The document provides an overview of the Civil War between 1861-1865, including key events and factors: - Slavery had become a major political issue, intensifying with John Brown's raid in 1859 on a federal arsenal in Virginia in an attempted slave uprising. - Abraham Lincoln was elected president in 1860 with no southern electoral votes, prompting South Carolina and other southern states to secede and form the Confederate States of America. - The Civil War began in April 1861 when Confederate forces bombarded Union-held Fort Sumter in South Carolina, after its commander refused Confederate demands to surrender. - Lincoln called for volunteers to suppress the rebellion, while the Union enacted a naval blockade of southern