Civil War Vocabulary

Mrs. Ryles (United States of America)
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  1. American Civil War
    civil war in the United States between the North and the South; 1861-1865
    The American Civil War was the largest and most destructive
    conflict in the Western world between the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 and the onset of
    World War I in 1914.
  2. Confederacy
    a group of Southern states that broke away from the U.S. in 1860–61
    Four more slave states seceded and joined the Confederacy.
  3. Confederate
    of or having to do with the southern Confederacy during the American Civil War
    When Abraham Lincoln won election in 1860 as the first Republican president on
    a platform pledging to keep slavery out of the territories, seven slave states in the deep South
    seceded and formed a new nation, the Confederate States of America.
  4. North
    the region of the United States lying to the north of the Mason-Dixon line
    Several battles had already taken place--near Manassas Junction in
    Virginia, in the mountains of western Virginia where Union victories paved the way for creation
    of the new state of West Virginia, at Wilson's Creek in Missouri, at Cape Hatteras in North
    Carolina, and at Port Royal in South Carolina where the Union navy established a base for a
    blockade to shut off the Confederacy's access to the outside world.
  5. South
    the region of the United States lying to the south of the Mason-Dixon line
    When Abraham Lincoln won election in 1860 as the first Republican president on
    a platform pledging to keep slavery out of the territories, seven slave states in the deep South
    seceded and formed a new nation, the Confederate States of America.
  6. Union
    the United States
    Several battles had already taken place--near Manassas Junction in
    Virginia, in the mountains of western Virginia where Union victories paved the way for creation
    of the new state of West Virginia, at Wilson's Creek in Missouri, at Cape Hatteras in North
    Carolina, and at Port Royal in South Carolina where the Union navy established a base for a
    blockade to shut off the Confederacy's access to the outside world.
  7. Union soldier
    a member of the Union Army during the American Civil War
    By 1864 the original Northern goal of a
    limited war to restore the Union had given way to a new strategy of "total war" to destroy the
    Old South and its basic institution of slavery and to give the restored Union a "new birth of
    freedom," as President Lincoln put it in his address at Gettysburg to dedicate a cemetery for
    Union soldiers killed in the battle there.
  8. access
    the right to enter
    Several battles had already taken place--near Manassas Junction in
    Virginia, in the mountains of western Virginia where Union victories paved the way for creation
    of the new state of West Virginia, at Wilson's Creek in Missouri, at Cape Hatteras in North
    Carolina, and at Port Royal in South Carolina where the Union navy established a base for a
    blockade to shut off the Confederacy's access to the outside world.
  9. administration
    the act of governing or exercising authority
    The incoming Lincoln
    administration and most of the Northern people refused to recognize the legitimacy of secession.
  10. armed
    having limbs
    By the
    end of 1861 nearly a million armed men confronted each other along a line stretching 1200 miles
    from Virginia to Missouri.
  11. attack
    an offensive against an enemy
    For three long years, from 1862 to 1865, Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia staved off
    invasions and attacks by the Union Army of the Potomac commanded by a series of ineffective
    generals until Ulysses S. Grant came to Virginia from the Western theater to become general in
    chief of all Union armies in 1864.
  12. battlefield
    a region where a battle is being (or has been) fought
    Bodies in front of the Dunker Church - Antietam Battlefield (Library of Congress)
    But the real fighting began in 1862.
  13. blockade
    a war measure isolating an area of importance to the enemy
    Several battles had already taken place--near Manassas Junction in
    Virginia, in the mountains of western Virginia where Union victories paved the way for creation
    of the new state of West Virginia, at Wilson's Creek in Missouri, at Cape Hatteras in North
    Carolina, and at Port Royal in South Carolina where the Union navy established a base for a
    blockade to shut off the Confederacy's access to the outside world.
  14. campaign
    related operations aimed at achieving a particular goal
    Huge battles like Shiloh in Tennessee, Gaines' Mill, Second
    Manassas, and Fredericksburg in Virginia, and Antietam in Maryland foreshadowed even bigger
    campaigns and battles in subsequent years, from Gettysburg in Pennsylvania to Vicksburg on the
    Mississippi to Chickamauga and Atlanta in Georgia.
  15. cavalry
    troops trained to fight on horseback
    By the spring of 1865 all the principal Confederate armies surrendered, and when Union cavalry
    captured the fleeing Confederate President Jefferson Davis in Georgia on May 10, 1865,
    resistance collapsed and the war ended.
  16. civil
    of or occurring between or among citizens of the state
    Lincoln (National Archives)
    The Civil War is the central event in America's historical consciousness.
  17. civil war
    a war between factions in the same country
    Lincoln (National Archives)
    The Civil War is the central event in America's historical consciousness.
  18. collapse
    break down, literally or metaphorically
    By the spring of 1865 all the principal Confederate armies surrendered, and when Union cavalry
    captured the fleeing Confederate President Jefferson Davis in Georgia on May 10, 1865,
    resistance collapsed and the war ended.
  19. command
    an authoritative direction or instruction to do something
    For three long years, from 1862 to 1865, Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia staved off
    invasions and attacks by the Union Army of the Potomac commanded by a series of ineffective
    generals until Ulysses S. Grant came to Virginia from the Western theater to become general in
    chief of all Union armies in 1864.
  20. comprise
    be made of
    In the meantime Union armies and river fleets in the theater of war comprising the
    slave states west of the Appalachian Mountain chain won a long series of victories over
    Confederate armies commanded by hapless or unlucky Confederate generals.
  21. confederation
    the state of being allied
    The war resolved two fundamental questions left unresolved by the revolution:
    whether the United States was to be a dissolvable confederation of sovereign states or an
    indivisible nation with a sovereign national government; and whether this nation, born of a
    declaration that all men were created with an equal right to liberty, would continue to exist as the
    largest slaveholding country in the world.
  22. confront
    oppose, as in hostility or a competition
    By the
    end of 1861 nearly a million armed men confronted each other along a line stretching 1200 miles
    from Virginia to Missouri.
  23. declaration
    a statement that is emphatic and explicit
    The war resolved two fundamental questions left unresolved by the revolution:
    whether the United States was to be a dissolvable confederation of sovereign states or an
    indivisible nation with a sovereign national government; and whether this nation, born of a
    declaration that all men were created with an equal right to liberty, would continue to exist as the
    largest slaveholding country in the world.
  24. democracy
    the orientation of those who favor government by the people
    They feared that it would discredit democracy and create a fatal precedent that would eventually
    fragment the no-longer United States into several small, squabbling countries.
  25. discredit
    the state of being held in low esteem
    They feared that it would discredit democracy and create a fatal precedent that would eventually
    fragment the no-longer United States into several small, squabbling countries.
  26. dissolvable
    capable of dissolving
    The war resolved two fundamental questions left unresolved by the revolution:
    whether the United States was to be a dissolvable confederation of sovereign states or an
    indivisible nation with a sovereign national government; and whether this nation, born of a
    declaration that all men were created with an equal right to liberty, would continue to exist as the
    largest slaveholding country in the world.
  27. economic
    of or relating to production and management of wealth
    In 1864-1865
    General William Tecumseh Sherman led his army deep into the Confederate heartland of
    Georgia and South Carolina, destroying their economic infrastructure while General George
    Thomas virtually destroyed the Confederacy's Army of Tennessee at the battle of Nashville.
  28. established
    brought about or set up or accepted
    Several battles had already taken place--near Manassas Junction in
    Virginia, in the mountains of western Virginia where Union victories paved the way for creation
    of the new state of West Virginia, at Wilson's Creek in Missouri, at Cape Hatteras in North
    Carolina, and at Port Royal in South Carolina where the Union navy established a base for a
    blockade to shut off the Confederacy's access to the outside world.
  29. fatal
    bringing death
    They feared that it would discredit democracy and create a fatal precedent that would eventually
    fragment the no-longer United States into several small, squabbling countries.
  30. federal
    of a government with central and regional authorities
    Claiming
    this United States fort as their own, the Confederate army on that day opened fire on the federal
    garrison and forced it to lower the American flag in surrender.
  31. flee
    run away quickly
    By the spring of 1865 all the principal Confederate armies surrendered, and when Union cavalry
    captured the fleeing Confederate President Jefferson Davis in Georgia on May 10, 1865,
    resistance collapsed and the war ended.
  32. foreshadow
    indicate by signs
    Huge battles like Shiloh in Tennessee, Gaines' Mill, Second
    Manassas, and Fredericksburg in Virginia, and Antietam in Maryland foreshadowed even bigger
    campaigns and battles in subsequent years, from Gettysburg in Pennsylvania to Vicksburg on the
    Mississippi to Chickamauga and Atlanta in Georgia.
  33. fundamental
    serving as an essential component
    The war resolved two fundamental questions left unresolved by the revolution:
    whether the United States was to be a dissolvable confederation of sovereign states or an
    indivisible nation with a sovereign national government; and whether this nation, born of a
    declaration that all men were created with an equal right to liberty, would continue to exist as the
    largest slaveholding country in the world.
  34. garrison
    a fortified military post where troops are stationed
    Claiming
    this United States fort as their own, the Confederate army on that day opened fire on the federal
    garrison and forced it to lower the American flag in surrender.
  35. indivisible
    impossible to split into parts
    The war resolved two fundamental questions left unresolved by the revolution:
    whether the United States was to be a dissolvable confederation of sovereign states or an
    indivisible nation with a sovereign national government; and whether this nation, born of a
    declaration that all men were created with an equal right to liberty, would continue to exist as the
    largest slaveholding country in the world.
  36. ineffective
    not producing an intended consequence
    For three long years, from 1862 to 1865, Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia staved off
    invasions and attacks by the Union Army of the Potomac commanded by a series of ineffective
    generals until Ulysses S. Grant came to Virginia from the Western theater to become general in
    chief of all Union armies in 1864.
  37. infrastructure
    the basic features of a system or organization
    In 1864-1865
    General William Tecumseh Sherman led his army deep into the Confederate heartland of
    Georgia and South Carolina, destroying their economic infrastructure while General George
    Thomas virtually destroyed the Confederacy's Army of Tennessee at the battle of Nashville.
  38. institution
    a custom that has been an important feature of some group
    Northern victory in the war preserved the United States as one nation and ended the institution of
    slavery that had divide the country from its beginning.
  39. insurrection
    organized opposition to authority
    Lincoln called out the militia to
    suppress this "insurrection."
  40. invasion
    any entry into an area not previously occupied
    For three long years, from 1862 to 1865, Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia staved off
    invasions and attacks by the Union Army of the Potomac commanded by a series of ineffective
    generals until Ulysses S. Grant came to Virginia from the Western theater to become general in
    chief of all Union armies in 1864.
  41. liberty
    freedom of choice
    The war resolved two fundamental questions left unresolved by the revolution:
    whether the United States was to be a dissolvable confederation of sovereign states or an
    indivisible nation with a sovereign national government; and whether this nation, born of a
    declaration that all men were created with an equal right to liberty, would continue to exist as the
    largest slaveholding country in the world.
  42. militia
    civilians trained as soldiers, not part of the regular army
    Lincoln called out the militia to
    suppress this "insurrection."
  43. onset
    the beginning or early stages
    The American Civil War was the largest and most destructive
    conflict in the Western world between the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 and the onset of
    World War I in 1914.
  44. pledge
    a binding commitment to do or give or refrain from something
    When Abraham Lincoln won election in 1860 as the first Republican president on
    a platform pledging to keep slavery out of the territories, seven slave states in the deep South
    seceded and formed a new nation, the Confederate States of America.
  45. precedent
    an example that is used to justify similar occurrences
    They feared that it would discredit democracy and create a fatal precedent that would eventually
    fragment the no-longer United States into several small, squabbling countries.
  46. preserve
    keep in safety and protect from harm, loss, or destruction
    Northern victory in the war preserved the United States as one nation and ended the institution of
    slavery that had divide the country from its beginning.
  47. principal
    main or most important
    By the spring of 1865 all the principal Confederate armies surrendered, and when Union cavalry
    captured the fleeing Confederate President Jefferson Davis in Georgia on May 10, 1865,
    resistance collapsed and the war ended.
  48. prohibit
    command against
    The Civil War started because of uncompromising differences between the free and slave states
    over the power of the national government to prohibit slavery in the territories that had not yet
    become states.
  49. rebuild
    build again
    The long, painful process of rebuilding a united nation
    free of slavery began.
  50. resistance
    any mechanical force that tends to slow or oppose motion
    By the spring of 1865 all the principal Confederate armies surrendered, and when Union cavalry
    captured the fleeing Confederate President Jefferson Davis in Georgia on May 10, 1865,
    resistance collapsed and the war ended.
  51. resolve
    find a solution or answer
    The war resolved two fundamental questions left unresolved by the revolution:
    whether the United States was to be a dissolvable confederation of sovereign states or an
    indivisible nation with a sovereign national government; and whether this nation, born of a
    declaration that all men were created with an equal right to liberty, would continue to exist as the
    largest slaveholding country in the world.
  52. resolved
    explained or answered
    The war resolved two fundamental questions left unresolved by the revolution:
    whether the United States was to be a dissolvable confederation of sovereign states or an
    indivisible nation with a sovereign national government; and whether this nation, born of a
    declaration that all men were created with an equal right to liberty, would continue to exist as the
    largest slaveholding country in the world.
  53. restore
    bring back into original existence, function, or position
    By 1864 the original Northern goal of a
    limited war to restore the Union had given way to a new strategy of "total war" to destroy the
    Old South and its basic institution of slavery and to give the restored Union a "new birth of
    freedom," as President Lincoln put it in his address at Gettysburg to dedicate a cemetery for
    Union soldiers killed in the battle there.
  54. secede
    withdraw from an organization or polity
    When Abraham Lincoln won election in 1860 as the first Republican president on
    a platform pledging to keep slavery out of the territories, seven slave states in the deep South
    seceded and formed a new nation, the Confederate States of America.
  55. secession
    formal separation from an alliance or federation
    The incoming Lincoln
    administration and most of the Northern people refused to recognize the legitimacy of secession.
  56. series
    similar things placed in order or one after another
    For three long years, from 1862 to 1865, Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia staved off
    invasions and attacks by the Union Army of the Potomac commanded by a series of ineffective
    generals until Ulysses S. Grant came to Virginia from the Western theater to become general in
    chief of all Union armies in 1864.
  57. slave state
    any of the southern states in which slavery was legal prior to the American Civil War
    The Civil War started because of uncompromising differences between the free and slave states
    over the power of the national government to prohibit slavery in the territories that had not yet
    become states.
  58. slaveholding
    allowing slavery
    The war resolved two fundamental questions left unresolved by the revolution:
    whether the United States was to be a dissolvable confederation of sovereign states or an
    indivisible nation with a sovereign national government; and whether this nation, born of a
    declaration that all men were created with an equal right to liberty, would continue to exist as the
    largest slaveholding country in the world.
  59. sovereign
    a nation's ruler usually by hereditary right
    The war resolved two fundamental questions left unresolved by the revolution:
    whether the United States was to be a dissolvable confederation of sovereign states or an
    indivisible nation with a sovereign national government; and whether this nation, born of a
    declaration that all men were created with an equal right to liberty, would continue to exist as the
    largest slaveholding country in the world.
  60. subsequent
    following in time or order
    Huge battles like Shiloh in Tennessee, Gaines' Mill, Second
    Manassas, and Fredericksburg in Virginia, and Antietam in Maryland foreshadowed even bigger
    campaigns and battles in subsequent years, from Gettysburg in Pennsylvania to Vicksburg on the
    Mississippi to Chickamauga and Atlanta in Georgia.
  61. suppress
    put down by force or authority
    Lincoln called out the militia to
    suppress this "insurrection."
  62. surrender
    relinquish possession or control over
    Claiming
    this United States fort as their own, the Confederate army on that day opened fire on the federal
    garrison and forced it to lower the American flag in surrender.
  63. theater of war
    the entire land, sea, and air area that may become or is directly involved in war operations
    In the meantime Union armies and river fleets in the theater of war comprising the
    slave states west of the Appalachian Mountain chain won a long series of victories over
    Confederate armies commanded by hapless or unlucky Confederate generals.
  64. uncompromising
    not willing to make concessions
    The Civil War started because of uncompromising differences between the free and slave states
    over the power of the national government to prohibit slavery in the territories that had not yet
    become states.
  65. unite
    join or combine
    While the Revolution of
    1776-1783 created the United States, the Civil War of 1861-1865 determined what kind of nation
    it would be.
  66. united
    being or joined into a single entity
    While the Revolution of
    1776-1783 created the United States, the Civil War of 1861-1865 determined what kind of nation
    it would be.
  67. unresolved
    not explained or answered
    The war resolved two fundamental questions left unresolved by the revolution:
    whether the United States was to be a dissolvable confederation of sovereign states or an
    indivisible nation with a sovereign national government; and whether this nation, born of a
    declaration that all men were created with an equal right to liberty, would continue to exist as the
    largest slaveholding country in the world.
  68. victory
    a successful ending of a struggle or contest
    Northern victory in the war preserved the United States as one nation and ended the institution of
    slavery that had divide the country from its beginning.
Created on Sat Jul 02 18:42:07 EDT 2011 (updated Sat Jul 02 18:47:24 EDT 2011)

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