The American Civil War, also known as the War between the States, the War of the Rebellion or the War for Southern Independence, began on April 12, 1861. The first shot rang out in the air at Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina. General PGT Beauregard of the Congederacy leads the attack on Charleston Harbor. The Civil War lasted until the last Confederate Army surrendered with more than 600,000 lives lost, $5 billion in property damage destroyed, and 4 million black salves liberated. The war had devastated many lives but had also ushered in a new beginning. The cause of this brutal war between a nation; slavery. The Southern states, including the 11 states that made up the Confederacy, all relied on slavery to support their economies, while we, the Northern states, resisted it. Southern states used slave labor to produce crops, especially cotton. Slavery was banned here, although few of us opposed it. Having just defeated Mexico in the Mexican War (1846-1848), the major debate on the eve of the war was whether or not we should allow slavery in those vanquished states. in the Mexican War. These states included New Mexico, part of California, and Utah. The government tried to make this dispute fair by equalizing the number of nonslave states and slave states, so that there would be no majority in the Senate. Those against slavery were concerned about expanding states winning from Mexico because they did not want to compete with slave labor. At the start of the war the Union had 19 non-slave states and the Confederacy had 15 slave states. President Lincoln called the nation “A house divided”..