prospect of achieving or maintaining a foothold in the middle class has faded for millions of Americans.

The successful Combahee Ferry Raid freed more than 700 slaves in a chaotic scene.

Harriet’s desire for justice became apparent at age 12 when she spotted an overseer about to throw a heavy weight at a fugitive. Harriet stepped between the enslaved person and the overseer—the weight struck her head.She later said about the incident, “The weight broke my skull … They carried me to the house all bleeding and fainting. I had no bed, no place to lie down on at all, and they laid me on the seat of the loom, and I stayed there all day and the next.”Harriet’s good deed left her with headaches and narcolepsy the rest of her life, causing her to fall into a deep sleep at random. She also started having vivid dreams and hallucinations which she often claimed were religious visions (she was a staunch Christian). Her infirmity made her unattractive to potential slave buyers and renters.

Grant’s victory ensured that Kentucky would remain in the Union and helped open up Tennessee to future Union advances.

“Just days after it ended, Philadelphians and Northerners are thinking of the Battle of Gettysburg as comparable to the battle that defeated Napoleon and completely reshaped the geopolitical situation of western Europe.”

Jennifer Murray

“The South is avenged!

expected to be heralded as a hero.

All Southerners, except for high-ranking Confederate Army officers and government officials, would be granted a full pardon.

By 1864, Louisiana, Tennessee, and Arkansas had established fully functioning Unionist governments.

10 percent of the voters of that state's electorate, as judged by the 1860 election period, had sworn official allegiance to the United States and made a pledge to support the abolition of slavery as outlined in the Emancipation Proclamation

provide opportunities for Confederate soldiers, sympathizers, and even high-ranking officers to receive pardons for their crimes against the Union.

decided to act on his hatred after Lincoln endorsed giving the right to vote to African-American men who had served in the Union Army.

favored lenient measures in readmitting Southern states to the Union during the Reconstruction era.

A proponent of states’ rights, Johnson granted amnesty to most former Confederates and allowed Southern states to elect new governments.

people who had recently rejoiced at the end of the Civil War now reeled from Lincoln’s shocking assassination.