Unit 6 Description, A.P. U.S. History - Chapter 19 Quiz List

Border States

Slave states that did not secede from the Union during the Civil War: Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland, and Delaware (and later West Virginia).

West Virginia

Mountainous region that broke away from Virginia in 1861 to remain loyal to the Union, officially admitted as a separate state in 1863.

Bull Run (Manassas Junction)

The first major land battle of the Civil War (July 1861), in which Confederate forces defeated the Union army, dispelling Northern hopes for a quick war.

Peninsula Campaign

A major Union amphibious offensive in 1862 led by General George B. McClellan designed to capture the Confederate capital of Richmond.

Writ of Habeas Corpus

A constitutional protection against unlawful imprisonment that Abraham Lincoln suspended during the Civil War to detain Confederate sympathizers without formal charges.

Morrill Tariff Act

An 1861 protective tariff passed by the U.S. Congress that increased import duties to raise revenue and protect Northern manufacturing during the Civil War.

Homestead Act

An 1862 federal law that granted 160 acres of public land in the West to settlers for a nominal fee, requiring five years of residence and improvement.

Morrill Land Grant Colleges Act

An 1862 law that provided public land to states to establish colleges specializing in agriculture, mechanical arts, and military tactics.

Pacific Railroad Act

An 1862 act of Congress providing land grants and government bonds to support the construction of a transcontinental railroad.

National Banking System

A banking network established by Congress in 1863 to stimulate the sale of government bonds and create a unified, standard national currency.

New York draft riots

Violent working-class protests in New York City in July 1863 against military conscription, largely involving Irish immigrants and targeting African Americans.

Trent affair

An 1861 diplomatic crisis caused by a Union warship intercepting the British mail steamer Trent and removing two Confederate envoys, nearly causing war with Britain.

Alabama

A British-built Confederate commerce raider that captured or destroyed over sixty Union merchant ships before being sunk in 1864.

Laird rams

Two well-armed Confederate ironclad warships with iron rams built in Britain, which the British government ultimately seized to avoid war with the Union.

Fort Henry and Fort Donelson

Key Confederate forts on the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers captured by Ulysses S. Grant in February 1862, opening the way for Union invasion into the upper South.

Shiloh

A fierce and bloody April 1862 battle in southwestern Tennessee ending in a marginal Union victory and signaling that the Civil War would be prolonged and costly.

Merrimack

A former Union frigate refitted with iron armor and renamed the CSS Virginia by the Confederacy, which fought the Union ironclad Monitor to a draw in March 1862.

Monitor

A Union ironclad warship with an innovative rotating gun turret that fought the Confederate Merrimack (CSS Virginia) at the Battle of Hampton Roads.

Second Battle of Bull Run

An August 1862 battle in Virginia where Confederate General Robert E. Lee decisively defeated Union forces under General John Pope, opening the way for Lee's invasion of Maryland.

Anteitam

The single bloodiest day of combat in the Civil War (September 1862 in Maryland); the Confederate retreat gave Abraham Lincoln the opportunity to issue the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation.

Emancipation Proclamation

President Abraham Lincoln's executive proclamation declaring that all enslaved people in Confederate areas in rebellion against the Union were forever free, effective January 1, 1863.

Juneteenth

June 19, 1865, commemorating the arrival of Union troops in Galveston, Texas, who announced and enforced the freedom of the last enslaved people in the former Confederacy.

Thirteenth Amendment

Constitutional amendment ratified in 1865 that officially abolished slavery and involuntary servitude throughout the United States, except as criminal punishment.

Fredericksburg

December 1862 Virginia battle in which Confederate forces decisively repulsed Union frontal assaults led by General Ambrose Burnside, inflicting massive Union casualties.

Gettysburg

July 1863 Pennsylvania battle considered the turning point of the Civil War in the East, where Union forces repelled a major Confederate invasion of the North.

Gettysburg Address

A short dedication speech delivered in November 1863 that framed the Civil War as a moral struggle to preserve a nation dedicated to human equality and democracy.

Vicksburg

A decisive 1863 Mississippi siege led by Ulysses S. Grant that forced a major Confederate surrender, giving the Union total control of the Mississippi River and splitting the South.

Sherman's March

A destructive 1864 military campaign through Georgia from Atlanta to the Atlantic coast, employing total war tactics to break Confederate infrastructure and civilian morale.

Congressional Committee on the Conduct of the War

A joint legislative committee formed in late 1861 by radical Republicans to investigate military setbacks, oversee operations, and press for aggressive emancipation policies.

Copperheads

Northern Peace Democrats who vehemently opposed the Civil War, criticized Lincoln's administration, and demanded an immediate negotiated peace with the Confederacy.

National Union Party

The temporary coalition formed in the 1864 presidential election by Republicans and pro-war Democrats to reelect Abraham Lincoln.

Wilderness Campaign

A brutal series of engagements in Virginia during the spring of 1864 between Grant and Lee, marked by heavy casualties and relentless Union pressure driving toward Richmond.

Appomattox Courthouse

The Virginia site where General Robert E. Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia to Ulysses S. Grant in April 1865, effectively ending the Civil War.

U.S. Sanitary Commission

A wartime civilian relief agency organized in 1861 to improve hygiene, provide medical supplies, and assist wounded soldiers in military camps.

Abraham Lincoln

The 16th U.S. President who preserved the Union during the Civil War, issued the Emancipation Proclamation, and was assassinated in April 1865.

Charles Francis Adams

The American minister to Great Britain who successfully used diplomacy to keep the British government neutral and prevent the delivery of Confederate warships.

Napoleon III

The French monarch who exploited the Civil War to violate the Monroe Doctrine by invading Mexico and establishing a puppet regime under Archduke Maximilian.

Jefferson Davis

The President of the Confederate States of America who struggled to lead the Southern war effort amid strong states' rights resistance to centralized authority.

Clara Barton

A pioneering battlefield nurse and relief organizer during the Civil War who later established the American Red Cross.

Thomas J. ("Stonewall") Jackson

A renowned Confederate general whose tactical brilliance earned him acclaim at Bull Run and the Shenandoah Valley, and whose death after Chancellorsville dealt a severe blow to the South.

George B. McClellan

A meticulous Union general appointed twice to command the Army of the Potomac, known for his organizational skill but criticized by Lincoln for extreme caution and reluctance to commit troops.

Robert E. Lee

The commander of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia who won renowned tactical victories against superior Union numbers before surrendering in 1865.

Ulysses S. Grant

The primary Union commanding general whose aggressive victories at Vicksburg and in Virginia secured total victory for the Union.

William Tecumseh Sherman

The Union general who captured Atlanta and pioneered total war tactics across Georgia and the Carolinas to break Confederate resistance.

Clement L. Vallandigham

A prominent Ohio Peace Democrat banished to the Confederacy for treasonous anti-war speeches, who later influenced the Democratic platform in 1864.

John Wilkes Booth

A pro-Confederate actor who shot and killed Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre on April 14, 1865.