Confederate States of America |Confederate States of America|
|February 4, 1861- May 10, 1865 |Flag||Coat of Arms|
|Area||770,425 sq mi| The Confederate States of America
(informally, the Confederacy) was a government created from an
alliance of eleven southern states which had seceded from the
United States between December 1860 and April 1861. The American
Civil War that was begun by the Confederate shelling of Fort
Sumter proved disastrous; four years of savage fighting ended
with the fledgling government defeated and dissolved, and left
the southern states a financial and industrial wreck. The main
reason for secession was to preserve slavery--but all the slaves
were emancipated with no compensation to the owners. After the
war, the states were later readmitted during Reconstruction. For
the social, political, economic and diplomatic history see
American Civil War homefront Seven southern states seceded from
the United States of America over the winter of 1860-61 and
joined together as the "Confederate St