AP U.S. HISTORY CHAPTER 21 TOPICS, TERMS AND FOCUS QUESTIONS

TOPICS AND TERMS

“On to Richmond!”
Bull Run
Gen. “Stonewall” Jackson
Gen. George McClellan
Peninsula Campaign
Gen. Robert E. Lee
Seven Days’ Battles
Merrimack
Monitor
Second Battle of Bull Run
Gen. John Pope
Antietam
Emancipation Proclamation
Thirteenth Amendment
Gen. Ambrose Burnside
Fredericksburg
Gen.“Fighting Joe” Hooker
Chancellorsville
Gen. George Meade
Gettysburg
Pickett’s Charge
Gettysburg Address
Gen. Ulysses S. Grant
Forts Henry and Donelson
Shiloh
Adm. David Farragut
New Orleans (spring 1862)
Vicksburg
Chattanooga
Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman
Burning of Atlanta
“March to the Sea”
Savannah
Election of 1864
“Peace Democrats”
“Copperheads”
Clement Vallandingham
Union Party
Andrew Johnson
Dem. George McClellan
Wilderness Campaign
Appomattox
Lincoln assassination
John Wilkes Booth
Death Toll
Monetary cost

FOCUS QUESTIONS

Note: The review in this chapter of the military leaders, strategies, and key battles can#’t fully convey the sheer magnitude of the conflict or the often horrendous human aspects of the Civil War. However, it is important to have a solid overview of the military strategies involved and of those turning points that could have gone either way and thereby greatly influence the world we live in today.)

1. Strategy and Early Battles: The authors contend that had the North prevailed at the first “picnic-like” Battle of __________ Run (just south of Washington) in July 1861, southern states might have been re-admitted on easy terms. But after the bloody ______________ Campaign, in which Union forces under young General George _________ failed to take the Confederate capital of ______________, Virginia, the Union strategy turned to “total war.” List the six elements of the new northern strategy mentioned on page 457-458

2. Antietam and Emancipation

a. Note the importance of the embargo on southern ports (keeping cotton in and war supplies out). Southerners tried to get around the embargo, partially through the use of their ironclad ship named the _____________, which in 1862 was challenged by the Northern “cheesebox on a raft,” the _______________________

b. Emboldened by his successes, Confederate Gen. Robert E. ____ advanced his army into northern territory and, on September 18____ was engaged at Antietam Creek, in the western part of the state of _________________. This bloody battle was a military draw. However, list the two reasons why the authors call this engagement “the most decisive of the of the Civil War.”

c. What were Lincoln’s objectives in issuing the Emancipation Proclamation? How did this proclamation signal a change in northern war aims?

d. Why was the proclamation technically less than it appeared? Why do the authors summarize by saying “....where he could he would not, and where he would he could not.”

e. About ________ blacks joined the army after Emancipation, representing about _____ percent of Union forces, including the famed Massachusetts 54th, which attacked Fort Wagner in South Carolina (dramatized by the movie “Glory”)

3. War at Midpoint

After Antietam, Lincoln tried a variety of new generals, who proceeded to chase Lee’s army around northern Virginia. Lee and his brilliant lieutenant “Stonewall” _____________ were then encouraged by a stunning victory at C____________ to advance into the North again in the hope of breaking the Union will to fight. For three days in July 18___, at the Pennsylvania town of G___________, his troops assumed the unaccustomed offensive role against dug-in Union Army troops under General George G. _________. After the famous “charge“ by troops under Confederate General George ________ on the last day, Lee was forced to withdraw. His army would fight on for two years, but was never again a real threat. In the west, the Union strategy was to capture the mouth of the Mississippi at New Orleans and then for General Ulysses S. ______ to move south and capture the rest of the river. This was accomplished with the Union victory at V___________ on the day after the Confederate defeat at Gettysburg. The remainder of the western strategy involved the brutal march under Union General William Tecumseh ________ from the Cumberland Mountains, through the burning of A___________ (spectacularly recreated in the movie “Gone With the Wind), finally reaching the sea at Savannah, Georgia.

4. Politics of War

Objections to the war were always strong in the North, especially among “Peace” Democrats mostly in the Midwest and the so-called ______________ (a poisonous snake), who openly obstructed the war (using many tactics perfected later by Vietnam War protesters). Lincoln treated these critics harshly and, in 1864, formed a political coalition between Republicans and “War” Democrats called the ________ Party, which - to balance the ticket - chose as Lincoln’s running mate the “War” Democrat from Tennessee, Andrew ____________. Lincoln was re-elected against the Democratic candidate, the erstwhile General ____________.

5. War’s End and Lincoln’s Death

After Gettysburg, Grant was made commander of all Union armies and proceeded to chase Lee around the Virginia countryside in a series of bloody battles until Lee was forced to surrender at __________ Court House in April 18___. Less than two weeks later, Lincoln was killed at ________ Theater by southern sympathizer John Wilkes ______. Lincoln and his Vice President Johnson had many of the same views about quickly binding up the wounds of war and letting the Southern states back into the Union on relatively easy terms. Why then do the authors argue that the highly contentious battle with Congress over a harsh or gentle “reconstruction” policy after the war would have turned out much differently (and better?!) had Lincoln lived? Any thoughts on this hypothetical conclusion?

6. Reflections

Over _____________ men were killed or seriously wounded in this war (more than ALL other U.S. wars combined!) And $______ billion was spent. Despite this toll, the authors reflect a northern perspective and are pretty positive about the outcome. List three positive results of the war cited by the authors. Then, on the right side, come up with two or three counterarguments or differing interpretations that might be p ut forward by skeptics of southern partisans.

Positive Results Counterarguments

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