| Crittenden Plan | proposed making slavery protected under the Constitution |
| Fort Sumpter | in Charleston, SC; the first Southern attack occurred here |
| Manassas | first battle of the war; the South pushed the Union Army back to DC |
| Antietam | bloodiest battle of any US war; 4,800 dead and 18,500 wounded |
| Enrollment Act | called for the conscription of US citizens |
| Draft Riots | reaction to the enrollment act; also a racist reaction by some |
| Vicksburg | Grant captures the Mississippi River for the Union |
| Gettysburg | the US stops the Confederate's invasion of the North |
| the Emancipation Proclamation | frees all slaves in the South |
| habeas corpus | Lincoln suspends this right, jailing all dissenters at the start of the war |
| US Sanitary Commission | founded to provide adequate health care and stop the spread of disease |
| legal tender | a piece of paper that has value guaranteed by the government; cash! |
| 54th Massachusetts Infantry | the first all-black army unit that saw combat during the Civil War |
| Sherman's March to the Sea | destroyed farms, towns, and crops; the "hard hand of war" was brought to the South |
| copperheads | Democrats who advocated peace in the election of 1864 |
| Appomattox Court House | place where Lee surrendered to Grant, ending the war after four years |