Civil War Battles Trivia

1. Ten thousand people worked here by 1863, making everything from gunpowder to cannons, ironclad hulls and steam rams. Where was it?

From Quiz Where Did These U. S. Civil War Events Happen?

Answer: Alabama

The Selma Ordnance and Naval Foundry, in Alabama on the Alabama River, supplied the Confederacy with a wide variety of materiel. There were molds and gun lathes in a gun foundry, blacksmith shops, a nitre works and gunpowder manufactory, and the ability to build and transport ships down the Alabama River to Mobile Bay. Raw materials were brought in by railroad. The workers consisted mostly of women and children, as well as slaves and some conscripted men and German craftsmen. The central location of Selma protected it from the enemy, and in fact Gen. James H. Wilson's successful Union cavalry raid on the town occurred April 1-2, 1865, just a week before General Lee's surrender in Virginia.

From Quiz Rivers of the US Civil War

Answer: James

The James river flows past Richmond, Virginia. Richmond was the capital of the Confederacy for most of the war. Montgomery, Alabama was initially established as the Confederate capital in February of 1861. Due to the importance of Virginia to the new country's survival, Richmond was named the capital in May of 1861.

From Quiz Civil War Battles

Answer: Winfield Scott Hancock

Hancock's forces lead a successful assault to take the position, but could not completely dislodge Lee's forces from the battlefield. General Edward "Allegheny" Johnson was captured along with many of his men.

From Quiz It's Old Jack, or a Rabbit: Valley Campaign

Answer: Nathan Kimball

Despite his religious beliefs, Stonewall Jackson fought the battle on Sunday, after having been provided with information by his leading cavalier, Turner Ashby, that the Union forces in the Valley, with Nathaniel P. Banks in overall command were heading for Harper's Ferry, possibly to link up with McClellan and help him make a drive against Richmond, the CSA capital. Thus, Jackson decided to fight.

From Quiz When did it Happen?

Answer: July 1, 2, 3 1863

This battle was not planned. The Union army was looking for the Confederate Army, who was known to be in the North. Lookouts spotted Confederate soldiers, and then the battle commenced. The battle resulted in around 50,000 casualties between the two armies before the battle ended.

From Quiz The Last Citadel

Answer: Hiram Burnham

The Battle of Chaffin's Farm was composed of two segments: The Battle of New Market Heights and The Battle of Fort Harrison. The Battle of New Market Heights started on September 29, 1864 when Union General David Birney made a rush against Fort Gregg, at the center of the CSA lines protecting Richmond. The assault was utterly repulsed, with very heavy casualties for the attackers. Simultaneously, at the Fort Harrison front, Union troops under E.O.C. Ord took the fort, despite Burnham's death and casualties. Birney, reinforced by General Alfred Terry, took some of the earthworks at the New Market Heights and pressed, but they were driven back. At the same time, the Federals inside Fort Harrison lost consistency and failed to renew the attack, ending the US drive for Chaffin's Bluff. On September 30, the Confederates attempted to recapture the position, but they were checked. According to Civil War historian Shelby Foote, Grant paid too high a price for a rather useless strip of land.

From Quiz Ready, Fire, Aim!

Answer: Henry A. Wise

The battle and the campaign itself were inaugurated by the Federal General Benjamin F. Butler, who, appalled by his failure at Bermuda Hundred, was seeking to strike the Confederate defenses somewhere in order to help Grant undo Lee's army. The US forces almost took the city, but the Confederates, both regulars and militiamen, managed to repulse them. The battle is also known as "Battle of Old Men and Young Boys".

From Quiz Stonewall Jackson's Manassas Return

Answer: Cedar Mountain

At Cedar Mountain, Jackson again defeated his old foe, Nathaniel Banks. Mount Jackson had been his headquarters during he Valley Campaign. At Stone Mountain, there is a honoring monument to him, General Lee and President Davis.

From Quiz U.S. Civil War Battles

Answer: Fort Sumter, South Carolina

Robert Anderson was in charge of the Union troops here, and he surrendered after 34 hours. Surprisingly, only two soldiers died (one when a cannon misfired and the second during a salute).

From Quiz The Battle of Chickamauga

Answer: "River of Death"

Although even some professional historians repeat the "River of Death" story as fact, the real origins of the word are still disputed.

From Quiz Civil War Battles

Answer: Edmund Ruffin

The battle of Fort Sumter started on April 12th, 1861 and ended the next day with a Confederate victory. Edmund Ruffin was a secessionist from Virginia who had traveled to Fort Sumter to witness the beginning of the war.

From Quiz The Battle of Fort Sumter

Answer: December 20th

South Carolina finally decided to secede on December 20th, 1860. They weren't alone for long - by the time the fight for Charleston Harbor took place many other states had seceded as well.

From Quiz Battle of Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee

Answer: C. F. Smith and W. H. L. Wallace

C. F. Smith and W. H. L. Wallace died at the Cherry Mansion in Savannah, Tennessee. Wallace died on April 10, 1862 after being mortally wounded near the Hornet's Nest on April 6 and Smith died on April 25, 1862 from infection in a leg he had scraped getting out of a boat.

From Quiz Battlefield Nicknames

Answer: Shiloh

A Federal position at Shiloh was called the Hornets' Nest after thirteen Confederate assaults failed to take it. After it was finally captured, over 2,400 Union troops surrendered.

From Quiz Battle of New Market

Answer: May 15, 1864

The New Market Campaign officially began April 28, 1864, when Federal forces marched south from Martinsburg, WV, headed southward up the Shenandoah Valley toward Staunton, VA. Contact between Union and Confederate forces first occurred in the vicinity of New Market on May 13, when a Federal cavalry force crossed Massanutten Mountain at New Market Gap and encountered Confederate cavalry under Brigadier General John D. Imboden.

From Quiz Civil War Battlefields

Answer: Gettysburg

Gettysburg ended the Army of Northern Virginia's invasion of the North.

From Quiz Streight's Raid (1863)

Answer: Brig. Gen. James Garfield & Maj. Gen. William S. Rosecrans

Rosecrans' Command was nearly surrounded and being starved out of Chattanooga by the Rebels. He approved the plan in hopes of disrupting the Confederate supply line from Atlanta via the Western & Atlantic RR.

From Quiz Fort Sumter

Answer: Abner Doubleday

Abner Doubleday is said to have created the sport of baseball.

From Quiz The Battle of the Wilderness

Answer: May 5-7, 1864

The Battle of the Wilderness was fought a year after the Battle of Chancellorsville, in nearly the same location in Virginia.

From Quiz Seven Days' Battles/Peninsula Campaign

Answer: Army of the Potomac

McClellan became known as a great organizer of troops, but an incompetant field commander.

From Quiz Battle of Shiloh

Answer: April 6-7, 1862

The Battle of Shiloh was the bloodiest in U.S. history at the time it was fought. But later that year, names like Second Manassas and Antietam would eclipse it.

From Quiz 1st Battle of Manassas/Bull Run

Answer: July 21, 1861

The date of the battle was also the birthday of General Jackson's wife, Anna Jackson.

From Quiz The Battle of Wilson's Creek

Answer: August 10, 1861

This bitter battle was fought on a very hot, steamy Missouri summer's day, on the 10th of August 1861.

From Quiz The Battle that Saved Washington DC

Answer: July, 1864

Monocacy occured on 9 July 1864 during the long period when Union and Confederate forces were stalemated along the Richmond/Petersburg line. Could Washington, DC have been captured by the Confederates? Here's what General John B. Gordon said in his book "Reminiscences of the Civil War" (Chapter 23): "On July 11, 1864, the second day after the battle of Monocacy, we were at the defences of Washington. We were nearer to the national capital than any armed Confederates had ever been, and nearer to it than any Federal army had ever approached to Richmond. It has been claimed that at the time we reached these outer works they were fully manned by troops. This is a mistake. I myself rode to a point on those breastworks at which there was no force whatever. The unprotected space was broad enough for the easy passage of Early's army without resistance. It is true that, as we approached, Rodes's division had driven in some skirmishers, and during the day (July 11th) another small affair had occurred on the Seventh Street road; but all the Federals encountered on this approach could not have manned any considerable portion of the defences. Undoubtedly we could have marched into Washington; but in the council of war called by General Early there was not a dissenting opinion as to the impolicy of entering the city. While General Early and his division commanders were considering in jocular vein the propriety of putting General John C. Breckinridge at the head of the column and of escorting him to the Senate chamber and seating him again in the Vice-President's chair, the sore-footed men in gray were lazily lounging about the cool waters of Silver Spring, picking blackberries in the orchards of Postmaster-General Blair, and merrily estimating the amount of gold and greenbacks that would come into our possession when we should seize the vaults of the United States Treasury. ... While we debated, the Federal troops were arriving from Grant's army and entering the city on the opposite side."

From Quiz The Battle of Fredericksburg

Answer: November 10, 1862

McClellan was unconditionally loved by his men, who affectionately referred to him as "Little Mac." His departure on November 10 was described as an intensely emotional scene for the Army of the Potomac.

From Quiz Name the Civil War Battle

Answer: Gettysburg

Gettysburg (July 1-3, 1863) - there were over 51,000 casualties in this most bloody battle.

From Quiz 1st Manassas

Answer: Joseph Johnston

Johnston was the commander of the Army of the Shenandoah in this great battle. Robert E. Lee at this time was the military advisor to Confederate President Jefferson Davis.

From Quiz Chancellorsville: What Went Wrong?

Answer: 130,000

By the end of the battle the Union had lost somewhere around 14,000 of these men.

From Quiz Battle of Fredericksburg, 1862

Answer: Ambrose Burnside

Burnside, a native of Indiana and 1847 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point received command of the Army of the Potomac on 7 November 1862, replacing General George McClellan.

From Quiz The Civil War - Part K

Answer: Taliaferro

Gen. Taliaferro commanded 1,300 men at the Battery. On September 6, 1863 the CSA troops evacuated the Battery, leaving Morris Island to the Union troops.

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