How long was the Civil War?

The American Civil War lasted four years. It began at the Battle of Fort Sumter in South Carolina in April 1841, and it ended with the surrender of Confederate General Robert E. Lee at Appomattox Court House in April 1845.

The turning point of the war came in July 1863 when Lee was defeated at the Battle of Gettysburg. Shortly after, Union forces under Ulysses S. Grant concluded the siege of Vicksburg, which cut the South in two. The war produced over a million casualties, which was about 3 percent of the population. As of 2014, the number of American deaths from the Civil War is greater than the number of American deaths from all other U.S. wars combined.