From 1861-1865, The United States was broken in two as the North and South fought over state rights and slavery when the South ceded from the union to form the Confederate States. Refusing to accept cessation of almost half the states, President Lincoln called on young men in the North to fight their brothers in the South to make the nation one again. When the American Civil War ended with Northern victory after 4 years of war, national casualities ranged around 600,000 dead.

As with other wars, Northern veterans of the Civil War and their relatives took pride in their participation in the struggle to maintain the nation, creating fraternities such as the Grand Army of the Republic and Sons of Union Veterans to both unite veterans and remember fallen soldiers.

Included in the virtual exhibit is artifacts, clothing, and photographs from the Civil War, books on the Civil War, and documents pertaining to burials and memorials for the deceased as well as Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War.

Non-GAR organizations in the exhibit:

Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (SV), 1881-present