The civil war starts in 1861 with the confederate attack on Fort Sumter in Charleston south Carolina. At the beginning of the war both the union and the confederacy were poorly equipped with each side having advantages and disadvantages the union had advantages when it came to numbers and manufacturing capabilities however the confederacy had brilliant generals and an army that was motivated to protect their way of life . at the beginning of the civil war the south enjoyed victories at the battle of bull run and the battle of dry wood creek.in 1862 the south started putting their faith into ironclads which were the earliest modern battle ships. The confederacy suffered large losses after the battle of new orleans where where the union army led by the general butler destroyed the confederate fleet that was laying in harbor there.in 1863 things took a turn when the the confederacy started mounting offensives into the north from Virginia with the army being led by Robert E. Lee this resulted in the confederate army's defeat in all but name until 1865 when the confederate president Jefferson Davis surrendered to Abraham Lincoln in Richmond Virginia. A civil war is when when two sides of same country or ethnic group start fighting each other for either resources or power or most of the time both.civil wars are common in regions where there is a higher degree of wealth disparity with a typical structure of events being that the rich minority overtaxes the poorer majority causing increasing poverty and social problems.