Jon, to actually answer your question (about what name to use), you can't go wrong with "The American Civil War" or even "The War Between the States".

"War of Northern Aggression" is usually used by Southerners or Southern sympathizers still fighting it.

There are other names, too, with social and political overtones.

I've never heard any objections to any of the songs, but I've always lived in either the Upper Midwest or New England (where tempers run higher about the War of 1812). Nuances might be better explained by some of our members from the FSGW, especially those who have recorded CDs of Civil War songs. (American Civil War or just plain Civil War is by far the most common name -- at least from the Dakotas to Maine and as far south as Pennsylvania which covers my experience from school to adulthood.)

Linn

Linn