AICE U.S. History Unit 2 Civil War and Reconstruction Vocabulary

Jefferson Davis/Alexander Stephens

Davis was chosen as president of the Confederacy in 1861. Davis had an impressive military record, becoming Secretary of War in 1853 and fighting in the Mexican-American War. He was considered a good Democrat candidate for the 1860 election since he was well known, well respected, and graduated from West Point. Served in both House and Senate, had rigid viewpoints. Stephens was vice president (go research him, idk much).

CSA/Confederate States of America

Group of 11 Southern states that seceded from the United States ILLEGALLY (goofy ahh). They are: Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Florida, Missouri, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia. Not recognized as a nation by Britain because who tf illegally separates from USA (Britain didn't support slave holders).

Fort Sumter

(April 12, 1861) The day after Lincoln's Inaugural Address, South Carolina puts Lincoln to the test because he said he wasn't going to make slavery illegal. Also said that the Union would not attack until the South did first. South Carolina demands control over crucial Union fort, Fort Sumter, in Charleston Harbor. Union soldiers inside the fort are cut off from supplies and reinforcement. Lincoln sends food provisions; South Carolina says either surrender or get shot. After 36 hours, surrender came, and Civil War began. Lincoln calls for 75,000 volunteers after losing the fort to serve 3 months.

Border States

Slave states that remained loyal to the Union: Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, West Virginia, and Missouri. West Virginia formed because the western part of Virginia was anti-slavery and wanted to stay with the Union (wow really). Lincoln used controversial methods to lock these states to the Union; controls Maryland's railroads. Then he suspends the writ of habeas corpus in Maryland (other states too) on April 27, 1861. People are now held without trial.

Draft riots

(1863) A series of violent disturbances in New York City that were the culmination of discontent with new laws passed by Congress to draft men to fight in the ongoing American Civil War.

Conscription

Getting drafted into the military (THINK: Uncle Sam!! I WANT YOU FOR THE U.S. ARMY >:( join). Union looked for white men aged 20 to 45; Confederates drafted all able bodied men aged 18 to 35. Women were losing their sons, husbands, and their men in general; they didn't like it (Draft Riots of 1863 pookie).

Anaconda Plan/Winfield Scott

A 3-part plan crafted by General Winfield Scott. Called for the blockade of all Southern ports, like how an anaconda (NICKI MINAJ) coils around prey and suffocates it. Union armies also advance down the Mississippi River to split the South in two. Then, the Union would train a strong army to capture the Confederate capital in Richmond, Virginia.

Robert E. Lee

Confederate general, commander of the North Virginia Army. One of seven most accomplished Confederate generals. Worked with Winfield Scott in the Mexican-American War.

Offensive-Defensive Strategy/War of Attrition

The South fought a defensive war of attrition (protect their land from being taken from the North), and the North had a similar strategy: attack when possible, defend when necessary. However, the North was more for offense so they could take over the South. War of Attrition is what the South fought to wear down the North by exhausting soldiers and depleting their resources.

George McClellan

A general for northern command of the Army of the Potomac in 1861; nicknamed "Tardy George" because of his failure to move troops to Richmond; lost battle vs. General Lee near the Chesapeake Bay; Lincoln fired him twice. Considered a bad general because he was hella slow, overly cautious, and trained soldiers to the point of exhaustion.

Ulysses S. Grant

Union general and 18th President of the United States (1869-1877). Led army after George McClellan got fired in the later years of the war (Grant served from 1862 to 1865).

William T. Sherman

Fought in many battles in the Civil War, best known for Battle of Atlanta. Promised African Americans 40 acres and a mule (doesn't actually happen lmao). Used the Total War Strategy, which is targeting not only the Confederate army, but also the civilian population.

Battles of Bull Run (First and Second)

First Battle: July 21, 1861, Virginia
This was the first major battle of the war—a Confederate victory. It shocked the North and gave a false sense of superiority to the South. Convinced both sides that the war would be long and costly.
Total casualties: 847 (Union: 460, Confederate: 387).
Union Commander: Irvin McDowell
Confederate Commanders: Joseph E. Johnson, P.G.T. Beauregard.

Second Battle: August 28-30, 1862, Virginia (Manassas Junction, hence "Battle of Manassas")
Day 1: Jackson forces Pope's army out of the battlefield.
Day 3: Union is forced off the battlefield. Confederates win. Pope is replaced by George McClellan. Lee moved the war into Northern territory to give the Southern farmers a break from fighting on their own soil.
Total casualties: 22,464 (Union: 16,000, Confederate: 9,000 [estimated]).
Union Commander: John Pope
Confederate Commanders: Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson.

Monitor vs. Merrimack

March 9, 1862, coast of Virginia.
U.S.S. Merrimack was a destroyed Union ship, Stephen D. Mallory orders reconstruction. Renamed it to C.S.S. Virginia, the first ironclad ship in Confederacy. The Union was also experimenting, created the U.S.S. Monitor, the Union's first ironclad ship. Both ships are destroyed, ending the production of wooden vessels.

Trent Affair

In 1861, the Confederacy sent emissaries James Mason to Britain and John Slidell to France to lobby for recognition. A Union ship captured both men and took them to Boston as prisoners. England's prime minister, Lord Palmerston, demands an apology and the release of Slidell and Mason. He seized all English shipments to the U.S., including a supply of saltpeter, which was the principal ingredient of gunpowder, and the Union was especially lacking in that. Lincoln had no choice but to release the dudes, but he avoids the public apology. Confederacy is still not recognized as a nation by Britain.

Cotton Diplomacy

Confederate efforts to use the importance of Southern cotton to Britain's textile industry to persuade the British to support the Confederacy in the Civil War. After 1862, new supplies from Egypt and India replaced the Southern supply. Britain also needed more grain than cotton because of the crop failures of Western Europe in 1861-1862, so they depended more on American grain and flour than cotton.

Laird Rams

Two well-armed ironclad warships constructed for the Confederacy by a British firm. Seeking to avoid war with the United States, the British government purchased the two ships for its Royal Navy instead. They were ships with iron rams to poke at ships if they ran out of cannon balls/ship fire (like those guns with the blade at the end. Run out of bullets; you stab people with the blade). It was Charles Francis Adams' (U.S. minister to Britain, grandson of President John Adams and son of President John Quincy Adams) idea to persuade the British to cancel the sale rather than risk war with U.S.

Battle of Antietam

Also called the Battle of Sharpsburg.
September 17, 1862, Maryland (border state).
Winner is inconclusive, but the Union counted this as their victory. This is the single bloodiest day in American military history. Confederates lose the hope of being backed by a European nation. Lincoln gained the confidence to issue the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation (January 1, 1863: blackie people could fight in the war).
Union Commander: George B. McClellan
Confederate Commander: Robert E. Lee.
Total casualties: 26,134 (Union: 12,410, Confederate: 13,724).

Confiscation Acts

(1861 - 1862) Laws passed to seize any contraband or weaponry used to wage war against the Union. Because of Dred Scott, slaves are seen as property and taken away from the Confederacy. Leads to the Emancipation Proclamation.

Emancipation Proclamation

Issued by Abraham Lincoln on September 22, 1862; it declared that all slaves in areas still at war with the Union were free. Leads to/is the basis of the 13th Amendment (13 is evil and bad luck, so slaves are evil and bad luck). Slavery was seen as evil, not blackies.

54th Massachusetts

African American volunteer military unit with a WHITE leader. Fought at the Battle of Fort Wagner from July to September 1863. Most of the blackies die (L imagine skill issue), but they had a jesus moment and died for our sins. They stopped CSA army advancement and acted as reinforcement while more white Union soldiers came to assist them. 54th Massachusetts achieved the military engagement of black people since they mostly had caca jobs, like picking up dead soldiers.

Sherman's Neckties

Railway tracks wrapped around trees after being heated and removed from the ground. A tactic to completely destroy railroad transportation of soldiers and supplies (destruction of infrastructure).

Ambrose Burnside

General who replaced McClellan in the Battle of Fredericksburg. He was aggressive and reckless but he won anyway. Also an industrialist, inventor, and railroad executive (easy way to remember him: he has a wizard name and an aggressive ahh mustache to match his energy).

Battle of Gettysburg

July 1-3, 1863, Southern Pennsylvania.
Largest battle with the most casualties. The turning point in the war because it is the first Union victory and proved that the South could be defeated. Lincoln delivers the Gettysburg Address, the greatest speech in American history dedicated to the soldiers at a cemetery in Gettysburg about bringing true equality to all citizens.
Total casualties: 51,112 (Union: 23,049, Confederate: 28,063)
Union Commander: George G. Meade
Confederate Commander: Robert E. Lee
(this loser tries a strategy called the Pickett's Charge, a failed assault. Confederates lose half their men and Lee is forced to retreat. Also called Longstreet's Assault.)
It was named after Virginia General George E. Pickett (what's with all the georges bruh).

March to the Sea

(November to December, 1864; he actually moves on November 15, 1864). Sherman's march from Atlanta, Georgia, to Savannah, Georgia, which cut off Confederate supplies received by the sea. They wanted to destroy the Southern economy and morale, leading to Southern surrender. Scorched earth is used here; Union troops burn down Southern infrastructure, as well as the city of Columbia in South Carolina.

Total War/Scorched Earth

Destroying a country's resources, economy, and military force in order to defeat their will to wage war. Attacked not only the military but the civilian population as well. Scorched earth policy is most notable in Sherman's March to the Sea, when they burned Southern infrastructure and the city of Columbia in South Carolina.

War of Attrition (already up there)

The South's strategy of war to wear down the North by exhausting their soldiers and depleting their resources (it doesn't work anyway lmao).

Battle of Vicksburg

May, 18, 1863 - July 4, 1863, Mississippi.
Union obtains New Orleans, since it was one of two Confederate holdouts preventing the Union from taking complete control of the Mississippi River. Union victory since Grant focused on getting Vicksburg and the Union actually got the Mississippi River. Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas are cut off from the Confederacy because of TOTAL WAR STRATEGY!!
Union Commander: Ulysses S. Grant (useless haha)
Confederate Commander: John C. Pemberton
Total casualties: 19,233 (Union: 10,142, Confederate: 9,091).

Election of 1864

5 political parties supported candidates for the presidency: War Democrats, Peace Democrats, Copperheads, Radical Republicans, & National Union Party; each political party offered a different point of view on how the war should be run and what should be done to the Confederate states after the war; National Union Party joined with Lincoln, who won the election on the recent Northern victories against the South; decided that the Confederacy would lose and that slavery was dead and not trendy anymore.

Appotomax Court House

(April 19, 1865) General Robert E. Lee surrenders to Ulysses S. Grant at the home of Wilmer McLain, former resident of Manassas that moved because of how close Bull Run Battles were close to his house. Confederate troops are not tried for treason and they got to keep their horses.

Habeas Corpus

A writ requiring a person under arrest to be brought before a judge or into court, especially to secure the person's release unless lawful grounds are shown for their detention. Lincoln suspends this in Maryland (a border state) to secure their loyalty to the Union. Ruled unlawful by Roger Taney in Ex parte Milligan, but Lincoln the baddie ignores his opinion.

Ex parte Merryman

(1861) Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Roger Taney, rules that Lincoln violated the U.S. Constitution when he illegally suspended the writ of Habeas Corpus. He stated that the authority to suspend habeas corpus lay exclusively with Congress. Lincoln was a girlboss, an absolute diva, and ignored Taney.

Copperheads

Northern Democrats who opposed the Civil War and sympathized with the South. Obstructed the war through attacks against conscription. Lots of political strength in southern Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. Referred to Lincoln as "Illinois Ape".

Clement Vallandigham

Notorious Copperhead, convicted of treason, ran for governor of Ohio while exiled to Canada. Caused trouble by yapping about the need to end the cruel war. Convicted by military tribunal in 1863 for words of treason and sentenced to prison. Lincoln exiles him to the Confederacy.