The American Nation A History of the United States, Combined Volume (14th Edition)

Chapter Review 399

Key Terms

Anaconda Plan General Winfield Scott’s strategy
for defeating the Confederacy; its central elements
included a naval blockade and seizure of the
Mississippi River valley, 377
Copperheads Term that initially applied to north-
ern Democrats who resisted Republican war mea-
sures and advocated negotiation with the
Confederacy. Later in the Civil War, the term
became tantamount to an accusation of treason
against the Union, 378
Emancipation Proclamation A decree by
President Abraham Lincoln that freed all slaves in
Confederate states that remained in active rebel-
lion on January 1, 1863, when the proclamation
went into effect, 384

Homestead Act (1862) Federal law granting

160 acres of public land in the West to any settler

who would farm and improve it within five years

of the grant; it encouraged migration into the

Great Plains, 389

Radical Republicans A faction within the

Republican party, headed by Thaddeus Stevens

and Benjamin Wade, that insisted on black suf-

frage and federal protection of the civil rights of

blacks. After 1867, the Radical Republicans

achieved a working majority in Congress and

passed legislation promoting Reconstruction, 378

Sanitary Commission A private and voluntary

medical organization, founded in May 1861, that

sought to improve the physical and mental well-

being of Union soldiers during the Civil War, 391

1861 Confederates attack Fort Sumter; Lincoln calls for
75,000 volunteers
First Battle of Bull Run (Virginia) boosts
Confederate morale
Lincoln appoints George B. McClellan Union
commander
Supreme Court rules against Lincoln’s suspension
of habeas corpus in Ex parte Merryman
1862 Confederate Congress passes Conscription Act
USSMonitordefeats Confederate Merrimackin
first battle between ironclads
Battle of Shiloh, Tennessee, leaves 23,000 dead,
wounded, or missing
Robert E. Lee assumes command of Confederate
Army of Northern Virginia
Lee and Stonewall Jackson defeat huge Union
army at Seven Days’ Battle for Richmond
Lee and Jackson defeat Union army at Second
Battle of Bull Run
Lee’s northern advance is stopped at Battle of
Antietam; 22,000 casualties

Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation frees slaves

in “areas of rebellion”

Congress passes Homestead, Morrill Land Grant,

and Pacific Railway acts

1863 Congress passes Conscription and National

Banking acts

Federal troops subdue draft riots in New York City

Union army defeats Confederates at turning point

Battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

Union siege and capture of Vicksburg, Mississippi,

gives Union control of entire Mississippi River

1864 Grant pushes deep into Virginia in costly Battles of

the Wilderness, Spotsylvania Court House, and

Cold Harbor

Sherman captures Atlanta, Georgia; marches to

sea; captures Savannah

1864 Lincoln is reelected president

1864– Grant takes Petersburg, Virginia, after

1865 ten-month siege

1865 Sherman captures Columbia, South Carolina

1865 Lee surrenders to Grant at Appomattox Court

House, Virginia

Milestones

Chapter Review

Review Questions

1.The introduction to this chapter notes that civil
wars, in retrospect, often seem senseless. If the
American people had known in advance the terri-
ble cost of its civil war, would it have been fought?
Why did each side think it could win?

2.Dwight D. Eisenhower, U.S. general during World

War II and subsequently President, once declared

that “every war is going to astonish you in the way

it occurred and the way it is carried out.” What

were the astonishing aspects of the Civil War?