American Civil War iceberg

American Civil War iceberg is an iceberg chart topic. On r/IcebergCharts, the highest-scoring available chart on it, "American Civil War Iceberg", was posted by u/Captain_Crustacean on 15 January 2022 and had about 156 upvotes when it was collected. A text version, "[WIP] The Ultimate American Civil War" by SomeHistoryGuy, is hosted on IcebergThreads, where it had 573 views as of 29 October 2026.

The IcebergThreads author describes it as: "The American Civil War only lasted for 4 years (1861-1865). Yet its events, stories, misconceptions, and legacy remain as complex as ever. This Iceberg serves as both an introduction to the American Civil War to newcomers, as well as those who are already knowledgeable of the subject, looking to learn something new. Links are provided for every entry. Hover over the “Person entries” to view a…"

Entries reflect the chart authors' choices and are not verified fact.

"American Civil War Iceberg" by u/Captain_Crustacean (15 January 2022)

Tiers

Tiers and entries from the IcebergThreads version. Notes after a dash are shortened from the author's explanations.

Tier 1

• The 3/5ths Compromise (1787)
• The Northwest Ordinance (1787)
• The Louisiana Purchase (1803)
• Missouri Compromise of 1820
• The Nullification Crisis (1832-1833)
• Texas War of Independence (1835-1836)
• The Mexican American War (1846-1848)
• The California Gold Rush (1849)
• The Great Compromise of 1850
• The Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854)
• The Caning of Charles Sumner (1856)
• John Brown's Raid on Harper's Ferry (1859)

Tier 2

• George Meade – "War is very uncertain in its results, and often when affairs look most desperate they suddenly assume a more hopeful state."
• "When Johnny comes Marching Home" – Patrick Gilmore (1863)
• The Attack on Fort Sumter – April 12-13, 1861
• William T Sherman – “It is only those who have neither fired a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood, more vengeance, more desolation.“
• The Secession of the Confederate States of America – Various states seceded from the Union for a variety of reasons (it was slavery)
• Jefferson Davis – President of the Confederate States of America
• P53 Enfield – Primary Musket used by Confederate Soldiers
• Shermans March to the Sea – November 15, 1864 – December 21, 1864
• Billy Yank – The "personification" of Union Soldiers
• The Surrender at Appomattox Courthouse – April 9, 1865
• Abraham Lincoln – President of the United States during the Civil War ("with malice toward none with charity for all")
• The Gettysburg Address – “Four Score and Seven Years Ago.”
• John Wilkes Booth – Confederate Sympathizer who assassinated President Lincoln
• The Railroad – The Union had an advantage of supply lines through a more extensive Railroad system
• 1861 Springfield Musket – Primary Musket used by Union Soldiers
• George B McClellan – “I didn’t lose! I merely failed to win!”
• The Battle of Gettysburg – July 1-3, 1863.
• The Battle of Shiloh – Apr 6, 1862 – Apr 7, 1862
• The Battle of Fredericksburg – Dec 11, 1862 – Dec 15, 1862
• Iron Clads – The Precursors to Modern day Warships
• Robert E Lee – “It is well that war is so terrible, or we should grow too fond of it”
• Johnny Reb – The "personification" of Confederate Soldiers
• The Siege of Vicksburg – May 18, 1863 – Jul 4, 1863
• Stonewall Jackson – “I yield to no man in sympathy for the gallant men under my command; but I am obliged to sweat them tonight, that I may save their blood tomorrow.“
• Ulysses S Grant – “No terms. Just unconditional surrender.”
• PGT Beauregard – “I prefer to live here, poor and forgotten, than to be endowed with honor and riches of a foreign country”
• "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" – Julia Ward Howe (1862)
• First Battle of Bull Run – July 21, 1861.
• The 13th Amendment – The amendment that abolished Slavery
• The Telegraph – Used for fast communication
• The Battle of Antietam – September 17, 1862
• "Dixie" – Dan Emmett (1859)
• Approximately 620,000 Soldiers died in the Civil War – The deadliest in American History
• The Vicksburg Campaign – Dec 29, 1862 – Jul 4, 1863
• Atlanta Campaign – May 7 – September 2, 1864
• Harriet Tubman – “For no man should take me alive; I should fight for my liberty as long as my strength lasted, and when the time came for me to go, the Lord would let them take me.”
• African American Soldiers in the Union Army – 179,000 proudly served
• Army of the Potomac
• Army of Northern Virginia

Tier 3

• The Battle of Chancellorsville – Apr 30, 1863 – May 6, 1863
• Spencer repeating rifle – One of the first repeating rifles to be issued to a Standard Army. Union Troops who were equipped with these rifles gave them an advantage due to the high rate of fire and metallic cartridges.
• Load in Nine Times! – Steps used to load Muskets
• Philip Sheridan – "Always make your opponent think you know more than you really know."
• Rifled Cannons – More accurate than their smoothbore counterparts
• Most Soldiers died from disease, not battle wounds – this is due to the limited uses of sanitation and close proximity in the camps.
• The 54th Massachusetts – One of the first United States regiments comprised of mostly African American soldiers
• "The Bonnie Blue Flag" – Harry McCarthy (1861)
• The Anaconda Plan – A plan proposed by General Winfield Scott, which would involve the Navy imposing a Blockade on Southern cities.
• George Armstrong Custer – "I would be willing, yes glad, to see a battle every day during my life."
• The 20th Maine Regiment – BAYOONETTS!!!!!!
• Joseph E Johnston – “I cannot direct both parts of my command at once.”
• James Longstreet – "Why do men fight who were born to be brothers?"
• The Cornerstone Speech – A speech by Alexander Stephens that essentially lays the foundation for why the Confederacy became a thing.
• Balloons – used for surveillance
• The Confederate Conscription Acts – 1862-1864
• Joshua Chamberlain – "The power of noble deeds is to be preserved and passed on to the future."
• Alexander Stephens – Vice president of the Confederacy (“All the genius I have lies in this; when I have a subject in hand, I study it profoundly.”)
• First United States Sharpshooters – One of the first regiments to make use of Sharpshooters, precursors to modern day snipers.
• The Overland Campaign – May 4, 1864 – Jun 24, 1864
• The Battle of Chickamauga – Sep 18, 1863 – Sep 20, 1863
• The Siege of Petersburg – Jun 9, 1864 – Mar 25, 1865
• Sharps rifle – A single shot, breech loading rifle used by Union Sharpshooters, with accuracy reaching ad
• Braxton Bragg – “Our course is just and we must triumph.”
• The Battle of Hampton Roads – Mar 8, 1862 – Mar 9, 1862
• The Battle of Fort Donelson – Feb 11, 1862 – Feb 16, 1862
• Ambrose Burnside – "If you persist in your purpose of secession, there will be war - a bloody and cruel war."
• "John Brown's Body"
• 1863 New York City Draft Riots – Jul 11, 1863 – Jul 16, 1863
• David Farragut – "Damn the torpedoes. Four bells, Captain Drayton, go ahead. Jouett, full speed."
• William Seward – "But I deny that the Constitution recognizes property in man"
• Joseph Hooker – "My plans are perfect, and when I start to carry them out, may God have mercy on Bobby Lee, for I shall have none."
• Nathan Bedford Forrest – "Nobody kills me and lives to tell about it."
• The capture of New Orleans – Apr 25, 1862 – May 1, 1862
• Winfield Scott Hancock – “We are serving no one man, we are serving our country.”
• JEB Stuart – "Believe that you can whip the enemy, and you have won half the battle."
• "Battle Cry of Freedom" – George Frederick Root (1862)
• "Marching through Georgia" – Henry Clay Work (1865)
• The 1864 Election – Lincoln beats McClellan
• The Penisula Campaign – March – July 1862
• Special field order no. 191 – Robert E Lee's battle plans (was discovered by a Union Soldier and given to higher command)
• The Battle of Fort Wagner – July 18, 1863
• "Confederate Dead in Front of Dunker Church" – Alexander Gardner (1862)
• M1857 12-pounder Napoleon – the primary Cannon used by both sides
• The Seven Days Battles – Jun 25, 1862 – Jul 1, 1862
• The Red Badge of Courage – Stephen Crane (1895)
• Winfield Scott – "The enemy say that the Americans are good at a long shot, but cannot stand the cold iron."
• Clara Barton – “The patriot blood of my father was warm in my veins.”
• Quantrill's Raiders – A group of pro-Confederate guerrilla fighters that ravaged Missouri and Kansas
• Second Battle of Bull Run – Aug 28, 1862 – Aug 30, 1862

Tier 4

• Richard Ewell – “The road to glory cannot be followed with much baggage.”
• Richard Kirkland – "The Angel of Marye's Heights"
• "Tenting on the Old Campground" – Walter Kittredge (1863)
• George Pickett – "That old man...had my division massacred at Gettysburg!"
• The Iron Brigade – also known as the Black Hats, these soldiers were recognized for their strong morale
• Albert Sydney Johnston – "We may be annihilated, but we cannot be conquered."
• The Chattanooga Campaign – September 21- November 25, 1863.
• Lincoln's suspension of habeas corpus – very controversial move to silent opposition.
• David Dixon Porter – “A ship without Marines is like a garment without buttons.”
• John Sedgwick – "They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance!"
• Jackson's Valley Campaign – March–June 1862
• George Henry Thomas – "but it is too late to be appreciated. I earned this at Chickamauga."
• The Henry Rifle – Another repeating rifle.
• Anesthesia – widely used in surgeries
• John Bell Hood – “In the name of God and humanity I protest!”
• "My Old Kentucky Home" – Stephen Foster (1852)
• Daniel Sickles – “Key, you scoundrel, you have dishonored my house—you must die!”
• The Battle of Glorieta Pass – Mar 26, 1862 – Mar 28, 1862
• The Irish Brigade – Faugh A Ballagh!
• The Battle of Fort Henry – February 6, 1862
• The Battle of Wilson's Creek – August 10, 1861
• The Battle of the Wilderness – May 5, 1864 – May 7, 1864
• Hardees Infantry Tactics – Training manual for soldiers that was written in 1855
• What did Soldiers eat during the War? – Foods range from meat such as beef to hard bread.
• The Battle of Nashville – Dec 15, 1864 – Dec 16, 1864
• The Battle of Franklin – November 30, 1864
• "Confederate Dead behind the Stone Wall at Marye's Height's" – Andrew J Russell (1862)
• "The Yellow Rose of Texas" – Unknown author (1850s)
• The Surrender at Bennett Place – April 11, 1865
• General order no.11 (David Hunter)
• David Hunter – "Slavery and martial law in a free country are altogether incompatible; the persons in these three States — Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina— heretofore held as slaves, are therefore declared…
• Daniel Sickles's Leg
• Why Confederate Soldiers Fought – Various reasons
• Stand Watie – "I call upon my God to judge me, he knows that I love my friends and above all others my wife and children, the, opinion of the world to contrary not with standing."
• The Battle of Cold Harbor – May 31- Jun 12, 1864
• Army of the Cumberland
• The Battle of Missionary Ridge
• The Maryland Campaign – Sep 4, 1862 – Sep 20, 1862

Tier 5

• The Battle of New Market – May 15, 1864
• The HL Hunley – First Submarine to sink an enemy ship
• The Battle of Cornith – Oct 3 - 4, 1862
• "Lorena" – Henry D. L. Webster (1856)
• German-American Army units – Similar to the Irish, Germans also served in regiments of the Union Army.
• The Battle of Mobile Bay – Aug 2 - 23, 1864
• The Massacre at Fort Pillow – April 12, 1864
• "Kingdom Coming" – Henry Clay Work (1862)
• John F Reynolds – "Forward men, forward, for God's sake, and drive those fellows out of the woods,"
• William Rosecrans – “Brave men die in battle.”
• The Trent Affair – November-December 1861
• The Andersonville Prison Camp – perhaps the most infamous Prison camp of the entire war. It is well known for it's extremely inhumane conditions.
• Jubal Early – "I don't think of myself as a lion. You might as well, though, I have a mighty roar."
• Special field order no. 15 – an effort by the Union Army to redistribute land back to the African American population in Georgia.
• William Hardee – “swear him into your service in your company as nothing else will satisfy.”
• Franz Sigel – “Out of Pure Patriotism I have taken up this service"
• The Battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse – May 8, 1864 – May 21, 1864
• Oliver Otis Howard – "The rights of the freedman, which are not yet secured to him, are the direct reverse of the wrongs committed against him."
• The Battle of the Crater – July 30, 1864
• John Pope – "Success and glory are in the advance, disaster and shame lurk in the rear."
• Patrick Cleburne – "Life has always been a small matter with me when duty points the way"
• Robert Anderson – "I abandoned Fort Moultrie because I was certain that if attacked by men must have been sacrificed . . . . If attacked, the garrison would never surrendered without a fight."
• The Battle of Five Forks – Apr 1, 1865
• Lewis Armistead – "Come on boys! Give them the cold steel! Who will follow me? ... Virginians! With me! Who will come with me!?"
• Raphael Semmes – “Liberty is always destroyed by the multitude, in the name of liberty.”
• Alfred Waud
• John L. Burns – War of 1812 Veteran turned Civil War Veteran.
• The Battle of Monocacy – Jul 9, 1864
• Whitworth Rifle – widely regarded as the first sniper rifle. Confederate Sharpshooters used it to pick off Union Generals.
• Tales of Soldiers and Civilians – Stephen Ambrose (1891)
• Franklin-Nashville Campaign – September-December 1864
• Sheridan's Valley Campaign of 1864 – August 7- October 11, 1865
• John Gibbon – "Suddenly a single shot on the extreme left rang out on the clear morning air, followed quickly by several others, and the whole line pushed rapidly forward through the brush."
• 1st Minnesota
• John Singleton Mosby – "It is a classical maxim that it is sweet and becoming to die for one's country; but whoever has seen the horrors of a battlefield feels that it is far sweeter to live for it."
• Burnside Carbine – A breech-loading carbine that saw extensive use by both Union and Confederate cavalry units. Designed by General Ambrose Burnside in 1855.
• The Free State of Jones – Established in 1864 as a county in rebellion against the Confederacy.

Tier 6

• Don Carlos Buell
• Lew Wallace – "Beauty is altogether in the eye of the beholder."
• Morgan's Great Raid of 1863 – Jun 11, 1863 – Jul 26, 1863
• Burning of Chambersburg, PA – July 30th, 1864.
• "Tramp! Tramp! Tramp!" – George F Root (1864)
• The Confederate Heartland Offensive – August–October, 1862
• "Hard Times Come Again No More" – Stephen Foster (1854)
• John Brown Gordon – "I was shot down by a fifth ball, which struck me squarely in the face, and passed out."
• The Many Wounds of John Brown Gordon – Man could not be killed.
• The Battle of Stones River – Dec 31, 1862 – Jan 2, 1863
• Irvin McDowell – “The troops must behave themselves with as much forbearance and propriety as if they were at their own homes."
• Andrew Curtin – Governor of Pennsylvania during the War. Strong supporter of Lincoln
• Oliver P Morton – Another Ally of Lincoln. Morton was the Governor of Indiana.
• Burnside carbine
• Henry Warner Slocum – "We'll drive them out at daylight."
• The S in Ulysses S Grant stood for nothing – Also, His original name was Hiram Ulysses Grant.
• Battle of Palmito Ranch – May 12-13, 1865
• The Wade-Davis Bill – July 2, 1864 (passed in Congress but vetoed by Lincoln)
• Siege of Port Hudson – May 22 – July 9, 1863
• 2nd Kansas Colored Infantry
• Walt Whitman visited multiple hospitals during the War
• First Battle of Winchester – May 25, 1862
• The Port Royal Experiment – 1861-1865
• Alexander Stuart Webb
• The Combahee Ferry Raid – June 2, 1863
• Sam Watkins – "A soldier's life is not a pleasant one."
• The Star of the West – An American merchant ship that unsuccessfully attempted to resupply Fort Sumter in January 1861.
• The 1st Kansas Colored Infantry
• Senator James Henry Lane – The man responsible for raising the first Black regiment, the 1st Kansas Colored Volunteer Regiment.

Tier 7

• PGT Beauregard became a Civil Rights Activist
• Emory Upton – "I have heard of 'the dead lying in heaps', but never saw it till this battle. Whole ranks fell together."
• The Battle of Gettysburg was not fought over shoes
• Leonidas Polk – "Give 'em hell, boys!"
• Missouri Bushwhackers – the Ultimate Confederate guerilla fighters
• Fitz John Porter
• Mark Twain deserted from the Confederate Army
• The Battle of Seven Pines – May 5, 1862
• The Brother of Lincoln's Assassin saved Lincoln's Son.
• Henry Wirz – "No Man Can Justly Blame Me"
• Second Battle of Fort Fisher – Jan 13 - 15, 1865
• "The New York Volunteer" – Artist Unknown (1860s)
• The Battle of Jonesborough – Aug 31 - Sep 1, 1864
• Woman Soldiers in the American Civil War
• The Battle of Harpers Ferry – Sep 12 - 15, 1862
• Joshua Chamberlain was pronounced dead during the Battle of Petersburg – Although he was still alive at that time.
• Dakota War of 1862 – Aug 17, 1862 – Dec 26, 1862
• Dakota 38 – Largest mass execution in American History
• Glow in the Dark Wounds at Shiloh

Tier 8

• Jefferson C Davis
• British Explorer Henry Morton Stanley was a Confederate Soldier turned Union Soldier
• The Siege of Fort Pulsaki – April 10-11, 1862
• Grierson's Raid – April 17- May 4,1863
• Henry Lawson Wyatt – First North Carolina Soldier killed in the War
• Elmer E Ellsworth – First Union Officer killed in the Civil War
• Francis E. Brownell – His vengeance of Ellsworth's death were the earliest actions of the War to earn a Medal of Honor (although he didn't receive it until much later)
• Lafayette McLaws – "I took it for granted that “Politic,” or the war now being carried on, between the parties representing “Protection for protection’s” sake! and “Protection incidental on revenue,"”
• The Battle of Cherbourg – June 19, 1864
• The Tragedy at Ebenezer Creek – December 9, 1864
• Double Barreled Cannon – An experimental design that never passed initial tests.
• The Great Locomotive Chase – April 12, 1862
• The Battle of Fort Stevens – July 11-12, 1864
• George Stoneman – A military life has ever comported with my inclination.
• Wilson's Raid – March 22- Mid April, 1865
• Third Battle of Winchester – September 19, 1864
• The Red River Campaign – April-May, 1864
• The Battle of Malvern Hill – Jul 1, 1862
• The Defense of Cincinnati – September 1–13, 1862
• Stephen D Lee
• Ivan Turchin – "Turchin's got your mule"
• The Sack of Athens – May 1862
• The Battle of South Mountain – Sept 14, 1862
• "A lone grave on battle-field of Antietam" – Alexander Gardner (1862)

Tier 9

• 1st Louisiana Native Guard (Confederate)
• Albert Pike – "The only true happiness is to learn, to advance, and to improve"
• August Willich
• A Private by the name of Jacob Miller survived getting shot in the Head.
• Mormons in the Civil War – Only a few Hundred served in active combat
• The Battle of Fort Sanders – Nov 29, 1863
• William Sherman survived two shipwrecks on the same day
• Earl Van Dorn – "I am now in for it, to make a reputation and serve my country conspicuously or fail."
• The Battle of Olustee – February 20, 1864
• Theodore Roosevelt witnessed Lincoln's Funeral
• "Photo of Abraham Lincoln's Casket" – Photographer unknown (probably taken in 1865)
• Sophronia Smith Hunt – A Woman who disguised herself as a Man to serve in the Civil War
• Hughes breech-loading cannon
• The Camden Expedition – March 23-May 3, 1864
• The Battle of Poison Spring – April 18th, 1864

Tier 10

• Stonewall Jackson was a hypochondriac, among other ailments
• Asian Soldiers in the American Civil War
• The long walk of the Navajo – 1863-1866
• Old Green Eyes – Spooky Ghost......
• Champ Ferguson – "I am yet, and will die a Rebel. I believe I was right in all I did."
• Felix Salm-Salm
• Charles J. Simons – 29 March 1843 — 18 June 1914
• Joseph Pierce – Highest ranking Asian Soldier in the Union Army

Tier 11

• Robert E Lee broke his wrist during the Battle of Antietam
• General Order No.11 (Grant) – Highly controversial order by Ulysses S Grant (1862)
• The Alligator – One of the first Submarines built for the United States Navy
• The Sultana disaster – April 27, 1865

Tier 12

• Italian General Giuseppe Garibaldi was offered to be a Major General in the Union Army
• Patrick Cleburne proposed enlisting Slaves into the Confederate Army – January 2, 1864
• Daniel Hough

Tier 13

• Abraham Lincoln and Tsar Alexander II were Pen Pals
• "The Red Legs" – Kansas Guerilla units that served in the Union Army

Tier 14

• Col Vincent Addison Witcher
• The Confederate Massacre at Saltville – Oct 2, 1864
• Did Lincoln predict his own Death?

Tier 15

• Saint Albans Raid – Oct 19, 1864
• Wlodzimierz Krzyzanowski
• Julius Stahel

Tier 16

• Did Jefferson Davis Approve the Lincoln Assassination Conspiracy?

Tier 17

• Battle of Fairfax Court House (1863) – June 27, 1863
• Battle of Fairfax Court House (1861) – June 1, 1861
• The Battle of Big Bethel – June 10, 1861

Tier 18

• Douglas the Camel – Confederate Camel.
• The Story of Private Patrick Garrity

Tier 19

• The Siamese Twins were Plantation Owners
• The Siamese Twins had sons that fought for the Confederacy – What....

Tier 20

• The Lost 1860s Educational Posters

See also

• Iceberg chart
• R/IcebergCharts
• Wars and conflicts iceberg

Sources

• Featured Reddit chart: u/Captain_Crustacean. American Civil War Iceberg. Reddit (r/IcebergCharts). 15 January 2022. Retrieved 29 October 2026.
• IcebergThreads version: SomeHistoryGuy. [WIP] The Ultimate American Civil War. IcebergThreads. 22 February 2026. Retrieved 29 October 2026.