The American Civil War has been known by numerous alternative names that reflect the historical, political, and cultural sensitivities of different groups and regions. Unlike most other civil wars, the conflict was not fought over control of a single government, but rather was fought to defeat a secession movement. The combatants, armies, and battles of the war also had distinctive names used at the time and historically.
The War
The following names have been, or are, used to describe the conflict itself, listed roughly by frequency of use:
- American Civil War: A common and neutral term for this conflict, it has been used by the overwhelming majority of popular historians and journalists since the early Twentieth Century. The National Park Service, the government organization entrusted by the U.S. Congress to preserve the battlefields of the war, uses this term.
- War Between the States: The usage of this term, as preferred by some reenactment and Southern heritage groups to this day, is based upon a Congressional resolution of the 1920's declaring this the proper designation for the war, in deference to those who asserted that the generic category of "civil war" did not apply to the events of 1861–65 in the United States. The Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington National Cemetery uses this term. Since the war was in fact contested between states of the North and states of the South, some have suggested that this may be the most neutral term, but it is rarely heard outside of the South in modern times.
- War of Southern Independence: Southern partisans believe that the war was fundamentally an effort by the South to gain independence. Some Southern heritage groups, such as the League of the South and the Sons of Confederate Veterans, assert that this is the most accurate and neutral term, since in their view, the war ended the independence of the Confederacy. An alternative term in this vein is Second War of Independence. (During the war, many Southerners used the memory of George Washington, a Virginian, as their model).
- War of Northern Aggression: This term emphasizes claims by southern partisans that the North invaded the South. An alternative is War Against Southern Independence.
Other terms for the war have seen much less frequent usage, particularly in modern times. In the South: War in Defense of Virginia, Mr. Lincoln's War, and War of Secession. In the North: War of the Insurrection, War to Save the Union, and War for Abolition.
Immediately after the war, the following expressions were common: The War and The Late Unpleasantness.
Combatants
U.S. forces were popularly referred to as "the Union," "the North," or "Yankees"; their Confederate counterparts were commonly referred to as "the Confederacy," "the South," "Rebels," or "Dixie." Soldiers who fought for the North were referred to as "Billy Yanks"; those who fought for the South were called "Johnny Rebs."
Battles and armies
In addition to differences in naming the war between North and South, there is a curious disparity between the sides in naming some of the battles of the war. In the North, battles were frequently named for rivers or creeks that were prominent on or near the battlefield; in the South, the nearest town was used. Not all of the disparities are based on this land versus water conflict. Some examples of well-known battles that have two common names:
Most modern accounts of Civil War battles use the names established by the victorious North. The National Park Service frequently uses the southern names for their battlefield parks, presumably because the town names are more frequently found on maps accessible to tourists than river names are.
Civil War armies were also named in a manner reminiscent of the battlefields: Northern armies were frequently named for major rivers (Army of the Potomac, Army of the Tennessee, Army of the Mississippi, etc.), Southern armies for states or geographic regions (Army of Northern Virginia, Army of Tennessee, Army of Mississippi ).
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