The Civil War was a turning point in the history of the United States of America. The war had an enormous effect on the entire nation, including small towns. Cedar Falls is one of those small towns that was changed forever by the Civil War. Many of her citizens fought and died in the war. Others lived to tell about it but would never be the same. It also touched the people who were not directly involved in the fighting. The women and men who stayed behind did what they could to contribute to the war effort. The war also caused factions within the town, for not everyone supported the war, particularly when it began to seem as if it would never end. Perhaps the Civil War's most enduring mark on Cedar Falls is the University of Northern Iowa, which grew out of an orphanage for children who lost their fathers in the war.