The American Civil War Practice Flashcards

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the key people, battles, political events, and social conditions of the American Civil War as described in the lecture notes.

Abraham Lincoln

The Republican candidate in the 1860 election who stood for the preservation of the Union and opposition to the extension of slavery.

Southern Democrats

A political faction led by John C. Breckinridge in 1860 that stood for the protection of citizens’ property in all US territories.

Stephen Douglas

The Democratic candidate in the 1860 election who upheld popular sovereignty.

Constitutional Union Party

Essentially the ghost of the Whig party, this group led by John Bell pledged to uphold the law and the Constitution.

Major Robert Anderson

The Union officer who refused to give up Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor.

Pierre Beauregard

The Confederate leader who accepted the surrender of his former teacher, Major Robert Anderson, at Fort Sumter.

Habeas Corpus

The legal right suspended by both Abraham Lincoln and Jeff Davis during the war to protect the nation or manage the conflict.

Anaconda Plan

Lincoln’s plan to implement a blockade of the Confederacy, which grew significantly more effective by the end of the war.

King Corn (wheat)

A term referring to Northern food exports that Britain was partially dependent on during the war.

Springfield and Enfield rifles

Firearms with an effective range of up to $400\,\text{yards}$ that multiplied casualties and forced troops to use trenches.

First Battle of Bull Run

A Confederate victory at Manassas where Union troops with 90-day enlistments were sent running back to Washington.

George B. McClellan

Known as "Little Mac" or "Young Napoleon," he was a great organizer and drillmaster whose primary defect was perfectionism and a lack of will to act.

Ball’s Bluff

A Confederate victory where Union troops scaled a $100\,\text{foot}$ bluff and were driven back into the Potomac River.

Benjamin Butler

A Union official who dealt with runaway slaves by claiming them as captured property.

U. S. Grant (nickname)

Standing for "Unconditional Surrender" Grant, a nickname earned after his victory at Fort Donelson.

Shiloh

A Union victory with $23,000$ combined casualties, a total that doubled the casualties of the War of 1812, the Mexican-American War, and the Spanish-American War combined.

John Magruder

A Confederate commander who used "Quaker guns" and moved regiments around to trick McClellan into believing he was outnumbered.

Quaker guns

Peeled logs painted black to look like cannons, used to deceive Union forces during the Peninsular Campaign.

Antietam

The bloodiest single day of the war with $23,000$ to $24,000$ dead, wounded, or missing; it led to the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation.

Battle of Fredericksburg

One of the Union's worst defeats where seven divisions were decimated in 14 charges against a Confederate stone wall.

Bounty Jumpers

Individuals who would enlist to collect a bounty in one district, then desert and enlist elsewhere to collect another.

20 Negro law

A Confederate exemption that allowed anyone owning 20 or more slaves to be exempt from military service.

Minie`ball

An ammunition type that expanded like a mushroom on impact, causing larger exit wounds than entrance wounds.

Elmira

A Union military prison where the death rate reached $24\%$ and Confederate prisoners were forced to eat cats and dogs.

Andersonville

The worst Confederate military prison, characterized by a mortality rate of $$35\%."}

Greenbacks

Union paper currency made legal tender under the Legal Tender Act.

Sand Creek Massacre

The 1864 attack in Colorado where US troopers killed and mutilated Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians who had already made a treaty of surrender.

Quantrill’s Raiders

Confederate guerillas who murdered approximately 182 men and boys in Lawrence, KS.

Emancipation Proclamation

A formal decree issued in 1863 that freed slaves ONLY in Confederate states or areas not under Union control.

Battle of Chancellorsville

A major victory for Robert E. Lee where General Stonewall Jackson was killed by friendly fire.

Vicksburg

A long siege by Grant and Sherman that resulted in Union control of the Mississippi River and split the Confederacy in half.

Pickett’s charge

A famous but disastrous Confederate attack during the Battle of Gettysburg where soldiers were mowed down by Union gunfire.

Chickamauga and Chattanooga

Battles in Georgia and Tennessee that ultimately opened up Georgia for Sherman’s march to the sea.

Wilderness campaign

A series of tangles between Grant and Lee in Virginia where brushfires killed hundreds of men.

Bummers

A term for Sherman’s troops who often looted residences for clothing, tobacco, and whiskey as they marched.