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Civil War Vocab.
To study for test
Term | Definition |
---|---|
election of 1860 | the election that led the southern states to leave the union and form the confederacy |
fort sumter | the first shots of the civil war were fired here |
jefferson davis | president of the confederate states of america |
border states | slave states that remained in the union during the civil war |
border states | kentucky, missouri, maryland, delaware, and eventually west virginia |
john c breckinridge | southern democratic candidate in the election of 1860 |
stephen douglas | northern democratic candidate in the election of 1860 |
abraham lincoln | republican candidate in the election of 1860 |
abraham lincoln | opposed the spread of slavery into the territories |
john bell | presidential candidate in 1860 for the costituational union party |
john bell | stood for a peaceful compromise to hold the union together in 1860 |
first bull run | first major battle of the civil war; southern victory; showed that the war would be long and costly for both sides |
anaconda plan | union strategy for winning the war; blockade the south, divide the confederacy, and capture richmond, the CS capitol |
winfield scott | union general that was old but he came up with the anaconda plan |
blockade | to prevent a nation from trading or communicating with another nation by sea |
shiloh | battle in the southwestern tennessee that shocked the country with its heavy casualties |
antietam | fought in maryland, it is the single bloodiest day in american history |
antietam | battle that stopped the first confederate invasion to the North |
antietam | after this battle, lincoln issued the emancipation proclamation |
gettysburg | turning point of the civil war stopped lee's second invasion of the north |
gettysburg | battle that convinced engalnd and france to not ally with the south |
gettysburg | confederate army suffered so many casualties at this battle, they could not invade the north again |
vicksburg | capture of this city led to the union capturing the mississippi river |
vicksburg | battle that officially divided the confederacy in half |
vicksburg | grant won this siege on july 4th, thus officially dividing the confederacy in half |
march to the sea | the union army led by william sherman waged total war on the people of georgia to break their will to support the confederate army |
william tecumseh sherman | union general that used total warfare to destroy property, livestock, and transportation systems to force the southern people to surrender |
appomattox courthouse | lee and the confederate army officially surrendered to grant and the union army at his place on april 9th, 1865 |
david farragut | union admiral from tennessee, responsible for the blockade of the confederacy |
nathan bedford forrest | confederate cavalry commander that used guerilla warfare on the union army mississippi and tennessee |
ulysses s grant | union commander that finally defeated robert e lee and won the war |
ulysses s grant | won the battles of forts henry and donelson, shiloh, vicksburg, and chattanooga for the union |
robert e lee | confederate general responsible for the forces defending richmond |
robert e lee | won the seven days battles, second bull run, fredericksburg and chencellorsville |
stonewall jackson | confederate general that saved the day at first bull run and earned a famous nickname |
emancipation proclamation | order issued by lincoln that officially, freed the slaves in the confederate states but not in the border states |
emancipation proclamation | officially allowed african americans to enlist and fight in the US army |
gettysburg address | brief speech given by abraham lincoln that summed up the goals of the war and honored the dead |
54th massachusetts | the first all-black regiment to fight the union army |
nashville | the 13th colored troops helped to destroy the confederate army in tennessee at this battle |
sam watkins | a soldier from clarksville that kept a journal about his experiences in the confederate army |
elisha hunt rhodes | he kept a diary about life as a soldier in the union army |
fort wagner | the 54th massachusetts showed their bravery and earned the respect of the union army when they charged this fort |
henry and donelson | the capture of these two forts helped the union control the tennessee river system |
john wilkes booth | southerner that assasinated president lincoln at ford's theater |
13th amendment | officially abolished slavery in the united states of america |
14th amendment | definedd citizenship and guaranteed equal protection under the law for african americans |
15th amendment | gave african american men the right to vote |
ten percent plan | the name of lincoln's plan for reconstruction, it was lenient and made it easy for the southern states to rejoin the union |
andrew johnson | democrat from tennessee, he was lincoln's vice-president and became president after his assassination |
andrew johnson | his plan for reconstruction was too lenient, encouraged states to pass black codes; vetoed legislation passed by congress |
radical republicans | group of congressmen whose reconstruction plan was too harsh on the south they also impeached andrew johnson |
black codes | laws passed by individual states to limit the rights and freedoms of african americans |
military reconstruction act | law passed by congress that divided the southern states into five military districts until they ratified the 14th and 15th amendments |
freedmen's bureau | government agency that was created to help newly freedmen and poor whites with jobs, medical and education |
poll tax | state law that requires citizens to pay a fee before they are able to vote |
tenure of office act | law passed by congress and vetoed by andrew johnson that said he had to get congress' permission to fire any member of his cabinet |
impeachment | to formally charge the president with a crime; a trial is then held in the senate |
freedmen | slaves that had been freed by the 13th amendment |
segregation | the separation of blacks and whites in public places like bathrooms and schools |
jim crow laws | laws passed by the southern states that enforced segregation of public places |
william brownlow | republican governor of tennessee during reconstruction, he was very hard on southerners that fought and served with the confederacy; also owned his own newspaper |
vigilante | a person that takes justice into their own hands and punishes others without a trial or due process |
carpetbaggers | northerners that moved south to help out wiht or profit from reconstruction |
scalawags | a southerner that were republicans during reconstruction, often targets of violence |
compromise of 1877 | agreement that officially ended reconstruction |
compromise of 1877 | deal made between democrats and republicans in which rutherford b hayes was made president in exchange for union troops being removed from the southern states |
rutherford b hayes | republican president that officially ended reconstruction in 1877 |
reconstruction | time period 1865-1877 following the civil war in which the south was rebuilt politically, economically, and socially |