Social Studies 8: Module 18 Vocabulary

Border States

A slave state that lay between the North and South and did not join the Confederacy during the Civil War; Delaware, Kentucky Maryland, and Missouri were border states.

Cotton Diplomacy

Confederates efforts to use the importance of southern cotton of Britain’s textile industry to persuade the British to support the Confederacy during the Civil War.

Ironclads

A warship that is heavily armored with iron.

Emancipation

Freeing of the slaves.

Emancipation Proclamation

An order issued by president Abraham Lincoln freeing the slave sin areas rebelling against the Union; took effect January 1, 1863.

Contrabands

An escaped slave who joined the Union army during the Civil War.

Copperheads

A group of northern Democrats who opposed abolition and sympathized with the South during the Civil War.

Habeas Corpus

The constitutional protection against unlawful imprisonment.

Total War

A type of war in which an army destroys its opponents ability to fight by targeting civilian and economic as well as military resources.

Fort Sumner

A federal outpost in Charleston, South Carolina, that was attacked by the Confederates in April 1861, sparking the Civil War.

Jefferson Davis

The President of the Confederate States of America during the Civil War, who was a former U.S. Senator and Secretary of War.

Abraham Lincoln

The 16th President of the United States, who led the nation during the Civil War and worked to end slavery through the Emancipation Proclamation.

Winfield Scott

An American general, he served as a commander in the Mexican War and used a two-part strategy in the South in the Civil War; he wanted to destroy the South’s economy with a naval blockade and gain control of the Mississippi River.

Robert E. Lee

An American soldier, he refused to head the Union Army and agreed to lead Confederate forces. He won several major battles until his defeat at Gettysburg. He surrendered to the Union’s commander General Grant at Appomattox Courthouse.

Battle of Antietam

A Union victory in the Civil War that marked the bloodiest single-day battle in U.S. military history.

Ulysses S. Grant

Eighteenth president of the United States, he received a field promotion to lieutenant general in charge of all Union forces after leading a successful campaign in the West. He accepted General Lee’s Surrender of Confederate forces at Appomattox Courthouse.

54 Massachusetts Infantry

African American Civil War regiment that captured Fort Wagner in South Carolina.

Clara Barton

Founder of the American Red Cross, she obtained and administered supplies and care to the Union soldiers during the American Civil War.

Battle of Gettysburg

A Union Civil War Victory that turned the tide against the Confederates at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.