The Different Names for the Civil War

tmh10

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The conflict known to most of us as the Civil War has a long and checkered nomenclature. To this day some patriotic Southerners wince at the term, Civil War. These partisans usually favor The War Between the States-and some organizations of descendants of Confederate warriors use this term under their by-laws, and none other. The tide seems to stem from the two-volume work by Alexander Stephens, the Confederate Vice-President, published after the war.

Most of the names listed are of Southern origin, since they were defeated and their heirs grasped for some expression of unquenched ardor and defiance which would do justice to the Old South. These names have been seriously, not to say apoplectically, offered to the world.

In a more jocular vein the war has been known as The Late Unpleasantness, The Late Friction, The Late Ruction, The Schism, or The Uncivil War. But in the South in particular it is known simply as The War, as if the planet had not heard a shot fired in anger since '65.
Some Examples:
The War for Constitutional Liberty
The War for Southern Independence
The Second American Revolution
The War for States' Rights
Mr. Lincoln's War
The Southern Rebellion
The War for Southern Rights
The War of the Southern Planters
The War of the Rebellion
The Second War for Independence
The War to Suppress Yankee Arrogance
The Brothers' War
The War of Secession
The Great Rebellion
The War for Nationality
The War for Southern Nationality
The War Against Slavery
The Civil War Between the States
The War of the Sixties
The War Against Northern Aggression
The Yankee Invasion
The War for Separation
The War for Abolition
The War for the Union
The Confederate War
The War of the Southrons
The War for Southern Freedom
The War of the North and South
The Lost Cause
Source: Historical Times Encyclopedia of the Civil War​
 
Although it is commonly referred to as the American Civil War, or more simplistically - the Civil War, it is officially known as The War of the Rebellion.
 
I sometimes refer to it as the Southern War to Defend Slavery. Usually in response to someone calling it the War of Northern Agression. Good topic. I've wondered about this. I've read quotes from Southerners of the time and they referred to it as the Civil War. It certainly fits the dictionary definition of a civil war. The war between the states name is annoying and now neo-confeds are frowning upon that name.
 
And the beat goes on. We are all quite accustomed to call the Late Unpleasantness the US Civil War. No matter how you parse each name, it's still the Civil War. Stray from that nomenclature by calling it the War of Northern Aggression and you will likely start a pizzing contest. Nobody wants to do that. Do they? I thought we were all adults here.

Manure, by any other name still stinks.
 
And the beat goes on. We are all quite accustomed to call the Late Unpleasantness the US Civil War. No matter how you parse each name, it's still the Civil War. Stray from that nomenclature by calling it the War of Northern Aggression and you will likely start a pizzing contest. Nobody wants to do that. Do they?
Manure, by any other name still stinks.
I do. And I tote a gallon of water around with me so I can keep my bladder full. You've got to nip this stuff in the bud. The are seriously waging a PR war and I am not budging an inch.

I thought we were all adults here.
I think you know me better than that. Expired Image Removed
 
Take a listen to this slop. This man now thinks the term "War Between the States"(I don't like it either, but the constant changing to find the best fit for victim status is annoying) is bad.

I don't know who started this myth that the term "civil war" doesn't apply.
civil war


noun
a war between political factions or regions within the same country.
 
All very good, or too funny whichever applies. In old family letters, etc., just keep seeing 'The Rebellion' , love to know what similar documents tend to refer to it in the south. Hee- you just know in letters home, unless someone was really pendantic, no one was going to go to all the trouble of writing out ' The War of Northern Aggression' when referring to where they might be and why. I suppose some, just most had to be interested in saying 'Hey' to the family, not spending pencil lead on lengthy descriptions of their political view points.

Now having said that, doubtless someone will produce letters home from some pendantic and prolific soldier who did just that. :smile:
 
In the book, "The Language of the Civil War" by John D. Wright, he gives several meanings of names for the Civil War.

1. "War Against the States". The name given the Civil War by Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston."

2. "War Between the States". The traditional southern name for the Civil War, still heard today. This term empasized a war between states with equal rights, being opposed to the northern name of "War of Rebellion."

3. "War for (or of) Independence." A southern name for the Civil War, which in the South was also called the "War for Southern Independence", the" War for Southern Freedom", and the "War for Southern Rights". A year after the war ended, Confederate Major General Jubal Early wrote "A Memoir of the Last Year of the War for Independence in the C.S.A." (1866) and Confederate Major Heros Von Borcke penned "Memoirs of the Confederate War for Independence."

4. "War for Separation." A descriptive early southern name for the Civil War."

5. "War for Southern Nationality or War for Nationality." Early southern names for the Civil War, first heard in 1861."

6. "War of 1861." An optimistic name for the Civil War during the first year for many people felt it could never last longer. The name was engraved on some "Identity Discs" worn by soldiers. A similar name was "War of the Sixities"."

7."War of the Rebellion". The official name used by the U.S. Congress for the Civil War while it was happening and until the end of the nineteenth century, when it was printed on the U.S. government publication, "Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies". The name was commonly used in the North, along with "the Great Rebellion". "

from: "The Language of the Civil War" by John D. Wright, pages 319-320.
 
I sometimes refer to it as the Southern War to Defend Slavery. Usually in response to someone calling it the War of Northern Agression. Good topic. I've wondered about this. I've read quotes from Southerners of the time and they referred to it as the Civil War. It certainly fits the dictionary definition of a civil war. The war between the states name is annoying and now neo-confeds are frowning upon that name.

Civil War is misleading in that it implies the Confederates wanted control of the government in Washington, DC the Confederates didn’t, they wanted control of the government in Richmond, Virginia.

As for Neo-Confederates frowning on the name War Between the States, they don’t, it’s that they prefer the War for Southern Independence or sometimes the War against Southern independence.

“A merely fallen enemy may rise again, but the reconciled one is truly vanquished.”
Johan Christoph Schiller
 
Civil War is misleading in that it implies the Confederates wanted control of the government in Washington, DC the Confederates didn’t, they wanted control of the government in Richmond, Virginia.

As for Neo-Confederates frowning on the name War Between the States, they don’t, it’s that they prefer the War for Southern Independence or sometimes the War against Southern independence.

“A merely fallen enemy may rise again, but the reconciled one is truly vanquished.”
Johan Christoph Schiller
It does not imply that. It states clearly what it was. Neo Confederates used to call it the War Between the States. That didn't elicit enough sympathy and they've move on now to test another name.
 
I agree*. "Civil war" or for that matter "Revolution" usually means a power struggle within a nation for control of that nation, e.g. English Civil War, French or Russian Revolution. Both sides in such wars are usually determined to keep the nation together.

For better or worse "Civil War" and "American Revolution" are the accepted usages, but the ideal would be "war for independence" or if successful "war of independence".

* with CSA Today; thought mine would be the immediate next post.
 
"War Between the States" doesn't help clarify what the war was about; states could be fighting over anything. It sounds more like a disagreement between states within a nation. Nor does "States" really describe either of the combatants. The Union was fighting specifically as, well, a Union, a single entity, rather than a collection of states. One could argue that the southern states seceded as individuals, but they formed and fought as a nation; this remains essentially true despite the states' rights issues which complicated their war effort.
 
All very good, or too funny whichever applies. In old family letters, etc., just keep seeing 'The Rebellion' , love to know what similar documents tend to refer to it in the south. Hee- you just know in letters home, unless someone was really pendantic, no one was going to go to all the trouble of writing out ' The War of Northern Aggression' when referring to where they might be and why. I suppose some, just most had to be interested in saying 'Hey' to the family, not spending pencil lead on lengthy descriptions of their political view points.

Now having said that, doubtless someone will produce letters home from some pendantic and prolific soldier who did just that. :smile:
Most of the letters I have read to or from the ANV have either referred to " the war" which if memory serves was probably the most common or "Mr. Lincoln's war".
 
"War Between the States" doesn't help clarify what the war was about; states could be fighting over anything. It sounds more like a disagreement between states within a nation. Nor does "States" really describe either of the combatants. The Union was fighting specifically as, well, a Union, a single entity, rather than a collection of states. One could argue that the southern states seceded as individuals, but they formed and fought as a nation; this remains essentially true despite the states' rights issues which complicated their war effort.

I'm not sure how you could say individuals seceded, as technically I don't think that is even possible. Right or wrong, it was the states that seceded.
 
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