Historical Dictionary of the Civil War and Reconstruction - William L. Richter - Google Books

https://books.google.de/books?id=cyGb-eMnmXkC&pg=PA535#v=onepage&q&f=false

The importance of the Civil War and Reconstruction in the history of the United States cannot be overstated. There was a very real possibility that the union could have been sundered, resulting in a very different American history, and probably, world…