Study Questions for Chapter 11: The Civil War

 

  • What was the old tactic employed by both sides early in the war?
  • What did the battles of Manassas and Shiloh prove?
  • What was the Rosewater Policy?
  • Why would avoiding direct confrontation have been a better strategy?
  • What is a ‘war of attrition’?  Why did the CSA not adopt it early?
  • What was the Anaconda Plan?
  • What were Gunboats?
  • Why were the captures of Fts. Henry and Donelson important?
  • What was McClellan’s Peninsular Campaign?
  • Why did Jackson engage the Shenandoah Valley Campaign?
  • Why was the Battle of Antietam significant?
  • Why did the Confederacy create a constitution?
  • What were the early problems for the Confederacy?
  • Though the Confederacy did write a Constitution, what problems did they have in creating a national government and fighting a war at the same time?
  • What were advantages for the Confederacy?
  • What was the Republican-controlled US Congress able to do during CW?  Why?
  • National Banking Act of 1863
  • Know examples of other changes in the role of the federal government during war…
  • Which slaves were freed by Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation?
  • What were contrabands?
  • What were greenbacks?
  • What did the Thirteenth Amendment do?
  • What is a writ of habeas corpus?
  • What did both sides do during the war to keep citizens loyal to the cause?
  • How were Union troops finally able to capture Vicksburg?
  • Why was the battle at Chancellorsville also a Confederate defeat?
  • Why was the loss at Gettysburg devastating to the Confederacy?
  • What is a siege? (strategy for Vicksburg)       What is hard war (or total war) strategy?
  • Significance of the Gettysburg Address…
  • Why was Ulysses S. Grant a good pick for commanding the Army of the Potomac in the east?
  • Why was the Election of 1864 significant?  What did it prove about public support for Lincoln and his policies?
  • What was the goal of the Overland Campaign?
  • What did Sherman’s army do in the “march to the sea”?
  • What did Sherman’s Special Field Order #15 do?
  • What was fighting like in the Siege of Petersburg?
  • When and where did Lee surrender to Grant?
  • When and where did Johnston surrender to Sherman?
  • Who was the “Captain” in Walt Whitman’s poem, “Oh Captain! My Captain!” – and why was it written?