Civil War Nicknames Trivia Quiz

Answer: Five Forks

While Pickett and Fitz Lee were at a shad bake given by General Rosser, the important crossroads at Five Forks was attacked. And due to a phenomenon known as accoustic shadows the generals could not hear the fighting, and did not arrive until too late.

Answer: Robert E. Lee

At the beging of the war Lee was known by this nickname and also 'Entrenching Lee', and 'Granny Lee' and was thought to be a timid fighter. When Johnston was wounded at Fair Oaks, it was thought to be good for the North that Lee was taking over from Johnston ... After all, Johnston was the highest ranking General to resign his commision to join the Confederacy.

Answer: George McClellan

His subordinates called him this because of his inaction on the peninsula. And even though he had Magruder outnumbered at Yorktown by over 100,000 men he did nothing. Lincoln said of McClellan that he had a case of the slows.

Answer: Georgia

The Indian name Chickamauga means the River of Death. It is in Georgia. The dead were piled on one another like cords of wood and the Chickamauga ran red with human blood. George Thomas "The Rock of Chickamauga" was aided by the fact his men on Snodgrass Hill had repeating rifles.

Answer: John Singleton Mosby

John Singleton Mosby was mentioned more times than any other man in Lee's dispatches. He led Mosby's Partisan Rangers (the 43rd Virginia Cavalry).

Answer: Nathan Bedford Forrest

Known by many as the greatest cavalry commander of the war, he later became the first Grand Wizard of the KKK. Sherman said, "That devil Forrest must be stopped if it takes 100,0000 men and bankrupts the government."

Answer: John Bell Hood

Hood was a very tough fighter. Having lost the use of an arm and a leg, he had to be strapped to his horse but his unwillingness to change plans earned him this monicker. He showed just how bad that unwillingness was at Franklin and Nashville.

Answer: The Monitor

When the crew of the Virginia looked out at the strange craft that was floating next to the Minnesota on March 9, 1862 they thought it looked like a cheese box on a raft. It was the Monitor and the age of the iron clad had begun.

Answer: Judah P. Benjamin

Benjamin held attorney general, secretary of war, and most of all secretary of state in the confederacy. He was the Democratic Senator from Louisiana and gave a rousing speech before resigning his seat. He was unfairly given blame for military failures during his time as the Secretary of War. He was Davis' closest adviser, and the most gifted member of the Confederate cabinet.

Answer: T. J. Jackson

"Stonewall" was allso known by "Old Blue Light" for the way his eyes lit up during battle. The nickname for his infantry was "Old Jack's Foot Cavalry".

Answer: Thumbstall

Many a gunner was thumbless because the tube had not been spunged out, and air entered the tube through the vent hole and ignited the powder. The thumbstall provided little or no protection from the blast when the new charge was put in the tube.

Answer: Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln told a companion this about his now famous "Gettysburg Address." He was worried that it was too short after Edward Everett had just spoken for two hours.

Answer: 9

The Hunley had killed several of its crews before it sank the Housatonic and went to the bottom itself - around 42. It needed crew of nine. The development and use of the Hunley cost the South more lives than the North.

Answer: Franklin

Benjamin F. Butler got the nickname "spoons" while in New Orleans for taking liberties with captured silverware. And he got the moniker "The Beast" from General Order 28 saying the women of New Orleans should be treated as Ladies of the Evening.

Answer: James B. McPherson

While returning from dinner at Sherman's Headquarters he ran into Confederate skirmishers and was shot dead. Sherman covered his young friend with an American flag and wept. The "Birdseye" was from his middle name. McPherson had graduated first in his class at West Point.

Answer: Lyon's Iowa Greyhounds

The Iowa men once marched 48 miles in a 24 hour period. Lyon lost his life at the battle of Wilson's Creek.

Answer: Sea-coast mortar

Often called the Dictator the 13 inch sea-coast mortar weighed in at 17,000 pounds. It was put on a flat railcar to get it closer to its target. During the siege of Petersburg, the only time the big guns were silent, was when the men would eat.

Answer: U. S. Grant

Mrs. Lincoln was upset over the news of the casualty rate of Grant's Overland Campaign. That had reached a total of 60,000 in just over one month of Grant taking over command.

Answer: Joseph Hooker

While leaning on a pillar on the front porch of his headquarters, Hooker was knocked out by an artillery round. Hooker had his men marching toward Fredericksburg, but the moment that they ran into rebel fire he pulled his men back in a tighter salient in and around Chancellorsville. Lee had struck him sooner than he had expected, and Hooker's nerve had failed.

Answer: A. P. Hill

Hill had on his trademark red battle shirt and without hesitation threw his men into the left flank of the confused Federals. They had walked 17 hot dusty miles and Hill had pushed them hard with about half of them falling by the wayside, exausted. But the rest reached the battlefield at precisely the right time when they were needed most, and the whole Union left wing was thrown back.

Despite the name Light Division, Hill's division was the largest in the Army of Northern Virginia.

Answer: John Hunt Morgan

When children wouldn't behave their mothers would threaten them with, "Morgan will get you if you don't settle down." Morgan once escaped from the Ohio State Penitentiary only to be killed at Greenville, Tennessee on September 4, 1864 in a minor skirmish.

Answer: Stuart's company H 4th Virginia

Stuart's men rode into battle with black hats and plumes, with gray uniforms that were trimmed in black.

Answer: Turner Ashby

He once stated the only thing that he lived for, after his brother was killed by Federals, was to kill Yankees. He was Jackson's cavalry commander in the Valley.

Answer: They were mounted and armed with Spencer repeating rifles

During the Confederate breakthrough at Chickamauga the Lightning Brigade came in and, helped by the fact that they had Spencer repeating rifles, held Snodgrass Hill and Horseshoe Ridge. When he first mounted his men Wilder tried to put them on pack mules, and much to the amusement of the other units the men were soon bucked off.

Answer: Rose O'Neal Greenhow

Rose O'Neal Greenhow was given credit by Jefferson Davis for winning the battle of the First Manassas. She was a first class spy, who would later drown when the ship Condor went down.