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The Civil War 150 is an immersive online experience, featuring infographics, historian picks and topical information, that highlights the 150 people, places, events and technology that defined America's greatest conflict. The interactive commemorates the Civil War's 150th Anniversary, and utilizes six thematic infographics to create an even more engaging "who knew?" experience:
Five Deadliest Battles – Nearly a quarter of a million men were killed or wounded during the five bloodiest clashes of the Civil War. Find out what happened at Gettysburg, Chickamauga, Chancellorsville, Spotsylvania Court House and the Wilderness.
Who They Were – Some wore blue and some wore gray, but the 3 million soldiers who fought in the Civil War had more in common than you might expect.
West Point Warriors – Almost 900 West Point alums served in the Civil War—in fact, they faced off against each other in 55 of the war's 60 major battles.
Paying for the War – Costing $146 billion in today's money, the Civil War saw rampant inflation—9000% in the South by the end of the war—and the first U.S. income tax.
Weapons of War – The Napoleon field gun, the minie ball, the Spencer repeating rifle, the telegraph and the railroad all helped to turn the tide of battle and changed the face of warfare forever.
How They Died – One in four soldiers—620,000 people—died as a result of the Civil War. That's 2 percent of the population—6.14 million people in today's terms.

Civil War 150

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Interactives (1)

Videos (21)

  • Confederate vs. Union Soldiers
    Confederate vs. Union Soldiers

    Video Clip (2:39)

    Find out what divided the men of the Civil War, and how in many ways they were more alike than different.

    Video Clip (2:39)
  • Grant or Lee?
    Grant or Lee?

    Video Clip (2:19)

    Which of the admired Civil War generals would you want to lead your country?

    Video Clip (2:19)
  • The Last of the Sioux
    The Last of the Sioux

    Video Clip (3:48)

    Resistant to government regulated reservations, the Sioux retreated into the Black Hills until a final massacre at Wounded Knee.

    Video Clip (3:48)
  • Civil War in One Word
    Civil War in One Word

    Video Clip (1:13)

    If you had just one word to describe the Civil War, what would it be?

    Video Clip (1:13)
  • America and the Civil War
    America and the Civil War

    Video Clip (4:04)

    Discover how the bloodiest war in American history transformed the face of the nation.

    Video Clip (4:04)
  • Civil War Tech
    Civil War Tech

    Video Clip (2:17)

    The Civil War saw the rise of major technological advances in warfare.

    Video Clip (2:17)
  • American Buffalo
    American Buffalo

    Video Clip (2:52)

    The construction of the railroad led to the near-extinction of the buffalo, which had sustained native populations for centuries.

    Video Clip (2:52)
  • Abraham Lincoln
    Abraham Lincoln

    Video Clip (3:48)

    Today he is known as one of the greatest American presidents, but at the time of his election no one would have predicted Lincoln's success.

    Video Clip (3:48)
  • The Buffalo and Native Americans
    The Buffalo and Native Americans

    Video Clip (1:52)

    The buffalo was an essential part of Native American life, used in everything from religious rituals to teepee construction.

    Video Clip (1:52)
  • Sitting Bull
    Sitting Bull

    Video Clip (2:54)

    The tragic, yet true tale of Sitting Bull, the leader of the Hunkpapa Lakota Sioux tribe who led his people's resistance against the United States, sung by musician and artist Jeffrey Lewis.

    Video Clip (2:54)
  • Civil War Turning Point
    Civil War Turning Point

    Video Clip (3:08)

    Find out what event turned the tide of the Civil War.

    Video Clip (3:08)
  • Legacy of the Civil War
    Legacy of the Civil War

    Video Clip (1:22)

    One hundred and fifty years after it began, the Civil War is still an important component of our national character.

    Video Clip (1:22)
  • Civil War's Greatest Myth
    Civil War's Greatest Myth

    Video Clip (2:41)

    What you think you know about the Civil War may not be the whole truth.

    Video Clip (2:41)
  • President Grant's Road to Success
    President Grant's Road to Success

    Video Clip (2:35)

    Ulysses S. Grant overcomes a lifetime of failures to lead the Union Army to victory in the Civil War.

    Video Clip (2:35)
  • Surrender at Appomattox
    Surrender at Appomattox

    Video Clip (2:38)

    Cut off from supply lines, General Robert E. Lee surrenders to General Ulysses S. Grant in April, 1865 after four long years of Civil War.

    Video Clip (2:38)
  • The Failure of Reconstruction
    The Failure of Reconstruction

    Video Clip (2:35)

    Reconstruction turns the south into a different type of battleground. Constitutional amendments grant freedom and suffrage to African-Americans but equality remains elusive.

    Video Clip (2:35)
  • Ulysses S. Grant's Presidency
    Ulysses S. Grant's Presidency

    Video Clip (2:31)

    General Ulysses S. Grant parlayed his celebrity after the Civil War into a successful bid for the presidency.

    Video Clip (2:31)
  • President Grant and an America Divided
    President Grant and an America Divided

    Video Clip (3:37)

    As president, Ulysses S. Grant must confront a nation still divided by the issues of the Civil War and Reconstruction.

    Video Clip (3:37)
  • Grant's Troubled Presidency
    Grant's Troubled Presidency

    Video Clip (3:37)

    Grant's presidency was marred by political scandal, clashes with Native Americans and continued violence throughout the Reconstruction South.

    Video Clip (3:37)
  • Last Stand of the Confederacy
    Last Stand of the Confederacy

    Video Clip (3:21)

    In march of 1865, Confederate forces made a valiant last stand against General Sherman's advancing troops, but were undone by the most unlikely of errors

    Video Clip (3:21)
  • After the Emancipation
    After the Emancipation

    Video Clip (3:30)

    Four million slaves were formally freed when the Emancipation Proclamation took effect on January 1, 1863, but with the Civil War still raging, their future was far from certain.

    Video Clip (3:30)

Photo Galleries (5)

  • Civil War: Union Military Leaders
    Civil War: Union Military Leaders

    13 Photos

    View images of Union leaders from the Civil War, like Abraham Linoln and Ulysses S. Grant, and learn more about the roles they played in this bloody engagment.

    (13 Photos)
  • Faces of the Civil War
    Faces of the Civil War

    28 Photos

    The Library of Congress recently acquired a rare collection of nearly 700 Civil War-era ambrotype and tintype photographs, donated by the Liljenquist family.

    (28 Photos)
  • Civil War: Artifacts
    Civil War: Artifacts

    9 Photos

    Explore Civil War artifacts, from medical kits and personal hygiene items, to carbines and currency.

    (9 Photos)
  • Native American Tribes and Cultures
    Native American Tribes and Cultures

    13 Photos

    Native American cultures in the United States include socially and geographically diverse groups.

    (13 Photos)
  • Native American Warriors and Battles
    Native American Warriors and Battles

    13 Photos

    Discover the history of conflict between colonial and American governments and the Native American population of the United States.

    (13 Photos)

Speeches & Audio (10)

  • Schwarzkopf on Liberation of Kuwait
    Schwarzkopf on Liberation of Kuwait

    Audio Clip (0:58)

    Once President George H.W. Bush declares that "Kuwait is liberated" and Iraq's army defeated, Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf holds a press conference on February 27, 1991, and expresses his admiration for the U.S. troops.

    Audio Clip (0:58)
  • Allies Liberate Bastogne
    Allies Liberate Bastogne

    Audio Clip (1:27)

    In a broadcast on December 29, 1944, Gen. Anthony C. McAuliffe recounts the 101st Airborne’s victory against overwhelming odds at Bastogne, Belgium.

    Audio Clip (1:27)
  • War Report on B-29 Use
    War Report on B-29 Use

    Audio Clip (2:36)

    Brig. Gen. H.S. Hansell delivers a report in June 1944 on American B-29 bomber strikes against Germany and Japan.

    Audio Clip (2:36)
  • General Patton's Homecoming
    General Patton's Homecoming

    Audio Clip (0:35)

    On June 9, 1945, Los Angeles honored Gen. George S. Patton with a homecoming parade upon his return from Europe after Germany’s surrender. In an address at the City Hall ceremonies, Gen. Patton, in his trademark colorful language, describes the destruction wrought by the Eighth Air Force and Third Army.

    Audio Clip (0:35)
  • North Vietnam Disregards Ceasefire Agreement
    North Vietnam Disregards Ceasefire Agreement

    Audio Clip (4:44)

    In an October 12, 1973, interview, Col. Le Gran, U.S. deputy director of intelligence, discusses the discovery that North Vietnam installed SA-2 missiles in the southern city of Khe Sanh shortly after a ceasefire agreement prohibiting military incursion in South Vietnam was signed on January 27 of that year.

    Audio Clip (4:44)
  • Franklin D. Roosevelt on American Progress in World War II
    Franklin D. Roosevelt on American Progress in World War II

    Audio Clip (1:00)

    With the United States now entered into World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt uses the occasion of Washington’s birthday to broadcast to the nation on February 23, 1942, an outline of America’s progress in the war.

    Audio Clip (1:00)
  • Franklin D. Roosevelt's 1941 Labor Day Speech
    Franklin D. Roosevelt's 1941 Labor Day Speech

    Audio Clip (1:37)

    In his Labor Day radio broadcast in 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt reminds his fellow citizens of the need to devote America’s industrial effort to building weaponry in order to "crush Hitler and his Nazi forces."

    Audio Clip (1:37)
  • Franklin D. Roosevelt Delivers D-Day Prayer
    Franklin D. Roosevelt Delivers D-Day Prayer

    Audio Clip (3:37)

    In a national radio broadcast on June 6, 1944, as 160,000 Allied troops land in Normandy in an attempt to liberate France, President Franklin D. Roosevelt asks America to join him in a prayer.

    Audio Clip (3:37)
  • John F. Kennedy on Coup in South Vietnam
    John F. Kennedy on Coup in South Vietnam

    Audio Clip (6:06)

    On October 29, 1963, President John F. Kennedy meets with the National Security Council to discuss whether to support the overthrow of South Vietnam's President Ngo Dinh Diem. During the secretly recorded conversation, Secretary of State Dean Rusk and the president craft a detailed plan involving Henry Cabot Lodge, ambassador to South Vietnam, Gen. Paul D. Harkins and the general of the South Vietnamese military, hoping to avoid setting off a civil war in the country.

    Audio Clip (6:06)
  • Douglas MacArthur Receives the Japanese Surrender
    Douglas MacArthur Receives the Japanese Surrender

    Audio Clip (1:21)

    On September 2, 1945, aboard the U.S.S. Missouri in Tokyo Bay, World War II comes to a close when Japanese officials sign the unconditional surrender. Gen. Douglas MacArthur presides over the signing and delivers a short speech on the momentous occasion.

    Audio Clip (1:21)

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Philip Sheridan was an aggressive Union general during the American Civil War and defeated Confederate General Robert E. Lee at the important Battle of Five Forks in April 1865.

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