Civil War Vocab Words

Missouri Compromise

1820 deal that kept the balance between free and slave states by admitting Maine (free) and Missouri (slave).

Compromise of 1850

Package of laws that admitted California as a free state and passed a stricter Fugitive Slave Act.

Kansas-Nebraska Act

1854 law that let territories vote on whether to allow slavery, overturning the Missouri Compromise.

Bleeding Kansas

Violent conflict between pro-slavery and anti-slavery settlers fighting over Kansas's slave status.

Dred Scott

Enslaved man whose famous Supreme Court case ruled Black people were not citizens and couldn't sue.

John Brown's Raid

Failed 1859 attack on a Virginia federal arsenal aimed at starting an armed slave revolt.

Confederate States of America

The nation formed by the 11 Southern states that broke away from the U.S.

Jefferson Davis

The first and only president of the Confederacy during the Civil War.

Fort Sumter

The South Carolina fort where the opening shots of the Civil War were fired in 1861.

Robert E. Lee

The top general who commanded the main Confederate army.

Anaconda Plan

Union military strategy to strangle the South by blockading ports and taking the Mississippi River.

First Bull Run

The first major land battle of the war, proving it would be long and brutal.

Antietam

The single bloodiest day in American history; gave Lincoln the push to issue the Emancipation Proclamation.

Emancipation Proclamation

Lincoln's order declaring all enslaved people in Confederate states free.

Gettysburg

Decisive three-day battle in Pennsylvania that marked the ultimate turning point for the Union.

Vicksburg

Union victory that captured the Mississippi River and split the Confederacy in two.

Ulysses S. Grant

The lead Union general who won the war and later became U.S. President.

13th Amendment

The constitutional amendment that officially abolished slavery in the U.S.

Frederick Douglass

Escaped enslaved person who became a famous speaker, writer, and leader in the abolitionist movement.

Sojourner Truth

Former enslaved woman turned powerful activist for abolition and women's rights ('Ain't I a Woman?').

Harriet Tubman

Famous 'conductor' of the Underground Railroad who led hundreds of enslaved people to freedom.