The American Civil War started on April 12, 1861, and effectively ended in April 1865, with final Confederate surrender events concluding later that month.

Quick Scoop

  • Start date: April 12, 1861, when Confederate forces fired on Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina.
  • Common “end date”: Often marked as April 9, 1865, when General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House in Virginia.
  • Formal end: Some historians extend the end to April 26, 1865, when additional Confederate forces surrendered, or to late May when the last major Confederate armies laid down arms.

So if you’re answering “when did the Civil War start and end” in a quick line, the usual classroom-friendly dates are:

April 12, 1861 – April 9, 1865 (or more formally, through late April 1865).

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