Chapter 14: Two Societies at War

Jefferson Davis

Mississippi senator who became the president of the Confederate States of America; he led the South’s political and military efforts during the Civil War, defending states’ rights and slavery./n/n

Fort Sumter

Federal fort in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, where Confederate forces fired the first shots of the Civil War in April 1861, prompting Lincoln to call for troops and leading Upper South states to secede./n/n

The Crittenden Compromise

Last-ditch 1860–1861 proposal by Senator John Crittenden to avoid secession by restoring the Missouri Compromise line and permanently protecting slavery south of it; Republicans and Lincoln rejected it, and it failed./n/n

Robert E. Lee

Top Confederate general and commander of the Army of Northern Virginia; known for his military skill and bold tactics, he became the main symbol of Southern military leadership and surrendered to Grant at Appomattox in 1865./n/n

Bull Run

Site of two major Civil War battles in northern Virginia; the First Battle of Bull Run (1861) was the war’s first major land battle and a Confederate victory, shattering Northern hopes of a quick war./n/n

“Stonewall” Jackson

Confederate general Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson, nicknamed for standing firm “like a stone wall” at the First Battle of Bull Run; a brilliant, aggressive commander and Lee’s key lieutenant until his death in 1863./n/n

Antietam

1862 battle in Maryland, the bloodiest single day in U.S. history; a tactical draw but a strategic Union advantage that halted Lee’s invasion of the North and gave Lincoln the opportunity to issue the Emancipation Proclamation./n/n

Ulysses S. Grant

Union general who rose to command all Union armies; known for his aggressive, relentless fighting in the Western Theater and later in Virginia, he accepted Lee’s surrender at Appomattox and was later elected 18th U.S. president./n/n

Total War

Military strategy that targets not just enemy armies but also the economic, infrastructure, and civilian resources supporting them, aiming to break the opponent’s will to fight; used by Union leaders like Grant and Sherman later in the Civil War./n/n

Enrollment Act of 1863

Union draft law that required men to serve in the army, with controversial provisions allowing wealthier men to hire substitutes or pay a fee; it led to resistance and violent draft riots, especially in New York City./n/n

Clara Barton

Civil War nurse who organized medical care and supplies for Union soldiers on the battlefield; later founded and became the first president of the American Red Cross, expanding humanitarian relief work./n/n

Homestead Act of 1862

Law granting 160 acres of free public land in the West to settlers who lived on it and improved it for five years; encouraged western migration and tied the Union war effort to a vision of free farms and free labor./n/n

Greenbacks

Paper money issued by the Union government during the Civil War that was not backed by gold or silver; used to finance the war, it sparked debates about inflation and the federal government’s power over currency./n/n

Confiscation Act

Series of Union laws beginning in 1861 that allowed the seizure of Confederate property, including enslaved people who were being used to support the rebellion; they opened the door toward emancipation by treating enslaved people as “contraband of war.”/n/n

Emancipation Proclamation

Executive order issued by President Lincoln on January 1, 1863, declaring enslaved people in Confederate-controlled areas to be free; it changed the Union war aim to include ending slavery and allowed Black men to join the Union army and navy./n/n

The Fifty-Fourth Massachusetts Infantry

One of the first official African American regiments in the Union army; it gained fame for its heroic but costly assault on Fort Wagner in 1863, helping prove Black soldiers’ courage and strengthen support for Black enlistment./n/n

Sherman’s March

General William T. Sherman’s 1864–1865 destructive march from Atlanta to Savannah and through the Carolinas, where his troops destroyed railroads, supplies, and property to break Southern morale and capacity to fight (a key example of total war)./n/n

Thirteenth Amendment

Constitutional amendment ratified in 1865 that abolished slavery and involuntary servitude in the United States (except as punishment for a crime), legally ending slavery nationwide./n/n

William Tecumseh Sherman

Union general known for capturing Atlanta and conducting “Sherman’s March to the Sea”; his harsh total-war strategy targeted Confederate infrastructure and resources to hasten the South’s surrender./n/n

Special Field Order No. 15

Military order issued by Sherman in 1865 setting aside a large strip of coastal land in Georgia and South Carolina for formerly enslaved families (“forty acres and a mule”); later revoked by the federal government, it symbolized the unfulfilled promise of land reform for freedpeople./n/n

Appomattox Court House

Village in Virginia where Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant in April 1865, effectively ending major Confederate resistance and marking the symbolic close of the Civil War./n/n