ootnote.com now has the largest Civil War collection on the internet. Take a look at the war through the eyes of those living at the time and your experience will be enriched. With Footnote history really does come alive! The American Civil War began on April 12,1861. President Abraham Lincoln witnessed the Union victory and the Confederate defeat. Before his death Mr. Lincoln knew that America would not be divided and through the Emancipation Proclamation the end of slavery finally became a reality. Shot by an assassins bullet Lincoln would die before the reconstruction of the Confederate States began. This was the worst war in America's short history. Father against son, brother against brother, the battles raged on but the country would not be broken!