Beginning of the Ebb: High Tide at Gettysburg Quiz

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. What was the most peculiar thing about the disposition of troops on the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg?

Answer: The Confederates (South) attacked from the north.

The Confederates (CSA) attacked north to south nearly all day on the first day. Union (USA) forces, while driven back, began to occupy the strategically significant high ground south of the town, and it was the struggle for that high ground that drove the rest of the battle. Maneuver was used for tactical advantages, not avoidance. Both sides had, and effectively used, artillery. Generals were on hand in abundance, with USA Major General John Reynolds the first general to perish in combat. Less than an hour later CSA Brigadier General James Archer was the first general captured.

2. Union (USA) veteran John L. Burns was a civilian volunteer, and at nearly 70 years of age, the oldest combatant on either side at Gettysburg, serving with distinction on the first day. In which war did John Burns first serve the United States?

Answer: War of 1812

Burns was born in 1793, and at age 18, joined the U.S. Army and fought in the War of 1812, seeing action at Lundy's Lane and other battles. Remarkably, in his 50s, Burns also joined the Army for the Mexican-American War. Twice rejected for duty in the Civil War due to his age, Burns wasted no time when the war came to his town. Swiftly volunteering, he saw action with a Pennsylvania brigade, and when that unit retreated lent himself to the famous Iron Brigade, until wounded. Burns lived until 1872, his gravesite in Gettysburg accorded the rare privilege of 24 hour display of the US flag.

3. Viewed as a battle in its own right, how large an engagement was the First Day of Gettysburg?

Answer: Very large, with significant portions of both armies engaged.

Some authorities count Gettysburg Day One as one of the two dozen largest battles of the Civil War. About one third of Confederate commander R.E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia saw combat on Day One. Union commander G.G. Meade's Army of the Potomac had roughly a quarter of its forces engaged. Total troops committed by both sides approached 49,000, with casualties of all sorts (killed, wounded, captured, or missing) nearing 15,000.

4. Confederate (CSA) general Robert E. Lee had been in command of the Army of Northern Virginia for about 25 months by the beginning of the Battle of Gettysburg. How long had his opponent, Union (USA) general George G. Meade been in command of the Army of the Potomac?

Answer: Less than three days.

George Gordon Meade took command of the Army of the Potomac about mid-day on June 28, 1863...a few hours less than three days before the shooting started at Gettysburg. As do all successful leaders, Meade owed much to capable subordinates, but I have not been able to locate a comparable case of a commander given so large a task, against so formidable a foe, who secured so good a result, with so little preparation in the history of modern (since 1700) warfare.

5. On Day Two of the Battle of Gettysburg, the men of the 20th Maine Volunteers charged into history with their well documented defense of the Union left flank, at Little Round Top. What almost forgotten, and nearly contemporaneous action involving the 157th New York Infantry saved the Union's right flank?

Answer: Culp's Hill

A fierce Confederate assault, intended to turn the Union's right flank, and cut off access to the Union's main line of communication and supply, the Baltimore Pike, was broken on the improvised earthworks of Culp's Hill. At one point, the Confederate forces were within 200 meters of the Pike only to be balked by the 157th NY, who held until relieved. Rock Creek was in the Confederate rear, and not of significance.

The action on Breed's Hill was over 400 miles and 80 years distant. It's the actual site of the Revolutionary War's Battle of Bunker Hill.

6. Many of the battle sites on the Union left on Day Two of the Battle of Gettysburg have distinctive names. The Devil's Den is unusual because its name predates the battle by decades. What gave this patch of broken rock its sinister sounding name?

Answer: A gigantic snake.

Serpents have been equated with the devil at least since the Book of Genesis was written. The putative 5 meter (15-16 foot) giant allegedly living in the rocks was called "the Devil". Mysterious lights would have more likely been regarded as ghostly rather than satanic. The other two answers fail because the dates offered predate English settlement.

7. The heaviest, bloodiest fighting of Day Two at Gettysburg occurred in two adjacent parcels of land, together comprising less than 30 acres/12 hectares. What two plots named for their agricultural products saw almost 30,000 men suffer nearly 20,000 casualties in under six hours?

Answer: The Wheatfield and the Peach Orchard

Union (USA) general Dan Sickles' error in advancing USA III Corps off the crest of Cemetery Ridge and into the Peach Orchard created an attackable salient which Confederate (CSA) forces were prompt to attempt. A day filled with charge and counter charge, under persistent artillery and sniper fire account for the massive casualties. By day's end the CSA controlled both the Peach Orchard and the Wheatfield, but the USA retained control of the Cemetery Ridge heights and the CSA retired about nightfall. Please note that none of the incorrect answers involve two agricultural products, and there are no sites carrying those names on the Gettysburg battlefield.

8. Day Three of the Battle of Gettysburg began with a pair of Confederate cavalry attacks. The main attempt occurred at East Cavalry Field and was an attempt to exploit the successes of Pickett's Charge from the Union rear. Two of the most famous cavalry commanders in American history were on the field. Who were they?

Answer: J. E. B. Stuart and George Armstrong Custer

The two "movie star" commanders at East Cavalry Field were Confederate J.E.B. Stuart and the Union's George Armstrong Custer. Stuart was the CSA overall commander, Custer functionally second in command of the USA contingent. David Gregg was the Union's overall commander and Fitz Lee one of Stuart's subordinate commanders. Gregg and Lee were both skilled generals but lacked marquee names. Forest and Sheridan had the names, but were not at Gettysburg. Patton and Guderian were World War II generals.

The battle at East Cavalry Field was long regarded as a sideshow, but some scholars have begun to ask if the fate of Pickett's Charge would have been different if Stuart's flanking attack had succeeded, and CSA cavalry could have supported the Armistead breakthrough.

9. The legendary "Pickett's Charge" was the denouement of Day Three of the Battle of Gettysburg. Confederate Brigadier General Lewis Armistead led his troops to the crest of Cemetery Ridge before he was killed and his command overwhelmed. A monument stands near the farthest point of Armistead's advance. What is this monument called?

Answer: The High Water Mark of the Rebellion

Adherents of the "Lost Cause" tend to refer to the point as the high water mark of the Confederacy, but the monument reads "Rebellion". Regardless of what it is called, the spot marked the turning of the tide and the first death knell for the Confederate States of America. Lee had committed the best of what he had left, and 15,000 Confederates suffered over 6,000 casualties in under an hour, wounds from which the Army of Northern Virginia would never recover.

10. Casualties on both sides of the Battle of Gettysburg were massive. The victorious United States of America would not see casualties so high from a single engagement again until World War II. What island battle, fought late in the Pacific Theater, produced casualty numbers eerily similar to Gettysburg? There goes the flag!

Answer: Iwo Jima

Total United States casualties from all causes (killed, wounded, captured, and missing) were just over 26,000 of around 94,000 troops committed at Gettysburg. American casualties from all causes at Iwo Jima were slightly more than 26,000 out of about 110,000 committed. Strikingly, the savage fighting on Iwo Jima took 36 days to inflict roughly the same number of US casualties as occurred in three days at Gettysburg.

As horrific as Union losses were, the Confederacy suffered even worse. Lee brought slightly fewer than 71,000 men to Gettysburg and the Army of Northern Virginia suffered over 28,000 total casualties, nearly 40% of the force committed.

The flag reference refers to the famous flag raising photograph on Mt. Suribachi on Iwo Jima.

Source: Author Jdeanflpa

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor bloomsby before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

Possibly the most discussed battle in American history, the three day bloodletting in and near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania still coughs up intriguing facts. How many of these do you know?

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