US History Chapter 4: Resources, Strategies, and Early Battles

Blockade

A naval tactic in which Union ships prevented merchant vessels from entering or leaving the South's few good ports, crippling southern trade.

Robert E. Lee

An outstanding officer from Virginia who opposed secession and slavery, but declined command of Union forces to lead the Confederate army in defense of his native state.

Anaconda Plan

A two-part Union strategy devised by General Winfield Scott to blockade southern ports and gain control of the Mississippi River to split the Confederacy in two.

Border state

Slaveholding states—Missouri, Kentucky, Delaware, and Maryland—that did not secede and remained in the Union.

Stonewall Jackson

The nickname given to Confederate General Thomas J. Jackson in honor of his refusal to yield to Union forces at the First Battle of Bull Run.

George B. McClellan

The cautious Union general appointed to command the Army of the Potomac following the defeat at Bull Run.

Ulysses S. Grant

Union General who directed the capture of Fort Henry and Fort Donelson in Tennessee and commanded Union forces at the Battle of Shiloh.

Shiloh

An April 1862 battle in southwest Tennessee where nearly 25,000 Union and Confederate soldiers were killed or wounded in two days of fighting.

thereby

By or through that.

erode

To eat into; wear away.

Winfield Scott

Virginia-born hero of the Mexican-American War and commander of all U.S. forces in 1861 who devised the Anaconda Plan.