Results of the South's fight in the American Civil War The American Civil War started in 1861 over a secession of several Southern states from the Union. Being expected to last for a mere ninety days or so, the war went on until April of 1877, more than sixteen years. Slavery was a major argument of the war. Landowners in the South thrived off slaves to work on crops such as cotton and corn. However, the northern …showed first 75 words of 1917 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1917 total…also mentally destroyed the South. In Brothers in Arms, Davis writes, "No Americans had ever been defeated in a war, but now the South had. Worse, they had a proud military tradition. Now they were beaten" (127). The South lost a lot more than just the war because the South got no incentives during or after the war, they didn't know how to cope with the war, and because of the physical devastation of the South.