Civil War (1861-1865) Flashcards
States Rights
States’ rights is a term used to describe the ongoing struggle over political power in the United States between the federal government and individual states as broadly outlined in the Tenth Amendment and whether the USA is a single entity or an amalgamation of independent nations.
Fort Sumter
federal fort commanded by Major Robert Anderson and taken by Confederate forces under the command of General Pierre G.T. Beauregard on April 12, 1861. This action began the Civil War.
1st Battle of Bull Run
The first battle of the American Civil War, fought in Virginia near Washington, D.C. The surprising victory of the Confederate army humiliated the North and forced it to prepare for a long war.
monitor vs merrimack
A naval engagement of the Civil War, fought in 1862 off the coast of Virginia between two ironclad ships, the Union Monitor and the Confederate Virginia (which had been built on the hull of the U.S.S. Merrimack). The incident demonstrated that wooden warships were obsolete.
Shiloh
The Battle of Shiloh, also known as the Battle of Pittsburg Landing, was a major battle in the Western Theater of the American Civil War, fought April 6–7, 1862, in southwestern Tennessee.
Antietam
Creek that was the site of the Battle of Antietam, the bloodiest day of the Civil War. More than 23,000 men lost their lives on Sept. 17. General George McClellan had moved to intercept a Southern advance into Maryland. After being shown a copy of General Lee’s to his commanders, McClellan, who was north, moved to intercept. His move was not quick enough to catch Lee by himself, though. Stonewall Jackson, recently returned from a victory at Harpers Ferry, joined Lee for the savage battle outside the town of Sharpsburg. Tactically, the battle was a draw. But the result was a Southern retreat, which gave not only the appearance of a Union in command but the opportunity for Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation.
Emancipation Proclamation
Lincoln issued the proclamation Jan. 1, 1863. It was a technical document, granting freedom to all slaves in all areas of the Confederacy still in rebellion. The proclamation did not pertain to slaves in the border states, but it did allow for the popular use of African-Americans in the Union Army and Navy. The proclamation also made the war a crusade against slavery, meaning that England and France, both morally opposed to slavery, could not in good conscience ally themselves with the Confederacy.
Abraham Lincoln
the 16th president of the United States. One of the first important figures of the newly formed Republican Party, he first gained prominence by losing the race for the U.S. Senate in Illinois to Stephen A. Douglas. Lincoln was elected and then re-elected, all the while directing the war effort and holding the country together. He is regarded by historians as one of America’s greatest presidents.
Robert E. Lee
Mexican War veteran, superintendent at West Point, and Confederate commander of the Army of Northern Virginia and ultimately of all Southern troops. He was the colonel in charge of the troops that arrested John Brown at Harpers Ferry. President Lincoln asked Lee to command the Union troops, but Lee would not abandon his native Virginia. His strategy, risk-taking, overcome-all-odds strategies bedeviled all the Army of the Potomac commanders except Ulysses S. Grant, to whom he surrendered at Appomattox Court House.
Jefferson Davis
Mexican War soldier; U.S. Senator from Mississippi 1847-1851 and 1857-1861 and Secretary of War under President Franklin Pierce (1853-1857); and President of the Confederate States of America. He took a large role in planning the military strategy of the Confederate troops (even directing from at the First Battle of Bull Run) but was hampered by the irony that the Southern states wanted a decentralized government based on states’ rights even as they wanted to fight a modern war, which required a centralized command. He was captured soon after the Civil War ended and indicted by a grand jury but was never tried for treason and was eventually released.
Ulysses S Grant
General who finally won the Civil War for the Union. Grant began his career in the West. Victories at Shiloh, Chattanooga and Vicksburg proved that he could win the tough fight. His refusal to retreat after heavy losses in the Wilderness and at Cold Harbor proved that he could stomach the tough loss. He accepted General Robert E. Lee’s surrender at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. Three years later, he was elected president. He was re-elected, then retired from politics.
Vicksburg
Dazzling victory by General Ulysses Grant despite the presence of daunting Confederate gun batteries on the walls surrounding the city overlooking the Mississippi River. Grant tried five different plants (including diverting the Mississippi River itself) before he found one that worked. It was the simplest but riskiest of all: run the gantlet of Confederate gun batteries and land on the eastern shore of the Mississippi right below Vicksburg. From there, Grant set up trenches and settled in for a siege, which proved most effective. In one of the quirks of history, Lt. Gen. John C. Pemberton, commanding the troops in Vicksburg, surrendered to Grant at almost the same time that General George Pickett was leading his disastrous charge into the Union batteries on Cemetery Ridge.
Gettysburg
Pennsylvania site of a tremendously important three-day battle famous for such things as Pickett’s Charge, Cemetery Ridge, and Little Round Top. The great battle that killed more than 40,000 happened by accident. Lee had invaded the North in hopes of forcing attention from both Northern troops and European observers watching from afar. General George Gordon Meade caught up with Lee at the end of June, and July 1-3 the armies threw themselves at each other. The North held the high ground and made the advantage stick. Although Meade allowed Lee to escape back southward, he achieved his goal of weakening the Army of Northern Virginia so that it would never again have the strength to launch a major assault.
Gettysburg Address
Less than 275 words in length, Lincoln’s three-minute-long Gettysburg Address defined the meaning of the Civil War. Drawing upon the biblical concepts of suffering, consecration, and resurrection, he described the war as a momentous chapter in the global struggle for self-government, liberty, and equality. Lincoln told the crowd that the nation would “have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.”
The 54th Massachusetts and Fort Wagner
On July 18, 1863, the men of the 54th Mass, one of the union’s only all-black regiments, proved to the many doubters that they had the strength and courage to fight—and die—for the Union.
The 54th was among the 5000 Union troops lead by Brigadier General Quincy Gillmore. The Federal army had given Gillmore the task of capturing Charleston, South Carolina, a highly sought prize.
The men of the 54th, with Colonel Robert Gould Shaw in the lead, kept moving over the stakes, through the ditch, and up the sand walls of the parapets, while many of their number were shot down. Shaw made it all the way to the top of the wall, waving his sword and urging his men on with “Forward, 54th!” At that moment, he was shot at least three times and fell to the sand. Shaw’s death was emblematic of the whole battle, which was a tragic disaster for the Union troops.
As the men scaled the walls of the fort, the fighting was absolutely brutal, often hand-to-hand. Compounding the violence was the fact that Confederate soldiers were enraged seeing black troops.
