Necrolithology of the Civil War II Quiz

Answer: MG Earl VanDorn, in Wintergreen Cemetery, Port Gibson, MS

Van Dorn supposedly had an affair with the wife of a local Spring Hill, TN doctor named George B. Peters. On May 7, 1863, the good doctor drove his buggy up to Van Dorn's tent, parked it outside, walked into the tent and shot Van Dorn in the back of his head. He then walked out, got in the buggy, and rode to safety behind Union lines. Van Dorn supporters said the assasination was for political reasons only and had nothing to do with Dr. Peters' young wife.

Elisha Franklin Paxton, known as "Bull" died from a rifle shot on the 2nd day of the Battle at Chancellorsville, and is buried in Stonewall Cemetery in Lexington, about 50 feet from his old commander, Stonewall Jackson.

Lloyd Tilghman was commanding artillery at the Battle of Champion's Creek when a shell fragment went through his chest. He is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in New York, NY.

Edward Dorr Tracy commanded a brigade at the Battle of Port Gibson wher he was shot through the chest near the front of his line, and he was removed to his home town of Macon, GA and buried there in the City Cemetery.

Answer: True

Davis's gravesite consists of a full body length granite crypt cover in the ground, with a four-sided square base each with bronze plaques measuring 2.5 feet on each side with a lifesize bronze statue of Davis above.

Pickett's marker is a four-sided tomb, each side containing a six foot high bronze plaque, each of which lists commands that Pickett had during the Civil War, supported by six-sided granite columns some seven feet high, topped with a granite temple-like roof.

Answer: Charles A. Longfellow and Paul J. Revere

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's eldest son was Charles A. Longfellow. He was a First Massachusetts Cavalry Lieutenant discharged for disability following a wound in November of 1863.

Paul J. Revere was the grandson of Paul Revere (the "Ride of Paul Revere" fame). The grandfather is buried in downtown Boston at the Old Granary Ground on Tremont Street). He was the Col. of the 20th Massachusetts Regiment of Volunteers, was wounded on July 2, 1863 at Gettysburg, and died 2 days later at the age of 30.

Among many other notables buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery are Edward Everett, Charles Sumner, Charles Devens, Julia Ward Howe, and Dorothea Dix.

Answer: They were all buried at Spring Hill cemetery, Lynchburg, VA

Early was the only lifelong bachelor in the group.

Dearing resigned from the Academy at the outbreak of the war, was actually killed in a pistol duel with a Union officer at High Bridge on April 6, 1865 during the retreat to Appomattox, and Rodes was a graduate of the Virginia Military Academy.

Answer: 55th Massachusetts Vols.

The 55th Massachusetts was formed along with its more famous brother regiment, the 54th, at about the same time. Both were composed of black volunteers officered by whites. The bronze plaque on the site at Beaufort reads "These hallowed grounds hold the remains of at least nineteen black Union soldiers, 55th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, who lost their lives on Folly Island in the siege of Charleston, during the winter encampment of Nov 1863 - Feb 1864, Civil War.

Their earthly remains lay long forgotten until rediscovered in May, 1987.

They were reburied at this site by the community of Beaufort, May 29, 1989."

Answer: Nathan George Evans and Martin Witherspoon Gary

Evans was better known as "Shanks" Evans, whose small force at the left end of the rebel line at the First Battle of Manassas reported McDowell's early turning movements, demanded that he be allowed to move to block it, and thus had a major part in the Confederate victory that day. Later in the war, he was tried both for intoxication and disobedience of orders and was acquitted on both occasions.

Gary commanded the SC cavalry regiment that had to cut its way through the rioters as Richmond burned on April 4, 1865 in order to be the last troops to leave Richmond before Union forces arrived. His last words before he clattered off across the bridge following his troops were "all over, goodbye, blow 'er to hell". He refused to surrender at Appomattox, cut his way out when he heard of the surrender, and helped escort Jefferson Davis' escape party south.

Answer: Judah Benjamin

Benjamin held three cabinet posts in Davis' government: Attorney General, Secretary of War, and Secretary of State at war's end. He fled to England, married, and died in Paris where he was buried in Père Lachaise cemetery.

Answer: Louis Bodenhausen

Louis Bodenhausen's tombstone reads, in addition to his name and birth/death dates, "Drum Major, 158 Regt NY Vol."

Both Porter and Slocum were well-known Union Major Generals.

Strong was wounded by a minie ball at the Battle of Fort Wagner on July 18, 1863 in Charleston, developed lockjaw, and he died from it in New York City twelve days later.

Answer: John Reynolds and Winfield Hancock

John Reynolds was killed the first day at Gettysburg, and was buried three days later, on July 4, 1863, in Lancaster Cemetery in Lancaster, PA. Reynolds had refused the command of the Army of the Potomac when he was offered the post prior to Gettysburg after requesting that any control from Washington be severed, which was of course denied.

Winfield Scott Hancock, one of the heroes of Gettysburg who was also wounded there on the second day, died in 1886 after a long and distinguished military career including being a candidate for the presidencey of the USA, and was buried in Montgomery Cemetery in Norristown, PA.

The two cemeteries are 67 miles apart.

Answer: Douglas Freeman

Douglas Southall Freeman, among other works, has written definitive studies on Robert E. Lee. Freeman lived in Richmond, and on his daily walk to and from his work, he stopped at Lee's statue on Monument Street at the circle on Allen, and solemnly saluted. Critics carp that the studies of Lee are hero worship.

Edward Pollard was the outspoken pro-Southern but anti-Davis editor of the "Richmond Examiner" newspaper whose post-war book published within months of the war's end further fanned the anti-northern flames. He is buried at his family cemetery, Oakridge, in Nelson County, VA.

DH Hill was a former newspaperman who became a CSA Lieutenant General and had some prickly differences with Jefferson Davis. Following the war he went back to newspapers and later became the president of Davidson College in Davidson, NC, where he is buried.

Mary Chesnut was a diarist who was married to Thomas Chesnut, a SC senator and later CSA MG (who was in the party of three who rowed the boat to Fort Sumter to demand its surrender just prior to the start of the War). She was privy to all the inner workings of the Confederacy and her diary provides one of, if not the best, insights into the personalities of the Southern side of the war as well as its genteel society. Follwing the war, she returned with her husband penniless to their plantation in Camden, SC. She is buried in the family plot there, accessible only by special invitation of the remaining family.

Answer: Salmon P. Chase

Both Chase and Hooker were schemers and plotters, both of whom were hell bent on pushing themselves into greater glory. Seward also craved the presidency but was not enamored of Hooker. Bates also harbored presidential dreams but had little to do with Hooker. Stanton could have cared less about the presidency and couldn't stand Hooker.

Hooker's gravesite is a resplendent above ground dark rose granite crypt supported by massive lighter pink granite blocks. In front stand two granite low round markers with the initials "JH" carved in the tops. Chase's is much simpler.

Many other CW notables are buried at Spring Grove, including USA MG William Lytle of Chickamauga fame, all four of the "Fighting McCooks" generals, and USA generals Godfrey Weitzel, Jacob Cox, and Joshua Bates.

Answer: McPherson, Ord, Sheridan, Sherman, and Thomas

The bronze busts were added to the Tomb in 1938-1939 under a program sponsored by the WPA, "portraying some of Grant's best generals". Not much else is known as to the whys or wherefores of the selection, other than as a WPA project, each bust was done by a different sculptor.

Answer: July 5, 1863, in a Union field hospital at Gettysburg

Armistead has been lionized for his friendship with Union MG Winfield Scott Hancock whom he faced across the lines at the battle of Gettysburg. Armistead was shot and wounded with his hand on a Federal cannon as he led his brigade to the "High Water Mark of the Confederacy" during Pickett's charge on the third day. His body was taken to a Second Corps field hospital where, unknown to Hancock (who was in significant pain himself from his groin wound during the second day battle), Armistead died on July 5, 1863. Friends recovered his body and took it Baltimore for burial.

In 1949 the plaque containing the wrong date of his death was placed at the grave by the United Daughters of the Confederacy. The cemetery containing the gravesite is bordered by an aging brick wall and is totally surrounded by tall buildings in downtown Baltimore not far from Camden Yard. An ancient padlock opening a rusty iron gate is the only access and can only be opened by obtaining the key from the Rector's office at St. Paul's, several blocks away.

Answer: Don Carlos Buell, USA and Sterling Price, CSA

Also buried in Bellefontaine are John Pope, USA, A.P. Stewart, CSA, Francis Blair, USA, A.J. Smith, USA, and Dred Scott.

Cox is buried in Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati, OH. Johnston is buried in Austin State Cemetery in Austin, TX. Reno is buried in Oak Hill Cemetery in Georgetwon, DC. Braxton Bragg is buried in the City Cemetery in Mobile, AL. Schofield is buried in the National Cemetery in Arlington, VA. Edmund Kibry Smith is buried in the University of the South Cemetery in Sewanee, TN.

Answer: Gouverneur Kemble Warren

As Chief Engineer of the Army of the Potomac, on the second day at Gettysburg from his vantage point atop Little Round Top, before the battle began Warren spotted the massive buildup of CSA General John Bell Hood's division in the area of the Round Tops.

His alert warnings probably saved the day, and possibly the entire battle, at Gettysburg. Two years later he was summarily and with outspoken anger relieved of command of the Fifth Army Corps by petulant MG Philip Sheridan for reasons that would be debated for years. Warren's plain tombstone reads "Gouverneur K. Warren Major General USV He has written his own epitath with sword and pen", and has three symbols on its base: the fort-like badge of the Corps of Engineers atop two circled Corps badges: the Trefoil of the Second Corps and the Maltese Cross of the Fifth Corps.