The US Civil War was a horrible, brutal war. Men raised their weapons against their countrymen, and they slaughtered one another in one of the most violent and devastating conflicts in US history. By the end, 625,000 people had died—more American casualties than World War I and World War II combined.
Nobody imagined that it would be so devastating. When the war began, many thought it would be over in the blink of an eye. Some treated it like a game or a spectator sport. There are some little-known stories that show what people thought this war was going to be, and how the dark truth of what was really happening set in.
