On April 12, 1861, Confederate forces fired on federal troops at Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, launching a bloody four-year conflict that threatened to forever divide the nation. U.S.News & World Report’s special collector’s edition, Secrets of the Civil War, brings you the inside story of the bitter struggle to save the Union. Historians reveal the real Abraham Lincoln behind the myths; offer fresh insights into the pivotal battles of Antietam, Gettysburg, and Vicksburg, and Sherman’s campaign across the South; and examine the complex, often conflicted personalities of Generals Lee and Grant. Celebrated Americans who lived through the war, from Clara Barton and Louisa May Alcott to Frederick Douglass and Mark Twain, poignantly capture its terrible cost in their own words. Read the riveting story of a band of Union soldiers’ dramatic escape from Libby Prison. And, for tourists’ marking the war’s sesquicentennial, there’s a guide to 12 must-see Civil War sites.
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