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Civil War

War between the United States of America and the Confederate States of America from April 12, 1861 to April 9, 1865.

Abraham Lincoln won the Presidential election of 1860, opposing slavery, upon which the southern United States' economy depended, and was threatening to spread into the ever-expanding western United States territories.

On March 11, 1861, delegates of seven seceded southern states —  South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas — adopted a permanent constitution, forming the Confederate States of America.

After the first hostilities and the Confederate victory at Fort Sumter, four more southern states — Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee and North Carolina — joined the Confederacy.

Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, calling for the abolishment of slavery to be a goal of ending the war. The Union Army was ultimately able to divide and destroy the Confederate infrastructure. The result was the collapse of the Confederate Army and its surrender to Union forces at the Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865.

Escape to Tampico: Steve Corbett was well-paid by the Confederacy to run the Union Blockade.[1] He was shot with three Yankee bullets during the Union Army's capture of New Orleans in 1862.[2]

Trail West to Fury: In 1862, Bret and Bart Maverick enlisted in the Confederate Army to fight in the Civil War, but were captured by the Union Army in 1865. To keep from rotting in a Yankee prison, the joined the Union Army as Galvanized Yankees and serve the next two years fighting Indians out west.[3]

Point Blank: In 1871,[2] Bret Maverick was jailed for playing the belt game on a local bully in Bent Forks,[4] Nebraska.[2] Sheriff Wes Corwin expressed his disdain for Bret, telling him "You must have a pretty low opinion of this town. The belt game went out with the Civil War."[4]