Chapter 14: The War of the Union, 1861–1865
CORE OBJECTIVES
1. Identify the respective advantages of the North and South in the war and explain how they
TRUE/FALSE
1. Four additional states joined the original seven states of the Confederacy after the fighting
broke out.
2. The North’s victory in the Civil War was guaranteed because the South enjoyed no
significant advantages over the Union.
3. The First Battle of Bull Run was a Union defeat.
4. Union forces suffered defeat at Shiloh because of Grant’s heavy drinking.
5. Lincoln replaced McClellan as Union commander because McClellan was overly
aggressive.
6. The Battle of Antietam marked the bloodiest single day of the Civil War.
7. The Emancipation Proclamation freed slaves in the Confederacy and the four border states
that never seceded.
8. For many American women, the Civil War provided new opportunities that marked a
significant change in their status.
9. With the absence of Southern congressmen during the war, Republicans blocked the
National Banking Act of 1863.
10. The paper money known as greenbacks issued by the U.S. Treasury during the war was not
backed by gold or silver.
11. Copperheads were members of the extreme fringe of the peace wing of the Democratic
party.
12. Robert E. Lee’s gamble to invade northern territory and fight at Gettysburg was a complete
and utter failure for Confederate forces.
13. General Grant’s strategy was to relentlessly attack the Confederates, grind down their
numbers, and reduce their will to fight.
14. One reason the Civil War could be described as a “modern war” is because of the improved
weapons technology that was available.
15. Robert E. Lee believed that the South lost the Civil War because the North simply had
superior resources.
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. Why did the North enjoy a numerical advantage over the army of the South?
a. The cause behind the war was far more popular and motivating in the North.
b. Northerners forced slaves to fight on their behalf.
c. The North had more states, and these states had a higher population.
d. The North was more successful recruiting from other nations.
e. The North allowed the wealthy to hire people to go to fight in their place.
2. What was one area in which the South had an advantage over the North during the Civil
War?
a. The amount of foundries
b. The amount of railroad tracks
c. The number of factories
d. The experience of the military leadership
e. The availability of international shipping
3. Part of the success of the Confederacy during the Civil War was due to
a. the ability to fight a defensive war the vast majority of the time.
b. the North’s reluctance to be too successful lest England and France were to become
involved.
c. the North’s geographic vulnerabilities to invasion.
d. the lack of bridges and roads in the South.
e. the inability of the North to find a competent commander.
4. Southerners during the Civil War liked to compare themselves to
a. Caesar’s army at Thermopylae.
b. those fighting the British during the American Revolution.
c. Napoleon’s forces at the Battle of Waterloo.
d. Andrew Jackson’s defeat of the British at the Battle of New Orleans.
e. Patton’s victory over the Germans in the Franco-Prussian War.
5. Why did the North enact a blockade on the Confederacy during the Civil War?
a. To persuade them to rejoin the Union
b. To deny them the imports they needed to survive
c. To stop the shipment of cotton to France to get them to join the war
d. To attack Washington, D.C. undetected
e. To divert the goods shipped overseas to internal markets
6. Which of the following was a goal of the Confederacy in the Civil War?
a. To receive support from England
b. To receive support from Mexico
c. To drag the fighting out indefinitely
d. To employ slaves as soldiers, if necessary
e. To reconstruct the Union after victory was secured
7. What percentage of the Northern forces was foreign born during the Civil War?
a. 10 percent
b. 25 percent
c. 50 percent
d. 75 percent
e. 95 percent
8. Because of __________, the South enacted a draft much earlier than the North during the
Civil War.
a. a smaller male population
b. the higher percentage of slaves
c. a higher casualty rate during the early days of the war
d. a lack of able-bodied volunteers
e. so many early battle defeats
9. In the South, a man could get out of being drafted by
a. being a conscientious objector.
b. declaring himself an invalid.
c. claiming to need to take care of a child.
d. hiring someone to take his place.
e. sending a slave to fight in his stead.
10. Most of the more than three million soldiers, Union and Confederate, were
a. volunteers.
b. draftees.
c. immigrants.
d. planters’ sons.
e. more than 30 years old.
11. The most intense fighting west of the Mississippi River occurred
a. in Texas.
b. along the Kansas-Missouri border.
c. in the Kansas-Nebraska territory.
d. in California.
e. along the New Mexico-Mexico border.
12. Why was the battle of Shiloh significant?
a. It ended with the least casualties of any Civil War battle and demonstrated
advancements in artillery.
b. It was a highly strategic battle, putting an end to a series of battles won through lucky
accidents.
c. Grant realized that the only way that the Civil War would come to an end would be
through “complete conquest.”
d. It was the last battle of the Civil War, resulting in a decisive Union victory and the
Confederacy’s surrender.
e. It was one of the few battles to take place in the North and caused some Union land to
be lost to the Confederacy.
13. Why did Lincoln choose to abolish slavery in 1862?
a. Union successes had made it politically viable.
b. Union defeats crushed morale and he wanted to use the issue to rebuild it.
c. He wanted to break up the slaves loyalties to their masters to advance the Union’s cause.
d. He did so to prevent Germany from recognizing the Confederacy and joining the war.
e. He did so that he could win reelection.
14. Slaves who ran away to Union army troops were
a. returned to their masters.
b. killed.
c. considered “contrabands of war.”
d. armed and forced to fight against the Rebels.
e. given their freedom.
15. What was a result of the Battle of Antietam?
a. Lincoln dismissed Gen. George McClellan.
b. The South would never again invade the North.
c. McClellan was made Commander in Chief of the Grand Army of the Republic.
d. Lee was replaced as commander of the Union forces.
e. Missouri seceded from the Union.
16. Which of the following statements about the Emancipation Proclamation is accurate?
a. It abolished slavery in the Union.
b. It abolished slavery in the United States of America.
c. It abolished slavery in the border states of Missouri and Kentucky.
d. It abolished slavery in the Confederate-controlled South.
e. It was never ratified by Congress.
17. By the middle of the Civil War, riots occurred in __________ because white laborers feared
freed slaves would migrate north and take their jobs.
a. New England
b. Chicago
c. New York
d. Michigan
e. Indiana
18. In 1863, the __________ was created to recruit African Americans to the Union Army.
a. Bureau of Colored Troops
b. Freedmen’s Bureau
c. U.S. War Department
d. Morrill Enlistment Act
e. Douglass Brigade
19. By the end of 1862, many northern Democrats were calling for __________ because of a
lack of progress by Union armies.
a. a replacement for Grant
b. impeachment of Lincoln
c. more funds for the military
d. a negotiated peace
e. a complete military pullout
20. Which of the following statements about the role of African Americans in the Union
military is accurate?
a. For nearly all of the war, African Americans could not join because of the Militia Act.
b. Lincoln strongly encouraged the participation of freed slaves as soldiers.
c. African Americans still experienced widespread racism in the Union military.
d. While they could join the army, African Americans could not join the Union navy.
e. The Union army recruited African Americans long before the Emancipation
Proclamation.