Featured What do you say was the end of the Civil War?

[7th Texas Mounted Rifles]

Loaded question!

Palmetto Ranch is widely accepted as the last battle, and killed that day was John Williams, who is considered the last man to die in the ACW.

The Civil War Campaign Medal was awarded for service between 15 April 1861 - 9 April 1865. It was later extended to 20 August, 1866.

In between Palmetto Ranch and Proclamation, there were a lot of things going on.

If you count stabilization operations and political unrest, you will probably always be able to drag a war out for another decade.

Some may think the 'actual dates' don't matter - but that demeans those who fought just as hard or died after some proclamation or date on a calender. In the more modern era, tell that to someone who was wounded outside of the 'war dates' and is trying to get VA assistance, retroactive awards, etc.

To best honor those who fought for what they believe in, i don't consider a war over until that last man comes home. Every man who served, was wounded, or killed after Appomattox counts the same as those prior.

Do you guys consider us as no longer at war in Iraq & Afghanistan?

We know what Capitol Hill has said about it, but keep in mind that SSG Matt McClintock of the 19th Special Forces Group was just killed in action near Marjah, Afghanistan on January 5th.

That war has been 'over' since December 2014.

 

[cash]

With all due respect I will stick with my original point. For all practical purposes once Lee and Johnston surrendered the Confederacy died with it. Their simply would not be an independent slave republic on the North American continent. Yes the Union commander at the Palamito Ranch caused an unnecessary very minor battle. Yes their was post Civil War violence and I have a thread on it. Yes Brigader General Stan Waite surrendered last but a few hundred Indians does not a national security threat make.
Leftyhunter

So then why did the United States continue to exercise its war powers well after those surrenders?

 

[RebelHeart]

It seems like there is some difference in opinion between what constitutes 'war' and what are just isolated acts of resistance. I think that once the government of the Confederacy fell, the war itself was over. Anything after that was simply denial and resistance.

 

[leftyhunter]

So then why did the United States continue to exercise its war powers well after those surrenders?

I never said all was peaceful after the Civil War. Far from it. On the other hand the Confederacy was dead. Has you know while it was clear to all that after Lee and Johnston surrendered the Confederacy was dead the Federal government failed to protect Southern blacks and white Unionists.
Leftyhunter
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[cash]

I never said all was peaceful after the Civil War. Far from it. On the other hand the Confederacy was dead. Has you know while it was clear to all that after Lee and Johnston surrendered the Confederacy was dead the Federal government failed to protect Southern blacks and white Unionists.
Leftyhunter
.

The government can only exercise war powers when there's a war. How is it they were still exercising war powers when there wasn't a war?

 

[leftyhunter]

Loaded question!

Palmetto Ranch is widely accepted as the last battle, and killed that day was John Williams, who is considered the last man to die in the ACW.

The Civil War Campaign Medal was awarded for service between 15 April 1861 - 9 April 1865. It was later extended to 20 August, 1866.

In between Palmetto Ranch and Proclamation, there were a lot of things going on.

If you count stabilization operations and political unrest, you will probably always be able to drag a war out for another decade.

Some may think the 'actual dates' don't matter - but that demeans those who fought just as hard or died after some proclamation or date on a calender. In the more modern era, tell that to someone who was wounded outside of the 'war dates' and is trying to get VA assistance, retroactive awards, etc.

To best honor those who fought for what they believe in, i don't consider a war over until that last man comes home. Every man who served, was wounded, or killed after Appomattox counts the same as those prior.

Do you guys consider us as no longer at war in Iraq & Afghanistan?

We know what Capitol Hill has said about it, but keep in mind that SSG Matt McClintock of the 19th Special Forces Group was just killed in action near Marjah, Afghanistan on January 5th.

That war has been 'over' since December 2014.

It's a bit to complex to compare modern Iraq and Afghanistan to our Civil War although Iraq and Afghanistan are currently in a civil war.
My argument is simply that the Civil War was a conflict caused by slave owners who fought to carve out a large section of the United States and form an internationally recognized independent slave republic. Once Lee and Johnston surrendered that dream died. Has my thread on post Civil War violence shows the aftermath of the Civil War was messy. Yet the post war fighting was not to restore the Confederacy but to reimpose racist Democratic party rule.
Leftyhunter

 

[FarawayFriend]

I'm late to this thread and admit that I have only read through the first four pages, but as the thread is still going on, I'd like to throw my hat in also.
There is a difference between the end of hostilities, which was achieved when all armies had surrendered, and a formal end of the war. And as there was no formal peace treaty (which had meant that the Confederates states had achieved a belated recognition as separate states, which should be avoided) the war ended with the declaration of August 1866 which @cash has quoted right in the begininng of this thread. In my eyes, there can be no doubt about when the war had ended officially.

 

[83pa]

It was over the day General Lee surrendered. The dream had died and the noble cause uncompleted. Lee was the leader of the Army of Northern Virgina, and could not surrender units out of his control. However being the senior commander in the CSA he set the condition for all Southern forces to retire from the field and except parole.

 

[unionblue]

When the last American no longer aimed his rifle at a fellow American.

 

[OpnCoronet]

To me the April dates are good enough. The other date in the poll flowed directly from the Surrender of the confederate armies of Lee and Johnston

When did the last Japanese soldiers surrender ending WWII?

 

[Bruce Vail]

The South achieved final victory in the Civil War in 1883 with the United States v Stanley Supreme Court decision.

I make this assertion in a spirit of half-snark, half-sadness....

 

[Bruce Vail]

It's over?

From a military point of view, I'll take August 2, 1865, when CSS Shenandoah received confirmation from the British bark Barracouta that the war was over; she struck her battery below and ceased offensive operations. Although it was in large part due to the slow speed of communications, it was a long-standing principle that wars ended when the news of the end reached the fighting units (the classic example being the Battle of New Orleans in 1815), and up to that moment, the Shenandoah was still an active fighting unit operating under orders.

It's over? Wjy didn't anybody tell me?