is for Appomattox Courthouse

General Grant's large army pursued Lee's in Virginia and engaged in series of running fights. The Union forces blocked Lee's retreat General Lee of the South, was forced to surrender to the Union at Appomattox Court in 1865. This Brothers' War is over after 4 years. The Union was preserved, and the slaves were set free. General Grant allowed the Confederates to keep their arms and return home safely, while the Northerners rejoiced in their success!

is for Bonnie Blue Flag

It is sung to the tune of "The Irish Jaunting Car." The song lays out the order of secession of the States that joined the Confederacy.  The first flag of the Confederacy had one white star on a blue background and this song was especially popular in the South during the early years of the war. Although some claim that McCarthy was more interested in attracting audiences and making money than he was in supporting the Southern cause, his song was nevertheless an instant hit with Confederate soldiers and civilians alike.

is for Camp Oglethorpe

This was a Confederate Civil War prison that held Union prisoners of war. Camp Oglethorpe held 1,000 prisoners and was about 20 acres. It was basically one big stockade, where conditions were very poor, as sanitation was often neglected and diseases spread fast between prisoners and guards . An official death toll for Camp Oglethorpe prison is unknown, but most prisoners were moved out in 1864 to other Confederate prisons.

is for Dysentery

Simple things such as placing a latrine downstream and away from the clean water supply were often overlooked. It spread so quickly through both armies because of the lack of sanitation practices. This would quickly lead to water contamination which made the development and spread of disease much more frequent. This one disease accounted for around 45,000 deaths in the Union army and around 50,000 deaths in the Confederate army.

is for Entrenchments

The increased deadliness of firearms taught the commanders in the Civil War the habit of greatly strengthening every new position occupied with dirt as sturdy as possible. They would strengthen the resistance of a small force to larger numbers who might advance across the open upon the position, with a good entrenchment to protect them from the deadly shots. A good trench could make up for the lack of soldiers as on the Confederate side.

is for Fredricksburg

December 12th 1862

General Ambrose hoped to move quickly, and cross to the south side of the Rappahannock River before Lee's Southern Army of Northern Virginia could block his route. The General sent a group of men to occupy Falmouth on the river opposite Fredericksburg. The rest of the army soon followed. Lee reacted by entrenching his army on the heights behind Fredericksburg. The Union, led by Major General Ambrose Burnside, was defeated and lost over 12,000 men.

is for Goober Peas

A Goober Pea is what the South referred to as a peanut. They were short on food, money and supplies, but these were filling and satisfy the hungry soldiers for a small time being. They created a traditional folk song sung by Confederate soldiers during the last few years of the civil war. Nuts were easily grown in the South and because of their hard shell, they were somewhat protected and kept for a long time before rotting.

is for Hardtack

These square flour and water biscuits were almost impossible to crack and were often eaten by Union troops. They were easily transportable, light to carry, and were cheap and quick to make, making them a necessity to carry around during battle. Both sides travelled to their battles often, but because the Union had to travel so much they would need something that would travel well with them. They also created a song that was sung often by the people who would make the hardtack in the factories.

is for Ironclads

This was a new technology during the Civil War. Both sides realized how vulnerable wooden ships were to destruction by gun fire and cannon fire, so, naval architects began to dramatically improve ships' defenses by plating them with iron or steel.  Some of the most famous ironclads were: the CSS Merrimac and the USS Monitor. These ships replaced wooden ships, which had previously fleeted the navy.

is for Stonewall Jackson

Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson (1824-63) was a war hero and one of the South’s most successful generals during the American Civil War. In the spring of 1862, Jackson won at the Shenandoah Valley Campaign, establishing himself as a strong and independent commander. Jackson prevented the Northerners from taking the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia, against the odds. Jackson was wounded by friendly fire by a member of his staff. He died eight days later on from pneumonia, because of a complication of having his left arm amputated from the incident.  

is for Kansas

Kansas entered the Union as the 34th state on January 29, 1861. Less than three months later, on April 12, Fort Sumter was attacked by Confederate troops and the Civil War started. There were no other battles in Kansas other than occasional raids. Several skirmishes with Confederate soldiers took place along the Missouri border in 1861, but the first real fight by the Kansas troops was at the Battle of Wilson's Creek, near Springfield, Missouri, on August 10, 1861.

is for Lucretia Mott

Lucretia Coffin Mott was an abolitionist, a women’s rights activist, a social reformer, and a pioneer in the fight for the Women’s Suffrage Movement . As an active Quaker, Mott considered slavery to be evil. She attended every anti-slavery convention of American Women as well as the World Anti-Slavery Convention in London. After helping to establish Swarthmore College in 1864, she served as head of the American Equal Rights Association and also would make a name for herself as she helped start the campaign for women's rights.

is for Mary Walker

She was a union doctor who, when captured by the confederates, continued to aid soldiers for both sides. She was later awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for her dutiful service to her country. Both sides needed as much medical help as they could get, and disease was spreading quickly, so she kept busy trying to help everyone. She worked to prevent some disease from spreading between the camps, but she couldn't do very much, because it was everywhere.

is for Navy

The naval war was one of sudden, spectacular lightning battles as well as continual and fatal vigilance on the coasts, rivers, and seas. The Union’s first naval goal when he declared a blockade of the Southern coasts. His plan was to cut off Southern trade with the outside world and prevent sale of the Confederacy's major crop, cotton. The Southern states had few resources compared to the North: a handful of shipyards, a small merchant marine, and no navy at all. Yet the Confederates needed a navy to break the Union blockade and to defend the port cities. They even attacked Union merchant shipping on the high seas.

is for Overland Campaign

General Grant started this campaign in a great attempt to end this brothers' war. Despite over 66,000 casualties in six weeks, he pressed against Lee, pinning down the Confederate army in the Siege of Petersburg, where the two armies engaged in trench warfare for over nine months. This caused both sides to lose a tremendous amount of men and caused the war to start to settle after these nine months.

is for Pocotaligo

The First Battle of Pocotaligo was a battle in the American Civil War fought on May 29, 1862 near Yemassee, South Carolina. The Union objective was to sever the Charleston and Savannah Railroad and thus isolate Charleston, South Carolina. About 300 Union men were able to cross the creek and drive the Confederates into the woods. Since the damage to the bridge and action against the Confederate force was in line with the mission's objective, the Union force withdrew.