occupation henry pleasants
Secession ( derived from the Latin term " secessio ") is the withdrawal of a group from a larger entity , especially a political entity ( a country ), but also any organization , union or ___MASK71___ alliance . Threats of secession can also be a strategy for achieving more limited goals . Robert Edward Lee ( January 19 , 1807  October 12 , 1870 ) was an American ___MASK59___ known for commanding the Confederate ___MASK27___ of Northern Virginia in the American Civil War from 1862 until his surrender in 1865 . The son of ___MASK21___ War ___MASK24___ Henry " Light Horse Harry " Lee III , Lee was a top graduate of the United States Military Academy and an exceptional ___MASK24___ and military engineer in the United States ___MASK27___ for 32 years . During this time , he served throughout the United States , distinguished himself during the Mexican  American War , and served as Superintendent of the United States Military Academy . The Union ___MASK27___ was the land force that fought for the Union during the American Civil War , 1861 to 1865 . It included the permanent regular ___MASK27___ of the United States , which was augmented by massive numbers of temporary units consisting of volunteers as well as conscripts . The Union ___MASK27___ fought and eventually defeated the Confederate ___MASK27___ during the war . At least two and a half million men served in the Union ___MASK27___ ; almost all were volunteers . About 360 , 000 Union soldiers died from all causes ; 280 , 000 were wounded and 200 , 000 deserted . Henry Clay Pleasants ( February 16 , 1833 -- March 26 , 1880 ) was a coal mining ___MASK60___ and a brigadier general in the Union Army during the American Civil War . He is best known for organizing the building of an underground tunnel filled with explosives under the Confederate lines outside Petersburg , Virginia , resulting in the Battle of the Crater on July 30 , 1864 , an opportunity for Union troops to break the defense of Petersburg . Ulysses S . Grant ( born Hiram Ulysses Grant ; April 27 , 1822  July 23 , 1885 ) was the 18th ___MASK63___ of the United States ( 1869  77 ). Previously , as Commanding ___MASK59___ of the ___MASK9___ ( 1864  69 ), Grant had worked closely with ___MASK63___ Abraham Lincoln to lead the Union Army to victory over the Confederacy , in the American Civil War . As president , Grant implemented Congressional Reconstruction , often at odds with Lincoln ' s successor , Andrew Johnson . Twice elected president , Grant led the Republicans in their effort to remove the vestiges of Confederate nationalism and slavery , protect African - American citizenship , and supported unbridled industrial expansionism during the Gilded Age . A U . S . state is a constituent political entity of the ___MASK22___ . There are 50 states , which are bound together in a union with each other . Each state holds administrative jurisdiction over a defined geographic territory , and shares its sovereignty with the United States federal government . Due to the shared sovereignty between each state and the federal government , Americans are citizens of both the federal republic and of the state in which they reside . State citizenship and residency are flexible , and no government approval is required to move between states , except for persons covered by certain types of court orders ( e . g ., paroled convicts and children of divorced spouses who are sharing custody ). A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population . It is a regularly occurring and ___MASK93___ ___MASK33___ of a particular population . The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses ; other common censuses include agriculture , business , and traffic censuses . The United Nations defines the essential features of population and housing censuses as " individual enumeration , universality within a defined territory , simultaneity and defined periodicity ", and recommends that population censuses be taken at least every 10 years . United Nations recommendations also cover census topics to be collected , ___MASK93___ definitions , classifications and other useful information to co - ordinate international practice . The Confederate States , officially the Confederate States of America ( CSA or C . S .), commonly referred to as the Confederacy , was an unrecognized breakaway country of 11 secessionist ___MASK23___ states existing from 1861 to 1865 . It was originally formed by seven ___MASK23___ states  South Carolina , Mississippi , Florida , Alabama , Georgia , Louisiana , and Texas  in the Lower South region of the United States whose regional economy was mostly dependent upon agriculture , particularly cotton , and a plantation system that relied upon the labor of African - American slaves . The ___MASK27___ of the Potomac was the principal Union ___MASK27___ in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War . It was created in July 1861 shortly after the First Battle of Bull Run and was disbanded in June 1865 following the surrender of the Confederate ___MASK27___ of Northern Virginia in April . The Battle of the Crater was a battle of the American Civil War , part of the Siege of Petersburg . It took place on July 30 , 1864 , between the Confederate ___MASK27___ of Northern Virginia , commanded by General Robert E . Lee and the Union ___MASK27___ of the Potomac , commanded by Maj . Gen . George G . Meade ( under the direct supervision of the general - in - chief , Lt . Gen . Ulysses S . Grant ). The American Civil War was a civil war in the United States fought from 1861 to 1865 . The Union faced secessionists in eleven Southern states grouped together as the Confederate States of America . The Union won the war , which remains the bloodiest in U . S . history . The Richmond  Petersburg Campaign was a series of battles around Petersburg , Virginia , fought from June 9 , 1864 , to March 25 , 1865 , during the American Civil War . Although it is more popularly known as the Siege of Petersburg , it was not a classic ___MASK71___ siege , in which a city is usually surrounded and all supply lines are cut off , nor was it strictly limited to actions against Petersburg . The campaign consisted of nine months of trench warfare in which Union forces commanded by Lt . Gen . Ulysses S . Grant assaulted Petersburg unsuccessfully and then constructed trench lines that eventually extended over from the eastern outskirts of Richmond , Virginia , to around the eastern and southern outskirts of Petersburg . Petersburg was crucial to the supply of Confederate Gen . Robert E . Lee ' s army and the Confederate capital of Richmond . Numerous raids were conducted and battles fought in attempts to cut off the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad . Many of these battles caused the lengthening of the trench lines , overloading dwindling Confederate resources . The Bureau of Economic Analysis ( BEA ) is a U . S . government agency that provides ___MASK93___ macroeconomic and industry statistics including the gross domestic product of the United States . Petersburg is an independent city in the U . S . state of Virginia . As of the 2010 census , the population was 32 , 420 . The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines Petersburg ( along with the city of Colonial Heights ) with Dinwiddie County for statistical purposes . It is located on the Appomattox River and south of the state capital of Richmond . The city ' s unique industrial past and its location as a transportation hub combined to create wealth for Virginia and the region . The ___MASK27___ of Northern Virginia was the primary ___MASK71___ force of the Confederate States of America in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War , as well as the primary command structure of the Department of Northern Virginia . It was most often arrayed against the Union ___MASK27___ of the Potomac .