Slavery during the American Civil War Slavery during the American Civil War Slavery played the central role during the American Civil War. The primary catalyst for secession was slavery, especially Southern political leaders' resistance to attempts by Northern antislavery political forces to block the expansion of slavery into the western territories. Slave life went through great changes, as the South saw Union Armies take control of broad areas of land. During and before the war, slaves played an active role in their own emancipation, and thousands of slaves escaped from bondage during the war. On January 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln announced the Emancipation Proclamation, making
Hawaii and the American Civil War detailed records. Many veterans of the Civil War are buried in Honolulu's Oʻahu Cemetery, although most of the marked graves belong to veterans from other states who later settled in Hawaii. On August 26, 2010, on the anniversary of the signing of the Hawaiian Neutrality Proclamation, a bronze plaque was erected along the memorial pathway at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu recognizing the "Hawaii Sons of the Civil War", the more than one hundred documented Hawaiians who served during the American Civil War for both the Union and the Confederacy. In 2013, Todd Ocvirk, Nanette Napoleon,