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In less than a week, the Union began its blockade of the southern states in an effort to prevent the trade of goods, supplies, and weapons between the Confederacy and other nations. The blockade was significant due to the fact that international trade fuels the Confederacy and Union alike so by weakening the opportunity of trade for the South, the North has an advantage already. -
President Abraham Lincoln announced plans to resupply the Fort Sumter. The Confederate General, P.G.T. Beauregard, got word of this and bombarded Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861, kicking off the Battle of Fort Sumter. After a 34-hour exchange of artillery fire, Robert Anderson and 86 soldiers surrendered the fort on April 13. The Battle of Fort Sumter is significant because this is where the first shots of the civil war were fired. -
On July 21, 1861, Union and Confederate armies clashed near Manassas Junction, Virginia. The Confederate victory gave the South a surge of confidence and shocked many in the North, who realized the war would not be won as easily as they had hoped. This battle was significant because it shattered the Union's hope of winning the Civil War quickly and easily. The First Battle of Bull Run served as a major wake up call to the North. -
The Trent Affair was an international diplomatic event during the civil war where the USS San Jacinto intercepted the British mail packet a.k.a. trent and removed two confederate diplomats, james mason and john slidell. This event had significance because it almost caused war with Britain. -
The Battle of Shiloh, also known as the Battle of Pittsburg Landing, was one of the major early engagements of the American Civil War. The battle began when the Confederate Army launched a surprise attack on Union forces under General Ulysses S. Grant. This was significant because this event allowed Grant to begin a massive operation in the Mississippi Valley later that year. -
The Battle of Antietam was a decisive engagement that halted the Confederate invasion of Maryland, an advance that was regarded as one of the greatest Confederate threats to Washington, D.C. While it was technically more of a stalemate, it was a sufficiently significant "victory" to give Lincoln the confidence to announce his Emancipation Proclamation, which discouraged the British and French governments from pursuing any potential plans to recognize the Confederacy. -
The Emancipation Proclamation was an order by U.S. President Abraham Lincoln to free slaves in 10 states. It applied to slaves in the states still in rebellion in 1863 during the American Civil War. The Proclamation made emancipation a goal of the Civil War. The Emancipation Proclamation didn't actually free all enslaved people. Since Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation as a military measure, it didn't apply to border slave states which were loyal to the Union. -
The Battle of Fredericksburg was an early battle of the civil war and stands as one of the greatest Confederate victories. Led by General Robert E. Lee, the Army of Northern Virginia routed the Union forces led Maj Gen. Ambrose Burnside. This is significant because this was a major defeat for the Union Army due to the fact that the Union vastly outnumbered the Confederates but they suffered over twice as many casualties. This battle signaled the low-point of the war for the Union. -
The Vicksburg campaign was a series of maneuvers and battles in the Western Theater of the American Civil War directed against Vicksburg, Mississippi, a fortress city that dominated the last Confederate-controlled section of the Mississippi River. This was significant because the Siege of Vicksburg that began on May 18, 1863 was a decisive Union victory during the American Civil War that divided the confederacy and cemented the reputation of Union General Ulysses S. Grant. -
Battle of Chancellorsville was a major Civil War battle that took place near the small town of Chancellorsville, Virginia. The South defeated the North despite having a much smaller army due to the superior tactics of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. This was significant because the Southern victory ruined the Union plains to invade Richmond. -
After his victory at Chancellorsville in Virginia, Confederate commander Lee decided to focus on invading the North in what he called the Gettysburg Campaign. The plan was to try and get some leverage in the North by forcing Northern politicians to stop prosecuting the war. This battle was so important because it was the turning point of the Civil War for one main reason: Robert E. Lee's plan to invade the North and force an immediate end to the war failed. -
Lincoln's main purpose was to urge everyone to honor those who had died at Gettysburg by striving to maintain the kind of nation imagined by America's founders. -
The Overland Campaign was a series of battles fought in Virginia. The Rebel commander's grand objective was to hold the line of the Rapidan, and he failed; Grant's goal was to negate Lee's army as an effective fighting force, and in that he largely succeeded. By the end of the campaign, Grant had pinned Lee into defensive earthworks around Richmond and Petersburg. -
The purpose of Sherman's March to the Sea was to frighten Georgia's civilian population into abandoning the Confederate cause. Sherman's soldiers did not destroy any of the towns in their path, but they stole food and livestock and burned the houses and barns of people who tried to fight back. -
The Appomattox campaign was a series of battles fought March 29 – April 9, 1865, in Virginia that concluded with the surrender of Confederate General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia to forces of the Union Army. -
Lee decided to surrender his army in part because he wanted to prevent unnecessary destruction to the South. When it became clear to the Confederates that they were stretched too thinly to break through the Union lines, Lee observed that “there is nothing left me to do but to go and see Gen.