Social studies

John Wilkes Booth

John Wilkes Booth

A well known actor and Confederate sympathizer. Booth approached the ungaurded Presidental box seats with a derringer and dagger. He killed president Lincoln at 10

Blanche Bruce

A former slave and plantation owner, was the first elected black senator to serve a full term in the Senate.

David Farragut

Was given a squadron of 17 warships. He was also a Union Flag Officer. He firred his cannons at a mighty river fortress.

Ulysses S. Grant

Union general who had scored many victories and Confederate-held forts in Tennessee. He easily one the Electorial vote. His administration was plagued with scandals.

Thomas Jackson

The rebels railed with the leadership of a little-known general. He is also known as stonewall Jackson and one of the souths ost skillful generals.

Robert E. Lee

His confederate army was defeated at the gatgantuan Battle of Gettysburg in PA.

Abraham Lincoln

Drafted the Emancipation Proclamation. Died while watching a show with his wife.

HIram Revels

A free man was selected by the Mississippi state legislature to ironically fill the seat once occupied by Jefferson Davis, the former president of the confederacy. He was the first African American to serve in the U.S. senate.

William Sherman

He destroyed anything of military value in the city. He cut his own supply line and had his troops live of the land by foraging for food in the rural areas. Shermans troops burned, looted, and destroyed farms and industries, anything in their wau, as they marfched to Savannah. Foragers, known as numbers, would spread out and search the rural terrain for food.

Edwin Stanton

Harriet Tubman - Not only helped with the Underground Railroad but was also a spy for the Union.

13th Amendment

Officially abolished slavery.

14th Amendment

Former slaves were indeed citizens of the U.S. and guaranteed equal protection under the law.

15th Amendment

Any citizen or race of the United States could vote.

Appomattox Court House

Lee surrendered his army of Northern Virginia on the afternoon of April 9. The surrender was conducted in the living room of a citizen here. A more formal surrender was conducted on April 12, triggering Confederate armies throughout the South to lay down their arms.

Freedmen’s Bureau

Distributed food and supplies, established schools, and redistributed additional confiscated land to former slaves and poor whites.

Ten Percent Plan

Required ten percent of the male white voting population to swear and oath of loyalty to the U.S

Panic of 1873

A severe economic depression which Ulysses S. Grant served in during his administration. The cause of the depression was the construction of railroads. Banks failed, credit dried up, buisnesses failed, workers lost their jobs, workers lost their homes, and consumers failed to buy goods.

Civil Rights Act of 1866

It guaranteed the citizenship of all people born in the U.S regardless of color and previous condition of slavery. It also declared that any citizen had the right to buy and sell property, sue and be sued, make and enforce contracts, and give evidence in court. Any person who were denied these rights on account of race or former slace status was subject to a fine of 1000 or imprisonment for a year.

The Gettysburg Address and its significance

President Lincold arose and gave what historians consider to be one the most powerful speeches in American history. His address was short to the point and simple. He reinforced critical concepts, such as human equality as contained in the Decleration of Independence. He honored the sacrifices the dead soldiers made on the battle ground. He also reinforced the all important political concept about preserving government of the people, by the people, for the people. The speech reinforced are democratic way of life.

Battle of the Ironclads

An Iron Clad was a steam driven ship protected by plates of iron. The confederatess took the captured Union ship Merrima and rebuilt it with iron plates, named CSS Virginia For four hours, the ironclad ships fired cannon balls that bounced off each others iron plates. A new era of how the navy constructed warships was ushered in along with a new age of naval warfare.

Battle of Antietam

Became the bloodiest single day in American military history. Robert E. Lee decided to invade the border slave state of Maryland.

Battle of Gettysburg

Lee ordered General Picketts division of 1500 troops to charge the center part of the Union line on the third day of battle. Picketts Charge, it was called, ended badly for the confederates and Picketts division was ripped to shreds. The battle of Gettysburg was a resounding Union victory. Gettysburg was the bloodiest battle of the Civil war.

Battle of Vicksburg

This turned into the siege of Vicksburg. Union casualties for the battle and siege of Vicksburg were listed at 4835. Confederate losses were 3202, with 29495 troops surrendered, In effect, with the loss of General Pemberton's army and the stronghold of Vicksburg, the confederacy was split in half. The winds of war had shifted in favor of the North.