The American Civil War took place from 1861 to 1865. It was a civil war between the United States of America and the southern slave states of the Confederate States of America newly formed under Jefferson Davis. The Union included all the free states and the five border slave states and was led by Abraham Lincoln and the Republican Party. Republicans opposed the expansion of slavery into territories owned by the United States, and their victory in the 1860 presidential election led seven Southern states to declare their secession from the Union even before entry. according to Lincoln. The Union rejected secession, viewing it as rebellion. Hostilities began on April 12, 1861, when Confederate forces attacked a U.S. military installation at Fort Sumter in South Carolina. Lincoln responded by calling for a large army of volunteers, and then four other Southern states declared secession. During the first year of the war, the Union took control of the border states and established a naval blockade as both sides massed their armies and resources. In 1862, battles such as Shiloh and Antietam caused mass casualties unprecedented in American military history. In September 1862, Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation made ending slavery in the South a war objective, complicating the Confederacy's labor shortage. In the East, Confederate commander Robert E. Lee won a series of victories over Union armies, but Lee's failure at Gettysburg in early July 1863 marked a turning point. Ulysses S. Grant's capture of Vicksburg and Port Hudson completed Union control of the Mississippi River. Grant fought bloody battles of attrition with Lee in 1864, forcing Lee to defend the Confederate capital at Richmond, Virginia. Union General William Sherman...... middle of paper ...... s Plaza at Cadman Plaza and the Korean War Veterans Parkway known as Richmond Parkway to until it was renamed in April 1997 by the New York State Legislature.The Vietnam War MemorialThe Vietnam Veterans Memorial recognizes and honors the men and women who served in one of the world's most controversial issues in America. The memorial was designed and designed not to make any political statements about the war. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is a place where everyone, regardless of their opinion, can come together and remember and honor those who served. In doing so, the memorial paved the way for reconciliation and healing, a process that continues today. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial achieves these goals through its three components: the Wall of Names, the Three Servicemen Statue and Flagpole, and the Vietnam Women's Memorial..