Civil War Glossary Flashcards
Abolitionist
A person who believed in the abolishment or abolition of Negro slavery
Artillery
Large, powerful weapons such as cannon and mortars
Assassination
The murder of a prominent person such as President Lincoln
Battery
A unit of four or six cannons, or a fortified position on which they are placed
Battle
Large scale combat between two armed forces (skirmishes and engagements are smaller scaled and briefer)
Blockade
The closing off, using naval forces, of a city or other area to traffic and communication
Border State
Slave-owning states that did not secede from the Union; Delaware, Kentucky, and Missouri
cartridge box
A leather box in which the soldier carried his rounds or bullets.
casualty
A person killed, wounded, captured, or missuing during the war.
cavalry
Soldiers mounted on horseback fighting as a unit.
chloroform
The liquid drug used to anesthetize (put to sleep) wounded soldiers in the war.
Confederacy or CSA
The alliance of 11 Southern states to form the Confederate States of America.
contraband
Goods illegally traded during wartime. Slaves were sometimes called contraband during the war.
copperhead
A northern Democrat who agreed with Southern secession and clamored for peace during the war.
deploy
To spread out armies to create a battle line.
