Page "American Civil War" Paragraph 2

Hostilities began on April 12, 1861, when Confederate forces fired on a U. S. military installation at Fort Sumter in South Carolina.

Lincoln responded by calling for a volunteer army from each state to recapture federal property, which led to declarations of secession by four more slave states.

Both sides raised armies as the Union seized control of the border states early in the war and established a naval blockade.

Land warfare in the East was inconclusive in 1861 – 62, as the Confederacy beat back Union efforts to capture its capital, Richmond, Virginia, notably during the Peninsular Campaign.

In September 1862, the Confederate campaign in Maryland ended in defeat at the Battle of Antietam, which dissuaded the British from intervening.

Days after that battle, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which made ending slavery a war goal.