Download Key Terms/Ideas/People/Events

USHC 3.2 Key Terms/Ideas/People/Events & Vocabulary
Key Terms/Ideas/People/Events
 Secession – act of leaving the Union; formal withdrawal of a state from the Union
 President Lincoln – winner of 1860 presidential election; Republican; NOT an abolitionist; stressed he
would preserve the Union, not end slavery; a very good politician
 Fort Sumter – federal fort in Charleston, SC harbor; Lincoln ordered it resupplied; South fired upon the fort;
first shots of the Civil War
 King Cotton – belief that the South’s cash crop of cotton was so important to Great Britain, France and even
the United States that it would ultimately lead to peace; in the meantime, the South relied on cotton for the
manufactured goods and ships from Britain that they could not produce
 Anaconda Plan – Union plan to defeat the Confederacy; “squeeze the South to death”; it consisted of 1)
blockading all Southern ports (preventing manufactured goods from arriving and cotton from leaving); 2)
dividing the Confederacy by capturing the Mississippi River; and 3) capturing the capital of the Confederacy
at Richmond
 Richmond – capital of the Confederacy; located less than 120 miles from the Union capital
 Antietam – important battle located in Maryland; bloodiest day in American history; South’s first attempt at
invading the North; Robert E. Lee’s army was repulsed but not defeated; big enough victory for the Union for
Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation
 Gettysburg – turning point battle of the Civil War; located in Pennsylvania; General Lee’s second attempt to
invade the North; ended with General Lee’s army being defeated by the Union army; after this battle, the South
was on the defensive for the rest of the war
 Robert E. Lee – very effective military leader of the main Confederate army; he defeated the Union army in
several battles but was unable to overcome the advantages the Union army had in numbers of men and
equipment
 Jefferson Davis – president of the Confederate States of America; the Confederate constitution provided him
less power and authority than his counterpart (Abraham Lincoln); he could not get the Southern states to work
effectively together, unlike Lincoln in the North
 Border states – collective name given to the states that remained in the Union even though they were slave
states; Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland & Delaware – West Virginia can be added to this group as well
 Emancipation Proclamation – a “military measure” issued by President Lincoln after the Union ‘victory’ at
Antietam; the proclamation was a brilliant move by Lincoln because it 1) would not go into effect until
January 1st of 1863 (providing the South enough time to re-enter the Union); 2) only free slaves where the
states were in rebellion (not touching slaves in the border state); it was also a political and diplomatic
document because it was designed to do three main things: 1) prevent Great Britain (whose people were
opposed to slavery) from assisting the South; 2) make the war about slavery and freeing a group in bondage;
and 3) allow for African-Americans to enlist and fight in the war (assisting in the loss of manpower)
 Thirteenth Amendment – Amendment which made slavery or any involuntary servitude illegal
throughout the nation;
th
 54 Massachusetts – well known all-African-American regiment that fought in the Civil War; led
by white officers and not paid as much nor as well supplied as white soldiers; important because
they proved blacks could fight just as well as whites and more all -African-American regiments
were created
 Fort Wagner – located in Charleston, SC harbor; futile, yet gallant attack on this fort was led by the 54th
Massachusetts (see above); never captured till the very end of the war
 Bull Run/Manassas – first large scale battle of the Civil War; Union soldiers began marching towards
Richmond and were stopped and turned back by the Confederate army; Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson earned
his nickname at this battle; both sides realized it would be a long and drawn out fight
 Vicksburg – key city located on the Mississippi River; Union General Ulysses Grant placed this city under siege
and captured it; with Vicksburg’s loss, the Confederacy lost complete control of the Mississippi River and was
divided; one part of the Anaconda Plan; made a name for General Grant; the Vicksburg surrender occurred same
time as Union victory at Gettysburg
 Atlanta – one of the last important cities left in Confederate hands towards the end of the war; Atlanta was
important because it was a transportation hub; Sherman’s army captured it and much of it burned down; he
left Atlanta and his supply lines to start his march to the sea
USHC 3.2 Key Terms/Ideas/People/Events & Vocabulary

Ulysses S. Grant – unrelenting General; became famous for capturing Vicksburg; he planned to defeat
General Lee no matter the cost; the casualties were often twice as high as in the Confederate army, but the
Union could afford them; Grant ultimately defeated Lee;
 ‘total war’ – plan to destroy the will of the South to fight; destroy the South’s ability to fight by destroying
transportation system and burning crops;
 ‘March to the Sea’ – pl an ne d mar ch b y t h e Uni o n ar my f r o m At l ant a , Ge or gi a t o
S a vann a h wi t h no su ppl i es; pl a n wa s t o l i ve of f t he l a nd an d ma ke Geor gi a “h o wl ”
 William Tecumseh Sherman – the Union’s head General in the western theater of war (Tennessee &
Georgia); he practiced ‘total war’; and planned to “make Georgia howl”; goal was to destroy the South’s will
to fight; his army “Marched to the Sea” with no real Confederate army to stop him; inflicted the most damage
on South Carolina (the ones who started secession); moved into North Carolina to help Grant destroy Lee (not
needed)
 Petersburg – location of one of the last battles of the Civil War; Grant was unrelenting in his attack on Lee’s
army; last major siege of Grant against Lee; this battle strained the resources and manpower of the South; last
stand to protect Richmond; Lee unable to keep Grant away; after he was almost surrounded, Lee escaped and
headed west where he was ultimately caught at Appomattox
 Appomattox Courthouse – location of General Lee’s Confederate army to General Grant’s Union army;
located in Virginia; Grant provided very lenient peace terms, feeding Lee’s army and allowing those with
horses to keep them
 States’ right – idea that state’s should have more power in their state than the federal government; the Civil
War tried to end this idea with the South’s defeat; the argument of states’ rights is still with us today
Vocabulary
Minority – small group
Preserve – save; maintain
Stationed – posted or based
Capacity – ability
Lacked – deficient in
Blockade – cordon off
Disrupted – interrupted
Offensive – assaulting
Hasten – hurried or rushed
Repulsed – rejected or repelled
Articulate – express clearly
Preservation – keeping or maintaining
Retain – keep or hold
Sufficient – adequate or enough
Initial – early
Emancipation – freedom or liberation
Undermine – weaken from within
Antagonizing – provoking or irritating
Intention – meaning or purpose
Enlist – recruit or conscript
Notably – remarkably or especially
Gallant – chivalrous or brave and heroic
Futile – useless or pointless
Distinction – excellence
Unrelenting – relentless; persistent
Siege – surround with no escape possible; cordon off
Dwindling – declining or diminishing
Profound – intense or deep
Electorate – voters