The Last Days of the Civil War Quiz

Answer: Generals Wesley Merritt, John Gibbon, and Charles Griffin

Much of the time arranging the details was spent by five of the six officers going over old times together and smoking lots of Grant's cigars (Pendleton did not smoke). They only had three days to set up printing presses to print paroles, and transfer rations to the starving CSA troops prior to the actual surrender of weapons and flags, but the general officers of both sides spent a great deal of time seeing old friends that only a few days before they had been ready to kill.

Answer: Petersburg, VA, March 25.

Lee's last attempt to break the siege at Petersburg was an attack on Union Fort Stedman led by MG John B. Gordon on March 25. There would never be a Confederate initiated attack other than a skirmish during the rest of the recorded war.

March 27 Union forces initiated the siege of Spanish Fort, AL, near Mobile, which led to its capture.

April 1 Union forces led by MG Philip Sheridan overwhelmed CSA forces led by MG George Pickett at Five Forks. Lee realized with this loss that both Richmond and Petersburg were lost to the Confederacy.

April 6 Union forces in pursuit of Lee trapped one wing of the separated retreating CSA army at Sayler's Creek, captured Lt. Gen. Ewell, G.W.C. Lee, and several other general officers, and 8,000 soldiers. This quickly hastened the end of the Army of Northern Virginia.

Answer: "The war began in my kitchen and ended in my parlor".

McLean was a gentleman farmer whose 1,000 plus acre plantation in Manassas, VA spread over both banks of Bull Run creek. Disgusted with the havoc wreaked on his home by the first Battle of Bull Run, he decided to move far away where he wrote to a friend that "the sound of battle would never reach them". He moved to and built the most prestigious home in Appomattox Court House.

Answer: He built observation towers

Weitzel built three wobbly wooden obsservation towers, each more than 100 feet tall, where signalmen with strong field glasses observed everything going on in Richmond.

Elizabeth Van Lew for the entire war was a Union sympathizer and supposed spy ringleader, going so far as to hide Union soldiers or spies in the eaves of her home. Richmonders vilified her so that even when she died 35 years after the war ended they would not allow her to be buried in Hollywood Cemetery. Her grave in Shockoe Hill Cemetery in Richmand lay almost unmarked until several years later, people from Massachusetts placed a massive boulder with a bronze plaque, lauding her efforts on behalf of the Union, on the site.

Weitzel had no spies nor turncoat soldiers at work.

Answer: Union General George Custer to CSA General James Longstreet

Custer came flying over a ridge as a ceasefire was called by Gen Meade and demanded of a CSA Captain Sills that he surrender. Sills explained he didn't have the authority to do so, and he took Custer to CSA Lieutenant General James Longstreet. Custer emphatically and in a highly excited voice demanded that Longstreet surrender the CSA forces. Longstreet, who didn't like Custer anyway for his flamboyance, basically told Custer to get lost and the request quickly came to nothing.

Answer: Mary Lincoln publicly accused Abe of granting favors to Mrs. Ord

Mary Lincoln was unpleasant and caustic, if not mentally unbalanced. During the sunny day with Ord's Corps resplendent in their blues, and with their bayonets and rifles gleaming, Lincoln rode his horse accompanied by General Ord, General Grant, and Ord's wife. Julia Grant and Mary Lincoln stayed in their carriage. Mary Lincoln threw a tantrum, went into a screaming fit, raged at Mrs. Ord for usptaging her, and in front of many high ranking folks, scolded her husband for even givng thought to permitting another woman to ride with him.

Answer: Oregon

A skirmish with CSA Indians and Union forces at Harney Lake Valley, Oregon, took place on September 23, 1865. It began at 12:00 AM and ended at 7:00 PM. It was ironic in that the Federal troops were routed, with only one trooper injured.

Answer: Maj Gen Charles Griffin

Griffin was, since 1862, a superior officer of every unit in which Chamberlain served who marveled at the Mainer's ability to grasp and execute military skills. At the end of the war, Griffin commanded the Fifth Army Corps in which Chamberlain had a brigade after G. K. Warren was relieved by Phil Sheridan.

He knew that Chamberlain's intelligence and military bearing, as well as his doing things by the book, would work well, and was outspoken in his reccomendation of Chamberlain. He also knew that Chamberlain was an accomplished writer. And it did work well. Chamberlain wrote an almost biblical report of the actual surrender, and honored CSA General John Brown Gordon with a salute during it.

Answer: A bracelet for his wife, Fannie.

Chamberlain thought so highly of Griffin, as did the rest of the members of the whole 5th Corps, that he had designed a special pin to be made with the maltese cross (the symbol of the 5th army corps) in red over a white background on enameled gold edged in diamonds with a center diamond that alone cost $1,000. He also designed at the same time a gold bracelet with all 20 of the battles in which Chamberlain had fought engraved on the sides, with the center clasp a dark blue enameled on gold shoulder strap replica with two diamonds as his major general stars (he had received his brevet as MG by then) placed properly. Also engraved on the bracelet is Fannie's name and the date of their 1855 wedding. Chamberlain gave her the bracelet on their 10th anniversary in 1865.

He felt badly for the rest of his life that General Warren had been treated so shabbily by Phil Sheridan in relieving Warren at Five Forks, and testified in Warren's behalf at the inquiry. But he never bought him a cigar box, nor did he buy aything else at Tiffany's other than two very expensive gifts, as above.

Answer: Richmond was in flames and the wagon couldn't get across the bridge.

Hill's body was brought into Richmond during the chaos of April 2 after being killed earlier that morning near Petersburg to be placed in a coffin and prepared for burial. A coffin was found for him but it was so small that his remains had to be stuffed into it.

They recrossed Mayo's bridge to the Manchester side of the river to the house where Hill's family was. They tried to go back to Richmond to Hollywood cemetery the next day to properly bury Hill, but the chaos in Richmond which was afire prevented them from going across and they took the body back to the house and buried it there. Years later it was exhumed and placed under a monument in Richmond.

Answer: MG William Sherman refused to shake Secretary of War Stanton's hand.

Grant, Meade, and Sherman each dismounted to join the President and high political figures in the Presidential box as they passed. Each shook hands with all those in attendance. Sherman refused to shake Stanton's hand as a rebuke for the incredibly callous way Stanton handled Sherman's receipt of Johnston's surrender.

Chamberlain's horse Charlemagne, itself wounded 4 times during the war, reared back frightened as a young lady stuck a bouquet of flowers in its face, but Chamberlain did not fall off.

All the menagerie - and there were many - Sherman's bummers dragged along on the second day were well behaved or tied down so they couldn't escape.

Custer did drop his sword as well as his hat as he was trying to salute the President with the tip of his sword to his hat. Trouble is the horse was on a mad gallop after it was frightened by more young girls cascading flowers on Custer and his horse, but a soldier picked up the hat and sword and returned both allowing Custer to calm his steed down.

Answer: CSA BG John Wise

Wise was a cantankerous, negative man, a former governor of Virginia, with a high-pitched voice who had presided at the hanging of John Brown in 1859. He never retook the oath and remained an unrepentant rebel the rest of his life. His brother in law was Union MG George Meade.

Gordon surrendered the troops and the equipment of the ANV and saluted Chamberlain at the ceremony, receiving Chamberlain's return salute. He went on to be such a good story teller of the southern side of the war that it was suggested that both he and Chamberlain, who was also a master speaker and story teller, join forces to be a traveling Blue and Gray road show. The plan never came to fruition, and both went on to be governors of their states (Maine and Georgia). When Chamberlain got the news of Gordon's death in 1904, he went out into the hall near his office and cried for a long time.

Rooney Lee wasn't around at the surrender, as he was so upset with the surrender that he left the same day for Virginia. Ewell had been captured at Saylor's Creek a few days before and at the time was on his way to a Yankee prison at Fort Warren in Boston harbor.

Answer: 35 years, 128 volumes

The vote occured in 1866. Compiling the vast amount of material took over fourteen years before the first volume was printed, according to an act of Congress which provided for 10,000 copies (this is from the original 1880 Volume 1 in this author's possession).

The amount of materials catalogued and stored occupied three warehouses in Washington. The Confederate records were much scarcer, due to inadequate southern bureacracy during the war and the chaos which existed during and especially at the end of the war.

The final volume was printed for distribution in 1901.

Answer: Raphael Semmes

The three ironclads were the CSS Virginia II, the CSS Richmond, and the CSS Fredericksburg, all anchored at Drewry's Bluff to guard the river approach to Richmond when it was evacuated April 3-4. These were the last of the Confederate fighting navy, except for a few raiders and blockade runners on the seas. All three were packed to the gills with explosives, and around 5 AM on April 3, Semmes gave the order, and all three exploded with "shocks of earthquake explosions", one after the other.

Semmes was famous in his command of the CSA raider Alabama. As he evacuated Richmond, he was made a Brigadier General and converted the 60 midshipmen from the training ship Patrick Henry into an army guard to guard the Confederate Treasury's gold aboard the train following that of Jefferson Davis leaving Richmond. Semmes thus became the only North American in history ever to attain and hold the rank of Admiral and Brigadier General at the same time.

Mallory was the Confederate Secretary of the Navy.

Franklin Buchanan was the captain of the CSS Virginia (the Merrimack), and Jones was Buchanan's executive officer.

Answer: Each is in a different museum.

Phil Sheridan offered $20 in gold for the table Grant used and was refused by McLean. Sherman threw the gold coins on the floor, and took the table out to give it to Custer as a gift for Custer's wife. It was in her hands until her death, was bequeathed to the United States Government and currently can be seen in the Smithsonian in Washington.

E. O. C. Ord bought Lee's table for an agreed upon price of $40 and afterward tried to give it to Julia Grant who told Ord that it should be for his wife. On Ord's death in 1887 a Chicago businessman bought it and donated it to the Chicago Historicl Society where it now can be seen.

Answer: He was captured at the battle of Sayler's Creek.

Once Ewell reached the Corps Commander position and the rank of Lt. Genl, he seems to had lost his skills. He and several other general officers surrendered at the debacle at Sayler's Creek, in which some 8,000 CSA soldiers were captured, just about putting an end to Confederate hopes in that section of the war.

He was transferred to Fort Warren, out in Boston harbor, and returned to Nashville after his release.

Answer: He revoked all Confederate officer's paroles who had not taken the oath of allegiance.

Grant also put the Army of the Potomac on full alert, until the conspiracy panic, fueled by outspoken and aggressive Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, subsided. He later withdrew the order to revoke all CSA officer's paroles.

Answer: B General Martin Gary

At daylight on April 4, after cutting their way through looters and rioters on the streets of Richmond, and with Yankee cavalry soon to approach, Martin Gary's South Carolina troopers clattered onto and across the bridge. A former lawyer and fire-breathing profane sessionist who, following following his cavalrymen last onto the bridge, called out to the soldier with the burning torch in his hand "All over, goodbye, blow her to hell" and galloped on.

Ewell, along with Custis Lee, and CSA General John Breckenridge who was also at the time the Confederate Secretary of War, left over the bridge very early in the morning of April 4, with troops headed for Lee and Petersburg.

Alexander followed Ewell over the bridge shortly thereafter with what light artillery could be salvaged with available horses with strength to pull the weight, headed to Petersburg.

Answer: On his escape route after shooting Lincoln, Booth was treated by Dr. Samuel Mudd.

Breaking his ankle jumping onto the stage at Ford's Theater after shooting and mortally wounding President Abraham Lincoln on April 14, 1865, Booth fled out of Washington on a route that took him by the home of one Dr. Harvey Mudd. While stories as to Mudd's participation in the plot are still at odds, Mudd was arrested and confined in prison for treating Booth's injury as well as being an accomplice in the plot. Mudd's name on the popular vernacular took on a highly negative connotation, and he was referred to as the lowest of the low.

The phrase originated as an epithet to be used aimed at someone of useless or hard luck character. Mudd was later released but the negative comment stuck in history.

Answer: 5

1) Joseph E. Johnston surrendered CSA forces to William T. Sherman at Durham Station, NC, on 4/26/65.

2) Richard Taylor surrendered CSA forces to E.R.S. Canby at Citronelle (near Mobile), AL, on 5/4/65.

3) All CSA soldiers in Florida surrendered to Union Genl Israel Vogdes at Tallahassee, FL, on 5/17/65.

4) Edmund Kirby Smith surrendered all remaining CSA forces west of the Mississippi to E.R.S. Canby in New Orleans, LA 5/26/65. Actually, CSA Genl S. B. Buckner acted in Kirby's behalf, and USA Genl P. J. Osterhaus acted in Canby's behalf.

5) Cherokee Indian Chief CSA Genl Stand Waite surrendered all CSA Indian forces to the garrison at Fort Townson, OK, on 6/23/65. This was the last recognized surrender of organized forces in the war.