Civil War Glossary

Question 1

A person who believed in the abolishment or abolition of Negro slavery

Answer 1

Abolitionist

Question 2

Large, powerful weapons such as cannon and mortars

Answer 2

Artillery

Question 3

The murder of a prominent person such as President Lincoln

Answer 3

Assassination

Question 4

A unit of four or six cannons, or a fortified position on which they are placed

Answer 4

Battery

Question 5

Large scale combat between two armed forces (skirmishes and engagements are smaller scaled and briefer)

Answer 5

Battle

Question 6

The closing off, using naval forces, of a city or other area to traffic and communication

Answer 6

Blockade

Question 7

Slave-owning states that did not secede from the Union: Delaware, Kentucky, and Missouri

Answer 7

Border state

Question 8

A leather box in which the soldier carried his rounds or bullets

Answer 8

Cartridge Box

Question 9

A person killed, wounded, captured, or missing during the war

Answer 9

Casualty

Question 10

Soldiers mounted on horseback fighting as a unit

Answer 10

Cavalry

Question 11

The liquid drug used to anesthetize (put to sleep) wounded soldiers in the war

Answer 11

Chloroform

Question 12

The alliance of 11 Southern states to form the Confederate States of America

Answer 12

Confederacy or CSA

Question 13

Goods illegally traded during wartime. Slaves were sometimes called contraband during the war

Answer 13

Contraband

Question 14

A Northern Democrat who agreed with Southern succession and clamored for peace during the war

Answer 14

Copperhead

Question 15

To spread out armies to create a battle line

Answer 15

Deploy

Question 16

To leave one’s military post, or to run away from battles, often punishable

Answer 16

Desertion

Question 17

Slang term for the Confederacy, also a popular Southern song

Answer 17

Dixie

Question 18

The selection of citizens for mandatory military service

Answer 18

Draft of conscription

Question 19

The process of instruction recruits how to march and practice the military arts as a unit

Answer 19

Drill

Question 20

An often fatal disease of the human intestines, usually caused by unsanitary conditions of military camps and battle sites

Answer 20

Dysentery

Question 21

An attack against the flanks of an enemy’s army, in hopes of eventually encircling it

Answer 21

Envelopment

Question 22

The formal release of slaves from bondage, as it happened in January 1863

Answer 22

Emancipation

Question 23

The sides of an army’s line in battle. A flanking movement is attacking the sides.

Answer 23

Flanks

Question 24

The search for food by soldiers often at the expense of the farmers in the battle area

Answer 24

Forage

Question 25

Paper money used during the Civil War in the North

Answer 25

Greenback

Question 26

A quarter inch half inch thick hard cracker eaten by Civil War soldiers. Also known as biscuits, crackers, and army bread.

Answer 26

Hardtack

Question 27

Cloth bag used by soldiers to carry rations and food.

Answer 27

Haversack

Question 28

Foot soldiers marching in fighting together. The vast majority of Civil War soldiers were infantry.

Answer 28

Infantry

Question 29

A ship covered with iron plates and usedIn the Civil War, in the fair is Marrimac vs. monitor first ever naval battles between the ironclads in 1862. They revolutionized naval warfare.

Answer 29

Ironclad

Question 30

The big, concentrated attack against the enemies weak or critical point

Answer 30

Main attack

Question 31

The standard rifle bullet used in the war. From France, it made the rifle more accurate and lead to staggering casualties

Answer 31

Minie ball

Question 32

One or more soldiers responsible for guard duty, always watch for for enemy approach

Answer 32

Picket

Question 33

military leadership in order of importance and decision making responsibilities usually prioritized from the commander-in-chief President general of the army LT. General, major general, Brigadier General, colonial, major, Canton, lieutenant, first surgeon, corporal, private

Answer 33

Rank

Question 34

Military term for food

Answer 34

Rations

Question 35

A slang term for a soldier fighting for the south

Answer 35

Rebel or Confederate, butternut, Grayback, Johnny Reb, or Reb