The American Civil War lasted from 1861 to 1865 and was a civil war between the United States of America and the southern slave states of the newly formed Confederate States of America under Jefferson Davis . The Union included all the free states and the five slave-holding border states and was led by Abraham Lincoln and the Republican Party. Republicans opposed the expansion of slavery into U.S.-held territories, and their victory in the 1860 presidential election led seven Southern states to declare their secession from the Union even before Lincoln took office. The Union rejected secession, considering it a rebellion. Hostilities began on April 12, 1861, when Confederate forces attacked a U.S. military installation at Fort Sumter in South Carolina. Lincoln responded by calling for a large volunteer army, then four more Southern states declared their secession. In the first year of the war, the Union took control of the border states and established a naval blockade as both sides amassed armies and resources. In 1862, battles such as Shiloh and Antietam caused enormous casualties unprecedented in U.S. military history. In September 1862, Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation made ending slavery in the South a war goal, which complicated the Confederacy's labor shortages. In the East, Confederate commander Robert E. Lee achieved a series of victories over Union armies, but Lee's defeat at Gettysburg in early July 1863 was the turning point. Ulysses S. Grant's capture of Vicksburg and Port Hudson completed Union control of the Mississippi River. Grant fought bloody battles of attrition with Lee in 1864, forcing him to defend the Confederate capital at Richmond, Virginia. Union General William Sherman ...... center of card ...... s Plaza at Cadman Plaza and the Korea War Veterans Parkway, known as Richmond Parkway until it was renamed in April 1997 by the New York State Legislature.The Vietnam War MemorialThe Vietnam Veterans Memorial recognizes and honors the men and women who served in one of America's most controversial wars. The memorial was conceived and designed not to make any political statement about the war. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is a place where everyone, regardless of opinion, can come together and remember and honor those who served. In doing so, the memorial paved the way for reconciliation and healing, a process that continues today. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial achieves these goals through the three components that make up the memorial: the Wall of Names, the Three Servicemen Statue and Flagpole, and the Vietnam Women's Memorial.