Is there an "official name" for the Civil War?

The government used the name The War of the Rebellion in its reports. If there is an official name, that’d be it.

I have to go with "The War of the Rebellion" as the 'official' name. This appears to be the name the U.S. government used for it.

But that phrase isn't really accurate enough either, is it? Unless we call it 'The War of the Rebellion II' because we already had one of those. Any country that has or will have a 'civil war' (by whatever definition you would like to use) has or will have a 'War of the Rebellion'
1087

Cheers,
USS ALASKA
 
[QUOTE="major bill, post: 1892695, member: 7251" What if we had a second Civil War, would the original Civil War become "The First Civil War" or perhaps "Civil War One"?[/QUOTE]

Let us hope that we are never faced with this *dilemma*.
 
I am not sure there even is an 'official' name. I have to go with "The War of the Rebellion" as the 'official' name. This appears to be the name the U.S. government used for it.

So what law is on the books that allows any government agency to officially name a war? Most wars have a couple of names, but I am not sure they would be considered official names. What if we had a second Civil War, would the original Civil War become "The First Civil War" or perhaps "Civil War One"?
I agree. I tend to think there was no 'official' name, rather an officially recognized name as used by the government.
 
Perhaps reading through the posts on the thread will help in regards to what was recognized as the official name. The government used the name The War of the Rebellion in its reports. If there is an official name, that’d be it.
Thirty plus years at cw study I can form my own opinion. The name American Civil War, like it's history, changes over time. Officially.
 
But that phrase isn't really accurate enough either, is it? Unless we call it 'The War of the Rebellion II' because we already had one of those. Any country that has or will have a 'civil war' (by whatever definition you would like to use) has or will have a 'War of the Rebellion'
1087

Cheers,
USS ALASKA

I’m assuming that you are referring to the Revolution as WotR 1. As I’ve understood these terms, if an insurrection or rebellion is successful in its aims, it is a revolution. If it fails, it remains an insurrection or rebellion. Had the Confederacy achieved independence it would be correct to call the war a revolution. Hence, the rebellion of the colonies against the crown became the Revolution. Had the colonies failed, we’d have “ The Colonial Rebellion of 1774” or something to that effect.

There is the Irish Rebellion of 1641, the Irish Rebellion of 1798, the Irish Rebellion of 1848, the Irish Rebellion of 1916. There is only one Irish Revolution, where they achieved independence.
 
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That's a commonly used distinction, but I don't think it's always accurate.

Not all Revolutions are successful. I'm actually more knowledgeable of Russian history than American Civil War history. In Russia, there's the December Revolution, which didn't end well for the participants.

I don't consider the Civil War a revolution simply because I don't think the Confederates were revolutionary. They weren't trying to create a new society, which to my mind is a necessity for a revolution. They were instead trying to preserve an old one.

Hope I linked this correctly but I went into more depth here on why the Civil War was not a revolution, especially when compared with the October Revolution and the French Revolution:

https://civilwartalk.com/threads/co...-the-war-if-so-how.147868/page-3#post-1852591
 
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Everyone else around the world seems to know it as the ‘American Civil War’, nice and simple and we all know to which war it’s refering to. If I was you guys I’d stick with civil war, war between the states, well there’s been a few of those, war of the rebellion, which rebellion and where. War of Northern aggression, nah, the Scots in the north attacked the English a few times, northern aggression could be anywhere in the world, keep it simple please chaps.:wink:
 
Everyone else around the world seems to know it as the ‘American Civil War’, nice and simple and we all know to which war it’s refering to. If I was you guys I’d stick with civil war, war between the states, well there’s been a few of those, war of the rebellion, which rebellion and where. War of Northern aggression, nah, the Scots in the north attacked the English a few times, northern aggression could be anywhere in the world, keep it simple please chaps.:wink:
Cheese dude so I can take your picture!
btw I agree. In case my stupidity eclipses me.
 
Hi Skip and welcome to cwt. This will teach you for asking questions on here! :D

I believe the answer to your question is "no", there is no official name. A few members have determined that since the War Department's "Compendium" uses the term "War of the Rebellion" that makes it official. If that were true, then our Congress using the term "Civil War" in law would be incorrect (example).

This has probably been argued from before the war ended - see Wikipedia

Like many aspects about this conflict, there is no clear answer, so you need to do your own research and find the answer you are comfortable with.

Again - welcome to cwt.
 
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