Major battles were Antietam, fought in Maryland in September, 1862, and First and Second Manassas, fought in Virginia in the summer of 1862. Other major battles were Kennesaw Mountain, fought in Georgia in June, 1864 and Shiloh, fought in Tennessee in April of 1862. Naval battles of the Civil War also took place in the Atlantic Ocean.
The beginning of the Civil War can be said to have begun when South Carolina seceded from the Union in December, 1860. It was quickly joined by Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia and Louisiana. Texas also seceded, though it played little part in the war. In February 1861, these states formed the Confederate States of America and elected Jefferson Davis as President.
United States President Abraham Lincoln believed that these states had no right to secede and was determined to hold on to federal possessions in the Confederate States. One of these possessions was Fort Sumter, in South Carolina. The Confederacy attacked Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861, and Lincoln called for troops to recapture the fort on April 15. The Confederacy considered this a declaration of war.
