Great Outcome of a Strange War

Before the American Civil War broke out in 1861, both the Union and the Confederacy were certain that they would win if a war was to be waged; however, both parties were also unprepared for war, as neither initially believed that they would have to face one. This problem was worse for the Union, as many soldiers whose home was in the South defected to the Confederacy once war grew increasingly likely. Most notable among the defectors was Colonel Robert E. Lee, whom President Abraham Lincoln hoped to appoint as commanding general.

Many of the leaders of the American Civil War, including Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederacy, and Ulysses S. Grant, who led the Union to victory as commanding general, were alumni of the United States Military Academy at West Point. Thus, the war was waged between fellow West Point alumni and friends. Both the Union and the Confederacy fought bravely in one of the earliest examples of total war that cost the lives of over 600,000 soldiers (Editor’s Note: new studies suggest that the numbers can go as high as 850,000). In the end, the South returned to the Union and accepted the Emancipation Proclamation. The value of the birth of the United States is as great as its cost. Min Byung-don Former Superintendent of the Korea Military Academy | Summary by Lee Jin-kyu