Term
| How did the southern states secede from the Union? |
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Definition
| At a convention in Montgomery, Alabama, the seven seceding states created the Confederate Constitution, a document similar to the United States Consitution, but with greater stress on the autonomy of each state. Jefferson Davis was named provisional president of the Confederacy until elections could be held. |
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Term
| What did Lincoln say at his inauguration that was important? |
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Definition
| At Lincoln's inauguration on March 4, the new president said he had no plans to end slavery in those states where it already existed, but he also said he would not accept secession. He explained that he hoped to resolve the national crisis without warfare. |
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Term
| Why did the south seize federal forts? |
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Definition
| When President Buchanan -- Lincoln's predecessor -- refused to surrender southern federal forts to the seceding states, southern state troops seized them. At Fort Sumter, South Carolinian troops repulsed a supply ship trying to reach federal forces based in the fort. The ship was forced to return to New York, its supplies delivered. |
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Term
| Why did the southern states secede from the Union? |
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Definition
| When Abraham Lincoln, a known opponent of slavery, was elected president, the South Carolina legislature perceived a threat. Calling a state convention, the delegates voted to remove the state of South Carolina from the union known as the United States of America. The secession of South Carolina was followed by the secession of six more states -- Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, and Texas -- and the threat of secession by four more -- Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina. These eleven states eventually formed the Confederate States of America. |
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Term
| What action actually started the Civil War? |
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Definition
| The attack on Fort Sumter in South Carolina. When President Lincoln planned to send supplies to Fort Sumter, he alerted the state in advance, in an attempt to avoid hostilities. South Carolina, however, feared a trick; the commander of the fort, Robert Anderson, was asked to surrender immediately. Anderson offered to surrender, but only after he had exhausted his supplies. His offer was rejected, and on April 12, the Civil War began with shots fired on the fort. Fort Sumter eventually was surrendered to South Carolina. |
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Term
| What was the capitol of the Confederacy? |
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Definition
| Richmond, VA was the capitol of the Confederate States (the Confederacy). |
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Term
| Why did West Virginia separate from Virginia at this time? |
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Definition
| The western counties of Virginia did not wish to secede along with the rest of the state. This section of VA was admitted to the Union as the state of West Virginia in June, 1863. |
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Term
| What four slave states never joined the Confederacy and stayed a part of the Union? |
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Definition
| Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland and Missouri remained a part of the union and did not join the Confederacy. |
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Term
What was the first real battle of the Civil War called?
-- Where was it fought?
-- What was the outcome? |
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Definition
| The first real battle of the Civil War was called "The Battle of Bull Run" and it was a victory for the South, because the North's troops were overrun by Southern reinforcements. |
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Term
| Who is General McClellan? |
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Definition
| He was the General that Lincoln chose to lead the Northern forces when it became clear that the war was going to last for a long time. He selected him in 1861. |
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Term
| What Northern victories were extremely important in 1861 and 1862? |
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Definition
| Captain Dupont's warships were able to overcome two forts in South Carolina and retake them, Fort Walker and Fort Beauregard. Because these forts were taken back by the North, General Sherman was able to occupy the Sea Islands of South Carolina, giving the North a point from which to supply troops in the south and to move them inland. |
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Term
| Why did Abraham Lincoln take the leadership of the Northern forces away from General McClellan in Jan. of 1862? |
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Definition
| He was impatient for the North to march into the South and take it over. He gave McClellan the command of the forces called the Army of the Potomac and ordered him to attack Richmond. This was the beginning of the Peninsular Campaign. |
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Term
What as the "Battle of the Monitor and the Merrimac"?
-- When was it?
-- What was the outcome? |
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Definition
| The South was worried about the North's naval advantage, since the North was an industrial area, as opposed to the south being an agricultural area. The south took a sunken northern ship, the U.S.S. Merrimac, and turned it into an iron-clad vessel and renamed it the CSS VA. In March of 1862, the Virginia (Merrimac) engaged the U.S.S. Monitor off the coast of Norfolk, VA. The Monitor fought the VA to a draw, but the VA had managed to sink two wooden Union warships before they had to withdraw. |
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Term
What was the "Battle of Shiloh"?
-- When and where was it fought?
-- What was the outcome? |
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Definition
| In April 1862, Confederat forces attacked Union forces (under General Ulysses S. Grant) at Shiloh, Tennessee. The battle was almost won by the Confederacy on the first day, but overnight, Union reinforcements arrived and Confederate forces had to retreat. Losses were exceptionally heavy. In only two days of fighting, 13,000 Union soldiers died and 11,000 Confederate troops were killed. |
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Term
What happened at Fort Pulaski in Georgia in 1862?
-- Why was it significant? |
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Definition
| In April 1862, Union forces took over Fort Pulaski a huge fort near the mouth of the Savannah River. It is significant because the North needed these forts to have any chance of regaining the Union. |
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Term
How did the Union army gain control of New Orleans?
-- Who was in charge of this operation?
-- When was it?
-- Why was it significant? |
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Definition
| Flag Officer David Farrugut led an assault up the Mississippi River and by April 25, 1862, he was in command of New Orleans, which meant that the Northern forces were now able to move troops and supplies throughout the South. |
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Term
What was the "Peninsular Campaign"?
-- When did it take place?
-- Who was involved?
-- What was the outcome? |
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Definition
| The Northern General McClellan occupied Yorktown, VA and engaged the Confederacy in Williamsburg. He had to wait throughout the spring for reinforcements and was not able to engage the entire Confederate army. |
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Term
| Why did Union soldiers rush to protect Washington, DC in May of 1862? |
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Definition
| The Confederate general, Stonewall Jackson, commanding forces in the Shenandoah Valley, attacked Union forces, forcing them to retreat over the Potomac, thus endangering Washington, D.C. |
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Term
What was the "Battle of Seven Pines" or the "Battle of Fair Oaks"?
-- When was it?
-- What was the outcome? |
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Definition
| At the end of May, 1962, the Confederate forces attacked Union soldiers at Seven Pines, VA, almost defeating the Union army, which was saved at the last minute by the arrival of reinforcements. After the death of the Confederate General, Joseph Johnston, General Robert E. Lee took command of the Confederate forces. |
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Term
| What was the end of the "Peninsular Campaign"? |
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Definition
| In June and July of 1862, there were battles fought in five different Virginia localities, such as Mechanicsville, Gaines's Mill and Frayser's Farm. Finally, the Confederates withdrew to Richmond, VA, giving up on their attempt to wrest the Peninsula from the North. |
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Term
| Who became the new commander of the Union army in July of 1862? |
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Definition
| Major-General Henry Halleck was named General-in-Chief on July 11, 1862. |
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Term
| What was the decisive battle of the Northern Virginia campaign -- in 1862? |
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Definition
| The Second Battle of Bull Run (VA)was the most important battle up to that time of the war (August of 1862) because the Union General, John Pope, suffered a massive defeat. There were more soldiers involved in that fighting than in any other battle of the war. Pope (the Union General) had to retreat back to Bull Run with General Robert E. Lee in pursuit. By 1863, Pope had been forced out of the army because of this defeat. |
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Term
| What was the outcome of the "Battle of Harper's Ferry (VA)"? |
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Definition
| By September, 1862, Union General McClellan had defeated Robert E. Lee's troops in Northern Virginia, but he wasn't able to save the town of Harper's Ferry, which fell to Confederate General Stonewall Jackson, along with many men and supplies. |
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Term
Why was Antietam (MD) important?
-- When did it happen?
-- What was its significance? |
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Definition
| In September of 1862, General Lee's Confederate troops were caught in Maryland by General McClellan's Union troops. The battle was the bloodiest day of the war, with 6,000 killed on both sides, and 19,000 wounded. Although there was no clear winner of the battle, General Lee withdrew over the border back into Virginia, and McClellan was considered the victor. This battle convinced the British and the French, who were considering giving support to the Confederacy, and recognizing it as a separate nation, that that wouldn't be a good idea, so they waited to see what the outcome of the war would be. |
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Term
What happened at the "Battle of Fredicksburg, VA" in December of 1862?
-- Why was it important? |
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Definition
| General McClellan had been replaced again by Abraham Lincoln, this time by General Burnside (sideburns were named after him because he had huge ones). Burnside had orders to push the war toward Richmond. He attempted to cross the Rappahanock River at Fredericksburg, but General Stonewall Jackson (Confederate)pushed the Union back across the river with tremendous losses. The battle kept the North from heading toward Richmond at least until the Spring of 1863. |
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Term
What was the "Emancipation Proclamation"?
-- Who wrote it?
-- When was it written? |
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Definition
| It was written by Abraham Lincoln in January of 1863. It declared that, according to the federal government, all slaves in the rebel states were free. This means that there were still slaves allowed in the slave states that were supporting the Union and not the Confederacy, but that the slaves in the Confederate states had been declared free. |
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Term
What was the "First Conscription Act"?
-- When did it happen?
-- Why was it significant? |
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Definition
| The "First Conscription Act" was passed in the Northern states, making all men between the ages of 20 - 45 liable to be called for military service. Service could be avoided by paying a fee or finding a substitute, which was considered unfair to the poor and there were many riots in northern cities to protest. Conscription acts in the south had the same result. |
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Term
What happened at the "Battle of Chancellorsville, VA"?
-- When did it happen?
-- What was its significance? |
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Definition
| General Burnside had been replaced by General Hooker. In May of 1863, he attempted another crossing of the Rappahannock River, but was soundly defeated by the Confederate forces of General Lee. This was a very difficult battle for the south, even though it was a victory, because their losses were so heavy. They lost 22% of their total army, and even more devastating, they lost General Stonewall Jackson. |
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Term
Why was the "Vicksburg Campaign" important?
-- Who was in charge of this campaign?
-- Where did it happen?
-- When did it happen?
-- What was the outcome? |
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Definition
| In May of 1863, General Ulysses S. Grant (Union) managed to take over the Confederate fort at Vicksburg, Mississippi and was then able to capture Port Hudson, Louisiana, thus placing the entire Mississippi River and surrounding areas in Union hands. This was a terrible blow to the Confederacy, because it split it in half and took away their most important supply line. |
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Term
What is the "Gettysburg Campaign"?
-- Why is it significant?
-- When did it happen?
-- What were the outcomes? |
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Definition
| In June of 1863, Confederate General Robert E. Lee decided to take the war into Northern territory and defeated the northern army in Virginia, enabling him to march the Confederate army up into Pennsylvania. General Meade (who had replaced General Hooker)won the battle in the fields of Gettysburg, but he didn't follow Lee back down into Virginia, so he wasn't able to turn the victory into the end of the war. In Nov. 1863, President Lincoln declared the battlefield a national cemetery and delivered the "Gettysburg Address." |
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Term
What was the "Gettysburg Address"?
-- Who wrote it?
-- When was it written?
-- What was its significance? |
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Definition
| It was written and delivered by President Abraham Lincoln after the battle of Gettysburg (June/July 1863) and delivered at the memorial service in November 1863 for the Union soldiers who died there. It's significant because it is believed to be, along with the Declaration of Independence, one of the finest examples of writing in the English language, about the freedom of humankind. |
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Term
| What are some of the most important lines from the "Gettysburg Address"? |
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Definition
"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal."
"Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure."
"...we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." |
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Term
What was the "Battle of Chickamauga(GA)?
-- When did it happen?
-- Why was it significant? |
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Definition
| In September 1863, the Confederate forces pushed the Union forces back to Chattanooga, Tennessee. |
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Term
What happened in the "Battle of Chattanooga"?
-- When was it fought?
-- Why was it significant? |
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Definition
| In November of 1863, the Union forces under General Ulysses S. Grant, who had been brought in to save the situation, managed to push the Confederate forces away from Chattanooga, which was important because this created room for General Sherman's (Union) Atlanta Campaign. |
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Term
What is the "Seige of Knoxville"?
-- When did it happen?
-- Why was it significant? |
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Definition
| Union General Burnside retreated from Chickamauga to Knoxville, TN, where the Confederate forces put his forces under seige. Burnside was able to successfully resist the seige. |
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Term
What was Ulysses S. Grant's "Wilderness Campaign"?
-- When was it?
-- What was its significance? |
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Definition
| In May of 1864, Grant was promoted by Lincoln to Commander of all the Union armies. He intended to defeat General Lee's Virginia forces. He met Lee and fought for three days in Wilderness, VA. Lee inflicted high casualties on Grant's forces, but had no replacements for those Confederate forces lost. |
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Term
What were the battles of "Spotsylvania" and "Cold Harbor"?
-- When did they occur?
-- What did they signify? |
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Definition
| Ulysses Grant continued to pursue Lee's Virginia forces. Lee continued to inflict massive losses on the Union army. For instance, in Cold Harbor, the Union army lost over 7,000 men in twenty minutes. However, Lee's forces could not handle the continued attacks of the Union army under Grant. Cold Harbor was Lee's last clear victory of the war. |
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Term
Describe the "Siege of Petersburg."
-- When was it?
-- Why was it significant? |
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Definition
| From June 1864 - April 1865, General Grant (Union army)attempted to take Petersburg, VA so he could then take Richmond from the south. However, this took him ten months because Petersburg was able to successfully resist due to "The Dictator," a huge cannon that kept Union forces at bay. Thousands of lives were lost on both sides before Grant managed to take Petersburg and head to Richmond, VA. |
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Term
| Why did Confederate forces attempt to attack Washington, DC in July of 1864? |
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Definition
| Confederate General Jubal Early led his forces into Maryland in order to threaten an attack on DC and so, to pull some Union forces away from the seige of Petersburg and Richmond. However, by mid-July, he was driven back to VA. |
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Term
Describe the fall of Atlanta, GA.
-- When did it happen?
-- Why was it significant? |
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Definition
| Union General Sherman departed from Chattanooga, TN in August of 1864, heading toward Atlanta, GA. He was stopped for a time by Confederate General Johnston, but Johnston was losing so many soldiers in order to stop Sherman, that he was replaced by General Hood, who Sherman soon defeated. Atlanta, GA surrendered on Sept. 1. The fall of Atlanta was very encouraging to the Northerners because it seemed as if it were now possible to win the war. |
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Term
What is "General Sherman's March to the Sea"?
-- Why is it significant? |
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Definition
| General Sherman continued his march through Georgia to the Atlantic Ocean, cutting a swath 300 miles long and 60 miles wide, destroying everything in their path. It is significant because it damaged Southern morale and hurt their survival chances by destroying the munitions center of the Confederacy. |
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Term
Describe the Presidential Election of November 1864.
-- Why was it significant? |
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Definition
| President Abraham Lincoln was nominated as the Republican Party candidate. Andrew Johnson was selected as his running mate. They were running against General McClellan for the Democratic Party. At one point, it seemed that people in the North were so tired of the war that they wouldn't reelect Lincoln. After the victory in Atlanta, Lincoln's popularity was boosted and he won the reelection by a wide margin. His reelection was important because now he had the support from the Northerners to continue the war through his second term. |
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Term
| Why was Fort Monroe's existence in Hampton, VA important to the success of the Northern forces in the war? |
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Definition
| Fort Monroe was so strongly built that it was a stronghold for the North in the middle of Confederate territory, with easy access to the sea and to supplies. It served as the advance base for the North's incursions into the South. |
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Term
What did General Sherman (Union army)do once his forces reached the sea in Georgia?
-- When did he do this? |
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Definition
| Sherman attacked and took Fort McAllister and this enabled him to take Savannah, GA in December of 1864. |
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Term
Describe the fall of Fort Fisher, North Carolina.
-- When did it fall?
-- Why is its fall significant? |
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Definition
| Fort Fisher had been protecting the Confederate blockade runners who had been sneaking supplies in to the South from Great Britain and from France. Union General Terry managed to take Fort Fisher in January of 1865, thus blocking off Southern access to foreign supplies. |
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Term
| What was one of the main causes of the fall of the Confederacy? |
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Definition
| Once the federal forts in the south had been retaken, thus enabling the North to successfully blockade the South from the supplies they needed to survive, starving Southern soldiers began deserting the Confederate Army and surrender was only a matter of time. This was the state of affairs in February of 1865. |
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Term
| Describe General Sherman's (Union army) march through the south in 1865. |
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Definition
| General Sherman marched from Georgia through South Carolina and up into North Carolina, destroying everything in his path, reducing the Confederacy to rubble and burned fields. |
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Term
What did Jefferson Davis, the President of the Confederacy want to set up in February of 1865?
-- What was the result? |
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Definition
| Confederate President Jefferson Davis wanted to send delegates to a peace conference with Lincoln, but only if Lincoln would recognize them as an independent state, which he refused to do. So, no peace conference happened. |
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Term
Describe the fall of Richmond, VA.
-- When did it happen? |
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Definition
| Richmond was evacuated by Lee when he lost to Grant's forces in Petersburg, VA in April of 1865. Lee headed west to join up with other Confederate forces. |
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Term
Describe the end of the Civil War.
-- When was it?
-- Where was it? |
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Definition
| In April 1865, General Lee's troops were surrounded by Grant's troops and on April 9, the two commanders met at Appomattox Courthouse and agreed on the terms of surrender. Lee's men were sent home on parole. Soldiers could keep their horses and officers could keep their sidearms, but all other weapons were confiscated. |
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Term
Describe Lincoln's assassination.
-- When did it happen?
-- What happened to the conspirators?
-- What happened to the Union? |
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Definition
| On April 14, as President Lincoln was watching a performance at Ford's Theater in Washington, DC, he was shot by John Wilkes Booth, an actor from Maryland, obsessed with avenging the Confederate defeat. Lincoln died the next morning. Booth escaped to Virginia. Eleven days later, cornered in a burning barn, Booth was fatally shot by a Union soldier. Nine other people were involved in the assassination; four were hanged, four imprisoned, and one acquitted. |
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Term
Who was Captain Henry Wirz?
-- What did he do?
-- When did he do it?
-- What happened to him? |
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Definition
| He was the notorious superintendent of the Confederate prison at Andersonville, GA, where many Northern prisoners perished. Wirz was hanged on Nov. 10, 1865. |
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