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
Canada in the American Civil War in the 4th Rhode Island Volunteers of the Union army during the American Civil War, attaining the rank of lieutenant. Canadian-born Edward P. Doherty was a Union Army officer who formed and led the detachment of Union soldiers that captured and killed John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of Lincoln, in a Virginia barn on April 26, 1865, 12 days after Lincoln was fatally shot. Canadian-born Sarah Emma Edmonds was a noted Union spy. One of the longest-living Canadians to have fought in the American Civil War was James Beach Moore, who died on August 29, 1931. Anderson Ruffin Abbott was