The election of Abraham Lincoln to the White house ended the balance of power between slave and free states. By February 1861, seven states had seceded from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America. Four more would follow. Federal military bases were seized in these areas, but for a time there was no bloodshed. Then Lincoln attempted to re-supply Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina, still occupied by the Union. The Confederate Cabinet decided to attack the fort and force its surrender before it could be re-supplied, and on April 12th, 1861, they began their bombardment. Thus began the American Civil War, the defining moral struggle of our nation. Almost three million men were called to serve, nearly ten percent of the population. Men became heroes and conquerors on both sides. Despite their smaller forces, Confederate Generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson won massive victories at Bull Run, Fredericksburg, and many other battlefields. Union Generals, with the exception of Ulysses S. Grant and later William Sherman, proved to be incompetent. Five different generals were appointed and replaced in under a year; Lincoln even commanded the army himself for a time. Had history stayed this course, the America that we know and love today might be very different.