The War of Northern Agression was a controversial war with brother fighting against brother, North fighting against South, United States of America fighting against Confederate States of America. It was a war that destroyed much of the South and lost the U.S. 5% of its population. It was a war that didn't need to be fought. The Confederacy broke away from the Union because its beliefs did not match. The Union thought their separation was "unconstitional" and they needed their thriving economy. The South relied on slavery as a work force. Over 40% of the Southern population was black, and worth some $2 billion to the Southern economy.(3) Southern cotton, which made up 57% of the exports from the United States, was the basis of the entire Southern lifestyle and the picking of that cotton was done by slaves.(4)

The Union overwhelmed the Confederacy with two of its surpluses: supplies and men. General William T. Sherman of the Union marched 60,000 men from Chattanooga to Atlanta to Savannah to Richmond, destroying everything in his path. The amount of unnecessary damage they did and the fact that they waged the war on civilians remains one of the more controversial topics of the Civil War. General Sherman broke the generally accepted "Rules of War" by fighting unarmed citizens and destroying much of Georgia's lush countryside and historic areas.