Before the Civil War the North prohibited slavery while the South did not. The North had no reason to use slaves, but in the South there were sugar and cotton plantations. So large plantation owners would buy around three to four hundred slaves to pick the cotton or cut down the sugar cane. The South would then sell most of the cotton to the British and that is why England allied with the South during the Civil War. The French allied with the North because France was the United States first ally and the French and the British disliked each other.
             When the North found out that the South wanted to start a war they thought it was a joke but the joke was over once the battle of the First Bull Run was fought. "This was the first major land battle of the armies in Virginia. On July 16, 1861, the untried Union army under Brig. Gen. Irvin McDowell marched from Washington against the Confederate army, which was drawn up behind Bull Run beyond Centreville, 1. On the 21st, McDowell crossed at Sudley Ford and attacked the Confederate left flank on Matthews Hill. Fighting raged throughout the day as Confederate forces were driven back to Henry Hill. Late in the afternoon, Confederate reinforcements (one brigade arriving by rail from the Shenandoah Valley) extended and broke the Union right flank. The Federal retreat rapidly deteriorated into a rout. Although victorious, Confederate forces were too disorganized to pursue. Confederate Gen. Bee and Col. Bartow were killed and Thomas J. Jackson earned the nom de guerre, Stonewall. By July 22, the shattered Union army reached the safety of Washington. This battle convinced the Lincoln administration that the war would be a long and costly affair. McDowell was relieved of command of the Union army and replaced by Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan, who set about reorganizing and training the troops.
             Since the battle of the First Bull Run two years elapsed before the decisive battle of Gett...