Civil War Battles & Events Flashcards

Vocabulary-style flashcards covering major battles, campaigns, and political events of the American Civil War.

Fort Sumter (April 12–13, 1861)

• Confederate forces fired on the Union-held fort in Fort Sumter after Union troops refused to leave.

• Winner: Confederacy

• Significance: Marked the official beginning of the American Civil War and pushed many Northerners and Southerners to support war.

First Battle of Bull Run / First Manassas (July 21, 1861)

• Union and Confederate armies fought near Manassas, Virginia. Many people expected a quick Union victory, but Confederate troops held strong and forced the Union army to retreat.

• Winner: Confederacy

• Significance: Showed the war would be long and difficult, not a short conflict

Union Naval Blockade (Started 1861)

• The Union Navy blocked Southern ports to prevent the Confederacy from trading cotton and receiving supplies and weapons from other countries.

• Winner: Union strategy gradually succeeded

• Significance: Hurt the Southern economy and weakened the Confederacy over time as part of the Union’s “Anaconda Plan.”

Battle of Shiloh (April 6–7, 1862)

• Confederate troops launched a surprise attack in Tennessee, but Union forces recovered and pushed them back.

• Winner: Union

• Significance: One of the bloodiest battles up to that point; showed how deadly the war would become and gave the Union more control in the West

Battle of Antietam (September 17, 1862)

Fought in Maryland, this became the bloodiest single day in American history. Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s invasion of the North was stopped.

• Winner: Union (strategic victory)

• Significance: Prevented European nations from supporting the Confederacy and gave President Abraham Lincoln the chance to issue the Emancipation Proclamation

Emancipation Proclamation (September 22,1862)

• President Abraham Lincoln declared that enslaved people in Confederate states were free.

• Winner: Union moral and political victory

• Significance: Changed the war’s purpose to include ending slavery and allowed African Americans to join the Union army

Vicksburg Campaign (May 18 – July 4, 1863)

Union General Ulysses S. Grant surrounded and captured the Confederate city of Vicksburg, Mississippi.

• Winner: Union

• Significance: Gave the Union control of the Mississippi River and split the Confederacy in two.

Battle of Gettysburg (July 1–3, 1863)

.Confederate General Robert E. Lee invaded Pennsylvania, but Union forces defeated his army after three days of fighting.

• Winner: Union

• Significance: Considered the turning point of the Civil War because the Confederacy never successfully invaded the North again.

Gettysburg Address (November 19, 1863)

• President Abraham Lincoln gave a short speech honoring soldiers who died at Gettysburg.

• Significance: Reaffirmed the principles of equality and democracy and gave deeper meaning to the Union cause

Overland Campaign (May–June 1864)

.Union General Ulysses S. Grant fought a series of brutal battles against Robert E. Lee in Virginia.

• Winner: No clear tactical winner, but Union gained advantage

• Significance: Wore down Confederate forces through constant fighting and showed the Union’s determination to continue the war

Atlanta Campaign (May–September 1864)

• Union General William Tecumseh Sherman fought to capture Atlanta, an important Southern railroad and manufacturing center.

• Winner: Union

• Significance: Boosted Northern morale and helped Lincoln win reelection in 1864.

Sherman’s March to the Sea (November–December 1864)

.General William Tecumseh Sherman led Union troops from Atlanta to Savannah, destroying railroads, crops, and supplies along the way.

• Winner: Union

• Significance: Crippled the South’s ability to continue fighting and demonstrated “total war” tactics

Appomattox Court House (April 9, 1865)

.Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered his army to Union General Ulysses S. Grant in Virginia.

• Winner: Union

• Significance: Effectively ended the Civil War and began the process of Reconstruction.