the Civil War are equally staggering. Somewhere between 600,000 and 700,000 people died during the war. When you factor in the wounded, the total casualty number rises to around 1,030,000. The Civil War officially ended on April 9, 1865 when General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant. The formal surrender ceremony took place in the home of Wilmer and Virginia McLean in the town of Appomattox Court House, Virginia. The last man to die in combat was killed more than a month after the surrender ceremony, in a battle at Palmito Ranch in Texas

The American Civil War lasted from 1861 to 1865. It is also referred to as the "War Between the States" because it was fought between northern and southern states within the U.S. Starting in December of 1860, a number of southern states began to secede (separate) from the Union. Among other things, the southern slave-holding states disagreed with the anti-slavery views of the Union. South Carolina was the first state to separate, followed by Mississippi, Florida, Alabama and several others. The southern states eventually formed the Confederate States of America (Confederacy for short). During the Civil War the southern soldiers were referred to as Confederates for this reason. The first battle of the American Civil War took place at Fort Sumter in South Carolina.