Freedom during the Civil War

Well, freedom is what the Civil War is basically about; Abraham Lincoln was fighting for the freedom of the slaves. At first he was just trying to preserve the union. "A new birth of Freedom" is what he called it. Even the slaves fought for their freedom, they were enlisted into the Union army and the navy, if it weren't for the the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863. by the way, the Emancipation Proclamation is why the war turned to a war for freedom. Soon after the proclamation congress ratified the 13th Amendment that abolished slavery. But even before is was passed, slaves were being freed in the north.

http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/exhibits/reconstruction/section1/section1_06.html