During the American Civil War (1861–1865), the United States had 34 states in total at the start of the war, of which 11 seceded to form the Confederacy and the rest remained in the Union or as border states that did not officially leave.

Basic breakdown

  • Before secession, the Union consisted of 33 states; with Kansas admitted in January 1861, there were 34 states on the eve of the war.
  • Eleven Southern states seceded and formed the Confederate States of America, leaving 23 loyal Union states at the start, plus several border slave states that stayed in the Union.

Union vs. Confederacy

Here’s a simple way to picture it:

  • Total U.S. states during the Civil War era: 34.
  • Confederate states: 11 in total once secession was complete.
  • Union-aligned states (including border states): 23 at the beginning; West Virginia’s creation in 1863 effectively raised the count of Union states to 24 mid‑war.

Why the number can seem confusing

  • Some counts focus only on Union vs. Confederate states and say “23 vs. 11,” which describes sides, not the total number of states in the country.
  • Other explanations emphasize that, legally, the U.S. government never recognized secession as valid, so it still considered all 34 as states of the Union, even while 11 were in rebellion.

TL;DR: On paper the United States had 34 states during the Civil War, but politically the conflict is often described as 23 Union states versus 11 Confederate states.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.