[APUSH 1] Civil War Combo Vocabulary

Copperheads

Northerners who wanted to break away w/ the South

• Vocal group of Democrats in northern U.S. who opposed the Civil War and wanted immediate peace w/ the Confeds

• Republicans called them “Copperheads” linking them to the venomous snake

• Peace Democrats liked the label, reinterpreting the copper “head” as the likeness of liberty, which they cut from copper pennies and proudly wore them as badges

• Most famous = Congressman Clement L. Vallandigham of Ohio who was banished from the U.S. to Ohio for his “treasonable” pro-Confed speeches against the war

Fort Sumter

1st engagement of the Civil War:

1. Federal fort in Charleston, South Carolina that is attacked by Confederate troops Lincoln attempts to resupply them

2. Taken by Confederates in 2 days

• Fort Sumter was cut off from vital supplies and reinforcement by Southern control of the harbor

• Lincoln didn’t want to give it up or defend it – just resupply it with food

• South Carolina had the choice to either permit resupply or fire

Draft Riots

Riots where poor laborers attacked blacks and wealthy whites to avoid service in the war (NYC & northern cities)

• Not enough soldiers in the Union volunteering

• Conscription = draft 

• Draft would be done lottery style

• 2 ways out = pay $300 to the gov’t (the wealthy could only afford) or somebody takes your place

• Blacks were targeted because of fear that they would work for cheaper than the regular worker PLUS newly freed slaves would need jobs and would DEFINITELY work for cheaper

Habeas Corpus

a. an arrested person must be brought charges within 48 hours and/or in front of a court/judge to hear their crimes

b. briefly suspended by Lincoln during the war in places that were pro-Confederate

• People were arrested without knowing the charges against them

• Habeas Corpus can be suspended only in the case of rebellion or invasion because public safety may require it

Confederate States of America (CSA)

1. 7 states of the Deep South secede after Lincoln is elected and 4 more of the Upper South follow after Fort Sumter

2. Southern capital is now Richmond, Virginia

• Upper South joins after Lincoln uses federal troops to put down the “rebellion”

Border States

Union controlled slave states (Delaware, Maryland, Missouri, Kentucky)

Jefferson Davis

1st and only President of the CSA who had little authority

Alexander H. Stephens

Vice President of the Confederacy who threatened the secession of Georgia in response to the actions of the Confed government

• Felt Davis and the Confederate government was being “tyrannical”

First Battle of Bull Run #1 (July 1861)

1st battle of the Civil War where 30,000 inexperienced federal troops are defeated by experienced Confederate troops

• CSA calls it = First Manassas

• 30,000 Union troops march to Bull Run Creek near Manassas Junction, VA

• Union forces close to victory until reinforcements under Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson counterattacked

• Battle ends the illusion of a short war & promoted myth that rebels were “invincible”

• Confederate lifestyle better for war, since they’re used to hunting and horseback riding unlike the Northerner who works in the cities and small farms

Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson

Confederate general at Bull Run whose reinforcements proved the Union opinion wrong that this would be a short and easy war

Winfield Scott

“Old Fuss and Feathers”;

a) Union strategist & General-in-chief of the army who had a 3 part plan to conquer the Confederacy;

• U.S. navy blockade of ports (Anaconda Plan) = cutting off supplies

• Divide the Confederacy in 2 parts by taking control of Miss River

• Raise & train army of 500,000 to take Richmond

Anaconda Plan

Proposed by Winfield Scott which included:

a. U.S. navy blockade of southern ports to cut off essential supplies from reaching the South

b. Divide Confederacy in 2 by taking control of the Mississippi

c. Raise and train 500,000 to take over Richmond, VA

d. Unsuccessful until Ulysses S. Grant and William T. Sherman move East

• All about taking Virginia = if the Union takes Virginia the C.S.A. will fold/lose

George McClellan

Commander of the Union army in the East who is defeated by Robert E. Lee in 1862;

• Hired and fired 2x by Lincoln

• Becomes a “Peace” Democrat and loses the 1864 election v. Lincoln

Robert E. Lee

Commander of the Confederate forces throughout the Civil War

• Chooses the South over the North (Lincoln asked him to lead the Union, but he refused) because of his loyalty to the South

• He is the force behind the CSA = soldiers fight FOR HIM and NOT Jefferson Davis

• Second Battle of Bull Run – Lee beats General John Pope & sends the Union army back towards Washington, D.C.

• Antietam (Sept. 1862) – bloodiest day in the war 22,000 dead.

• Lee hoped winning would get him British recognition. A Confederate officer dropped battle plans which helped McClellan.

• McClellan did not pursue Lee = Lincoln fires him “bad case of the slows.”

• Officially a draw BUT later would prove as a decisive battle b/c Confederates/Lee did not get what they wanted

• Lincoln calls a victory & uses it as motivation for the Emancipation Proclamation

• Fredericksburg (Dec. 1862) – General Ambrose Burnside replaces McClellan and is more aggressive

• Burnside loses badly (12,000 dead to CSA 5,000)

• New weapons take romanticism out of warfare and heroic charges

Monitor v. Merrimac (C.S.S. Virginia) (March 1862)

First battle of iron-sided/ironclad ships in world naval history between the Union and C.S.A. in Virginia

a. battle is a draw

b. Stopped the South’s new weapon (Merrimac) from stopping the Union’s naval blockade

c. Union will build more ironclad ships BUT C.S.A. doesn’t have the ability

d. Revolutionized the future of naval warfare

• Merrimac is a former Union ship, rebuilt and renamed the Virginia

• South build the first ironclad ship that easily sunk Union wooden boats

• Union builds the Monitor to counter-attack

• 5 hour battle ends in a stalemate but stops the South from ending the naval blockade

Ulysses S. Grant

a. Union general of the West who captured forts along the Mississippi helping cut the Confederacy in 2

b. eventually made commander of all forces in the East in 1864

c. Goal was to outlast Lee with a war of attrition

• West Point graduate who joined the army after an unsuccessful civilian career

• Started his campaign from Illinois in 1862 and took over Fort McHenry and Fort Donelson

• Won the fierce battle of Shiloh in Tennessee to continue down the Mississippi River

• Aimed to wear down the southern armies and systematically destroy their vital lines of supply

• His strategy would eventually lead to Trench Warfare = 1st modern war in history

David Farragut

Union navy captain who captured New Orleans

7 Days Campaign

McClellan’s initial invasion of Virginia aimed at taking Richmond, Virginia, the Confederate capital. This was a miserable failure, forcing Lincoln to fire McClellan for the first time.

Trent (Slidell) Affair

When a Union blockade stops a British trade ship coming from the South, it is discovered that 2 Confederate diplomats are on board headed for a secret negotiation with the British (John Slidell & James Mason).

Lincoln puts the diplomats in jail as Prisoners of War (POWs), and later has to admit it was a mistake due to British public outrage. (British threaten war if they are not released). Lincoln gives in, BUT the Confederates STILL do not get full British support.

“Cotton Diplomacy”

The Confederacy’s idea to “force” Britain and France into recognition by withholding the amount of Cotton they were willing to sell during the war.

The C.S.A. hopes that “King Cotton” could influence their foreign policy and aid them against the Union.

• King Cotton = term used by Southerners to convey the economic dominance of the cotton industry, and how the North needed the South’s cotton

Confiscation Act (1861): The power to seize enemy property used to wage war against the United States; “contrabands of war” = slaves!

• Slaves were considered property

National Banking Act (1863)

Creates a uniform Federal currency (the Greenback), while eliminating many state bank notes.

This was the 1^st unified banking network since Jackson’s veto of the recharter in 1830s

Greenbacks

U.S treasury issued paper $. It could not be redeemed in gold, which contributed to inflation prices in the North.

Confiscation Acts (1861)

2 Separate Acts:

1. Passed by Congress in 1861 that said slaves were “contrabands” of war, and therefore would not be returned to the Confederates

2. July 1862 – freed slaves of persons who were engaged in the rebellion against the U.S; freed slaves could be used in the army

Emancipation Proclamation (January 1, 1863)

Lincoln announces that armed forces were to free all slaves in states at war with the U.S. (aka the CSA) as a “military necessity”

Thirteenth Amendment (December 1865)

Abolishes slavery throughout the U.S.

“Peace” Democrats

Democrats who stayed loyal to the Union. Nearly all Copperheads. They considered the war a failure and until 1864 are calling for an immediate peace settlement with the C.S.A.

They later support the war, but say Lincoln is incompetent to run it, and they nominate George McClellan to run against Lincoln in 1864.

• Copperheads were Northerners who wanted to break away with the South

54th Massachusetts Infantry

1^st official African American unit in the Civil War; led by Robert Gould Shaw

Maximillion

The French supported dictator of Mexico; takes throne with French military support, and angers the U.S. (Monroe Doctrine…).

• The Monroe Doctrine stated that European powers shouldn’t involve themselves within affairs in the Western Hemisphere

The Union sends military forces into Northern Texas as a warning to France and Mexico.

Pickett’s Charge

ill fated charge by Thomas Pickett (ordered by Lee) at Gettysburg leading to a Union victory.

The U.S.A. held the high ground. The Civil War is lost here for the C.S.A.

Clara Barton

Part of The Sanitation Committee which sent out nurses to assist in military hospitals; later formed the Red Cross to help soldiers of all sides.

Andersonville

Worst and most notorious of the C.S.A. prison camps for Union P.O.W.’s

Habeas Corpus

a. an arrested person must be brought charges w/in 48 hours and/or in front of a court/judge to hear their crimes

b. briefly suspended by Lincoln during the war in places that were pro-Confederate (Border States)

• Arrested w/out knowing the charges against them

• Can be suspended only in the case of rebellion or invasion because public safety may require it

Revenue Act of 1861 & Revenue Act of 1862

These start to pay for the war

Raise taxes on the wealth

Greenbacks start

Morrill Tariff Act (1861)

Raised (doubled) tariff rates to increase revenue and protect American manufacturers. Its passage initiated a Republican program of high protective tariffs to help industrialists.

Homestead Act (1862)

Promoted settlement of the Great Plains by offering parcels of 160 acres of public land free to whatever person or family would farm that land for at least five years.

(start up fee is $30)

Morrill Land Grant Act (1862)

Encouraged states to use the sale of federal land grants to maintain agricultural and technical colleges.

The Pacific Railway Act (1862)

Authorized the building of transcontinental railroad over a northern route in order to link the economies of California and the western territories with the eastern states.

Election of 1864

Republican Lincoln defeats “Peace” Democrat and former Union general George McClellan.

Total War

unrestricted warfare; sacrifice everything for complete victory

Sherman’s March (to the Sea)

Union general William T . Sherman’s attempt to break the will of the South’s fight.

Destroys/Burns everything of economic value on his way through Georgia. Tells his men it is OK to pillage but NOT to kill/rape.

Appomattox Courthouse (April 9, 1865)

Where Confederate general Robert E. Lee officially surrenders to Union general Ulysses S. Grant which symbolically ends the Civil War . Grant gives Lee thefollowing terms “take your weapons and horses and go home”. Surprises Lee because he thought terms would be unfavorable. (this technically is an armistice with NO terms). Lincoln did NOT want the South to be vengeful (example of how he would have done Reconstruction) (Second inaugural address “with malice toward none; with charity for all”)

John Wilkes Booth

actor and Confederate/Southern sympathizer who was part of a larger plot to assassinate Grant, Secretary of Defense Stanton, and Secretary of State William Seward who successful assassinates Pres. Lincoln at Ford’s Theater in Washington D.C. during the play “Our American Cousin”.

Lincoln dies the next day across the street.

Found in a barn in Virginia which is burned, he is then shot on site.

Ex Parte Milligan

Supreme Court case that says civilians can be tried by military tribunals only when regular civilian courts are unavailable