American Civil War - Beginning and End

Soon after Abraham Lincoln became America’s 16th president, the country split apart when the South seceded from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America.

Days after the South surrendered, at Appomattox Court House in Virginia, President Lincoln was assassinated.  He had lived just long enough to see his fondest wish fulfilled.  His country, bruised and battered though it was, would survive as a single nation.

This clip, from The Civil War: A Ken Burns Film, shows where the war essentially began (and where it ended) -  in the backyard (and then in the parlor) of the same man, Wilmer McLean.

Credits

From, The Civil War: A Ken Burns Film, online courtesy PBS.