American Civil War
Slavery's decisive conflict
The American Civil War (1861–1865) was the conflict between the United States and eleven Southern states that seceded to form the Confederate States of America.
The war centered on slavery and states' rights, resulting in Union victory, the abolition of slavery, and the death of over 600,000 soldiers—the deadliest war in American history.
His great-great-grandfather fought in the Civil War.
Divided governmental authority
- YankeePerson from northeastern states
- LincolnMidwestern state capital
- GrantFunds given officially
- ShermanAmerican tank model
Emancipation Proclamation · Gettysburg Address · Appomattox · Antietam · Union Army · Army of the Potomac · abolitionists · war effort
Pennsylvania battle site
- Antietam1862 Maryland engagement
- ShilohTennessee battlefield, 1862
- VicksburgCivil War siege site
- FredericksburgVirginia Civil War site
Chancellorsville · Petersburg · Appomattox · Fort Sumter · Atlanta · March to the Sea · Shenandoah · Spotsylvania
Combat engagement area
- infantryGround combat troops
- cavalryMounted military force
- artilleryLarge-caliber battlefield weapons
- siegeEncirclement forcing surrender
trenches · skirmish · campaign · casualties · regiment · brigade · division · corps
Large-scale farming operation
- enslavementForced human ownership
- bondageInvoluntary subjugation to another
- chattelMovable personal property
- auctionCompetitive public sale
overseer · slaveholder · cotton · tobacco · antebellum · field hands · slave codes · Middle Passage
Alliance for shared purpose
- states' rightsProvincial governmental autonomy
- sovereigntySupreme independent authority
- Jefferson DavisConfederacy's only president
- Fort SumterSouth Carolina coastal fortification
ordinance · nullification · sectionalism · fire-eaters · border states · Missouri Compromise · Compromise of 1850 · Fugitive Slave Act
Authority defier
- gray coatsConfederate military attire
- RichmondVirginia's seat of government
- King CottonPersonified Southern crop dominance
- Confederate flagSecession-era Southern banner
Robert E. Lee · Stonewall Jackson · Dixie · lost cause · secessionists · Jefferson Davis · Confederate Army
Post-Civil War relief agency
- carpetbaggerExploitative political outsider
- scalawagAffectionate term for rogue
- Radical RepublicansStrict Reconstruction-era congressional bloc
- Fourteenth AmendmentPost-Civil War constitutional addition
Fifteenth Amendment · sharecropping · Jim Crow · reunification · occupation · impeachment · Andrew Johnson · reconciliation
federal
Divided governmental authority
Sherman · Emancipation Proclamation · Gettysburg Address · Appomattox · Antietam · Union Army · Army of the Potomac · abolitionists · war effort · Washington
Gettysburg
Pennsylvania battle site
Fredericksburg · Chancellorsville · Petersburg · Appomattox · Fort Sumter · Atlanta · March to the Sea · Shenandoah · Spotsylvania
battlefield
Combat engagement area
siege · trenches · skirmish · campaign · casualties · regiment · brigade · division · corps · fortifications
plantation
Large-scale farming operation
- enslavementForced human ownership
- bondageInvoluntary subjugation to another
- chattelMovable personal property
auction · overseer · slaveholder · cotton · tobacco · antebellum · field hands · slave codes · Middle Passage · human trafficking
confederacy
Alliance for shared purpose
- states' rightsProvincial governmental autonomy
- sovereigntySupreme independent authority
- Jefferson DavisConfederacy's only president
Fort Sumter · ordinance · nullification · sectionalism · fire-eaters · border states · Missouri Compromise · Compromise of 1850 · Fugitive Slave Act · John C. Calhoun
rebel
Authority defier
- gray coatsConfederate military attire
- RichmondVirginia's seat of government
- King CottonPersonified Southern crop dominance
Robert E. Lee · Stonewall Jackson · Confederate flag · Dixie · lost cause · secessionists · Jefferson Davis · Confederate Army
Freedmen's Bureau
Post-Civil War relief agency
- carpetbaggerExploitative political outsider
- scalawagAffectionate term for rogue
- Radical RepublicansStrict Reconstruction-era congressional bloc
Fourteenth Amendment · Fifteenth Amendment · sharecropping · Jim Crow · reunification · occupation · impeachment · Andrew Johnson · reconciliation · reintegration
- Civil WarsBosnian War, Yugoslav Wars, secession, brother against brother, divided nation
- 1800sVictorian era, Napoleon, Gilded Age, Queen Victoria, Industrial Revolution
- 1860sAbraham Lincoln, Appomattox, Confederacy, Confederate States, Emancipation Proclamation
- WarsWorld War I, WWI, cold war, Korean War, Gulf War
- Victorian HistoryGreat Exhibition, Crystal Palace, Indian Mutiny, Crimean War, Boer War
- wartimerationing, war economy, war bonds, war effort, evacuations
American Civil WarWorld War I
First global military conflict
World War II · Mexican-American War · Spanish-American War · War of 1812 · Gulf War
American Civil Warnational unity
Shared identity across citizenry
reunification · national reconciliation · Constitutional Convention · Reconstruction · E pluribus unum
American Civil WarAmerican Revolution
Colonial separation from Britain
revolution · war of independence · coup d'état · French Revolution · regime change
civil, civilian, civilized, uncivil, America, civility, American, civics, civilize