"Our Union Forever"

In the North, images such as this one were used on envelopes and letters to express patriotism and support for the Union. The flag has 34 stars (and there are 34 stars in the background), representing the 34 states in 1861. The states (in order by date of statehood) were Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, South Carolina, New Hampshire, Virginia, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Vermont, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Louisiana, Indiana, Mississippi, Illinois, Alabama, Maine, Missouri, Arkansas, Michigan, Florida, Texas, Iowa, Wisconsin, California, Minnesota, Oregon, and Kansas.

At the beginning of the Civil War, the main focus of the Union was restoring the seceded Confederate states. It was not until after the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 that ending slavery became a major moral justification for the war.

The Civil War had many names, including The War Between the States, The War of Southern Independence, Mr. Lincoln's War, and outside of the U.S., the War of Secession. In the period after the war, it was known as The Late Unpleasantness. Among Northerners, it was called The War of the Rebellion or The War of Southern Rebellion, The War to Save the Union and The War for Abolition. Southerners have called it The War of Northern Aggression.

Citation - Document 30
Civil War Scrapbook, V. 3
1861
Brooklyn Public Library – Brooklyn Collection
www.brooklynpubliclibrary.org/civilwar