Names for the Civil War

Zoins

A while back I posted an article indicating there was no agreed upon, common name for the Civil War in 1952.

I've been collecting various names for the war and am still wondering when the term "Civil War" became popular and who made it so?

Here are some names I've come across. The first is from an article below while the following are all from tokens and medals.

• American War of 1861-1865
• War Between the States
• War for the Union
• War of 1861
• War of 1861'62'63

The following 1952 article "A Name for the American War of 1861-1865" by E. Merton Coulter says it was still called the "American War of 1861-1865" in 1952.

Here are some token photos:

ms70

I've heard it referred to as the War of Northern Aggression.

ms70

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of_the_American_Civil_War

BryceM

@ms70 said:
I've heard it referred to as the War of Northern Aggression.

This is the one I was going to suggest..... I wonder which side proposed it???

In reality, there’s no reason “to decide” what a war should be called. WWI wasn’t called WWI until WWII. Prior to that it was just “The Great War”. Time and history will eventually decide.

jmlanzaf

Technically, it should NOT be called a Civil War. It was not. A Civil War is a fight to control the government. This was not. The South did not want to control the United States, they wanted to secede.

This very much is the War of Northern Aggression and/or the War of Secession (also very common at one time).

Politics aside, it was called a Civil War as early as the war itself.

Nap

Many of the large battles of the Civil War are still known by two different names.

lcoopie

History seems to name the big wars.

Hydrant

Mr. Lincoln's War

The Late Unpleasantness

ricko

I predict it will never have a name that all will agree on....and by default, will remain the 'Civil War'....Cheers, RickO

JBK

"The War of Northern Aggression" or "The War For Southern Secession". Pick your side.

Smudge

The Second American Revolution.

Yorkshireman

@ms70 said:
I've heard it referred to as the War of Northern Aggression.

Yes

SaorAlba

What's so "civil" about war? I myself believe that the term Civil War is a gross misnomer, maybe Uncivil War would be more appropriate.

AUandAG

History class taught us that it was "War between the States" in the early 1950's.

dpoole

I was born in 1945. The only alternative I ever heard to the term "The Civil War" was the occasional "The War Between the States." All the others you heard ("The War of Northern Aggression," "The Late Unpleasantness," or even "The Woh-ah" etc.) even then were regional eccentric monikers, usually cited with a wink or its equivalent.

jmlanzaf

@SaorAlba said:
What's so "civil" about war? I myself believe that the term Civil War is a gross misnomer, maybe Uncivil War would be more appropriate.

Different meaning of civil:

1.
relating to ordinary citizens and their concerns, as distinct from military or ecclesiastical matters.

thefinn

The Split Union War.

NSP

I’ve always heard it called the Civil War (or American Civil War if you’re talking to non-Americans). Then again, I’m a Yankee oppressor (haha), and I’m pretty sure Southerners have different terms for it.

loro1rojo

@SaorAlba said:
What's so "civil" about war? I myself believe that the term Civil War is a gross misnomer, maybe Uncivil War would be more appropriate.

Words sometimes have more than one meaning.

Zoins

@jmlanzaf said:
Politics aside, it was called a Civil War as early as the war itself.

Are there any contemporary Civil War Tokens calling it the Civil War?

DNADave

@dpoole said:
I was born in 1945. The only alternative I ever heard to the term "The Civil War" was the occasional "The War Between the States." All the others you heard ("The War of Northern Aggression," "The Late Unpleasantness," or even "The Woh-ah" etc.) even then were regional eccentric monikers, usually cited with a wink or its equivalent.

The “Woh-ah”. Said with best southern accent you can muster up. But you have be watching gone with the wind.