Thread: Forbidden  Affiars ( Marie Massacre & CrimsonMaster )

The American Civil War, also less commonly known as the War Between the States, was a civil war in the United States of America. Eleven Southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America, also known as the Confederacy. Led by Jefferson Davis, the Confederacy fought for its independence from the United States. The U.S. federal government was supported by twenty mostly-Northern free states in which slavery already had been abolished, and by five slave states that became known as the border states. These twenty-five states, referred to as the Union, had a much larger base of population and industry than the South. After four years of bloody, devastating warfare mostly within the Southern states, the Confederacy surrendered and slavery was outlawed everywhere in the nation. The restoration of the Union, and the Reconstruction Era that followed, dealt with issues that remained unresolved for generations. In the presidential election of 1860, the Republican Party, led by Abraham Lincoln, had campaigned against the expansion of slavery beyond the states in which it already existed. The Republicans were strong advocates of nationalism and in their 1860 platform explicitly denounced threats of disunion as avowals of treason. After a Republican victory, but before the new administration took office on March 4, 1861, seven cotton states declared their secession and joined together to form the Confederate States of America. Both the outgoing administration of President James Buchanan and the incoming administration rejected the legality of secession, considering it rebellion. The other eight slave states rejected calls for secession at this point. No country in the world recognized the Confederacy. 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 volunteer army from each state to recapture federal property. This 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 that virtually ended cotton sales on which the South depended for its wealth, and blocked most imports. Land warfare in the East was inconclusive in 186162, as the Confederacy beat back Union efforts to capture its capital, Richmond, Virginia. In September 1862, Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation made ending slavery in the South a war goal, and dissuaded the British from intervening. Confederate commander Robert E. Lee won battles in Virginia, but in 1863 his northward advance was turned back with heavy casualties after the Battle of Gettysburg. To the west, the Union gained control of the Mississippi River after their capture of Vicksburg, Mississippi, thereby splitting the Confederacy in two. Thomas Harper left West Point as a 2nd Lieutenant, he joined the 4th United States cavalry and was assigned to company C at the start of the war in 1861. His father is a wealthy business man in his hometown of Boston, he joined the military academy at west point at the age of 18 in the year 1854. Thomas is the oldest of 3 children, he has a sister Rachel who is 18 and a brother Daniel who is 14, his mother Martha, father Joseph and the family still live in Boston. Thomas had a girl who he was going to marry, but she died of scarlet fever in 1862. Thomas was promoted to 1st Lieutenant in 1862 and after the battle of Gettysburg in 1863 he was promoted to Captain of company C in the 4th United States Cavalry. The 4th US Cavalry was transferred from the Army of the Potomac to the Army of the Cumberland in late 1863 just before the Battles for Chattanooga. During these battles the Colonel of the 4th US Cavalry and his second in command were killed leaving Thomas in command of the entire Cavalry unit. Although Thomas was only 27 years old he was promoted to the rank of Colonel in December of 1863 taking full command of the 4th US Cavalry which continued to head south then moved into Georgia. It's now late spring in the month of May 1864, 3 Union Armies the Cumberland, Ohio Tennessee under the command of Major General Sherman were getting ready to start their Atlanta Campaign but the Confederates were hoping to stop Sherman before he could cut acrossed Georgia cutting the state in two.