American Civil War course of four years. Intense combat left 620,000 to 750,000 people dead, more than the number of U.S. military deaths in all other wars combined. The war ended when General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant at the Battle of Appomattox Court House. Confederate generals throughout the southern states followed suit. Much of the South's infrastructure was destroyed, especially the transportation systems. The Confederacy collapsed, slavery was abolished, and four million black slaves were freed. During the Reconstruction Era that followed the war, national unity was slowly restored, the national government expanded its power, and civil rights
Pennsylvania in the American Civil War Civil War battle flags The State Museum of Pennsylvania houses an extensive general collection of Civil War artifacts, as well as Peter Rothermel's massive painting of the Battle of Gettysburg. The National Civil War Museum in Harrisburg is one of the country's leading interpretive sites for the Civil War, and the Visitors Center at the Gettysburg Battlefield holds thousands of artifacts, including the largest collection of vintage Civil War weapons in Pennsylvania. Other Civil War-related museums are scattered throughout the state, as well as county archives and hundreds of memorials / monuments / historical markers. An impressive state-sponsored monument in