NORTH
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War between the States |
SOUTH
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People of the Civil War
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TERMS
Antebellum
total war Mason-Dixon line |
riffling
Minie ball magazine casson canister |
ironclad
kepi haversack hard tack goober peas |
Abolitionist
Conscript Contraband Copperhead Fire-Eater |
bivouac
muster picket Zouave Quartermaster |
Pronunciation
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Flags
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Military Rank
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Army Organization
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Military Engagements
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Infantry Tatctics
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MAJOR CAMPAIGNS & BATTLES
Fort Sumter The Battle of Fort Sumter was the opening engagement of the American Civil War. After the secession of South Carolina, Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard opened fire on Fort Sumter on the morning of April 12, 1861. Major Robert Anderson, surrendered the day after.
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1st Bull Run at ManassasThe first major battle of the Civil War. Both the Union and Confederate forces consisted of a large number of volunteers not yet trained or skilled for military action. The battle was thus messy, unorganized and brutal.
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Wilson's CreekIn the summer of 1861, the Union and the Confederacy struggled for control of Missouri. Brig. Gen. Nathaniel Lyon’s Army of the West was camped at Springfield, Missouri, with Confederate troops under the command of Brig. Gen. Ben McCulloch and Maj. Gen. Sterling Price approaching.
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Antietam
Known in the north as the Battle of Antietam and in the south as the Battle of Sharpsburg, this battle is one of the bloodiest ever fought in the history of the United States with a loss of 22,717.
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Emancipation Proclamation
Made possible by the Union victory at Antietam the Emancipation Proclamation was an executive order of President Lincoln that emancipated (e.g. freed) all slaves in the states still in rebellion against the Federal government.
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FredericksburgMaj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside took command of the Army of the Potomac, and made immediate plans to move the army once again toward Richmond. He hoped to move quickly, and cross to the south side of the Rappahannock River before Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia could block his route.
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ChancellorsvilleMaj. Gen. Joseph Hooker launched a turning movement designed to pry Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia out of its lines at Fredericksburg. The maneuver was successful and by April 30, elements of Hooker's Army of the Potomac had reached the crossroads of Chancellorsville, 12 miles in Lee's rear.
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The Seven Days BattleOn June 1, 1862, Robert E. Lee replaced a Joseph E. Johnston as the commander of the Confederate army defending Richmond. This change of leadership occurred as George B. McClellan and his Army of the Potomac, which numbered more than 100,000 men, approached the climax of their grand offensive against the Southern capital.
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In April of 1862, Major General Ulysses S. Grant called the Army of the Tennessee had moved deep into Tennessee. General Sidney Johnston launched a surprise attack in hoped of defeating Grant’s army The Union Army emerged victorious. Shiloh, which in Hebrew meant “place of peace”, had ironically witnessed the bloodiest battle in American history until that time.
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Vicksburg
In the summer of 1863 the Union Army of Tennessee under Major General Ulysses S. Grant crossed the Mississippi River driving the Confederate Army of Mississippi into defensive lines surrounding the fortress city of Vicksburg. Vicksburg was a crucial fortress city which linked the eastern and western parts of the Confederacy and its capture is considered one of the turning points of the Civil War.
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Battle of Gettysburg
In the summer of 1863, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee launched his second invasion of the Northern states. Lee sought to capitalize on recent Confederate victories and defeat the Union army on Northern soil, which he hoped would force the Lincoln administration to negotiate for peace. Lee also sought to take the war out of the ravaged Virginia farmland and gather supplies for his Army of Northern Virginia.
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Gettysburg Address
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that nation might live...
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Chattanooga/ Chickagaugain October of 1863, Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant focused on lifting the Confederate siege of Chattanooga, Tennessee, which had been in place since the Battle of Chickamauga in September. Grant opened the “Cracker Line” across the Tennessee River to bring supplies to the beleaguered Army of the Cumberland The Confederates under Maj. Gen. Braxton Bragg had established themselves on Missionary Ridge and Lookout Mountain, both of which had commanding views of the city.
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Battle of Atlanta Confederate Lieut. Gen. John Bell Hood still had hopes of driving Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman's Yankees from the outskirts of Atlanta with an offensive blow. July 21, 1864, Hood ordered Lt. Gen. William J. Hardee's corps to make 15-mile night march and assault the Union left flank east of the city, held by Maj. Gen. James B. McPherson's Army of the Tennessee. The ultimate capture of Atlanta in September was extensively covered by Northern newspapers, significantly boosting Northern morale, and Abraham Lincoln was reelected by a significant margin.
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March through GeorgiaSAVANNAH, GA., December 22, 1864
(Via Fort Monroe 6.45 p.m. 25th) His Excellency President LINCOLN: I beg to present you, as a Christmas gift, the city of Savannah, with 150 heavy guns and plenty of ammunition, and also about 25,000 bales of cotton. W.T. Sherman, Major General. |
Overland Campaign
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