The American Civil War (1861–1865)

Vocabulary flashcards reviewing the key people, battles, weapons, strategies, and consequences of the American Civil War (1861–1865).

Abolitionist Movement

A movement active in Northern and Western states prior to the Civil War that sought the emancipation of enslaved people, with some members supporting relocation to Africa and many demanding full civil equality.

Tragic Prelude

A mural painting featuring abolitionist John Brown that depicts the violent pre-Civil War divisions and clashes over slavery in Kansas.

Abraham Lincoln

The sixteenth President of the United States and Republican leader who opposed the expansion of slavery, led the Union through the Civil War, and was assassinated on April 14, 1865.

Jefferson Davis

The President of the Confederate States of America who previously served as a United States Army officer during the Mexican War and as the United States Secretary of War.

Anaconda Plan

A Union strategic plan proposed by General Winfield Scott to blockade Southern ports, seize control of the Mississippi River, and divide and isolate Confederate territory.

Rifled barrel

A gun barrel manufactured with interior spiral grooving that spins the projectile upon firing, substantially enhancing accuracy and effective range.

Canister shot

An artillery projectile composed of a metal casing filled with iron or lead balls that scatters upon firing, creating a deadly spread against advancing infantry.

Minié ball

A conical, soft-lead bullet designed with an expanding base to engage rifled gun barrel grooves upon firing, causing severe and destructive wounds.

Springfield rifle, 1861

The most widely manufactured and standard-issue infantry shoulder arm utilized by Union armed forces during the Civil War.

British Enfield rifle, 1853

The most prevalent imported rifle musket procured and fielded by the Confederate army throughout the Civil War.

Fort Sumter

The coastal military installation in South Carolina where the opening engagement of the Civil War took place on April 12, 1861, under Major Robert Anderson.

First Battle of Bull Run (Manassas)

The first major land confrontation fought on July 21, 1861, in Virginia, resulting in a Confederate victory under P.G.T. Beauregard and Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson.

Battle of Shiloh

A bloody battle fought on April 6–7, 1862, near Corinth Road in Tennessee, where Union forces withstood an initial Confederate surprise attack led by Albert Johnston and P.G.T. Beauregard.

Battle of Hampton Roads

The historic March 1862 engagement off Sewell's Point, Virginia, between the ironclads USS Monitor and CSS Virginia, which proved the decisive superiority of steam-powered, ironclad warships over wooden ships.

CSS Virginia

A Confederate ironclad warship reconstructed using the raised and converted lower hull of the former wooden Union frigate USS Merrimack.

Battle of Antietam (Sharpsburg)

A single-day confrontation fought on September 17, 1862, in Maryland between George McClellan and Robert E. Lee that produced more than 23,000 casualties and ended in a standstill.

Battle of Fredericksburg

An engagement in December 1862 in Virginia where Union forces under Ambrose Burnside sustained heavy casualties in frontal attacks against Robert E. Lee's fortified position on Marye's Heights.

Emancipation Proclamation

An executive proclamation issued by Abraham Lincoln taking effect on January 1, 1863, which declared all enslaved people in rebelling Confederate states to be permanently free.

Battle of Vicksburg

A prolonged campaign and siege along the Mississippi River in 1863 led by Ulysses S. Grant that culminated in the surrender of Confederate General John Pemberton on July 3, 1863.

Battle of Gettysburg

A pivotal three-day battle fought on July 1–3, 1863, in Pennsylvania, where George Meade's Army of the Potomac turned back Robert E. Lee's northern invasion.

Gettysburg Address

A famous 272-word address delivered by President Abraham Lincoln on November 19, 1863, dedicating the Soldier's National Cemetery in Pennsylvania.

Battle of the Wilderness

A fierce combat engagement on May 5–7, 1864, in dense Virginia woodlands between Ulysses S. Grant and Richard Ewell marked by brushfires ignited by heavy gunfire.

Battle of Cold Harbor

A series of engagements from May 31 to June 12, 1864, in Hanover County, Virginia, in which Union forces suffered nearly 5,000 casualties before Grant shifted operations to Petersburg.

Sherman's March to the Sea

A military expedition from November 15 to December 20, 1864, in which William T. Sherman led Union forces from Atlanta to Savannah, Georgia, systematically destroying Confederate infrastructure.

Sherman's Neckties

A destruction technique practiced by Union troops during the March to the Sea in which torn-up railroad iron rails were heated over fires and twisted around trees to cripple Confederate rail transport.

Appomattox Court House

The Virginia location where Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia to Union General Ulysses S. Grant on April 9, 1865.

John Wilkes Booth

A Confederate sympathizer and actor who fatally shot President Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., on April 14, 1865.

Lincoln Assassination Conspirators

The group of eight individuals tried by a military tribunal for plotting the assassination of President Lincoln, four of whom (Mary Surratt, Lewis Powell, David Herold, and George Atzerdot) were sentenced to death by hanging.

Reconstruction Amendments

The Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments passed in the wake of the Civil War that abolished slavery, granted national citizenship, and secured voting rights for African-American males.