Civil War Notes Chart

Famous Battles

Fort Sumter

• First action of the Civil War
• Confederacy captured a Union fort in Charleston

Bull Run

• First major battle of the Civil War
• Victory for the Confederacy

Antietam

• Union victory in Maryland
• General McClellan's cautious approach allowed Lee to escape
• Deadliest single day on American soil

Shiloh

• Two-day battle in Tennessee
• Union victory under General Grant
• Notable for the "Hornet’s Nest"
• Significant in helping Union gain control over Mississippi

Monitor vs. Merrimack

• Naval battle between two ironclad ships
• Ended in a draw
• Monitor (Union) vs. Merrimack (Confederate)

Gettysburg

• Bloodiest battle in the Civil War and on US soil
• Union victory by General Meade
• Lee was driven back from the North

Appomattox Courthouse

• Site where Lee surrendered to Grant
• Marked the effective end of the Civil War

Famous People

Abraham Lincoln

• President of the Union

Jefferson Davis

• President of the Confederacy

Winfield Scott

• Union general
• Developed the "Anaconda Plan"

Robert E. Lee

• Top general of the Confederacy
• Known for multiple victories
• Ultimately surrendered to Grant

Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson

• One of Lee’s key commanders
• Influential at Bull Run
• Accidentally killed by own troops

George McClellan

• Union general
• Victory at Antietam
• Fired for being overly cautious
• Ran against Lincoln for presidency and lost

General Meade

• Led Union forces to victory at Gettysburg
• Later dismissed

William Sherman

• Second in command to Grant
• Led "March to the Sea" and practiced total war
• Famous for burning Atlanta

Robert Gould Shaw

• Leader of the 54th Massachusetts
• Died in battle

Mary Edwards Walker

• Female surgeon
• Awarded the Medal of Honor

William Carney

• Member of the 54th Massachusetts
• First African American Medal of Honor recipient

Vocabulary Terms

Secede

• Act of breaking away, as Southern states did from the Union

Anaconda Plan

• Strategy to encircle and suffocate the South, cutting off supplies

Border States

• States that remained in the Union but permitted slavery

54th Massachusetts

• First unit of all African American soldiers

Emancipation Proclamation

• Lincoln’s order freeing slaves in rebelling states

Total War

• Warfare strategy involving widespread attacks on enemy's resources and civilians

War of Attrition

• Strategy of denying enemy supplies without direct confrontation

Greenbacks

• Northern currency during the Civil War

Ironclad

• Warships covered in iron armor, exemplified by the Monitor and Merrimack

Andersonville and Elmira

• Confederate and Northern prisons for captured soldiers

Habeas Corpus

• Right to a speedy trial, suspended by Lincoln during the Civil War

Copperheads

• Northern Democrats opposing the war, advocating peace and compromise with the South